Hi everyone, I watch a lot of these other tournaments across different games like Overwatch, CS:GO, Rocket League, League of Legends, etc. and when i compare, after being completely unbiased i have to lean towards DotA 2's casters and commentary as the best there is out there in e-sports.
So why DotA 2 does it better?
There is a reason why DotA 2 viewers get those chills or "goosebumps" as i like to call it when a "play" happens or some player does something so incredible, that it almost creates a vibe from within the crowds watching and makes them chant either the player's name or the team's name, or sometimes even the country's name (I'm looking at you EG fans, you guys with the USA USA chants).
A lot of times when a player makes the play, our commentators put their heart and soul into the play that was just made. As if it was a shiny gem that was given to the DotA 2 community and the casters are presenting the beautiful gem to us. Let's take an example of what I mean:
For the purposes of explaining my thought process, i'll take the example of EG v Ehome game 1 of Day 3 in The International 2016. Constant aggression from Ehome and EG keep resisting that aggression and overall there are kills everywhere. If you hear Capitalist and Blitz casting, you can feel the excitement, the "YESS, OMG IS THIS EVEN HAPPENING?" sort of vibe constantly and this continues throughout the game until EG destroys Ehome's ancient. Doesn't matter if Cap has almost lost his voice, doesn't matter if they have been casting constantly for more than 1 hour (which btw let me tell you is extremely difficult to do), they keep on keeping on.
THAT in and out of itself is what makes our community and casters special. Is that we don't settle for some measly "professional" casting and neither do the casters and neither does Valve, but we add in that excitement, that feeling the warriors get when they are about charge in the battle against a thousand other warriors.
Wait, so you mean other games don't add that excitement in casting?
Of course they do, in fact every e-sports tournament has a lot of really exciting moments that make watching those games so special in itself. But I am a strong believer in the way the plays are being presented to the audience. Let's take another example, but this time from Overwatch.
So the Red team is defending the payload very close to the final checkpoint and there is 1 minute left for the Blue team to deliver that payload onto the final checkpoint. The Commentator has been constantly speaking in a high-pitched voice and casting as if there are constantly plays going on all the time. When he stops to take a break, the secondary caster chimes in and starts speaking in a high-pitched voice and continues to do the same. All this while there isn't really anything huge happening, except when both teams start activating their ultimates, the voice pitch goes a bit higher and the casting tempo increases.
Eventually, Red team manages to defend the payload after a huuuuge team fight where D.VA perfectly times her ultimate and manages to kill most of the Blue team's healers. This play is being talked about by the Casters, but in the usual high-pitched voice. Even if the fans are going absolute bat-shit crazy, I felt that the commentator could have done better, almost like a magician, who shows his trick bit by bit, not all at once.
I have noticed this exact thing in CS:GO, League of Legends and Rocket league. It's all the same, where they try to make it a "professional" casting/commentary, almost like NBA/Football style casting. I feel like this is where the gaming companies and casters are wrong. When you add professionalism and seriousness to gaming, things get boring real quick (at-least for me). You need to have a little fun here and there and just "chill out" in a way.
TI6, Starladder, Dream-league and almost every other DotA 2 tournament has this "chilled out" style.
esports are for gay people, go away fag
TL;DR
DotA 2 community was made strong with the love of the community and the casters and commentators are not just some hired professionals who are there to do their job, but are there to pour their heart and soul into the games and present them to the audience like it is their baby.
We all have the following people to thank for this: Valve, Tobi, Capitalist, LD, 2GD, Bruno, Merlini, Sheever, ODPixel, Blitz, Synderen, WinteR, Slacks, Purge, V1lat, PyrionFlax, etc. and lots and lots of other casters and analysts in no particular order.
EDIT: I forgot to add Slacks and LD.
EDIT2: We all have our own opinions, and i don't mean to hurt the CS:GO or LoL fans who clearly love watching those games more and are more indulged in e-sports scene in those games. What I've written here, is my opinion too and I am not here to "establish" who is better and who is not, im only here to talk about my opinion as to who is better.
>>383963421
TL;DR again please?
Only Tobi could still do hypecasting. He is the best ever hands down. Doturd esports is amazing because it makes the most amazing stories.