ImperialHal explains what has to change about ALGS to keep Apex Legends pro play alive Joe Brady (@joebradyphoto)\/ALGSI got the chance to speak with ImperialHal ahead of the ALGS Final and the upcoming Esports World Cup to ask about the future of competitive Apex Legends and how he\u2019s managed to stay on top for so long. ImperialHal has earned and defended his title as the CEO of Apex Legends over the past few years. He\u2019s been at or near the top of the world in every Apex competition, he\u2019s one of the game\u2019s top streamers on Twitch, and he\u2019s been carrying TSM\u2019s brand presence for years. And, though he has a lot of gripes with upcoming ALGS changes and the way the league currently operates, he\u2019s also more determined than ever to continue his legacy within Apex and push himself even harder. I asked him about how he\u2019s been able to win, what\u2019s keeping him going despite his criticism of the game, and the future he sees in the Apex Legends competitive scene. ImperialHal slams ALGS Year 4 Split 2 pro changes For those unaware, the ALGS is making some huge changes to the way competitive Apex Legends works in the near future. Rather than operating like a traditional match with one dropship, teams have to pick their designated drop areas and will have a brief jump in from over top of them. The order in which teams can pick their POI is left up to a draft. According to Hal, this takes a ton of skill expression out of pro play. He\u2019s vehemently against the change, though he sees why the ALGS is trying to switch things up. \u201cBefore, the main complaint was, in competitive, the dropship would start in random spots. Let\u2019s say you land on the south side of the map, and the dropship starts from the south side of the map. You have an advantage because you land before everyone else, right? That\u2019s the issue people were complaining about. So, they think the way of fixing that is to implement this dropship where everyone gets to pick where they jump and you all jump out at the same time. But now you have this other problem you\u2019re creating where there\u2019s no jump master skill gap.\u201d The decision-making that comes with having to adapt on the fly and play with the hand that\u2019s dealt to you is just part of the game. That, and the process of picking an area to drop has its own set of drawbacks that are arguably worse than the issue that the initial changes were trying to fix. He was critical of the adjustments when they were announced, and that didn\u2019t change after playing it. \u201cI think it\u2019s stupid as hell. That\u2019s my opinion. The thing is \u2013 I haven\u2019t indulged in too much of it. They gave us some of it to test, but it\u2019s kind of broken. It doesn\u2019t work properly for us to test. So, my opinion is skewed because I\u2019m looking at something that\u2019s broken right now. But, at the same time, the idea of it is just stupid.\u201d Hal explained. \u201cThey\u2019re getting rid of the jumpmaster skill gap. \u201cYou\u2019re basically flying out of the same ship as the other team. Most POIs, there\u2019s a vantage point you have to land at. If you don\u2019t, you\u2019re just at a disadvantage off spawn. That\u2019s the biggest issue. You\u2019re making us all spawn in this designated area where I can\u2019t skill gap the other team because we\u2019re both spawning in the same spot.\u201d There are a lot of mindgames going on here before players even hit the ground, and ImperialHal isn\u2019t looking forward to when these changes get implemented in Split 2. Change isn\u2019t inherently bad for the tournament circuit, but this change isn\u2019t the right way to do things in his eyes. \u201cThere\u2019s no skill to it, you just jump straight down. A Diamond player, a Gold player, anyone can do that. And you can just lose because of RNG as a BR. You can land in the same spot, they get a gun, you don\u2019t get a gun. What do you do? You can be the best in the world, it doesn\u2019t matter if you don\u2019t have a gun in your hand, right? That\u2019s the biggest issue in my opinion.\u201d However, this wasn\u2019t his only issue with the way Apex Legends competitive currently works. Finding a future for the Apex Legends and beyond As is the case in any battle royale, people show up to see their favorite players duking it out. However, when it comes to putting on a full broadcast with casters, observers, and analysts, it\u2019s easy to lose sight of that player. It\u2019s not like there isn\u2019t something to be gained from an actual stream and EA themselves trying to put on a show, but players not being able to stream their perspective from LAN is largely disappointing to ImperialHal. \u201cThey don\u2019t allow the players to stream at LAN. I know most tournaments, or even other games, they don\u2019t do that. It\u2019s always just the main broadcast. Obviously there\u2019s a lot of legality, you don\u2019t want to take viewership from the main channel, they need to meet sponsorship requirements, but\u2026 most viewers watch the players. I don\u2019t wanna go out of my way to watch TSM, I wanna watch ImperialHal, or Genburten, or whoever, right? Everyone watches the players. It\u2019d help not only the players but the game to build more personalities and individual viewership if we were able to stream the games at LAN.\u201d This is something we\u2019ve seen mirrored in some of the world\u2019s biggest esports leagues. tarik consistently outperforms the main Riot broadcast when it comes to Valorant, and the same can be said for Caedrel with League of Legends whether it be big internationals or regional leagues. Co-streaming is arguably the future of esports, and Apex Legends has an opportunity to bring that sort of experience to their LAN events from the players themselves. He feels that giving people access to his POV will only help the ALGS grow, and that he\u2019s disappointed that he can\u2019t just stream during the year\u2019s biggest international events. With how big Hal\u2019s presence is on Twitch, the ALGS could be leaving hundreds of thousands of potential viewers on the table. However, he wasn\u2019t all doom and gloom when it came to Apex Legends pro play. The upcoming Esports World Cup has Hal excited for what a new event organizer can do for the game\u2019s pro scene. \u201cHaving the Esports World Cup is probably the best opportunity we\u2019ve had in Apex in the last five years, ever since the game came out. I think it\u2019s huge, I think everyone should be looking forward to it. This will only give more longevity to the game and the esport.\u201d And, while we don\u2019t yet know what format the EWC will have and whether or not they\u2019ll be adopting the Split 2 changes, there\u2019s a ton of room for a third-party Apex Legends tournament to shake up the way EA looks at their premiere esports league. What\u2019s more, Hal isn\u2019t looking to quit any time soon. The crown may be heavy, but it\u2019s weight he\u2019s willing to bear the weight for himself and his family. ImperialHal\u2019s more motivated than ever to dominate Apex Legends Even though he\u2019s been competing since Apex Legends\u2019 infancy, ImperialHal was still itching to play the entire time he spent travelling away from home for the Esports World Cup promo and other obligations. That competitive itch never leaves his body, and he\u2019s got a lot motivating him to stay on top. \u201cI try to bring motivation out of even the littlest things. Sometimes, if I \u2013 let\u2019s say I have a vacation planned after LAN. In my head, it\u2019s like, \u2018I don\u2019t deserve to go on this vacation unless I win,’\u201d Hal claimed. \u201cI\u2019m really competitive, probably the most competitive person in Apex when it comes to mentality. I obviously still love to play the game. I don\u2019t only play tournaments, I still play the regular game even though I have to deal with the BS that comes with it. But\u2026 That\u2019s the only way you win. You have to play the game, no matter how hard it is, if you want to get to the top. \u201cIt\u2019s multiple factors. You know, feeling like I deserve to have a break by performing well. Getting paid, everyone\u2019s primary motivation. And also, I retired my dad because he used to be a truck driver. I also feel like I\u2019m responsible not just for myself financially, but for my family. No one else in the family works now, so I cover my family basically. They\u2019re, like, my employees in a way. It\u2019s not a bad thing. Obviously, it\u2019s a lot of pressure for someone like me as a 24 year-old, but, at the same time, I think it\u2019s a good thing. I\u2019m not in a position to have kids and stuff like that, I\u2019m only 24, but for me to learn and understand that at a young age, it\u2019ll only give me an advantage as I get older.\u201d This stalwart mentality is something Hal maintains with his team as well, pushing the people who are with him on TSM to get better alongside him. He doesn\u2019t pull any punches when it comes to rallying his teammates and trying to find the best way to take home a W, and he sets his expectations high. \u201cI\u2019m very hard on my teammates. I don\u2019t know how it is in most other games, but\u2026 most leaders, they would be considered toxic or having bad behavior, stuff like that, because you yell at teammates and call them names. In my eyes\u2026 it\u2019s controversial in a way, when it comes to how an IGL or leader should act in a team. But I think most other teams that aren\u2019t as good, they\u2019re not as strict, they\u2019re not as hard, they let go of mistakes. They\u2019re too nice. \u201cThat\u2019s the biggest thing in my opinion \u2013 if you want to get something done, even in a regular work space \u2013 you have to be direct. You have to be stern. You have to be determined. You have to just lay down the law. Even if it might be the dumbest thing you can possibly think of when someone makes a mistake, it\u2019s a mistake that might cost you down the road.\u201d And, while this may sound like a challenging way to lead a team, it\u2019s also a method that has created some of the most legendary runs in Apex history. According to ImperialHal, it\u2019s an environment he thrives in. \u201cI love being under pressure. I love being doubted. My favorite thing is when people doubt me or doubt the team because, for whatever reason, it gives me the energy to say \u2018F**k you, I\u2019m going to win. I\u2019m going to show you who I am, what TSM is.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ImperialHal explains what has to change about ALGS to keep Apex Legends pro play alive Joe Brady (@joebradyphoto)\/ALGSI got the chance to speak with ImperialHal ahead of the ALGS Final and the upcoming Esports World Cup to ask about the future of competitive Apex Legends and how he\u2019s managed to stay on top for so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}