State of Polaris

#1

Targu1n

I was gonna wait till there was an official statement from the VCL, however it seems we're not getting one

On the 25th of April the 3rd best team from last Split, one of the longest standing t2 teams in EMEA, HSDIRR, disbanded mid season - leaving all player without a team, 2 of them (Ale & lyNxi) outright retiring after 3 years of t2 play.
This was not worth a comment from the League. Again.

Just to count: that's Bonk, Human Tripwires, HSDIRR (and part of VAMONOS mid season) within the timeframe of a split. Not to mention the constant talent drain into other VCLs. The amount of veteran t2 players Polaris is bleeding atm is insane.
They survived 2 years of EMEA having hardly any t2 tournaments and the RIOT SANCTIONED league with a guaranteed schedule is where there's the least chance of making ends meet?
Clearly whatever Riots plan was for supporting t2, being generous and assuming there was one, isn't working

Polaris is a mess; only 50% of games being streamed, no views, no advertising efforts, lacking production value and most importantly no stability & pay for quite a few players.
Competition in Polaris is pretty much dead at this point too, with the 3 new teams having pretty much no shot at making it to playoffs based on what they've been able to show so far.

But ey, at least we have franchising right Riot?

https://twitter.com/HSDIRRval/status/1650827711051448323
https://www.dexerto.com/valorant/valorants-brutal-tier-2-in-emea-claims-another-victim-as-hsdirr-quits-2125971/

Edit:
And here we have another player having to move away from t2! WhoCars' AKIMB0 is stepping away from Polaris due to burnout https://twitter.com/WhoCars_Val/status/1653701189752455175

also check out yesterdays Rendevous Podcast, featuring a BoDork being very unhappy with this whole Situation (and discussing it with Bangovic and Commend)
https://youtu.be/ncJWRb4rjJM?t=4244

#2

TheMonk

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..

#3

anay099

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remove polaris as a region ,,,uk ireland etc add them to french make a new region....sweden finland etc add them to east region or cis etc thats the only way to save it as emea cannot possibly sustain 80-90 t2 teams...we need to reduce the no of teams and add more freedom to form teams

#4

Targu1n

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Yea combining the regions is probably the easiest solution which would (hopefully) fix lack of org interest in Polaris and help with competition being pretty bad towards the bottom end in most regions.

The problem of slot distribution would be a headache though, since you'd have to remove Slots from existing French teams to assign them to Polaris, without upsetting the existing scene (which unlike Polaris at least somewhat seems to sustain itself).

#5

anay099

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yeah but they would have to take one for the sustainability of t2 ....also this combining of regions should be done for other regions as well like portugar spain and italy...and for EMEA region as a whole i think it would be good if riot just go crazy during the off season and host a bunch of big arena Lans with big spending on marketing in countries like spain france poland denmark increase the interest of european cs fans towards valorant

#6

BoDork

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Just reset the league and accept whatever BLAST want to organize Polaris. I know for a fact big NE organizations are interested in VALORANT, they just want full freedom to make their own rosters instead of being forced to sign washed player #1244 who owns a slot in the league. Change up the infrastructure and rebrand the league so it is new and refreshing, just the fact that BLAST organize it would bring massive interest from organizations.

If nothing is done about Polaris I will just quit seeing as I won't waste time in the other leagues while I know I could build an ascension level roster in Polaris in less than 2 splits.

We just need fresh air and an organiser who does not shoot themselves in the foot every time. (And RIOT need to step up)

#7

FoechiGG

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Am i hearing that BLAST is interested in hosting VCL Polaris?

#8

BoDork

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They were already interested all the way back when the regional leagues were announced last year

#9

_angelmrm_

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Banger

#10

FoechiGG

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Why werent they selected in the first place? Doesnt matter anyways guess but im pretty sure they would do a better job then whoever is doing it now (Promod i think)

#11

BoDork

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budget

#12

FoechiGG

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Yeah right, what a surprise.

#13

BoF7ooM

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I expected this happening in one of the leagues eventually, but not in NE polaris, arguably the region that has been the most competitive and has produced some of the better teams last year. The talent in t2 EMEA is wayy too spread out. Too many leagues and teams, if we had something like Turkey, CIS, Europe 1 and Europe 2, I think things would be a lot less messy and we would maybe have more people interested in the league both from organizers, viewers, sponsors,etc. Riot would also need to have some big spanish/french/italian/portugese orgs/teams like CASE, Rebels and Joblife (200k views on a nearly tier 3 game is crazy), so we dont lose the big clout mfs from those countries.

#14

nyto

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Despite ApexLegends being the most popular FPS in Japan, the competitive scene in VALORANT is popular.
The level of the Japanese competitive scene is clearly not in proportion to its popularity.
The number of sponsors is steadily increasing.
Even without the presence of a popular team (ZETA), there are always tens of thousands of viewers, including official broadcast and multiple watch parties.
Also, when a player makes a great play, it appears in twitter trends.

Could their know-how be applied to Polaris?

#17

Targu1n

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I dont think so? Polaris is in a super different spot (even when removing the financial issues) in terms of viewers. Theres always 3+ other games to watch and there's more t1 representation (in the sense that there's players on more teams)
Basically there's no reason to watch Polaris for the region itself.

That being said Japan is the ideal state of a t2 league so ofc you can and should strive to reach their level of Production and fan interaction. Especially the twitter clips you mentioned are where Polaris falls SO short imo. You got dealt the best hand in terms of team quality (though its sadly been decreasing a bit every Split), create some flipping hype on twitter, provide us clips to make it easier to share on platforms like vlr, etc. Hire someone from the League who actually interacts with the community. BoDork is literally 70% of Polaris' advertisement atm.

#15

eeeeeeeee

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Ban all the UK players = the league comes alive

#16

BoDork

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I support this one (L1nk and Luzuh are an exception though)

#18

BoF7ooM

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Keiko and mistic owns your teams bruh
https://www.vlr.gg/188569/who-cars-vs-apeks-challengers-league-northern-europe-polaris-split-2-r4/?game=123010&tab=overview

#20

Targu1n

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exactly why they need to go

#21

BoDork

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at least we got a map off em so who cars?

#22

TheMonk

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who 🚗 ?

#19

KlobotXXL

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polaris is farmer league

#23

Targu1n

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Updated with todays news
Genuinely sucks seeing another player having to step away after being unsigned for over a year, despite doing well in the VCL.

For those who don't wanna scroll up:
And here we have another player having to move away from t2! WhoCars' AKIMB0 is stepping away from Polaris due to burnout https://twitter.com/WhoCars_Val/status/1653701189752455175

also check out yesterdays Rendevous Podcast, featuring a BoDork being very unhappy with this whole Situation (and discussing it with Bangovic and Commend)
https://youtu.be/ncJWRb4rjJM?t=4244

#24

BoDork

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One day people will car.

#25

ItsMeDio

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Who cars