bruh · @bruhtodaface
24th Jan 2018 from TwitLonger
Fish in the Hi-Rez Waters
Hi, I'm Bruh from Salsa Squadron. We placed first place in the Challenger Circuit last year and defeated Team Allegiance and Team CryptiK in the 2017 Fall SPL Gauntlet. And we were not invited back to play in the Challenger Circuit ("Smite Minor League") for the 2018 Spring Split.
In fact, we're not the only ones that fell victim to Hi-Rez's scheming. Noble and Vigilant, the 5th and 6th seeded SPL teams, respectively, were not invited back into the Smite Pro League, which came as a surprise. Check out this quote from Hi-Rez made in August:
"However, we will give VERY STRONG weighting to the existing teams that have invested in the scene and that finish in the Top 6 of the EU & NA SPLs this Fall Split. We generally speaking want to reward the teams and players that have gotten us here."
And to throw salt on the wound, these teams were not even offered a Challenger Circuit spot for the 2018 Spring Split (It should be noted that Dan said this. But now we have Cooper). So much for rewarding teams and players... and 4 players from ALG and 3 from CryptiK are in the SPL for S5 (the 7TH AND 8TH seeded teams in SPL that lost to a CHALLENGER CUP team)!
It doesn't stop there. There were Challenger Circuit relegations in the fall of 2017 between the bottom 2 Challenger Circuit and top 2 Smite Combine teams that determined which 2 teams would stay in the Challenger Circuit for 2018 (two other teams already had secured spots - can you guess who was supposed to have one of them?). But guess what! FUCK YOU! That is what Hi-Rez said by stating this morning that there would be an open bracket to determine the Challenger Circuit teams for the 2018 Spring Split. So these CC relegations ended up being pointless, as well as the Combine that players played 2 weeks just to earn a chance to play for. Now we ALL get to play relegations :))))
The CC money for next year is also a joke, considering how much players have to work to earn and maintain a spot. You're telling me that the top players will earn $800 PER SPLIT???? $2400 a year??? What happened to a 500% increase in prizing for CC players (every team in CC earned $300/split last year assuming you played for all 6 weeks)? It's actually pathetic, to the point where it's not even worth our time to put in the work towards Smite, which is not what you want out of a Challenger's scene, something that is supposed to help foster and grow players to eventually play in the SPL. I can make more money than that working at Taco Bell 1 day per week! And unlike SPL teams, they can actually be relegated by better teams. We don't have that type of security. But I'll be honest, nobody really expected any better out of Hi-Rez, as they have a record of not giving a flying shit about the Challenger scene.
Also, my teammates, myself and many other CC players have yet to receive payment from Hi-Rez for events that happened over 3 months ago. So there's that. Hopefully Hi-Rez comes to their senses and does something to fix CC and the way they run their esports, otherwise this game is doomed to die.