Josh Allen aka devolore · @devolore
21st Jun 2016 from TwitLonger
Some thoughts on esports, casting, and "stating the obvious"
So, one of the most common points of feedback casters (of pretty much every game, including WoW) often get more or less boils down to "lol what a useless caster, all s/he does is state the obvious."
For example: Pretty much everyone who's spent a large amount of time playing WoW knows that when a Mage uses Ice Block, they're immune to damage for a little while. They probably also know that (assuming the Mage has Cold Snap) they'll be able to reset the cooldown and get a "second" Ice Block, but that they won't be able to use it until Hypothermia wears off. So when we're in the middle of a tense match and I say something like "Jahmilli was in a lot of trouble, but fortunately he was able to use Ice Block and go immune to damage long enough for Gorecki to heal him," it's understandable that the gut response for most of those players is going to be "i already knew that, it was obvious" (usually in significantly less civil terms).
Here's the thing though: I'm not talking to you.
One of the biggest ways - if not THE biggest - that an esport can grow is by bringing new viewers into the fold and turning them into fans. If you watch something and just have no idea what you're looking at, you probably aren't going to watch it again. Furthermore, if you DO know what you're looking at, you probably don't need someone to tell you what you're already seeing. So, my job as a caster isn't to say WHAT'S happening, it's to explain HOW and WHY.
This is why Starcraft casters still explain that upgrading armor means your units take less damage, even though that's been the case for almost two decades. This is why Hearthstone casters explain how C'thun works every time someone's playing a C'thun deck. And yes, this is why WoW casters will occasionally explain that if someone is Polymorphed, they can't do anything.
We're not trying to talk down to you, or trying to make ourselves sound cool by explaining our rock-solid grasp of basic game mechanics - we're just trying to make sure that the guy who randomly stumbled across this when one of his friends retweeted it understands what's going on and comes back for the next broadcast.
TL;DR if you're mad that I just explained for the 20th time how Dampening works, then just stop listening to me and enjoy the games. You don't need me.