Guide to The International 2017, Biggest Dota 2 Tournament

[monkeymagick]

The fine folks over at Rock Paper Shotgun have a primer to get you ready for The International 2017. Dota 2's premier event, The International will begin on August 2nd with stage battles which can be viewed in-game or on Twitch.tv. After a year of competition, 18 squads from all over the world competing for the crown will battle for over $23 million on the line. The main event will be held on August 7th at the Key Arena in Seattle. Hopefully none of the cheaters have entered, but with that much, somebody is probably going home with a new house.

I7 will also herald a big change in how Valve rus the esports side of Dota, what with the planned move from the current Majors system to the more CS:GO-like series of Majors and Minors taking effect next season.

 

[gamerk2]

Eh, more of a HotS guy, but I'll probably watch the finals at least.

Event like this will be a LOT more attractive to a wider range of audiences if they did a better job of explaining WTF is going on to the uninitiated. The newbie stream is a good start at least.

 

[Krazy925]

Eh, more of a HotS guy, but I'll probably watch the finals at least.

Event like this will be a LOT more attractive to a wider range of audiences if they did a better job of explaining WTF is going on to the uninitiated. The newbie stream is a good start at least.

I mean to be fair all the other games are simple copies of DOTA. I've been playing since 2005 and most are simply dumbed down versions.

 

[reFre5h]

They hired Day9 as the host, and he explicitly stated that his personal goal was to try and keep things tangible for people who don't play dota. They've done a newbie stream the last couple of TI's as well and I've heard good things about them.

 

[HeadRusch]

As much as I enjoy video games, and watching other people play video games, I can honestly say once you introduce "Announcers" into the mix, fireworks and soundtracks and cheerleaders and clowns wearing headsets ExCiTeDlY talking non-stop about nothing.......ugh, that completely kills it for me. I don't need it to be a Chess Match, but this WWE/NFL crap holds nothing for me at all.

 

[gamerk2]

I mean to be fair all the other games are simple copies of DOTA. I've been playing since 2005 and most are simply dumbed down versions.

Eh, HotS is unique in that it at least encourages teamfights, rather then solo laning until your carry goes off.

 

[gamerk2]

As much as I enjoy video games, and watching other people play video games, I can honestly say once you introduce "Announcers" into the mix, fireworks and soundtracks and cheerleaders and clowns wearing headsets ExCiTeDlY talking non-stop about nothing.......ugh, that completely kills it for me. I don't need it to be a Chess Match, but this WWE/NFL crap holds nothing for me at all.

The problem is most announcers aren't really any good. (This applies to "real" sports too). It's one thing to explain WHAT we can already see, but very few go into the WHY.

When I watch HotS matches (and I do a lot), I believe Khaldor is the best of the bunch. He not only is a really good announcer in his own right, but he explains WHY, in really simple terms, certain actions or results took place. Too many take it on faith that certain actions make sense for the viewing audience, and only a handful of announcers take the time and effort to really go into any analysis of what goes on in a match.

If you had more of that type of announcing, you'd see Esports start to explode on traditional media, as those not in the know will actually gain an understanding of what is occurring on the screen.