An open letter to NASL.tv

I never (really) watched the first two seasons of the NASL, but from what I've heard and seen it must have been pretty bad. What I recall from the few game i've seen it was mostly Gretorp losing track of what he is trying to say and more random awkward casting. I did see some great guest-casters wich I was really fond off.

But this season; I'm truly impressed. You've attracted, imo, two great personality casters, Bitterdam. Those two guys really have something going for them. Great chemistry and sometimes even indept Starcraft comment.You really seem to be enjoying your selfs, and we see that. But don't indulge Rotti so much Bitter, it sometimes gets annoying how often you guys lose track of the (beginning of the) game and start goofing around. Nevertheless, you are doing a great job.

Frodan and Gretorp, i'm trying to like your casting. I really do. But you are making it hard for me. You guys, imo, clearly lack the chemistry that Bitter and Rotti have. That becomes apparent when Gretorp tries to pitch a joke and Frodan barley reacts or just outright ignores the joke. It's not only a shame but it even feels rude by Frodan. But I do think you guy guys are going to be great with more screen time

Gretorp, you can clearly notice that you feel a lot more at ease. No offence but you weren't ready to carry NASL all by yourself. Last season was filled with "uhmmms" and "wait"'s. I've havent noticed it at all the last couple of casts. Keep it up.

The segments are truly fun to watch. With those segments I almost get the idea that i'm watching a televisionshow about sports. Partly doe to the great presentation by Bitter and Rotterdam. Very proffesional and watchable. Soe's corner is great, mainly because we can watch Soe's talk about things nerdy( I bet that's one of the reasons you guys hired her). I even like the goofy (and sometimes cringeworthy) mining out segment. You can be proud.

The post game interviews are decent, at times they seem ill prepared. That results in a very chaotic interview. Maybe give yourselves some time to prepare. Trow in another segment or do a extra commercial break. It makes the interviews that much better.
The production part is shaping up, the camera guy sometimes is still to late or to early with zooming etc. Nothing some screentime will solve no doubt.

Overall: you are doing great, but there are some things you should look at.

Note: Opinions everywhere

If it's posted in the wrong forum, please move.

Last edit: 2012-05-05 20:39:33

Don't, don't, don't belive the hype

WhalesFromSpace May 05 2012 20:07. Posts 315

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The NASL is pretty badass this year. With free 1080p VODs I am easily able to link noob friends to a professional level game with a production value that is now in the upper tier of sc2 tournaments. Also I had a season's pass in the beginning, and I always was rooting for Gretorp to improve as a caster; he has done that for sure and a shout-out to him for sticking to it.

Nihility

chillah May 05 2012 20:07. Posts 12

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I agree NASL is a much more entertaining and competent league this season and the production quality is great also with their conventional sports style instant replay.

HornyHerring Papua New Guinea. May 05 2012 20:09. Posts 674

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Some people are just not meant to be casters, no matter how indepth analysis can they make or how much knowledge of the game they have. A good caster can make the chemistry with anyone, so if they still can't figure it out after weeks of casting together, I don't see how they can achieve this. Don't wanna say 'quit casting, you're bad', but that in fact might be the case.

oh, hai

Zarahtra Iceland. May 05 2012 20:14. Posts 3248

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Bitterdam is awesome. Watch NASL pretty much every other day <3

Also like the small segments they are doing, really cool and creative way to add content besides just more games(and im sure it makes it a lot easier for some to keep up to date with the scene). So yer totally agree with you OP..

speknek May 05 2012 20:23. Posts 756

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Don't enjoy either, but I'd pick Gretorp over Rotterdam any day. Gretorp is more awkward, but knows much more.

Surili United Kingdom. May 05 2012 20:23. Posts 1066

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Saying that Frodan and Gretorp has less chemistry than Bitterdam is like saying that hasuobs has less good forcefields than MC, it is true, but NO-ONE has better forcefields than MC or better chemistry than bitterdam (cept maybe tastosis when they are on fire), so i don't think you can blame them for that

<3 the new NASL, i watched the first season a lot too, but this one is still blowing me away everynight when i turn it on before i go to bed.

On May 05 2012 20:23 speknek wrote:
Don't enjoy either, but I'd pick Gretorp over Rotterdam any day. Gretorp is more awkward, but knows much more.

What? No-one knows more about the european scene than Rotti, he remembers every game he has ever watched, and plays at an incredibly high level for a caster. Not to say that Gretorp doesn't, but Rotti has really great experience with High level RTS.

Last edit: 2012-05-05 20:24:58

"It is not a mistake to have strong views, it is a mistake to have nothing else." - Andrew Weston * * * Masters Protoss on EU.

Lonyo Guernsey. May 05 2012 20:23. Posts 2010

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I would say the opposite about Frodan and Gretorp.
Individually I am not the biggest fan of either (they aren't bad, but they aren't the best either), but together they seem to work really well. They are both slightly differently odd and it plays off the pairing.

The best thing about Frodan and Gretorp is Gretorp's observing, which is some of the best in the business. Seriously, he's maybe the best in the West.

I was actually going to make a similar thread suggesting people give NASL a second chance if they've written it off. This season is pretty damned awesome. I don't even follow the league as a whole, but I can tune in and whether it's Bitterdam or Frotorp, it's nice to watch the casters and the games, and the production is high quality as well.

Last edit: 2012-05-05 20:24:15

HOLY CHECK!

Pimpmuckl Germany. May 05 2012 20:30. Posts 441

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I was so impressed by Frodan, never saw him before xept one playhem US (since i am EU i don't catch those often) but MAN this guy is on FIRE! He could commentate Formula 1 or Nascar with the Speed of the Racers themselves, that guy is going totally nuts.

Soe owns, shes "a schwaizr", nuff said,

Bitterdam is sick but hey, they did an awesome job since the early ESL days, really like esp. Rotterdam, played HoN with him back in the day

twitter.com/pimpmuckl @pimpmuckl

emythrel United Kingdom. May 05 2012 20:32. Posts 2253

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can't believe there are over 5 replies to this and no one has yet pointed out that Soe isn't English and doesn't have an British accent ;p

nice to see NASL finally gettin the credit it deserves, it was always ambitious and wanted to be better and they semm to be cracking the formula now

Last edit: 2012-05-05 20:33:14

When there is nothing left to lose but your dignity, it is already gone.

Heouf Netherlands. May 05 2012 20:34. Posts 534

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On May 05 2012 20:23 speknek wrote:
Don't enjoy either, but I'd pick Gretorp over Rotterdam any day. Gretorp is more awkward, but knows much more.

Well this is hard to believe. Gretorp knows more? I doubt that for sure.

Gokba Alhakel

Mormel Netherlands. May 05 2012 20:37. Posts 53

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On May 05 2012 20:32 emythrel wrote:
can't believe there are over 5 replies to this and no one has yet pointed out that Soe isn't English and doesn't have an British accent ;p

nice to see NASL finally gettin the credit it deserves, it was always ambitious and wanted to be better and they semm to be cracking the formula now

That's my memory, or rather lack of it. Thanks for that

Don't, don't, don't belive the hype

BathTubNZ New Zealand. May 05 2012 20:40. Posts 2176

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I think they have been doing a fantastic job, even a huge step up from the last team league. It seems they've reduced the amount of head turning to face the back wall during interviews, so my main niggle at the moment is "and now back to the live broadcast" during the pre-recorded segments. Frodan has been a great addition along with Bitterdam. I hope NASL meets all it's targets this season.

Derez Netherlands. May 05 2012 20:41. Posts 4472

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Frodan + gretorp are working out fine to be honest. They've improved rapidly after the akward first week. I just wish twitch would stop mailing me with 'NASL just went live'.

Ichabod United States. May 05 2012 20:48. Posts 1383

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I really like the intermission timers, they add a nice touch. Viewers aren't kept in the dark, and it seems very professional.

Always room for improvement, but the fact that just tiny stuff is being mentioned shows that NASL is doing quite a good job overall.

"Rofl supple cakes, Oops wrong server"

treekiller United States. May 05 2012 20:54. Posts 236

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Open letters are almost always a dick move. Maybe if your an organization wants to make a point, an open letter is called for. Most of the time, its just people trying to artificially elevate their opinions to a position of prominence. There is already a NASL feedback thread. Seeing as how your post is relatively short, and with little substance, perhaps you should post in the NASL stream thread.

All good things must come to an end. Therefore, SC2 will last forever

Pyrrhus May 05 2012 20:54. Posts 60

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Im a little surprised at the amount of critique towards gretorp and frodan. personally i think their casting fantastic. same goes for bitterdam. overall i would give the NASL 9 out of 10. the only reservation i would have is that sometimes when the casters are making fun of each other, it seems to go a bit too far and starts to seem mean rather than funny.

" Why not whip the teacher when the pupil misbehaves? "

Mormel Netherlands. May 05 2012 21:06. Posts 53

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On May 05 2012 20:54 treekiller wrote:
Open letters are almost always a dick move. Maybe if your an organization wants to make a point, an open letter is called for. Most of the time, its just people trying to artificially elevate their opinions to a position of prominence. There is already a NASL feedback thread. Seeing as how your post is relatively short, and with little substance, perhaps you should post in the NASL stream thread.

I'm not part of an organisation. Nor is my open letter intended as a dick move. Did seemed the best way to let the guys know that they are doing a great job. If a mod disagrees he's more then welcome to close my thread.

Don't, don't, don't belive the hype

obsidia May 05 2012 21:11. Posts 118

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I used to literally detest the casting of incontrol and gretorp together In season 1, it was so forced. But bitterdam's completely turned it around for me. Rotti is a GM level toss with an extensive esports history and has amazing chemistry with bitters. They Really make the first 2 mins of a game fly by when nothing important is happening, and then provide in-depth knowledge with a personal twist such as " demuslim was talking about this build ". Or " cloud mentioned potential In this tactic "

Nasl has improved 10 fold keep up the good work.

Talin Montenegro. May 05 2012 21:14. Posts 8164

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After a long time of pondering, I decided I rather like NASL.

1. They are the only ones that have given us something resembling a real team leauge (well, almost - the BO3s thrown in there are still a nuisance) with a proper format while everyone else is obsessed with winners league format. Moreover, they have single elimination in the final tournament. Their competition format in general is the closest to what we've been watching for decades in Brood War, which is a huge plus in my eyes compared to every other major league out there.

2. They are very committed to Starcraft, even though they're not a Starcraft-exclusive league any more.

3. Bitterdam and Xeris are awesome.

Last edit: 2012-05-05 21:15:08