K, I'm just getting back to Canada by bus from this.
Just gonna say a couple things: Apex itself was a ton of fun, this was the first time I ever made it out of pools round 1, and the venue (the 2nd one at least) was awesome. Played a lot of friendlies, and met many amazing people, got to talk to Mew2King breifly, NAKAT hanging out with Canada, and got some drinks with Toronto and Montreal. Shoutouts to KirbyKaze for repping Canada in Melee, Ally for winning Brawl and playing some drunk Mario Party with us on Friday, and TO Joe for winning the award. I should've left with you for Toronto when you did, but well, I wanted to see top 8. Oh, and of course, SuperBoomFan from Alberta for winning N64 (if that's where you are and haven't moved again!)
With that said, the tournament was far, far from smooth. A venue relocation caused by a poor first venue made this more work than it should have, especially for those out of the country. This trip has been absolute hell for the Canadians and the other international players. Also, this is not the venue nor Apex staffs fault, but the horrible attitude displayed by some of the crowd during Smash4 was disgusting beyond belief.
To the Melee elitists in the crowd: shame on all of you. Booing Smash4, cheering for Zero and then yelling at him and Dabuz to get offstage for Melee... Apex isn't about just you. Stop being so ****ing greedy and childish. I'm a Melee competitor too, but I ain't about that. You make me ashamed to say I like Melee. You know who you are. Fun fact: Melee took the same amount of time as Smash4 finals. How would you feel if Melee ran first and the Smash4 crowd yelled you off?
We were all in a tight schedule. For crying out loud, we lost an entire DAY due to relocation of the venue, it's not SmashWiiUs fault the tourney ran late. It's just plain rude and absolutely shameful to boo others and take their moment away. We were all tired, the tourney was reduced to 2 days, this was not another game's fault, and the Smash4 players do not deserve that.
I'm not responding to any replies justifying this behavior: I was there in the crowd and I know what it was like. Sad to say but the crowd last night made me ashamed of being a Melee player, now that this will reflect on the Melee fanbase. I do not want others thinking that about a game I love.
To Apex staff: the last minute venue change, unlocking setups for 64 and Smash4 the night before, and everything that followed was unexpected. I get that. Still, it was rough on us international players and volunteers. Please, please make sure that the venue choice made next year is a solid one. Can't stress enough how mad hard and stressed we were, make sure the venue is good for next year. This was very, very stressful on all of us.
About the Clarion hotel: this was a mediocre place to have the tourney. The building was worn down, sketchy manager who apparently got fined for negligence then later arrested for having no permits, and the hotel attendants and staff were plain rude at many times. There were only 2 elevators with 25 ppl max for +1000 entrants to use. The WiiU and 64 setups having to be unlocked the night before was bad, but when I was helping unlock them, me and other volunteers saw the roof leaking in the ballroom. Geez.
The worst part was relocation the next day: the shuttles were provided but were unreliable. If you don't believe me, ask Eddy Mexico: on Sunday morning, he and his friends from Mexico were on the same shuttle as us. It was supposed to be there at 10:15am, but we didn't get moving until 11am. He was running late and almost got DQd. Please avoid switching venues at all costs next year, because it costed me, Meekspeedy, KirbyKaze, Ally, TO Joe, and the other Canadian and International players - including the Japanese who played with us Friday night, whose tags other than Choco I forget atm - an eye and an arm to relocate and take cabs. Some of us like Meek were lucky to have connections, but others paid out of thier pocket. Remember we internationals do not have the benefits of data plans or calling plans, this isn't easy for us, let alone know the area. We can not just simply switch hotels.
I'm not saying I didn't have fun: the tournament was amazing, the best matches I've ever seen unfolded right in front of me. I played friendlies with people from all over the world, I talked to Blue and other players after playing with them, and the best part was the sheer amount of people creating an intense atmosphere. I could just walk up to anyone and talk about the thing I love the most: Smash. But, it was at a cost that maxed out my cards and put us in tough schedules going back. Alex Strife isn't here any more to direct the tourney (I'm sure he had something to do with choosing that awful hotel as former director, I'm speculating here tho), so no johns next year to choose an appropriate place next time. I look forward to next year myself: I expect amazing things after seeing this years amazing matches and the incredible venue Twitch so graciously gave us.
See you all next year, hopefully the crap attitude from Melee elitists isn't a problem next year, and I hope to see an even bigger Apex next year!
