Time: 20:58:19 CET 11:58:19 PST 14:58:19 EST 04:58:19 Seoul 03:58:19 Beijing
NEWS
eSKlusive: Tommy "toMpa" Andersson
SK's new weekly interview feature comes back with Tommy "toMpa" Andersson, a key member of the SK Gaming DotA team.
2008 was both up and down for me personally. We performed both really well and not so well during some time especially between ESWC Masters of Paris and the ESWC Grand Final. We won the ESWC Masters but then totally flopped in the USA.
For DotA as an esport it has both been good and bad. Worldwide DotA has become huge, more and more people play it. ESWC was probably the biggest thing, even though it could have been handled so much better from a DotA player's and the DotA community's perspective. But overall DotA has grown a lot even though it could have been better.
How could DotA have realistically had a better year?
First of all, I think the spectator part is a problem for DotA. It's harder to understand what people do for a guy who never played DotA before. And also the length of matches is a problem compared to Warcraft 3, Quake or FIFA, even though it has been reduced some over new patch-changes. A game can be up to 70 minutes sometimes if its an intense match. Tournaments could have handled DotA much better too, especially the offline ones.
Yeah, but how do you fix those problems? Can this be done without hurting the casual player?
For DotA games to be shorter farming should not be rewarded as much as ganking should be! People would definitely follow it more if there was more action on the map. Maybe it should be easier to get into a base and mistakes should punished more, such as being picked out by being ganked.
DotA is a unique game which is constantly growing both communty-wise and the game itself does too. I for one hope that the tournament organisers will realise it in 2009. From what I've seen in big DotA matches which were streamed over garena, they usually go above Counter-Strike's numbers with big matches.
Can you think of reasons why DotA is not bigger in pro gaming than less popular games?
I think it's mainly due to the somewhat "slow" gameplay which makes it not as spectator friendly.
What about SK Gaming? Could you have achieved more? I mean realistically, not theoretically.
Yes, preparation is a very important part in e-sport overall I think. But since you can't really make a living out of DotA, your team mates and yourself often either go to school or work. But on our behalf in SK I think we could have done some things better. But most things I am satisfied with!
How does the new team of SK compare to the one with Akke and Bogdan?
The team works really well with chemistry and communication. Of course I miss the old good conversations with Bogdan and Akke! But I think if we practice more our old SK team play will be back once again! And I believe we will be better than we were before!
Snow and KwoM are both motivated which brought in much more motivation into the team and also very good and important roles to the new team. Snow is our new carry and solo player, he's the one that tries to get a lot of items on lategame heroes. KwoM is a ganker who keeps much action on the map and a nice team player.
Before Snow and KwoM were on the squad it was usually Loda who played the main carry which more or less switched over the last months where we found it much better for the team if he could play semi-carry who could gank more. The new gameplay is much more efficient as we don't rely too much on one guy any more. We increased our individual skill a lot over the last months.
What makes a good DotA team? Communication? Strategy? Counter-strategising? Individual skill?
A good dota team is one that has all of the above, with an emphasis on communication, strategy and team spirit.
Asian teams had their style, Americans had theirs, European teams had their own. It was interesting to see them mix against each other. Has the "proper" way to play DotA been found out yet?
There's no 'proper' way to play DotA as you express it, as it changes with every game, every pick and every version.
What have you learned from teams from other continents?
When we practice we try to play out every hero possible, but I have definitely learned some from the Asian picking strategies compared to the European picking even though we're the best continent! ;)
Previous eSKlusives
eSKlusive: June "Lyn" Park (Warcraft3 player)
By Michal 'Carmac' Blicharz
Jan 7, 2009 19:48
SK's new weekly interview feature comes back with Tommy "toMpa" Andersson, a key member of the SK Gaming DotA team.Tommy 'toMpa' Andersson was a late starter in the DotA scene only starting to play in the spring of 2007. He began to play with his real-time friends who would later become his team-mates and after playing public moved onto dotapickup.euro and eventually hamachidota where he met Kim 'Drayich' Larsson, the former leader of SK.DotA.
Receiving a vouch from former captain to get into IHCS1, toMpa continued his rise up the ladder joining Team_Team, the team who would later join SK, as a stand-in. Nearly two years on from his introduction to DotA Tompa is an integral part of the current SK.DotA squad and despite other members changing his presence remains constant.
Receiving a vouch from former captain to get into IHCS1, toMpa continued his rise up the ladder joining Team_Team, the team who would later join SK, as a stand-in. Nearly two years on from his introduction to DotA Tompa is an integral part of the current SK.DotA squad and despite other members changing his presence remains constant.
"2008 was both up and down for me personally. [...] We won the ESWC Masters but then totally flopped in the USA."
What kind of a year was 2008 for you personally and for DotA as an esport?2008 was both up and down for me personally. We performed both really well and not so well during some time especially between ESWC Masters of Paris and the ESWC Grand Final. We won the ESWC Masters but then totally flopped in the USA.
For DotA as an esport it has both been good and bad. Worldwide DotA has become huge, more and more people play it. ESWC was probably the biggest thing, even though it could have been handled so much better from a DotA player's and the DotA community's perspective. But overall DotA has grown a lot even though it could have been better.
How could DotA have realistically had a better year?First of all, I think the spectator part is a problem for DotA. It's harder to understand what people do for a guy who never played DotA before. And also the length of matches is a problem compared to Warcraft 3, Quake or FIFA, even though it has been reduced some over new patch-changes. A game can be up to 70 minutes sometimes if its an intense match. Tournaments could have handled DotA much better too, especially the offline ones.
Yeah, but how do you fix those problems? Can this be done without hurting the casual player?
For DotA games to be shorter farming should not be rewarded as much as ganking should be! People would definitely follow it more if there was more action on the map. Maybe it should be easier to get into a base and mistakes should punished more, such as being picked out by being ganked.
"For DotA games to be shorter farming should not be rewarded as much as ganking should be"
If the major tournament organisers have not picked DotA up yet, why would they do it in 2009?DotA is a unique game which is constantly growing both communty-wise and the game itself does too. I for one hope that the tournament organisers will realise it in 2009. From what I've seen in big DotA matches which were streamed over garena, they usually go above Counter-Strike's numbers with big matches.
Can you think of reasons why DotA is not bigger in pro gaming than less popular games?
I think it's mainly due to the somewhat "slow" gameplay which makes it not as spectator friendly.
What about SK Gaming? Could you have achieved more? I mean realistically, not theoretically.Yes, preparation is a very important part in e-sport overall I think. But since you can't really make a living out of DotA, your team mates and yourself often either go to school or work. But on our behalf in SK I think we could have done some things better. But most things I am satisfied with!
How does the new team of SK compare to the one with Akke and Bogdan?
The team works really well with chemistry and communication. Of course I miss the old good conversations with Bogdan and Akke! But I think if we practice more our old SK team play will be back once again! And I believe we will be better than we were before!
"The new gameplay is much more efficient as we do not rely too much on one guy anymore. We increased our individual skill a lot over the last few months."
In what ways will the new team be better? What do the new players give to the table, how does the gameplay change?Snow and KwoM are both motivated which brought in much more motivation into the team and also very good and important roles to the new team. Snow is our new carry and solo player, he's the one that tries to get a lot of items on lategame heroes. KwoM is a ganker who keeps much action on the map and a nice team player.
Before Snow and KwoM were on the squad it was usually Loda who played the main carry which more or less switched over the last months where we found it much better for the team if he could play semi-carry who could gank more. The new gameplay is much more efficient as we don't rely too much on one guy any more. We increased our individual skill a lot over the last months.
What makes a good DotA team? Communication? Strategy? Counter-strategising? Individual skill?
A good dota team is one that has all of the above, with an emphasis on communication, strategy and team spirit.
Asian teams had their style, Americans had theirs, European teams had their own. It was interesting to see them mix against each other. Has the "proper" way to play DotA been found out yet? There's no 'proper' way to play DotA as you express it, as it changes with every game, every pick and every version.
What have you learned from teams from other continents?
When we practice we try to play out every hero possible, but I have definitely learned some from the Asian picking strategies compared to the European picking even though we're the best continent! ;)
Previous eSKlusives
eSKlusive: June "Lyn" Park (Warcraft3 player)
RELATED NEWS
28 comments
Loading comments...
Most read last month
Most discussed last month
QFT. It felt like all the blame was put on the game itself, rather than how everything was handled and yet look at the SMM event in Malaysia....huge difference.
For DotA games to be shorter farming should not be rewarded as much as ganking should be!
That's why I miss 48b so much, the games were so much more fun and it was also not so much farm involved as it is today.