LoL eSports Discussion

[Glork]

Really cool AMA from Xpecial here: http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends ... curse_ama/

I like that he straight up answers some potentially tough questions (about Doublelift, his ex-TSMmates) that most people would ignore or skirt.

[pickemgenius]

ya, it's gonna be hard to improve from #1 NA.life is rough.

Top 4 in the world? Top 2? World champ?

Still, so long as they don't act like the new jungler coming is a binary "OMG TSM IS RUINED" or "OMG BESTEST THING EVAR!", it'd be somewhat alright. Obviously can't speak for how said jungler will actually work out, but it's better to go in on a more even keel than to automatically cry one way or the other.

Speaking of, though, did Amazing leave TSM altogether or just go on the sub roster for the time being?

You put either NA team(TSM/C9) on the other side of the bracket and either one has a good chance to go to finals. TSM just went complete fucking retard against SK.

You also have to realize who I'm directing my comment at. It's pretty much Kreygasm C9 anti TSM fanboy.

[Saki]

na team? finals?

hoboy that's going to need a god damn fucking miracle to happen

[pickemgenius]

na team? finals?

hoboy that's going to need a god damn fucking miracle to happen

or all it could've taken was C9 and TSM placing 1st in their groups and sticking 3 of the 4 korean teams in the upper bracket. certainly an easier quarter/semis.

[Saki]

na team? finals?

hoboy that's going to need a god damn fucking miracle to happen

or all it could've taken was C9 and TSM placing 1st in their groups and sticking 3 of the 4 korean teams in the upper bracket. certainly an easier quarter/semis.

still not likely
as much as I like the personalities of the NA teams (minus TSM), their skill level really isn't anywhere near the top of the international scene

Though I liked how they beat down EU this time

[pickemgenius]

na team? finals?

hoboy that's going to need a god damn fucking miracle to happen

or all it could've taken was C9 and TSM placing 1st in their groups and sticking 3 of the 4 korean teams in the upper bracket. certainly an easier quarter/semis.

still not likely
as much as I like the personalities of the NA teams (minus TSM), their skill level really isn't anywhere near the top of the international scene

Though I liked how they beat down EU this time

iunno.i'm thinking tsm and c9 could hang just fine with omg/edg.

[Saki]

na team? finals?

hoboy that's going to need a god damn fucking miracle to happen

or all it could've taken was C9 and TSM placing 1st in their groups and sticking 3 of the 4 korean teams in the upper bracket. certainly an easier quarter/semis.

still not likely
as much as I like the personalities of the NA teams (minus TSM), their skill level really isn't anywhere near the top of the international scene

Though I liked how they beat down EU this time

iunno.i'm thinking tsm and c9 could hang just fine with omg/edg.

with the way edg/omg were playing at group stages, yeah, tsm/c9 could easily take them on

but if omg had Cloud playing support and EDG didn't have like the worst case of first-time-world-championship-nervousness things would've been different

[Saki]

EDG really needed NaMei to do much, much better

4/5 fights NaMei kept thinking he was imp and decided to position way too aggressively and got punished severely for it

[Saki]

btw 1 team per club rule is wrecking teams in OGN

SSW/SSB are merging, and so are SKT T1 / T1 K, Najin White Shield / Black Sword, KT Rolster Arrows / Bullets
and the lesser known teams like JinAir are also merging

in addition to KaKaO and RooKie, Deft mentioned that he may be moving to China
MaRin mentioned on stream that he is going to be competing with Expression for the top lane spot on the new NaJin team

meanwhile, Chinese clubs have openly offered many Korean players 2x their income + a contract that doesn't let the club kick the player off the team for playing poorly

and with the All-Stars at Paris and SHRC at Worlds showing that communication is no barrier to play people are going to hesitate less about going to a team in other regions

there are going to be some very very interesting roster changes

[Voidedmafia]

You put either NA team(TSM/C9) on the other side of the bracket and either one has a good chance to go to finals. TSM just went complete fucking retard against SK.

Too damn true...

as much as I like the personalities of the NA teams (minus TSM), their skill level really isn't anywhere near the top of the international scene

No, I think they could've gotten through EDG and probably OMG (although the latter still would've been a

very

close game). Still would've gotten utterly trashed by whichever of White, but still.

btw 1 team per club rule is wrecking teams in OGN

Why did they do this, anyways?

[Saki]

Why did they do this, anyways?

Too many complaints about SSB/SSW in worlds

[quadz08]

official rule probably also discusses potential for collusion issues, but I haven't seen it for sure

[Voidedmafia]

Too many complaints about SSB/SSW in worlds

And it's only a problem now because...it's the first time it's ever happened?

[Saki]

First time two teams from the same club went to semis at worlds?

[Voidedmafia]

First time two teams from the same club went to semis at worlds?

Well, first time two teams from the same club went to Worlds, period, but that, too.

[zoraster]

I just assumed they were different clubs but with the same sponsor.

[chamber]

I wonder if LoL gets big enough if they'll have to start instituting drafts and trade deadlines.

[zoraster]

they should really have deadlines for team changes, which in effect would work as a trade deadline.

A draft is interesting, but seems like asking for trouble given how the teams live in the same house and what not.

[chamber]

A draft is interesting, but seems like asking for trouble given how the teams live in the same house and what not.

I don't really know how it would be implemented in LoL but they manage in other professional team sports.

[zoraster]

they also don't all live in the same house all the time. And they all tend to come from far more static lower levels. High school and college in the united states, Youth Academies and the like elsewhere.

[chamber]

So perhaps team houses aren't sustainable going forward. Especially as the player bases gets older and want families etc.

[zoraster]

It may have to come as a Riot mandated or union-based collective-bargaining agreement because it seems to me that team houses are a pretty big advantage for the teams that have them. Unlike physical sports, you can practice, play and analyze the game for 15 hours each day with no physical effects (okay, carpal tunnel). Houses facilitate that. As having a team becomes more lucrative you might be able to buy a practice facility and have all your players play there for that long each day, I suppose.

I also wonder if there's a peak age for playing esports generally. I suspect that 17 and 18 year olds probably have a leg up generally on 25-year-olds in pure individual mechanical skill. It's a team game, so you expect veterans with experience to make up that pure mechanical difference in a variety of ways, particularly if they've played together before, but I don't know that we'll see many 30-year-old superstars. Just pure speculation though.

[chamber]

I don't know about in the US, but in Ontario working 15h in 1 day is illegal. There might need to be reclassification of what constitutes work but~.

[zoraster]

There isn't anything like that in the US (my wife has on occasion had 100 hour weeks), but there is mandatory time-and-a-half if they're hourly employees for hours worked over 40 in a week. I suspect that the compensation for the players probably is structured differently than normal though, given that their compensation is some mixture of Riot housing stipend, team provided income, streaming income, and prize money.

[BROseidon]

Salaried employees don't count towards any of that. Athletes are salaried employees.