IEM Global Finals, RLS - A Long Time Coming, AMD Dives Into E-Sports

Although the Global Finals are a few days passed... I haven't had a chance to write up any thoughts about it yet so I figured I'll give you a few of my thoughts on it before moving on to other topics.

Obviously overall I had a great time at the event as we were able to win it, and I would have to say that although this years event was plagued by DDOS attacks which created massive delays on the first day, and some of the second that the event was overall better than the previous years.  We were thankfully able to get shuttles every day to and from the event whereas last year between Complexity and our team we spent around $500 on taxi's, and despite a really bad first impression (As we drove up to the Hostel for the first time, our Taxi driver started laughing because of how terrible it looked from the outside and goes "This is where you stay!?! You don't belong here!" and we all just burst into laughter) the Hostel that ESL had us at really wasn't half bad.   The rooms were clean, and unlike last year all the players were able to be together with their team and had access to communal kitchens / bathrooms / showers.  The place we were at also offered a really nice free breakfast every morning which was pretty great since the cost of food at CeBIT is pretty insane and even a tiny plastic cup of water (think 1/3 of a can of soda) cost nearly $4 US.





The Intel Gaming Hall at CeBIT was similar to last year, although it seemed a bit bigger and there were apparently over 220,000 people who visited it over the course of the event.  It boasted a massive main stage, tons of various different games to play as well as lots of booth babes and other things to keep you entertained.  There were also crowds of probably around 2,000 people watching the main stage matches during the afternoons, with it thinning out a lot later at night as well as early in the morning.  It definitely makes it a lot more exciting when you're playing in front of a crowd at an event like this instead of maybe a handful of people on chairs like you are at an MLG event.  The one thing that did put somewhat of a damper on the event for me was just that I was sick most of the time which really made it hard for me to sleep resulting in me feeling pretty awful / tired the majority of the time I was there which really caused me to explore a lot less than I probably should've at CeBIT.





Those of you who followed the event through the streams, and here on World of Ming were probably already heard videos in which I have been yelling.  It was quite hard to hear each other at the event so most players were at the very least talking quite loudly due to all the loud music and other various sounds coming from the thousands of people in the hall.  Unfortunately for me I have been fairly sick the past week and the resulting coughing pretty much destroyed my voice which lead to me sounding like an 11 year old girl while yelling at the top of my lungs during the finals.  The sound coming out of me is definitely cringe worthy, so I hope at least some of you enjoyed a laugh or two at my expense because I know all the other EG players at the event certainly did!  Oh, and for those of you who were asking why there was a roll of toilet paper on the desk by me - it was being used as tissue paper as I wasn't able to find any my entire time in Germany.

Our team was interviewed by our manager directly after the finals and my voice is pretty much destroyed so I sound pretty messed up, but there is that video as well as plenty of other interviews and pictures you can check out on our website for those who're interested.

http://myeg.net/media/video_details.php?movie_id=261






As for the games themselves, they have pretty much been recapped to death, but I would like to touch on the whole macros thing against Button Bashers as a lot of people have been asking me what really happened with that.  I would also like to say that I think people are being a lot more harsh on Team Dignitas than they have any right to be as they played a fantastic tournament and used a strategy against us which worked very well for them earlier in the tournament.  Anyway, the basic deal with the macros problem against BB was that I was having some sound problems, so after copying my WTF folder and whatnot over from my Alliance character (which I had just used against CoL Black) I changed the names in my macros to our horde characters and then went to the washroom while the admin worked on my computer.  When I returned my computer was on and WoW was open but not logged in, so I simply assumed that he had logged me out and hopped back on the account and saw all the buttons still in place.  Unfortunately if you turn off the computer without logging out of WoW first any changes you made aren't saved so the names in the macros reverted back to our Alliance characters.





When the game started Tenderloin was quickly sheeped without any debuffs so I tried to devour it and it obviously didn't work so I pretty much stopped playing and began calling for an admin.  Unfortunately none of the admins were standing by us as they were watching BB play and they didn't hear me calling, so although my manager had the recording on tape of me sitting there calling for an admin the whole time they were not able to overturn the match and give us a replay.  They instead decided to explain the situation to BB and ask if they would replay the match and they told the admins that they understandably weren't willing to.  Even though we basically started down 0-1 we felt like we should've won that series and knew that we could beat them if we got another opportunity to play them again later in the tournament.  We felt like we pretty much gave away the last round of that series to them and knew what we needed to change going forward.

*These and other great pictures can be found in the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship Gallery *


RLS has come a long way since it made its first appearance at the competitive level... back in November of 2008.  WotLK talents had just been put into the game, RMP was disgustingly overpowered thanks in large part to Arcane Mages being extremely imbalanced at the time and the North American qualification tournament for last years Global Finals was just beginning.  It was level 70 with season 2 gear and WotLK talents, and pretty much no one seemed to know exactly what was going to happen at the tournament other than the fact that the top 3 teams would advance to the Global Finals.

The EG roster at the time was Kollektiv, Zyz and I and we went into ESL Philly with a setup that no one had really played before - RLS.  We didn't really know exactly what we were doing and ended up running Metamorphosis to give me a chance of living against the Arcane RMPs we would be facing.  Duelists Going For Gladiator was predicted to win the tournament by pretty much everyone, Complexity was playing with Happyminty and Sodah was just learning Priest while Realz was showing up to his first tournament with Toez and Scoti and practically no expectations.  As it ended up, Realz team (Trade Chat Allstars) won the tournament, Complexity was a very close second as they chose to run Druid Mage Rogue vs TCA in the finals and lost the final round after Sodah accidentally NSed the wrong person.  We were able to edge out DGFG 3-2 in a series which clinched out 3rd place finish and a qualification spot for the Global Finals and RLS had made its first showing at a tournament.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSJq27aA3-M

Over the past year and a half or so the setup has gained notoriety and seen seen various degree's of success at the tournament level, with us qualifying for the Blizzard Regional Tournament and then barely missing out on Blizzcon after losing 3-2 to Zilea's TSG team, as well as various good placements from Fnatic, Team EG, and most recently SK US's 2nd place finish at the North American Finals for ESL.  The setup became extremely popular when Destruction Warlocks got their big buffs and were quite overpowered for a while, and although it lost some popularity with the nerfs to destruction it is still a well known top setup when played with affliction.  There are many changes over the course of time which have increased the strength of the setup and allowed it to get to the point where it has the ability to actually win tournaments such as the WotF nerf, Earthshield Dispel change, Resilience buff and other things, but either way it's pretty cool to have been playing the setup for so long through its progress.

I am very happy to have been apart of the first RLS team to win a tournament especially since it was one as competitive and important as the Global Finals, and I'm extremely thankful to both Team EG, and my teammates for giving me the opportunity to do so.  If I had to chose an MVP for the Global Finals I think it would be impossible, but if I were able to chose two then I would without a doubt say that Tenderloin and Woundman would be the two most deserving to share the award.  They both played absolutely amazing throughout the event, and they both have fantastic attitudes when it comes to playing WoW which allowed us to have a chance at winning the event.  As Woundman said in some interviews, we pretty much just clicked and the synergy we had was quite amazing and it was what allowed us to do so well without much practice at the event.  It's definitely great to see these two exceptional players finally get the recognition and appreciation that they so deserve.  Even if I never play with Woundman again I am happy to have had the opportunity to do so at this event and wish him the best of luck with Fnatic at future tournaments (except when they're playing against us!).




I was contacted today by a representative from AMD with some very exciting information for those of you seeking sponsorship... for WoW tournaments this year.  AMD will be looking to pick up not one, but two professional World of Warcraft teams to add to a roster which will likely contain teams for Counter-Strike 1.6, and Call of Duty 4 in addition to World of Warcraft.  They are searching for teams from either Europe or North America who are eligible to qualify for and compete at both the Blizzard Regional Tournaments and Blizzcon - so if you're from a country which isn't eligible to compete on the Blizzard Tournament Realm you need not apply here - sorry!

I was given some very detailed information on the nature of the agreement into which these two teams would be entering into and I can say with confidence that it is one of the best in E-Sports and assuming AMD lives up to their end of the bargain any player would be lucky to represent them.  The deal includes everything you would expect from a gaming contract such as travel expenses to and from events which would be agreed upon between the team and AMD, as well as some very nice additional benefits such as a solid salary and computers for all three players on each of the sponsored teams.  There are only two teams which have a salary right now for World of Warcraft (Button Bashers and SK EU) and SK EU is only getting a token salary really so this would basically make you one of two teams getting a decent salary from World of Warcraft.

AMD is going to be launching a new website in April for their new line of gaming graphics cards and processors and the gaming teams will be incorporated into that and obviously will be used largely to promote and advertise these new products.  Intel is a dominating force in E-Sports at the moment and AMD is looking to break into the scene and challenge Intel, so this is definitely a good way to make their mark on professional gaming.  Obviously one of the biggest challenges is to find top level teams for all these games which aren't already sponsored who can be drawn to AMD in order to give them solid representation at the events they attend to further get their name out there.  Representing a company well isn't just about getting top placements at tournaments, it's also very much about how you present yourself to the public,  how you behave at the events, and what else you can offer a company to get their name out there even more - so this is something to keep in mind.

Along the same lines of pushing into the E-Sports world AMD is planning on holding quite a large tournament in 2011 with a planned prize pool for World of Warcraft of $90,000 for the 16 teams which will be in attendance.  The plan is that teams will qualify through a Tournament Realm very much akin to the Blizzard Tournament Realm however it is planned to be played with all the gear available on live servers and Ring of Valor will quite possibly be removed from competitive play for the tournament.  The top 8 teams from Europe as well as the top 8 from North America would qualify (Korea is not eligible at this point) and the top 3 teams from those 16 would have their trip and accommodations paid for by AMD.  The other 13 teams would be on their own as far as covering the cost of travel and accommodations for the event which is planned to take place in Europe (very likely Germany as Gamescon, CeBIT or something along those lines).  They're planning on having the tournament fully streamed and commentated and it should be completely free to watch online for all you E-Sports lovers.

For those of you who think that you're deserving of a sponsorship for World of Warcraft and believe you have what it takes to be chosen by AMD to be one of their teams please contact David Jacobs at djacobs.amd@gmail.com with your application - be sure to be detailed and let him know why your team is the one that should be sponsored above all others.  You may also be able to get a hold of him on MSN with that same address so be sure to try getting him on t here as well.

There are also job opportunities for people looking to be E-Sports writers from North America, Europe and Korea for their website when it launches so be sure to check that out if you're interested and think you are qualified and can do a good job!

Well that's it for this week, until next time...