Mobile Legends: the new social media

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(I meant to post this in UI & overall environment, but I’ll put it here just in case. Hopefully it provides discussion about VG and possibly get moved, BUT ANYWAY…)

In ML’s new update, you can now add a photo album of yourself in your profile, which others can view, like, and comment. This post isn’t really a jab on MLBB, but rather on Vainglory.

Even though the feature seems so outlandishly ridiculous, it says a lot about the out-of-game experience of ML. They’ve come to a point where they have so many useful and existing features already, that THIS is an improvement they came up with.

Below I’ll list a few significant things from ML that I wish VG had, but it’s too late anyway:

  • Long-term achievements
    By the way in ML’s next update, you can boast your achievements in your profile. And instead of a boring list of accomplishments, every single one will have a unique badge!

  • Gifting system
    Makes it a whole lot easier for streamers to do giveaways.

  • Spectating matches
    In ML, you can watch a friend’s match with complete vision over everyone (there is a delay though). You can only watch if the player turns on the “streaming” option in his profile.

  • Viewable profiles
    You can see match histories and stats SOOOOOO easily in Mobile legends. You can view someone’s best heroes, win rates, double kills, triple kills, penta kills, etc etc. Meanwhile, we have an inconveniently-placed in-game browser whose API works only half the time.

  • Hero leaderboards
    It’s cool to see leaderboards of a specific hero. I don’t know how it is calculated, but hey.

  • In-game model showcase
    Everything VG has to offer in their market is a flat piece of splash art, which is appealing, but it’s more like the book cover to a book’s contents. You’re not looking at the splash art when you’re using the skin in the game, but the model. I just wish they featured that in their shop too.

  • Number-based karma system
    You need a certain “credit score” to partake in rank, and being successfully reported takes away a huge of chunk of that. There’s no LPQ, but you have to play casual to slowly regain your credit score. I just like this system because it’s numbers.

  • Inbox
    Got a message from an offline friend in VG? Chances are, you won’t even be able to know who it is! Try scrolling that endless list of friends to find out :). In ML, that isn’t the case. You won’t be lost in the redundant and buggy UI, you’ll see your message as soon as you click the notification for it. Fast and easy.

There’s a whole lot more, but these are the features I wish VG had. This whole thread is just begging me to make another UI project, isn’t it? :confused:

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You can move the topic location by editing your title with the pencil button next to the title.

I would move it but Im pretty sure the UI and overall topic is solely for VG and no other games.

But back to the topic…

Wow that really is a great improvement to literally everything. Im was back to playing AoV since last week since I rage-deleted VG and now seeing this, I might give ML a test run just for fun.

Best thingy

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Best thingy

Yeah, and they look nice too.

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Let’s remember how Dec 2018 SEMC laughed at the competition and where those games are now a year later in development. Both teams put enormous effort in all direction and the end result is vastly improved games - gfx, sfx, art, UI, servers, gameplay, new content, out of game experience, features, etc - you name it. While as sad as it sounds, we got hats and a ton of new critical bugs… :slight_smile:

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Now they’re putting their focus into porting the game to console. We got bugs on the main mobile version itself, now they have to maintain and release patches for both PC and console?!

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s a bad thing in itself that they want to branch out. But is the current state of the game ready for that? It’s like they’re trying to make VG appeal to a casual audience, but that just contradicts what the game is. Sigh.

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maybe vg can do something different

like, in game forum (integrated) for better community

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No, it’s an unequivocal recipe for failure, given the current state of VG. Branching out to console is only going to add overhead to a company that is struggling to maintain its existing products, and they’re either going to have to bring on more employees and strain the remaining money they have, or they’re going to keep squeezing blood out of a stone and get more work out of their employees, who typically don’t stay that long at a startup to begin with.

I conservatively predicted that their last funding round would set them up for a little over two years (19 million in August 2017) if they were to completely exhaust it. Given that it’s also a Series D round, Summer 2019 should prove to be an interesting time in the history of the game. If a company was trying to cure cancer, I’d go into a Series Z round if they demonstrated incremental improvements, but SEMC is just a video game company that nobody has really been interested in. We also haven’t seen any new hirings in the finance department which would signal a looming IPO, not that SEMC is positioned for one anyway, so this might be the end.

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As much as I hate saying it, but SEMC needs to take notes from MLBB. VG’s core game is leagues beyond, MLBB, but their out of game experience does not seem to hold a candle to theirs…

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Interesting.

To me Vainglory’s management just baffles me.

The graphics and the feel of playing VG is great, but anything else such as monetisation, out of game experience, U.I. etc falls short or flat.

To me, Vainglory’s early success and decision making was what ultimately gave players the feel that it is soon to be doomed.

There’s so many PC MOBAs they could learn from, not just the big two; and the mobile market has many examples of PvP games, not just mobile MOBAs; that they could learn from.

Learn what? Many things really.

From PC MOBAs - how to monetise the game, mechanics, design etc.

From mobile PvP games - server structure, device spread and constraints, matchmaking times, U.I. etc.

I could go on and on, but at this point, I think SEMC is doing a Bioware on some aspects.

If you have followed the game Anthem and the recent Kotaku article on it, Bioware has made one particular decision that stood out to me - that being not using other looter shooters such as Destiny 2 as basis for how to build Anthem as a looter shooter.

This to me is what SEMC is doing - refusing to learn from others and just using them as a basis to make things better.

Heck, Bioware’s other studio that wasn’t developing Anthem tried to advice the office that was developing Anthem.

SEMC doesn’t have that luxury, though I gave a nagging feeling if they do, they wouldn’t listen.

I admit I have been following news (of what little there is) of upcoming content and the stage of VG PC sparsely over the last two months.

I’m not excited for VG updates anymore, and that’s a bad sign to me if anything, because a faithful plater for nearly 4 years just gave up on the game. I haven’t even been playing VG for over the month since I deleted it because it got my temper flaring a bit too much and I was busy. Let’s just say I barely got angry over that time, lol. :sweat_smile: :neutral_face:

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Can I just say that thats the exact reason why I left Vg.

I got two back to back afks and my second match, I was paired against my buddie Nekofury and her friends which are also t10s against my team in which I was the only t10 :neutral_face::expressionless: and then I proceeded to rage delete the app.

Yep. New updates dont carry the same feeling as they used to.

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It’s a miracle VG still survive until now with next to zero in game procession/social, what even more surprise is it not even in their top priority list

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Absolutely agree. ML has much better systems in place to help the player base.

My one flaw with ML is that there is too much. I feel like i have to spend 5 mins just getting rid of all the red badges and sometimes i don’t even know where they are coming from. I suppose saying this, i am aware of how much i now hate that the 2 boxes you get in VG have nothing to alert you to there being ready. Can’t win.

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Yeah ML’s UI is cluttered, but hey, at least it isn’t buggy. It doesn’t look ugly either, it’s just… a lot.

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This is both ways, it’s a lot at first, but when you are veteran + want a period to vent after a hard game but still be/do something related to it - all the things you can do in the UI can serve you well (+you will know really good what is what and where to find what till then).

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It’s partly the aesthetic their audience is used to, I think – look at the complexity of the UI in most gacha games, for instance. It’s designed to keep you in the app as long as possible, and clearly, it works as intended – first, as you find your way around, then later, when you’re used to it, hitting all the different parts of the app to collect your loot and clear your badges.

With VG, if you’re not playing, there’s literally no reason to be in the app at all.

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