Screaming Into The Void

[TheInterpreter]

Was going to make a salty post about player habits, but then I remembered how many good players have already left the game so…I guess this is a salty post about the lack of the existing player base seeming to improve?

I get it: lots of good players have already left, but for the players that have stuck around even with the shrinking player base, why does it feel like more people aren’t getting better in general?

I would just guess that with a smaller player base, eventually the people that stuck around to play would actually get better over time, leading to a smaller, but somewhat adequately skilled player base, but instead I see mostly people just bull rushing or spamming abilities and thinking thats going to get the win? Even if I see the same people, day after day playing, some of them do the same strategies over and over whether they worked the last time or not?

This ended up being a post about player habits anyway, but the main thing is; why don’t they seem to be changing?

I can remember a lot of games I’ve played where the player base, even if it shrank off, left a following of mostly decent players. What’s so different here? Is EVERYONE (sarcasm) playing literally new to the game, gameplay strategies, and builds that are most effective?

I literally had a guy rushing in 3v1 the whole match ask ‘what are we waiting for’ when I asked him to stop. He said it was 3v2, we could have at least got their carry. Mind, I’m in the next lane completely when he decides to run in by himself. Mind, he JUST popped his crucible pointlessly AND missed his ability doing the push, AND my ult was on cooldown. MIND this is blitz, and every pointless death is just a gift of a point to the enemy team. Somehow he was mad at me. What it blazes is going on here?

This was going to be a lot more salty than I’ve worded it as, but it’s genuinely weird to me that if the player base is shrinking, more people aren’t getting better over time in that smaller player base. And this doesn’t even really seem to be a symptom of player base shrinkage because I see players with LE skins from way back doing the same kinda things that don’t make sense

So what is it nowadays; is bull rushing and ability/item spamming the new norm for gameplay on VG? I’m genuinely curious.

[Skyefall]

My theory is old vets check out how vg is doing, in a rusty state. Another possibility is they’re pre 5s. After all, 5s is really weird if all you’ve ever played is 3s. As for the seemingly only new players every match… it might be. The overall rating for vg is still pretty high in the app store right? Maybe people stumble on it and try it out.

If they’re all noobs, then it’s no wonder why it’s hard to find vets. Vets may be pissed off and tilted and play ever worse than usual. As for noobs progressing, that’s not easy. After all, there isn’t much that’s enticing about current state vg. Ridiculously long qs, and a 30% chance of lagging with no fault of your own. Remember the mm is optimized for time, and the fact qs are long means they really is so few players. The new players are probably not invested in vg because there isn’t really anything to be invested in. Imaging starting out now, there’s too many heroes and the glory to unlock them all would demand a ton of time, even with freebies.

[VaKTaBi]

With the lack of professional players and balance, the meta is just abuse the most OP heroes no matter the situation. Most new heroes were (and some still) busted at some point, and they tend to do well in any stage of the match (Ishtar is a lategame hypercarry… But she can bully most laners in earlygame…, Joules is… What? An early, lategame, midgame hero? When is she weak?..)

There is right now a heavy abuse if OP heroes (who tend to wipe any other hero you play) with now downsides and not as skill requiere as they used to. This plus the Rock Paper Scissors we have : Ishtar deletes every mage except Magnus, Magnus deletes Ishtar, every other mage deletes Magnus…), plus the heavy CC comps (landing and chaining CC doesn’t requiere any skill) leading into free-out-of-the-jail-kits to avoid it (those kits requieres 0 skill) make the game overall less skill dependant and more hero-dependant. So players don’t need to work on they skill just because they can compensate it with the raw power of some heroes

That’s why the community skill is so low right now

[TheInterpreter]

I agree with a lot with you guys. I think you pinned it down largely with the lack of sense of something to invest in, besides just playing if you like the gameplay.

By the way I’ve noticed Reza deletes Ishtar pretty easily if you ult on her after she pops hers, and still deletes most heroes pretty easily unless they barrier up (as long as you go cp reza. none of that stormcrown, boots, and pulseweave stuff. give him lifesteal with eve, aftershock, and a de and you have his core kit).

[VaKTaBi]

In teamfight Reza is really easy to shut down, you can prepare CC wherever he is gonna use his ult.

[TheInterpreter]

Yeah true. I’m talking more strategized assassinations, like catching an Ishtar away from her team or waiting out the enemy’s cc abilities to be used on other allies before you use your ult. I don’t mean blindly ulting…like most players seem to do nowadays (op reference ) xD. Man don’t get me started on the people that still don’t max out their dashes on him and just get cw instead of buying boots. Note: I will always not recommend boots on reza unless they change him to 1 dash or increase its cooldown lol…such a waste to me…BUT this is not a reza post. just pointing out that reza can eat a sole Ishtar alive before she can basic him to death if he has the right gear.