There are a lot of people that don’t have a huge understanding of HCS, what it is, how it works, etc.
Back in February, I saw someone asking about it in the Halo Discord, with a ton of questions, and I decided to try to help him out a bit.
I figured I would copy his questions, and my answers to them, here - in case others were wondering the same things.
Please feel free to add more info or ask new questions - Hopefully we can fill in the gaps for anyone who is interested, and maybe this’ll help if 343 decides to ever create an official FAQ!
- What are seeds?
Seeds are your placement going into the major tournament.
So, how many points your team accumulated (added together as individuals) during the weekly tournaments determines if you go in as #1, #2, #3 seed etc - just like in traditional sports.
- What’s roster lock? is that an event? How is that covered? does that mean those players are set for that team and no one can switch it up?
Roster lock is the day you need to have your final team roster submitted for an actual event - no substitutions after lock (might be allowed in certain emergency situations, outlined in the rules)
- What’s double elimination vs single elimination? is there a loser bracket with single elimination?
Single elimination means, when you lose you are out - no loser bracket.
Double elimination means if you lose 1, you move to the loser bracket, if you lose again you are out. The winner of the losing bracket would’ve lost only 1 match, and they’ll play the winner of the winner’s bracket in a grand finals. If the loser bracket winner beats the winner’s bracket winner in Grand Finals, they play 1 more match for all the marbles.
- Why doesn’t HCS broadcast the whole pro tournament, like the weekly Pro Series events?
HCS has limited staff and $ to pay for broadcasting. I’ve always wished they would broadcast more too.
But they’ve made a stance that they want to have a minimum level of a ‘show’ when they broadcast - so during the weekly tournaments, they typically only broadcast the last 3 hours or so.
However, some community members and organizations like LVTProductions have stepped up and has been broadcasting a lot of the earlier rounds before HCS comes on with their official broadcast.
https://twitter.com/LVTProductions?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
HCS broadcasts the whole tournament for Majors, and Championships, often on 2-4 twitch channels.
- Pro vs Open Series? Do the winner of open series play the teams in the pro series?
Pro series is typically 16 teams.
The top 8 teams from the last event get invited to the next Pro Series automatically, (afaik) and then there’s an Open Series where I think it’s (almost) unlimited sign ups available. The top 8 teams from the Open Series earn their spot to compete in the next Pro Series - making 16 teams for each Pro Series.
- Where can I find more info?
Hop onto Waypoint for more info:
General Halo Waypoint HCS link: https://www.halowaypoint.com/esports
HCS Year 1 overview: https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/hcs-2021-2022-season-reveal
Code of Conduct: https://content.halocdn.com/media/Default/community/hcs/handbook/hcs-code-of-conduct_version-1.01-0d10f3001f5b49928a1c0a5bde30b49b.pdf
Handbook: https://wpassets.halowaypoint.com/wp-content/2022/01/HCS-2022-Program-Handbook_v1.02.pdf
HCS Twitter: https://twitter.com/HCS