[b]Team ExsequoR and E-Games have collaborated to present the xqR e-League, to feature both Counter-Strike 1.6 and DotA Allstars as competition games. However, the league is riddled with problems even before it has taken off.[/b]
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[b]EDIT (10 Mar 2007):[/b] I have received clarification from a source within xqR that the total fees each team will have to pay is about S$250, not S$350. All matches wil conclude within 2 weeks instead of the 4 I calculated.
The league will be divided into two divisions with a maximum of eight teams each. Teams will be categorized into each division “based on their prior achivements”. While the announcement acknowledges that not all teams might be able to be categorized, no further details were given on how this problem might be resolved. After the league stage, the top 4 teams of each division will proceed to a playoff, presumably single elimination, although not stated as such.
Right from the start, the hefty registration fee looks set to put off many teams from taking part in the league. According to the announcement, registration costs S$150, and there is a weekly cost of S$50. Assuming that each team will be required to play every other team only once, each team will have to play seven matches. With two matches are played per week, that comes up to four weeks needed. The weekly costs add up to S$200. Together with the registration fee of S$150, each team will be looking at an initial outlay of S$350 to take part in the xqR e-League.
The third prize of the lower division (S$300) does not even cover the costs of taking part in the league. The prize value of the first prize of the lower division is also diminished for DotA teams, as the Fragnetics sponsored server for one month is not really relevant. Furthermore, while the lower division prizes are lower, the registration fee remains the same. Essentially, this means that the teams that will play in the lower division are subsidizing the prizes for the teams in the upper division.
There will also be problems when it comes to the availability of terminals. According to the announcement, all teams from a division will be playing once a week on the same night. This means eight CS teams and eight DotA teams making for a total of 80 terminals required per night. The first floor of E-Games only has about 60 terminals. Apart from the training room, the layout of the PCs on the second floor is extremely ill suited for team play, being arranged in clusters of four, instead of the usual rows of five more competitive teams are more familiar with.
It is also highly doubtful if 16 CS teams can be found to take part in the competition, without even taking into considering the expensive participation fees. Throughout the whole of last year, the Compaq-AMD Pro-Gaming League’s CS tournaments were plagued by walkovers or lack of teams throughout all divisions. Most likely, there will be less teams, and the prize money for CS will be similarly reduced as well.
We can only wait and see if these issues are addressed in the coming days by Team ExsequoR.
[b]Related Links[/b][list]
[url=http://www.teamxqr.com/?page=main&id=119]xqR e-League[/url] (teamxqr.com)[/list]
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