We haven't had a meeting in the War Room for quite a bit because our strategy has been set and sound for quite some time (also, Ninjabutter stole the name of my series in order to use it for the new strategy section, pft). However, with the recent conclusion of the GameReplays 2v2 Open, the path ahead is once again unclear... or so it would seem from the outside.
The first thing I want to address is the recent GR2O. We got near 24 teams registered, which sounds low, but isn't too bad considering how many last-second attempts after closing registration we got (and as for participants, that's really 24 times two). As well, we can't exactly say that we have fostered the 2v2 community's growth in recent times, and with so many dedicated 1v1 players sitting on their hands during the tournament, turn-out was pretty good. Our bigger concern there was actual tournament attendance, but it was good enough to see through an exciting event. More or less, GR2O was a success that we and the community can build-on.
And with that, gone are the days of GameReplays attempting to alternately support 1v1 then 2v2 or to put one above the other consistently. From here on out, 1v1 and 2v2 are both, as they must be, major points of focus for GameReplays. We're not ready to expand to 3v3 yet, and I'll be honest here, recent comments from Relic staff do not help the push there, but when we get steady 1v1 and 2v2 events we will consider 3v3- so if you want us to support 3v3, the best possible way to do that will be to support our 1v1 and 2v2 events however you can (give those modes a try, fill our empty staff positions and help us out, pack our streams full of viewers, etc).
So what is next for 1v1 and 2v2? There has been a lot of talk lately about what we might do, from clan leagues to GROS 2. We're not opting for any of those options. Instead, we're going a much more ambitious route. We know this move seems odd given
Dawn of War 2's current state, but we're not concerned with it. The fact is,
Dawn of War 2 is going quite strong compared to many other competitive games released before
StarCraft 2, and Relic is continuing to support the game with significant updates and downloadable content. The recent flood of game releases may have temporarily dampened the time many players put towards
Dawn of War 2 right now, but this state will not persist (I can personally vouch for the fact that we're continuing to receive fresh faces from
StarCraft 2,
Heroes of Newerth, and other games who are very interested in the competitive scene- the challenge is and has always been both providing that competitive scene and compensating for
Dawn of War 2's lack of a real tutorial).
We're still working out the complete details, so I'll leave those for another post, but we're looking to start-up proper GameReplays
Dawn of War 2 leagues. We're not looking to replace matchmaking, but we are looking to offer 1v1 and 2v2 players a couple of scheduled games per week alongside more frequent tournaments. Scheduled matches and tournaments will offer players the opportunity to earn points, which will help them in their quest to reach our playoff tournament which will be of GROS-level hype and prize pool. We're currently planning on both an invitational and open league for both 1v1 and 2v2 modes, so players of all skill levels will be able to fearlessly participate and build their competitive experience. We fully intend to track standings, stats, and more for all leagues and to provide at least weekly casts of matches and of course full coverage of tournaments.
To make the above a reality, we need more staff manpower. I'm not going to lie there. We've cut our staff down drastically in recent months (and even days) to a core of dedicated personnel. The upside of this is that just about all of our current staff is reliable. The downside of this is that just about our entire staff is composed of Ramirez. Ramirez won't cut it (sorry Ramirez). We're currently looking for dedicated casters (we're not interested in people who only want to use GameReplays to boost their own YouTube hits- we've tried that, it works like crap, we're not continuing it- we're looking for casters who are willing to work cooperatively in a system), a video editor, graphics artists, writers (right now, we're most interested in writers who are interested in the game and its competitive scene- much of the news that's going to need to be covered is going to come from our own events), stat trackers (we need people to gather statistics from league play and we also need people to feed those statistics to casters to improve our broadcasts), and we could also use refs (people who help our matches and tournaments run smoothly as well as help out with Fair Play issues) and possibly mappers (we're very open to introducing quality custom maps into our leagues having had good success with Jarillo's Forge in GROS). If you're interested in helping with any of those positions, personal message
5*General,
IpKaiFung, or
Ninjabutter at your earliest convenience.
The other thing we need to do is retain new blood. There are many things that could be, can be, and are being done there, but the number one issue in our eyes is that
Dawn of War 2 has so much hidden complexity that a database dedicated to removing the shadow of that choking veil is absolutely necessary to preventing new players from suffocating while attempting to rise through
Dawn of War 2's ranks. We understand that most of you reading this got by just fine without such a database, but if it makes you happy, consider yourselves the few, the proud, the...
Dawn of War 2 veterans. Either way, it would be more than good for everyone to get such a database up, and that is where our strategy concerns are shifting to. Currently Dullahan alone is leading that division and will be spearheading efforts to begin populating our new Wiki that will be going up later this week. We intend to leverage the Wiki to provide everything from unit stats to complex mechanical explanations to details on the latest strategies (replacing our portal-based guides which quickly fall out of date) to pro player databases to... well, there are so many things that can be done in due time.
But yes, a Wiki is about input from the community. And we fully intend to foster that. We want all of you to contribute your expertise and knowledge to the Wiki. We will hand-pick the best, most knowledgeable contributors to occupy our long-maligned Strategy Specialist slots to police Wiki contributions and to foster contributions where necessary.
That's what's on our strategic radar right now. We're currently in the build-up phase and are working on deploying the Wiki. With that set and with some required staff acquisitions, we will get the leagues going. Exciting times are ahead, and we need just a little of your help to get there, so if you like where we're headed, heed the call!
Discuss the War