Spectator Mode

Hey guys,

I'll just quote myself from another thread:

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Taiidann wrote:

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Zaerion wrote:

-Spectator mode for races

Yes!

Please give us this feature! It would give PoE racing some fantastic eSports potential and it would be incredibly fun to watch. I'm thinking spectating would be something like being able to switch between different players, and having the leader list (Top 20 or so) periodically pass by at the top or bottom of the screen like in Nascar. That would be brilliant!

A feature like this would be amazing and I truly hope we get it eventually. Please GGG! <3 Also, keeping track of overall, and personal, records would be another exciting element to chase after as well. (Example: Highest level reached in a 3 hour race - Lvl+Exp; Fastest to level 10; Etc...)

If you like this idea please post to show your support and keep the thread alive. Don't forget to tell your friends!

This game is essentially a slot machine. I would never spectate people "racing" at slot machine. Spend that development time implementing a wager system for pvp and specating for THAT. Then you have an esport.

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Weavols wrote:

This game is essentially a slot machine. I would never spectate people "racing" at slot machine. Spend that development time implementing a wager system for pvp and specating for THAT. Then you have an esport.

I understand what you mean but there is luck in everything. And it still takes a tremendous amount of skill and knowledge to be among the best at it consistently, regardless of your luck. That is why you often see the same people among the top in many different races, they know what they're doing.

Of course you have to be good at playing the game to "race". But at the highest levels of "competition" the outcome -will- be decided by RNG. If the game gives movement speed boots to 1 guy off his first crab on the beach, he beats everyone else of equal skill period. It's a retarded concept for an esport, and the more the devs cater to this sillyness, the more the game drifts from something worth my time. You could make something wonderfully competitive from the framework in place here, but this isn't it.

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Weavols wrote:

Of course you have to be good at playing the game to "race". But at the highest levels of "competition" the outcome -will- be decided by RNG. If the game gives movement speed boots to 1 guy off his first crab on the beach, he beats everyone else of equal skill period. It's a retarded concept for an esport, and the more the devs cater to this sillyness, the more the game drifts from something worth my time. You could make something wonderfully competitive from the framework in place here, but this isn't it.

No offense but you come off as one of those typical, close minded, status quo type posters, that are always pessimistic towards new things.

A lot of people already enjoy the races, regardless of your opinion, and they would love to have a feature like this implemented. Trying to prevent that from happening for your own selfish reasons isn't very nice.

And even if we hypothetically grant you your view point, you're still thinking about it in the wrong sense. An eSport will thrive if people like watching it, period. And business wise, that should be the factor that decides whether it makes sense to invest in such a thing or not. There is nothing people associate luck with more than Poker and yet it's a thriving spectator game on TV nowadays. A successful element to a game can garner more income and resources that otherwise wouldn't be available, and that, in turn, can then be funneled into improving other aspects of the game, including what you want them to improve. Just look at League of Legends, the eSports side alone is known to have played a major part in how successful the game and company have become, and now they can do whatever they want with all the resources they've gained.

Thinking outside the box and looking at the big picture is what gets you ahead.

And I still disagree with you at the end of the day anyway. RNG plays a factor, and there might be times that you don't do as good as you would have otherwise, but the fact remains that if you're good enough you will do very well, very often. There's a reason why the same player got world first 70, 80 & 85 at WoW. There's a reason why the same player won 2 finals in a row and came in 2nd the 3rd year in the WSoP finals. Enough skill and know how will overcome luck in the end.

Here's my vision of spectating for this game:

You enter the spectator mode and are given a view of the pvp arena. 2 players enter the pvp arena and the game announces that they've agreed to duel for a wager of 2 exalted (determined by the duelists). Then there's a 30 second timer where the spectators can check out the players and place bets on who they think will win. Then the match. This gives people a reason to actually pvp, and a reason to spectate it. Anyone could stream the spectator mode and cast the matches. But wait! 2 duelists have agreed to a match to the death on hardcore mode! Only 1 character comes out of this alive... place your bets.

People will play. People will watch.



That's what I want to see instead of people "competing" over who can run through act 1 the fastest and see who rng gives a better driftwood maul to spam leap slam in western forest for 35 minutes. Racing is trifling bullshit in comparison to what this game could be. I'm sorry but that's the truth.

I would enjoy watching both.

Not the whole race, but the last 20 minutes or so of a HC race could be interesting.