Original Author: E-sports ecology_Pijie(电竞生态_皮杰)
Translator: GLH



On 1st January, 2017, before the start of the WGL Warcraft 3 finals, Guo Zixiang (Newbee.eer0, ID: 120) had a little secret.


Before the finals, 120 went to profess his love to his current girlfriend, and the girl replied:"Let's talk about this after the games."

With a score of 3-2, 120 caught a mistake of Lyn and won his first major championship. When he returned to his seat, he was anxious to know the answer. In retrospect, he was somewhat uninterested in that victory.

"I won the championship, doesn't it mean that she will promise?"

After the final, 120 rushed to find her, but the girl directly rejected him.

"If I reject him directly, it may affect his status, so I said that let's about it after the finals."

In the interview during the day, 120's girlfriend sat silently beside him. She also ordered a drink and said to 120: "I have half the contribution to this championship, right?"

120 nod.


I am playing in a tournament!

120 will get up at 07:15 every day. After washing, he will ride to the company, which is 8 o'clock exactly.

"Ready to work." 120 laughed.

He majored in computer at university and now he is mainly working as a programmer. During the work, he will do some very basic program work, and after work, 120 has another job to do.

He usually arrives at home at 18:30. After taking a shower, he will start streaming at 19:00 on time and stream until 24:00.

Every day, his life is carried out in such a standardized operation, in an orderly manner, and no link can be deviated.

The work during the day makes him feel tired, so he has to take a bath every time after work to cheer up himself. In order to avoid affecting the state of streaming, 120 never eats dinner.

Since childhood 120 is a very independent person: he is living independently, economic independence, and this led him to develop the habit of making daily plans for himself and strictly enforce it.


When 120 was in middle school, he began to like to play Warcraft III. After that, when he was in the university, he practiced a lot every day, and he often practicing all night long. In order not to affect the rest of the roommates, he can only mute the training.

"At that time, my classmates were playing League of Legends and I was playing." 120 said, "I don't want to play." And his classmates would say, "If you don't play, please let me use your computer." So 120 would answer them: "I am playing in a tournament!"

Painstaking practice made 120 having a good result, before that, he thought he had no talent. We must know that, after 120 started to play this game, 120 had been playing the game agaisnt "Computer" for two years, to make him familiar with the basic micro. Until he was in the university, he began to play on various platforms. If he lost one, he would like to add that person as friend, and he would use the same tactic to play with the same person for a whole day.

"The amount of practice I did at that time was definitely much more than the current young players, until finally there was a feeling of realization."

The diligent and persistent 120 became famous in 2015,  WCA. He actually defeated the WFZ, who was in good state at the time, and advanced to the offline tournament as the third place in the China Regional Qualifier. After the game, his strategy became famous as well, fast tech and Crypt Fiend in Undead Mirror.

"At the time, Undead Mirror was popular with DK leveling, but I paid more attention to the collection of items, so I used this tactic. I paid attention to the items and resources on the map, and I used heroes as the core to fight. When I defeated him (WFZ), I play like this in all Undead Mirror."

This was one of the few offline tournaments that 120 played, compared with his opponent, he was too young. From 2015 to 2017, although his was rising on world ranking, but his state was fluctuating, and he had never really proved himself.

"In those few years, the tournaments were pretty few, and there was almost no offline tournament," 120 said. "Because I was still in college, so I didn't think too much. I planned to plan for the future after graduation."

In fact, between 2015 and 2017, many Korean players retired or served in military service, and European, American players disappeared too. The ranking of Chinese ranking was almost equal to the world ranking. So, when 120 defeated WFZ, who is one of the top in Chinese ranking, 120 definitely had the strength to get the championship, he was just waiting for an opportunity.

Until 2017, after 120 won the WGL championship, people finally removed the label of "Warcraft Newplayer". In the middle of this, perhaps only he knows how many failures he had experienced in playing Warcraft III for nearly ten years and participating in the tournaments for five to six years.


 I am not a Newbie.

Compared with other "young" esports games, War3 players are generally older. Many players have been married and have children, but they are still active in professional competitions and have achieved good results. 120 believes that the characteristics of this game, it does not depend on your age.

"Warcraft III also has players born after 2000, but they have not made a name for themselves. Even players born in 1997 and 1998 have basically no great achievements. Old players can choose not to play, but it is difficult for new players to play without opponents. Come out, do you understand?" Eer0 is eager to express, with his hands on the strokes. "The old players are active and the new players are too few. The main reason is that there are too few people playing this game. And Warcraft III doesn't matter with age, it is not a game that depends on reaction only, this game requires more from your strategy."


120 is already 24 years old, he may have no advantage in many e-sports games that rely on reaction and speed. However, in Warcraft, it is a golden age, he is recognized as "the player with the best state maintaining" in China. Unfortunately, there are very few Warcraft players in China who having same age with him.

In the past ten years, the game had stopped updating once, and the lack of events, the difficulty of getting started with the game, has become the reason for blocking young people from contacting Warcraft III. During 2014 to 2017, there was a big gap in Warcraft, the new players were not appearing when the "middle-aged" players such as 120, Colourful, and Life are about to play.

In 2018, Warcraft once again got the update. After that, Blizzard announced that the Warcraft III: Reforged will be launched in 2019, which has brought a new turn to the entire Warcraft III industry.

"Maybe Blizzard's staff woke up..." 120 stared with his small eyes.

This update has excited many Warcraft III players, and many people even think: "The patches update is good, I can accept it regardless of whether it is relatively balanced.

In 2018, Warcraft's event has increased again, this making 120 again have a desire to fight. His stream followers are gradually increasing, and the prize money from the tournaments plus the income from streaming has already exceeded his salary during the daytime. For many e-sports new players, especially 120, who just graduated from college and faced pressure from their lives, they have more choices.

"When a new player has a fixed income and can ensure that there is no worry in life, the result will gradually increase. Maybe the old players are still winning games, but in the next six months, everyone may have a chance."

Shortly before accepting our interview, 120 just joined the Team Newbee, and when we asked about the new plan for 2019, 120 said he was preparing for the team league and he might resign the programmer's work.

120 was excited when  he was talking about the 2019 Warcraft's multiple contests and the offline team leagues that had been closed for many years. Unlike the players who have fought in many e-sports tournaments such as WCG and ESWC in the past, 120 has not caught up with that era since his debut. The games he participated in are more play with online.

He said that he is looking forward to live with other players, even the days of training together in the team. "I think Colorful is the same." 120 knows very well about his friends. "Because this is not just a game, it is the first time we can experience the life of an e-sports professional."

For the team league, 120 is very confident in the lineup of his team, Newbee (120, Lyn, Lawliet): "We have won the championship, how do other teams fight against us?!"

He laughed and was beaten by his girlfriend next to him.


My dream is too big, Do you still want me to say?

When 120 was streaming, he found that although Warcraft III has become less famous in recent years, this game still has a group of loyal fans. "Not only people who used to play, who don't play now, but also some other players. A lot of them started their e- sport career with Warcraft III. Although they have transformed Dota or StarCraft 2, they are all concerned about Warcraft."


After winning the 2017 WGL Championship, 120 received a blessing message from a friend who hasn't seen it for a long time, and he has been away from War3 for many years.

During these years, too many friends around 120 have stopped playing Warcraft III. At that time, those dream-seeking people who had been passionate and ambitions have now become process directors, civil servants, some of others have gone to stocks and earned a lot of money. There is only 120 continues his Warcraft career, of course, he will become a programmer during the day and continue his work.

Although it was hard, when he recalled the time of playing War3, 120 never regretted, he said, "Because it made me know a lot of friends, including my current girlfriend, I have a great harvest and it is worth."

In 2019, he wants to play more Warcraft III's games, win more games, be a pure professional player.

Every time we interview an e-sports player, we will finally ask: "What is your dream?"

"My dream is too big, Do you still want me to say?"

120 is a little embarrassed. He turned his head and looked at his girlfriend, and his girlfriend's face looks red.

He said that he wants to buy a house in Beijing, he can at least pay a down payment, he wants to live there with his girlfriend in the future.



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Original Author: 178电竞(178 esports)_Bloom
Translator: GLH



NeXT'2018 Winter Warcraft entered the Grand Final. Before the games, our reporter interviewed the game's commentator, the Warcraft legend, MagicYang. In the interview, Magic Yang mentioned several key points that Warcraft III will return in this year, let's take a look!


Q: How did you feel about returning to the familiar interpretation stage during the NeXT2018 winter?

M: I recently returned to the commentary, and I participated in the Super WGL Finals and NeXT's game commentary. The reason why I came back is because I still love Warcraft. At the same time, I also hope to come back to meet old and new friends. First, I want to see if everyone still likes my casting style, and I hope that I can do my own little power for this game.


Q: You are now working behind the scenes, have you considered any Warcraft III related business in the future?

M: Two years ago, I just turned into a behind-the-scenes work. At that time, we held a Nostalgic Battlefield in Harbin and invited some very famous players to participate, such as Moon, Grubby, Infi, TH000 and so on.

Now that we are considering the direction of the Reforged Edition, we hope to start with periodic small events and RPG-type maps. At the beginning we had a game called Dragon Wing Chronicles(龙翼编年史), we are considering whether to transfer it to Warcraft III: Reforged.


Q: What do you think about the upcoming Warcraft: Reforged Edition? Do you think it will make Warcraft III popular again?

M: In fact, this still depends on the cooperation of the electric competition. At present, NetEase has announced the WAR3 event plan for 2019, including 5 million yuan of special prizes for the event. I am more optimistic about whether it can be popular again.

For new players, the Reforged Edition is a brand new game, and the game has a high prizes. In addition, Warcraft III does not have as many professional players as other games that are mature now.

So it is more attractive for new players to choose Warcraft III: Reforged as a new eSports project.
For the old players, I think the screen upgrade of these old RPG maps, melee games will attract them to return. From the situation I understand, the Netease official battle platform has had a significant increase in traffic for the past two months, so I think Warcraft III will definitely be popular again.


Q: In NeXT'2018 winter Warcraft III, there are only four Chinese players, but there are many Korean players. In terms of the overall professional level of Warcraft III, China and Korea, which one do you think is stronger?

M: In fact, from the top players, the level of China and Korea is still very close. As for the offline events, we are more concerned about the players themselves.


Q: Warcraft III has been in development for many years, but there are only few new players have appeared in recent years. What are your views and methods for cultivating a new generation of players?

M: At the current stage of e-sports, new players are not like ours, we are only going to play with a passion. Nowadays, it is more formalized. In fact, it is a good opportunity for recruiting new players in this year. With the launch of Reforged Edition, many large professional clubs in China have established Warcraft department, such as RW, Newbee. For the young players, the recruitment of these regular clubs is not only guaranteed, but also less worrying.

The second is that this year's event has a high bonus, which will attract many new players, and more people will choose to strive for the standing of the top players. In fact, the current professional players grew up slowly under the pressure of the older players.

In this year, Warcraft III will have a lot of new players. Maybe these young players can't beat the top players in a short time, but the young players will cause a lot of troubles for these top players in the game. They must be able to intensify the competition.


Q: Do you think that Warcraft III can open up new development space in the game mode, such as FFA, 5v5, 2v2v2, etc. Can these format bring a fresh feeling to the game?

M: In fact, these formats have been tried in previous games, but from the results, these formats are more suitable for RPG. Because the existing 1v1 and 2v2games, they have formed a system that is very standard and the audience has become accustomed to. If you add more formats, first of all, the game duration will be lengthened, second, the game viewing will be limited. For example, the FFA of 8 players, where should the caster go? The attention of the audience will also be dispersed.

But these formats are quite promising in RPG, as the previous Dota did. For the Warcraft III tournaments, in addition to considering the competitive nature of professional players, we must also consider the feelings of the audiences. For the new format, it is difficult to find a solution that satisfies both parties in a short time.


Q: What do you think of the atmosphere and venue of NeXT winter in this time? If you have a chance to come again next time, would you like to come here again?

M: This competition is very good, the area, stage and lighting of the venue are very good. Additionally, I really enjoy the atmosphere of here, the seats in the venue were full, especially this event was a comprehensive project.

In fact, many fans and audiences are not coming for Warcraft III, but they may be attracted to watch Warcraft III. So I am very willing to come to the next competition.





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Original Author: War3station
Translator: GLH



OES is hosted by the OES(On ElectronicSport Series) Organizing Committee, aims to create an open and pure electric competition.

This event features highly entertaining projects, and it also provides a complete range of player ratings and passionate events. It is held once a season and it create a ceremony for players.

OES has a lot of collaborative medias and data platforms to provide a comprehensive exposure to the event.


Format and Match up:

Ro8 to Semi Final: BO1
Grand Final: BO3


We will complete the Winner Bracket Round 1(Semi Final) and Loser Bracket Round 1 today, and we will finish the whole tournament tomorrow.


Prizes:


What did we see in the match up? The man named Macsed? SeD, who has transformed StarCraft 2, he feels very lonely, and he may feel that the Human is too poor nowadays, that's why he wants to come to educate the amateurs.



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Original Author: War3station
Translator: GLH


Half an hour from the rehearsal, FoCuS ended his training in Cyber Cafe and rushed to the cafe for an interview. In the just-concluded NeXT Winter Warcraft III, FoCuS successfully escaped from the big killer, Moon with his dazzling performance, we need to know that in this patch, Moon is almost invincible. In the game, we saw FoCuS played with Shadow Hunter first, and Tinker second, then he went to push Moon's expansion with the Serpent Wards, although he failed in that fight, he still played very patiently, and successfully knocked down Moon main base and won the game.

The moment Moon typed out GG, the camera turned to FoCuS, his smile was like sunshine.

"He told me before the game that he had a confidence to played against Night Elf on TS." 120 was grinning next to him.

"You may not believe it. When I started playing Warcraft, I started with the Human." FoCuS was like a big boy. "But after the release of the Frozen Throne, I turned to the Orc, because I especially like to use the speed scroll to run the whole army, the feel is really good."


"My training goal is to win the championship in every game, whether it is winning 120 previously or winning Moon this time, maybe it is incredible in your eyes, but in my opinion, I was pretty fully prepared before the game, so after winning, there is a feeling of getting what you want."

In the minds of Warcraft players, FoCuS is a very hard-working player. He will try to play in the every big tournament and minor cup. He won 46 championships in Z Cup (a famous European weekly tournament, held 322 times), currently, many champions of some minor cups are also included in the FoCuS

"I can make a little money for my family. On the other hand, it is also good to maintain the state with the competition." FoCuS also pointed out that in recent years, the Warcraft III prizes are not enough to support his life. "Fortunately, I still have some savings. In addition, I am very grateful to my wife. She will also go out to work to make money to support our family." FoCuS is very optimistic.


In South Korea, the number of audiences who care about Warcraft III is not huge but is very demanding for players. After WGL summer in 2018, the poor performance of FoCuS made him attacked by many audiences on the Korean forum. He could not help but write a letter of apology with the incomprehensible feelings of others. "At that time, I would only stay at home, I don't know how to deal with this. I will feel bad when I look at the forum."

Soon after, I figured out that this was originally part of what professional players should bear. I will try to do some fitness and outdoor sports to divert attention. Recently, I am also learning piano, music makes people happy. These activities make me not care too much about those attacks, and pay more attention to my own training.

When I mentioned Soin, who was not performing well today, FoCuS had great confidence to this younger player: "he was too nervous, I believe he is a skillful player. This is his third time to be in offline, right? And he just graduated this year, before that, his studies were very hardy and he often faced exams. I think after this year, Soin should have more time to prepare and adjust his mindset, he will beyond me in the future."


When I asked him what he thought about the Reforged Edition, FoCuS thought about it and raised his hand to help the glasses. "For me, I still think and practice constantly. It is a good thing for the environment to be better."

"But for me, preparing for tomorrow's game is more meaningful." As always, he is humility and low-key.

"I will try my best."

He turned his head and looked out the window, the sky darkened, and the lights lit up. The light of this flower city made this city look like it was during the day.

We may look at the star players who are particularly good like Moon and Lyn, however, we can't ignore the senior players like FoCuS, they strive to bring the brightest game to the audience, and they are reluctant to disappoint fans and audience.


"It doesn't matter if I am not famous. Just remember, I used to play Warcraft III, and I really love this game."

The last sentence of FoCuS makes my eyes moist.





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Original Author: War3station
Translator: GLH


Warcraft III will usher in a new journey! In 2019, the ladder rank will play an important role in the selection of players. In the upcoming February, the points earned by the players on the ladder will be included in the selection of the upcoming events. The following is a description of the 2019 ladder points. More about the event will be shared with players in the near future.

Points

In 2019, the ladder of Warcraft III will be different from 2018. The ladder will be settled monthly. The points will be used as the basis for the selection of players to participate in WGL. Each player can only get the points on the ladder once of the month. If there are multiple accounts, they will choose the highest ranked account. The value of the ladder to get the points is modified as follows:


We will announce more details of the 2019 Warcraft III e-sports event in the near future, so stay tuned!

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