Counter-Strike Discussion

[careh]

Epic little update (8/8/14):

 

New Skinz

• Updated the Challenger ESL sticker.
• Team MTS Gamegod Wolf updated their sticker.
• Enabled the Virtus.Pro (Holo) | Cologne 2014 sticker to be used for the Cologne Pick'Em Challenge.
• Spectators can now hear the caster via GOTV on official event matches and toggle a variety of options (from the scoreboard) that allows caster to control the local user spectator experience.
• Fixed an exploit that allowed players to use an sv_cheats-protected sound mixer state on non-sv_cheats game servers.
• Fixed upside-down label position on butterfly knife model.
• Fixed the string "X saved Y by killing Z" showing X as Z for spectators.
• When a camera switches between nearby players when spectating, it now interpolates (disable via game options menu).
• The spectator panel no longer goes away when the scoreboard comes up, but the player health sub panel still does.
• The HUD no longer goes away when the bomb explodes for spectators/gotv viewers.
• The scoreboard mouse cursor now comes up automatically when you are an HLTV spectator.
• Added panels to the spectator panel that will show a variety of information about current matches during official events.

Having never played / watched DOTA I'm really intrigued as to how well this is going to work.

 

Predictions. Sorry 'Muricans - iBP / Fnatic will be close for sure though.

 

[Proto]

I used the Dota 2 in game spectator mode to watch some matches from The International and it is incredible. I can't wait to use GOTV for ESL One.

 

NiP need to step it the hell up for ESL One or they will get steam rolled. I'll be cheering for them - my boys on Virtus Pro (The Polish Plow shall be strong) and Cloud 9. Overall I just can't wait for the event.

[Proto]

Also - if you guys haven't done it yet - sign up with ESL and pick your fantasy team for Cologne.

 

http://fantasy.eslgaming.com/

 

Here is my lineup

 

[Proto]

It finally happened. After so long and so many cases opened, it finally happened.

 

[Kenny]

It finally happened. After so long and so many cases opened, it finally happened.

 

Omg congrats. The crimson web makes it so nice

[Kenny]

Any predictions on ESL. I cant wait to watch cloud 9. If I had to guess its either going to be VP or Dig. Both look very strong.

 

Edit: Also we should have CS articles and news here maybe ease into it but with the rise of cs again I think it would be good.

[Kenny]

Like my fantasy team going to be interesting.

[careh]

My ESL Fantasy team.

 

http://fantasy.eslgaming.com/teams/59170

[Doju]

Gamescom hype

[Proto]

The day so far has been amazing to say the least. From the games to - more importantly - the viewer numbers - everything has been amazing so far. I'm shocked to see how big just the first day has been. Saturday and Sunday are going to be mind blowing.

[careh]

The day so far has been amazing to say the least. From the games to - more importantly - the viewer numbers - everything has been amazing so far. I'm shocked to see how big just the first day has been. Saturday and Sunday are going to be mind blowing.

The majors have blown away my expectations every time.

 

 

[careh]

wat.

[Proto]

Day 3!

 

http://www.twitch.tv/esltv_cs

[sbk]

did complexity sell their team to cloud9?

[Doju]

did complexity sell their team to cloud9?

Yup

[Proto]

NiP vs Cloud 9 - Map 3 coming up. Loser goes home

 

Sweet mother of God.

[careh]

Exhaustingly good CS.

Roll on tomorrow.

 

COUNTER-STRIKE HYPPPPPPE

 

[Proto]

Since Dig vs. Fnatic has already started - I think it could go either way. As for NiP vs. LDLC - I don't see NiP losing. Yesterday against C9 they showed once again they know how to win no matter the circumstance. They can be outplayed for 99% of the game - but that 1% when they need to win - they seem to always do it. Either way the match will be incredible.

[Proto]

WHAT. A. TOURNAMENT.

 

So fucking pumped NiP won. They absolutely deserved it. Seeing Get Right's emotions at the end had me shaking. Amazing.

[sbk]

that match was awesome. 

[careh]

Amazing finals! So glad it went the distance to show exactly what makes CS so great.

[Doju]

Careh, in your mind what is the next step for CS in its comp structure. The viewerbase is there, but is the next step some kind of seasonal structure/ranking/circuit point system, rather than sporadic majors, which while they are awesome doesnt allow other scenes or regions to grow if its only 16 or so teams in them.

[careh]

Careh, in your mind what is the next step for CS in its comp structure. The viewerbase is there, but is the next step some kind of seasonal structure/ranking/circuit point system, rather than sporadic majors, which while they are awesome doesnt allow other scenes or regions to grow if its only 16 or so teams in them.

It's a toughy because what they're doing now works well for the stage Global Offensive is at what they're trying to achieve.

 

Valve have always had a really hands off approach in regards to tournaments, this suited everyone and in part made Counter-Strike so resilient as a title by forcing community founded infrastructure. So far the 'majors' have been a way of distributing money without disrupting that infrastructure with multiple other benefits:

• It's very non-committal - no Valve money in the balance
• It's requires minimal resources - necessity because the GO dev team is tiny
• It's a massive advertisement for the game
• It's growth is almost self sustaining - community funds > tournament > headlines > more viewers > more community funds...

A league or season is [competitive] community service no doubt but you're losing part of what makes the majors so successful in presenting the absolutely best experience with a minimal time commitment. Over the course of a weekend people may tune into one of the games for the spectacle, look at the finals that rose 70k viewers in the final map alone. The games population is only just getting over 200k daily concurrent on average so these numbers really do make a difference:

 

 

I personally don't think GO is at the stage where it could look to sacrifice any potential growth. What I would like to see them do instead is two fold:

 

Continue to improve the game - keep that population happy and active

• Improve the basic quality of the game - fps, map quality, balance e.t.c.
• Improve the quality of the peripheral experiences - improved MM, Casual, new polished modes (zombies?), statistics e.t.c.
• Improve the tournament experience - perfect and release in client tournaments, improve how things are shown (example)

Create an International type event for CSGO - don't reinvent the wheel

• Show the true force of the community - stickers sales alone make more money than goes into the $250k prize pool
• Galvanize the whole community with a shared major goal
• Create a foundation for what people will come to expect in future years
• Reap all the benefits of the previous majors with even more headline grabbing potential
• Use the stretch goals to facilitate improvements to the game
• Make it truly international and milk the ever living shit out of the qualifiers (facilitating regional growth)

[Korrupt]

Just bought a new set up, hoping to play a lot more of this game!, really enjoyed the tournament!

[Doju]

 

It's a toughy because what they're doing now works well for the stage Global Offensive is at what they're trying to achieve.

 

Valve have always had a really hands off approach in regards to tournaments, this suited everyone and in part made Counter-Strike so resilient as a title by forcing community founded infrastructure. So far the 'majors' have been a way of distributing money without disrupting that infrastructure with multiple other benefits:

• It's very non-committal - no Valve money in the balance
• It's requires minimal resources - necessity because the GO dev team is tiny
• It's a massive advertisement for the game
• It's growth is almost self sustaining - community funds > tournament > headlines > more viewers > more community funds...

A league or season is [competitive] community service no doubt but you're losing part of what makes the majors so successful in presenting the absolutely best experience with a minimal time commitment. Over the course of a weekend people may tune into one of the games for the spectacle, look at the finals that rose 70k viewers in the final map alone. The games population is only just getting over 200k daily concurrent on average so these numbers really do make a difference:

 

 

I personally don't think GO is at the stage where it could look to sacrifice any potential growth. What I would like to see them do instead is two fold:

 

Continue to improve the game - keep that population happy and active

• Improve the basic quality of the game - fps, map quality, balance e.t.c.
• Improve the quality of the peripheral experiences - improved MM, Casual, new polished modes (zombies?), statistics e.t.c.
• Improve the tournament experience - perfect and release in client tournaments, improve how things are shown (example)

Create an International type event for CSGO - don't reinvent the wheel

• Show the true force of the community - stickers sales alone make more money than goes into the $250k prize pool
• Galvanize the whole community with a shared major goal
• Create a foundation for what people will come to expect in future years
• Reap all the benefits of the previous majors with even more headline grabbing potential
• Use the stretch goals to facilitate improvements to the game
• Make it truly international and milk the ever living shit out of the qualifiers (facilitating regional growth)
•  

 

I can agree with most of that. Do especially agree with the international milking, that could be applied to majors too, not just an international, create better competition for, say, the North America scene rather than the same 2/3 teams in majors every time. The NA CS scene seems to be wanting to make that next step. 

 

Shame that it seems very unlikely that CS would ever get big in China/Korea.