Good luck all.

Might not be that fun to play but it sure is fun to watch

Might not be that fun to play but it sure is fun to watch

This!

Added some proper time tags. Let's not confuse our readers :)

In other news, it's 3 DE brackets:
- NA plays DE with rapha, DaHang and some random ;) going to the finals and guaranteeing himself top 6,
- EU plays DE with only 3 people later having a chance to play rapha and DaHang on the third day,
- Sunday is a DE bracket for top 3 from both sides of the ocean.

First two days are all bo3, except the relegation matches which are bo5 (I believe there's an error in the announcement, cnz-GaRpY should be bo5, not Cooller-Av3k, same for GNiK-maxter being bo5 instead of dramis-nosfa). Friday will get us to WB semis on both sides. Saturday will complete both brackets with our top 6 decided.

Final day is bo5 all the way, except the grand final, which is bo7, with the WB winner starting on one map advantage.

I know there was no other way to do this, but this is just so sad to once again not be able to see any EU-NA competition in the lower tier. Couldn't you people wear masks ffs? :(

Retarded brackets as usual

Another gift to Rapha. He has to play no Top 5 competition until the WB final.

Actually the winner bracket final isn't played.
Since top 3 qualify, once you reach the WB final, you're qualified for Sunday, and into the top of the final bracket (the players that finish 3rd of each region will qualify but in the lower bracket).

Well, I guess it is to be expected since he can rack up a lot of points by 3-0ing most of the NA competition.

and 4-0ing the EU "competition"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSLBVBnnvHI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDsm0QgAwzc

Can't lose vs. the competition you do not have to face.

Rapha is truly great, but the point is it is easier for him to get points and get a better seed, and it was 3 maps to win, not 4, in the finals (but that's not a part that I have any issue with).

imagine the newbie sanchez coming here spamming the thread thinking hes good again

"Could also potentially be the last big Quake tournament we see before a long time."

What exactly does this mean - no more big Quake tournaments? Everyone switches to Diabotical?

Pure speculation from myself, I'm not sure Quake Pro League will continue for another season, especially in these times where nobody knows what event can be held, where, and who can attend them. I feel that after this, the future of Quake Champions e-sport will be up in the air, but hopefully I'm wrong and it will continue right away.

(And I'm of course hoping for Diabotical to have success as well)

esport shouldn't be affected like traditional sports event, but qc is already half dead

Well, I can eat my words... QPL will continue for another season !
Awesome, life wouldn't have felt quite exactly the same without some Quake tournaments to look forward to :)

Yes, for all the criticism (some of it legit) that QC gets, having the weekly tournaments to tune in for is quite a treat. But can we get some new duels maps and/or champs, ffs?

Some new players would be nice.

You mean in the top spots? Yea, that'd be nice, too.

Are you still on irc? :)

Nah, seems ages ago :)

So who will win? Make your bets

this will probably be the last QC event imo, it's a fairwell to one of the crappest games

Looking forward to this. Once QC moved away from the round-based format, the tournaments have given us some brilliant games and moments.

The regularity of the weekly league structure has been fantastic for keeping players in shape, and pushing them to improve. The level will be high this tourney, even though it's online.

I wish I was 1337 enough to hate on QC, but I'm grateful that in 2020 we still get to see Rapha, Cypher, Cooller, Av3k etc pushing themselves to compete in a Quake title. Sadly the bracket structure means at least 1 of Cypher, Av3k, and Cooller can't make it through to the final day.

This might be the last hurrah for competitive Quake - there's no news of another QPL season. So let's enjoy the shit out of Av3k vs Cooller on Day 1, and any more classic matchups that the tourney throws up.

Cheering for Cypher, but would be so happy for Rapha to win after his partner devastatingly passed away earlier this year.

RESPECT THE PACO

The casting is such a pain, I had to turn it off.

zsx and forty casting is like a world's difference

It's what I liked about GTV. Just game sounds. No endless jabbering about nothing in the background.

real shame we've lost the technology

yeah man, i wonder if they will ever invent something where the viewers can choose their own POV while watching... oh wait...

also I don't wanna spec with shitty wallhack 24/7, makes it almost impossible to appreciate the game

this is a good point, it kind of ruins the suspense doesn't it? I always liked artful PoV switching based on control, momentum, etc, not just frags..

the Cooller vs Av3k match did not disappoint

cooller sending av3k back to Whoville with that dr seuss hair due av3k has.

zis. some final quality shit.
cypherino vs cnz was not of this caliber, but not bad too

Tox vs Cypher tho

wtf??? Cypher is out? I didn't even know that Tox vs Cypher was taking place today since the casters said Cnz vs Cyph was last game. Wtfffffffffffffffff

It was streamed at https://twitch.tv/quake2

cypher already out lul

didn't gnik get caught cheating 3 times in a row back in ql? it just boggles the mind how someone can be that overweight, an ex-cheater, bully people for being lower skilled than him, and then fail to perform at every single tournament. the fact that he's getting blown out by maxter, who has to play from argentina, says enough.

[citation needed]

You could make the same argument against base, who has been banned by Valve back in the day. To this day no one can explain why (or even in which game), but it's VAC - asking why VAC banned someone is like asking why a direct rocket produced 0 damage in QC - waste of time ;)

There's a long thread about that where he actually admitted to the whole thing, AFAIR.

Link would be better.

(That thing below is really convincing though, wtf?)

Sorry, too lazy to look that up. :)

And yeah, I think this is it for him.

http://www.esreality.com/?a=post&id=2475592

There are multiple things that are shocking when reading this thread:

1. so Gnik has played Quake for about a decade? Jeeesus. He still lacks a lot of the basics.. control play, decisionmaking... I never researched him, just saw him play in the QPL these past couple of months, and thought he was a new player with good aim who needs more practice for his game to become solid. But he really must be kind of retarded to still play so bad after all this time. Your strategy should be almost flawless after 1, 2 years, and the only thing that should be holding you back from advancing further should be mechanical skill.

2. 90% of the people that posted there didn't exist when I first came here around the turn of the century, and 90% of them don't post anymore now. Very disturbing how ESR seems to go through users like underpants.

3. the amount of hate cheating gets. What did it get Gnik for example? Is he winning tournaments? Hell no. And it's a complete non-issue in LAN finals anyway. Let those morons throw away their careers if they want to.. your judgement is not needed.

And now in QC: http://esreality.com/post/2955700/cheating-at-qpl-finals/

Av3k vs Spart1e: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/703184835?t=03h31m13s
cYpheR vs toxjq: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/703184835?t=04h45m43s

Gnik is cheating in QC on Quakecon and nobody seem to care

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C O O L L E R
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Edit: OK, I stand corrected :/

"cnz" stands for "camp 'n' zzz" :)

Very suspect in light of the recent events

Ridiculous performances by #1 and #2 of the Stage 3 finals, k1llsen and Cypher. Talk about consistency. Cnz vs Vengeur for EU winner, lol.

But Cooller whooping k1llsen and then taunting him in chat was quite enjoyable just now :)

Wonder what he meant? :)



I bet there was a continuation where he was giving k1llsen Quake lessons (when to be not aggressive etc.), which we were denied :(

Basically this:

Here is the context :

K1llsen later added :

"ye dont take it to serious guys even anton hilarious :D
was a good match enjoyed it, even ruins when you dont like this run away game, but belongs to the games GG WP BASE"

So it seems K1llsen was just teasing Base for fun, but Cooller took that more seriously =)

What's a "very real champ maner"?

Week 9 of last stage? So July 26th? He had it written on a sticky note for 2 weeks to rub it in! :)

probably "manners"?

With this context

https://www.twitch.tv/quake2/clip/PunchyShortAntSwiftRage

Maybe what Killsen lacks is Cooller's third party software

Heard the opponent. Fired the rocket into the corner to make opponent believe he wasn't at RA, but rather at MH. The end.

"i want to believe"

This explanation makes no sense. You don't fire a rocket to make the opponent think you're somewhere else. Firing the rockets reveals your position.

And even if let's say you do.... why aim toward the ceiling to opponent's hitbox? Zero needs to do so.

That clip is incredibly fishy.

Not at all. It is common knowledge that overlaying sounds cause some sounds not to be played. This is what Cooller does here, he is trying to mask the heavy pickup sound.
Look at the timing of that rocket, it was choreographed to perfectly hit the wall when he picks up heavy.

It's common knowledge that sound is bugged, yes- but nobody tries to overlap sounds because it doesn't work and simply reveal your location. What cooller did there, nobody ever does. Was Gnik trying to overlap the teleport sound too?

'Noone did this before' is a horrible argument against the usefulness of a new strategy, let alone the conclusion that is why this must be a cheating attempt.

I had pickup sounds overlap hundreds of times, so I know for a fact this can work. The rest is simply trying it out with a buddy. Cooller is the kind of player to use every legitimate advantage he can get. He also consistently finds new tactics and little tweaks on his own and people adapt to it over time when they realize its usefulness.

I think we should simply ask him about it. Will do at the next opportunity.

Noone did this before

Especially when talking about Cooller. That guy has the creative intelligence of all the rest of QPL combined. He might be inconsistent, but never question this guy's genius.

Stop talking hypotethicals, it's something that doesn't work, simply put.

And if you watch the video, you can see Cooler doesn't even time it with the armor pickup.

It makes no sense. No one does that because it's stupid, it just reveals your position.

Did Gnik try that advanted technique too?

Cooller times the rocket explosion perfectly to play a fraction before the pickup sound. If there is a move to mask sounds, this is it.
He even picks the mouse up twice if you look closely, meaning this is not a wild move but a controlled, planned one.

As I said I know for a fact sound overlapping 'works', I don't have the burden of proof here.

The position would already be revealed by the heavy pickup sound, which can be heard at mega.

Apparently gnik did not try it, he already responded on twitter with a different explanation (from a thread at reddit).

The rocket explosion is almost one full second before the armor pickup. Even for how broken QC is, that hypotethical sound coverup technique wouldn't have worked.

And it wouldn't work anyway because even perfectly overlapping two sounds isn't guaranteed to make one of them disappear, it happens rarely and can't be controlled.

Nobody outside Coller did that, not even Rapha that would be all over such tricks.

There is no rational explanation for what happened in those Cooller and Gnik clips

What are you talking about, almost one full second...no, the rocket explosion when hitting the wall is perfectly timed to play a fraction before the heavy pickup sound! That is the reality...watch it again.
I cannot say I know the workings of this sound bug for a fact, but it is obvious to assume it happens when too many sounds play at the same time, or when they play just slightly misaligned. I tend to lean to slightly misaligned.

So it is perfectly reasonable to try to recreate the circumstance to when it happens. And how you would do that just so happen to be exactly what cooller did. That was no accident, I'm telling you he tried to mask the heavy pickup sound with the rocket,

Cooller simply does it first, Rapha didn't have this idea...why would you assume rapha must have had the same idea to use an obscure bug to your advantage? I think he is just that creative, that's the length of his skill, he is a grand master and does these incredible moves.

From what people say the sounds disappears when they overlap, so they must be playing simultaneously, not one before the other otherwise they'd just play one after another.

So no, the rocket was badly mistimed with the item pickup, ON TOP of the completely unnecessary and suspect flick toward the opponent's direction on the wall.

But even if it actually worked, it happens like one time in a hundred. Completely pointless and actually self damaging trick.

That's why it doesn't make sense. And if it was even barely usable, Raisy and Rapha would be all over that kind of shit, other players too.

Nah, that flick remains illogical.

Overlapping of course includes the whole length of a sound. The twitch snippet we see from the link was also overlapping. If you don't even know how the sound bug works and are just guessing, why state 'the rocket was mistimed'? Also how would you know the probability of it working? Oh right, you can't.
'self damaging' - ok now you just make stuff up.

You are in denial, your points don't even make any sense.

Overplapping and "partially overlapping" are NOT the same thing. And you have the gall to call me clueless?

The only explanations i've seen around is that the missing sounds is when they trigger basically together, and because of that it's much rarer to happen in duel, it mostly happens in chaotic tdm.

I said 1 in 100 because it was obviously a rare thing nobody knows the frequence of, just that it's very low.

It was clearly a figure of speech- that you couldn't recognize,and you actually try to argue the frequency, saying that i can't know it? Then how can YOU know it?

Tell us the exact ratio, professor. Enlighten us.

You're going to awful lenghts to try to justify something that has no logic behind it.

Really it's not even the clip per se, it's the fact you keep repeating it was done for the sound bug- something nobody does in duel, because it's dumb, you're only wasting ammo and revealing your location, it's too rare of a bug and nobody knows how to trigger it.

We don't know why Cooller did that suspect move....

But we know he didn't do it for a fantomatic sound bug.

"Partially overlapping" is redundant, look the word up. Overlapping and covering are different concepts.

The one going into exact measurements has the burden of proof.

You erect one strawman after the other. I know how this will end, in the end you pull the troll card 'ONLY TROLLING BRO! LOLOLOLOL :'('

To call the move of hiding pickup sounds 'dumb' because 'noone does it' seems really narrow-minded to me.

I will stop arguing with you at this point, let's just agree to disagree

""Partially overlapping" is redundant, look the word up. Overlapping and covering are different concepts."

You know perfectly well what i meant. Trying to be pedantic won't get you out of that.

"The one going into exact measurements has the burden of proof."

Yes, indeed, you have. You have the burden to provide the proof of that mythical "intentional sound cancel technique" that nobody has heard or used before. So go ahead. Give us a video where you prove it can be done intentionally, and at an even vaguely useful rate.

Go ahead, we'll wait.

"let's just agree to disagree "

It's not about disagreeing on anything. You're making up a fictional technique to justify a weird, illogical move from Cooller.

If you're going that lenght to protect him from any accusations, then you should at least provide concrete proof. Otherwise it just looks like you're tired about making things up.

Sorry, but you got pedantic, I'm merely correcting your error
>Overplapping and "partially overlapping" are NOT the same thing. And you have the gall to call me clueless?

I did not give out percentages ("1 in a 100") about anything, that was you.
This got really stupid really fast. You got nothing. gg

And as usual, you avoid aknowledging my answers and you spin them in things to be outraged about. I already explained the 1 in 100 bit, but like the little pussy you are, since you got nothing to counterpoint, you cling to that bullshit.

YOU got nothing. And now you run with your tail between your legs.

There is an explanation why pro players hug and look at walls - the sound system is still fuckd up, only this way you can judge the direction correctly that enemy sounds are coming from. (Before you jump to conclusions, all players do this. They are not all cheating, that much is clear)
From that information I assume that dropping sounds not only occur when sounds are played simultaneously, but also when they are directionally alligned in some way.
Further I assume if a sound is nearer (because then it is also louder) and in between another sound, it is more likely to be dropped.

You'll notice that crosshair never even gets close to the opponent's model in that case, if you look carefully.

https://clips.twitch.tv/ElatedAntsyDiamondDendiFace

Raisy kneels before the master, bidding him farewell.

It was a nice gesture. :)

Yeah, and it really looks exactly like it should, props to Saber's modellers! If only their programmers were 10% as good :/

I was under the impression that the art was produced by id an that Saber had only provided the engine, but I might be wrong.

According to the game credits, the art direction was provided by Shinichiro Hara, who left id Software in June 2018.

Would've been better if there was GTV.

4/10 for 2020 QuakeCon

Rapha could get to the grand final by only playing, zenaku, dooi, cnz and chain....
Is Rapha even going to feel that good about this one?

The whole QPL is basically a gift to him. He is the only global Top 5 player in NA. So he easily wins every group stage match and is virtually guaranteed a top starting place in every final.
With the Stage 4 Finals QPL has gone full retard and made the final brackets continent-based as well. So he is basically guaranteed a place in the finals.

As for the last part of your statement: that dude is US citizen and practicing Christian. Do you honestly expect modesty from such a character? He'll be waving the belt and "God bless America" all day.

To be fair, it have been always like that, way before Rapha.

The national pride side of Quakecon was already there in "it's quiet in the studio" times, or when they let Cypher rot on the stage for hours, or when (because of their own stupidity) Parkinson LG carved a dent into the million dollar prize pool, which went overseas..etc.

It's an id made tournament, the fishy/rigged brackets were there every year, and I don't think the playfield will ever gonna be leveled, it's part of the deal.

We still get our entertainment, so that's good.

It's not fair to the players though, sadly. Maybe with this knowledge the "all time greats" rankings should be adjusted somewhat.

If I would listen to my heart, I would say you are right, but the world doesn't work that way.

Think about Olimpics. Small countries who have to choose the best from a few talented people and train them from considerable less money and resources than rich and big countries who choose their representatives from hundreds and thousands of athletes and train them with dedicated groups of trainers, doctors and whatnot... is that fair, do they get handicapped at the olimpics?
Or when a small country have to choose a national team from the 7-8 teams of the national league (about 150-200 players) compared to a big and rich country putting together a team from the players of 200+ national teams? Is that fair?

I could go on, but the bottom line is that life is just not fair. Sadly I don't know the right English expression, but it's probably something like :"the boss is always right"

Its so obvious this season is setup for Rapha to win. He is in the grand final now without facing anyone in top 8 in the world. How is that fair at all.

LOL

https://gyazo.com/94a836d0e553265473306395ba090cfd

Vengeur, too, has a history of cheating....

There are more cheaters than clean players competing in quake.

Let me guess: the Earth is flat, Bill Gates is a Reptilian who uses 5G to infect people with COVID-19, Quake Champions professional players are cheating and vaccines cause autism. Anything to add?

Butthurt cause he's actually correct? Lmao welcome to 2020 where confirmation biases are aloof

2020: when you can have no proof whatsoever and extreme holes in your logic, and still sway people with your attractive crackpot theories.

On the other hand, just following mainstream opinion is the easy, lazy way, it requires no effort, mentally or intellectually.
Best toppled with lazy rationalizations. Either just parrot the template argument (which is often hillarious, because somehow it will get the ideological treatment, or argument from authority, without being judged by any authority on the subject, but 'as we all know...' is enough for the casual listener to ideologically follow),
or made up on the spot, quick brainstorming session, instead of actually researching anything and form your own opinion from looking at all sides and angles.

On that notion, there is a sea of examples in form of youtube videos with in-depth explanation of CS players cheating on LAN - why, how they do it and why noone seems to care (including valve, the organizes, commentators, even the fans and spectators).
Yo can also find reviews of actual high profile cheats on youtube to see how humanized aimbots and wallhacks have evolved to the point of being very hard if not impossible to spot for the casual spectator without any knowledge.

Please do link to a video with clear documentation of these supposed advanced cheating methods that you can even use on LANs without being detected.
All that actually seems to be out there are some recoil hacks for CS, which would be really easy to detect on a stage setup.

Jfyi, not agreeing to every crackpot conspiracy theory doesn't automatically make you a blind sheep either. Pigeonhole thinking is never beneficial for getting to the truth. I personally don't care what side an argument is coming from - it just needs to make logical sense, and at best have solid proof attached to it.

There isn't a single video explaining all, but in multiple videos you see modern hacks at work, you learn about motivation (tl;dr money, e-fame, ego).
Unless you only seek to get your personal opinion echoed, to be right on your predjudice without any actual knowledge on the topic, there has to be *some* effort coming from the person trying to educate themselfes on a topic. ...I cannot force you to use standards and strifing for truth instead of easy digestible explanations. If you have made up your mind already and are not really able to listen to arguments countering your opinion, it is near impossible to convince even with the best proof.

That said, a good starting point would be youtube search words like "CS hacking explained", "cheater busted", "cs hacker interview" and so on. the comments also help with additional explanations and insight.

More specific, this guy "Dan M" was a good starting point for me:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT5q6R2ePo-PN58xl75oN7Q

He offers a lot of insight, but it is not the end of all wisdom. also it would be a good idea to check the arguments of the accused as well, check how they explain the 'incidents'.

Thanks for the link. I didn't learn anything new from it. "Dan M" elaborates on the technical possibilities and suggests / infers that a lot of pro players are probably cheating, even on LAN.

Of course it's beneficial to be aware of technology that can be used for cheating, and there should be tests based on that awareness.
If you want to go all the way and even provide mouses and keyboards for players, sure, why not. It wouldn't be a big organisational effort or financial impact on any many ESports event. So yeah, do it.
Why hasn't it been done so far? Because tournament organizers are probably well informed, aren't crackpots, and it's obvious to them that any serious top player would never risk his career for what could never be more than a slight adjustment / assist that would probably not significantly increase his results, because Quake 1on1 isn't all aim.

Have there ever been actual cases of players being caught with cheating software in their mouse? I just googled for a while now, and wasn't able to find any - all recent cheating scandals involve software on the player's own PC.
Has there ever been one proven case of cheating in the QPL or any other QC tournament / league?

Ever heard of Occam's Razor? What is more likely - a massive cheating conspiracy involving all parties (players, organizers, spectators), or that there's at worst one or two bad apples here and there who cheat offline and most likely get naive and overdo it and get caught?

Finally, because you questioned my motives, I will explain what leads certain individuals to peddle their cheating conspiracy theories:
You might not have much going for you in your life. This might be an unacceptable situation for you. You might have the need to feel special. Since you're not special via any of your talents or efforts, you simply make stuff up. And voilà, you're suddenly superior to others, because you "know" something they don't. This makes you feel good and gives you purpose.
Alternatively or additionally, you might suffer from mental illness like schizophrenic thought inspirations, or paranoid delusions - possibly caused by the use of alcohol or hallucinogenic drugs, which is prevalent among young male gamers.
If you feel as and can admit to yourself that this applies to you, I advise you to try to abandon your delusion and maybe quit or reduce your habit, or seek appropriate help. Self-delusion might not be pleasant to witness for others, but most importantly, it's not good for youself, since it will be detracting you from more constructive ventures in your life.

You errected the strawman that anyone seeing cheating different to you (as what it is) must be a drug addict with mental illness.
You realize how crazy that sounds right? Also, projections and stuff...

My first comment was addmitedly provocative, not to insult, but as wakeup call, but I guess that did not work at all.

To form an educated opinion, one needs a willingness to be wrong, to question the own beliefs in the first place, then put in the effort in research and thinking things through. I saw neither from your comments, but lazy rationalizations and now ad hominem attacks.

When players use cheats, the entry point is not really important, but it's true, some cheats used mice memory in the past. How do we know? Because cheats doing this were leaked.
If periphals are provided by the organizer another entry point will be used.
Mouse memory is just one example to illustrate it is absolutely impossible to make a lan 'cheat proof' by default.

Why are organizers reluctant or lazy to prevent cheating? Because first and foremost they care about making money, everything else comes second.
Risk-reward of cheating in high-level competition is not at all bad as you suggest.
There is no black-white 'either noone cheats, or everyone cheats'. There are some cheaters, who profit greatly from people's naivete and lack of imagination or actual knowledge on the topic, but also from the orgnisers ignorance of the topic.

But that's the part where you do some of your own research and answer all those questions for yourself. I would love to see your arguments, with proof for the points you make, about why cheating could not and does not happen.

Tbh, the reason why some people are highly skeptical of the current status quo is due to extreme censorship with any varying or opposing opinion, that alone should send shock alarms.

We're meant to believe everything the mainstream media tells us, this same mainstream media which purposively lies, missleads and controls people with fear.

Nothing's black and white but it does a person good to check all sides of the story before coming to conclusions, I'm guilty of it myself from time to time.

> extreme censorship with any varying or opposing opinion

> Nothing's black and white

> I'm guilty of it myself from time to time

> controls people with fear

Get it?

Oh, i'm so sorry if i insulted your gay fantasy! Did i stop you mid wank? Anything else of your fantasies you want to project over me?

not really fair to list those things in the same category. some nuance and unbiased objective look would be nice.
the adverse health effects of EMF-s are well documented at this point by experts in this field. as for vaccines, there's a lot of data that's not widely known that should make you extremely skeptical and cautious, again collected and presented by experts. I'll gladly provide sources if inquired.
there doesn't necessarily need to be some kind of secret agenda behind these - selling vaccines is very profitable, so is selling new phones and contracts for building towers etc.

as for op you replied to: idk and idc about vengeur of qc for that matter at all, but he was banned before - certainly not a good sign.
http://esreality.com/post/2744281/unban-venge...he-cheats/

tbh i posted it cuz it froze on that frame for the half of an interview with DJWheat. Made me laugh and admire DJWheat's composure not to and be professional.

Base wins vs cooller, some guy called cnz vs cypher, tox wins vs cypher and so on. Replay this in a proper Quake and none of this nonsense would happen.

stop whining

why?

useless

Pretty much

Last moment we have... confirmation this is the end of QPL?

No, DJ Wheat just announced there will be a 20/21 season - I'm actually glad! Hope to see rapha dominate the NA scene some more and Vengeur/Raisy keep trying to dethrone him while Cypher can't be arsed to practice (also bring back clawz, free agent etc.)

It’s not, they confirmed just now live on stream that September the next season kicks in... quite happy as even if QC is not Q3/QL, it’s still great and we see really strong new/old players. The production of QPL is also insane given the QC player base, at that point is more about the pride, legacy and recognition to have the best arena fps game series of all times - thanks for that id/beteshda! So I personally look forward to the new season and next big tournament in 2021!

P.S. also gratz they didn’t skip and hosted quakecon at home with decent price money too! GGs

Source on the "decent prize money"? I haven't seen any info.

How could you? ESR is nowdays a trolling place and anything QC related is considered a sin even if most agree that RN it's fun to watch and tbh play (even if not on the Q2/Q3/OSP/CPMA/QL level of fun). I saw it on the official stream.

I watched most of it and haven't seen any numbers, do you at least know the whole pool?

According to Liquipedia, Stage 3 finals had $50k pool (no data for other stages there), which was split decently (no "winner takes all" BS) to keep even the lower ranked guys showing up to play a game every now and then, but still nowhere near a level required to really bring back a high level of competition.

We're not only missing old pros (or get them really not putting the practice in, see tox or Spart1e, they still hit like trucks, but have jobs and aren't really putting work into QC needed to get back to the highest level of competition), but also clawz, who was owning everyone just 2 years ago, but reportedly rejected playing in the QPL because it wasn't worth it for him.

That's why I'm asking what the pool was, this should be an indication of whether Bethesda regained some interest in QC, or just keeps it on life support until they can decide on what to do with the Quake brand.

https://quake.bethesda.net/en/news/74Zz9ZBwQvZJJZe9SNyNox

Quote:

There's been many finalists over the past year and this event will finally crown a new World Champion and the League MVP as the world's top players fight for $150K in prizing and the prestige of having their name etched into the Quake World Championship Belt!

Doesn't seem to be anything about distribution.

150k, but dunno how they split...

Thanks, and that's pretty good!

If it was split like $50k of Stage 3, maybe the likes of Cypher, Av3k, tox, Spart1e won't drop out, and maybe even make more effort in the next season :)

rapha only won vs zenaku dooi chain and cnz - who are they?

raisy won against actual champions: toxjq av3k base cooller dahang

just gonna leave this here.

We all know for years that Shane has had the brackets swung in his favour by being paired up with absolute bots who get demolished by 1500 elo CA aimwhores.

well, i really have huge respect for him as he is one great player. maybe even the greatest, but how can we be assured if his road is beating 4 newbs, vs european top player beating all of previous champions and playing final the same day... this kind of advantage is just unfair.

Don't get me wrong, I love the way Rapha plays, but he hasn't gone through the mental fatigue that most players have to when it comes to being settled in a grand final bracket.

I could argue that it's unfair to Rapha since he isn't being tested until the final games.

You talk about mental fatigue but what about mental preparedness? I would be totally complacent if I was Rapha having to play through NA brackets. Then get stunned when playing against euros.

Rapha did beat Vengeur too though, and Vengeur was the only other guy to beat Raisy.

Rapha is really strong and while his braked could had been harder, I am sure he can beat all of the listed players and he clearly played great. He actually always do, he is really consistent.

I agree but let me please see this in the tournament where he has to play toxjq av3k base cooller dahang at once and then face the finalist. I just want to see the champion beat them all. Not just one great player in the final (and vengeurr, but raisy also beat vengeur on his road so at least this was equal but the difference of winning 5 previous CHAMPIONS vs 3 almost no-name players (sorry) remains...).

On the side note the show was great, definitely one of the best quakecons ever. Hopefully CU ON LAN next year. :)

That is simply how double elimination brackets with ranking work.

USA and EU bracket were played first, top3 USA ranked players are rapha, dahang and cha1n, which are then placed in the furtermost spots from each other and with the highest rank getting the most walkovers.

Remember this is online.

We had a taste of QPL LAN in Lucca (where rapha was eliminated in his first match, absolutely shit tournament system) and Katowice (which was fixed! DE all the way, rapha had to play 5 games even thought he lost none).

But this time we're talking online. Have you been paying attention to the servers? Like Dahang-cnz final map where it was on NA server and cnz was hitting nothing - if this was LAN, surely he wouldn't play so passively. Maybe this actually made the game better (it was a true nail-biter!), but the fact remains, playing on ping 180 makes a difference, even with uncapped anti-lag.

So the organizers made the only sane decision to split the brackets, and limit the number of intercontinental games to the minimum.

No one is happy about it, but it was the right choice. If I was an admin in a tournament where very single game had home-away servers and constant switching, I'd ask for a fat raise or resign on the spot ;)

(You're overestimating tox/Av3k/base/Cooller's form right now, but you're probably right that their experience alone still makes them more likely to put a dent in rapha's perfect game... but what can you do when you can't bring them to a LAN? This was the best option...)

Lucca could have been double elim; even though I personally don't believe Quake 1on1 should be a marathon with a dozen games a day for each player.
However, there was nothing wrong with Rapha getting beaten by Cypher in his first match. He had top seed. Cypher wasn't ranked. So technically Cypher should have been an easy first opponent for him. However, it turned out that Cypher was in great shape that day, and that he was just better than Rapha. It was confirmed that that wasn't a fluke when Cypher beat Rapha again even more dominantly in the Stage 3 finals.

What was wrong was that in the Stage 4 finals, 4 of the global Top 5 were in one bracket, conveniently eliminated themselves for Rapha, who was the only Top 5 player in his bracket.
Now you might argue "Rapha got to meet the best EU players in the finals". By result, that is true. However, he might have avoided some players who had given him trouble in the past - like Cypher, who he has a losing record against in QPL, or k1llsen, who has also beaten him repeatedly. Just because cnz was effective vs Cypher and narrowly beat him doesn't mean he was the bigger challenge for Rapha.

Was the bracket change necessary because of the ping difference? Hell no. Stage 3 was online as well, and the QPL implemented the perfect solution: alternating servers each map. Server choice didn't even seem to impact results - plenty of players lost maps on the server of their choice - there didn't even seem to be the slightest correlation.

All in all, you cannot give one player the advantage of only facing a tiny portion of his competiton and then claim that he earned the victory.
Rapha would have most likely placed Top 3 regardless, but would he have won against a full field? Nobody can make that claim, because he didn't.

Lucca could have been double elim

You meant: should have been ;)

Stage 3 was online as well, and the QPL implemented the perfect solution: alternating servers each map.

Which is exactly the same as Stage 4 finals. Not perfect by any means, but to quote myself, the best available solution.

It's the exact same system - separate EU and NA brackets up to a point, then play 3-5 games with server switching.

Actual perfect system is QuakeCon 2019 - full round-robin. Short of that, I think QuakeCon 2013 was the best balance between fairness, tournament length and viewer satisfaction. I think the latter was more "perfect" (fairness aspect isn't that big of a deal if you consider initial pre-seeding before the seeding round is already based off previous results), but both absolutely demolish what you consider to be "perfect" (i.e. Stage 3 and Stage 4 finals).

.

WTF?

Pretty sure this was meant as a reply to someone else, somewhere else in the thread?

One sentence after another, nothing applies to me or what I wrote there, but I still feel unjustly attacked :(

You are not going anywhere father, get back here this instant

CNZ pinged about 108 to NA East. Still played a role I'm sure.

Dude, Rapha never won against top players, its hes first time, and its sooooo unfair <lol>

Rapha the GOAT

By going through one sided stage games and final brackets, having to play no Top 5 competition until the WB final?

Agree, he probably would have won anyway but having to play 1-2 real games already in the FINALS (incl. semis) vs for example av3k and cooller STARTING against each other first day, first game... day and night difference.

Yep. Who knows how he is going to perform vs. top EU players, when he is put in his own bracket where he at worst has to face two of them? For example in Stage 1 finals Cypher, who wasn't even ranked at the time, came through the challengers and eliminated him.

Frankly, the whole QPL is catered towards Rapha. He is the only global Top 5 player in NA, so he has the automatic #1 starting spot in every final.
EU vs. NA final brackets Stage 4 finals is just another step in the QPL's favoritism. Obviously they didn't like how Rapha got whooped in the Stage 3 finals, so they used the pretense of the offline nature of the tournament to lessen his competition. Stage 3 finals actually already had the perfect solution to the offline situation, by alternating servers each map.

WP gratz rapha

this might be a fake. There are no CAPS! and he only used the word Tremendous once.

You can see Rapha played to win for his late girlfriend/lover. That was everything he had. She probably gave him inspiration and helped him a lot when practicing and to lose her so close to the tournament....

Damn. For real godbless Rapha.

I'm bias as fuck. So Cooller/Lexer are my favorite players ever. But down low i know Rapha is the most skilled Quake player in history.

GG

Whats the story to rapha having a rough year and crying etc?

His gf died a couple of months ago.

:(

https://twitter.com/liquidrapha/status/1267819164078497793

<3

GGs all... also rapha <3 love man

Rapha, you are the man! An incredible person and Quake master!

Congrats and I love you broski!

One of the most powerful champion's interview I've seen from any sport ever.

I cried with him. I knew it was going to be emotional.

link?

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/705018209?t=10h03m00s

Rapha <3

ALL GAS NO BREAKS <3

Awesome tournament. Raisy vs Venguer series was absolutely fucking insane. QC has it's issues but it is a hell of a game to watch, so I'm glad they're going to continue QPL. I'll still be watching this as long as they put it on.

Also, RAPHA IS THE FUCKING GOATTTTTTT

p.s. his post game interview was one of the most intense and heartfelt esports moments of ALL TIME

That interview should go in the e-sports history. What a man.

Rapha the G.O.A.T. of quake for sure!

That interview was heartbreaking. Even though i always cheer for EU i gotta admit what an awesome dude Rapha is as a person! Much love to him in these difficult times!! <3

I must admit, that after all these years of following the quake-scene (since 2001), this performance might be the most impressive and dominant one, I have ever seen in a tournament. Noone would have stood a chance against rapha in that final yesterday. He played so flawless and "out of this world", that at map 3 I felt sad for Raisy, because he was so chanceless. What a performance. And what a more than deserved Titel.

Looking at the circumstances, that reminded me of the german weightlifter Matthias Steiner, who won the olympic gold medal in 2008 - who also lost his wife before that event. For some people, such tragic moments seem to bring them to another level of performance.

What has happend to Rapha?

Here are some games I bookmarked as i watched it all.

Great stuff!

chain nosfa
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704045832?t=01h27m57s

dooi psygib
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704049777?t=01h18m25s

avec raisy
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704049777?t=01h58m16s

killsen venguerr
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704045832?t=02h07m01s

nosfa effortless
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704049777?t=02h39m55s

cooller avek
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/703030187?t=05h44m22s

cooller tox
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704049777?t=03h21m41s

chain dahang
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704045832?t=02h59m34s

base cnz
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704045832?t=03h49m51s


base raisy
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704049777?t=04h56m13s

rapha dooi
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704045832?t=04h39m26s

cooller killsen
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704045832?t=05h10m53s

dooi rapha
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704049777?t=05h27m19s

dahang psygib
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704045832?t=06h01m44s

cooller raisy
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704045832?t=06h37m52s

nosfa dahang
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/704045832?t=07h12m22s

Thanks a lot Wock_! Much appreciated!

*Away to watch some missed games*

As strong as Rapha is, this Grand Final was a bad joke. No disrespect guys but....

Rapha started with 1-0 against Raisy. Ehmm, sorry but... where is the fairness???
Why did he started with 1-0 ?! C^mon man.
This Tournament should be fair sportmanship, right ?!

The rules are ridicoulous. Rapha had only play against weak opponents like
- ZenAku
- dooi
- cnz

(Ok I will give some credits for cnz, cause he put a good performance against Cypher and Base but on the other hand, he had pretty much luck that Cypher was sleeping and Base didn't took him serious).

However... Rapha is the only global Top 5 player from North America in this league and the other four global Top 5 players are (you guess it) from Europe/CIS.

What the heck?! The majority of the best players are killing themselves and Rapha has only to play against Raisy.
- Again, no disprect - with an 1-0 advantage??!
Go f*** yourself QPL.


For example: Cooller

--> He had to beat Av3k.
(Now Av3k is not that strong but let*s get real:
he is a stronger player than ZenAku or doooi)

--> He had to beat Base (Cooller was narrowly defeated)

---> He had to beat Toxiq (win)

---> after this win he had to beat K1llsen (win)

What does it tells you?
This concept of a Final Tournament is not that fair as it might be could and should!

Just my opinion.

The benefit of being the #1 ranked player is the best placing in the double elim bracket.
Don't forget that first bracked was USA only, with lower average skill level then EU.
Don't forget Rapha beat Vengeur.

The 1:0 rule was there for the winner of winners bracket right? So anyone could have gotten it.

You didnt get the point.
Rapha has always a big advantage! In the group matches he plays much more North America players than Europe players. Ofcourse he is up in the standings.

Back to the Finals: Vengeurr is a good player, but thats it! Rapha had weak players to play against before and then him. Wow! What a challenge.... this is just not fair and ridiculous.

Raisy instead was going the hard way.

You can think what you want, the 1-0 rule is a joke.

Sorry for Rapha's gf but that has nothing to do with this cheap Grand Final.

It's a double elimination bracket.

In a classic DE, WB winner plays against LB winner (here it would be another bo5) and if he loses, that's his first elimination, then they play another game.

For scheduling reasons (you need to know how long the match will be), it was decided that WB winner gets a one map advantage.

It's the same story as with rapha-evil final a few years ago. Doesn't make us happy (we'd like to see more games), but makes the main QuakeCon stream happy (they simply allocate 1 hour for the final).

Either way, Raisy could have won his first WB game and face rapha in the WB final first. He didn't, then vengeur lost two games, then Raisy played the grand final with 1 map disadvantage. We'd like them to play more games, but the system is fair.

There are two types of double elimination bracket final:
1) map advantage like the recent years as it's way faster final
2) the one coming from the loser bracket needs to win the final "best of X" TWO TIMES while the winner bracket finalist need to do it just one time

So what you are talking about is either trolling or you are one of those 2005 kids with no brain to even google search about double elimination bracket rules that we started to use 30 years ago.

- Again, no disprect - with an 1-0 advantage??!
Go f*** yourself QPL.

Rapha comes from the upper bracket, Raisy from the lower. Raisy already lost once in the tournament. This is the point of double elimination that the one from the upper bracket has an advantage because this person has not lost a match.

Trivialdoom, please get educated or 'Go f*** yourself'.

Hi Trivialdoom

?

Oldschool joke

I didnt follow quake champions much the last years, but this was surprisingly enjoyable to watch. Timelimit is way better than the round based games we had earlier. Crazy skills by many players, but rapha just on a different level.

awww man missed it.


On 2nd thought... I didn't miss it I just simply didn't care enough anymore to watch.

your lost tbh, it was great. Watch some VODs atleast.

Well deserved Rapha, the best of all time.

We've had a scuffle once but here's a well deserved tribute, I'm sorry for what happened to you, she would be proud of you.

That movie aged really well. Still good to watch.

ayyy

Hey dude long time no see, hope all's well!

All good sir! Battled the COVID, whooped its ass. Cracking on as always.

Hope you're well!

I dont understand you people crying about hes winning. Oh yes, its hes first time

dont get why some of the euro's are so mad at Rapha's victory.

He faced undoubtedly the best europe had to offer on the weekend, which is Raisy (this guy is a genuine champ and was able to beat rapha on a double bo3 in a final in italy not too long ago) and he made him look like a newb on 2 maps only exception was blood covenant, where Raisy had a real chance but blew it due to a decision mistake.

Raisy's LB performance speaks volumes about how good he is.

Yet Rapha decimated him on both EU server and NA server.

IMO Rapha beat the best Europe had on offer this weekend and won fair and square. Similar to in QL when he beat evil. Rapha is THE BEST player of both quake live and quake champions era.

Props to him for adapting to champions even though it has far more random factors than any prior versions of quake and is running on a crap engine.

Raisy in 2020 is surely not the best europe player!
Cypher destroyed Rapha in the semi finales (Stage 3).
That was not the Cypher the last weekend, we all know.

You are a Rapha fanboy, that's ok, but dont try to tell us fairytales.

just for you to get his statement straight --> the best europe had to offer on the weekend - that does not mean "the best european player during th whole QPL". but still, speaking of consistency, raisy and vengeurr are top 5 atm, looking at the past 12 months.

At the moment, yes. I think so, too.
I didn't want sound angry or something.

Personally, I was cheering for Cooller. But hey, he had his chance.

I was just a lil bit angry, that Rapha is lifting in the sky (by random fans) cause he won this tournament. No disrespect, bro. Rapha is a great Quake player and one of the best of all times.

Maybe I am wrong but next time I would like a more balanced tournament than this.

Given the conditions and the online nature with few continents involved - it was great and carried the best possible way.

Not a Rapha fanboy, I am a cooller fanboy actually.

A fully fair competition / indicator of overall sustained performance will be

1. events on lan
2. events that are fully round robin (everybody plays everybody)
3. events on regular intervals during the year (1-2 months)
4. highest point accumulator is champion.

But we do not live in an utopia..all we got is elimination based tournaments where qualification is region based and that too being played online over a weekend.

Rapha is the legitimate champion based on tournament format. Cant help that your favorite player was not on best form at the time of tournament finals, but that is not an excuse to deny Rapha's achievement.

Also I do have faith if the system was as fair as I described above he will most likely still come on top given his consistency. Other players peak at times while he only has a few bad games here and there at most.

Good joke!

Cypher is finished. Shot to bits. He was playing Apex Legends until a couple hours before the tournament.

Was never there mentally. No aim, no ideas, strutting around like lost, passive as hell.

That tells everything about his mindset. He's just there to take some crumbs here and there.

Sad.

He should really take some measures to fix his life, his health and his mental stability. He's on a bad path if he keeps like this.

You know bad games can happen right?.
The guy that was a "challenger" get top 4 worl wide and 2nd europe/cis is not finished.
He got a bad day, that's all.
What's wrong with his health and mental stability? are u his doctor? rotfl...

Well he seems to have had a LOT of "bad days" in the last..... 4-5 years.

How can you justify playing Apex Legends 2 hours before his QC matches?

He couldn't make it more clear that he lost all motivation to compete and improve himself.

His streaming sessions are depressing. He's clearly overstressed/depressed.

And everyone that has followed him a bit knows about his alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana abuse.

Did you read what I wrote?

"The guy that was a "challenger" get top 4 world wide and 2nd europe/cis is not finished."

I forgot to also say that he got second place on stage 3 final.
And the week before the quakecon he beat k1llsen..

Again, bad day happen.

And that was the title on the day of quakecon of his twitch:
"QuakeCon 2020 today ( Im chilling, im feeling good, fact im playing apex means Im chillin)"

In an interview he also said that he changed his training method, plays less, but when he plays let's say he does it more seriously, don't do 8-10 hour sessions...

Alcohol? don't seems to me an alcoholist, i drink too when I'm in company, but I don't think I'm an alcoholic...
Cigarettes? well i think 99% of people who smoke have an addiction/abuse, I don't think it's just his problems...

You sure didn't read what i wrote. Or ignored all the points, so get fucked. Keep repeating the same disproven bullshit over and over, like people didn't watch Cypher's stream or followed his downvard spiral in the last years.

wait what? u said "Well he seems to have had a LOT of "bad days" in the last..... 4-5 years. "

what the fuck? if in these 4-5 years he had a lot of bad days he was still trying to qualify on pro league playing challenge league, not being top 2 europre and top 4 worldwide, ROTFL.

from the guys that says cooller is a cheater and dahang have the best aim, i know, is hard to understand, i fell sorry for u...

u can only insult people when someone said some different thinks from u...

Dude you're trying to argue that Cypher's career hasn't been in downfall since day 1 of Quake Champions and actually before that, when the pothead did the SUPREMELY stupid mistake of trying to snuggle weed trough the airport in america and as such got a visa ban that cost him several lan tournaments at the end of the quake live era.
The man himself constantly says he has no motivation, doesn't like the game, rages constantly or sighs in the mic like a depressed junkie.

But i'm sure he's having the time of his life, if you say so.

"from the guys that says"

Oh, so you do have an account, and apparently i shat all over your illogical ramblings already in the past.

Then try to find whatever is left of your tiny atrophized testicles, and log in with your real nick. You could have at least avoided making it clear that you're deliberately posting as anon, but no, keeping your mouth shut when you don't have something valid to say clearly isn't in your tools.

Typical internet discussion

Maybe he just can't stand quake champions, can't say I blame him.

that makes it even worse. if he doesn't like the game, he should quit. staying in the game to compete in a league for a dead multiplayer title, makes him look desperate. a league that is also commited to gaslighting the entire community, about any gameplay criticisms people have. a league where people are not even allowed to speak negatively about any aspect of quake champions in any way, as part of their contract.

and where does it get him? spending all of his time on apex legends, selling his soul to a dead 1v1 game for 1000 usd a month. living in a post-communist hellhole, had his entire youth wasted by lukashenko, probably no plans to leave the country. had a drug posession charge in the us, as a tourist, that basically killed his overwatch career. nothing about his life makes any sense, and if suicide doesn't kill him, his drug habits will.

I can't blame him either for that. QC requires a very aggressive and random approach. It's like forcing a chess player to play poker.

Rapha Killsen Cooler they all should create Quake Champions to be playable with spec. abilities, like character. Visor Mynx etc.
Or my suggestion to have Cowboy Champion with horsewip ability (max damage at the very end tip of the whip).

Heard raphers got $1000 per tear

ok psychopath.

youre a sorry excuse of a human being

lol
i just saw him tear up at the end of an interview.
i have no idea why.

then maybe go inform yourself before embarassing yourself

why would that be funny? Wouldn't you atleast suspect that something was up for him to be so emotional?

Degenerate.

Its funny because somebody is crying over a video game.

He never cried at his previous big tournament wins, so it is much more likely his tears are related to his recent loss (https://twitter.com/liquidrapha/status/1267819164078497793), which I'm reasonably sure is the reason he had been streaming without a camera before his appearance at the tournament.

Well that makes sense. I dont do social media.
I dont watch quake anymore so im out of the loop.

No worries. Sometimes, out of the loop is the best way to be. : )

that doesn't excuse your behavior so you can go f yourself buddy.

We know that there aren't many Quake tournaments to begin with and that this one was for money so even it is a "video game", it has significance for all involved. It's a game we on here love. And so does Rapha.

q1,q2,q3 for free

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EfE0ZsBWoAESueE?f...name=large

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/quake-will-...0-6480419/

Nice, nice, noiseeeee

Epic Quakecon! Shane "Five steps ahead" Hendrisxon is the beast! :)