The International 2022 is the concluding tournament of the Dota Pro Circuit and the eleventh annual edition of The International which returns to Asia for the second time.
-Liquidpedia
Tons to discuss… lets get started.
Last Chance Qualifier
A LAN between the 3rd-4th best teams in each region. Entertaining games, decent amount of time to view all of your favorite teams. A welcome addition to TI, but with lower production quality compared to the DPC…
I like.
Group Stage
Round robin play instead of Swiss which was proven successful at the AniMajor. The same production from the Last Chance Qualifier. South America’s teams got shafted (both in Group B instead of split due to points). Too many games actually going on simultaneously. There’s no way to conceivably watch five games going on at the same time. Maybe in League with it’s simpler gameplay loop, but not in DotA. A spectator viewing on multi-Twitch or YouTube cannot comprehend what is going on without focusing on a single screen. This group stage is good for the players, but not for the fans.
I don’t like.
Main Event, Part 1
Holy fuck, this was embarrassing. 500 seat audience, no opening ceremony, no soundproof booths, no Gabe Newell. Now we see why the tickets sold out instantly. There were only ~6,000 to sell. Yet rows upon rows of empty seats in the crowds. Looks like the scalpers LAWST.
The streams had a couple of production hiccups, but mostly resolved by Day 2. Attendees were not provided Genuine Attendee Pins…? Nattea was sacrificed for the return of 2GD. I think she deserved to be on Main Event, but since TI4 there’s been Female/Male co-hosts and Sheever has more seniority.
Problem in spectating this from my end, was dealing with significant sleep deprivation from traveling to Singapore and working remotely.
There were also some pubstomps going on in Singapore for the event, and I attended one on Sunday to meet up with a friend I first met at the Kuala Lumpur Major hosted by Team SMG in a Steelcase co-working office. Loved the atmosphere there, met Iceiceice and the rest of Team SMG. They’re just normal people.
Fucking fantastic games from last 2 days of this section basically allows me to call it even.
I both liked and didn’t like.
Main Event, Part 2
I planned to attend the main event from 9 am — 11pm. The ticket purchased through American Express’s concierge service (scalper) was delivered before checking in to my aparthotel… For the record I paid ~$1,600 USD. List price was $498 SGD or $350 USD. So 4x list price. Already a negative.
Swag bag was provided for the finals and attendees were provided Genuine Attendee Pins in comparison to the Main Event, Part 1. This in addition to a vendor setup outside the arena, really amplified the event being a celebration of DotA.
The matches were all amazing to behold outside of the Finals which I knew were going to be a stomp. Singapore’s crowd was unbiased after Aster lost as well, but there was always a Chinese element trying to alert and assist a team. It was successful two times, and backfired two times.
The All-Star match was horrible, since it only had two “stars” in iceiceice and Yuno. Going forward, call it the… I don’t know Caster Showmatch.
The venue… It felt more like the venue from Kuala Lumpur Major. Lack of food resources, water fountains, toilets and small seats. FAR BETTER than Part 1 of the Main Event though. At the end of both days, there were no seats — standing room only. I’ll leave my Google Maps review here:
The stadium is fine, secure and modern.
Just don’t buy any of the food, it’s hit or miss. Example: Bought some chicken nuggets that weren’t cooked. $6.5 down the drain.
Ticket value for money? At base rate yes, scalped rate no.
I both liked and didn’t like.
In Closing
Other than the 2nd part of the Main Event which I attended in Singapore, the other parts of the tournament were streamed live on Twitch, YouTube and in the DotA 2 client.
I don’t understand how the production quality dropped SO MUCH from an event without live spectators (The International 2021). Not flying your casters into a single room for LCQ or Groups is being far too frugal. The addition of more languages allows the game to grow, but PGL cannot be the sole entity managing the event production moving forward.
Also, the Crimson Witness drops were hard to get this time around. I’m sad I didn’t get one. Hopefully for 2023 the production improves and the location allows me to attend every day of the competition.
