There’s a new contender for the worst Dota 2 Major in history.
This trophy used to be held by the Shanghai Major 2016, but with the conclusion of the Bali Major 2023, fans and teams can agree that this one was up there amongst the worst majors they have experienced.
From inconsistent regulations for teams, to the poor choice of a venue; everyone has a lot to say about how IO Esports turned Bali Major into a nightmare.
Image source: IO Esports
We saw plenty of technical pauses due to bad connection and laggy gameplay throughout every match. In fact, even the grand finals between Gaimin Gladiators and Team Liquid received some hiccups.
Not only did that ruin the momentum in the middle of an intense fight, but it’s still unfair for at least one party in that game. Notably, Team Liquid, which was the one initiating the fight, had their x-factor completely undermined as a pause gave Gaimin time to recuperate on their action plan. While there’s no telling that Team Liquid would have won the Bali Major if it wasn’t for the technical pauses, but it still ruined the entire game.
Technical pause in grand finals between Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiaotors at Bali Major 2023
Alongside the poor internet connection was an infestation of technical issues, such as the Twitch stream being down, which is just icing on the cake.
Coupled with technical issues is the choice of venue itself, whereby fans are displeased about how outdoor viewing was unwatchable while the sun is blazing. Visitors at the Bali Major had to bring along umbrellas to stay out of the treacherous heat. In fact, some visitors paid as much as $800 for the “premium” viewing experience.
Earlier in the Playoffs Stage, BetBoom received a default loss against Tundra Esports due to Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko’s rule violation. He had opened a third-party stream during a long pause.
While that is wholly Pure’s fault for ignorantly committing the act, BetBoom has publicly released a statement regarding Bali Major’s admins’ inconsistent decision-making. Apparently, the admins changed the rules three times within mere hours between each update, causing confusion for the players and teams on what they could do. For instance, BetBoom was allowed to exit their room during a technical pause, which most parties would have deemed unprofessional and unfair.
BetBoom wasn’t the only team to encounter a negative experience with the Bali Major admins, as Tundra Esports received a penalty for listening to Spotify despite being informed they were allowed.
Besides the terrible production quality, Bali Major 2023 is the least popular major of Dota Pro Circuit 2023 (DPC 2023), with a mere average viewership of 175K. Meanwhile, the Lima and Berlin Major 2023 have more than 235K average viewers, approximately 25% more than Bali Major.
Sure, the difference in viewership could be due to the timezone difference for European viewers, but it’s nonetheless still the lowest-rated major.
Comparison of all Majors in the Dota Pro Circuit 2023 season
The Shanghai Major 2016 has become somewhat of an iconic meme in Dota 2, for all the notorious incidents that unfolded there. Taking a trip down memory lane, some notable incidents that occurred at Shanghai Major includes Gabe Newell firing the host, James “2GD” Harding mid-production, players’ items getting lost, which includes keyboards, mouses and even Bai “rOtK” Fan’s Maserati car keys. The stadium kicked the crowd out after 9 PM despite the ongoing match, the team booths made players feel sick, and of course, hour-long delays disrupting the schedule. So much that the talents had to work up to 17 hours.
In hindsight, the Bali Major 2023 will surely be a thorn in the flesh for Dota 2 Esports as one of the worst Dota 2 majors. At this point, even Valve is facing backlash from the Dota 2 community for partnering with an unprofessional tournament organizer.
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