Rocket League star calls out RLCS format, org owner says 'its fair'
The new Rocket League Championship Series season is off to a flying start. Record viewership, French fancies, and American atrocities have all lit up the timeline, with the RLCS pros really cooking up quite the tasty season curtain-raisers.
But that hasn't quite papered over the cracks, as already-disgruntled fans and players haven't shaken the pre-kick-off woes which came about after Caster layoffs, broadcast scares, and a new format.
The latter of which has now drawn even further scrutiny, as the format has come under fire again following the first round of RLCS Major 1 Qualifiers.
Ferra calls for an RLCS Format overhaul after winning EU Open Qualifier
Click to enlargeHaving coached Karmine Corp to the opening win of the RLCS season in Europe, Victor "Ferra" Francal has called out both Epic Games and BLAST, criticising the format despite being victorious.
Taking to a lengthy Twitter post, the Head Coach listed a range of points that "have no impact on cost and are hurting our scene".
"The removal of auto qualification spots for Main Events is the most hurtful change," he said, reflecting that in elite sporting knockout-style events, elite teams auto-qualify for the main event.
Turning his attention towards the qualifiers, he added, "Every qualifier being a Double Elimination bracket means the seeding needs to be extremely solid and fair. The current seeding is not only unfair, it's also inconsistent throughout the different stages of the tournament".
This has recently been highlighted by the events in North America, after TSM, NRG, Shopify Rebellion, and The Muffin Men were all pitted on the same side of the bracket, where the previous semi-finalists (Shopify) were dumped out before the main event and Mariano "SquishyMuffinz" Arruda's penultimate event ended in disaster, failing to make it to the mainstage for the first time in 10 seasons.
"All of those issues, and many more I won't go into here, are pushing players above their limits," Ferra rounded off, demanding changes to the "unhealthy" format before the season is out, imploring that the developers don't wait until next year.
Shopify Rebellion owner says format is 'fair' amid early exit from Qualifiers
On the flip side of Ferra's comments, which have amassed huge support from fellow community figures, Shopify Rebellion co-owner Jeremy Steeves has confessed that their exit from the competition was "fair".
Steeves claimed that the performances were not good enough, but the lack of auto-qualifier spots "makes it pretty difficult to invest over the long term in RL".
It's not the first time the format has received backlash, and it likely won't be the last unless a change is afoot.
