Chief Content Coordinator that is mildly obsessed with Dota 2. Other video games are cool too. Master of BioChem in my other life.

Jul 31, 2019

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of Rivalry. Title image credit: DreamHack/Jennika Ojala Money isn’t the solution to the problem that is Tier 2 (and 3,4,5) Dota. Don’t get me wrong, it would certainly help. But it isn’t the magic cure that people are broadcasting; there are deeper issues at play in the tier 2 scene that need to be navigated. In addition to the money. Like I said, it would help. And yes, there is a TL;DR at the bottom. First, an overview of the problem Endless pros, journalists, teams, and personalities have discussed the problems for the tier 2 scene, but Chessie has a great recent summary.

The current situation of the T2-T3 Dota scene



Read: https://t.co/fNJaDDQSqf — Rasmus Blomdin (@ChessieDota) July 13, 2019

This entire year of Dota, we have made a total of 17,500$ in TFT. Compare with my previous years in NA. This is not a financially viable situation, we may not have been the best team this season, but I truly believe I would have made a whole lot more in another region.

The Final Tribe made $52,000 in prize money the previous year, with less time as an existing team. Chessie’s team (Complexity) in the 2017-2018 season netted $119,250 in prize money. Complexity in the 2018-2019 season hit $71,550. As interested as I am in an overhaul that looks at team earnings, prize pool shares per region, and saturation levels - that is a distraction from the main point Chessie is looking to make. The Final Tribe was a reasonably successful team that barely missed their shot at TI, arguably in large part because of Liquid making roster changes. If that team had been playing in NA, they would have potentially found a larger income share from a region with less depth. No matter what region they're in, the prize money they won doesn't seem like an accurate measurement of the team's skill. Switching regions shouldn’t be the answer, and regional depth shouldn’t be something that inhibits the playing pool of developing talent. It should strengthen it. So what happened? In the 2017-2018 season, we had a plethora of tournaments that were part of the DPC system. The top teams in each region were invited, and the minors usually only boasted a handful of tier 1 teams and then was filled with tier 2 teams. Majors were as fierce as ever, but we had 22 DPC events for a total of $13.5 million in DPC prize money and about $935,000 in third party international LANs. This year, we had 10 DPC events with $6.5 million available and approximately $2.5 million in third party international LANs. This is still all about the money - there was less of it in prize pools this year with less tournaments to give tier 2 teams a chance at LAN experience and a shot at prize pools. Making a living playing Dota when you aren’t at the top seems to have gotten harder with time, not easier. (Let’s also not forget that many are still waiting on the money from several of those tournaments). Moving beyond the money (mostly) The 2017-2018 season may have seemed flush with cash, but teams were TIRED. Endless qualifiers, sometimes with different TOs not playing very nice with schedules, pitted the same teams against each other again and again with brutal travel and playing schedules. The best teams accepted invites and appeared to ‘monopolize’ minors while tier 2 teams fought for the remaining spots. This year’s system tried to keep the big teams out of the minors, protecting the money and experience meant for developing players. Unfortunately, the ‘everyone must play qualifiers’ ruling kept the schedule packed and destroyed a huge chunk of the year that could be used by third party LANs or leagues. This gets to the heart of the problem. There is zero incentive for league based format and online play, both from teams and from organizers. JoinDota League used to feature all the top teams, and now they struggle to maintain interest or team participation. What happened to the the various BTS cups? Or even the Summit X LAN needing to be rescheduled because of team commitment issues. NADCL has tried its hardest to add stability and growth in NA. What about Dreamleague? (Or rather, what will happen with it’s return this fall). Will their small weekly league even attract legitimate up and coming teams?

Time for something a little different to keep you busy during TI & the quieter months 😉



Introducing DreamHack Weekly! Weekly tournaments with 2 monthly finals that lead into a grand final end of Sept for $2000! A total of $9000 up for grabs 🤑 #DHWeeklyhttps://t.co/LqBgQO07Ha pic.twitter.com/24TRmno7ha — DreamHack Dota (@DreamHackDota) July 31, 2019

It isn’t that these opportunities don’t exist. Online cups, leagues, and tournaments are still around. The money isn’t great, the viewership certainly doesn’t attract large sponsors, and they aren’t as appealing as a DPC tournament. Therein lies the problem. Why would you stay on a roster that is “doomed” to a low tier league? Why would you give up playing qualifiers for a such a small prize pool? Why would advertisers sponsor something no one cares about? Nothing is going to stop you from aiming for TI, and if you think you have the mildest chance of making it to a DPC event, you’ll probably try for it. I know it looks like a simple solution to just give these leagues more money so teams play them. That doesn’t fix anything - TI is worth over 30 million. Professional players aren’t trying to go pro and play it safe for a $5000 prize in a monthly league. They will always take the 0.001% (or less) chance of making it to TI. This isn’t their fault, this is how the system is set up. In order for any sustainable tier 2 system to exist, players need to buy into the concept.