Update — March 9
After getting relocated from Bali to Los Angeles, the Hearthstone Masters Tour will finally be held online.
This time, Blizzard anticipated the reaction of their community, and decided to provide "up to $1,500 in reimbursement for non-refundable travel arrangements to all qualified competitors who have already booked their travel to Los Angeles."
The Masters Tour is set to begin on March 20 at 9 AM PDT.
Original Article
The Hearthstone community wasn't expecting this at all, but Blizzard have made the decision nonetheless — there will be no Masters Tour Indonesia, as the event will now take place in Los Angeles.
"We decided to make this move to protect the health and safety of our players, staff and everyone involved with the Masters Tour. We’re sad we won’t be able to hold the event as originally planned, but the safety of all participants is our top priority." Blizzard Entertainment said in a statement on their official website.
While this decision made sense in terms of the danger to the players and the Blizzard teams organizing the event, the community immediately took to social networks to voice their concerns.
The reason?
Blizzard is 'only' "providing up to $250 US to all qualified competitors who need to rebook their travel to Los Angeles if they've already secured flights to Indonesia".
Although the total cost of a trip to Bali (airfare and accommodation included) is much less than for Los Angeles for some players, it is almost certain that $250 won't be enough to cover the costs.
Moreover, in order to reduce the price of their trip, some players had already booked their tickets without cancellation clauses.
While players with a team can expect the support of their organization, the situation is particularly difficult for those who have paid for their ticket out of pocket, and will now have to finance a trip to Los Angeles.
The Hearthstone esports team hasn't released any other information, but this Masters Tour could be a disaster if numerous players find themselves unable to afford a ticket to attend the event.
The new phase of the 2020 Hearthstone competitive tour has been announced! After Arlington, the Masters Tour will welcome more than 300 players next March in Indonesia. Here's all the details on qualification and the tournament.
