Dota 2 fans and players everywhere have voiced their disappointment at the short length of the Secret Shop 3 line during The International 4 finals between Newbee and Vici Gaming, leading many to criticize Valve’s decision to hold the finals during the Secret Shop 3.

The SS3 main event saw great attendance at the start of the weekend, but abruptly dropped when the finals began, as misguided fans focused on the Newbee vs Vici match instead of simply buying another round of merchandise.

“Every one of those full seats during the finals could have been another person in line,” said one fan, who traveled from Europe only to see his hopes of a six-hour wait dashed as he bought his items in less than one hour. “The SEA server had better queues than this.”

Many fans thanked Vici Gaming, who mercifully cut the finals short by losing three quick games so as to bolster the struggling line that barely wrapped around half of Seattle’s Key Arena.

“It was purely a business decision,” said VG drafter Bai “rOtk” Lu. “We felt we could make significantly more money reselling items.”

“I don’t know what Valve was thinking holding a video game competition during the Secret Shop 3,” said Reddit user QueueWexExort. “Could you imagine how short the line would have been if EG made the finals?”

Fans were unable to use stand-in spectators to watch the matches, fearing that Valve would disqualify them immediately from the Secret Shop for unauthorized roster changes.

He added: “We can only hope that Valve doesn’t schedule any tournaments during Secret Shop 4 next year.”

