SideshowYou guys do realise that if the teams playing UGC just played ESEA instead the skill level would be p much the same?
Like flame said, the more of the new teams that sign up to esea, the more that Open will be full of teams around their skill and it will, at some point, force a new division. Siphoning people off into a free league that isn't as competitive and has a much smaller reach only makes the skill disparity problem worse.
The only argument for UGC is that it's free, and that appeals to people without money or without the desire to spend money on gaming. But for those who can afford to do so, going to ESEA would be a better solution for the whole community.
EDIT: The argument that people are more likely to have a bad experience if they pay for it is also bull imo. In ETF2L (free league) you also have teams who get stomped in their first season and cry. Whether or not somebody will be put off TF2 is not dependent on whether or not they paid for the privilege of being annihilated.
If every UGC team moved to ESEA than it would be fine but there's no universe where that happens, same sort of situation as cevo failing because not every team is willing to move. The paying for it thing isn't the big deal here, it's that few new teams have the resolve to literally not win a single round all season and not die, losing $30 is more of just an added negative.