So GST 2016 is behind us, and I just want to thank everybody for coming out-- viewers, those who played, and those who helped in the moderation on the Twitch chat.
Congratulations to Shrekt, for continuing their reign as champions!
To the other gangs who competed - better luck next time!
I feel like everybody who participated this year benefited in some way.
True, the achievement of a goal is a great thing, but never discount the value of pursuance.
It's great fun pursuing a goal -- the week leading up to GST, I joined Enigmatic during their training sessions, and went many rounds in BaseBattle as they went against one-another in their sub gang.
I don't know about them, but I had a blast playing, and joining their voice chat Discord channel.
There was also one night when I raided Neo Zone with a couple Club members-- again, I had a blast.
So if you're feeling down about the loss, remember the fun that you had in the pursuance of that goal.
If you're anything like me, you'll have some nice moments to dwell upon.
At any rate, I've watched and listened to the YouTube upload twice this since its airing, and replayed a couple parts.
Below is a couple things that I've noted; while the match was going on, and in hindsight as I watched the archived stream.
- My internet connection was choppy at certain parts.
I apologize for this; I realized that I was lagging at certain points (and noted it in the commentary). Unfortunately, there wasn't much I could do during the event-- Next time I'll try and reset my modem and router prior to streaming; and maybe use an Ethernet connection versus WiFi.
- Matches were dragged out.
Last year, we received complaints that the arena was too easy to exploit-- gangs only had to rush the bottom, and push their opponents upward. Our response to that was to fill the bottom with water, so that people would have an extreme vulnerability as they make their trek into enemy territory.
Well it worked-- and in my opinion, it worked too well. Practically every match was a cold war-- everybody was holding their respective positions, and not much movement was being made. (Thank goodness for the pushers out there who took risks and made it interesting!)
Moving forward, I want to revisit the arena layouts; and find a happy medium between last year and this year. I want some slight vulnerability, so that the matches don't last so long, but not too much vulnerability that the recipe to victory is clear-cut.
- I reportedly butchered some names.
Hey- I'm not perfect =D!
- I was the only commentator.
We planned on my brother joining us, but he couldn't make it that morning. No matter though - I've done commentary by myself for years. Going into this, I knew that I could talk forever, and I expected the matches to be as fast-paced as they were last year. That latter part, I couldn't have been more wrong. I didn't anticipate the arena discouraging offensive plays as much as it did.
It is a commentator's job to keep things interesting throughout the duration of the stream, even when nothing is going on. And for the most part, I feel that I do this very well and natural. I've been told that it is the on-the-spot nicknames that I give people, and the impromptu story lines behind them. Even when I'm not streaming, my brother and I have always done this -- I don't know about him, but this is how I commit people to memory.
At any rate, this is what keeps everybody(including myself) entertained when I'm the only commentator is on deck, and I can keep it up as long as there are things going on -- I don't like sounding redundant. I feel that I'm doing myself, and everybody else a disservice if I'm repeating myself.
I confess, the way the matches were dragging out this year, really made me wish I had somebody else on the microphone to bounce some conversation off of. Last year I had Zenthor+Casper, and it worked really well. It also allowed me to give some attention to the Twitch chat, because Zenthor was keeping me up to date on the happenings there.
So moving forward, I'm going to make sure I have at least 1 person commentating with me.
Post any comments you had on GST2016 - what you liked, what(or how) you think it could be improved moving forward, etc.
I do like the player response that we had, and I really had fun hosting it!
I think that, moving forward, I'm going to be doing some more commentary on smaller events
(randomly sitting in on basing fights, gang spar battles, base battle, etc.)
Thanks in advance!
Meph