DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional caster. My only experience in casting comes from mainly watching a variety of sports (American Football, Basketball, Football) and e-sports (CS, RL, LoL)
OPINION: I think the casting level has overall dropped between the previous seasons and this season of RLCS. There’s a variety of reasons why, but after rewatching some of the old tourneys from previous years, I think the main factors are: Cohesion between the caster duos (has dropped off with all the new duo tryouts), and casting pace for the games (more rambling and less insight).
(SIDE NOTE OPINION: I do not blame the castors one bit if they are spending less time/effort towards the craft. With all the downsizing this year, it’s safe to assume any changes salary structure for the castors also lead to an overall decrease in pay. If my boss cut my salary, I wouldn’t exactly be inspired to work more).
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM: Okay, now for the actual useful (or not) part of this post. I encourage people in the comments to add to this conversation, but here’s some of the ways I think casting quality could improve.
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Establish who’s doing play by play and analysis more clearly.
Sometimes the line between the person doing play by play and the person doing analysis is so thin, they end up crossing over to the point both are doing the same thing. At that point the audience is only really comparing the way they cast between them, and not their contributions toward the match. It leads to more preferential comments (Ex: Castor A is so much better than Castor B, I dislike the way Castor B sounds) that doesn’t help anyone.
2. Analysis needs to be better.
So let’s say there’s 4:30 on the clock and Zen just did a triple flip reset shot that was saved. Castor A (PBP) has passed it over to Castor B (Analysis). In recent times, I think most Castors like to focus on the highlight play that just happened: “OMG Zen just did blah blah blah, what a display of mechanics showing why he’s one of the best in the world and opposing team should watch out”. This might be more a personal opinion rather than constructive, but I just don’t see how that adds to the game. Hype casting should be more the role of the PBP castor and the Analysis person should help people see what’s to come. I think analysis should be more dependent on stats and strategy of teams: “Vitality leads the tournament in aerial goals per game (or a more real stat lol), it looks like they are going to continue using the space given by team B until they do something about it. But at the current state, they want to let Zen takeover.”
3. Silence is a virtue.
Rocket League is probably the fastest paced esport. It’s borderline impossible to narrate an entire game as it plays out. However, I’m seeing more of the “I’m going to comment on everything that happens” approach being taken recently. Pause. Breath. Let people watch the game without commentary for a second, then come back in and add something meaningful that elevates the overall viewing experience. It’s a case of quality over quantity and the latter seems to have taken over.
4. Stats are supreme.
Once again, this may be more of a personal opinion, so if anyone disagrees let me know in the comments. I think stats add so much to a game. The pre match analysis highlights the stats, but I think it’s up to the castors to bring them into the series: “In the preshow, Gibbs said G2 had the number 1 defense coming into this series, only allowing 0.2 goals per game. The Firstkiller goal just now was the 84rd goal of GenG through 4 games. GenG’s offensive passing have demolished the brick wall of G2.”
5. Learn from the past.
In RLCS history, we have had many duos who most people agree are all time greats. There has to be a reason right? I know everyone has their own styles, but what exactly do, for example, Johnny and Shogun, say during the cast that makes people have high regards for them? My all time favorite duo was Wavepunk and Achieves. I think Wave has so much hosting experience that his play by play was an extension of that, which is in essence what play by play should be: hosting a match and narrating it to viewers. Achieves in Analysis was so good, especially during goal replays of showing exactly what happened that lead to the goal being scored; A perfect pass, a misplay, an unlucky bounce. It just seemed he was always spot on and really helped me notice some nuances in pro gameplay.
