"There's a need for an overhaul with how community figures are allowed to treat pubs in NA". Aui_2000 about patch 7.33 and why Europe is so strong
We've met with Tundra Esports coach Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling at ESL One Berlin Major 2023. He is the first man in Dota 2 to win The International as a player and as a coach, and we got to pick his brain on the new patch, state of the competitive scene, and the possible solution to the NA issues.
I feel that you are so free in patch 7.33
— A big part of the community sees Tundra as a team that understands Dota well. You find a lot of unusual strong heroes, some abuses and interesting mechanics. Do you agree?
— We're trying to find what we think is best in the game, we try to copy other people, but be open-minded about the game. I think that leads us into finding a lot of stuff, and we also put in the hours to do it. So yeah, I agree.
— Can you say that you benefited from this patch?
— I wouldn't say we benefited. I think it's just good to have a refreshing patch with so many changes. So you can be excited about the game. But I think it's still developing, so I don't know for sure if a specific patch is better or worse for us.
— What was your approach to this update, and what was most interesting about it?
— Most interesting thing about 7.33 is that there's so many different things you can do. I feel that you are so free. If you want, you can just go to steal some camps as a support or you can group up and get kills. I don’t know the optimal thing yet, but right now it feels like you have a lot of options.
As for our preparation, we played a tournament before the Major with a stand-in. And we actually didn't have real practice with Saksa. So we came in with not that much preparation as a team. Everyone tried to play pubs to have their individual ideas, so we could try to just see what is good from that.
— How do you think the macro game changed and what about the balance of towers?
— The towers are weird now. I feel like mid towers are a bit less valuable. But it's also the only congestion point in the middle of the map, so it's still somewhat valuable. I think tier-1 towers on sides are worth a lot more and tier-2 are worth a lot less. In the last patch T2s were the most valuable objects on the map, because you could get an outpost with that. Now you still get the outpost, but honestly it doesn't really matter that much.
Maybe it's just unexplored. In the last patch, there was a fluid flowchart for how you can play the game optimally. But now, it's very undiscovered, and I'm not too sure what's really good for a lot of it.
— I talked to other players and they say that there's too much gold for the kills now. What do you think about the economy of the game right now?
— Yeah. I think there's something messed up with the comeback gold. So when you're ahead, these kills can have very little impact other than the death itself. And when you're behind, sometimes the numbers are way too high. I think they changed the formula, but net worths are so much higher right now, and the kill gold to XP scaling is off. So I think there's something to adjust with that.
In NA there's a culture of giving up fast and not caring
— Let's talk about the competitive scene. Europe was dominating in the previous patch, and it seems that hasn't changed. Why do you think this region is so strong?
— I think it's most to do with the pubs and the player base. For example, NA teams have no chance to compete, unless they are on the East Coast and can play EU pubs. The Chinese pubs are also very weak, and I think the SEA pubs are even worse than before.
I feel there's a huge difference in the quality of practice, and also in being able to find new heroes and stuff. In Europe you have those hero spammers, some of them with rank of 500, and they are really good at a hero. They know a lot of cool things, they'll want to talk to you about it and you can learn from them. I feel like in NA or some other regions, there's a culture of giving up fast and not caring. It's sort of considered cool to not care, and it leads to the players not developing, and the competitive scene being hard to practice in.
— How can it be fixed?
— I'm not too sure, to be honest, I feel there's a need for an overhaul with how prominent community figures are allowed to treat pubs. I talk about NA a lot because I play in that region a lot. But I feel that people demonstrate that you can evade any consequences. You can behave [poorly], leave and ruin games, break items, run down mid, and get no consequences from it. And I feel like it trickles-down a lot into how other people behave in pubs.
I think if that was fixed, it would help. Honestly, the higher level pubs are not that behind the ones in Europe. It’s just you can find them less frequently, and it takes just one person to ruin what should've been a good pub, and all of the sudden your practice is changed. So I think they should fix how ruining games is treated. And obviously you need more players, but it's not a realistic solution.
You come to the Major, and you are actually playing WEU DPC again
— People talk a lot about slot distribution at the Majors, do you agree that there should be less slots for China and more for Europe?
— I feel like there's no way China should have four slots right now. The region isn't strong enough to deserve four slots right now. I understand that your slots lead to The International. The whole DPC system feels a bit weird in this regard. It honestly feels weird to be looking at a DPC standings where you can have teams that are very high there, who have not won a single play-off game in the Major. Maybe BetBoom, TSM, teams like that. I feel like they are very high on this list, right? I think they should prove themselves at LAN where it matters, instead of some regional league.
In Europe, you look at some teams finishing 5th and 6th. They get 40 points and no points, and don’t get to go to the Major. And I feel that those teams would have performed better than some of the others. Some things need to be changed in this system. Because Western Europe is actually insane. I was talking to Quinn, and we were saying how you basically come to this tournament, and you are actually playing WEU DPC again.
— How would you change this system then?
— I'm not sure. Based on the performance the SEA shouldn't get three slots right now. I think China should not have four slots. But it's just weird to give Western Europe that many slots. It would only continue to create disbalance in DPC. But in terms of skill Western Europe should probably get two more slots, I’d say.
And I think South America is up-and-coming, maybe if EG beats OG [the interview was taken before this match], there's an argument for giving them another slot, but to be honest, I'm not too convinced that SA deserves it yet. They have the potential, so maybe you should give it to them for potential. But, for example, the last TI, they only beat NA and SA teams to get their placement. And they haven't had a really high placement at a Major yet. Maybe if EG will do it, they'll prove that the region deserves more.
