VIEWER BURNOUT, an HONEST look at LCS History, Gamechangers and more! | Hotline League 291

Check out Alienware's deals: http://alienware.com/travis https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/deals/pc-gaming-deals Help protect 30% of the ocean by 2030: https://bit.ly/3ucafsV Follow Travis on Twitch: http://twitch.tv/travisgafford Support: https://linktr.ee/tgisupport 00:00:00 Intro 00:20:25 chief's take: the grassroots part of LCS is what made it great 00:33:45 TL Steve calls in to talk 8 teams and offseason 01:01:05 Alienware deals! 01:05:25 hexblast's take: the biggest loss from the two downsized teams is Inero and Kelsey Moser 01:10:05 lazerfruit's take: Riot should've given the two empty slots to top NACL teams 01:17:57 sogeking's take: Free agency is too lax, needs explicit rules to protect players 01:29:33 Only One break! See link in description 01:33:19 shake n bake's take: Needham downplayed how much the loss of 2 teams hurts the LCS 01:48:17 justin's take: the 2022-23 T1 roster is the strongest ever in LoL 02:00:24 treethan's take: jojo should've gone to Liiv SANDBOX 02:05:55 Outro

00:00:00 Intro 00:30:45 mr.bojangles' take: It's exciting that Shopify Rebellion is pulling talent from the NACL 00:43:16 leo's take: this is going to be the most one-sided Finals in Worlds history 00:52:52 Alienware break! HUGE DEALS! 00:55:50 bearus' take: WBG has the play style to beat T1 01:05:25 basil's take: Fudge has been receiving undeserved hate 01:18:30 Suta's take: FLY is going to lose all fanbase momentum they had from last season regardless of results 01:37:20 farmerginge's take: remove the Worlds patch and only have two patches per split to increase consistency of deserving winners 01:52:30 Outro

00:00:00 Intro - Welcome Jonathon! Travis reviews BlizzCon 2023, NRG's Worlds experience 00:13:42 Sentiment towards NA on international stage 00:24:30 Jonathon on NRG situation 00:33:10 Offseason trends and narratives 01:04:20 Alienware break! 01:07:40 farmerginge's take: NA roster building is the 'fat loss pill' of the esports world 01:23:50 Spencer's take: the no.1 takeaway from Worlds is that NA and EU need to compete against each other more 01:35:45 mogul's take: TL is going to lose fans and rep if they drop APA 01:53:28 Stormblessed's take: Teams should be looking to pick up EMENES 02:09:05 Outro

00:00:00 Intro - Worlds updates, G2 Mark costume 00:27:40 dctheking's take: people are exaggerating the issues with Swiss 00:43:03 t-bone's take: NRG got the best possible matchup for Quarters 00:56:10 Alienware break! 00:58:50 yami's take: G2 posting scrims results was wildly disrespectful 01:19:45 KERNEL PANIC's take: teams are not going to stick to core development despite NRG's success 01:40:06 sling0's take: NRG performance proves that lack of path to pro in NA is detrimental to the region 02:00:00 Outro

00:00:00 Intro 00:07:20 Play-Ins updates 00:26:40 Captain Flowers joins HLL to talk NA at Worlds 00:36:21 Justin's take: C9 is NA's worst team at Worlds 00:46:24 franz's take: G2 will make semifinals and should be a lesson to other orgs to invest in players 00:58:40 Alienware break! 01:01:17 rawnblade's take: Adam, BDS top laner, shows how you can earn fans through unique playstyle 01:09:10 rudy's take: the Bo3 qualifiers and elims are going to be the death of the LPL, only JDG will qualify, so 3 Western teams will get through 01:17:15 Lunabear27's take: For BoX series, teams should be allowed at least one surrender 01:27:48 bella's take: having Worlds every year is the root cause of all LoL's problems 01:35:43 gravity's take: NRG has a decent chance of taking a game off Weibo 01:43:25 rook's take: TL, C9 and NRG all win their first games 01:53:50 Outro

00:00:00 Intro 00:23:00 reassure's take: keep supporting NA! 00:32:08 Xcelsior's take: The bracket did not select the 4th best team in the LCS to play for Worlds. GG's collapse was basically the worst in history of the LCS 00:43:43 Sammic's take: with Prince potentially leaving LCS, it's time to stop rotating the wheel of imports in LCS. This falls on Riot to fix. 00:54:45 Raz critiques Travis's take on imports 01:07:25 Alienware break! 01:10:15 DirectorDonut's take: GGs performace highlights why Riot has not wanted more than 3 teams per region at Worlds 01:22:54 Michael's take: it's time for NA to lose a seed at Worlds 01:36:00 lotus's take: TL will perform the best of NA's teams 01:46:12 presidente's take: The Grind and The Glory holds a lesson for NA

00:00:00 Intro 00:12:38 Talking about TSM 00:30:15 josh's take: salary caps are horrible 00:51:50 nickelodeon's take: with TSM/CLG gone it's time for new teams to build legacies 01:01:44 numiii talks NewJeans 01:13:50 Outro

00:00:00 Intro 00:12:40 rudy asks Avril about her collegiate experience 00:22:22 max's take: Gamechangers feels like a very underdeveloped event 00:45:01 rexFC asks: what can Riot do to get more diversity in the LCS? 00:58:28 On Representation 01:07:00 Worlds Format announcement 01:09:20 Alienware! 01:12:15 fez's take: this year's Worlds is more important than any other for keeping Westerners interested 01:21:55 figment's take: TL is NA's best team at Worlds this year 01:34:50 EMENES response reaction 01:39:49 Simmz wonders what happened to the camaraderie of NA and EU 01:50:30 remixt's take: Swiss format will show the true strength of NA 02:00:00 promiscuous time traveler's asks to what extent Mark and Travis can influence LCS production 02:11:00 Outro

00:00:00 Intro - news and Reddit thread on improving the LCS 00:48:04 KAPPY's take: Riot should implement a rule that players can only switch major regions every two years 00:57:28 spencer's take: viewer burnout could be alleviated with more focus on entertainment 01:14:20 BB's take: move to Bo3! 01:28:46 zextrap points out difference between tsports and esports priorities 01:48:25 Invictus's take: Riot should adopt a standard rotation 02:00:10 Lore rant 02:06:00 numiii's take: LCS Gamechangers should get more love

00:11:47 Iron thinks Toast should help IMT 00:23:50 yami wants to talk creators and NACL 00:42:50 dez's take: the overpolishing of esports has killed a lot of the scene 01:01:45 Alienware break 01:08:00 Emily Rand joins HLL 01:16:10 chadcyberdemon asks about transition from journalism to stage 01:25:54 lazerfruit's take: GG will beat BDS 3-1 and are/will be the second strongest NA team at worlds 01:35:20 fearidan's take: LCS has been super entertaining, but it's not enough 01:51:20 sylveke's take: the best way for the west to win at worlds is by developing creative strategies rather than playing meta. 01:58:55 prongs's take: LCS talent's growth is limited by Riot 02:11:45 Outro