AoV eSports AMA Summary
Did you miss the eSports AMA the AoV team held on Nov 14th? No problem! Below is a summary of the AMA for your quick viewing pleasure. You can view the full thread here if you’d like to read through it yourself!
Game Bans
Q: Are you planning on putting 2 bans instead of a single one?
A: Hero bans are based on the number of heroes available in the game, so once we release additional heroes, we will add additional bans accordingly.
AFK Penalties
Q: Can we have better/harsher penalty or punishment for those who throw away games, troll and intentional AFKs?
A: We’re fully aware of the importance of having a great gaming environment with no AFKers, so we are planning on implementing higher Credibility Score thresholds to further promote good gameplay soon!
Client/Servers
Q: Did you plan to open different servers for non-EU players? (Asian, Turkish) If not, will they have the right to participate to EU events?
A: For players who aren’t in officially supported regions that wish to participate in certain tournaments in the future, we plan on adding a wild card opportunity for them to participate.
Q: Why did you guys decide to make multiple clients for different regions and have them separated, instead of doing what Mobile Legends did and have 1 client but game severs located everywhere, and when you searched for a game it would just detect ur ip and put you in a game with people from the same country?
A: The original reason is that we have some partners – Garena and Netmarble – working with us on publishing the game in certain areas. For the initial versions, we didn’t prepare the mechanic of being able to choose servers. We are fully aware of the problem now, and we are thinking of the possibility of having 1 client in the future. This needs some time for additional research on handling potential technical and operations issues though.
Q: As I am currently playing on the Garena server with 180ms, at global launch will there be an Australian server selectable?
A: Australia will be part of the global launch. In regards to whether or not we want to have an Australian server not, it depends on whether or not there will be an immediate need based on the ping for players in Australia with the global launch.
Q: How do you plan to organise international competition when different parts of the world are playing on different patches/versions?
A: For this, in the long run, the differences among all of these versions will be very small. Also, for international tournaments, there will be a specific tournament server with the same hero selection and balance to ensure fairness for all regions.
Replays
Q: What about watching friends games live or something like an esports Replay/Live Browser ingame.
A: The features allowing you to be able to watch eSports tournaments live and also view replays is currently under development right now! In 2018, we expect this to be available in the game.
Livestreaming
Q: Any chance you’ll add livestreaming built right into the client?
A: If everything goes smoothly, we plan on having it in our next version!
Pro Leagues/Tournaments
Q: Where are you planning to go with esports?
A: At least for the pro league, we will first hold it online, then we will continue to spread it offline to regions based on the number of fans there.
Q: My question is if Tencent is thinking about making a periodical league or Championship as big as NPT periodically and if you having contact with big teams from MOBAs to introduce them the game and asking them to join future league/championships, with their own “professional” team.
A: Yes, we are currently working on first having a semi-pro league go live in 2018, then based on that, create a pro league. We also plan on having an NPT Season 2 as a periodical tournament.
Right now, SK gaming and Team Liquid have already set up their AoV teams. We are also in contact with additional MOBA eSports organizations.
Q: Are you playing on creating a pro league?
A: We plan on creating a pro league, but first, we want have a semi-pro league as a test run then modify our strategy for the pro league based on that.
Q: Is there going to be league in Europe(like LCS in LoL)?
A: As a mobile game, we believe we can find an innovative way to organize a professional eSports scene based on continents, but the structure will uniquely be suited for Arena of Valor.
Q: In a future, will there be big tournaments like NPT one with teams restricted to countries or you will make it open for any teams, that want to participate?
A: We’re still trying to figure out a way that can involve the most players to come and compete. The initial idea regarding NPT was to use the concept of different countries battling it out, allowing fans to represent their countries. Clearly in Europe, friends that want to form a team also come from various countries, so it’s relatively difficult to form a team of 5 with the same country requirement. We plan on having less restrictions next time.
Q: When you will organise 1st Pro Esports Tournament and will you add an option to spectate live matches and esports tournaments
A: In 2018, we will begin a semi-pro league for a test run and then modify our strategy based on that in preparation for the pro league. Spectator mode already exists in the game, and that’s how we broadcast our eSports competitions.
Riot Games/LoL affiliation
Q: Since AoV is owned by Tencent Games who own Riot Games, is there any relationship and support between AoV and League of Legends, to help add the eSports value and features?
A: Because we are different games, Tencent is allocating different resources and strategies to each game.
Game Balance
Q: League of Legends once drastically scaled back things like Crowd Control understanding that being stunned and shot down within a tiny 1-2 second window just wasn’t fun. I notice a bunch of AOV characters have these harsh stun abilities that rapidly ‘tick’ and tease you with near-impossible chances to escape that feel a little unfair when using a device an imprecise as a touch-screen/phone. Are there plans to tweak any part of this in the future?
A: We currently do not plan on significantly changing any hero abilities, but we are considering whether or not we want to change the duration of certain crowd control abilities in the future.
Switch Version
Q: Could we get a timeframe of when to expect more news on the Nintendo Switch version? How’s it coming along?
A: Since we are still in a very early stage for this, there isn’t anything I can share in regards to this.
DC Superheroes
Q: We still don’t have access to some of the DC characters featured on the main screen. Is there going to be some kind of tie-in with the wider Justice League release?
A: For DC superheroes, we plan on continuing to release these superheroes and more, ensuring players can enjoy these heroes!
Controls
Q: I’m the type who still has difficulty with certain aspects of the touch-screen controls – especially when it comes to abilities rarely triggering from a quick tap. Are you still working on additional control options and/or sensitivity tweaks, or should we just learn to adjust to what’s already there?
A: There currently aren’t any plans on adding additional control options in the near future, though we will continue to collect player feedback regarding this.
NA Release
Q: Any update on the NA release date? Are we getting close?
A: We’re continuing to do our best to get it further prepared, though we still don’t have a date to announce yet.
Non-5v5 Tournaments
Q: I have seen some tournaments going on as 3v3 mode.. and i would like to ask if Aov going to have or promote tournaments other than 5v5 as an eSports?
A: We’d like to stick to 5v5 competitions at the moment, because it can best bring out the spirit of eSports, however, it’ll would also be interesting to have alternative tournaments in the future (1v1 or maybe 3v3). You can already play 1v1 Open on ESL community cups and win career points for swag!
Source: Reddit
