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On the future of LoR's competitive scene:
The most important thing I realized while listening to yesterday's discussion of @ImpetuousPanda @RubinZoo & Co was this: Riot will soon have to decide in which direction they'll want to shape the LoR competitive scene.
In my eyes,
The most important thing I realized while listening to yesterday's discussion of @ImpetuousPanda @RubinZoo & Co was this: Riot will soon have to decide in which direction they'll want to shape the LoR competitive scene.
In my eyes,
there are two ways this could go. One way would be to have a more thorough selection process for a more limited pool of top players while having a more spread out prize pool distribution. This would allow these players to have more consistent success and income and pursue LoR
full time - basically your classic pro players. Let's call this the "exclusive" approach.
The other approach would be the "inclusive" one - have a low barrier of entry and allow as many players as possible to participate while attracting them with a flashy first place prize.
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The other approach would be the "inclusive" one - have a low barrier of entry and allow as many players as possible to participate while attracting them with a flashy first place prize.
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Both options have an array of pros and cons. But since this is mainly gonna be a business decision for Riot, let's take a look from a marketing PoV:
The first approach would be taking a similar route like most eSports (LoL, CS:GO, afaik even Hearthstone). It revolves around
The first approach would be taking a similar route like most eSports (LoL, CS:GO, afaik even Hearthstone). It revolves around
people identifying with their favorite players & teams, rooting for them, being intrigued by their stories etc and therefore being interested and invested into the game itself.
The second approach would be closer to something like Poker tournaments. Since card games inherently
The second approach would be closer to something like Poker tournaments. Since card games inherently
have smaller skill edges, the 1000th best player will always have a good chance of beating the best player over a small sample size of games. Even a beginner has a realistic chance of stealing a few wins. Therefore, people will be interested and invested in the game because
they'll always feel like they have what it takes to win a tournament. Add a flashy big first place prize and you'll get a lot of people's attention. Most of them won't care that their chance of winning is way below 1%. With the current Seasonal format, we'll probably never see
repeat champions, and rarely ever any repeat top 32 players.
The problem with these two approaches is that they DIRECTLY CONTRADICT EACH OTHER. The more you follow one approach, the more you'll neglect the other one.
From my personal experience, Riot has tried to go the
The problem with these two approaches is that they DIRECTLY CONTRADICT EACH OTHER. The more you follow one approach, the more you'll neglect the other one.
From my personal experience, Riot has tried to go the
inclusive route so far. By card game standards, the Seasonals were surprisingly non-exclusive for a tournament of that magnitude & prize pool. EU Masters might have seemed like an exclusive tournament at first sight. But if you think about the full-on inclusive qualification
system (which encouraged literally everyone to grind the ladder) and the top-heavy prize distribution... you get where I'm going.
Here's the big issue with the inclusive approach: I first-handedly experienced that it's not sustainable to be a full-on competitive player in this
Here's the big issue with the inclusive approach: I first-handedly experienced that it's not sustainable to be a full-on competitive player in this
environment. Playing in both of these tournaments after prepping a ridiculous amount (~200 hours), performing well and making less mistakes than my opponents, just to be sent home completely empty-handed, did not only feel bad. It also made me realize that the only way to have
consistent income from LoR right now is content creation. That means more memes, fun and entertainment - and less off-stream scrims, tryharding, concealing spicy decks etc. Or in other words: being more of an entertainer, but a weaker player. If Riot wants to ensure higher levels
of play going forward, there will have to be more incentive to put the time and work in.
I do realize that the game is still young and a lot of stuff is still being tried out to see what works and what doesn't. Nonetheless, I feel like the foundations that are currently being
I do realize that the game is still young and a lot of stuff is still being tried out to see what works and what doesn't. Nonetheless, I feel like the foundations that are currently being
laid are going to affect the whole future of the game.
Final note - I think both approaches are entirely legitimate. As a competitive player, I obviously hope Riot will lean towards the exclusive one. But even if the inclusive one will make more sense from a business standpoint,
Final note - I think both approaches are entirely legitimate. As a competitive player, I obviously hope Riot will lean towards the exclusive one. But even if the inclusive one will make more sense from a business standpoint,
we'll all still indirectly benefit from the game's & the playerbase's growth. I'm curious to see which path Riot elects to take.
