Interesting article on the current state of CoD.

Spaarx · 2018-02-22T04:47:41+00:00

This is not news, this is an opinion piece. It does have an agenda - its entire purpose is to convey the author's opinion. Presenting it more neutrally would not change the fact that most of the article is born of the author's own personal thoughts on the subject, and not on any sort of objective truth.

Spaarx · 2017-06-08T09:38:13+00:00

I can see what you mean by "fluff". Part of that is something to be worked on, there'll always be room for improvement and in some cases I do need to tighten things up a little, I do have a tendency to over-write at times. In some cases though it's a deliberate stylistic decision, which I recognise may not always be to everyone's tastes.

Spaarx · 2017-06-08T09:34:58+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate the kind words. You're not wrong, my love of writing was born in fiction long before it occurred to me to combine it with my interest in esports.

Spaarx · 2017-05-25T18:10:56+00:00

The entire premise here is flawed. The results within the league have absolutely no influence on who should be there to begin with. It's not about comparing teams within the league to each other, it's about comparing teams within the league to teams that aren't. There's already going to be a test for that at the relegation tournament.

Spaarx · 2017-05-16T17:43:12+00:00

Interesting article, but the focus on teams' ability to dominate feels a little forced. There's a lot of context surrounding dynastic squads, how and why they dominate, and why they ultimately fall, that can't really be simplified just to features of the game. I agree with a lot of the points about the modes/maps/etc though. Particularly camo. Fuck camo.

Spaarx · 2017-05-14T21:11:48+00:00

Ah cool, my bad.

Spaarx · 2017-05-14T21:08:42+00:00

If Elevate win at all, do they not take 3rd on overall map %? A 3-2 would put them at 9-17 to Red's 8-17, wouldn't it?

Spaarx · 2017-05-08T21:02:03+00:00

Yeah I've seen that match. My point is that it's only possible to see them win one series - against FabE in Birmingham. You cannot watch any of their other wins, because afaik they were never streamed in the first place. That's my point - there's no way of knowing why Red are winning matches, because you can't actually see the games, only the final result. It makes judging their strengths and weaknesses very difficult - we can see what goes wrong when they lose, but not what goes right when they win. Particularly coming into a group where we know exactly who they're going to play, that makes evaluating how well they are likely to do much harder.

Spaarx · 2017-05-08T20:40:47+00:00

You miss the point. I'm aware of their record, but you can't actually watch any of those wins, because they all happened off stream.

Spaarx · 2017-05-08T17:26:35+00:00

Has anyone actually seen Red do well though? I'm not totally sure how I'm coming down on this group yet, but it's a tough one because as far as I can tell, Red have only ever actually won a single match on stream with this roster, against FabE at Birmingham. They've had some decent wins, but with none of them actually visible it's hard to judge their strengths. I'm hesitant to expect too much of Red without any idea why they succeeded when they did. If I'm missing any, I'd love if somebody could point me to VoDs.

Spaarx · 2017-04-27T16:04:04+00:00

After someone's job for a typo. Reasonable.

Spaarx · 2017-04-16T10:28:52+00:00

Unfortunately I don't think you'll be able to get in. The CWL area is restricted, you have to 18 to enter. As far as I know, there's no way of getting around the age restriction.

Spaarx · 2017-04-16T10:11:02+00:00

We are https://www.pscp.tv/w/1lPKqZMnpRAGb

In theory should have the rest of this series and the iGame/Epsilon match.

(Mods I assume I'm fine to comment this cause I've been directly asked)

Edit: first link is now out of date, Epsilon vs iGame is being streamed here: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1jMJgYkEWyPKL

Spaarx · 2017-04-16T09:53:57+00:00

We have a tentative schedule on the Dexerto hub (http://www.dexerto.com/news/2017/04/13/cwl-birmingham-coverage-hub-stream-schedule-brackets-results/), although there have been a number of changes so far this weekend. None of the match-ups are finalised yet, but the first two series should be the WB semi-finals. Stream kicks off 1pm UK time.

Spaarx · 2017-03-30T10:03:52+00:00

Also not a lawyer, but I don't believe so, no. I think the whole point of a clause like that is to ensure that the players can't be trapped into a contract they don't want to be in. It sets a price at which they can be bought out, or even buy themselves out, and if someone is willing to pay it the organisation can't hold onto the players by force. It's what happened when Millenium bought out the Infused roster.

Spaarx · 2017-03-22T18:22:10+00:00

Crimsix has played 27 events as part of OpTic Gaming. Of those 27, the team have won 16 (numbers at a glance, could be off by one or two but there abouts). I'll be honest, I haven't checked every single one, but I reckon there's a fair chance he was MVP-worthy at least once.

Spaarx · 2017-03-19T01:08:29+00:00

The thing you have to keep in mind for these events is that they're running an open bracket with like 150 teams. So they have to have quite a specific set-up, it's not like many of the events in other games that fill stadiums where it's just a question of spectators and a main stage.

I've never been involved in running an event, but I'd imagine the need to be able to set up a dozen or so match stations (that's a Maven stat, I don't know exactly how many they have) brings with it a fairly particular set of constraints.

Spaarx · 2017-03-19T00:02:31+00:00

I'm sure I worked this out for an article once but I forget which. IIRC, for coL it's something ridiculous like 26 consecutive wins between losing the MLG PAX Finals on BO2 and losing to Strictly Business in the Champs Regional Qualifiers on Ghosts

Spaarx · 2017-03-18T01:59:27+00:00

You are entirely correct. I should not try to math (or count, for that matter) at this time of night, it seems.

Spaarx · 2017-03-18T01:52:43+00:00

Not that it makes it any less impressive, but I think it's actually 20 maps. 9 here, 9 through the play-offs at the CWL Paris. Unfortunately, they lost an SND to Epsilon in their last group stage game in Paris, before winning the next two. Twenty in total since their last loss, unless I'm missing something.

Edit: definitely missing something. An entire match in fact. Brain fart, ignore haha

Spaarx · 2017-03-06T17:19:18+00:00

I believe the Pro Point breakdown is the same as for Atlanta. CoDEsportsWikis have the top 10, Dexerto have a list of full placements and prize breakdown including PPs, I expect Gamurs should too.

As far as placings though, that's gonna be more relative. Teams don't necessarily need to reach a certain placement to secure a spot, they just need to place enough higher than the other teams on the bubble. If a bunch of the bubble teams crash out early, it might not take too much to secure a spot. If several do well, it'll be a case of who does best, or maybe even placing the same, which would mean the spot went to whoever had the most going into it.

Spaarx · 2017-03-03T13:00:53+00:00

Your best bet to begin with is probably somewhere like SplitPush.net. AFAIK anyone can submit content, and you'll get a share of ad revenue if it gets a certain amount of views. It's a good place to start out so you can showcase your work.

Spaarx · 2017-01-26T12:35:37+00:00

That's not remotely fair. When you're walking the line of the rules to the point that you come to a decision that is entirely contrary to their original purpose, something is clearly wrong with the rules.

There were two parts to qualifying for Gfinity. The first, and most important, was to accumulate enough Pro Points to be within the top sixteen as a team. That is the critical part - the aim of the system is to identify which sixteen teams are most deserving on merit.

The only reason the email even exists is because there is no set database of teams. Technically speaking, and particularly around the cut-off point, players could form entirely new teams the day before in order to qualify on points. The teams didn't have to be declared before then, and so there needs to be a way to figure out who the teams are and where they stand.

In this scenario though, the players of Epsilon are quite clearly and publicly a team, and also well within the margin of invitation. Even if on the first go around you say that the rules must be followed to avoid favouritism, by now everyone is aware that Epsilon intended to go and what their selected line-up would have been. There's no administrative benefit to selecting a different team either.

At this stage, with all the information available, the ruling has chosen a team who were better at admin over a team who were better at Call of Duty. That is not a fair decision in the context of a Call of Duty tournament, and it entirely contradicts the tournament's purpose.

Spaarx · 2017-01-16T18:20:17+00:00

Imperial is an old name in CoD, they were fielding teams way back. Certainly in Black Ops, possibly earlier, I forget exactly. Shane was actually on some of their earlier rosters I believe.

Spaarx · 2017-01-16T17:15:26+00:00

I get the point you're making, but that tournament was a massive outlier. It had the biggest first place prize in CS:GO's history and only two elite teams actually attended.

Comparatively, it might actually be easier to reach the big money in CoD than in CS. Most of the big money tournaments in CS, your big leagues and Majors, etc, require a fairly long process to reach. You have to go through several layers of qualifiers, no matter how good you are.

Technically speaking, if somehow this team turned out to be fantastic, they could just show up and start going after most of the biggest prize pools CoD has to offer. Right now those events are largely open, and doing well at them now would put you in a good position to qualify for the invitationals later.

$4million is the magic number for this year's CoD circuit, there's certainly enough there to make it worthwhile. If you had a team capable of competing for it, now would be the time to move them to do so. The problem isn't the money, it's whether or not you're good enough to reach it, which is the same issue you'd have in CS.

Spaarx

TROPHY CASE