by Lewis Burnell on Feb 22, 2016
On Saturday the Guild Wars 2 ESL Pro League Final was held and the victors, Rank 55 Dragons, defeated long time reigning champions The Abjured. Although the event faced some technical difficulties, notably sound and images out of sync, it was largely fault free. With Rank 55 Dragons losing the first match of the final, they eventually found their form and skittled The Abjured in a convincing display. European teams have often struggled against their North American counterparts and yet it was both European teams (Vermillion and Rank 55 Dragons) that caused the most trouble on the day. Certainly in the case of Vermillion, they managed to make an incredible comeback that was possibly the best of the entire series.
What I’d like to see going forwards is for ArenaNet to concentrate on the players in the teams, to allow us as viewers to learn more about them and what motivates them to play Guild Wars 2. Even after all this time watching The Abjured, I still know very little about its team and what their lives are like. Instead we’re often shown reels of footage that hype up why they’ll win, rather than personalising who they are. I think that’d make a big difference in creating a real sense of fans allying with a specific team.
If you missed any of the matches, they’re available to watch on Guild Wars 2’s Twitch channel and I’d highly recommend you watch them back.