It’s just a thread to name all of the problems Vainglory has in its way to become the best MOBA (I mean both gameplay and playerbase number wise) on mobile. This thread I’ll give to everyone to debate and I’ll not voice my opinion here.
Gameplay balance: Vainglory balance is the best balance by far on mobile MOBAs but it is far from perfect. I’ve watched and analysed how pros, intermediates (me of course) and noobs play and also research the pick, ban and win rate of heroes on vgpro.gg as you can see the balance is not good. OP, high win rate and overpicked heroes such as Gwen (new super cancerous all around sniper), Alpha (though she has been nerfed, she’s still strong AF), Taka (high win rate), Krul (S-tier jungler now) Grumpjaw (just return from the dead and now’s already a destroyer of worlds), etc. don’t get hit that hard by the nerf hammer or they even get buffed but underpowered, low win rate heroes such as Ringo (OG standard issue sniper), SAW (yes my lord is in the low win rate category), Varya (low win rate after the nerf, Lance (lowest win rate worldwide), Joule (even lower than SAW) get hit so hard by the nerf hammer or get buffed but so unimpactful that they don’t even hit the META. And our beloved SEMC don’t do anything about it. The OP keep getting OP-er, the UP keep getting UP-er and don’t even talk about the new heroes. Most of the new heroes are broken AF. This is why some people start leaving the game.
Toxicity: Yes. The biggest elephant in the room and the essentials of any game. May I modify a quote from YouTuber TheRussianBadger: Vainglory’s community is so non-toxic it might be as well a box of fking crayons. Trollers, feeders, 12yo kids who are always saying “I’m fking ur mom, I’m gonna whoop ur ass”, etc and even the devs do that and they don’t fix any shit? This community is so toxic that it’s unbearable. Other game communities are toxic but they take that toxicity and turn it into memes so hilarious that everyone can bear the toxicity. Vainglory’s community has none of any redeeming qualities to it and it keeps being a toxic pile of garbage and people turn their blind eyes to this? Just smfh.
Connection (this applies to SEA the most): LLLLLAAAAAGGG hhhhhiiiiitttttsssss SSSSSEEEEEAAAAA sssssooooo hhhhhaaaaarrrrrddddd ttttthhhhhaaaaattttt ttttthhhhheeeee gggggaaaaammmmmeeeee iiiiisssss sssssooooommmmmeeeeetttttiiiiimmmmmeeeeesssss uuuuunnnnnppppplllllaaaaayyyyyaaaaabbbbbllllleeeee (jk it’s enough) and SEMC promised to #FixYourShit but they didn’t. Lag is still a very common thing in SEA and it has cost me many ranked matches. I really hope that they will one day fix this issue completely that the ping is only like 7ms for SEA.
The start of overmonetization: I know every game must have things that people must pay to get so that the devs have money to make the game. That’s understandable but now lemme see, Talent system, Blueprint system, some system that Smurf’s Evil Megacorp are gonna bring in some patches later, they just make the game borderline ungrindable for free players. I and most of the people here used to be able to grind for skins back in the days of 1. I don’t give a damn to 2.11 but with patch 2.12, the introduction of the Blueprint system makes skin grinding impossible to be done. The drop rate of blueprints is so low that you can’t grind for a skin but when you do get a blueprint, it’s only a Rare blueprint for a hero you don’t own and not even want to play. Just please, return things back to normal like pre 2.12.
The problem is skins should of always been and always kept a ice only item with a couple giveaways a year for them. This would encourage them to make good skins and is the idea moba money maker
I would say that’s like comparing apples and oranges - but at least those are both physical objects. A F2P App and a Smartphone don’t even have that much in common.
Lance may have a low WR, but he is not AT ALL weak. He is just harder to use well than other captains. He has the best CC of ANY hero and is pretty tanky with good mobility with his C. One of the strongest heroes imo.
Toxicity: Our toxicity are turned into memes. Even some emotes in here are memes cause of the toxicity as well as “We need vision”. Also the LPQ changes are one of the best ways imo to lower toxicity. I know for a fact that I will keep my afking to a MINIMAL now that I won’t to able to rank in LPQ.
Monetization: At least we have a way to earn skins. Of course it is a grind, but at least we have chances to get skins. Grented, I would have probably made rare skins easier to aquire, but Epics and up should be more premium. SEMC even gives a bunch of heroes for free despite having a very small hero pool compared to other MOBAs. The game is free and is as far away from P2W other than talents, which are not that hard to aquire either with some rare talents being better than legendary ones such as Grumpjaw’s. I would also like Blueprint drops to be a little more common, but not too common cause I still have not gotten a single blueprint except for garunteed ones. Keep in mind that skins are not needed to play the game. You only need the heroes, which are the most grind-worthy things in the game.
Balance: Games are very hard to balance. No meta is going to be 100% balanced and VG is still one of the most balanced game, though ofc there will be overpowered and underpowered heroes, which draft helps to alleviate. There is also the ability to make very interesting comps that turn out to be extremely strong if played correctly with coordination like the all captain team I went against, though I feel that game was VERY winnable, but my team, at least my jungler I think, did not play around them correctly.
No, actually Vainglory is not a “merchandise”, as you can not purchase it. You are using a service based on a revocable license. The “virtual goods” you are handing over money for do not belong to you, either. They belong to SEMC, and you are granted access to use them under the same license. There is no transfer of ownership, kk?
So now that we have the formal distinction out of the way, the difference between a tangible object (which is in limited supply) and a virtual object (which is in unlimited supply, unless artificial restrictions are imposed) should be somewhat obvious.
The marketing approaches involved are completely different, too, for that very reason.
Saying the two are the same is just not very clever. Sorry.
So the software that you get or your warantee on said Samsung device. Or do you guys not remember when Samsung forced early battery fire experiencers to sign a contract stating you will never use Samsung warranty again to get a replacement
The issue I have with vg is just the amount of rng that’s in it now with so many chests. I’ve never liked the idea of paying money for a chance at getting something I want or paying money for random stuff. Especially don’t like the fact that this is in a game that kids play and can easily access, it comes across that exchanging money for mystery is great thing
what this game is lacking is publicity… so many people doesn’t even know VG. they should be pushing publicity on casuals… and not on e sports… becasue lets face it. at the end of the day the market is runned with casual people not pro players they should be spamming ads everywhere. like how AoV and ML does although the difference is VG ads should have quality like the first minute of the sovereign rise preview. that itself can be an ad showcasing how beautiful VG is.
edit: i made a mistake and commented it on the wrong thread looool.
I mean, really? Did you really just type that up? “One should treat something as it should be treated”, when how it should be treated is the point of contention? WtF!?
1 - Balance, fortress with a 56% win rate compared to lances 42% win rate… both of these supposed over and under powered hero’s are within 8% of a balanced hero pool. SEMC recently buffed lance and nerfed fortress… what more can they do? There are so many variables when balancing hero’s including items, team compositions (remember fortress and Koshka comp back in the day) that’s impossible to make every hero 50%. I for one don’t want a balanced hero pool, if this were the case I’d never explore hero compositions, draft band or itemisation. Adapting to the meta is what makes the game fresh each patch, for instance id never user Gwen prior to her changes.
2 - Toxicity is a problem which needs to be addressed. Trolling occurs at all levels in the game from VG down to worthy foe and it can be incredibly frustrating for soloq players.
3 - pass i don’t care…
4 - This one annoys me; skins are SEMCs way of making this game free to play. If your complaint had been I cant access all hero’s then I’d probably support your argument, but your specifically complaining about it not being possible to grind all the skins. Does this somehow prevent you playing the game? Does it limit your in game experience because you don’t have an epic skin? No it doesn’t… sure they’ve got things wrong, pay to win blitz etc (I don’t play purely due to this) but to complain you can’t get an epic skin free is petty. Enjoy the fact that I’m paying for your game time by buying ice and stop complaining, if you want that skin pay for it or do without.
That’s a half-way comprehensive summary of our exchange, so I am going to give you the benefit of doubt, and go over this one last time.
In order for something to qualify as “merchandise”, it needs to be traded. A trade requires the good to change ownership. Skins in VG do not change ownership. So, by definition, they can not be merchandise. No, not soft merchandise, either. (You are not even purchasing a license to use a product, in this case. You are bound by a contractual agreement linked to using the service in the first place, and all arts / assets / visual representations that are part of it belong to SEMC throughout, regardless of whether you pay money to be granted access to them.)
Now, while you are obviously wrong, all of this doesn’t matter for shit. The actual point of the post that sparked this debate was a small sentence that hence got lost:
That’s another no-brainer. At the moment, SEMC are following industry standards in their marketing. You don’t have to like that (I don’t), but that’s what they are doing.
Arguing they should follow a different marketing strategy based on a false assumption of how they generate revenue (both in legal terms and concerning customer retention / maximizing customer value) is asinine.
You are suggesting a mode of operation that offers customers 0 incentive to use the product. It doesn’t work. There needs to be progression in order to get people invested enough to spend money in an F2P environment. People are most likely to spend money to speed up progression.
There’s plenty of research on this, and thinking for a second that treating skins as entirely paid content would generate more revenue speaks for a disconnect from reality.
Actually true industry standards don’t fit SEMC system. As a true industry standard they would either have paid skins only that are bought straight up or they would have rng chests and ability to grind for skins but having “special chests” with a garantee of at least one item not a 10% chance
