Bali Major Experience

Background

My friend keep asking me, "how was the Bali major?" I figured it'd be easier to write it down rather than replying each of them separately.

Ticket sales

Let's start by looking at previous majors ticket sales schedule and prices.

**Stockholm Major**

Announcement: 2022-02-15

Sales: 2022-02-17 (2 days after announcement)

Event: 2022-05-20 (92 days after sales)

Price: ~212 EUR for 3 days

https://twitter.com/ESLDota2/status/1493623656261599233

**Arlington Major**

Announcement: 2022-05-19

Sales: 2022-05-19 (same day as announcement)

Event: 2022-08-12 (85 days after sales)

Price: ~180 USD for 3 days

https://twitter.com/pglesports/status/1527272939690807302

**Lima Major**

Announcement: 2023-01-12

Sales: 2023-01-13 (1 day after announcement)

Event: 2023-02-28 (46 days after sales)

Price: ~132 USD for 6 days

https://twitter.com/Esports4d/status/1613356034101231620

**Berlin Major**

Announcement: 2023-02-06

Sales: 2023-02-07 (1 day after announcement)

Event: 2023-05-05 (86 days after sales)

Price: ~239 EUR for 3 days

https://twitter.com/ESLDota2/status/1622967074912968705

Ticket sales announcement

On 2023-05-16 (52 days before the event), IO Esports tease about ticket sales on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/ioesportsgg/status/1658404423175897091

Later they tweet about ticket sales dates, but it got quickly deleted.

https://twitter.com/ihsanbiantoro/status/1659406390950256642

Up until 2023-05-19 (49 days before the event), there was only leaks about the ticket price from the SEA qualifier stream. ~388 USD for the standard 3 days and ~688 USD for the premium 3 days and there's only 1000 seat available.

On 2023-05-22 (46 days before the event), an announcement was made about when the ticket sales date, but no information was provided about the ticket price or the platform to buy tickets.

https://twitter.com/ioesportsgg/status/1660556125488697344

Next day on 2023-05-24 (44 days before the event), we needed to go to their website to even get the Eventbrite link.

Why do I keep putting emphasis on how much days from the event? Because I need to get the ticket first before I start booking flights and hotels. Doing ticket sales really close to the event date just makes it harder. Even more so since July is high season.

Ticket sales availability

IO Esports tweeted about ticket availability at 11:00, yet at 11:01 the ticket is already unavailable. For the next 30 minutes, refusing to accept defeat, I refresh the page every minutes or so and able to check out only 1 ticket. It seems like they slowly selling out tickets to avoid scalping.

PayPal is used as payment gateway. Which sucks because I've never used PayPal before. I'm sure most of Indonesian never does as well. I successfully paid using my credit card. At 11:23 I got my ticket confirmed. At this point I really realized that Bali Major main target market is not Indonesian.

I then tried to checks out another ticket for my wife. PayPal rejects my credit card. Maybe another kind of protection against scalping? Later they updated their Eventbrite page to tell that ticket sales would resume in 7 hours. I don't believe them and still tries to bought another ticket. With a help from a friend, I managed to secure another ticket for my wife at 12:35.

At 17:10 they announce that tickets are sold out, even though it's not yet 7 hours from 11:00. This must feels really shitty for people who waited out.

https://twitter.com/ioesportsgg/status/1661313665189163011

Ticket prices

388 USD is the base price. Add 15% VAT and 18.30 USD platform fee, the end standard price amounted to 464.5 USD. I paid around 7.2 million IDR because my credit card rates were high, and my friend helps paid my wife's ticket for 6.9 million IDR. To put this into perspectice, monthly minimum wage in Jakarta—capital city of Indonesia—is 4.9 million IDR (~330 USD). Many labor worker earn less, and most blue collar earn only 1.5x as much. Roundtrip flight to Bali would cost 1.2 million IDR (~80 USD) and hotel for 4 nights would cost 1.6 million IDR (~100 USD). Monthly minimum wage in Bali is even less at 2.7 million IDR (~180 USD). Just the trip would cost more than half of most people monthly salary, yet the ticket sales is so close to the event date that most people can not save up. People were ready if it was 1/10th of the price. Jakarta Minor ticket prices was just 400.000 IDR (~25 USD) and it was packed!

Premium tickets is even pricier. The leaks were wrong. It was 888 USD before VAT and platform fee, totalling to 1060.77 USD for the premium. I'll talk more about why there is so much wrong with the premium pricing later on the venue section.

Side rant about Indonesian casters

I'd also like to use this moment to personally attack and show my disgust towards WxC caster. Maybe it's a persona for his own personal brand—a smug person that talks down to others—but I think casters are not supposed to alienate their userbase. Talking down to people instead of looking at the issues at hand. From the link above, caster said:

If you think that it's too pricey, then it's not for you. It's only for people who loves Dota and got the money for it.

The other caster also said:

If you can't afford it, you're not the target market.

He even doubled down by making Instagram post mocking Dota fans who couldn't afford the ticket

WxC caster Instagram post

Location

Getting to Ayana

The Ayana estate is quite far from Uluwatu street, the main road that cuts through Jimbaran where all the hotels are. OG watch party was held in Cinepolis, right at the center of Jimbaran. I was staying 3 mins away from OG watch party. I will use Cinepolis as a benchmark to get to Ayana.

There are 2 routes available: Up North, following the main road. Google maps says it would took 10 minutes this way, but my experience it was more than 15 minutes because of the traffic. Here's a snippet of Sunday morning traffic of the main road route.

Second option is cutting through alleyways. Google Maps also says it would took 10 minutes, but both of my experience was less than 10 minutes using alleyways. The road is not good though. It's either pavement, pot holes, or dirt road.

There were also no proper motorbike parking space. I just put my bike in the grassy fields. Cars? You need to park it at the resort, then get on the tram to get to the stage. Many people attending didn't bring their own cars.

On the first day there were light rain, and the venue was slippery. Good thing that Ayana provide a lot of umbrella for the attendees.

Getting around Ayana

There are 2 places where the event is held: Champa Garden, the stage located near the entrance; and Rimba Lawn, located behind the hotel, where the other activities are. Unfortunately, there's a little bit more than 1 km of walk between these two places. You would need to spend 15 mins walking from stage to the signing session. To support this, Ayana provides a tram that picks up people every 10 minutes, which cuts the travel to just 5 minutes (3 minutes drive, 2 minutes walking from hotel lobby). There is also a minibus used by the pro players.

Getting food on Ayana

Tournament organizers provided attendees with unlimited peanuts and bottled water, and 5 cups of 300 mL cold beers. But eating peanuts may not be enough for lunch or dinner. Unfortunately, Ayana is in the middle of nowhere, so cheap food options are somewhat limited.

You could also walk for 5 mins to eat at the nearest food stall. Since I'm using a bike, a pork satay a little bit further away is just 3 minutes drive and cost 15.000 IDR (~1 USD).

You are not allowed to get food delivered in Ayana. At least that's what they said on the Event Kit. I guess securities are sick of telling food delivery to get off the area, or they emphatetic of the hungry crowds. I bought burger from nearest shops, 3 km away. A nice burger took 20 mins to get delivered and cost around 56.000 IDR (~4 USD).

There is also a bunch of restaurant inside the Ayana estate. Though it's a little bit busy and pricier. I need to wait 40 minutes and paid 242.000 IDR (~16 USD) for a shitty sandwich. Although, we could met pro players having lunch here.

What is in there?

Goodies

As a standard attendee, this is what I got:

• Paper bag (duh)
• 3 days cloth wristband
• Event booklet
• Lanyard strap (not sure for what so I use it for my wristband)
• LED foam light stick with malfunctioning power switch so they put a paper to block the batteries
• Beer redemption card (this one is my wife's, I redeemed 8 glass over 3 days)
• Bali Major shirt (can pick a size)
• One-size-fits-all bucket hat that unfortunately doesn't fit me
• Fanny pack
• Temporary tattoo
• Stickers
• Neck cooler?

I don't think the value of the goodies even worth 50 USD. If you wonder the event booklet content, it's available here. Not the same, but similar.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sq_6QRqMfkIohTHjxoj51SniFgwuI6ce/view

Signing Session

There are 3 session scheduled for each day at 2 PM, 4 PM, and 6 PM.

On the first day, IO Esports tweet that signing session is delayed 18 minutes into the supposed schedule. Not even verbal information to the people who are waiting on the spot.

There were no signing session held for the first day.

https://twitter.com/ioesportsgg/status/1677200274128269312

On the second day, Tundra scheduled for 2 PM, and Azure Ray held at 4 PM. We were given an autograph cards with 5 white box for the pro players to sign since no one bought the merch. Tundra's session got delayed for what it feels like 15 minutes. Azure Ray's session also got delayed. I think Tundra players complained about the duration of the session, so when Azure Ray signing session started we were told to take no photos.

There were no third signing session.

On the third day, I missed the announcement of Quest signing session. It moved earlier to 1 PM. I noticed ioesports Instagram story about it, ran from the stage to tram waiting spot, and to the tent to get my autograph. I then saw that Beastcoast was scheduled for 2:30, and waited there for it.

There were no third signing session.

In total there were only 4 teams signing session. Way less than the promised 3 session per day. Fortunately, I had lunch near the hotel twice over the three days period. I managed to get a lot more autograph this way. Which kinda sucks. I also met other people that says they sent a private messages to talents to have a chance to meet them, which most of talents happily do.

Merch

There were no team stall available. The only way to get team merch is only through social media games.

The "official" merch is overpriced at 37 USD for a shirt and 87 USD for a hoodie. Even worse, the only payment option is through PayPal, which is, again, super uncommon in Indonesia.

https://balimajor2023.easy.co/

I met someone from Uzbekistan who asked my help to buy the shirt for him, and it doesn't even accept my MasterCard. Maybe there was some problem at the time, but it just further my point with PayPal being unfriendly with Indonesian customer. With how many digital banks and e-wallet is in Indonesia, this just screams incompetence from the tournament organizers.

Games

The games were shit. There was limbo and hammer arcade, for each represent "sea" and "land" teams that we choose at the start of the event. Every time someone plays the game, the respective team got points. At the end of the day, there is a lucky draws for people from the winning team, for a chance to get mouse or team merch. It's fucking convoluted. I played limbo simply because it looked fun and there were no other activities available.

https://twitter.com/ioesportsgg/status/1677177434414940160

There were also another game by Sukro that is equally convoluted. It was something like post a picture in your Instagram with these hashtag and earn a chance to spin a wheel for a chance to get surprise rewards. If any of you reading it won something out of it, please let me know.

Instagram post of Sukro minigame steps

Photo booth

There was 360 booth that only get installed on the third day. For the first 2 days, it's only a cage of hero pictures. Even the official Sukro partner need to pretend that there was a 360 photo booth machine there. They provide a pirate hat and boxing glove prop. To cosplay Kunkka and Dark Seer, I suppose.

QR link

There is also another Bali Major photo booth, and Acer Predator photo booth. Too bad there were no props available.

Tournament staffs

There were 2 kind of staff: Resort staff that handling out snacks, beers, umbrella, handling tram queue; these people is really nice and friendly. Tournament staff is those that handles registration, security and booth. I think most of the tournament staff are Malaysian because I happen to stumble attendees and staff having a hard time conversing using Indonesian. I also get better experience from tournament staff by speaking English rather than Indonesian.

Stiff entrance rules

We were given out cloth wristband to identify valid attendees at registration. Unluckily, I happened to get mild rashes from the wristband, so I just use it as a necklace. They make a big deal out of it, even though it fulfil the same purpose, to be seen by security. Their response to my allergic reaction was to "just deal with it". Good thing their leader have some sympathy and let me go through. The next 2 days, security recognize it and let me get in wearing it as necklace.

I also met someone who lost their day 2 and 3 wristband because he didn't know it was in the bag. I remember that egistration staff didn't tell that day 2 and day 3 wristband was in the bag. For an event that cost this much, there must be better ways to verify attendees.

I also seen quite few people kicked out by the security for not bringing their wristband. As an attendee, I don't even mind it. The seats were empty anyway. Why not let someone brave enough to get past security watch Dota in peace?

Creepy and pervert security

I didn't notice this at first, but my wife told me that the security guard is leering at female attendees. Particularly those that is showing some skin. He's not even hiding it. It made the situation extremely uncomfortable.

This security guard also gets angry towards an audience that ask him to sit down during game because he covers the main screen.

Main venue

I keep this last, because I feel like there is so much wrong in this. I don't watch much of the games compared with when I'm at the hotel. I only watched:

• 1 LB2 series (day 1, morning)
• 1 UB semifinal game (day 1, night)
• 1 LB quarterfinal series (day 2, morning)
• 1 LB semifinal game (day 2, night)
• 1 LB final game (day 3, morning)
• Grand final series (day 3, afternoon)

Seating

This is what was advertised. Stage in front of premium seats, then standard seats.

This is what I get on the event kit. A media seats behind standard seats.

This is what I get at the venue. A VIP seats in front of premium seats.

This is the reality. Wider gap between stage and audience, and premium with only 2 rows, way less than VIP seats. I know because I hand counted it. Maybe a little bit off a bit for the VIP because I can only count from a far, but my point is that premiums got false advertisement. They are promised to be as close to the stage as possible, but what they get is 30 meters from the stage. Not to mention since the gap is used as walkways, VIP people passing so often in front of them.

At the start of grand final game 1, there were 10 minutes of sponsors' representatives walking to their center VIP seats. Taking pictures and going live on social media and what-not. 20 minutes later, they leave the area. Maybe because they couldn't stand the afternoon sun. Anyway those sponsors VIP was being very obnoxious.

Opaque player booth

In addition to huge gaps to the stage, the player booth was opaque, making it impossible for us to see the players or for them to see us. Players booth do have face cam screen at the bottom, but it's hardly seen, covered by other people's heads. We go to LAN even because we want to see players doing emotional gestures live.

The reasoning? It's because player booth is at an angle where main screen would be visible to the players. Which is a really lame excuses. It's a temporary stage, can't they just turn the player booth a bit so it's not visible?

Remote caster

Whenever I watch LAN Dota events from, I always see caster surrounded by attendees. Not having caster in the middle of the crowd sure does makes it less interesting. We cannot see clever wordplay banner from audience. The camera also rarely capture non-VIP attendees.

Screen flicker and stutters

There was 1 big main screen in the middle of the stage that runs straight from the observer machine, and 2 secondary screen on the sides that sourced from livestream. There were many instances where main screen got low FPS without anything significant happening in the game. There were also many occasion where both secondary screen just turn to black quickly before resuming.

Stage lights

There are multiples blue and red stage lights that is directed at the attendees. For me it's just annoying blue that shines at the corner of my eye. I don't see any point of having them in the middle of the day.

Killstreak banner

There was a ultrakill and rampage banner that covers the whole main screen even through teamfights is still going, as if ingame rampage banner is not enough. Too bad it was so quick and not visible on the livestream, so I don't have any recording available, but you could hear "boo" from the crowd because it's so disruptive.

Afternoon glare

It was a sunny day at the grand final. We couldn't see anything on the screen due to sunlight. I had to resort to my phone to watch the game.

Conclusion

There you have it. My lengthy Bali Major with quite a lot of not-so-good experiences. You didn't miss out on much. I met new and nice people. I met someone who has been playing since 2004 (still plays daily) and knows a lot about pro players. There was an artist who won 2 ticket but had to sold one to finance the trip. There were a lot of software engineers from Jakarta and Singapore. Someone said that you're better off staying in a nice hotel and watching it from there, and I couldn't agree more. Cheaper and more comfortable. I hope we can get better local events later in the future.

Credits

Thanks to the people that I met and provide their insights about the event.

Willie, a friend that I tag along with for the whole event

@alviannicholas_, the artist that won art competition

Fitz

Reza

JarvisGPT

And more (names not mentioned to respect their privacy)

View this page on gemini! (Same content, just different protocol.)

gemini://bentinata.com/log/bali-major-experience/