Profile of AmiPolizeiFunk

Having separate matchmaking pools is unfeasible. Splitting the already small multiplayer playerbase is not the solution.

IMO the solution lies in actually showing MMR (or ELO+, whatever you want to call the player ratings) for ranked and showing the +/- of what you gained or lost at the end of the match. If the matchmaker struggled to find you an even match, and it took a really long time, then the chances are that you were indeed in a lopsided game. But the rating system should account for that in how many points you won or lost at the end. The problem is that Relic never shows you those points.

If you got crushed by a higher ranked team, you should lose less MMR. If you knew that at the end, you wouldn't be so upset about it. Conversely, if you crush some other noob team, you won't gain that much MMR.

The real fun is when you achieve an upset. If you beat a higher ranked team, you gain tons of MMR. If Relic simply showed you the points you gained you could experience the full joy of your triumph. Every game I enjoy playing in multiplayer does this (dota2, online blitz chess), and it makes the experience a helluva lot more fulfilling.

So "ESL caster exclusivity" is no longer a thing, huh? Looks like anybody can obs or cast the games now. IMO this is a great change. It's something I would have hoped they were going to allow from the start. This scene is so tiny, the more casters the merrier, official or not.

So with ESL Relic has ninja'd in some new features to OBSMODE that we saw for the first time yesterday. OBSMODE now supports two separate delays for observers: 1. no delay at all (if you have the ESL tourney stream password) and 2. a 15m minute delay (for everybody else). When an observer joins the game with the no-delay password, the players get a yellow text notification on the bottom left of their screen, something like "stormless has joined this game in observer mode with no delay."

I don't think anybody should ever be allowed to obs an online tourney game for money with no delay. That just opens the door for a variety of ways to cheat or for casters to mess up and stream the event with no delay. What's to stop a player from giving a friend the obs pass, having that friend change his steam name to match an ESL caster's name, join the game, and basically give any amount of info to his buddy in teamspeak? IMO this system is terribly conceived.

Now that you have the ability to do two different delays (do you?), set one of them to the minimum (8 minutes? for casters) and one of them to your 15m for everybody else.

Proof in the pudding:

• Luvnest vs. Sprice in Round 1, one of these great players will be gone after the first game of the tourney.
  
  
• The hard bracket: After 3 Best-of-1 rounds, three of these four will be gone: Luvnest, Sprice, FaHu, HelpingHans.
  
  
• The top bracket (Jesulin, Vindicare) is much easier than the bottom bracket (Luvnest, Sprice, Hans, Cruzz, BartonPL).

I want to be excited about these events but not seeding them is just wack.

Next time I see him on Steam, I'll see if I can get him to pop his head in here and answer you himself.