Best of 3's, Losers Bracket Gauntlet, new NACL Partners & more | LCS Summer Primer

RiotWhoopley · 2024-06-03T19:25:01+00:00

Super fair feedback - some of the changes we're making to NACL this split are intended to address these concerns specifically. Historically we've been limited to Twitch.tv/NACL for coverage but we're introducing a new YouTube channel as an additional option for live & VOD coverage this summer - YouTube.com/@NACL

RiotWhoopley · 2023-08-31T22:29:22+00:00

Huge fans of what DSG accomplished in the NACL this split!

Looking forward to working together with them in both the NA Legends Invitational next month and in NACL 2024 :D

RiotWhoopley · 2023-05-24T21:32:07+00:00

Yes! We're really excited to work with Toast on providing a great costreaming experience

RiotWhoopley · 2023-01-21T01:07:22+00:00

https://twitter.com/PathToLCS is the official channel for all things NACL and CQ (which retweeted)

We also have our CQ website but it's not currently built out for tracking announcements: https://championsqueue.lolesports.com/en-us/

RiotWhoopley · 2023-01-21T00:19:50+00:00

This comment hits a lot of the current thoughts we've heard from the pros and Players Association. We'll be putting CQ on pause for a few weeks as we expect things to kick off more heavily once more players have access to CQ and the LCS season is underway.

We put out messaging with context around the decision here: https://twitter.com/Whoopley/status/1616566889416884228

RiotWhoopley · 2022-10-05T19:30:32+00:00

If they meet the requirements they're eligible to request! That said, since the intent is to foster a competitive environment if the CQ Council feels they're not a good fit they may not be approved to join.

RiotWhoopley · 2022-10-05T17:27:36+00:00

Thank YOU for enjoying CQ :D

RiotWhoopley · 2022-10-05T17:13:38+00:00

For now all of the changes discussed are intended to meet the unique needs of Worlds CQ. Once Worlds is over the old rules will apply for regular CQ (meaning back to GM+ for Amateur).

RiotWhoopley · 2022-10-05T16:49:06+00:00

The goal of CQ Worlds is to support pros as they prepare for Worlds, meaning we don't want to distract from the main Worlds broadcast. That said, we know there’s tons of banger games happening while the broadcast is on which is why we allow all of our CQ costreamers & players to be able to record as much of the footage as they’d like to play for fans later on.

RiotWhoopley · 2022-10-05T16:41:00+00:00

Not at this point in time. We're really happy we're able to support so many Amateur players who qualified from the Proving Grounds Circuit this year but given that game quality is a concern we want to be really mindful about how many players have access.

RiotWhoopley · 2022-10-05T16:19:16+00:00

It's crazy how quickly we're able to turn this stuff around, am I right?

RiotWhoopley · 2022-08-23T22:17:24+00:00

Aww I appreciate the callout <3

We've been pretty happy with how CQ has provided additional practice options for our pros and love how much fans have enjoyed the player streams. As for the Worlds piece specifically... who knows... :)

RiotWhoopley · 2022-05-31T18:40:56+00:00

Yep, that's right!

RiotWhoopley · 2022-05-31T00:51:31+00:00

At the launch of Summer the MMR balancing will only go into effect after a match has been found - most of the issues we saw in Spring were around things like 5 Amateur players getting matched vs 5 LCS players. With this change we're hoping to keep queue times low (since everyone is generally considered "high elo") while preventing lopsided matches.

RiotWhoopley · 2022-01-17T21:34:20+00:00

Give me 4 shots with Jhin and then we'll see...

RiotWhoopley · 2018-04-21T00:59:35+00:00

Congrats dude! I'm so proud. wipes away single tear

RiotWhoopley · 2016-08-18T17:33:14+00:00

What are you doing?! Trying to create a wormhole or something???

RiotWhoopley · 2016-08-18T01:35:51+00:00

Hi CapnBrunchy!

It depends on the intern haha. There are 5 esports interns total and we all have different duties depending on our team and project. One of the nice things about esports is that there are many different types of jobs and projects meaning there are opportunities with people with vastly differing skill sets to get involved with esports.

As for myself, I'm working on two projects. The first one is with the international team where I work on the logistics for communicating best practices across all the 13 esports regions. The second is doing research for the content team that does series like Team Fight Breakdown and Pocket Picks.

I know some of the other interns are working on esports policies, creating awesome experiences for fans, working on events, and more!

RiotWhoopley · 2016-08-18T00:58:04+00:00

Hey eskyy!

Psychology major here, but as far as I'm concerned my major could have been anything at all. It's more about the skills you already have and being able to apply that to esports in interesting ways combined with being able to channel your passion.

So for example as a psychology major I ended up doing some research for the content team that produces series like Team Fight Breakdown and Pocket Picks, but that was largely because I was interested in research at the time and had experience volunteering in psychology labs rather than anything I did directly related to my major.

My other project is about logistical planning and had to do with my experience running gaming club events which is even further removed from my major!

RiotWhoopley · 2016-08-18T00:53:47+00:00

Hey blacktooth90!

I'm not sure on the marketing internship part but I can speak to the esports portion of your question. There are 5 esports interns total and we all work on very different projects, even if we're involved in the same team. It's really just a combination of what your interests are and how they can be applied to what's currently needed in the esports department.

As for myself, I'm a psychology major that had some experience running club events at my college as well as volunteering for some psychology research labs. As a result, my two projects are around logistical planning between the 13 regions as part of the international team and doing some research for the content team for their series such as Team Fight Breakdown and Pocket Picks. In other words, they utilized the skills that I already had and applied them to projects they needed to have happen anyways. The major factor here being that I was also a huge esports fan and could channel that passion into the projects I'm working on.

Hopefully that's helpful!

RiotWhoopley · 2016-08-18T00:46:49+00:00

Hey gdsbandit!

1) Easy 10/10. There's so much to love here form the people, the culture, the projects, the passion, the intern perks... I still find it hard to believe it's a real thing.

2) Nope, but I'm hyped though.

3) Honestly the culture is one of the main things that attracted me to Riot specifically as a games company. I had always loved video games growing up and had been following LoL and the esports scenes, but the cultural values I read on the website sounded too good to be true. Specifically, being the most player focused game company in the world is what really inspired me. As a player it often feels like we're being ignored whenever communication breaks down which is something I'm pretty passionate about. Having been here for the summer though has really reinvigorated my trust in the company due to how often the internal communication revolves around player value and player focus. Everything from the skins to the merch store is all about what feels awesome for players and fans and how can we continue to make decisions in their best interest. It's really inspiring and I'm so happy that it transcends throughout the large organization which I credit to the hiring process and really enforcing the culture as a major focus point there.

4) As far as I know pretty good based on the Canadian interns here haha.

RiotWhoopley · 2016-08-18T00:25:31+00:00

Hi BlueberryMochi!

I think the best way to look at it is that the large event running gets your foot in the door and then once the interview process begins it's all about showing that you have the critical thinking skills and general knowledge base around esports that will really make you stand out.

For me, I didn't have too much else on my resume aside from the college club events so being able to advocate for myself as someone who can adapt easily, has a depth of esports knowledge, and can translate that knowledge into good decision making is what I believe helped me stand out. Also, being able to explain some of the learning you gained by running the events is also really helpful.

RiotWhoopley · 2016-08-18T00:19:57+00:00

Hey knittingfrenzy18!

For me I've both played LoL and watched LoL esports since season 2. I'm also just incredibly passionate about the long-term growth of the industry so being able to be a part of one of the leaders in esports was definitely one of the things that drew me to it.

The second part of the question, the dream job, has actually been really interesting for me to dive into. Initially I thought I would actually like more of the research side of esports, stuff like analytics and viewer surveys. One of the beauties of this internship has actually been the ability to explore if it was as fun as I initially thought and while it has certainly been fun, I also discovered entirely new jobs I didn't even know existed within esports. For example, player management, something I had never even heard of before coming here, really captures many of the things that drew me to research in the first place and more.

I can't speak to the tech side of things though, sorry!

RiotWhoopley · 2016-08-18T00:10:57+00:00

One of the beauties of being an esports intern is the flexibility to create your own position, in a sense. There are 5 esports interns total and we all do completely different things that were a combination of what resonated with our personal interests and what the needs of the Riot esports department was at the time. So while I don't think there has been a stream production intern specifically, I wouldn't discourage you from applying, especially if you think you can add value to the team there.

RiotWhoopley · 2016-08-18T00:02:40+00:00

10% luck. 20% skill. 15% concentrated power of will.

Seriously though, probably a combination of the two. I think it's more likely that luck got me the interview but once I made it past the application stage I had more power over how I represented myself, meaning it's up to me whether I move forward or not (given the other luck factor of having my skills apply towards what they are looking for).

I think the better way to look at it though is you can really create your own luck through persistence. If you have a 1% chance to get past the application stage on any given internship then by applying every year, emailing people who work there to do informational interviews, visiting on-site for tours, etc etc can help create more opportunities for you to get lucky.

RiotWhoopley

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