posted by Mantis.,
Recently, the Chinese community has witnessed a dip into the Dota 2 competitive scene with minimal team participation ever since The International and ESWC Paris. With the increasing popularity of Dota 2 amongst the European and various Asian nations, we witness a no-show amongst the Chinese as the game has not been embraced by the Chinese circle as yet.

Today, we sit down with cn Yi Tian [B]'820'[/B] Zou for an interview regarding the dire situation. Zou, as we all know is a former professional DotA player, and leader of the legendary EHOME team. Under his leadership, EHOME won SMM Grand Final in 2010 and the World Gamemaster Tournament last year followed by a series of second placing including in The International.

Zou retired in October 2011 to announce his career in shoutcasting. He is currently a coach for World Elite and a professional shoutcaster alongside cn Sheng [B]'2009'[/B] Wu who led the late LGD to unachievable heights and glory.
In the interview, Zou talks about the current situation of Dota 2 in the closed Chinese circle and his feelings about Vengeful Spirit being dedicated to his name. Credits to Dota 2 World Map maker, cn [B]HippoVIc[/B], for the translation of this interview.


[B]We, the Western society have not heard much from you after your retirement back in October last year. How are you and how is the transition from a professional player to a shoutcaster and coach?[/B]

-"Thanks joinDOTA.com for interviewing me. I have been good since my retirement. I am still trying to get used to the transition from a pro to a shoutcaster. Actually, it is much easier to be a shoutcaster since you would not have that much pressure to win anymore but I've got a lot to learn and a long way to go in shoutcasting."

[B]The first professional player to pull off this transition was 2009 and he is often seen shoutcasting with you now. What are you opinions of 2009 and his shoutcasting abilities?[/B]

-"He is more experienced and articulated than me I think but since he retired a year earlier before me, perhaps he is not as acute as I am when it comes to the current DotA strategies."

[B]You are also coaching World Elite together with 2009. What do you think both of you bring differently to the team?[/B]

-"Well, my style is quite different from him. He prefer the coaching the overall situation of the game and I mainly work on promoting the atmosphere among players."

[I]The two professional Chinese shoutcasters. 820 and 2009.[/I]

[B]2012 is expected to be a big year for Dota 2. Many European and American sponsors have entered the Dota scene by acquiring renowned teams and yet we still see close to no Chinese teams participating in any tournaments after ESWC Paris. Why is that?[/B]

-"Firstly, Chinese DotA teams are more specialized and professional than foreign teams. I don't mean we are better but we take the game like a serious business venture. So, if the prize money is not that attractive, Chinese teams will not participate. Secondly, Dota 2 is still in beta and many heroes like Invoker and Syllabear etc. are still unavailable. So, it takes time for Chinese teams to train for it. And finally, there were too many DotA tournaments in China last year. DotA is still pretty huge in China."

[B]You participated with your team, EHOME, in The International where you guys came out to place second losing only to Na’Vi. Na’Vi then beat down EHOME again without you in ESWC Paris. What do you think of the current state of the European and American scene?[/B]

-"I think they are more creative than Chinese pros but I think with more practice, Chinese teams will catch up with them because as I mentioned before, Chinese teams are more professional."

[B]Evil Geniuses has been seen bootcamping in China. What do you think about their intention to improve their team this way? Do you think more teams should be encouraged to do it?[/B]

-"I think that is great, because Chinese teams do have something they are in the back-foot of especially in the banning and picking process. On the other hand, it might be good if some Chinese teams can bootcamp in Europe instead because by doing that, we can increase the communication between the Western teams and the Asian teams.

[B]Recently, we have seen professional Chinese teams beginning to participate in an online Dota 2 tournament, The Premier League. Although DK and LGD pulled out of the tournament, Nirvana.cn and World Elite are still in. Do you think the Dota 2 Chinese scene is beginning to pick up now?[/B]

-"Actually I do not think so because the key factor for Dota 2 to popularize is a cooperate agent, which is a company working to promote Dota 2 in China. There is a lack of cooperate agent in China because of strict laws from the government not allowing foreign investors to intervene with the Esports of the Chinese. However, I do believe that if more Dota 2 tournaments is held in the future by local companies, Chinese teams will participate for sure."

[B]We have seen Chinese teams pretty much dominated the DotA scene from 2009 to 2011. Do you think that this will still be the case in DotA 2?[/B]

-"No no no, there are significant differences between DotA and Dota 2. What's more Chinese teams also suffer from the lack of practice and poor Internet conditions. Up till now, we are way behind in Dota 2. Therefore, if we want to continue to dominate in Dota 2, we still need a lot of practice."

[I]820 in recently concluded G-League Season 3.[/I]

[B]Similar to the professional scene, the game is also suffering from the lack of Chinese public players. Most of the time, we do not even see number of players on the Chinese servers achieving the hundred mark.Why aren’t they embracing Dota 2 like their western counterparts?[/B]

-"This is because in China, DotA is still very popular and the fans are very used to War3 system. It will take tremendous time for them to transition into a brand new gaming system, which is Steam. Also, the lack of beta keys given out is not really helping."

[B]The metagame for DotA is currently centralized in pushing or turtling. What do you think about the current metagame of Dota 2 and how significant are each update patches on the metagame?[/B]

-"When we actually analysed it, Dota 2's map is actually slightly smaller than DotA, which means the ganking strat is a lot easier to pull off. Due to this, the turtling strat is not very viable in Dota 2. Apart from that, Dota 2 heroes are still very incomplete. Some unpopular heroes in DotA, like Anti-Mage, became popular in Dota 2 which is back-adapted into DotA and is widely banned or picked now in every tournament game."

[B]With the current speed of the updates, when do you think the game will be released? Will you be switching to shoutcasting Dota 2 when that happens?[/B]

-"I'm not sure. As far as I know Valve seems to have their own plan regarding this and if Dota 2 becomes popular in China, I definitely would be shoutcasting it.

[B]In version 6.73b of DotA, Icefrog dedicated Vengeful Spirit for you. Are you surprised about that?[/B]

-"Actually I am. Hippo called me when the map was released but before that, some fans had already discovered that surprise. So to say, I was not the first one to know about this and nobody has informed me in advance. But I do appreciate this and would cherish this honor."

[B]Any plans for the upcoming Chinese New Year?[/B]

-"More shoutcasting and more improvements I think."

[B]Well, that is all for today. Thank you for the interview and do you have any last shoutout?[/B]

Thank joindota.com for interviewing me. On behalf of Chinese DotA circle, I do welcome foreign teams and media to come to China to communicate. Chinese New Year is near, Happy New Year to you all and hope joinDOTA.com gets better and better!

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