The Dota 2 tournaments scene has been extremely busy since The International 3 finished up in late August. After such an amazing event that filled Benaroya Hall for four days and broke the record for the largest monetary prize ever, many people have been keeping an eye on what happens next. So far, I believe the Dota 2 scene has been going in the right direction. However, there have been some issues along the way which have had both their pros and cons that result from them.
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Talking about the issues been their in Dota 2 Tournaments:-
First of all, the calendar has been filled with many tournaments. The one that stands out to me is DreamLeague Season 1. It was announced by DreamHack and Starladder at the end of September and had a start date of November 4th. Since then it’s been delayed on two separate occasions: from November 4th to the 19th, and then again to December. This was not because of problems with the game itself, but due to issues that the organizers ran into regarding adequate league administration. The first delay came as a bit of a surprise because it came just days before the event’s start date, which makes one wonder why there wasn’t more time to do things the right way. The second delay was more understandable because it gave them a little more time to get their bases covered, but it still looks like an extremely rushed job from the outside looking in.
The second issue with Dota 2 tournaments lately was that Valve announced that they would not support another major tournament until 2015, which means we won’t be seeing another major tournament this year. The reason for not supporting the tournaments is because they feel like there are too many already, which leads to over saturation, and the fact that it’s very difficult to monitor all these tournaments properly given their sheer number. To me, this means that Valve should monitor everything more closely and not let these tournaments start without first making sure they can be finished according to schedule and played properly. The fact is there are so many other tournaments going on at once, and because of poor planning, there is at least one tournament every day.
Lastly, everyone was shocked to learn that Team DK’s manager would receive a lifetime ban from future Valve-sponsored events for his role in the EHOME incident at The International 3. It is important to note that the players themselves did not receive any sanctions for their actions, which means that Team DK’s manager will be the only person to have been banned from all events in the future. This ban strikes me as unfair because it punishes a person for doing his job to make sure his players can compete in a tournament. I do not believe he should be allowed near players or teams, but this lifetime ban just seems a bit overboard.
Talking about the Good parts of Dota 2 Tournaments:-
In my opinion, the Dota 2 tournaments eSports scene is not in bad shape by any means. The following year has been incredible so far and there are no signs that it’s going to end anytime soon. This also benefits organizers since they won’t run a tournament unless they have the proper time to do it right. This does not mean that tournaments should not be allowed to happen, just that their quality needs to improve.
Few more details on Dota 2 Tournaments Condition:-
This event features many of the top Korean teams facing off against each other in a round robin style tournament where each team plays twice per week for seven weeks. I think this is an interesting idea, but it also has its flaws. For one, the prize pool is nowhere near as large as something like The International or Dreamhack. With that said, I believe it still has its place in terms of giving Korean teams direct competition against each other with Bo2’s, which is different from just laddering on Korean servers.
The next piece of news is the MLG World Finals that will be taking place from November 22nd to 23rd in New Orleans, Louisiana. The first thing I want to say regarding this event is that koreans were invited and European teams and North American teams. This is good to have regional qualifiers that will determine who gets in. Still, they could have done it better by having multiple smaller tournaments throughout the month instead of just doing one big tournament where only one team from each region has a chance to qualify. It would be better for everyone if there were more spots available to have more competition instead of just one game to decide whether or not a team gets in. This is an improvement over having only Western teams invited because it gives us insight into how good Asian teams are currently doing against their European and American counterparts.
The Dota 2 tournaments scene has been getting better lately with Nexon and MLG making steps to improve it. I am looking forwards towards seeing what else will be happening in the future with Dota 2, both good and bad.
