One year after setting new standards for stream quality and production value that have been emulated furiously within the industry, DreamHack has trumped the competition in another area: The live finals experience.
I attended six live events this year: three MLGs, IPL3, IEM New York and DreamHack. All six events were highly enjoyable for a variety of different reasons, but DreamHack offered by a large margin, the best live grand finals experience.
The DreamArena venue should come immediately to mind, even to those who watched via stream. Of course, any event with 4,000 screaming fans will have an incredible atmosphere, but that number is not terribly far off from MLG events (the Rhode Island Convention Center's theoretical max occupancy is roughly 10,000). In truth, any locale can generate a similar energy to DreamHack – be it a live event or a Barcraft – as long as it's densely packed with ESPORTS fans.
However, there's just something different about watching ESPORTS in a stadium. Blame it on popular culture and outside influences (I happen to be a sports fan). Things inside such venues just take on a different air. They're the kind of places where Michael Jordan carried his team in a crucial playoff game while suffering from the flu, and Metallica reached the height of their powers and assaulted the world with some of the greatest metal performances to date.
I'm not saying those heights were reached at DHW 2011. But by being in the same setting, it feels like we're at least in the same conversation. The natural progression here is "Remember that time we saw iloveoov lift the trophy at the Astrodome in '16?" Hey, a man can dream.
Obviously, DreamHack wasn't just great because it let me wax lyrical. Let's talk tangible things. How about video production? Don't deny it nerds, we're suckers for slick montages, smooth transitions, and anything that looks polished. Though I'm not exactly an arbiter on aesthetic values, DreamHack's audio-visual presentation was the coolest I had experienced all year.
The entire arena setup was also full of clever touches, such as letting the players enter through the center of the crowd, high-fiving fans on either side. The runway projecting from the stage actually was reminiscent of a rock concert, allowing the players to get as close to fans as physically possible without performing a stage dive – a sure possibility in the future.
Heartbeat monitors! While they did prove their unreliability when HerO clocked in at a torpid four BPM for an extended period, it added another layer – if thin – of depth to the proceedings. Interest in players that goes beyond simply how they play the game and extends to their personalities and psyches is one of the main reasons fans love ESPORTS, and the heartbeat monitors allowed more involvement at that level. 'Puma is so calm, he's used to this kind of stage,' 'Look at those trademark HerO jitters, his heart is beating like he ran three miles!' That's the kind of speculation us fans revel in. God knows we're now dying to see what an IdrA rage moment looks like, or find out if Tyler can draw a cool 60 BPM for the entirety of a match.
The DreamHack ESPORTS couch also made a glorious return, with four of the most popular ESPORTS personalities chatting it up at any given time. It wasn't just good for making downtime more tolerable, it was actually a kind of setup Starcraft II fans would probably tune in and watch for hours without an affiliated tournament. Sorry SOTG, this was the true Starcraft II version of The View (if I were in charge of such a show, I would 100% cast djWheat in Whoopi Goldberg's spot). Sometimes, the best thing to do is give the fans exactly what they want: a huge dose of caster personality.
Also, there were two other ESPORTS finals outside of Starcraft II. Now I'm sure many people skipped over SF4 and Quake*, but as an ESPORTS fan, I'm interested in any game that's being played at the absolute highest level. These weren't some f***ing exhibition mobile games being played at WCG. They were games with well established, highly competitive scenes. Mastery in any discipline is a wonder to behold, whether it's carving sculptures into marble or carving holes into people with a railgun, and I appreciated DreamHack's patronage of two other high skill-ceiling games.
On the whole, DreamHack's greatness came from an agglomeration of little things – details that were not overlooked but fine tuned – combined inside the perfect venue to create a wonderful experience. With ten years of Korean Brood War to show us other possibilities, it's surprising that it took over a year of Starcraft II for an event to so emphatically declare that no! The cramped confines of convention centers are not the natural habitat of Western SC II. We can do better if we try. (I won't deny IPL credit for attempting to create such an experience at IPL3, but they failed to reach their goal after drawing a woefully inadequate crowd).
As I mentioned before, I thoroughly enjoyed all the other live events I was at this year. However, DreamHack was the only one that saved the best for last. And by doing so, it became my defining ESPORTS experience of the year.** No other event made me so wholeheartedly feel 'Yes, this is the direction we need to go.'
It was hard to miss DreamHack's bobhund at IPL3 in his Rakaka.se shirt, but I didn't notice anyone from MLG or IPL present to take notes at DHW. That's a shame, because when you consider that 2011 was the year of tournaments stealing great ideas from each other (to the huge benefit of the fans), it would be unfortunate for the Americans to have missed out on one the biggest learning opportunities.
DreamHack Winter 2010's influence was felt throughout 2011. Hopefully, history can repeat itself in 2012.
*Not gonna lie, jet lag + migraine did force me to take a nap after the first map, until I could be pumped full of Japanese energy drinks. **Yes, I got to rush the stage and celebrate with the rest of Liquid after HerO won. That may have very slightly influenced my opinion.
Players Who Impressed at DreamHack Winter
By: tree.hugger
Attending a live event has many upsides, but also some downsides. One of them is that you can't catch nearly as many games if you're at the venue, and you usually only ever see one side of any match that you are watching. So when IdrA ragequit against Forsen in game two of their series, I caught the game in the Dream Arena, but didn't get to see either player's reaction afterwards. Or during the Happy-ToD match, I watched the second half from behind Happy's computer, making fun of the game with the Empire players. But I missed ToD's entire side of the game.
However, for the diminished coverage that you can tune in to, attending a live event does give you a whole new perspective on the players, how they actually operate in real life, how they approach tournaments, and how they actually physically play the game. After Dreamhack, I realized that any understanding of players is simply incomplete without actually watching them play in their native habitat. And in doing so, a few players made particular impressions.
The 2010 Dreamhack Winter Champion was not expected to make much of an impact at Dreamhack Winter 2011. His performance in the summer was quite poor, and his results had never been anything of note since he left Mousesports for Virus. One year later, having switched teams twice more, Naama had fallen far. In an interview at Dreamhack, he called leaving Mousesports the biggest mistake of his life, crediting his move with ruining his attitude, depleting his motivation to practice, and providing distractions outside of starcraft. The Finnish terran arrived at Dreamhack as a member of the very new eSaraha SC2 team with nothing left to lose and a long road ahead to recapture his past glory.
But Naama had more than a hope and a prayer in his toolbox. Through one month of more dedicated practice than at any other point in the year, he had both elevated his own play and also come to terms with how lacking it was overall. Thus, at Dreamhack, Naama played smart. Against players like Nerchio, HayprO, ThorZaIN, White-Ra, and NightEnD, he understood that he was unlikely to win two macro games against either. Instead, in his series play, Naama almost uniformly favored aggressive, cheesy, tech and harass heavy builds. In challenging series situations, Naama pulled from a deep well of well-practiced timing rushes to secure victory.
By itself, aggression and cheese does not guarantee wins. But what set Naama apart, defined his tournament, and led to his stunning top finish, was the care with which he executed his strategies. Throughout the tournament, Naama babysat his units, prioritizing their safety over almost anything else. It frequently led to sloppy play on the macro end, but it paid huge dividends when it came to killing his opponent. In his final game against HayprO, a match I watched from the other side, Naama was frustratingly unkillable, refusing to overcommit and trade inefficiently with a mass barracks bio all-in. Instead, he pulled back as HayprO gained a foothold, then surged forward with reinforcements and broke it. Against ThorZaIN, he chose a 1/1/1 build in the third game, and simply refused to let his banshees die, eventually destroying ThorZaIN's defenses with tank positioning and marines. In his first set against NightEnD, I watched, tremendously impressed as Naama juggled marines in a medivac as NightEnD struggled to remove the army at his front door, a piece of micro that wasn't captured on stream. Throughout the tournament, Naama was content to call down supply, reinforce more slowly, and not make a third base, as long as his attacks succeeded and his units simply didn't die. Call it what you will, but I call it smart play.
NightEnD was another big surprise of the tournament, but his success came as no shock to anyone who watched him play in the group stages. NightEnD executed simple, safe, and strong play time and time again. He was mechanically precise, and mechanically fast. Yet what really was most impressive of all, was that NightEnD was the most diligent scouting player I watched all event. He opted for a fast observer in almost all of his games, sent out probes for hidden expansions early on, and planted pylons all over the map. In PvP, he secured wins against top PvPers like SaSe and MaNa, simply by playing safer than them, taking an early advantage, and then refusing to let it go. This style had a drawback of looking boring on stream occasionally, but it delivered results.
Normally, overly safe play is a dangerous plan, as it can often give away a lead as surely as it is supposed to hold it. The famous line about the "prevent" defense in American football; that it 'prevents' you from winning, is similar in starcraft. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, effective defensive play is not easy to pull off. What was so impressive about NightEnD was that his safe, 'boring' style was quite complex. His timing on expansions (get more ahead), his prediction of his opponent's movements, and his attentiveness in not slipping up were all quite clearly well practiced and carefully considered. He more commonly feinted an attack than actually attacked, sheeping his opponent into not cutting corners. He never gave away his army for no reason. And when he finally engaged, he always had more money and infrastructure than his opponent. That's not by accident.
NightEnD impressed for the exact opposite reason of Naama, he was confident in his super standard play, and was practiced and diligent enough to make it work. He was rarely flashy, but rarely cringe-worthy. When he and Naama made the round of sixteen, few gave them a chance to advance past White-Ra and SaSe. But those who watched their play, obviously including this writer, (if you'll permit the brag!) knew they had an excellent chance to advance. They had a clear plan, and enough skill to make it work.
In contrast to NightEnD and Naama, Sen did not make the round of sixteen, instead having his tournament end as the odd man out in the second round group of death. Yet ironically, it's not a big deal that Sen was impressive. Before Dreamhack, I and many others regarded him as one of the foreign scene's top three zerg players, at least. But if seeing Sen's play in abstraction on stream was good, seeing his play live was incredible. Mechanically, Sen blew me away. He rotated through his hatcheries and control groups BW-style, kept his larva injects on a strict rhythm, and made excellent choices with his army in fights. It's difficult to pick out one single thing that stood out with Sen's play, because there were so many things. Mechanically, Sen was absolutely stellar, every minute I watched him.
It was strange that I saw him bow out to HerO from a seat on the bleachers of the Total-Apollo booth, because as tremendous a player as HerO is, it just seemed incredible to me that Sen could ever lose. In the games he lost, he actually made horrendous decisions; not expanding or teching rapidly enough with a lead against HerO, and not spotting or anticipating HerO's warp prism sentry drop in time to prevent it from killing him. With overall game sense and decision making then, Sen seemed just a bit lacking, perhaps not coming into his series with as through a goal as Naama or NightEnD. Or perhaps, as the results from the tournament indicate; his loss can simply be explained by tougher opponents. Nonetheless, it was an incredible treat to see him play firsthand.
***
Of course, there were plenty of excellent players at Dreamhack Winter. Seiplo and ToD deserve tremendous credit for their dedication in practice. Seiplo arrived to his computer before anyone else of his time slot, every time. ToD was always the last to leave his computer, even meeting Ret, who had beaten him hours earlier, on ladder as Ret prepared for his semi-final against HerO. ToD was still sitting at the place where he had been eliminated. But overall, in watching how they played the game, I gained a real appreciation for how Naama, NightEnD, and Sen operated. I loved Naama's strategic thinking, NightEnD's practiced calm, and Sen's remarkable talent. Beyond the Liquid` guys, whom I followed most of all, these three players entertained and impressed me a great deal throughout the tournament. Hopefully they can continue to keep and build upon what brought them success here.
great tournament. great wrap up. great pictures. awesome. glad to see that sen's play was not overlooked. tough loss for him, but at least he knows that he got beat by the person who won the entire tournament.
Sen, always impressive, just a shame he can't quite capture those big foreign wins ToD deserves mention just for putting up with that first game against Happy...
HuK is a menacing red hooded figure in that last photo. I can't help but attempt to form a back story for the former Protoss ace of Liquid'; eyeing, with perhaps some envy, his 'replacement' win a incredible finals in a deep difficult event.
Awesome event, wonderful wrap-up, and big congratulations to Hero!! Fantastic finals!
On December 01 2011 15:55 RaiKageRyu wrote: It seems no one really recaps games anymore....
It's a small but faithful minority that really enjoys game reports I think. We've made a conscious move away from doing straight game recaps, but it's something to consider in upcoming weeks as tourneys end and we go into a "winter break" of sorts.
Nice Read, and your right Dreamhack for me was the greatest tournement of the year, MLG had the best games, but as a viewer watching a FREE 1080p of such high quality production and in a stadium was the top of 2011. The finals where also just incredible.
Also Sen deserves a win, the poor guy always plays stellar. When you have seen him in Blizzcon you know it's only a matter of time. Who knows maybe NASL but he's serieusly going to be Jetlaged, rooting for him and HerO !
Couldn't disagree more with your players who impressed most, except for Sen but that's, in a foreigner tournament, like saying MVP impresses in GSL. I could elaborate, but I like Nightend (not that the criticism would be focused on just him) and don't really feel like engaging in player bashing. So basically this comment is worthless but I still felt compelled to state it.
Wow, could you see the marine armour on stream? If yes then I've missed it and seeing these pictures makes me think even better about Dreamhack, good job
Have to agree about to sens decision making, he even said it himself in an interview after the games v Hero that he mentally lapsed, as silly as it sounds if he had just made the standard right decisions with the play he demonstrated he would not have lost those games
On December 01 2011 16:26 Lysanias wrote: Nice Read, and your right Dreamhack for me was the greatest tournement of the year, MLG had the best games, but as a viewer watching a FREE 1080p of such high quality production and in a stadium was the top of 2011. The finals where also just incredible.
Also Sen deserves a win, the poor guy always plays stellar. When you have seen him in Blizzcon you know it's only a matter of time. Who knows maybe NASL but he's serieusly going to be Jetlaged, rooting for him and HerO !
With the exception of a laggy stream at times I agree with you. Maybe it's because it's the last thing you remember but the final of dreamhack tipped the scale into dreamhacks favor for me. I have no doubt MLG will respond in kind though, and they are probably the most improved tournament throught the year if you go from dallas to providence. And I like the quad view.
On December 01 2011 16:26 Lysanias wrote: Nice Read, and your right Dreamhack for me was the greatest tournement of the year, MLG had the best games, but as a viewer watching a FREE 1080p of such high quality production and in a stadium was the top of 2011. The finals where also just incredible.
Also Sen deserves a win, the poor guy always plays stellar. When you have seen him in Blizzcon you know it's only a matter of time. Who knows maybe NASL but he's serieusly going to be Jetlaged, rooting for him and HerO !
With the exception of a laggy stream at times I agree with you. Maybe it's because it's the last thing you remember but the final of dreamhack tipped the scale into dreamhacks favor for me. I have no doubt MLG will respond in kind though, and they are probably the most improved tournament throught the year if you go from dallas to providence. And I like the quad view.
You are correct, some lag and black screens from time to time, but weather this was all Dreamhack or TwitchTV i have no idea also considering the stream was free with such high production and care and at 1080p i did not feel it was something i should really complain about. They worked there ass of on that production and i am thankfull of all the stages and the halls the simple things like the Couch the podium the way players entered, i don't know man it all felt a blast to watch.
I agree with you MLG Improved like no other, and they will keep improving, 2012 will be a good year
well this was a rather boring and empty review post on a major tournament... =/
half of it was talking about dreamhack production, which is like filler, one third was about players who impressed (pretty cool) and one third was a photo gallery
what about anything else? no talking about the nail biting 4-3 finals? the three EG players in one group? the 2 outta the top 4 being liquid? Seiplo PvPing his way through most of the tourney, including HuK? the player co-casters?
very...sparse review anyone else noticing the photo galleries on the bottom of each article these days seem to be replacing writing?
On December 01 2011 17:16 cavalier117 wrote: well this was a rather boring and empty review post on a major tournament... =/
half of it was talking about dreamhack production, which is like filler, one third was about players who impressed (pretty cool) and one third was a photo gallery
what about anything else? no talking about the nail biting 4-3 finals? the three EG players in one group? the 2 outta the top 4 being liquid? Seiplo PvPing his way through most of the tourney, including HuK? the player co-casters?
very...sparse review anyone else noticing the photo galleries on the bottom of each article these days seem to be replacing writing?
Quoting for truth.
I really hope Wax would release part 2 soon. Cause this article felt so short even if we compare it to the last MLG article... Or maybe due to the MLG article the TL resident censor have castrated the DH article too much?
Dreamhack was amazing indeed. I've been to every single DH for the past 3 years now and this is my favorite one by far. I didn't even feel like I should sleep during the nights. You just wanted to go back and experience everything. Over and over again.
Each day had a new surprise of epic matches, friendly players and casters.
Big thanks to all the players who had good sports against us fans. Taking images with us and so on. For you guys we would gladly sit 6 hours in a ICE-COLD arena getting a freaking cold.
Dreamhack Winter 2011 was a great event, but an even greater taste of things to come - as one of the Swedish casters for national television it was an epic privilege to be there in the thick of it, seeing and delivering esports to legions of online viewers. 2012 will be the year when we make the masses embrace what we have known and loved in seclusion for so many years. It will be tantalizing.
Also, WaxAngel - to bad we never got to share those Liquid pizzas at the hotel
On December 01 2011 17:36 nttea wrote: Hah! i knew eventually TL writing staff would stop outdoing themselves every single time still much appreciated <3 <3 <3
to be fair, it may partially due to the fact that so MANY big tournaments are going on in such rapid succession NASL starts in one day and they still need to do a preview for that too (not looking likely at this point in time)
another worthwhile note is that most of the TL writers attend a university and finals are taking place or soon to be.
However, when you do such excellent work (usually) people start to expect and demand excellence all the time. something tells me that getting help for quality writing isnt that hard to come by for TL, lets shape it up after this one guys
what about anything else? no talking about the nail biting 4-3 finals? the three EG players in one group? the 2 outta the top 4 being liquid? Seiplo PvPing his way through most of the tourney, including HuK? the player co-casters?
what about anything else? no talking about the nail biting 4-3 finals? the three EG players in one group? the 2 outta the top 4 being liquid? Seiplo PvPing his way through most of the tourney, including HuK? the player co-casters?
Yah, those things happened :o
what do you want to hear about them?
are you trolling me? i honestly cant tell....
I thought the point of a tournament wrap-up was to review the tournament and highlight interesting events, you gave a production blog that i'm willing to bet few people really care about, a semi ok piece, and another photo gallery to put with the other 4 or 5 we have already seen.
Yeah, I'd say at least a couple of the things I mentioned(and many i forgot) are worth hearing about.
what about anything else? no talking about the nail biting 4-3 finals? the three EG players in one group? the 2 outta the top 4 being liquid? Seiplo PvPing his way through most of the tourney, including HuK? the player co-casters?
Yah, those things happened :o
what do you want to hear about them?
are you trolling me? i honestly cant tell....
I thought the point of a tournament wrap-up was to review the tournament and highlight interesting events, you gave a production blog that i'm willing to bet few people really care about, a semi ok piece, and another photo gallery to put with the other 4 or 5 we have already seen.
I mean are you saying this in a broader "you are news site, you should have this stuff for an unspecific general audience because I assume they would find so and so topics interesting" sense or because you personally wanted to know about how the tournament went and more detail on so and so topics?
On December 01 2011 17:36 nttea wrote: Hah! i knew eventually TL writing staff would stop outdoing themselves every single time still much appreciated <3 <3 <3
to be fair, it may partially due to the fact that so MANY big tournaments are going on in such rapid succession NASL starts in one day and they still need to do a preview for that too (not looking likely at this point in time)
NASL preview is easy. "NASL Season 1 finals were a total disaster saved by the miraculous final games. For the 2nd season NASL have once again picked a worst possibly time slot - a week after DH which as always have up the bar of SC2 events, and place Ontario - which to most people is a clear indication that the venue is in Canada which is not true.. Luckily for them in the last few months there was a event such horrible that would make NASL look good no matter how bad they screw their second live event. Well if there still would be: natural catastrophe, blizzard blacklisting venue IP, trucks running into telecommunication poles (home terrorism.. Might let Obama wage a war againts drunk drivers) they might still knock PPSL from their throne. The ray of hope for NASL is the fact that they have changed a bit of their format so it doesn't punish the winner of the regular season. Also they got so many casters for one stream that each pair will cast like 1.5 match - so if you will be on site the chance of bumbing into a wild Artosis will be ridiculous high. So get the paper and pen ready for some autographs. "
On December 01 2011 18:30 UltimateHurl wrote: Great write up, but you made a small error, those energy drinks were Thai Good to see the photos up, happy I could help in that regard
what about anything else? no talking about the nail biting 4-3 finals? the three EG players in one group? the 2 outta the top 4 being liquid? Seiplo PvPing his way through most of the tourney, including HuK? the player co-casters?
Yah, those things happened :o
what do you want to hear about them?
are you trolling me? i honestly cant tell....
I thought the point of a tournament wrap-up was to review the tournament and highlight interesting events, you gave a production blog that i'm willing to bet few people really care about, a semi ok piece, and another photo gallery to put with the other 4 or 5 we have already seen.
I mean are you saying this in a broader "you are news site, you should have this stuff for an unspecific general audience because I assume they would find so and so topics interesting" sense or because you personally wanted to know about how the tournament went and more detail on so and so topics?
oh, i apologize
I wouldn't necessarily word the way you did, but i'm sure the general audience would find the events that happened interesting. i was fortunate enough to be able to watch the entire tournament.
Your choice of content to review didn't exactly top the charts of "most talked about things that happened during Dreamhack". at least in this TL lurker's opinion. Then again, i guess i shouldnt complain about what I'm seeing, as i dont help make it.
what about anything else? no talking about the nail biting 4-3 finals? the three EG players in one group? the 2 outta the top 4 being liquid? Seiplo PvPing his way through most of the tourney, including HuK? the player co-casters?
Yah, those things happened :o
what do you want to hear about them?
are you trolling me? i honestly cant tell....
I thought the point of a tournament wrap-up was to review the tournament and highlight interesting events, you gave a production blog that i'm willing to bet few people really care about, a semi ok piece, and another photo gallery to put with the other 4 or 5 we have already seen.
I mean are you saying this in a broader "you are news site, you should have this stuff for an unspecific general audience because I assume they would find so and so topics interesting" sense or because you personally wanted to know about how the tournament went and more detail on so and so topics?
oh, i apologize
I wouldn't necessarily word the way you did, but i'm sure the general audience would find the events that happened interesting. i was fortunate enough to be able to watch the entire tournament.
Your choice of content to review didn't exactly top the charts of "most talked about things that happened during Dreamhack". at least in this TL lurker's opinion. Then again, i guess i shouldnt complain about what I'm seeing, as i dont help make it.
I really agree that the topics you wrote would be awesome to read. However, it's OK without them I guess.
I liked the angle of this write-up. In my opinion, if you want to review the tournament games and how nailbiting the finals were> watch the VODs, a full match report is always awesome but you can't hear the crowd in this stadium through the words of even the best writer, watch them. Also I like the closing picture <3 송현덕 화이팅!
what about anything else? no talking about the nail biting 4-3 finals? the three EG players in one group? the 2 outta the top 4 being liquid? Seiplo PvPing his way through most of the tourney, including HuK? the player co-casters?
Yah, those things happened :o
what do you want to hear about them?
are you trolling me? i honestly cant tell....
I thought the point of a tournament wrap-up was to review the tournament and highlight interesting events, you gave a production blog that i'm willing to bet few people really care about, a semi ok piece, and another photo gallery to put with the other 4 or 5 we have already seen.
I mean are you saying this in a broader "you are news site, you should have this stuff for an unspecific general audience because I assume they would find so and so topics interesting" sense or because you personally wanted to know about how the tournament went and more detail on so and so topics?
oh, i apologize
I wouldn't necessarily word the way you did, but i'm sure the general audience would find the events that happened interesting. i was fortunate enough to be able to watch the entire tournament.
Your choice of content to review didn't exactly top the charts of "most talked about things that happened during Dreamhack". at least in this TL lurker's opinion. Then again, i guess i shouldnt complain about what I'm seeing, as i dont help make it.
No, I don't mean to elicit an apology. It's just that both are valid complaints with very different answers, and I needed to know more to respond.
We're in a strange position in terms of offering 'news' in the general sense, that is reporting events for the sake of relaying information. There are definitely other organizations that place a big focus on that, but at the moment we are definitely not one of them. It's an area we might like to explore, pending an reevaluation of our priorities.
As it relates to your concerns: Certainly, there could have been more things said about the happenings at DH, but we decided to try to get this one before it got lost in the GSL/NASL shuffle. That meant not touching as many bases as we would have liked, but at the same time touching as many bases as we can isn't a top priority at present. Also, there wasn't a terrific amount of interest from writers in touching upon the specific topics from DH, but that's another story.
We went with what we could get in a few days time, and it was probably inadequate for some readers, and I think that was unfortunate. Even though I don't feel we have to talk about everything, and there's no specific 'quota' for articles, I do feel that perhaps there could have been more. Alas, perhaps in later weeks!
Couldnt't agree with you more waxangel, great read. I wasnt there but followed the stream everyday. And the stage finals really blew me away. DHW11 was by far the best tournament of the year.
P.S as a esport-fan i really appriciate that u bring up the production values and what direction the event takes esports cause that cind stuff really intressts me aswell.
I was also there, greatly enjoying myself! But there was one kind of big issue, and one smaller issue, that are worth mentioning: 1. Having finals in other games put in between the Starcraft 2 matches made the the whole experience somewhat lose rhythm. I think that for the ultimate hype/sportish/excitement, all the Starcraft 2 matches should be following each other. Other games before or after that. I think that was quite a big mistake by Dreamhack. You don’t wanna see a period of ice hockey in the middle of a football night. 2. Speaking of ice hockey. The Dream Arena was right atop a ice hockey rink. Sitting atop of that with only some wood in between was quite damn cold after a few hours. I believe that this fact contributed to less excitement during the semi finals at least.
Other than that. The event was simply amazing. Can't wait for next Dreamhack invitational (which I am expecting this spring)!
Was Tod always on your guys radar or were you just not that impressed with him? I knew a little about the guy before hand but I thought his play at this tournament was wonderful and he really showed some true potential.
Just wondering.
EDIT: Fuck, I must have somehow missed the line you discussed ToD in.. because I just read the article a second time and saw it. Sorry, I'm super tired. I take this back. Thanks!! good read.
On December 01 2011 18:30 UltimateHurl wrote: Great write up, but you made a small error, those energy drinks were Thai Good to see the photos up, happy I could help in that regard
they were a japanese drink's thai retail version
Yeah? It was all Swedish to me, I just believed what Nick told me and drank (in retrospect a very foolish decision...)
Nice article and I agree, Dreamhack was a fantastic event but I think some of the success can be attributed to the quality of the finals and the story behind it. It had two of the best foreign teams competing in the finals (rivalry?), a proven champion in Puma vs a rising star with unrealized potential in Hero as well as a best of 7 that went the distance.
A little disappointed that it wasn't mentioned in the article ... wonder if there will be a follow up article about Hero's success?
Indeed a nice warp-up but a bit shorter than expected. Would have been nice to read some more insight about for example Seiplo or how the actual lan (Dreamhack) was.
Excellent way to wrap things up! Very well put together, now I can hold my breath for DH2012 summer! So glad some more of my snaps made the final cut, especially the GG screen! :-)
good write up. As a fan who watches GSL and watched broodwar, I do not agree with neglect of korean scene. Sure fans may show more passion in MLG or dreamhack and I love those two events but I think in terms of production values go, korea is still above the rest. overall it was a good write up.
So has it been explained as to how all three EG members ended up in the same group? This event was great but I found it annoying that an entire team had to cannibalize itself.
On December 02 2011 04:04 GunPaladin wrote: So has it been explained as to how all three EG members ended up in the same group? This event was great but I found it annoying that an entire team had to cannibalize itself.
Seriously, this event was terrible as a home viewer. Couldnt find the right streams, links were broken, streams would freeze up, showing different games, random casters, random(and terrible,amateur, innapropriate, etc...) hosts ruining celebrations, awful music. Maybe Im not 'in tune' with euro esports, but high-production value not withstanding, this shit was amateur. Couldnt have cared less about the finals TBQH even as a fan of both players, and the arena looked awkward. Oh yeah the 'couch' was dumb too. I dont need 6 'experts' weighing in after each match. Just my honest opinion. Cant wait for MLG.
On December 02 2011 05:10 stratmatt wrote: Seriously, this event was terrible as a home viewer. Couldnt find the right streams, links were broken, streams would freeze up, showing different games, random casters, random(and terrible,amateur, innapropriate, etc...) hosts ruining celebrations, awful music. Maybe Im not 'in tune' with euro esports, but high-production value not withstanding, this shit was amateur. Couldnt have cared less about the finals TBQH even as a fan of both players, and the arena looked awkward. Oh yeah the 'couch' was dumb too. I dont need 6 'experts' weighing in after each match. Just my honest opinion. Cant wait for MLG.
Dont worry MLG will have the couch also ^^. PS. If you have used the triple stream you shouldnt have problems with finding the right matches. Especially when there was the list of matches, times and on what streams they were shown.
PS. Are you really from US? I heard twitch don't lag for US.
Nice writeup! As some has mentioned though, day 1 and parts of day 2 were ruined by laggy and stuttering streams for a large portion of us Europeans. I don't know who's to blame and I don't care, that shit has to go for future events.
On December 01 2011 14:53 rkshox wrote: great tournament. great wrap up. great pictures. awesome. glad to see that sen's play was not overlooked. tough loss for him, but at least he knows that he got beat by the person who won the entire tournament.
Well there is much more to stay expect for the fact that I had more to say
I do totally agree with you on most parts and concering the couch I think 3 is perfect number atleast for a quick tournament like dreamhack, I dont know how long other take between games but mlg usually takes a bit of time with lobby creating etc, which would give them even more time to fill space with casters analyze and talking. How ever I think this should not only be used neccesarily for filling time but it is a great entertainment to have between games and whole sets on times in the tournament to let the casters talk about what they have seen in the games and the results of the tournament in total.
On December 02 2011 05:10 stratmatt wrote: Seriously, this event was terrible as a home viewer. Couldnt find the right streams, links were broken, streams would freeze up, showing different games, random casters, random(and terrible,amateur, innapropriate, etc...) hosts ruining celebrations, awful music. Maybe Im not 'in tune' with euro esports, but high-production value not withstanding, this shit was amateur. Couldnt have cared less about the finals TBQH even as a fan of both players, and the arena looked awkward. Oh yeah the 'couch' was dumb too. I dont need 6 'experts' weighing in after each match. Just my honest opinion. Cant wait for MLG.
lol wtf is wrong with you. On day 1 there were stream issues, that is about the only thing that is true about your post. random casters? Tasteless artosis mr bitter day9 apollo totalbiscuit is seriously random to you? seems like a majority of people really liked the couch, and its a perfect way to get over the downtime between the games arena "awkward" lol..
On December 02 2011 05:10 stratmatt wrote: Seriously, this event was terrible as a home viewer. Couldnt find the right streams, links were broken, streams would freeze up, showing different games, random casters, random(and terrible,amateur, innapropriate, etc...) hosts ruining celebrations, awful music. Maybe Im not 'in tune' with euro esports, but high-production value not withstanding, this shit was amateur. Couldnt have cared less about the finals TBQH even as a fan of both players, and the arena looked awkward. Oh yeah the 'couch' was dumb too. I dont need 6 'experts' weighing in after each match. Just my honest opinion. Cant wait for MLG.
Stream issues on day 1 were annoying, but were resolved for the rest of the tournaments. There were multiple streams, with a pretty easy-to-access schedule - i don't really think it's DHWs fault if you can't find the right stream.
"Random casters" - well this statement right here is a little bit confusing; the tournament had the best SC2 casters that are current except for maybe Husky at the moment. They provided quality insight and really great commentary.
"Couldn't have cared less about the finals" - go watch them again and see how epic they were; the games, the casting, a nail biting Bo7 series.
"The couch was dumb" - well, not according to the vast majority, but hey everyone is entitled to their opinion.
I have absolutely no idea how your DHW experience went so wrong, but you really are a unique case. I think it is a combination of personal circumstance rather than DH messing up.
Great read! Love the players that stood out because they weren't the obvious ones like HerO and Puma, but people that didn't make it past the RO16 and could only really stand out to someone that was there.
Things inside such venues just take on a different air. They're the kind of places where Michael Jordan carried his team in a crucial playoff game while suffering from the flu, and Metallica reached the height of their powers and assaulted the world with some of the greatest metal performances to date.
I really appreciate the move by DH on trying introduce fighting games to SC2 gamer... Take the following match as an example, Hype Moment like this will definitely be enjoyed by everyone no matter you know anything about the game or not... and fighting games are never really hard to understand anyway.. =D + Show Spoiler +
The winner is EG.Justing Wong, fellow teammate of Huk, Idra and InControl.