the worst part of it is that it wasnt even PRX fault for the most part, suygetsu just had the time of his entire career and did one of the craziest 4k in impact and aim in the game i would say

its not paid tho? Riot is paying the teams rather than teams buying in so in a sense it can still be relegation, my guess is after 2026 where things have reached the end of this phase would relegation and promotion be truly implemented since promotion is already added, so relegation may also be thrown in the mix

Well let say they enver drop the roster, they would have to be paying the players for roughly 4-6 months without any activity. They would be playing the playerts for doing basically... nothing. It is a bit scummy but if they didnt do smth similar orgs would be even mroe in the red

1 Roster seems to be in talks with JP, but the other 3 ( not including DRX ) may mostly field korean players, due to language barriers and precedent set in the org themselves from past games. Theres so many top players or rising players from SEA and OCE that having 3 teams where maybe atmost 1 or 2 is from SEA or OCE is gonna crush the scene to the ground for atleast 1-2 years before teams come up from ascension. Its as if your choosing teams with huge finance that wants to invest suddenly into the scene cause its lucrative over teams / orgs that would do anything to push themselves forward.

It will help finance the league in the short term, but if things stay the way i just mention in that korean players are gonna dominate the roster even if they arent they best in their categories, It may turn into something akin to the LCS

yes they will but viewership in APAC will considerably drop if theres barely any SEA team in the actual highest league, it would really take awhile for viewership to pop off since now the abundance of views from SEA and JP would be in regional leagues and not the actual top tier one, and after a few years would those teams start participating in that top league from ascension

but There are teams that can pay that amount or close to that? You have persija from indonesia, Xerxia which have alot of backing, Team secret since well, its Team Secret, you also have big money from India and OCE in the likes of Renegades. While ya they prob might not have the best facilities in Korea, to have 5 korean teams is to basically kill most of APAC.

They can and could get APAC players, but will they? language barriers, national pride, community backlash from koreans etc etc. Look at just league where most of these teams are from, LCK have barely if not any import players at all, and yes KR have the talents in that game but with that precedent set, the likelihood of Korean teams that is transferring over because of how lucrative the scene is and not because they are ambitious and actually want to win suddenly seems alot like monopolies. Over exaggeration ofc

The problem isn't the org themselves, its how with this move APAC would basically have its entire local scene killed, especially because theres no pride or nationalism when u see your own country team up there, and all you could see is fragmented teams of players.

Now there can be an argument for ascension where local teams from APAC can make it up, which most would prob will, but without big names like Xerxia from thailand or an Indo org, the fanbase from this 2 regions would slowly dissipate as theres no org for them to support and only players.

ONCE AGAIN your missing the category of people im talking about. Streamer or player that are better at val usually already played CSGO or had alot of history with fps. And if your talking about new streamers to FPS, they never even touch cs so where are u going on with that? Valorant is more casual of a game yes, but the barrier to entry is lower than csgo cuz CS needs money, you need to spend to actually play further so many dont play the game.

Csgo in and of itself is a simpler game no matter which way u spin it, thats why the priotize perfection, and with that comes a dedicated community of hype. I cant tell if your being srs when you say valorant is a simple game, give me reasons then of why Valorant is more simple than csgo, and have a lower skill floor.

Yes abilities after a few weeks of gameplay you are used to, but u still need a few weeks. In CS you just pick up the game and need a few days atmost to get accustomed to the basic gameplay mechanics.

again your missing my point, im talking about new players right now. Ik if you played it a decent amount it wont get as hard, thats the same for any game even dota 2 which have one of the highest barrier of entry in terms of skills since your basically self taught in that game.

However you spin it, CSGO is alot easier to get into cuz its easier to understand and simpler, doesnt make it easier as a game to play as u rank up and even go pro. But compare to val which have alot more things and niche complimenting the game, you cant tell me its easier to get into valorant.

yes but thats us, we are used to it, im talking about new players who knows nothing about the game.

Heres the example:

Game #1 CSGO - You load into the game, its a 5v5 on different sides, you only need to buy gun and armor ( albeit u dk what to buy and go for the m249 when ur rich probaby ). The game objective is to plant bomb or defuse. The core mechanic of the game is to shoot and kill, and then finish that objective. Repeat that until one side win 8 rounds ( casual cuz u cant rank first game )

Game #2 Val - Same concept as top, but now add in 4 different abilities for you urself to use. Now you gotta experiment and test those 4 abilities and find out what they do, and once u do think about WHEN to use it. When u play a new agents, especially with ults, u will try not to use it in case u waste it right? You also gotta account for 9 other players, who all have different abilities ( tho some repeating cuz same pick both sides like maybe sage )

Which one have a higher ceiling? Well mechanically it would be cs since that game is about perfection, crisp clean perfectionist aim. If we talking strategically i would say Val 100%. Theres already alot of variety in gameplay from different region, each with their quirk. And the fact u can combine skills from diff agents and create plays on the go is what makes val more strategically harder.

I do agree with you on this point tho, Riot production quality is Horribly maintained and is a pretty big problem in and of itself. Casters why i would say give it time, the reason League or CSGO have great casters is because of their longevitiy. If theres 10 caster in an event rn and 1 is good, that 1 guy would be consistently put into events. Now repeat that every year and u got high quality casters around 10-20 due to how many get spots out. Valorant already have a few great casters, but they havent develop enough yet to stack each match with one.

Content creators costreaming the events is a double edge sword though
On one hand, they bring it massive views like shroud and Tarik, while on another they bring away some views aswell

I would Like to point out tho the reason why recent matches arent as hype is also due to the teams involved currenlty, the lost of Zeta and PRX basically killed all of Asia viewers, and while DRX is in, their fanbase is incomparable to the two behemoth in viewership.

is it though? League have 2 big events, that is worlds and msi. And this 6 months while def theres a lack of events, i rather they have this 6 months first then jam pack it with too many events. You have to remember that the game is currently new in its structure, u cant compare it to CSGO cuz its two different things esport wise. Its like comparing an infant to a teenager, its just not a fair comparison.

( some points below here is also to tackle the points on your 2nd reply btw not all tho 0
Let say they do jampack it with events, many casual players are gonna get ticked off because they cant keep up, and are overwhelmed. Thats one of the few reasons why CSGO despite its popularity and being the only dominant game in FPS cant reach the height of League or Dota 2, and why theres only just that few teams in the game. It also calls for another issue, You may get bored and lose interest, but with this being the 2nd year of VCT where its still in its early baby phases, and next year hitting it off with leagues, it wont be as boring. The reason third party TOs havent joined yet is because Riot themselves are unsure where to place them. They havent set up the structure and im glad they havent. Imagine they did in the first two years, it will be a completely rushed mess where things could go horribly wrong. With how next year is gonna be like, you can expect Third party TOs to maybe joined the game ( If riot want to go down that route ).

Well they are sort of bringing the format of League of Legends to the game and in a sense, this does have some pros

Pros:

• Esport teams do not have to spend as much on travel expenses. Like literally look at csgo with the amount of events it has, teams not from EU would have to spend crazy amounts just to continue competing
• It gives each events a bigger symbol, more prestigious to win. CSGO have alot of events means theres alot of action, but the prestige and sort of status that comes with it is heavily diminished. Compare to league for example, you can most likely remember who won worlds for the past 2-3 years if u follow the scene. However in cs if i ask you who won the past 2-3 years in iem Katowice or Cologne, you might forget a few of them or mixed them up.
• Its sorta in a sense making the scene more traditional, with having leagues and major tournaments, then capping it off at the end with an offseason. It also helps build following for teams as theres is more time for people to find a team they like and support since the focus will be on a few international events.
• Lastly from pure hearsay so take this one with grain of salt, there is gonna be 3rd-party tournaments in the time between champions and regional league next year, which means ESL or other big tournaments hoster could host their events then

Cons:

• Gotta wait a pretty long time to see action.
• Less prize winning for teams and players, though this is compensated by their enormous salary
• People might lose interest as they need to wait ( tho this is a fairly weak point cuz just look at LoL again )

if we are talking about playing and picking up tho, wouldnt csgo be easier to get into when it comes to skill floor? In val the shooting mechanics is very much easier, but while it lacks in micro gameplay like aiming, it compensate with a shit ton of macro gameplay in abilities and counters. Some could argue val is a harder game just based on the complexity of the game and how many things u need to account for, compare to csgo which is a very simple game, and instead of creativity or pushing limits of what u can do in a game from strats to skill combos / management, you are pursuing perfection. Perfection in aim and perfection in game sense.

TLDR: CSGO is mostly about perfection in how u play, while Val ( with it being brand new ) is still about pushing the limits of what one can do, from skills to macro gameplay

what do u consider is bad in their esport structure tho? Mind you they have been changing the structure every year so far in search of a better one, and VCT 2023 looks to be pretty promising. Dont get me wrong, there is a pretty big chance they messed something up next year, but it would be a miracle if they didn't cuz Val is a different genre with different following. And if your gonna complain about the game being closed and not open like CS, look at what happened to cs for a min. The game only exist in EU and when it comes to global presence, it is falling behind Valorant since Valorant have following from every region, with Asia growing rapidly

However with it being a different ballpark, you can see that riot is actually listening to its communities. It had made some pretty big changes to its VCT 2023 format, and while its not perfect, it has given t2 and below alot more chancecs than games like CS have done. And in this 2 years valorant has already climbed to 1 of the top 5 most viewed esports ( pc ) , behind league, dota, csgo and nothing else iirc. Theres also already super big following across the world especially in Asia. Just look at Japan, the entire region is basically maining val on pc, from vtubers to casual gamers, its basically their most played pc game at this point. Look at SE Asia or India aswell, where valorant is massively developing and from personal experience AND recent content in the region, Valorant may have even overtaken the region for 1 of if not the most played pc games so far.

Yes they could fuck it up, but why think of so many what ifs when riot so far have done a fairly great job

While im not sure about the playerbase, i can confidently say however that in South-east Asia and even most of East Asia (not including China for now ) Valorant is the biggest FPS game in these regions, especially Japan and most of SE Asia so much so that anywhere u go as long as you are a teen or a young adult you must have heard of the game. Now translate that into many thirsty 15 year olds that are cracked to the brim spread across radiant in JUST SE Asia and that talent pool will soon start becoming deeper and deeper. Though it would take a fair share of 2-4 years before APAC can mass-produced high-quality teams ( unless riot completely fuck the region up then rip cuz sea be producing a shit ton of players rn )

mhm and make it so entertaining. Yoru, Neon ,Jett, Chamber are just his main compositions where he is comfy with. He is willing to experiments agents and accept new ideals in a way where no matter how the meta change, he can adapt

forsaken have proven time and time again he is an exceptional player that can perform really well, and as an entry player he not just done his job well, he has clips upon clips of him outfragging people. Yet for some reason people do not consider him a top 10 player despite his consistent performance and sometimes stellar frags. Even if u consider his agent pool, its not small by any means when u compare those in the same roles

Im personally looking forward to it. Theres seem to be less reliance on 3-stars 4cost+ which in a sense makes strategy more important cuz less ` lucky guy got 3 star xayah and boom win' sorta scenarios.

Unpopular opinion i quite like dragons, a pretty refreshing set tho maybe not the most balanced

Just my two cent and assumption that im on hopium with

But im pretty sure most ppl agree with bleed recently dropping their roster they most likely would buy PRX roster. Now i have something in mind regarding this, what if bleed doesnt just buy PRX, but merge / buy out the entire organisation? PRX while roster is def a superteam, they have many things for them including their support staff, coaches and owners, sponsors ( not alot but not little), and the most important thing, Fanbase. PRX name is much, much more bigger than Bleed worldwide, and they have a massive following and support across the world from players and streamers alike. So what if Bleed merge with PRX, keeping some resemblance of PRX name and staff in the org, while Bleed provide the financial details? That way Bleed gets keeps a big fanbase intact, a super strong roster, a solid support staff that knows how PRX runs and work from there?

no for now. Valorant ranked while in low-elo got alot of smurfs have no need for faceit so even if there was one, your queue in faceit would be fairly long since even the hardcore players still grind ranked as the system while not the best is miles better than current cs

more than likely mindfreak and d4v4i would continue in tier 1, be it in apac or even overseas. Benkai might retire or if he continue, oso continue on tier 1 as he is probably one of the better fragging igls in the world currently

for now we cant accurately predict who is getting in since even Xerxia with a pretty big following and a damn big sponsor behind it didnt get in from what we know. It does seem the split between region would be 3kr 3 jp and 6 APAC ( including sa and oce )

lmfao the exact same for me

https://www.vlr.gg/event/pickem/1014/valorant-champions-tour-stage-2-masters-copenhagen

for now i indeed still do

ah its finee

didnt they had a top 4 finish last master or am i tripping

if they could then it would be the most hype i been for valorant thus far

truly amazing gameplay, even im in awe at this game right now

Well forsaken seems fine, the problem lies with D4v4i who is hit with covid fever, while he aint the star player, if he aint on 100% it would be a 4v5 which is just not good no matter how u spin it.

Aged like true milk my man

Honestly even as an avid PRX fan i have to agree, Forsaken doesnt fit well with strat-heavy teams like Fnatic not just because of his lack of discipline ( doesnt mean he cant be disciplined ), but because it might in some way limits him. Strat-heavy teams relies on strat, so while having great aim still matters, its not the be all end all. A player such as Forsaken who shine in chaos would have his star power limited, though for all we know if he can adapt to it and mesh well with it then all i just said would be for naught.

Still would love to see him join teams that are more aggressive / flow based, his entry and absolutely jaw dropping aim sometimes would add to not just the firepower of the team, but also up his value as a player on the rise

it would depends though cause with franchising, one of the major reasons to do so have suddenly dissapear, Finance.

Riot would be supplying orgs with money and sponsors would follow superteams / teams with huge fanbases, meaning the players would have an even less incentive to throw away a guaranteed lottery for going overseas and MAYBE playing in a more competitive scene ( this is highly volatile as the future of the 3 major regions is anything but fixed ). Plus going overseas to another continent is a really big commitment for most, as your now really far away from any past bonds u have be it familial or friends.

Thank you so muchh!!!

why ;o. But ya Jing would have to go for military service soon, Benkai had said that he would most likely retired after Champion, and Forsaken said he would go aboard without Jing, leaving d4v4i and mindfreak as the only 2 T1 players left in the team. With Franchising on the way, even if PRX is broken up i wish that they would continue to shine in their roles

can u make one for PRX ;D

Thing is while yes teams can anti-strat there is actually 2 problems i can see with it.

1- Experience against it. Look at teams that struggled against PRX and teams that can shut them down, the teams that can are very used to the aggressive style as they literally are scrim partners, while NA and EU can def have good plans on paper, thats the thing, on PAPER. Any team can anti strat an aggressive, thing is if they barely have any experience fighting one they would falter really quickly which brings me to my 2nd problem

2- Aim. PRX have undoubtly some of the best aimers in the world, maybe not THE best but some of the greatest. To beat them you would have to either outaim them, or completely change up your playstyle and i mean it, look at how DRX and ZETA played against PRX, both had to basically 5 man flank or 5 man guard site to absolutely counter PRX, and i would say in the west barely any teams can do that successfully, as again they do not have any experience against it, with maybe the exception of Faze but their style of aggression is different from PRX.

I went and read the leaks from https://blix.gg/news/details-on-the-valorant-partnership-program-in-2023

And if it is anything to go by, wont that mean teams that are more famous would get the slot over other teams even if they are richer?

For example PRX over BLEED, or Global Esport over any other rich indian Orgs

Cause if so than i personally would be happy PRX is over BLEED as money wont be a problem ( considering the amount being thrown around in that article ) as they have a bigger fanbase, more success, and really one of the best teams to watch be it as a fan or an opposition because they just make u sit at the edge of your seat.

aww really, i really wish it was cause it seems to cover alot of the problems franchising have

From a leak from SKrossi, it would be somewhat like CSGO franchising but positions swapped sort of?

There will be 4 major things mainly

-Leagues , Basically the franchising we are all used to with 10 teams from APAC all from different regions, personally though hoping Paper Rex get the franchising slot cause other than the players, i find that they have one of the best organisational structure and staff support

-3rd party / open qualifiers events, To qualify to Masters or Champions, other than the League/franchising route there will be open qualifiers to participate in masters or champions ( most likely this 3rd party events would also provide some sort of points to have a few team guaranteed that are not in the league? this also probably means that Masters and Champions would atleast be 16 teams, and max 24 teams atleast based on assumption with how it is setup )
-Masters & Champions ( i count them as 2 instead of 1 ) the same as now except the qualifying methods would be different, and they might be alot more underdogs story from teams that started from open quals / 3rd party events

P.S : this is from a clip of Skrossi explaining it, and myself adding a few things ( mostly in brackets are assumptions ), they might change it they might not, but it seems it wont be 100% franchised so t2 / new teams can pop up out of nowhere

well this is a first for me, considering i had wrote quite a few long essays / article regarding mainly APAC honestly ( yes im an avid APAC fan ) but while it is a bit douche-baggy, i personally dont mind it too much cuz it def is a bit biased but i just want to support my region lmao, thanks for your feedback tho! ;D

While yes APAC fan indeed say they are world champion material, i would say ( while i am def reaching a bit ) it is somewhat justifiable, considering yes abit of recency bias. First off last champion we of course have the 2 teams that qualified from APAC in the top 8, even taking maps of some pretty big notable teams and even qualifying over Envy ( yes to those that say they were underperforming, maybe so but it was a really big team to win against back then )

Then we have master 1, with PRX run being stopped by basically their kryptonite, ZETA ( East Asian Teams with some really high mental strength ) finishing top 4, knocking out TGRD and G2 ( both 1st seed of NA and EU ). Again people will say they underperform, got a srsly fluke run etc etc, but a win is a win, a lose is a lose, no matter how cinderella-like or fluke-like a run is, they still qualify over other competitors from their region and esp TGRD was hyped to be this new sensation that would crush the international landscape.

Plus people did look down on apac with the minor region term, esp with people saying APAC should have atmost 1 slot becuz we are not as good etc, both after the DRX loss and before the master started, which is why when PRX won it became somewhat of a meme on VLR for abit.

Lastly OCE fans are all-round great people, just a select few who are really passionate about their region which im fine with cause like look at any region during international competition, the shit-talking and passion is crazily high. The only reason people find OCE fans ( select few no name dropping tho cuz i think most ppl know ) annoying is cause of how they brought other teams down esp one with some really big fanbase like PRX who have fans internationally and locally, so OCE got some hate for that and the BOOM lies aswell but i dont wanna dig deep into that cause thats their problem not mine

Sorry for the late reply but do i think PRX can dominate for a long time? Honestly unless they have a very great staff team and scouting team ( like getting jing ) it will be fairly hard, but they do have the name to pull basically anyone they want from most of SEA.

Now think of it this way, lets say RIOT do put BLEED onto the franchising league, then what happen to the PRX players? ESPECIALLY if they perform really well in not just master 2 but also Champions, it would leave a really sour taste in many mouths because they chose money over talents, and no BLEED just cant `acquire' prx players as there is contracts in place, and even if they do it's basically like stealing the hardwork of another organization that spent many of their effort bringing the team up, even giving them an esport facilities, housing and other benefits.

Do i see BLEED joining the franchising league either due to relegation / promotion OR increase in slots? Absolutely i do, but they need time, and they are not fit and ready for the role yet, especially when you have an international powerhouse right now competing with you, with your only edge being money, something RIOT is not concern about as they ARE PAYING the teams in the franchising league, so they do not need orgs with a shit ton of money in the first place

it does look like that, you can also tell from their team composition / experiments during the MY/SG tournament, Jing while mainly on duelist, F0rsaken has been trialing / playing alot, and i meant alot of agents ,a total of 7 combined, with most of them being set-ups or ofcourse the recent jett -> chamber change in playstyle. Jing is still mostly on the duelist role as explained by the team in an interview, letting jing and f0rsaken go wild, though it seems like its more on Jing recently. Seems like they will still let f0rsaken entry and play the disruptive / setup role, while letting jing be 2nd entry and the main fragger/rifler of the team.

Im a PRX fan so take this with a pinch of salt cuz i might be a bit biased BUT

I would say PRX got a higher chance at it due to two main things, fame and skill

Fame- It aint wrong to say PRX are at a point where they are slowly growing into an international name with the name popping out a number of times across the world, plus they have that team dynamic and team system ( as in how the staffs and the players work together, creating a harmony, unlike BLEED who are still experimenting with their team as they keep pulling in and out players, not really sticking to anything YET ) which is what RIOT would also want

Skill - Well i do not think i gotta explain this part, but while they can get counterstratted, the main thing i want to highlight is the excitement and just sheer amount of fun and hype one can enjoy watching them, time after time, clutch after clutch, play after play, it is a literal highlight reel in tournament form.

Money - While BLEED do have a shit ton of money meaning they have that enormous edge over PRX as an organisation, they lack alot of other fundamentals like fanbase, a solid team that is not shaky ( experimenting still so ya ) and a support staff as solid as PRX ( this is an assumption but considering how the team is right now, its the only thing i can come down to ), and even then if they were able to join the franchising league, it will probably be the year after or split after cause PRX just have that global support and infastructure behind it that make it more viable and favourable compare to a Rich ORG that while have alot more potential on paper, have not yet been able to pull their shit together yet.

SA have 2 slots, which furthers add to my point. SA is a region that while have alot of potential cause like i mean your just look at them, 1.4bil population and most pc fps players in SA play valorant, so while they are still fairly weak now, if they get that PRX-esque team ( in terms of dominance ) , it will most likely propel them into relevancy never seen before for the region in esports.

Vietnam which is roughly on the same level as SA have 1 more slots, which does not make much sense when u have 1 slot region like OCE who would need it more as they are far away from mainland SEA, meaning they need that 1 slot much, much more than Vietnam ( as they will gain experience from it and return to OCE stronger and hopefully pass that along ).

Think of it this way, if all 3 teams of Thailand can beat the number 1 team of Vietnam fairly dominantly, why should Thailand lose a spot for being strong? Its like making Europe or NA have only 1 team because they are the strongest. Yes having more teams from a region will grow them more, but in SEA where teams already scrim around alot since we are all nearby, giving Vietnam ( a region that has not proven itself at all tbh ) the same amount of privilege as other 3 Slots competitors is like throwing meat at a wall and hoping it sticks.

This is not Korea or Japan where the only edge a team can get over everyone else is through international experience, SEA have more than enough teams and international experience divided around each other to spread that experience / level of plays around as weaker teams will have to adjust themselves or be forcefully pulled up by those scrims

i thought asia as a whole was a region instead of splitting it into 2?

However in this case it will prob be APAC south ( basically the apac now )
and APAC North ( korea / japan /china, maybe even hk/tw depending on how it goes )

League is like football, most of their income are from salary. It is probably the most similar to sports in all of esports in money atleast. League pays some of the highest salary in esports so despite having low prizepool, the value of winning it is very high cuz winning it = your value skyrocketing. An example that came to mind was SwordArt who got signed to a 2-3million deal ( cant rmb the correct figure ) after worlds win.