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Ok, so I have (had) about 400 hours of the game total. While I enjoy the GAME itself, there was simply too much about it I highly disliked to continue playing it. I tried sticking it out this last month or so, but the game is just so horribly unfun at this point that I can't even suck it up anymore; I simply uninstalled it. Every game I play, I either get stuck with Russians or South Americans who refuse to communicate, or play the game as if it is team based. I know this is a common complain and I won't stay stuck on it. But, either I get the types who pick Riki once the other four heroes have been picked and we need a support, and tell you to "fuck noop", or I get the types who cannot tolerate a single mistake and berate you for not being the best. Which leads me to my next point.
Obviously matchmaking is a huge problem in this game. New players are being paired up with veterans/sperglords, and veterans are getting paired up with riki_picker_2003. New Players have no healthy environment to learn to play and naturally improve, and veterans have no place to have a game appropriate for their level, as there are never supports picked or even couriers bought (the last game I played before finally uninstalling didn't have a walking courier for 20 minutes before Sniper finally had to buy. We had a Lich and a Natures Prophet, but both refused to buy the courier, NP's reason being because he NEEDED his Mask of Madness). Stripping away the ability to see rank won't stop the community from being shitty. It'll only make it worse, ESPECIALLY because of how aggressive the players can be. Things such as sharing game stats and such were integral to helping me improve. I'd show the results of the game to my boyfriend via dotabuff and he'd be able to tell me what went wrong, whether it was my fault or not, based on team composition, item builds, etc. Like or not, Valve, Dota is a very in depth game, and considering each game is about forty five minutes each, you cannot blame your playerbase for wanting to know who they are playing with, and what level everyone is at. Hiding it to stop ~*flaming and hurt feelings*~ will only create more backlash. Back when I first started playing Dota in the Beta, my boyfriend's MMR was waffling between High and Very High. It was nice to watch him play actual games with skilled players, because I saw how the game could scale in skill and difficulty, and what can happen if you play with players who pick heroes other than Drow or Sniper (this was way before Spirit Breaker got dun broke).
I know everyone's solution to these issues tends to be "queue up with friends", but again, while it is a band aid for the issue, it doesn't stop the infection. I shouldn't have to get five friends in order to have a mildly decent game, by myself on a Wednesday afternoon. At the end of the day, Valve, if people cannot single queue for this game and have a positive experience (as in, evenly matched teams, with REAL team compositions. Winning or losing aside, just a fun game in general), then the problem is in your hands. I know you can't help the "u fack modder fack nup" types, nor the whiny neckbeards who scream "GG!!!!!!!!!" in all chat before the game even starts because someone messes up a creep block. But more and more people are expressing that they do not have pleasant games unless they five stack. This is an issue. Hiding MMR won't fix or address it. IT ONLY ADDS ANOTHER SHIT-CRUSTED LAYER TO IT.
I also want to get onto the cosmetics. I already watched Valve rape TF2's rotting corpse with the damn things. I started playing TF2 just a bit before the first hats came out, and thought they were great. Around Meet the Medic, I thought some really creative things were being added into the game. I even had a bunch of unusual hats and, although I only fire up TF2 on occasion, I still make sure my Sniper's lookin' cute and up to date. With that clear, stop cluttering Dota with the cosmetics. It was tolerable in TF2 until Valve started ignoring the ACTUAL game, having exclusive pre-purchase tie ins, and adding in weapons that weren't even being tested, bloating the engine, and still not fixing hit reg after what, six, seven years? But to mask the scent of TF2's issues, Valve just threw more WACKY HATS!!!!!!! on top of it all to mask the stench. It's why I jumped ship. If Valve wasn't caring about the game anymore, why should I?
Dota 2 items are thankfully much more tastefully handled than what TF2 has morphed into. Regardless, I see Valve taking the same route. Instead of fixing community issues, releasing more heroes, improving bot AIs, and giving South Americans a decent server to play on that isn't Brazil, we keep getting more crates. The items look great, Valve. The sets are cool. The item modelers are very talented. But I already go clothes shopping. I want to play Defense of the Ancients, not Defense of the Closets. After the First Blood update, I'd go to click on library, and after not loading for 40 seconds, I'd simply be redirected to the store. I don't want this game to turn into another fashion boutique in lieu of the actual game getting the attention it needs. Sales in the store don't fix the game. New crates being released doesn't change the fact that every friend of mine, from casual to very, very serious who has played this game is quitting because they feel like you are leaving it to be a cesspool for bratty five year olds to wallow in a mire of their own excrement because it distracts the adults while they're drinking themselves out of their misery.
That's what this game is starting to feel like. A neglected, but still spoiled, child. For the last month I've had horrible, uncooperative team mates. The LPQ doesn't seem any different from High Priority in terms of the quality of games I have. My boyfriend who was High/Very High now has lower quality games than I do. I tried playing All Random in the last game I played (after a day of horrible, but typical games). I got TA, a hero I have never played, but still know a bit about just by playing the game. I said before the game started that I had never played her and would switch but if the others didn't mind, I would be able to give her a go. No one said anything.
I went Mid, was doing fine, was getting kills, and scaling into the late game as I should have. Lich started feeding, and getting mad at me because I was farming. I started getting kills, destroying in (early mid game) team fights, and began to turn the game around. We still didn't have a courier at this point, as Furion wanted his Mask of Madness, and Lich, well, who knows. In one team fight I get ganged up on by slows, and DP's Ulti, as well as Sand King's sandstorm. I meld and use Refraction, but stiill die due to burst damage and AoE stuff. Everyone on my team starts calling me bad. I say "yeah, look, this is my first time playing her and I offered to switch. If anyone wants to tell me what I'm doing wrong I can try to improve." Instead, everyone starts calling me a little bitch and when I genuinely started asking for comments on how to improve, they told me to shut up and stop whining. At that point, I had to quit.
Not even because I was mad. But because I've been trying not to delete the game as it was for the past month. I realised that there was no reason to spend an hour in misery everyday, when I have have 23 others. I was trying to do well, had a feeding team, and still tried to keep the ~*team spirit*~ in mind when they were calling me bad, and asking for help. After all, I had never really played her. Instead of saying "fack nep" I tried to be nice and still make the game pleasant. But honestly, based on my average experiences, and on those of my friends, there is no such thing as a "pleasant game" in dota anymore. Maybe it's just the nature of the game. Anyway yeah I'm done. Just thought I'd share my opinion and experience.
Obviously matchmaking is a huge problem in this game. New players are being paired up with veterans/sperglords, and veterans are getting paired up with riki_picker_2003. New Players have no healthy environment to learn to play and naturally improve, and veterans have no place to have a game appropriate for their level, as there are never supports picked or even couriers bought (the last game I played before finally uninstalling didn't have a walking courier for 20 minutes before Sniper finally had to buy. We had a Lich and a Natures Prophet, but both refused to buy the courier, NP's reason being because he NEEDED his Mask of Madness). Stripping away the ability to see rank won't stop the community from being shitty. It'll only make it worse, ESPECIALLY because of how aggressive the players can be. Things such as sharing game stats and such were integral to helping me improve. I'd show the results of the game to my boyfriend via dotabuff and he'd be able to tell me what went wrong, whether it was my fault or not, based on team composition, item builds, etc. Like or not, Valve, Dota is a very in depth game, and considering each game is about forty five minutes each, you cannot blame your playerbase for wanting to know who they are playing with, and what level everyone is at. Hiding it to stop ~*flaming and hurt feelings*~ will only create more backlash. Back when I first started playing Dota in the Beta, my boyfriend's MMR was waffling between High and Very High. It was nice to watch him play actual games with skilled players, because I saw how the game could scale in skill and difficulty, and what can happen if you play with players who pick heroes other than Drow or Sniper (this was way before Spirit Breaker got dun broke).
I know everyone's solution to these issues tends to be "queue up with friends", but again, while it is a band aid for the issue, it doesn't stop the infection. I shouldn't have to get five friends in order to have a mildly decent game, by myself on a Wednesday afternoon. At the end of the day, Valve, if people cannot single queue for this game and have a positive experience (as in, evenly matched teams, with REAL team compositions. Winning or losing aside, just a fun game in general), then the problem is in your hands. I know you can't help the "u fack modder fack nup" types, nor the whiny neckbeards who scream "GG!!!!!!!!!" in all chat before the game even starts because someone messes up a creep block. But more and more people are expressing that they do not have pleasant games unless they five stack. This is an issue. Hiding MMR won't fix or address it. IT ONLY ADDS ANOTHER SHIT-CRUSTED LAYER TO IT.
I also want to get onto the cosmetics. I already watched Valve rape TF2's rotting corpse with the damn things. I started playing TF2 just a bit before the first hats came out, and thought they were great. Around Meet the Medic, I thought some really creative things were being added into the game. I even had a bunch of unusual hats and, although I only fire up TF2 on occasion, I still make sure my Sniper's lookin' cute and up to date. With that clear, stop cluttering Dota with the cosmetics. It was tolerable in TF2 until Valve started ignoring the ACTUAL game, having exclusive pre-purchase tie ins, and adding in weapons that weren't even being tested, bloating the engine, and still not fixing hit reg after what, six, seven years? But to mask the scent of TF2's issues, Valve just threw more WACKY HATS!!!!!!! on top of it all to mask the stench. It's why I jumped ship. If Valve wasn't caring about the game anymore, why should I?
Dota 2 items are thankfully much more tastefully handled than what TF2 has morphed into. Regardless, I see Valve taking the same route. Instead of fixing community issues, releasing more heroes, improving bot AIs, and giving South Americans a decent server to play on that isn't Brazil, we keep getting more crates. The items look great, Valve. The sets are cool. The item modelers are very talented. But I already go clothes shopping. I want to play Defense of the Ancients, not Defense of the Closets. After the First Blood update, I'd go to click on library, and after not loading for 40 seconds, I'd simply be redirected to the store. I don't want this game to turn into another fashion boutique in lieu of the actual game getting the attention it needs. Sales in the store don't fix the game. New crates being released doesn't change the fact that every friend of mine, from casual to very, very serious who has played this game is quitting because they feel like you are leaving it to be a cesspool for bratty five year olds to wallow in a mire of their own excrement because it distracts the adults while they're drinking themselves out of their misery.
That's what this game is starting to feel like. A neglected, but still spoiled, child. For the last month I've had horrible, uncooperative team mates. The LPQ doesn't seem any different from High Priority in terms of the quality of games I have. My boyfriend who was High/Very High now has lower quality games than I do. I tried playing All Random in the last game I played (after a day of horrible, but typical games). I got TA, a hero I have never played, but still know a bit about just by playing the game. I said before the game started that I had never played her and would switch but if the others didn't mind, I would be able to give her a go. No one said anything.
I went Mid, was doing fine, was getting kills, and scaling into the late game as I should have. Lich started feeding, and getting mad at me because I was farming. I started getting kills, destroying in (early mid game) team fights, and began to turn the game around. We still didn't have a courier at this point, as Furion wanted his Mask of Madness, and Lich, well, who knows. In one team fight I get ganged up on by slows, and DP's Ulti, as well as Sand King's sandstorm. I meld and use Refraction, but stiill die due to burst damage and AoE stuff. Everyone on my team starts calling me bad. I say "yeah, look, this is my first time playing her and I offered to switch. If anyone wants to tell me what I'm doing wrong I can try to improve." Instead, everyone starts calling me a little bitch and when I genuinely started asking for comments on how to improve, they told me to shut up and stop whining. At that point, I had to quit.
Not even because I was mad. But because I've been trying not to delete the game as it was for the past month. I realised that there was no reason to spend an hour in misery everyday, when I have have 23 others. I was trying to do well, had a feeding team, and still tried to keep the ~*team spirit*~ in mind when they were calling me bad, and asking for help. After all, I had never really played her. Instead of saying "fack nep" I tried to be nice and still make the game pleasant. But honestly, based on my average experiences, and on those of my friends, there is no such thing as a "pleasant game" in dota anymore. Maybe it's just the nature of the game. Anyway yeah I'm done. Just thought I'd share my opinion and experience.
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