2013 Pokémon World Championships Livestream Feedback

[AlphaZealot]

Please post your feedback for the livestream for this year. Some notes on what occurred:

• VG Top 8 and VG Top 4 were streamed Saturday night (Stream went live at 5:00PM pre-show started at 5:30PM)
• TCG Top 16 and TCG Top 8 were streamed Saturday night (began as soon as we had matches and VG finished)
• VG Junior, Senior, and Masters finals were streamed Sunday morning (beginning 9:00AM)
• TCG Junior, Senior, and Masters finals were streamed Sunday afternoon (beginning 12:30PM)
• Saturday we had two additional locations set up to stream the TCG and the VG so that if our primary match ended early we could switch to a secondary/tertiary feed. As it turned out, the primary match always finished last so we didn't have the chance to test our other setups.
• With the TCG running into the evening, the call was made to play Top 4 the next morning so the staff and players could get some rest. TCG Top 4 could not be streamed unfortunately since the match would have to be played while other matches were occurring. It was not possible to predict when the VG would end and we had a hard start of 12:30 for TCG Junior finals.
• Players wore noise-canceling headsets on stage and all commentary was piped into the venue for the in-arena audience.

I hope everyone enjoyed the production this year!

 

[Tapin]

The coverage of the top cuts this year was fantastic. I was pretty much glued to my laptop for far too long over the weekend simply because I could watch so much that was going on. As a competent TCG player and weak VGC player, I thought the commentary was great -- a great improvement from last year. It was definitely the right call to get TTC and Nugget Bridge involved.

I was definitely disappointed that we didn't get to see the T4 matches, but it was both understandable and somewhat to be expected since TCG always runs long.

What's next for next year? Multiple streams during cut? Livestreaming swiss? Grinder coverage (pleeeease)? Either way, can't wait to see it.

 

[sdrawkcab]

I thought it was fantastic. It was great to see familiar faces doing the commentary, and while a feel the tcg commentary might have been dumbed down a bit more than the vgc commentary, I don't mind this at all since the TCG has much more "dead air time" the commentators need to fill in.

I'd love to see the videos posted onto youtube for all to see forever though.

 

[King Piplup]

"Dark Spear"
"Dark Hunt"

/complaints



Anyway, to be serious, the stream was fantastic.

 

[G landers]

Pokemon really improved the commentary this year compared to last year, I thought it was great!

 

[Mykel]

The teamwork between the two commentators could use some work. They'd often talk over each other, but I assume they didn't get to practice together much or know each other well.
I also would've liked to see the use of the second stream, especially since it felt like some matches ended really quickly. It's odd how the other match always finished first somehow.

Regardless, miles above last year. Dark Spear > Professor N

 

[Cyrus]

I watched the stream this year fairly religiously, viewing or listening to almost every TCG and VGC match that aired. Here's my take:

*All in all, the commentating was fantastic. TPCi made a great move inviting known name in the playing community,, as they added a lot more personality and (Team) flair than we otherwise would have had. My only criticism is that I sensed little synergy between TCG commentators. Whereas the two video game guys seemed totally on the ball (I know enough about VGC strategy to get they were totally in sync), Josh/Josue/Dylan all seemed more focused on setting each other up for commentary, rather than producing something more fluid.

*The pauses in between action could have been more...entertaining. I felt like TPCi's valuable commentators could have made a world's difference in several of these pauses,especially with regard to banter and chit-chat about player history. For example, during the 10-20 minute pause for the Jason K game loss ruling, we could have enjoyed talk about Jason/Dylan's other accomplishments, the second half of the Masters top sixteen they never covered, etc.

*When the stream is off or on standby, play music or remix music from the games. It's honestly a lot better to listen to (and a marketing tool) than that generic jingle every time.

*From the top cut-onward, the commentators might as well share all lists and spill all. The analysis will be exponentially better, and nobody will gain an unfair advantage due to one match being streamed over another.

Congratulations on a great livestream, and I look forward to seeing official event coverage expand as both games grow.

 

[G landers]

I watched the stream this year fairly religiously, viewing or listening to almost every TCG and VGC match that aired. Here's my take:

*All in all, the commentating was fantastic. TPCi made a great move inviting known name in the playing community,, as they added a lot more personality and (Team) flair than we otherwise would have had. My only criticism is that I sensed little synergy between TCG commentators. Whereas the two video game guys seemed totally on the ball (I know enough about VGC strategy to get they were totally in sync), Josh/Josue/Dylan all seemed more focused on setting each other up for commentary, rather than producing something more fluid.

*The pauses in between action could have been more...entertaining. I felt like TPCi's valuable commentators could have made a world's difference in several of these pauses,especially with regard to banter and chit-chat about player history. For example, during the 10-20 minute pause for the Jason K game loss ruling, we could have enjoyed talk about Jason/Dylan's other accomplishments, the second half of the Masters top sixteen they never covered, etc.

*When the stream is off or on standby, play music or remix music from the games. It's honestly a lot better to listen to (and a marketing tool) than that generic jingle every time.

*From the top cut-onward, the commentators might as well share all lists and spill all. The analysis will be exponentially better, and nobody will gain an unfair advantage due to one match being streamed over another.

Congratulations on a great livestream, and I look forward to seeing official event coverage expand as both games grow.

That was another thing I thought they did really well, giving the commentators each players list made it extremely easier to commentate on.

 

[Son_of_Apollo]

Some things I'd improve on:

-more updates on the other matches. at least say when someone else is moving on, it was annoying not knowing who else won until the next bracket was shown.

-like many have mentioned before, not going straight to standby when the judges are deliberating. I'm sure josue could've talked about semi-relevant stuff for ten minutes.

-having one color commentator and another who's been deep in worlds before. Having that insight would make the commentary a lot more interesting for competitive players. This is why kyle/josue have been so successful with the top cut. Josue's funny at times but it's not enough for me; I like that kyle can offer some real perspective on what's happening in the game.

-Improving the quality. For me it was somewhat blurry.

-fixing the way the top cut was organized in general. Playing until midnight is ridiculous. Top 16 should have been played on sunday


Now, the stuff I liked:

-love that it was live streamed, of course.

-loved that you chose the most interesting games. I was afraid we'd watch one person the whole time like in the VGC.

-I play the VGC competitively too, and I thought their commentary was great. Obviously good players who were having fun and knew what they were talking about.


Keep it coming. this was a huge step forward for both games

 

[bullados]

About the only complaint that I have for this year is the schedule. These guys shouldn't be playing until midnight just so that they can get on the stream. It would be nice to have two separate streams going: one for VGC, one for TCG. This way, the Finals get the props they deserve, but the players also get to, y'know, SLEEP before the Finals.

It would also be nice if the stream would default to something other than 240p. Even if it's not 1080p, even 720 would be preferable to 240...

 

[FirestormXVI]

About the only complaint that I have for this year is the schedule. These guys shouldn't be playing until midnight just so that they can get on the stream. It would be nice to have two separate streams going: one for VGC, one for TCG. This way, the Finals get the props they deserve, but the players also get to, y'know, SLEEP before the Finals.

That would do nothing to solve the problem. At no point was TCG delayed on Saturday for VGC streaming. The reason for the longer Saturday schedule is so that each age division's finals is shown to the audience and stream.

 

[AlphaZealot]

We streamed in 1080 (our output was 1080 quality) - this was a freely selectable option (as in no need to buy Twitch Turbo or pay a premium) in the Twitch player. We can't control what it defaults to, but if it was blurry it was because the option was toggled to <720 when both 720 and 1080 were available to be used during the whole weekend.

Just wanted to clear that one up since it is up to the user for which quality video they select, and we can't exactly explain while live how to navigate the Twitch player. Full art cards on the other hand did cause difficulty in reading card text and we can look into that one.

Appreciate the feedback, keep it coming!

 

[Swadloon]

I thought the commentators for the VG were great, TCG not so much. They needed to pay better attention to what was going on in the match and there were awkward pauses and times where they were just sitting there saying nothing.

It would also be nice if the stream would default to something other than 240p. Even if it's not 1080p, even 720 would be preferable to 240...

You could change it to 720 though. A lot of channels set their default resolution low and if you want it higher, you just need to make 2 clicks on your mouse to change it...

 

[LOLZ]

Overall, it was great 10 times better than last years Gamespot Stream.

I know nothing about Video Game play, the commentators were really good, with the commentary I was easily able to understand what was going on.

Here are a few things that could have been better.

More Matches!

Show LCQ matches, Show Main Event Swiss matches. Even if you don’t show them live at the venue, it would be nice to show them online to highlight the entire event instead of just the latter half of the event. I am so happy to hear that you had cameras covering other matches in case the primary one finished first, having a big break during the stream would not have be good.

Exhibition Matches! Get veteran/legend players together for special exhibition matches on Thursday night and Friday night after LCQ (if there is time) and during any lunch/dinner break. Nothing on the line, just a game to keep viewers on the stream. Obvious choices for these players are those veteran/legend players who did not qualify for Worlds (Yamato for example, he does not qualify every year). Friday Night (after LCQ) Matches can be Champion vs Champion matches featuring reigning National Champions.

You guys made an investment in I can’t imagine how much equipment (camaras, headphones, mics, lighting, the commentators themselves), the least you can do is get your money’s worth and more out of it, please show more matches.

More Content!
For starters, the biggest thing missing from the stream was the Opening Ceremony. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies are my favorite parts of Worlds. Having the Opening not on stream was a big letdown.

After the Opening Ceremony and Before Round 1 could be a great spot for a short Pre-show. Explain what players had to do to get to Worlds, explain the tournament structure (Attendance Numbers/Swiss/Rounds/Top Cut), give the viewers the schedule and finally a nice metagame analysis of the TCG field.

PreMatch Interviews with other notable players
It would have been interesting to get a players perceptive on a match up before the match begins. For example before Masters VG Finals, it would have been good idea to invite the reigning Champion Ray Rizzo up to the commentary table and get his commentary on the match before it begins and have him give the audience perspective about what is going through the Finalists minds at this point of the tournament.

Also before the Juniors VG Final, a good interview to have would have been with Bredon Zheng’s brother, Aaron. Doing this would not only get a players perspective on the match up it would of given TPCI/P!P a chance to highlight that this is a FAMILY game. Brand Image!

Commentators
Asking for more content and more matches will put a huge strain on the current Commentators. If you ever decide to go bigger with this, you need to get more commentators. Ryan Vergal and John Kettler have the potential of being good choices for TCG commentators.

The current commenters are great, though I have 3 minor criticisms.

1- Crimz seems to say “I think”, “I believe” and “uhhhh” a lot (he does this on TheTopCut, as well). I’m not sure if he is setting up the other commenter for something or if he is just unsure about whatever he is talking about. It is VERY noticeable.

2- Know the name of the attacks/cards, there were a few minor slip ups from ExoByte. The average viewer won’t notice but some do. Someone on HeyFonte (a facebook group) noticed and they made a meme-
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/521969_181505665361865_2112341612_n.jpg

3- It would have been nice to hear more pre-match commentary talking about more of the match up and the players. Have a Tale of the Tape to introduce us to the players, with the last item being the players deck/team choice. http://assets.espn.go.com/sportscenter/images/FS_6PM_BOX_043010_Mayweather_Mosley_Tale_of_Tape.jpg
Items for a Pokémon Tale of the Tape can include- Lifetime Match Record, Season Match Record, Current Tournament Record, Championship Points, Number of Previous Worlds Invites, Notable Accomplishments and finally deck choice.

Other Miscellaneous Stuff
When the streaming TCG the Worlds Logo was not on the stream, it was replaced with Card Images as they were referenced. Someone who just tuned in to the stream may have no idea that this is Worlds. The logo is needed. Put the between the Player names

Better intro/transition graphics. Something like this for before a match begins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PXp4vQJZLc
If not the championship match, use semi-final, quarter-final, round #, etc… in the graphics.

When introducing the competitors, show less Nick McCord and more of the players.

Final Suggestion
All of the video promos you showed between matches were great, though there is one video promo I would of liked to see. A VIDEO PROMO PROMOTING POKEMON ORGANIZED PLAY!

At one point there were more than 14,000 viewers on stream. I bet anything that all of these players are not competitive players. A video promo could have been played multiple times to get players informed about Pokémon Organized Play Tournaments and Leagues. Doing this has the possibility of increasing attendance at events. Next year it would be nice to see/hear something like this on stream,

“this season is coming to a close, but the next season is right around the corner, Pokemon TCG and VG Autumn Regional Championships are coming soon

*insert map to Autumn Regionals (for example- http://media-cerulean.cursecdn.com/...369/530/530/springregionals2013locations.png )*

For more information go to pokemon.com/play”

Promoting next seasons regionals at worlds might not be possible because they may not be planned yet, but please, add something to the stream to promote Pokemon Organized Play. 14,000 potential players to reach out to!!!!

Once again, everything for the Worlds Stream was great, it only has the potential to get better. I hope the powers that be (and the budget) allows this to be taken to the NEXT level. I am hoping that we will be able to see an Official Live Stream from Regionals, Int’l Nationals and USA Nationals next.

 

[bullados]

That would do nothing to solve the problem. At no point was TCG delayed on Saturday for VGC streaming. The reason for the longer Saturday schedule is so that each age division's finals is shown to the audience and stream.

Not for Saturday.

Sunday.

Y'know, the day when they showed every Final Match for all Age Groups in both TCG and VGC?

The only reason I can think of to have the TCG players playing to late into Saturday is so that they didn't miss a match AND could get the VGC finals done at the same time.

If you have separate streams for the VGC and the TCG, then you can use Sunday Morning for the T8 and T4 TCG, get both of those streamed, and still have all age groups and both competition Finals Streamed.

The problem wasn't that anything on Saturday was delayed.

It's that 1-2 rounds on Saturday were rushed. And finished late. And they didn't have to.

 

[LOLZ]

Not for Saturday.

Sunday.

Y'know, the day when they showed every Final Match for all Age Groups in both TCG and VGC?

The only reason I can think of to have the TCG players playing to late into Saturday is so that they didn't miss a match AND could get the VGC finals done at the same time.

If you have separate streams for the VGC and the TCG, then you can use Sunday Morning for the T8 and T4 TCG, get both of those streamed, and still have all age groups and both competition Finals Streamed.

The problem wasn't that anything on Saturday was delayed.

It's that 1-2 rounds on Saturday were rushed. And finished late. And they didn't have to.

I think the intention of playing down up till Finals on Saturday so the attention can be 100% on each of the final matches in each age group. Splitting the games will split the audience.

 

[Raen]

I thought that, overall, the stream was good and a HUGE step forward from last year. That said, there were some issues.

- VGC commentary was basically perfect. NBplaid and Scott are the two best VGC commentators I have seen (although Cybertron (Aaron Zheng) is also very very good at commentary, but he way playing) so they were a perfect pair, and they meshed really well.

- On the other hand, TCG commentary was, on the whole, disappointing. I don't exactly blame Jwittz or Crimz for this, although I think Crimz in particular has room to improve, but rather, I blame ExoByte. No, he didn't do a bad job, but he was basically an outsider; a TPCi employee kinda shoe-horned in there. He didn't mesh well with either JWittz or Crimz, and he didn't have as good of a playing perspective as them either.

It also kinda felt like he was put there to police the commentators, and I think that was too bad. He made JWittz and Crimz obviously nervous a little bit, and was overall kinda overly stiff and proper, which made for boring commentary. On the flipside, when JWittz and Crimz did the commentary for the Finals, things got much, much better. The finals commentary was the best we saw all weekend for the TCG, and I feel like the lack of ExoByte being there was the cause of that.

I would, in the future, like to see some other TCG commentators, though. In particular, I feel like Kyle "Pooka" Sucevich is the best TCG commentator there is, and I also quite like Drew Holton and Michael Pramawat's commentary. I understand the Pooka and Pram probably would rather play, but Drew in particular I would have liked to see there.

-I also had a bit of an issue with the way things were handled with the double energy attachment. Yes, mistakes like this happen, and sometimes judges aren't immediately aware. However, play should have been halted as soon as the commentator's noticed and said something about it. There was a good 3-5 minute delay before play was stopped after the commentator's noticed, and that ended up looking really bad. Going essentially off-air while the situation was sorted out was also a bit of the problem, largely due to that annoying and short little tune that played the whole time. It would have been nice to have some of the videos played throughout there, or maybe a switch to another match or something.

-Everyone will say this one, but the schedule was not good. In the future, I'd like to see Worlds expanded by 1 day. Have Swiss on Friday, Top Cut on Saturday, and Finals on Sunday. I'm aware that adds venue costs, and I'm not sure how impossible/possible that would be, in particular with the grinder needing to be held. I don't want to see that go, so I'm not sure how to fix this problem.

I think those are all the most glaring issues I saw. There were a few little polish things that could use work as well, but a lot of it just comes down to practice for the commentator's and the tech crews. With this experience under their belt, I know things will just keep getting better. Ultimately, great job, and thank you for the stream!

 

[King Piplup]

I think the intention of playing down up till Finals on Saturday so the attention can be 100% on each of the final matches in each age group. Splitting the games will split the audience.

Perhaps this is a necessary evil? It's worth noting that between the double attach in T16 and the N issue in T8 (that occurred off stream), there's some evidence that points to the idea that maybe the quality of play/judging wasn't quite as high as it could've been if we weren't playing at 10:30 PM?

Overall, it was a good stream, but the timing definitely could've been better.

 

[rt24]

Way way wayyyyyyyyyyyyy better than all other years.

Great job getting JWittz since he actually knows what he's talking about. Getting commentators who are experienced is really crucial for the viewer. If it's a random person who clearly doesn't know what he or she is talking about (and we can tell), I'll just mute it or not even watch at all.

The technical side was great too. Camera angles were awesome, and 1080p was great too.

Overall great job! Very happy.

 

[JandPDS]

About the only complaint that I have for this year is the schedule. These guys shouldn't be playing until midnight just so that they can get on the stream. It would be nice to have two separate streams going: one for VGC, one for TCG. This way, the Finals get the props they deserve, but the players also get to, y'know, SLEEP before the Finals.

It would also be nice if the stream would default to something other than 240p. Even if it's not 1080p, even 720 would be preferable to 240...

I don't often agree with Bullados but on the point we are in complete and l agreement. I thought it was horrible that they made the players play top cut matches so very late. They all looked so exhausted. And I am sure a lot more mistakes were made then would have occurred if the top cut had started on Sunday morning instead of being run all night long on Saturday. It was very strange that the top 8 matches were played one at a time while the T4 were both played at the same exact time.

I feel that the players who top cut deserve better then to be forced to play when they are no longer that there physical and mental best at worlds. After 8 rounds of swiss there should have been only the T32 completed that night and then let the T16 go in the morning when the players were fresh, I am sure tiredness was a major contributing factor in the player who got disqualified a game for attaching 2 energy on one turn (without any effect or ability to do so).

I understand the desire to feature matches but it should not be at the expense of the players. If a player went though 8 rounds of swiss and then played 3 games in T32, T16 and T8 that is 17 games in one night. I played 14 games in the LCQ and I know I was getting mentaly exhausted and the quality of my playing was declining. I cant imagine the pressure of playing exhausted in a match to move on to the T4 at Midnight after 15 hours of playing.