Would love to hear your thoughts on this, especially the DE format.
Can't comment on everything, nor can I comment on the thought processes of my colleagues as those are their own and I wouldn't disclose those without them here. I can however give you my opinion on the way things were run for the Western Clash and will be for the Eastern Clash. So again just as a disclaimer, this is my opinion. :)
Historically I've been a person who has, somewhat frustratingly, tried out many different formats (shoutout to anyone who played through the Kings of the Storm days where formats changed weekly); I'll give you the synopsis of what I've learned.
+1 advantage only works if you are able to do Bo7 or higher. Bo5/+1 basically never feels good from either side, one of the main reasons being that the winner bracket team can play less games in the Grand Final than any other match in the bracket (if the bracket is all the same throughout). To fully explain that quickly, Bo5/+1 means the WB team needs 2 wins whereas normally they would need 3. This can be very confusing to viewers and tends to leave a weird taste when it happens.
MoBAs are inherently intricate, especially ours. Heroes has a distinct difference than many other genres let alone within the own genre. Take for instance SFV, if I play you and we both commit to a Bo5 with reset as playing the same character (two distinct ones, one per person) the whole way through then it's fairly understandable that playing a potential maximum of 10 games can work out and everyone will understand that it was an even match. Now head back to Heroes where there are far more variables at play, Battleground draft + Hero Draft + Talents. Repeating that process a potential of 10 times not only takes an unbelievable amount of time but doing so in a row is also incredibly taxing. You could argue that Team Dignitas at the Western Clash had to do something very similar to this anyways (3 back to back Bo5s with break between them), and I believe that this has already been brought up by the community. Team Dignitas had played 17 games while Fnatic had played 9 heading into the Grand Final.
Ultimately I looked at the Western Clash and took the feedback from last year that basically no one wanted to see double groups into Single Elimination again and moved towards this Double Elimination format. Truthfully it probably could have been described as a race to the Grand Final and not the rigid definition of Double Elimination. The intent for the Clashes (not Mid-Season Brawl or HGC Finals) is to show off the best teams in their regions by having an even playing ground each time the teams meet in the bracket.
Circling back to the beginning, ultimately I like Bo7 +1 advantage when we can do it but we work within our means to get these events out to all the awesome fans watching. I'm also a fan of extending series but that idea seems to have gone away in the last couple of years. :P
I wrote a lot of stuff here, sorry for the flood! Thanks for the write-up and a preemptive apology to anyone that might ask questions about anything I wrote here as I won't be able to get back to you today. Eastern Clash preparations must be made!
Matt MacNeil
Can't comment on everything, nor can I comment on the thought processes of my colleagues as those are their own and I wouldn't disclose those without them here. I can however give you my opinion on the way things were run for the Western Clash and will be for the Eastern Clash. So again just as a disclaimer, this is my opinion. :)
Historically I've been a person who has, somewhat frustratingly, tried out many different formats (shoutout to anyone who played through the Kings of the Storm days where formats changed weekly); I'll give you the synopsis of what I've learned.
+1 advantage only works if you are able to do Bo7 or higher. Bo5/+1 basically never feels good from either side, one of the main reasons being that the winner bracket team can play less games in the Grand Final than any other match in the bracket (if the bracket is all the same throughout). To fully explain that quickly, Bo5/+1 means the WB team needs 2 wins whereas normally they would need 3. This can be very confusing to viewers and tends to leave a weird taste when it happens.
MoBAs are inherently intricate, especially ours. Heroes has a distinct difference than many other genres let alone within the own genre. Take for instance SFV, if I play you and we both commit to a Bo5 with reset as playing the same character (two distinct ones, one per person) the whole way through then it's fairly understandable that playing a potential maximum of 10 games can work out and everyone will understand that it was an even match. Now head back to Heroes where there are far more variables at play, Battleground draft + Hero Draft + Talents. Repeating that process a potential of 10 times not only takes an unbelievable amount of time but doing so in a row is also incredibly taxing. You could argue that Team Dignitas at the Western Clash had to do something very similar to this anyways (3 back to back Bo5s with break between them), and I believe that this has already been brought up by the community. Team Dignitas had played 17 games while Fnatic had played 9 heading into the Grand Final.
Ultimately I looked at the Western Clash and took the feedback from last year that basically no one wanted to see double groups into Single Elimination again and moved towards this Double Elimination format. Truthfully it probably could have been described as a race to the Grand Final and not the rigid definition of Double Elimination. The intent for the Clashes (not Mid-Season Brawl or HGC Finals) is to show off the best teams in their regions by having an even playing ground each time the teams meet in the bracket.
Circling back to the beginning, ultimately I like Bo7 +1 advantage when we can do it but we work within our means to get these events out to all the awesome fans watching. I'm also a fan of extending series but that idea seems to have gone away in the last couple of years. :P
I wrote a lot of stuff here, sorry for the flood! Thanks for the write-up and a preemptive apology to anyone that might ask questions about anything I wrote here as I won't be able to get back to you today. Eastern Clash preparations must be made!