„Ich bin ein großer Fan der WCS 2012“

„I’m a big fan of the approach from 2012“

Before we head into the Round of 16, readmore.de took the opportunity to talk to James ‚Kaelaris‘ Carrol about the upcoming BlizzCon, region lock and other StarCraft II topics.

readmore.de: What match are you most looking forward to within the round of sixteen?

For me, there’s one match in the Round of 16 that stands out above the rest. It’s not even just the quality of the games we should be likely to see, but also what this tournament means to both of the players in question. soO vs TaeJa is cluttered with reasons to watch. How is soO’s ZvT doing since he lost to INnoVation during the GSL Grand Final? If his legacy of second places continues, does this mean that TaeJa will get knocked out in the Ro16 after he’s stated many times that he will be retiring very soon? All TaeJa’s focus has been put on BlizzCon for a very long time now, is this the grand finale he’s been dreaming of? Regardless of who advances victorious from this match, it will be a shame to lose one of two big favourites for the tournament.

Looking at previous Global Champions neither PartinG nor sOs are participating at this years Global Finals. Do you think it is natural in StarCraft II that the top player positions are shifting this quickly? Do you like it?

Well, I don’t think anyone would argue that PartinG and sOs have really dropped off that hard. The thing about the Korean region is that there are just a vast number of players who play at the very top level, so PartinG and sOs haven’t quite hit the mark toward the end of the year. I’m actually a big fan of the idea of the previous World Champion getting a shot at defending their title at the next World Championship, say for example if YoDa was invited to the previous Katowice event in IEM. Quite a few of the consistent players usually rise to the top. I think we have like 8 returning players this year from the last to the top 16, so that’s quite impressive.

Who is your favourite going into this years BlizzCon?

I kind of have two answers to this. Initially when I looked at the top 16 I thought to myself „Zest, Zest, Zest.. nope you can’t persuade me otherwise, I think Zest has this“. But then I got to look at the brackets a little bit. So my smart money is on Zest, but my powers of deduction in my mind say that Bomber can go a long way in the upper half of the bracket, and then perhaps even steal it all at the very end. That being said, Bomber’s law and all that, it hasn’t really shown its ugly head for a while, perhaps it’s time to at BlizzCon.

Do you think that currently Terran players are having an edge?

It seems so. The great Terran players of our age have always been fantastic. Be it someone like Polt or Bomber lording over the American region, MMA and YoDa’s domination of WCS Europe last season, or INnoVation’s rise to the top again over in Korea. It just feels like after several nerfs to Protoss, and Zerg having been in a similar position for a long time, Terran have had all the time in the world to adapt to old trends, but that come at a slower pace or lack a little punch to them that they used to. Also Terrans have really got so good at positional awareness, something which they’ve had to master more-so I would say than Protoss and Terran since they’re so often forced into the same unit comp of Bio.

What are the most interesting story lines regarding this years WCS that could find their appropriate conclusion at BlizzCon?

Well similar to last year, we have a Silver Surfer. Last year it was JaeDong, this year it’s soO looking to break out of this terrible pattern he’s found himself in. Of course there’s a lot of money to be had being 2nd place, but the glory is never there. Also TaeJa being the monster he is, already stating many times that he will retire, if he takes this tournament in his final moments, who is to question his supremacy? I could keep going, but really every player has had their fair share of disappointment, ups and downs, whoever makes it far, whoever takes it, stories will be told.

You are casting the Global freaking Finals. How does that feel? Did you arrive in the shoutcaster Olymp?

Haha, well, in a manner of speaking, yes. Man I’m so excited for BlizzCon, it’s not even just the fact that it’s the WCS Global Finals that I get to cast, but this will be my first BlizzCon. After being a Blizzard fan for so many years ever since WarCraft 2, The experience for me is going to be magical. I’m not sure I can really even put into words what this means to me. I remember years ago watching BlizzCon’s from home with my brother and friends, we’d gather up, sleep over at someones house and then get angry at all the WoW changes we didn’t like haha. Fun times.

What are your plans for the coming year?

2015 for me is going to be an interesting one. My first love in commentating will always be StarCraft, but i’m wanting to give Heroes of the Storm a go too with ESL, as the game is extremely fun and satisfying. Also it helps that i’ve played ever Blizzard game ever, so to watch a fight go down between characters like the Stormrage brothers up against Kerrigan is like a nerds dream. Other than that though, i’ll keep plugging away. 2015 WILL be the year I do more personal streaming. I’ve said that ever since I moved away from Finland, but this time I mean it!

What are your thoughts on there being 16 Koreans at Global Finals? Do you rather watch the very best or do you like the approach of WCS 2012?

I’m a big fan of the approach from 2012, although of course with slight tuning. Overall I think the plans going into 2015’s WCS is good. I think in the end if there are more countries represented at the Global Finals, it will give more people reason to cheer for their favourites, watch more etc. I had a wild idea a few months back of expanding the 16 top players to the 32 top players for the Global Final. Of course this would present logistical problems at the end perhaps with scheduling, but overall it’d give the best of both worlds – All the top Koreans that people want from this „original“ system, and still have room for foreigners to compete as well. My ideas are all over the place though, they change from month to month so take that with a pinch of salt!

With the region lock coming for the World Championship Series 2015 do you think next years top 16 at BlizzCon will look similarly?

That really depends on the Visa situation in Europe and the USA. If managers and Korean players push really hard to stay in a region, I think the could do with the new rule set. It totally depends on how much some players want to stay in the respective continent.

At this years BlizzCon many fans are expecting announcements regarding Legacy of the Void. What are your wishes in these regards?

An interesting question I haven’t really given much thought to. I started out StarCraft 1 as Protoss, and continued that in to StarCraft 2, later switching to where I play all races equally. Even with my Protoss heritage I would still like to see a rework of the warpgate mechanic, even if it was just a build time decrease on units when they’re coming out of gateways in a standard fashion. The option to have both be effective in different circumstances really appeals to me. Other than that, i’d have to think for a long time about it.

Do you think Blizzard has to change its way of monetizing StarCraft II? Can eSports titles be successful if consumers only pay once?

I think eSports can be successful like that. I mean, StarCraft 2 has been successful for a number of years now. Relative to the F2Ps, sure it hasn’t seen similar levels of growth and hasn’t quite hit the same numbers, but that doesn’t mean it cannot exist on the current model and enjoy some success. In the end, perhaps an F2P model would benefit StarCraft, it would bring in a bigger audience for sure, but there are a lot of factors to consider. The „Spawning“ tool was their step into that territory, but people very rarely want to jump through hoops, and just want instant gratification. F2P wouldn’t be the saving grace of StarCraft entirely. Naturally it’s a very difficult game, punishing, grueling, and that’s not for everybody. In almost every other F2P game there are scapegoat excuses to make you feel better about yourself after a loss. In StarCraft, a 1v1 game, those don’t exist.

How do you like the WCS system in general? Comparing 2011’s or 2012’s tournament scene to todays, don’t you think that things have gotten a bit boring?

The WCS tournaments and other external tiered tournaments contributing for me is a good system. Whenever I watch something now i’m always thinking about the end goal and what it means in the bigger picture. Each tournament feels like the next hurdle in a race that’s being run all year long. To me that’s not boring, however I think some progamers see it as quite stressful. If you’re knocked out of your region’s WCS, you have to wait 3 months to get another shot, and then performing at every tier tournament is also of much higher importance than just bagging some extra cash. As a spectator though, unifying the scene has been enjoyable to watch because of what’s at stake.

In an Interview NaNiwa told us that he thinks the StarCraft II scene is currently lacking characters. Do you agree?

NaNiwa’s still around? Naw joking aside, compared to the days of IdrA and Stephano etc, I guess there aren’t as many, but it’s not really a big difference to be honest.

James, thank you for your time.