Lower tier tournaments are important for the health of any competitive scene and thinking a top-heavy only scene is good isn't great in the long run. As a viewer I would only care about watching the best players play (when they are motivated to put in effort) but as a player it's nice to have something I can be involved in that is more than just an 18+ ara tg and requires a little more strategic thought.
Everyone starts somewhere and there is a difference between tournament settings and a random rated game with 7 strangers. To use Dota 2 as an example both Arteezy and Sumail made their names by being part of in-house leagues (which used a formalised hero ban/pick system) and entering amateur tournaments. Sumail didn't just jump from playing a pub game and then win TI. Brood War players didn't just get picked out of rated games to join the team houses in Korea.
Because of map/civ/strategy preparation and having fun with your friends against other teams in a more structured setting. Already in Empathy's IC Cup I've seen teams practice and discuss things between themselves that have improved their understanding of the game. At the same time I've seen teams with decent ratings get outclassed because it turns out they were incapable of thinking beyond what civs they liked on Arabia.
All the criticisms of lower-tier stuff has already been accurately pointed out in this thread and I won't deny that it's not interesting to viewers, deserves little to no prize-money and requires a lot more effort than generally most people are willing to put in (as can be seen by the numerous autowins). But for the people who do put in effort it's pretty fun to play and think in a pre-planned structured manner with your friends and hopefully play people of a relatively even level as you as opposed to just getting stomped by Lyx + Yo. Sure it'd be nice if I was good enough too compete with the pros but unless I actually get there then the only avenues for enjoying the competitive scene are random rated games and watching other people do it.
I don't agree that these tournaments help the game grow or make people improve more. People just don't like playing tournaments.
Everyone starts somewhere and there is a difference between tournament settings and a random rated game with 7 strangers. To use Dota 2 as an example both Arteezy and Sumail made their names by being part of in-house leagues (which used a formalised hero ban/pick system) and entering amateur tournaments. Sumail didn't just jump from playing a pub game and then win TI. Brood War players didn't just get picked out of rated games to join the team houses in Korea.
Gamewise, how is it different from any of normal rated games in which there is an FMT.
Because of map/civ/strategy preparation and having fun with your friends against other teams in a more structured setting. Already in Empathy's IC Cup I've seen teams practice and discuss things between themselves that have improved their understanding of the game. At the same time I've seen teams with decent ratings get outclassed because it turns out they were incapable of thinking beyond what civs they liked on Arabia.
All the criticisms of lower-tier stuff has already been accurately pointed out in this thread and I won't deny that it's not interesting to viewers, deserves little to no prize-money and requires a lot more effort than generally most people are willing to put in (as can be seen by the numerous autowins). But for the people who do put in effort it's pretty fun to play and think in a pre-planned structured manner with your friends and hopefully play people of a relatively even level as you as opposed to just getting stomped by Lyx + Yo. Sure it'd be nice if I was good enough too compete with the pros but unless I actually get there then the only avenues for enjoying the competitive scene are random rated games and watching other people do it.