Dota 2 - TI 6

[jennegatron]

http://www.dota2.com/international/announcement
 

 

Direct invites and qualifier invites have gone out. Post Manila shuffles clearly having a real impact on invites.

[sclpls]

North America goes from winning TI to receiving no direct invites in a year!

[Kyir]

Never expected to see see Navi getting an invite over EG again.

[jennegatron]

Steam decided to stick to the letter of their roster lock law I guess and said no to EG despite it being 4/5 the TI 5 winners. I guess I admire their adherence to what I think is a really bad rule?

[Dewar]

Wait, so EG doesn't even get a qualifier invite by default?

[Twig]

They changed their team. So no.

[Dewar]

I thought it was just a block from automatic invite, not from the qualifiers as well. That's crazy. I'm surprised it wasn't more of a deterrent.

[Twig]

Yeah, it's... I'm with Jenna. I think it's a pretty shit rule. Hoping they'll reconsider for next year. They can still qualify through the wildcards of course, but it is for sure ridiculous.

[sclpls]

Yeah they really need to rethink this and figure out what they want to accomplish because right now they have this rule in place, and they seem to be fiddling with the structure of the tournament to keep that rule in place. Not ideal at all. If they really desperately want to have roster locks I also think they need to have some sort of off season which doesn't really exist anymore in DOTA.

[Twig]

The biggest thing for me, this year, is that it felt like Dota was never NOT. Like there was always something happening. And to be frank that made me way less likely to pay attention. I know there've always been a ton of tournaments, but four big events in a year all backed by Valve directly, just felt like way too much.

 

But hey that's more of a personal thing. Not sure it's actually a valid criticism or not, haha.

 

That said I'm still going to TI6. Managed to get a finals ticket despite the website breaking on me and not letting me buy one directly. Got a hotel booked. Now just need to book a flight and I'm good to go yayyyy.

[sclpls]

Yeah the side effect for me is I barely paid any attention to the non-Valve events. Like ESL One was this weekend, and I just totally ignored it whereas just a year ago I felt like that tournament was a big deal!

[ewokskick]

  On 6/20/2016 at 9:23 PM, Twig said:

The biggest thing for me, this year, is that it felt like Dota was never NOT. Like there was always something happening. And to be frank that made me way less likely to pay attention. I know there've always been a ton of tournaments, but four big events in a year all backed by Valve directly, just felt like way too much.

 

But hey that's more of a personal thing. Not sure it's actually a valid criticism or not, haha.

 

That said I'm still going to TI6. Managed to get a finals ticket despite the website breaking on me and not letting me buy one directly. Got a hotel booked. Now just need to book a flight and I'm good to go yayyyy.

 

It was like there was always a LAN, but not always with good teams and the casual online matches I'd watch for an hour or two basically never have anyone I care about.  It's like there is too much dota, but also not enough good dota.  Personally, I am not sure majors have actually made anything better.  Jenna said it'd be better with one fewer major and I think that would help.  I also would like to see the return of online events like Dotapit and Captains Draft.  Being able to watch an event that is spread out instead of taking up a whole weekend+ makes it easier to casually watch.

[Jutranjo]

There was tons of good dota in the EU qualifier! You can check most of those games to get some great games.

[ewokskick]

  On 6/29/2016 at 9:38 PM, Jutranjo said:

There was tons of good dota in the EU qualifier! You can check most of those games to get some great games.

Yeah EU had the best games.  NA and China's finals were really good too.  Both Bo5s went 5 games and were really exciting.

[Dewar]

I was really hoping to have my compendium 100% filled out this year, but I missed the qualifier predictions by a day

 

Oh well, I don't even play all that often anymore, but I like the idea of having a digital program.

[sclpls]

Really hoping for a strong Chinese showing this year. I'd be stoked to see Newbee or Wings take it this year.

[Dewar]

When are the wild card matches, is that a part of the festivities in Seattle, or are they in between somewhere?

[sclpls]

Assuming it works the same way as last year it will happen right before the group stages. I believe it just took one day to get through the matches.

[mrwonko]

So anybody else going to see it live in Seattle? Or has gone previously and has tips for stuff to check out in Seattle? I'm pretty excited.

 

(Huh, guess this is my first post. Why did I already have an account then?)

[sclpls]

I'm not going this year, but I went last year. I'm very jealous, I would have loved to go again but it just wasn't in the budget this year.

 

The trickiest thing to figure out is breakfast. There aren't a ton of options near the arena. This wasn't a big deal for me, I rarely eat breakfast, but proved to be a bit of an annoyance for my wife. I think we ended up ultimately settling on eating at some spot with good lox bagels near Pike's Place.

 

There's a very good sushi place nearby called Shiro's. It is probably the best sushi I've had in the U.S., and the prices are very reasonable. Without reservations (not even sure if they take them or not...) expect to wait half an hour to get seated though, it is understandably popular.

 

The EMP Museum is nearby the Arena as well, and very cool. They had a great Star Wars exhibit when we were there.

 

Bring sunscreen! Normally it is rainy and cloudy in Seattle, but I think in August it is like other places in that it is mostly sunny (though not always hot, still a good idea to bring things like jackets or hoodies).

[Dewar]

It has been 90F around here the last week, so sunscreen is good, especially if you're going to watch out in the lawn. By the same token, weather changes in a flash around here so having a light weight raincoat is never a bad idea. There aren't that many places to eat right around the arena, but Pike Place Market is a do-able hike away and has a ton of variety. We have a nice aquarium on the waterfront, the EMP as sclpls mentioned, and the Space Needle which has become a fallout-ish what people in the 70s thought the future would be tourist attraction. We have a small but nice zoo as well.

 

I was just reading on the website and see they have daily tickets available, so I might take a shot at getting one of those? I have a few days off to watch the streams, but it would be kind of a hassle to get up early and bus into Seattle and maybe not even get a ticket.

 

Edit: On another note, I hate how Valve never wants to make clear any of the streaming details until right before things start. They have a watch it here link on the international page that just loops right back to the same page again, no news on what twitch channels will be running and if they've renamed them again this year, and it starts streaming tomorrow.

[sclpls]

If you aren't able to get a ticket they have very large screens setup in the park that you can watch for free, and I did that sometimes when I needed to just step out from being in a dark, loud arena for a long time. It was a pretty great viewing experience for the most part watching it outside. So that can be a backup plan in case you can't get a ticket. Well worth it in my opinion!

[Dewar]

I really like sleeping in on my vacation, but we'll see.

 

Edit: Hmm, I wonder if I could call the Box Office and buy a ticket day of, or if it's really just in-person only. That would save me some sleep.

[mrwonko]

  On 8/1/2016 at 4:17 PM, sclpls said:

There's a very good sushi place nearby called Shiro's. It is probably the best sushi I've had in the U.S., and the prices are very reasonable. Without reservations (not even sure if they take them or not...) expect to wait half an hour to get seated though, it is understandably popular.

 

Ah, I picked the right one then, already reserved a seat there. Also planning on checking out the Grill from Ipanema, the Pink Door and the Umi Sake Bar. Will consider EMP museum and aquarium. What's so special about the Space Needle though? Nice view?

[Dewar]

Nice view, expensive rotating restaurant at the top, and that general weird 60's future feel. I don't necessarily think it's super great, but it's major Seattle landmark and has the advantage of being pretty close to Key Arena.

 

Sounds like you have a good set of restaurants picked out there. If you're going to be around Pike Place Market, there some mileage in just wandering and seeing what you find to eat. Lots of little cafes and odd spots in the area.