Dota 2: Ceb responds to the "coaching situation" of Alliance

Johan "n0tail" Sundstein recently expressed his disappointment at the recent "coaching situation" of Alliance in the Western European Dota 2 circuit.

After the voice of Peter "ppd" Dager, the coach of Alliance, was clearly audible in the background of the team vlog, n0tail was the first to raise a question on Twitter, inquiring whether The International (TI) 10 will be a 5 or 6-player tournament.

Twitter has been buzzing since then, as it was clarified that the organizer, ESL, had previously made a change to the rules before the beginning of the DPC Season 2. This change, however, has not entirely complied with Valve's stance on coaching in Dota 2.

The modified rule allowed coaches to be part of team communications during the game. However, Valve has never allowed coaches to be a part of in-game communications once the draft process ends.

The entire situation has created a massive outburst in the community, and it has eventually led Sebastian "Ceb" Debs to post a Twitlonger message to clarify his thoughts on the situation.

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Ceb's response to the Coaching Situation in Dota 2

Ceb's TwitLonger post begins with a detailed explanation of the macro and micro concepts of Dota 2. It went on to explain the technical aspects of what features can be "game-changers." He even goes on to point out the possible implications that might arise from having a coach in the game.

The two time TI winner said,

"I personally think that, if this is meant to be, it is the saddest thing that happened to DotA in years. Once again, it is a matter of opinions, and I only allow myself to share it here because it's a topic close to my heart. At the end of the day, it's a Valve call, if not a community one."

Having clarified his stance on the coaching situation in Dota 2, Ceb went on to talk about the contemporary situation as well as how Alliance handled it as a whole. Ceb explained that the inclusion of a coach during the course of a match is a massive decision that could revolutionize the way Dota 2 is played.

He even stated that the last time Valve made a change regarding coaches and allowed them in the drafting stage of Dota 2, the entire situation was announced publicly for everyone to know. However, that hasn't been the scenario in this case. Ceb said,

"To my knowledge, Alliance is the only team to use that feature ( if it is even meant to be one ), because it has always been forbidden. So was that golden rule meant to be broken over a simple email sent by an ESL employee, maybe...To me it simply look like using everything usable to your advantage, and that is fair, even if I have very little respect for that way of handling things."

ESL has announced that changes to the rules that were made before the start of the DPC Season 2 have been reverted to comply with Valve's guidelines regarding coaches in Dota 2. This means that unlike many had suspected, The International 10 will be a 5 vs 5 tournament.