Following PGI and the Grand Finals of GLL Season 2, the competitive scene in PUBG received some necessary time without almost any tournaments taking place. We decided to talk to the Coach of #DIGPUBG, Dylan "Didz" Didiano, about the previous tournaments, optimization in scrims, other game modes possibly joining the competitive scene, and much more!

Hi Didz, how do you feel about your squads' performance post-PGI?

Didz: Not qualifying to PGI Berlin was quite a bummer for our team. It was really tough to overcome the fact that we didn't make it to the biggest PUBG LAN to date, but we had to accept it and understand that there would be more in the future. Our squad's performance directly after PGI wasn't reflective of our full potential, but after WSOE and Gustav coming back from some time off we prepared extensively for the GLL Season 2 Final in Stockholm.

I felt that our week-long bootcamp really helped us get through some tough times and we had a good showing at our most recent LAN. Finishing in 8th place is not the result we wanted but I do feel that it was our best LAN yet as far as teamwork goes. GLL Season 2 was a really tight race for 1st and it basically came down to the final two games not going as well as we wanted.

What do you think about the current state of PUBG as an esport? Has it seen improvement?

Didz: PUBG as an eSport has definitely seen improvement in the past few months and it is continuously getting better as time goes on. The support from PUBG Corp. has been essential in its growth and since they have announced that they will be supporting it for the next 5 years, things are only going to improve further. I feel that right now is the perfect time to be getting involved in the scene, whether it be as a player, coach, analyst, caster, esports organization, or tournament organizer. I think that the upcoming pro league is going to help the PUBG flourish into a thriving scene for all those involved.

Do you prefer online tournaments or LAN?

Didz: I much prefer LAN tournaments due to the fact that I can speak with my team face to face and address any issues directly and that at LAN there are fewer issues revolving around poor networking and desync, which is PUBG's biggest issue at the moment. At LAN, everybody is more or less on the same playing field which, to me, makes for the most competitive environment.

Are third-party tournaments needed in PUBG?

Didz: I think that third-party tournaments have a place in every esport, including PUBG. The PUBG Corp. leagues and tournaments should be the biggest events, but third-party tournaments and leagues should always be encouraged because they are always pushing the boundaries of how a tournament could be organized, run, and broadcasted. Unless PUBG Corp. goes the same route as Riot did with League of Legends, third-party tournaments will always exist in PUBG esports.

PUBG Corp. has improved the in-game client/server performance specifically for PGI. How much worse is the current situation when you’re playing a scrim online with 20 teams?

Didz: Scrims with 20 teams are significantly worse performance-wise due to the added players in the server and vehicles being used at once in a given area. Again, 16 teams has been tried and tested as the 'sweet spot' in many aspects for quite some time.

How do you feel about the debate between having 16 teams in a professional match or 20 teams?

Didz: To me it has never been a debate, 16 teams has been the sweet spot for a long time and when the 20 team format was introduced, the majority of the professional scene agreed that it was too many. The more teams you add, the more the RNG factor increases because there is less space on the map and more people shooting each other. This is why you see so many more third/fourth party situations in games with 20 teams. The idea behind 20 teams is to increase early game action by decreasing the amount of 'free' space on the map, but no team wants to fight early because it makes no sense to risk losing resources at that point in the game.

In my opinion, it should be the production and talent crew's job to create excitement in the early game in creative ways. Think educational storytelling, predictions of engagements between teams based on possible upcoming rotations, strong positions that teams will be looking to take control of, or even telling interesting stories about players or teams that credit the players with a deeper character for the fans to discover. In my opinion, 16 teams is the most competitive format and that should come above all in an esport. If it is competitive, there is a way to make it entertaining.

With FACEIT recently joining in on PUBG matchmaking, could PUBG Corp. do anything to improve custom games/scrims?

Didz: There are talks of scrims possibly being held using the FACEIT platform, which would make things pretty seamless. It would allow for teams to get automatically put into the correct slot, scrims to start on a strict timer, and results/statistics to be archived neatly and efficiently. As a coach, I would love it if PUBG Corp. were to add an additional slot on each team for coaches or analysts, which would allow a coach to spectate only his/her team's POV while in scrims.

Do you think that TPP has a chance of getting its own competitive scene in the western regions?

Didz: I think that TPP is slowly dying out in the competitive scene. After PGI, teams and players from the eastern regions have publicly stated that they preferred FPP for competitive after playing it for a few months. If anything, I think that TPP could be used in future events as a 'showmatch' type of mode rather than the actual tournament with prize pool on the line, similar to what they did in StarSeries i-League Season 1.

The Eastern and Western regions are currently quite isolated from each other. Do you think that there should be more tournaments featuring teams from every region?

Didz: I think that global tournaments are the future. It's also the only way that we can judge who is truly the best in the world. There will always be new talent rising up to the challenge and I don't think that we should limit competitions to be just regional. Global is the way to go in this aspect.

Viewing experience is still a problem for BR games but there has definitely been improvement. What are your thoughts on this subject?

Didz: The spectator client has come a long way and I think that observers and production staff are getting better as they gain more experience. The viewer experience will only get better going forward as they keep trying to implement new features and ideas.

Has there been a tournament that stood out to you?

Didz: Starladder has done an amazing job with their production quality, especially with their most recent event, StarSeries i-League Season 2. I even recently tweeted about their overlayed statistics in specific being very pleasing to the viewer. https://twitter.com/DIGdidz/status/1035573921209311232

GLL and ESL have experimented with other styles of tournaments like the Wingman tournament held on the smaller map, Sanhok. Do you think that there’s potential for competitive solo/duo tournaments?

Didz: This goes back to the question regarding the 16 teams vs. 20 teams debate. Duo and solo tournaments have too much extra RNG involved when compared to the standard 16 team squads format. Duos and solos tournaments are rough enough on Erangel and Miramar, I can't even imagine how hectic it must have been with Sanhok at the Broadcaster Royale. With so many extra guns being pointed at you, it becomes more important to not give away your position but in PUBG sometimes you have no choice.

Once you start firing shots and give away your position, you will have multiple teams focusing you in a solo/duo event rather than in squads where it is much more manageable. Regardless of what I think though, I do believe that tournament organizers will keep doing these tournaments, they just won't grow to the same interest level and prize pool level as squads tournaments. Due to the added RNG, they will naturally hold less prestige.

If you were the host of a tournament, what would be your main concern when it comes to improving the overall quality of your tournament?

Didz: Without a doubt, my biggest concern would be to make sure that we used the PUBG Corp. LAN client and that the tournament PCs were tested as optimal for playing competitive PUBG to ensure that all players had the smoothest experience possible while competing.

We want to thank Didz for answering our questions and providing us with his professional insight. For more PUBG from the #DIGPUBG boys, stay tuned with Team Dignitas!

You can follow Didz on Twitter!