My time with Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns release

Traditionally, one enters the expansion of an MMO with a number of thoughts.  There is a sense of anticipation regarding the new content available to experience; a drive to explore the new environments and discover rare treasures and Easter eggs; a determination to take on the new challenges before you and continue to forge a story of your character amongst other things that make an MMO special.  That being said, my time with expansions in the past has kind of been marred by the feeling of a need to ‘rush’ through the content so you can remain on par with the overall progression.  Whether it be rushing to max level so you can start gearing up for the end-game raid, or practising with your new skills to stay competitive in the new pvp season, for many players a lot of the content will fly past them swept up in xp numbers and the occasional ‘ding’.  Over the past few years, this concept has become less and less appealing to me, so to have Guild Wars 2s new expansion Heart of Thorns not following this convention with no level or gear cap increase has renewed my interest in playing through such content.  Now I've had a couple weeks with Heart of Thorns, I would say that it has been a thoroughly enjoyable one that I'm looking forward to its continued progress.  

The new character select screen has a nice UI fade-out showing off your character and the jungle motif.  Screenshot taken 22/11/2015

Heart of Thorns takes off from where Season 2 of the Living Story left us with The Pact in tatters after the attack by Mordremoth which tore the airships from the sky and sent Sylvari into an internal conflict as the jungle dragon twisted their thoughts.  The Pact Commander (the player character) is charged with picking up the pieces of The Pact while leading a small band of adventurers (more commonly known as Destiny’s Edge 2.0) to bring an end to Mordremoth; something which requires a great deal of exploration and information gathering.  

The story in this expansion has evolved from the game's initial release in 2012, removing the side-by-side dialogue cut-scenes and replacing them with in-game NPC conversations which feature in a mix of both open world and story mission instances; making the conversations feel a lot better in terms of context as well as getting the player character to voice / emote their thoughts to groups of people.  It is clear that these story missions have also learnt from the previous Living Story seasons with the addition of movement / vehicle mechanics (see the Zephyrites for such an example) but where it has added its own new feature is through the integration of the mastery system added in Heart of Thorns.  

The vines of Mordremoth cracking the stone it falls upon, show-casing the power of the expansion's main antagonist.  Image from Guild Wars 2, Heart of Thorns release trailer via YouTube.  Accessed 23/11/2015

As I mentioned earlier, Heart of Thorns doesn’t have any level cap increase which may spark the question “what character progression is there to be had?”  Masteries is what answers this through an alternative levelling system that looks to level environmental skills to aid one’s journey through the Maguuma Jungle.  For example, one can learn how to use a glider to assist in getting around the map in short bursts.  As you put more mastery points into this skill (a currency obtained by completing HoT objectives / achievements) you learn how to use up-drafts to gain height, stealth techniques to stop enemies knocking you out of the sky, and leans to become more efficient.  On the surface, this doesn't really do much, but in depth it gives the player a great experience of the map much like a metroid-vania; where you find a canyon you can’t cross at first but with that one skill improvement you find a way to reach the other side.  For me this was experienced early on in my playtime when I didn’t have access to the jumping mushroom skill (Itzal mastery).  There was an event involving the recovery of wyvern eggs from a plateau that took some 30-60 seconds to climb normally, but with this mastery I was able to reach the top in 10 seconds, allowing me to have a much greater contribution for the event.  I feel it's a rather clever way to extend the playtime of maps, because you can’t just rush through it 100%’ing everything without taking time to learn the new skills.  As I mentioned previously, I was one to rush through to end-game in previous MMos but my time in HoT hasn't felt rushed and in turn i’m taking note of more of the landscape, its characters and events.  

Flying high in the canopy showcases how much space is in the map.  Draw-distance aside, it's pretty big.  Screenshot taken 22/11/2015

Another thing I'm loving about these maps is the verticality they hold reinforcing the importance of these new masteries and depth of the playable space.  Before the expansion launched, there was a lot of talk about how each map would have 3 levels of interaction (Roots, Jungle and Canopy) and although each level doesn’t constitute a full map, it does add some interesting dynamics to the game-play.  The first map of the expansion (Verdant Brink) has you fighting in the jungle during the day, but when night falls you find yourself up in the canopy battling with one of the zone’s boss battles using your newly honed gliding skills to stop you meeting an untimely end below.  Although I have thoroughly enjoyed playing through this content there is something that has marred my experience being performance issues when interacting with large groups of players.  Having 15fps when trying to dodge a large fire breath attack from a rampaging Wyvern Matriarch creates its own unique challenge, but it is definitely one that I would like to not contend with.  This of course wouldn’t be an issue once I get my new PC built, but for now if you’re someone who has a low-performance PC you will probably find yourself sticking to the small form content such as the story and adventures.  

This boss event requires the players to glide off and throw eggs at it to make the ground safe and continue the fight.  Screenshot taken 22/11/2015

This is not to say that you’ll have a worse experience because one of the things i’m loving about HoT is its range of content available.  Adventures have been a great deal of fun for their ability to add small parts of competitive events without the taxing performance above.  These challenges are dotted around the map (usually correlating to a nearby outpost which may have conventional events tied to it) and task the player with racing/fighting/flying/etc their way to achieve a gold, silver or bronze reward.  These adventures also have leader-boards on them, which allow for players to hone their skills and look to get on the top of the leader-board for all to survey, which personally has been a task that I usually come mid/high in the rankings.  The adventures also have a nice connection with the mastery system, as many challenges are easier to achieve higher scores through the use of said skills e.g. Tendril Torchers has a mesa which one can access via a jumping mushroom, allowing you to clear a large number of tendrils that otherwise wouldn’t be accessible.  

Alongside Adventures, finding hidden mastery points adds to the enjoyment of exploration.  Screenshot taken 22/11/2015

As you can probably tell by this post, I am very much enjoying my time in HoT, but if you’re from a traditional MMo point of view, you maybe thinking that not having a level/gear cap increase somewhat diminishes the experience of an expansion.  This of course can be an issue but I feel that HoT has created an enjoyable combat loop with enough customisability to keep it fresh.  Since entering the HoT maps, I have tried a number of builds on my trusty engineer ranging from heavy damage condition builds to the more supportive boon / healing builds which have been relevant to keep some of the my more ‘glassy’ companions alive.  New stat combinations in gear have helped in making these builds more viable, but the addition of the specialisations have added a new interesting dynamic to my favourite profession in the name of the ‘scraper’.  This build gives the engineer a proper melee weapon (tool kit has been around but i’m classing it as a skill in this context) in the Hammer alongside an array of mobile drones to assist you in combat.  Like with many players, I went for my specialisation straight away to give it a try and found myself getting a lot of fun out of the build with its mixture of CC and combo fields, but in the long run I think I would need to properly invest in a gear setup to get the most out of it.  

Engaging with other specialisations has been a mixed bag of feelings between co-operation (pve) and competition (pvp).  I love how different weapon types like shields, torches, warhorns have these interesting skills such as the Chronomancer with their shield; but the learning process to properly know how to act on these skills has been a bit annoying especially due to my low performance set-up.  To give you an example, the Chronomancer elite skill ‘Gravity Well’ is a large aoe that causes float, pull and knock-down but due to my graphic settings and culling I get a very faint outline of this skill, if anything.  I also have a similar experience with the Dragonhunter skill “Hunter’s Ward’ because the barrier won’t show up on my screen, so naturally I knock into the barrier and potentially not get off that life saving elixir throw (speaking from personal experience in spvp).  Naturally, this will improve when my hardware improves, but i’m in that awkward space of not sure whether the range of skill effects correlate with a reasonable means of educating yourself to act upon it.  

A check-list with little hints to the next objective makes achievement hunting fun in-game rather than a chore.  Screenshot taken 23/11/2015

The last thing I wanted to talk about was something that on the surface is really minor, but I absolutely love as an explorer / achiever.  In the past, if you had an achievement with multiple tasks to hand (e.g. coin collection in Dry Top or the Dive Master) you had little means to know which ones you were missing outside of external guides.  In HoT, they have now put in a proper list system for these achievements so it's much easier to have a in-game / world means to discover and explore.  When I first came back to Guild Wars 2, I wrote about this explorer nature and how it really gets me involved in the world, so having this information available to me keeps me from alt-tabbing to Dulfy and just following a guide (not that it's a bad thing I just personally prefer the current setup).  

The Scrapper with his drones give Engineers a new way to play.  Image from https://www.guildwars2.com accessed 23/11/2015

Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in HoT as an experience continuing my enjoyment of the world of Guild Wars 2 and the MMo as a genre.  Having a expansion that doesn’t right off your achievements of the past couple years as well as giving you new challenges to go up against seems so logical that looking back at the WoW/Rift expansions makes them look ‘old-fashioned’.  A level cap increase feels arbitrary and now i’m enjoying the maps because I like being there, not because I need the xp to get to the next place.  This expansion respects your time whether you want to spend 30 minutes a day doing a couple events or power game your way through a 10 hour binge in meta events and raiding; which is something I hope stays relevant in the months to come.  Whether you’ve played many MMos or completely new to the genre, I think this game and its recent expansion Heart of Thorns is a great game to get involved in and experience what it has to offer.  

Thoughts on Guild Wars 2 Raiding

A couple weeks ago, the guys at Arenanet did a live-stream talking about the inclusion of “challenging content” coming alongside the release of the game's first expansion, Heart of Thorns. The stream went on to discuss the nature of its raiding content; outlining its large set pieces and difficult encounters that will require the co-ordination of your group (of which has been set to 10 players) to overcome significant opponents. Over the past couple weeks, I've 'ermed and errred' over this subject trying to think about how I would like to discuss it, but I feel I've got to a point where I feel it best showcases my thoughts. These thoughts come from two particular areas: my interest of architectural theory and my experience of raiding in traditional MMOs such as WoW and Rift.

Many years ago raiding up against Onyxia in WoW.  Screenshot taken 19/08/2006

The subject of raiding in essence is quite simple; stringing together challenging bosses broken up by trash mobs and narrative to give context and pacing to the environment. Its the way a significant force can be tackle in a narrative, that may present them as an almost impossible mountain to climb but through determination and skill it can be overcome. This of course is a strong feeling to have in a game like an MMO (and kinda any game really) but grouping together with like-minded people and having that roar from a VoIP server upon success is amazing to experience. I experienced this in WoW during Vanilla and Wrath as well as Vanilla Rift as both a healer and DPS which to a certain extent was a while ago, but with Guild Wars 2 I have the potential to experience that once again. That being said, I'm not sure whether the game (or myself) can live up to what raiding is.

My first time seeing Rag was a memorable experienced hampered by the nature of Molten Core.  Screenshot taken 17/12/2006

The most clear point on this subject in my opinion is the nature of the current content; that focuses heavily on grouped-up 'blob-like' movement with enemy movement that plays into this. There are of course reasons behind this such as boon stacking (stacking large numbers of buffs on the party in quick succession), ease of access to resurrecting downed players and that players are rarely punished for acting in this way. To a certain extent, it makes me think of the traditional “boss vs. tank” then everyone else that I experienced in my days of raiding in places like Molten Core as the factor of the number of players doesn't matter visually. Of course the damage matters but the enemy doesn't care as it just sees 'enemy'.

World bosses maybe large but the same tactic applies.  Screenshot taken 14/09/2015

The second point, more relevant to my interests, means that the environment and its narrative is somewhat fractured by this. Whether you're in AC, CoE, Fractals or an open world meta event boss you adopt the blob and keep on attacking and the background becomes blurred to a certain extent. You maybe doing world bosses for 3 or so hours but all that's changing is the backdrop; a theatre if you will that revolves the background from a townscape to a forest during a performance but the actors are still conversing in the same prose. A couple weeks ago when I did a post about arenas I did say that the combat loop can be engaging if the arena gives you an engaging environment and narrative to get stuck into, but at the moment Guild Wars 2 content in the above examples doesn't give me the same feeling.

A large boss that hopefully looks to be more dynamic in its movement and actions.  Image from https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/designing-challenging-content/ accessed 14/09/2015

Going back to my earlier paragraph on raiding, one of the pieces I did discuss that its not just the bosses but the connecting sections that add to the experience of a raid. Personally, I feel that this is what Guild Wars 2 currently has a lot of potential to set themselves apart. They have a enjoyable series of jumping puzzles, open world explorable dungeons and guild puzzles that create an interesting mix of combat and cryptic problem solving allowing groups to use logic and deduction to balance the combat they experience in the vast amount of a game like Guild Wars 2. Going back to my time raiding, the process was very much so a “trash->boss->trash->boss” loop and although if the bosses are engaging this can work, having these interest mid sections that replace trash at points (trash->boss->puzzle->boss) it can keep people interested for longer with a level of pacing appropriate.

Using mechanics like gliding has the potential to give us those interesting connecting paths.  Image from https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/designing-challenging-content/ accessed 14/09/2015

These thoughts naturally follow into quite a few posts I've made on this blog in the past. Pacing is a subject from “Walking Simulators” because of the tone rarely changes and the pace remains static alongside the “Arenas” that need to not just be arenas but means to create grand set pieces and times of lull so that the player doesn't tire of the content. In architecture we do this with room sizes, lighting levels, furniture arrangement, level changes, open plan vs. closed and an overall consideration for the human interactions that may go on such a space which together play a lot into our thoughts of how we remember it. Did that museum take you through a story of a by-gone time or did it feel somewhat out of place with a bright background on the content of a tragic event. As space does this in the built environment, so must a digital one.

To conclude, challenging content is a great more than just difficult encounters. The importance of the spaces engaging the player so that context and motivation is given for players wanting to overcome the challenge. Difficult bosses is one thing, but difficult bosses with pathways, narrative, times of intense feelings and lulls in the pace all make an experience like a raid so much more. Will GW2 do this? Time will tell but I hope that becomes a memorable experience for those who look to take on its content. Only like 5-6 weeks to find out and personally I'm looking forward to it.   

Low-Performance PC Gaming

As I mentioned recently, my new job has open opportunities to be involved in new things and have a suitable level of disposable income.  The conventional side of my thoughts have expressed interest in things such as suitable accommodation, learning to drive or a potential holiday; but naturally the ever-present idea of a new PC build has made itself known.  It’s been 8 or so years since the last PC build (with a GFX card change and RAM stick addition) but the box’s age is definitely showing with many modern titles either not working or having very poor performance.  A title like The Witcher 3 is something I would love to be playing but with my old AMD dual-core CPU and ATI 4850HD the more likely result is a machine that gives up and explodes.  With all that being said, I would say that my time gaming on a low-performance PC has been an enjoyable experience has taught me a lot about the customisability that a platform like PC has to offer. 

To roughly break this down into three factors, I would say that they are “New games are still available”,  “Cost factors” and “Configure for performance”.

New games are still playable

The City of Novigrad in Witcher 3 looks great and I hope to play it in the future.  Image from Witcher.wikia.com accessed 13/07/2015

When you have new games like The Witcher 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition or Batman: Arkham Knight; it can difficult to stay positive when they all pass you buy with a Canyourunit Fail result very clearly showing your machine’s inferiority.  However, in this same time-frame we’ve also had such titles like Hotline Miami 2, This War of Mine, Shovel Knight and the wide selection of Tell-tale narrative games that continue to improve as time goes on.  These games are not without their interesting game mechanics, diverse aesthetics and narratives that look to discuss themes that aren’t always talked about in general media.  For example, This War of Mine is a game set during war time that puts you in the shoes of a civilian trying to survive the conflict; tasked with collecting supplies to sustain a small bombed settlement while dealing with the moral implications of survival in such an environment with a dark aesthetic to match. 

This War of Mine showcasing the other side of war.  Image from thiswarofmine.com accessed 13/07/2015

As well as games, game engines such as Unity have done a great of work to give developers a means to create games on a relativity slow budget and have available players from a similar column.  One of the most popular games (if one would use Twitch numbers) over the past year or so is Hearthstone which is a well-produced Unity-engine card game that even runs well on a phone; giving players an enjoyable, free to play experience that continues to create new content for people to enjoy. 

Cost factors

Hearthstone gives a great deal of enjoyable for no upfront cost and minimal performance requirements.  Image from us.battle.net accessed 13/07/2015

Continuing on from my Hearthstone example, the prevalence of free to play titles has greatly helped those on a small budget experience more games than ever before.  It is understandable that there are those who dislike the model citing games like Hearthstone, Dota2 or LoL where A player may spend over the amount of a AAA title and then some for a questionable amount of content (quantity and quality of course), but the model has seen great improvements over its short lifespan.  All the above examples, as well as Path of Exile and Warframe are free to play games I enjoy even on an old PC and with significant updates such as PoEs recent Awakening expansion (which introduced a new act, skill updates, item additions and more all for free) shows there are still great times to be had on a low spec machine.  To this day, my PC and its part replacements have cost a total of ~£300 and its current lifespan of ~8 years puts a rough annual cost of £37.50 which is on par with a console. 

Configure for performance

config files and registry tinkering allows for games old and new to run tailored to your needs.  Screenshot taken 13/07/2015

This I believe is the most prevalent factor in my time on a low-performance PC as it has allowed me to learn more about the finer details when it comes to playing games.  To many, configuring .ini files is extremely easy but if like me you never had to use them and stick with an in-game options menu it may seem like a daunting task to accomplish.  Over these past few years, I do take time to configure and tailor a game to my liking so that I get the right balance of performance (frame rate of at least 30 stable) and graphical quality which has meant that a game like Guild Wars 2 where I didn’t feel confident pvp’ing due to performance drops is now suitable for me as competitive game modes naturally need smoothness in performance.  This factor in my gaming life revolves around one particular example that I would like to discuss now:

The natural mod-ability of a game like Skyrim helped me play it when it seemed unlikely.  Screenshot accessed 13/07/2015

In November 2011, I was sitting in my bedroom at university late one night when Steam popped up saying that “The Elder Scroll 5: Skyrim was now available”.  At this time, I was using my laptop (the one I’m typing with now which overheats and its PSU is held with tape) and was well aware that it wouldn't do well with such a title, but reflectively clicked purchased anyway and awaited its download.  Upon entering the initial scene in the cart, I noticed a terrible frame rate of around 10 as well as input lag which quickly got me demoralised with the prospect I wouldn’t be able to play it for over a month until I had access to my PC (the one that was still kind of old at the time but not as bad as today).  At this point, it was 1 am and I decided that “no, I’m going to see what I can do with this” and trawled the internet for some solutions.  With the help of some forums and the PCgamingwiki page on Skyrim, I spent the next couple hour’s fine tuning my settings and testing that initial scene to see what performance I could grasp at with the modification of effects such as shadows and LOD; eventually finding a mod that looked to reduced graphical quality below the in-game minimal parameter.  By 3am, I had done my testing and now I was sitting at around 28fps which was as far as I could feasibly go without breaking things and found myself engrossed in a world right through to 10am when I decided it was time to go get breakfast.  Yes, I could have just waited until the Christmas holiday period and enjoy this game without all the hassle, but due to my perseverance /stubbornness to play this game, I was able to enjoy Skyrim in that initial period of exploration when something new is available and we’re all trying to figure out what’s over the next hilltop. 

So that’s what gaming on a rather old PC means to me.  Of course there are games that I would love to play now that aren’t available to me, but with the great selection on offer I don’t feel like I’m missing out or that I’m a second-class citizen.  When I do end up getting a new PC, I will of course love having the great looking graphics, quick load times and the likes but I know that if I’m not able to upgrade again for a while I can keep enjoying this medium of gaming and the experiences it provides. 

P.S. pcgamingwiki.com has been very useful over the last couple years.

Lion’s Arch Rebuilt, Guild Wars 2

Last month, I discussed my thoughts on the redevelopment of Lion’s Arch as it stood in an awkward state of ruins and fortifications awaiting a shiny new look via the in-game organisation called “The Consortium”.  One month on and we able to see how those pieces of scaffolding and concept drawings have to come to life alongside a significant change to gameplay via the implementation of the specialisation system and build creator.  As a quick note, I very much like this system (even if I was a little confused at first) and have been trying out some builds I haven’t touched in quite some time. 

The Asuran Gateways have a new plaza for players to look and interact with.  Screenshot taken 28/6/2015

Anyway, onto talking about the rebuild.

The harbor features a large sculpture of a lobster/ shellfish much like other important landmarks in LA.  Screenshot taken 28/6/2015 

Lion’s Arch new look is something that holds a great deal of aesthetical beauty and strength while maintaining its impression as a maritime-focused settlement.  It has a collection of aquatic-themed sculptures defining each section of the city such as trade skills, banks and harbour that use a combination of polished white stone and jade-like glass with minor details adorned with gems e.g. the squid’s eyes by the banker across from the mystic forge.  The residents have a nice mixture of timber framed lodges and stone-clad houses which fit nicely into the maritime feeling in particular with some of the timber buildings being built from a ship’s hull (or at least designed to look like it was).  The fortress gives the impression of a formidable position as it continues the stone masonry creating high walls punctuated by a collection of canons finished in metal and gold that tie into the Lion’s Guard regalia which gives credence to one NPC’s line saying that “Lion’s Arch is the safest place to be these days”.  Outside of this, a tall lighthouse sits on the edge of the city as its bold rays of light circle around its central point giving the people of LA a means to help those looking to dock and be more aware than ever when a threat is upon them.  Overall, it is a significant increase in size and bulk that is somewhat different to how I believe it would work out. 

A combination of wood and stone give LA a particular feeling.  Screenshot taken 28/6/2015

LA being this ‘pirate state’ originally fit into its aesthetic with a selection of shacks, wooden structures and makeshift architecture from boats alongside a bazaar-like trade district.  This is why in my earlier post, I wished for a North-African souk/bazaar feeling as I feel it would instil a feeling of business and life into the area.  That’s not to say that the current trade district doesn’t have the potential to be loud under its glass sea-life canopy, I just hope that place gets to be a bit chaotic from time to time; with NPCs peddling their goods and players running around achieving their goals for the day.  This follows into my thoughts about the landscape of the main areas in LA which feature an ordered array of houses and offices against a white stone formation.  This place to me feels like it’s been ‘colonized’ akin to the British Empire days where places like the West Indies would have their ports and architecture heavily influenced by their ruler’s design.  Although at first I was on the fence about the look, I feel that it does make sense when one considers the story, as LA has become a place that has seen its fair share of conflict and an external organisation (Consortium) has paid for its reconstruction.  So, by welcoming our new overlords, I’d like to talk about what I enjoy about the new LA. 

The spaces feel properly landscaped making open spaces feel relevant against the urban feel.  Screenshot taken 28/6/2015

Lion’s Arch is a lovely piece of landscaping which looks to create a good mix of tall structures, residential blocks, green spaces and artistic sculptures that all fit into the overall aesthetic.  It does a great job of bringing together an urban environment within a rural setting which the racial cities haven’t really experimented with to this degree.  I believe it’s something that is very much similar when we look at the development of town planning in the 20^th century with Garden Cities and New Towns. 

The Garden City and its concept of urban living in a rural environment.  Image from http://www.morrissociety.org/ accessed 29/6/2015

Ebenezer Howard’s vision for a Garden city was created towards the end of the Victorian age where the desire for industrialisation was closely followed by the increase of designated parkland and green-spaces as concepts like ‘jogging for pleasure / fitness’ started to become more apparent.  The idea of having factories fitting into a backdrop of rolling fields and wooded areas was commonly seen in concept work, finding its way into a couple real world examples with Letchworth and Welwyn in the late 1800s / early 1900s in England.  Garden Cities found a new lease of life after the Second World War due to the creation of New Towns with my home town, Harlow, being developed from 1947 onwards.  The ability for services, shops, residential blocks and communal spaces of an urban design being wrapped in a mixture of green verges, fields and forests is something I’ve greatly appreciated during my time living in this environment.  The fact that I can sit in the town centre and see 2 wooded areas, rolling hills and horses trotting around a field is something I’ve rarely experience elsewhere when it comes to a town and / or city.  Taking some time to review the new specialisation system made me have a similar feeling sitting on a landscaped piece of grass with a tall urban city present around me. 

(Right) Harlow Town centre (Left) green hills and woods.  Image from Google maps c.October 2014.  Image accessed 29/6/2015

Overall, I would say I’m happy with the design of the new Lion’s Arch.  It fits into the new identity of the city and it’s created some nice new vistas (visually not mechanically) which make for some lovely screenshots.  That being said, I still would like to see a bit more NPC life being brought into the place which potentially could be solved with some living world updates or short-term celebrations being held in LA. 

A spot to watch the world go past while I figure out my new engineer build.  Screenshot taken 28/6/2015

As a rough end-point, I’d say the patch is pretty cool and the Karka exterminate collection has created a nice incentive for people to explore the new city while gaining a very useful item in return.  If you’ve played GW2 in the past, it’s a pretty cool time to return.  

Esports and Architecture: The Stadium

Over the past week or so, I’ve been watching the Dota 2 International qualifiers as teams compete to grab hold of the few open spots for the main event in August.  As I write this, NA’VI are up against Vega Squadron with it being 0-1 to Vega in a best of 5 for the European spot and it’s anyone game.  I don’t have a side that I’m particularly rooting for but personally I feel that it’s gonna be 3-2 to NA’VI; due to their experience of dealing with high-pressure situations. 

The upcoming International 5 showcases the increased popularity of Esports.  Image from blog.dota2.com accessed 01/06/2015

I have been watching ‘Esports’ for the past 10 or so years with games such as CS 1.6, CS:GO, WoW Arena, HotS, HoN, Dota (2) and so on.  I have always enjoyed watching competitive play and as games became a big part of my leisure time, it was somewhat natural to levitate towards watching it over conventional sports such as football or rugby.  Over this time, it has gone from strength to strength; due to the ability to easily stream with services like twitch and VoDs from YouTube; quick information access from social media and well-organised websites dedicated to presenting the news; the rise of financial support for the scene and greater level of production value being put into physical events (LANs).  Even if you didn’t have any interest in ‘Esports’, it is clear that its growth is significant and its viewer base is only going to get bigger. 

Wembley Stadium ready to show a football match.  Image from Wikipedia accessed 01/06/2015 

With all that said, there has always been the discussion of whether such a thing as a video game can be considered a sport.  There are of course many views that feel strongly one way or another, but for me I’d like to discuss this from an architectural point of view, using the stadium as a vector point.  I feel it has a way of showing how similar we are and how competitive gaming as a large-scale event visually correlates with a conventional sport event. 

Wembley changes from a football ground to a concert event.  Image from Wikipedia access 01/06/2015

The stadium itself is quite simple in its own way; with its design focusing on giving a group of people a place to come together and experience an event together with relative ease and comfort.  Regardless of whether it’s a massive venue like Wembley or a local football ground with a couple of stands; it can accommodate different events by adapting itself to suit the needs presented.  To use Wembley as an example, it is used as a football pitch for big events such as the FA cup final, but it also has music concerts for bands like AC/DC or Foo Fighters.  Structurally, the stadium hasn’t changed beyond a temporary floor and stage in the space where a pitch would be, but beyond that everything is pretty much the same.  Visitors come with their tickets in hand; clothing and banners representing their support for a group through colours and logos; and cheer / scold on the action taken by those performing.  I have talked a lot in the past about how architecture is not the bricks and mortar but the experience that people feel in a place and by taking these experiences felt during a stadium event, one can see how ‘Esports’ also create architecture by giving people the ability to come together and have these mutual feelings akin to a football supporter seeing their favourite team play. 

The International #2 (2012).  Image from Wikipedia accessed on 01/06/2015

Going back to The International, for the past 3 years the finals have been held in Seattle to a host of thousands of people in person cheering for their teams.  During the Ti2-3 era, it was played at the Benaroya Hall, but recently it has been relocated to the Key Arena which in its time has hosted musical acts, basketball games and special interest events.  The International is a high quality event with match analysis, high profile commentators and multi-pov streams alongside a user-based compendium that gives people a program-like digital book to place their predictions and receive rewards while increasing the overall prize pool.  The arena itself features a large audience who dress in their teams’ colour; hold banners showing their favourite player / team / anecdote while pennants relating to the teams sit high up in the space which are lit-up according to their progress through the tournament.  The commentators sit to the side with their thoughts broadcasted over the PA system, while a large projection gives viewers the ability to either focus on the whole picture or a particular players pov.  The audience gasps and applauds as a play is made or a hero is picked much like a goal or skilled cross in football or the start of a song for a band.  The stadium remains the same, but with some minor changes it gives all these people the ability to experience these emotions which in turn, what makes a building architecture in my view. 

The International 4 showcases the difference 2 years makes.  Image from Reddit accessed 01/06/2015

I haven’t been able to attend any of these types of events yet, but I am very much looking forward to being able to in the future.  It doesn’t really matter if you believe that video games are/not a sport, but the stadium gives us the ability to enjoy our competitive activity and the potential for a roller-coaster of emotions that come with it. 

Update on Dota 2: 1-1 but it’s looking like NA’VI are going to take game 3.  If they take this it looks like it could be 3-1 final score but we shall see.