Just something I felt like doing.
So, we have and have had a handful of Brawl modes presently and in the past.
This, from memory, consists of:
- Battle Royale (BR) [now All Random All Lane (ARAL)], no Talents and Talents enabled.
- Blitz, no Talents and Talents enabled.
- Onslaught.
- One For All (OFA).
- Rumble.
- All Random, All Mid (ARAM).
What I want to here is rate how fun they feel to me from my own experience playing them and maybe give some reasons why.
So, from top to bottom currently:
- ARAM.
- Rumble.
- Blitz with no Talents.
- ARAL with no Talents.
- Blitz with Talents.
- OFA.
- ARAL with Talents.
- Onslaught.
Itâs no surprise to most why the bottom four has three quarters filled with Brawl modes that have Talents. Thereâs no need to explain why either, cause everyone has their own opinions about Talents that for the most part reflects what the community thinks of Talents.
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What I probably should explain is why OFA is in sixth place.
Itâs a fun game mode, but only if you get the heroes that can put up a decent fight and can work together well as a team full of the same heroes.
The idea behind it isnât unexpected, as this game mode has been used in other games as well.
I feel that Vaingloryâs take on OFA is marred for me by a few things. This include, but are not limited to:
- Having a small set roster each time the mode came around in the patches it was in play.
- Having one hero that just gets dumpstered by other heroes in that roster set most of the time.
- Having Quests that took too long to complete and required more matches than what players are generally willing to invest time into to complete.
- Having two weekend where only one hero was playable.
- Implementing âmirror matchesâ too late. After all, what is âOne For Allâ if not everyone gets the same hero.
- Not being able to play specific heroes due to overall hardware limitations. This one is understandable and unavoidable, but it still sucks you know.
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The third and fourth placed game modes are probably not a surprise. These two are the OG Brawl modes and was what kept me interested in Vainglory all these years aside from the heroes, their designs, their skins and the lore of VG.
Blitz places higher simply because it gave me the element of choice and has a much shorter game time.
ARAL has its advantages in that it makes one practice a random hero that are otherwise never picked and forms some of the most peculiar team comps and matchups. However, its longer game time and style donât quite hit that sweet spot for a mobile game.
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I debated who to give the top spot on my Brawl mode listing, but I have to give it to ARAM.
Reasons why ARAM places higher than Rumble:
- The randomness ensures that you are kept on your toes and practice heroes you donât otherwise would have picked. This is the same as ARAL but better because of the number of players in a team, which provides more safety and greater avenue in finding hero synergy.
- Teammates are less likely to flame or be toxic to others because everyoneâs hero is given at random. This also dissuades players from taking the ranks of the teammates that they see as the hero they are given is not necessarily one they use often or at all.
- The game time is much shorter and tends to remain consistent, roughly 10 minutes or less which is perfect for a mobile game.
- The game flow doesnât favor one team entirely (unless their team composition is highly favorable against the opposition). A team could push all the way to the armory and take it but could also be wiped and have their opposition rush down the lane to kill their turrets, armory and/or vain in that time.
- The presence of means to perform ambushes or backdoors. The way the map is designed makes it so that a smart team can hide in the bushes at the sides of the lane, letting their opposition pass them sufficiently down the lane before rushing towards them from behind or rushing towards the enemy base. Teleport boots can also do this if placed in the bushes at the side in the places closes to the enemies base or in the enemies base itself. This feat is also plausible with the heroes that have abilities to move around the map over great distances such as Lyra 4.0 coming soon and Yates.
- The detailed map and shadows on phones that can support the graphics are just awesome. Itâs zoomed out a bit on smaller screens, but the beauty of VGâs graphics are still conveyed well.
Rumbleâs strengths over ARAM is less, but it is still pretty good.
- Rumble gives the players the ability to choose the hero they like. The element of choice is always a good way to appease people.
- Rumble has an easier phase and time for players to farm, with the options being to share the lane or the jungle. Most players in a team can reach the maximum level and get most if not all their items by the time the late game stage of Rumble arrives.
- The map is easier to stall but also forces a shorter game time through the Kraken. This increases the importance of getting those lane turrets before she spawns so as to put the team in a favorable position to contest the Kraken.
Where Rumble falls short I feel are:
- The Middle Sentry. It fills up with Gold so quickly but it isnât easy to get due to its tankiness and the death timers. Rarely do I ever see it taken while I was playing Rumble during the weekend it was on.
- The Kraken. It tended to be the be all end all objective. A good team with suitable heroes can kill it before she takes tooo many objetives, but that doesnât happen as often in my experience. With the changes coming to its tankiness in 4.0 though, weâll have to see what will change then.
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So, what are your thoughts on the Brawl modes if you play or have played them?
