And they will make them cast WoW arenas !Blizzard has purchased the IGN Pro League. IPL technology and assets are now owned by Blizzard, and existing members of IPL's staff will help form a new team in San Francisco "whose primary focus will be on creating high-quality web and mobile content in support of Blizzard games."
"This new team will help us to further develop the rich media experiences that extend the fun and engagement of our games online," said Blizzard executive vice president of publishing Itzik Ben-Bassat. "This is a team of passionate gamers with a proven track record, and we're looking forward to now leveraging their expertise and technology to support a variety of online efforts."
Other IPL staff members will join Blizzard's existing eSports team. Following today's news, IGN will partner with multiple eSports organizations to cover their events in the future rather than focusing on a few key titles.
The reason creative maps and islands can't work in the competitive scene is primarily because of Terran. The whole ladder map pool had to be tweaked in the first year because they have units and abilities that can abuse terrain too much. Maps like Kulas Ravine, Incineration Zone, Lost Temple, Delta Quadrant, and Shakuras Plateau w/ the destructible rocks had to be removed or completely revamped because of medivacs, thors, siege tanks, and reapers. Basically anything that requires you to have a flying unit to access or get past (ledge, island, destructable rocks), or allows sieging from an obscure place, will favor Terran almost every time because medivacs and flying buildings are what the race is built around.Well pal, I like the game and I think it works on a competitive level. I don't think any of it is really a whine. There's areas where I think the game could improve. Sorry if I offended anyone!
Chris here smells a bit of what the Rock is cookin at least.