The in-game production was fucking great, really good. The out-of-game production was lacking in comparison. Audio issues were abysmal. I don't know how each unique audio issue happened or why they happened. Assuming Kermit was doing audio, I know Kermit had to do casting too because of a no-show caster so I assume somebody might have subbed in for him, but a lot of the audio issues were just super weird or shouldn't have happened. I can't believe the audio issues went all the way until the outro, where it was muted at first so they had to replay it. Roaming cameras or operators that were offered from Multiplay should have been taken more advantage of IMO, especially during grand finals. I know people want to see the game but it doesn't hurt to have maybe a smaller camera in the corner where PiP was or the opposite corner to see a roaming player cam. It helps build personal connection.

There really was little to no personal connection with the LAN or the players this time around, I felt. That's so important with storyline crafting and getting people interested in the people behind the game. I recall someone on the Essentialstf Twitch account saying that they won't do player interviews because they said players would be too tired to give post-game interviews, but I don't know how well that excuse holds up, especially when it was not done pre/post-grand finals. It might have been the format of games but with that much downtime between matches, it wouldn't have hurt to grab a player from the playing team or the last match's team and ask them a few questions.

HUD/OBS feed overlay was the coolest shit. It looked slick, the transitions like winner zooming in were sexy. But there was a lot of information on that screen sometimes. At some point I was really distracted by idle Scouts just swapping through their weapons really fast out of habit in the corner of my eye, and then just tuned out of those weapon graphics to focus on the game. If I had to see weapons, I wouldn't mind the weapons underneath the names like when the stats showed up, rather than right next to the names. Maybe highlight the weapon being used. Split screen was cool when it first happened but then overused later. I also feel like it could look better than being cut down the middle - maybe a separate two-cam overlay so it's not cut right in half or squashed. Player cams were really small, maybe bottom corners suggested earlier if using static cams rather than roaming cams.

All this shit is really cool but it might work best in games like Dota or CS:GO. Now that it's been tried and tested, idk how well it translates to a faster-paced game like TF2. There's a lot happening on screen as is within the game itself. I wonder how well the HUD helped translate the game over to newer spectators let alone older spectators, or how necessary a lot of the extra cool things were without feeling like PGL-inspired Shiny Object Syndrome. As a result of the Shiny Object Syndrome, a lot of the things I mentioned earlier about things like interviews suffered when that would have made so much difference. Still, very cool shit. I just need to think about if it's things that are long-term cool rather than OH SHIT WHAT'S THAT OMFG reactionary short-term cool.

The nuze segments were fucking fantastic, nuze himself was a good fit and he looked so excited to play with the tech. I felt so happy for people cheering him on. The only thing I heard people saying is that they were a little too long, but I quite liked them. If there was room for player interviews, I would not mind them shorter. Analysis and couch segments were good, the talent all did their best and I liked seeing visitors or people not playing like Paddie and Mike on the couch chilling. Black backdrops might not be as good of an idea as they start off as, it was good for i55 due to extra stuff on the background. I heard voices like Getawhale's getting strained on-stage, which is unfortunate. I saw him on couch on the morning of the last day, maybe letting him rest until Grand Finals would have been best and have another analyst like eepily be MC for a bit.

War stepped it up, I've said it before, and I'm really happy he and Kermit got to do grand finals. War's emphasis on storyline and stakes is great too. He still interrupted Kermit a lot, I could catch Kermit talking faster as well as be more direct about analysis whenever he could. That being said, I don't know how committed Kermit was meant to be since he was meant to be doing on audio, but shoutout to him if that's the case. Ombrack and row were also a really good pair, row's play-by-play is also on point and he doesn't miss much. Ombrack's enthusiasm is infectious and charismatic. Turbotabs and Cornpop are the best father-and-son casting duo 2017. I'm thankful for the people who were able to fly out with their own money and volunteer for production, that dedication is always admirable.