Toughts about eSports in AOC

ArchivedUser

Okey, i'm sure this has been asked before... but hey it can't hurt to have a competitive
leauge of some sort in AOC right?

ArchivedUser

They have said that they are ruling nothing out, but it is not a focus right now.

ArchivedUser

It could be an interesting Idea but I don't think it's going to be a large e-sports as MMORPGs don't have the same draw for views, unlike shooters or mobas. I could be wrong and it could be the game to change that but I somewhat doubt it.

ArchivedUser

I'm not going to rule it out completely, but most eSport games are designed with fair competition in mind. Each team starts with relatively no advantage over the other, where as in MMOs if two equally skilled teams go to fight, it is the one with the better gear that comes out on top often. That being said, I could see maybe an arena type where there is no gear advantage given to equal the playing field.

ArchivedUser

If it were up to me, e-sports would never be a focus of this game. But, it is not up to me, so it is a possibility if Steven thinks the game is up to it. I hope that if it does become one that it will because it became one naturally and not because it was forced.

ArchivedUser

I personally hope its not a focus but if it was ......

Then you could have offence and defence type rounds and use caravans , kinda like the escort missions in overwatch.  The caravans raid rounds will be of small teams striving to make the final grand battle. 

The final grand battle being  the top 20 caraven round teams combined into 2 larger teams to siege/defend a giant castle....oooh yeah 

But again hopes none of this happens lol

ArchivedUser

DVRKNESS said:

Okey, i'm sure this has been asked before... but hey it can't hurt to have a competitive
leauge of some sort in AOC right?

Hope so!

ArchivedUser

Esports usually makes the community super toxic because people feel they can be the next Seagull as Genji in Overwatch if other people just got out of their way and stopped killing them so much.

I'm more interested in things like speed running and fluid open world combat. To me that's more interesting. If people push for AoC to have an eSports scene that cool, but I just dont see a game designed to offer so much variation on gameplay expirence being the place to do it.

ArchivedUser

Karthos said:

Esports usually makes the community super toxic because people feel they can be the next Seagull as Genji in Overwatch if other people just got out of their way and stopped killing them so much.

I'm more interested in things like speed running and fluid open world combat. To me that's more interesting. If people push for AoC to have an eSports scene that cool, but I just dont see a game designed to offer so much variation on gameplay expirence being the place to do it.

The man speaks the truth 

ArchivedUser

Not worth it.
To many resources and separate balancing issues involved to isolate* content.
Splits the community and player base and development focus.

GW2 tried to Esports , fell flat and flopped.

Basically a financial conflict of interest with little to no payoff for all involved. And basically no mass appeal to a potential audience outside of the game world.

Better to just stick to the core fundamental values of the MMO genre and promote a steadfast community.

That's not to say the Arena aspect of the game cannot be community driven  into an esport like element of the game. By letting the community take the wheel and directing the competitive aspects of the game allows Intrepid Studios to talent scout and perhaps incentivize and emphasis the interested parties generating involvement in the competitive scene and developing based on demand.

ArchivedUser

Whocando said:

Not worth it.
To many resources and separate balancing issues involved to isolate* content.
Splits the community and player base and development focus.

GW2 tried to Esports , fell flat and flopped.

Basically a financial conflict of interest with little to no payoff for all involved. And basically no mass appeal to a potential audience outside of the game world.

Better to just stick to the core fundamental values of the MMO genre and promote a steadfast community.

That's not to say the Arena aspect of the game cannot be community driven  into an esport like element of the game. By letting the community take the wheel and directing the competitive aspects of the game allows Intrepid Studios to talent scout and perhaps incentivize and emphasis the interested parties generating involvement in the competitive scene and developing based on demand.

If I could build on this, @Whocando, there could be an official tournament scene broadcasted on Twitch. Intrepid Studios could set aside part of their marketing fund to organize the event and have an instance of the game where everyone has optimal stats for a somewhat even playing field (of course their would naturally be counters just like other Esports).

The teams could be comprised of vetted members of the game who posses the skill to make watching it worthwhile. I think it may be a good use of their resources as it would promote the game in a popular way.

ArchivedUser

@Sussurro
If the community demand is genuine then by all means invest and support it on a needs be basis.

Just don't make the same mistake at pushing an eSport agenda only to watch the $ disintegrate with a dose of  "professional" gamer drama, while ignoring the community and game in its entirety.

ArchivedUser

The only content that could provide any type of eSport would be the arenas and its leaderboards. Sadly the dungeons will probably not be viable for eSport (like in WoW) because they are set to change with the world.

ArchivedUser

Toughts

We have a lot testing a balancing to get through before we can even consider the arena a viable for Esport. All in due time.

ArchivedUser

Curious to know what mmo's have been successful with e-sports, as I am unaware of any right now. As a previous poster has said, I am only tracking mostly fps games and moba's are the only draws. I don't think many people watch mmo's on Twitch as well.

ArchivedUser

@Tomoyuki, Blade and Soul has a popular 1v1 arena scene in South Korea.

ArchivedUser

Sussurro said:

@Tomoyuki, Blade and Soul has a popular 1v1 arena scene in South Korea.

This is true. However I'd like to caveat this by saying South Korea will eSport most games. This doesn't mean Western audiences would be inclined to do the same.

Not impossible but I feel like Western players prefer more competitive team/arena based action games, usually shooters, for their eSport. Look how popular H1Z1, DotA, LoL and Overwatch is in the west. 

ArchivedUser

I like the idea of a competitive league game inside of the game.

Take SWTOR, I loved Hutball.  Love it.   I thought it was one of the best arenas I'd ever played in.  Not because of the mechanic (which was good) but because of the concept

You are playing, a soccer game (on steroids) while the Hut are watching (and betting probably) on you.

ArchivedUser

E-sports in my opinion usually work best with games that offer more of a vertical progression.

Most MMO's have extensive amounts of vertical progression, which makes getting the balance quite tricky.

Though just because its not a "esport" doesn't mean it won't have a strong competitive scene. Competition in MMO's is usually by bread and butter choice of content

ArchivedUser

8v8. Two teams of 8 with all roles possibly fullfilled battle against eachother. Gives rise to interesting teamcomps etc. I know I'd love to see this happening in arena, e-sports or not.