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Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling, winner of The International 5 (TI5) and currently a Dota 2 caster gave his thoughts on the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) system in a Reddit AMA. Aui_2000 believes the DPC system has helped the “semi-pro” scene, providing them with stability and competition but he feels the way the major slots were allocated was not ideal. He notes that this has directly affected regions such as Southeast Asia (SEA) that are more competitive and have showcased better performances at the Majors. Aui_2000 added that this allocation negatively impacted North America (NA) as well, further proposing that the DPC 2021 format be modified to accommodate more games during the regular season as well as allowing third parties to hold additional events.
Aui_2000 talks about the DPC 2021 format and proposes potential changes
Aui_2000 took to Reddit for an AMA session where he answered a number of questions from the Dota 2 community. A particularly intriguing one was where he talked about the DPC 2021, highlighting both its positives and its faults, in his opinion.
The NA caster states that he likes the DPC 2021 system because it had provided more room for lower-tier players to grow and rise in the scene.
"I like the current DPC system, but I don't think it's flawless either. I think it will result in the semi-pro scene improving a lot with some stability/something to compete and improve for, which expands the talent pool and eventually gives rise to more competitive players."Aui_2000
However, he also points out the flaws in it saying that the distribution of the Major slots needs to be improved. He says that the NA teams ended up in a bad spot because Quincy Crew and Evil Geniuses always topped the region. A potential solution to this would be to add a wildcard slot to every region, Aui_200 opines.
"I don't like how slots are distributed. I think SEA got screwed on slots compared to Major results because the region is much more competitive. I also think that NA teams ended up in a bad spot because both slots were always taken by QC and EG (highest DPC points of any region per slot at the majors by far). I think there should have been a wildcard slot for every region at the very least."Aui_2000
In the first Major, OB.Neon had the best performance amongst the SEA team, placing 5th-6th. TNC Predator and T1 both performed well in the second Major, finishing 7th-8th and 3rd respectively.
In the DPC 2021, only NA and South America (SA) did not have a wild card slot.
Changes to the DPC 2021
Aui_2000 also believes that the DPC system spanned over a long period and still, it did not have enough games for players to improve themselves. As he suggests, different regions could play at the same time in the next DPC, which could help condense the schedule and lead to many benefits.
"I also think there aren't enough games for pro teams to improve and it's over too long a time period. I understand that a lot of the DPC was designed around not overlapping games too much/especially not having games from div one at the same time as div2--otherwise no one would watch div2--but I think they should just play games from same divisions and different regions at the same time just to condense the schedule. More games = more opportunities to improve + more accurate results and condensed schedule = more room for optional 3rd party tournaments. With that said, I think Covid made the system look more flawed than it should have and I overall like the system."Aui_2000
The next DPC season (2021-22 in this case) was expected to begin somewhere in November 2021. However, due to the postponement of TI10 to October, it is unclear when the next season will begin.
