Not all regions are created equal.
It’s no secret in Heroes esports the minor regions (Latin America, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Australia/New Zealand) tend to produce weaker teams compared to the big four: China, Korea, North America and Europe. We say ‘weaker’, but some teams have actually proved their worth on an international level, most notably Please Buff Arthas beating GaleForce esports 2-1 at the 2016 Summer Championship to become the first minor team to earn top eight at an international tournament. They then did it again at BlizzCon, earning a top six spot by beating out Chinese powerhouse, eStar Gaming. Minor region players work just as hard as any other region and have hopes of going pro full time just like any other player, but Blizzard gives very little opportunity for that to become a reality.
The Six-Month Rule
In the previous Heroes Championship format each region held their own tournament with qualifiers that fed into three global tournaments throughout the year. Players were required to reside in their respective region for at least six months before they could compete, meaning virtually no chance of moving regions. Players have been openly upset at the lack of a region rule change.
Even with the new HGC format, the top four regions are guaranteed a salary, while the minor regions hold the same regional tournaments. This leaves virtually no chance for minor region players to be able to commit to Heroes as a full-time player. It also gives little to no attraction for professional organizations to pick up teams in a minor region.
Phase Two Region Changes
During the Mid-Season Brawl in June, Blizzard announced changes to the region lock rules going into Phase Two which has the potential to completely change the Heroes esports landscape. Players from minor regions can now move to major regions, and vice versa, and immediately qualify to play in the Open Division or the Premier League.
This now opens up a huge amount of options for minor region players. If they prove their talent, they could possibly be signed by an organization from a major region, or move on their own and compete in the Open Division with hopes of advancing in The Crucible. The former is more likely, as moving continents would not be viable without any sort of support.
Player Reaction
“It has a great effect on me. It gives me the opportunity to make a career out of HotS by being picked up by a major region HGC team. I think Rob wants to move as well.” Nomias Arcaner from ANZ tells us. It seems the change is getting favorable response from minor region players as they hope to prove themselves enough to move to a major region.
“Personally, I am already planning to go to North America after BlizzCon and try to join an HGC team, but I need to save some money and improve my English a bit more.” Says Red Canids’ Jschritte from Latin America.
Deadly Kitten’s Nsj adds, “I’ve already said before that I would consider moving if not for the restrictions.”
Minor Region Coverage
While the change is great, it’s something of a sweeping change, not without problems. Obviously it’s unlikely to have every region on the same competitive level, but Blizzard is somewhat shooting itself in the foot by offering practically no support to the minor regions. Regionals are run independently and you (still) have to scour the internet to find any information on them, especially in English. Australia/New Zealand is the only region that is completely cast in English, with little to no coverage of Taiwan, Southeast Asia or Latin America. The Heroes esports website has a “more” section for the minor regions, but only states that the minor regions “run parallel tournaments and events throughout the year to qualify teams for HGC Clashes, the Mid-Season Brawl and the HGC Finals”. This makes it fairly difficult to follow any of the minor regions, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the language and format.
Depleting Regions
While this new region rule sounds great for individual players to jump ship to another region and excel at a higher level, what happens to their region once they leave? If all of the top tier talent transfers to other regions, won’t the quality deplete heavily? Should Blizzard have, instead, focused more on building up these minor regions rather than give them the opportunity to leave their region?
“Smaller regions can’t be helped unless it’s by increasing player population” Arcaner explains.
“If players do move out of the region, I suppose the talent pool will dwindle further. Our community is pretty small as it is” adds Deadly Kittens’ Zeys.
“Any minor region can suffer with this change” Jschritte tells us, “In the short term this will affect the region’s competitive landscape as there are usually only 1-2 teams with really good players. In the long run I can say that this can have a good effect for the region. Having a team playing abroad represents more popularity for the game, more people playing competitively and seeking to become a pro player.”
While it’s not necessarily viable to move to a major region right now, we probably won’t see the effects of this change until 2018, as Phase Two has already begun and it’s unlikely players would move across the globe to roll the dice at playing in an Open Division team.
Players are obviously scouting potential teams to join, and as November draws near to the time of BlizzCon, we may see larger roster changes as the pool of potential players has just opened up.
