posted by Olucaron,
The traditional All-Star Match at The International offers something competitive Dota doesn’t — fun, and the chance to see the best players in the game come together on superstar rosters. It’s usually a hype event, and yet something still feels off…

It was tough on the players



The first issue with All-Star is that it’s shoe-horned into what is already a manic schedule at The International. This year’s game took place at the end of Day 4 of the Main Event, a time where teams were seriously focused on fighting for their TI lives with one eye on lifting the Aegis.

At that point, six of the ten players involved had either played that day, the previous day, or were scheduled to play the next day. An exhibition match taking place at the real crux of the tournament, after a day which had already seen seven competitive games and an OpenAI match, was surely too much?





Of course it was too much, when you factor in the specifics. Solo had played five games that day and had to take part immediately after seeing his Virtus.pro side dumped out of the tournament by Evil Geniuses, from whom Artour 'Arteezy' Babaev was also participating — instead of resting ahead of his side’s crunch next-day meeting with Team Liquid, who had Miracle- competing.

OpTic Gaming had Pajkatt representing them, hours after a crushing three-game loss to Virtus.pro in the day’s opener. Vici Gaming had LaNm play after a devastating loss to Team Secret the day before, and to round things off eventual winners OG had JerAx play a day after that gruelling win over Evil Geniuses and due to play PSG.LGD in the Upper Bracket Finals the next day.

Now, I don’t know about you, but with three players having exited the tournament so close to the All-Star Match, and with three others much more focused on fighting for the biggest prize in Dota 2, can we really expect them to be 100% committed to bringing fun to the crowd and viewers at home?





It needs to be its own event



To alleviate the pressure on these players, and to really see them open up and have fun with the game we all love, All-Star needs to be its own event. Several other esports do it this way, and there’s no reason it cannot work within Dota 2.

The inaugural Overwatch All-Star Weekend took place at the same time as the Grand Finals of TI8, and featured six teams of six representing the two divisions. A variety of different game modes and matches were played before the main event, and it was exactly what it was meant to be: a spectacle.

The same can be said of the All-Star event in League of Legends, a staple now for many years. A ‘battle of the regions’ format is used, alongside the fan favourite 1v1 tournament. By having All-Star run separately to TI, we could also see more Dota 2 game modes used instead of just one, leading to a lot more fun and variety for all involved. Who doesn’t want to see a 10v10 match AND a Mutation Mode match in the same event?

The point is this — an All-Star event should be a festival of the esport, not something added to fill a gap, extend a broadcast for the advertising revenue or whatever. Yes, it’s wise to capitalize on the hype of a major tournament and attempt to retain the viewership, but I’m sure that if it was its own event the fans would still tune in. It would also be another opportunity to increase community engagement and host a Dota 2 event in a multitude of places.





Where would it slot in?



Logic says that any All-Star event should be the closing curtain on a season, as it is with other esports and traditional sports. The seriousness of competition over, time for the players to let their hair down once everything has been wrapped up.

However, in Dota 2, there is barely any time before the new DPC season begins. With TI8 ending on 25 August, qualifiers for the next Major begin just over three weeks later on 17 September. Thanks to a calendar of events due to run until 30 June next year, and then a likely less than eight-week turnover before The International 2019, it’s hard to see where an All-Star event would take place.

So, this is something Valve would need to factor in to future seasons. The DPC is still in its growth phase, so it’s entirely possible we could see less events on the calendar. Whether or not there would be a slot for an All-Star event remains to be seen.


Should All-Star be its own event? Let us know your thoughts and ideas below!


All images © Valve

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    Olucaron

    Olucaron

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