EternalEnvy releases blog on Valve event conditions, attending team permissions

North American player Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao released a blog on Liquid Dota discussing a number of grievances he had about official Valve events.

The primary point he hoped Valve would address was the decline in permitted players during Valve events. Reportedly, at The International 6 last year, teams were allowed to bring eight members. That number went down to six by the Kiev Major. Since then—actually, the morning of the blog post—Valve announced teams would be allowed to have seven players.

Aside from the 7th player criticism, Mao crafted a narrative of the rise and fall of hospitality at various events, but especially official Valve events. He notes that overall, it’s gotten better, but after TI6, events were quickly starting to go downhill. The hotels and services provided weren’t giving players food as expected, and players weren’t being provided with business-class seats anymore.

For instance, at the Boston Major, teams could only eat catered food during the days they played. It was publicized by players, and while it changed, it left a bad taste for many players and fans according to Mao:

When I talked to some Valve guys, they told me it was an experiment. I mean, for some players, this event might be one of the most important events of their lives. It ain’t an experiment.

He also discussed food at the Kiev Major taking up to six hours to arrive:

Usually for every event there is a buffet at the hotel or venue. For the Kiev Major there was no buffet and instead every team was to order room service from the hotel (paid by Kiev Major). [...] For the most part food took 3-6 hours on average to arrive after ordering. I remember on the second day we would order lunch during breakfast hoping that it would arrive in time for lunch.

Mao also hinted at unspoken drama. For one, he expressed how he wished players could speak out more:

I’ve always advocated for people to speak up when there are problems. But as someone who constantly speaks up, I can totally understand why they don’t. For me the Wings/Ace Drama is probably the most messed up situation in DotA and the truth will never come to light (FeelsBadMan).

He also mentioned problems with tournament conditions, though without any detail:

Double P.S. I’ll write one more blog soon or after TI about tournament conditions. Since Majors will now be run by 3rd party people.

Whether or when these things will come to light will just be a matter of time and Mao’s will to write another 1,750 words.

You can read his full post on Liquid Dota.