This is the first installment in a three-part series that examines the past, present and future of electronic sports in World...
This is the first installment in a three-part series that examines the past, present and future of electronic sports in World of Warcraft.
World of Warcraft was launched in 2004 and has evolved from the imagination of Warcraft III fans living their dreams into the vastness of Azeroth to a global phenomenon that has proven itself as a massive online game multiplayer mode. the most popular in the world. world
In 2019, World of Warcraft remains the king of the MMO scene. After escaping innumerable attempts to conquer his throne, he remained strong and kept going. While it has not always been easy and the game has certainly not been as it was at the height of its fame, it continues to retain significant cultural relevance.
When it comes to electronic sports, 2019 may be one of the most significant years in the game's history. With the 15th anniversary of World of Warcraft, the competitive scene continues to grow. The future looks bright with the improvement in community-funded prices.
This is where this series of articles comes into play. We'll look at the three main aspects of title sports: past, present, and future, and what that all means.
The base of something big, forged on a bloody battlefield
An important aspect of World of Warcraft is that when it was introduced in 2004 there was no real "player against player" aspect. Of course, the players could kill each other, and they often did, but it was mostly boring or funny.
The real idea for PvP would only reach World of Warcraft after Patch 1.4, almost six months after the game started in the United States. Possibly, when Blizzard added a PvP honor system. Sure, Blizzard added the Gurubashi Arena to the December 1, 2004 patch that gave players reason to participate in PvP, but the introduction of a real leaderboard system gave players something to expect. Fortunately for PvP players, waiting for the next addition was short-lived.
The introduction of the Battlegrounds 1.5 patch not only gave fans a reason to fight, but also a place to do it. Players in groups of ten for Warsong Gulch (Capture the Flag) and 40 for Alterac Valley (a large-scale PvP / PvE hybrid) would fight the opposition faction. At the end of each week, players were ranked based on the number of Honor Points they earned compared to other members of their faction, with the highest ranks receiving specific PvP armor, mounts, and weapons.
It would take another year, and later be expanded, until the basics of electronic sports would take shape in World of Warcraft. In patch 2.0.1, arena battles with the seasons and a renewed honor system were added to the game. In the arena, groups of two, three, or five (with three versus three becoming the competition standard) fought on a much smaller battlefield using an MMR system and recorders. Teams can choose a name and logo and compete against other teams, winning ranks and unique items. Over the next few years, Blizzard would add more seasons and arenas to the game: in 2007 the picture changed and Blizzard finally introduced electronic sports to World of Warcraft.
The beginning of a 12-year history.
In 2007, Blizzard started electronic sport in its annual fan show BlizzCon in the form of three against three arenas. A trend started that has continued since then, and Blizzard added other events over several days, including events prior to BlizzCon. The exhibition is the latest event in the World of Warcraft sports calendar, as is Warcraft III and StarCraft. At BlizzCon 2007, Blizzard donated $ 40,000 to the finalist, and the competition was eventually won by MoB Turtle Beach.
Blizzard would also host a number of events around the world, including the now emerging international invitation events where World of Warcraft acted as an athlete at the 2008 Paris event. During the event, Blizzard organized a number of professionals and occasional tournaments for participants. Blizzard has also worked with ESL over the years, the organizer who supports Blizzard in organizing European events. To continue helping Blizzard at events in Australia.
Blizzard has always seemed to have electronic sports as a secondary part of World of Warcraft. It was something that existed, but he still didn't feel connected to the main game, a kind of BlizzCon sideline for those who really liked this aspect of the game. Competition scenes in World of Warcraft have increased, and rewards and support have increased accordingly. It would take until 2017-2018 for the scene to really gain strength, and when 2019 arrives, Blizzard will finally link its esport efforts to the game's players .
When Blizzard tried something different
In the 2010-2013 period, Blizzard would do something different when it comes to BlizzCon. 2010 was the first attempt to bring the raid experience to BlizzCon when Blizzard brought Paragon Guild No. 1 on stage to fight several bosses from previous raids. The series of boss waves took place outside the city of Orgrimmar in the Horde, with a live audience that cheered them on, as well as a team that continued to comment on the events. It was an interesting idea and Blizzard would return the following year in a more refined and competitive format.
The year 2011 was the year in which we took our first look at the first World Cup. We just didn't know it at the time. Two guilds, Blood Legion and Vodka, would compete on stage to complete the Firelands 25-man raid first. Blizzard would repeat the event in 2013, when Method would face Midwinter. The clip above shows the beginning of something else in World of Warcraft's electronic sport, but that wasn't the case. Blizzard was unable to restore the format in subsequent BlizzCon iterations.
At that time, competitive attacks were left to the community to exploit in forums. Reddit users are constantly updating guild leaderboards or waiting for in-game announcements to find out who killed the boss first. In 2017, however, Blizzard would revive the format later.
Blizzard builds the second pillar of World of Warcraft electronic sports
Welcome to the Mythic Dungeon Invitational (MDI), the second pillar of electronic sports in World of Warcraft. With the release of World of Warcraft: Legion, Blizzard changed one of the basic elements of WoW: the dungeon system has been given a new mode. In these more difficult versions, players are given keys to make the dungeon more difficult. These are provided with "affixes" (see debuffs) which are applied when the players exceed certain thresholds. Once you do this, a maximum of four active affixes can be used Reach Level 10.
Players fight to reach the goals before a timer runs out and a speed-dependent loot is assigned. Teams that meet the cornerstone in time will receive a new key for another higher dungeon. These additions would add a variety of things, from increasing the density of the crowds in a package to creating pools of blood when an enemy is killed, to those who upset the crowds by hitting 20% of PV.
Blizzard brought the MDI to BlizzCon in 2017 and 2018. The best teams from Europe, China, Asia Pacific and America would travel to BlizzCon to fight on stage and become MDI champions. The two teams on stage fought in the same dungeon with the same combination of stickers, using the composition of five men they wanted (applying the rules for post-game changes). The winner was the team that killed the last boss and reached a clear 100% percentage awarded for killing a number of non-boss mobs in a dungeon. MDI focuses less on the PvP side of electronic sports than on the aspects of "fast games" or "speed running" of other titles. While MDI isn't for everyone, it always seemed to be a more natural environment for World of Warcraft, a game that's essentially a PvE experience.
In 2019, MDI would change its name to Mythic Dungeon International, and as the event headed for the new expansion of World of Warcraft, Battle for Azeroth, it won a seasonal format like the WoW Arena Championship (AWC) ended with a BlizzCon final the season.
It would also be negligent not to mention the Mythic + Keystone Masters community events launched by Cirranor, the 2018 MDI champion and member of the Excel Esports arena team Kjell's Angels (later renamed Excels Angels). Cirranor was also accompanied by Shine as Executive Producer and Method Darrie as Assistant Producer. The Keystone Masters continues to this day and we will play it even more in our second article in the series.
In summary
For a game that is 15 years old, you have to be brief when you look at the story. We're making things a lot easier and condensing, not to mention some of the e-sports and streaming personalities that World of Warcraft has produced over the years, from Sodapoppin to Rekful. The game's competitive past has undoubtedly influenced its present, and since 2019 is the most important sporting year so far, we are also counting on it to continue growing in the future.
In our next article we will see the current climate of World of Warcraft in electronic sports and the four pillars on which it is based. We'll see what changes Blizzard made in 2019, how Method and Red Bull added a new pillar, and how the community created its own scene from an aspect of the title that is often overlooked.
