I'm saying this as someone not interested in Artifact, but esports.
This is such a strange roll out. Most games that have closed betas far behind a game's release, they're short bursts to make sure everything is running along smoothly, finding things that normal hired playtesters might not find or do because playtesters usually follow certain tasks. But as these closed beta tournaments roll out, things get so strange and infuriating I just feel bad for the community wanting to get there hands on it.
Quake Champions / Dota 2/ CSGO made sense for pre-release tournaments made sense, there are already established pros for the series and they were made to hype up the game. But these tournaments are all behind closed doors, unwatchable, while the people in the tournament seem to go on twitter and go on about going to them. With already around 2000+ hours in the game, it doesn't feel like a beta, but a handful of people chosen to build their careers, like no wonder the community is so fucking toxic when the current state of the game is "Haha I can play the game" since fucking march. Of course Most are not going to be a pro, But a dedicated player that started at release would not be able to compete with the early beta holders for a very, very long time. But a dedicated player who was previously not heavy into esports would be able to compete with them if they started that beta early. Teens that are becoming new pros in csgo don't have the 10,000+ hours of game knowledge that current pros have, but the couple thousand of hours they have dedicated already was what they needed to climb the ranks.
Games with completely new metas (fortnite other BR games) are exciting to see in esports, because people that were not able to climb up competitive in other games find their groove in these new games (examply, Tfue). But this game won't have that excitement , all the pros are just gonna be pre-selected people who crafted a strategy over almost a year ( yeah I know, the meta may have changed a few times through these leaks), It just feels like a prestigious club now.
I just feel bad to those who were anticipating to be involved with this game.
I, like many others, suffered the "hype from a cannon" curve.
Which is to say, I had 0 interest in Artifact, briefly was intensely curious, then no longer have any genuine interest.
It just feels like whoever's in charge of developing Artifact for Valve, that is, not Richard Garfield's initial project development but whatever "plan" they've agreed on is just. Well it's just fucking silly. The cart feels so far ahead of the horse that I have to wonder if there's even a horse to draw it.
I wonder if part of this inane astroturfing has to do with Valve lacking confidence in Artifact itself. I'm feeling like Valve's departure from the Free-To-Play market directly in to the ahem, "Collectible Card Game" market, that is, the most minutely nickle and dimed game format since DLC, with no free-to-play option probably has them panicking internally, especially with all of the negative energy pointed their way after last year's funeral for HL3, and an overall state of disillusion with Valve at the current state of their other continued-support games (CSGO, Dota, TF2 (nominally.))
My hype was killed when it steadily became more apparent that Valve will be giving up on their promise that Power /=/ Rarity in Artifact, and the increasingly apparent fact that collecting a full set of cards for Artifact will be just as financially quixotic as collecting a full expansion of MtG.
I'd like to make a small argument against this.
Competition within a limited environment does not give as much of an advantage as most make it out to be. Someone going into a competition with prior expert experience in similar genres is going to have a massive jump start regardless, especially in a strategy game where you can peruse articles on good practices and rely much on general game sense. This is apparent when internal playtesters aren't the best players, beta testers admitting that the constructed meta is stagnant and unsolved due to small player base, and week-old players getting top 8 in tourney. This has also happened with fighting games (Tekken 7 or Street Fighter V I don't remember).
In truth, yes, it is unfair and those in the beta will have more practices. But saying that those who are not in the 9-months beta won't be able to compete? Those with that mindset are the people who won't be winning anything. The negative reception within the community comes from people being thirsty as fuck wanting to play the game. Once the game releases they will be quenched.
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