Maven explains why he was so “angry” casting Huntsmen vs Empire
MLG / Activision Blizzard / ROKKRAfter an exciting Launch Weekend for the Call of Duty League, CoD veteran and CDL caster Clint ‘Maven’ Evans discussed on a podcast what really happened with the observing of the opening match between the Chicago Huntsmen and the Dallas Empire.
The first Call of Duty League event in Minneapolis, the CDL Launch Weekend, was a welcome return to competitive CoD action for fans of the series, and of the latest installment in Modern Warfare.
The same fans, though, were still quick to hop online and provide plenty of ‘constructive criticism’ throughout the event, but the production noticeably improved throughout the weekend.
I hear you loud and clear regarding codcaster. They’re testing a lot of new toys currently.
— Clint "Maven" Evans (@Maven) January 24, 2020
That being said, the highly anticipated opening match between two popular teams in the Huntsmen and Empire was heavily criticized for its issues with broadcasting and observing.
On an episode of the Hardpoints podcast hosted by Tyler ‘TeePee’ Polchow, caster Maven and his partner Joseph ‘Merk’ DeLuca, as well Atlanta FaZe head coach James Crowder discussed what happened.
According to Maven, during the first map the two teams played, only 9 out of 91 kills were shown in the traditional first-person camera. Several fans complained of the extensive use of third-person camera, and even he was frustrated about what he saw.
Activision“I’ve never been more angry than I was after that first cast,” he said. “It was so, so difficult.”
He was happy that things improved, but expressed remorse that it was “THAT match” that was affected the most. Crowder admitted he “didn’t enjoy watching that match,” to which Maven replied: “No one did!
Regarding the observing itself, Maven pointed out that the ones who control the in-game cameras aren’t to blame for some of the larger issues, as they were adjusting from one person doing the observing to a team of five, and a lot of the decisions were out of their hands.
“Don’t give the observers hate,” he said. “I know there’s a lot of stuff that they need to work on, but that sure as hell wasn’t what they wanted to do. That was coming from well above their paygrade.”
Skip to 25:23 for the discussion.
The conversation switched to display of stats, which was a noticeable issue during that first match, with a lack of viewable stats that the community is typically used to.
Maven explained that there originally was going to be lower thirds on the broadcast showing stats, but they weren’t included, and that coupled with no topdown stats initially being shown caused people to freak.
I think you’re seeing improvement already with static/sky cam usage this series. Also, better updates with regards to statistics. Keep up the feedback…it’s only going to get better.
— Clint "Maven" Evans (@Maven) January 25, 2020
They promised there are “going to be tweaks” to how stats are handled, and Maven addressed the lack of a resource like HLTV for CSGO or ESPN for sports as a problem, saying “the fact that we don’t have stats is goddamn insane.”
All negativity aside, all the members of the podcast expressed belief that parts of the broadcast are already the best there’s ever been, and that things are only going to continue improving over time.
Host TeePee said, “Once we get to a more fine-tuned spot, it’s going to be better than it ever was before.”
We’ll see how much change there will be in the broadcast and observing when the Call of Duty League heads to London in February.