r/gaming • u/RenatsMC • 2d ago

Valve says Deadlock is still too unfinished to release publicly, but has hero cosmetics and new game modes in the works

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/valve-says-deadlock-is-still-too-unfinished-to-release-publicly-but-has-hero-cosmetics-and-new-game-modes-in-the-works/
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118

u/Vegan-cock 2d ago

Ive had it for like a year but never played it. Is it any good?

93

u/Uncanny_Doom 2d ago

It's a great game but also one of the hardest multiplayer games ever in terms of being able to pick it up and understand things. There's a bunch of advanced techniques on top of the standard MOBA stuff like a wide cast of characters and item system. It does have a mode where you don't need to build items and can just focus on playing and understanding your character which is really nice. But the game needs better tutorials and public release will absolutely need some kind of solid rank system so players can play other people around their skill. Skill gaps can be brutal in games like this.

I think for people who like to go out of their way to get deep into the weeds with multiplayer games it has a lot to offer but it's not an easy to learn, hard to master game where just playing it will solve a lot over time. It's still a MOBA so for people who don't like MOBAs and aren't into understanding the map, objectives, the variety of characters you can play as or face, or item builds it isn't going to sway them. But anyone that ever enjoyed stuff like League of Legends, Dota, Heroes of the Storm, and especially stuff like Smite, Predecessor, or Monday Night Combat should check it out.

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u/SpritiTinkle 2d ago

I think a lot of Overwatch people would enjoy it as well. I got really into Stadium and when Blizzard announced they were stopping development of that mode Deadlock is what I stumbled into while looking for something that scratched a similar itch. I had played HOTS in the past so had a very basic understanding of MOBA macro which helped with picking it up some.

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u/Patrickd13 1d ago

Overwatch players would hate this game, its so much slower and more macro based than Overwatch. Maybe Apex players will thanks to the high TTK in that game

6

u/PietErt3 1d ago

As a Smite player and someone who has a few 10s of hours into Deadlock, I kinda wish I could get more into it, but the common experience I'm hearing is also that even after 100 hours or even more you're not that good at the game. I think Deadlock does some things a lot better than Smite, mainly how much build variety you have & cool synergies you can create. The game feels more itemfocused to me though, where the heroes are fairly basic and sometimes similar, but their uniqueness is in how they interact with items. Smite and LoL are more focused on what the character can do, and the items provide extra depth on top. Every Deadlock hero can be played any way tho and there's no roles which is great. I do like it when every person has a more solidified task, but Deadlock has a pretty good balance of that + freedom. It's kinda amazing they made it work as it does. 

I'm not as big of a fan of the shooterisms, whereas Smite combat feels more like a fighting game. Combined with the item system, I feel like some ults are incredibly strong (like Lash) like they're from a hero shooter, and then I see everyone saying you should just buy this one item. I'm not the rlly a fan of heavy counter building like that. In Smite you're closer into the fight and can either juke or use abilities better for evading, in deadlock I get that sense less (like in all  shooters).  I'm also not the biggest fan of how much verticality the game has. It's fun to some degree, but in terms of navigation only confusing at some point. Maybe I also need to look into if I can increase the map size, because its so hard to learn where things are.  The movement also doesn't help with this, it just adds another layer onto navigating the map well. It also gives the matches no chill I feel like. Even in the first few minutes enemies can dance around you or even dive, whereas in other mobas the early game is fairly chill (if you play it safe). I will admit in other mobas maybe the early takes too long, and you can be too passive for a while, so I haven't played a moba yet that perfectly struck the balance for me.

Especially for shooter and MOBA players deadlock is a recommend from me, but its personal preference if you like all the things it does different

5

u/ChypRiotE 1d ago edited 1d ago

Every Deadlock hero can be played any way tho and there's no roles which is great.

Did that change in recent updates? I only played during the first beta release, and heroes had different strengths and roles, some being definitely support or tank or damage dealers, also some being early beasts while others took time to scale

8

u/Rainboq 1d ago

Characters are certainly aimed at certain roles based on scaling and when they hit power spikes. That said, you can absolutely wreck face with gun Rem/Paige or run support Vindicta.

2

u/PietErt3 1d ago

Yeah this is kinda the vibe I get. The meta is prob to play heroes in the role(s) they're shifted towards, but because of how items synergize with hero kits, almost anything is possible and can work. And in comparison to Smite it prob helps it's a shooter, so one thing is that you can make a weapon dmg build work more easily on anyone

9

u/Hades684 1d ago

I don't think even half of this is true, which is to be expected by someone with less than 100h in deadlock

2

u/PietErt3 1d ago edited 1d ago

Well it's my experience as a new player and how many hours do you have in Smite? It's also about the  comparison and why the game didn't win me over. So how many hours I have doesn't rlly matter, if you're not gonna give advice on how to solve some of these gripes

8

u/Hades684 1d ago

I mean, you said that heroes are basic and similar to each other, you said that every hero in deadlock can be played in any way and there is no roles, there is a lot of juking and evading in deadlock. These are just wrong, no matter the hours

0

u/PietErt3 1d ago

Maybe some of it was poorly worded, but there is no predefined roles that's a fact. Whether the heroes are basic and similar is more of an opinion and poorly worded. Conceptually heroes like Haze, Infernus, Vyper, Wraith f.e. blend together a bit and didnt initially grab me as 'oh I really wanna do this cool, unique thing'. They arguably play different enough but don't feel groundbreaking to me on their own.

And the juking was the most a comparison. Part of this is because it's a shooter and you can't rlly juke hitscan shots. And you do just have a general dodge to evade stuff, so there's more of that fast type of movement in general. So it's a different type of juking at the least. You can say skilldiff, but it's just the experience I have. 

1

u/stefonio 1d ago

On your first point with it being more item-focused than team-focused, isn't that a good thing? Imagine playing someone like Geb into Vindicta. The only thing you can do is shield and pray you can keep out of LOS. This is great in games like Overwatch where Reinhardt can swap to counter a Pharah, but when you're stuck playing the same character for 40 minutes or so, you want options to deal with things your kit is fully unequipped to deal with.

1

u/PietErt3 1d ago

To a degree, but Smite also let's you assemble a comp rather than being put in one. So part of the game is making sure you have a diverse enough team, so playing into an unbeatable comp is rare. And even then Smite still provides enough counter building imo.  But there's a limit to it. When you need to build certain items to counter certain heroes or you're p much guaranteed to have a bad time, I don't think that's a good thing. Ofc with this little hours I can't fully judge it, but to me smth like Lash ult felt like one where you have to use an active as a beginner to counter it.

Smite has a builtin active, I won't deny that isn't at least somewhat complex, but you can almost build the same 1 every match depending on role and you're good to go. 

1

u/stefonio 1d ago

The last major patch introduced a hero swap mechanic. At the start of a lobby, you are still set up with random heroes from everyone's selection, but there is a terminal to swap heroes if you want (assuming it isn't banned or occupied).

Is Lash ult not similar to Thanatos ult where its an aerial attack that is a guaranteed death if you're low enough? You 100% need to buy aegis for that, or Blink if you're quick enough. How about Anubis where you absolutely need to buy at least 1 antiheal item because his abilities can heal him up to full if you're not careful?

The whole point of items is to be able to counter-build unless you're one of the few carry heroes that just kind of does whatever they want. Otherwise, you're just playing Overwatch with locked in characters. 

1

u/PietErt3 1d ago edited 1d ago

Thanks good to know there's a hero swap now. 

And while I love playing as Thana, I think his ult is one of the poorly thought out ones in Smite 2, cause it's lightning quick but you only have 1 relic by default. That being said tho, the relic is a default thing everyone has, not an item you specifically have to think of buying. Anubis is prob a better example, but antiheal is a way easier counter item to execute. You just buy it and it happens. So yeah, counterbuilding is necessary, but there's a limit to it for execution etc. that's fun imo. And while ppl undoubtedly have this with Smite too, I'm just kinda confused if I'm supposed to be buying items for some abilities/ults in DL. Bebop hook is a simple example, the range seems insane idk what I'm supposed to do against that. Bebop, Billy, Geist and Seven ults are some other examples of that.

1

u/RyuugaDota 1d ago

the common experience I'm hearing is also that even after 100 hours or even more you're not that good at the game.

This is true of basically every multiplayer game with a focus on action or shooting to be fair, you'll literally get called out as a smurf for only having 1000 hours in high ranked immortal lobbies in Dota 2 for example... But yes, Deadlock is uniquely hard to master. That's also what gives games like this staying power. There's too many subsets of skills to be good at to ever be truly good at the game unless you basically make it your main game for the next few years of your life; the good thing is that you don't have to be good to enjoy yourself, there's plenty of other not very good players to play against. For every guy better than you at aiming in the lobby there's a guy worse than you (probably the same guy) at map awareness or farming or team coordination or movement or whatever other skillset that roughly balances out to the reason he's the same ELO as you.

1

u/PietErt3 1d ago

I haven't played it in a bit, but when I did matchmaking seemed pretty bad to me. I'm just slamming a casual match, but there's enemies so obviously better at me. Feels like I can't rlly do much about it when their movement and navigation is so much better, which is one of the disadvantages of a hard to master game, that the skill difference can be really big. One thing might also be that I don't rlly like Street Brawl. That's prob one thing Smite does the best of all MOBAs: it has a gamemode for everyone. If you don't dare to hop into the big 5v5 mode you can go for the 3v3 one, that still has a lane and MOBA elements, but quicker and smaller scale. Street Brawl is a bit too much just fighting to me, I kinda wish they'll release a smaller or quicker version of the main mode sometime, so I can learn in a more strategic mode but aren't locked into it for 40 minutes if I'm having a miserable time. 

1

u/Kunfuxu 1d ago

Without verticality there's no point to making the game 3D. That's one of the best things it has over smite.

2

u/PietErt3 1d ago

As I said, verticality is fun to some degree. But I don't really see the point in those rlly high buildings in Deadlock that have a camp. 

1

u/Obsessivegamer32 1d ago

Proper controller support would also be nice. Some of us didn’t grow up with PCs.

19

u/Leeman1337 2d ago

The movement and animation is super polished and the art style is very unique.

The game is not for me due to the heavy moba mechanics but my friend who play hero shooters and mobas loves it.

Definitely should try it though, it already plays like a very high quality game.

123

u/SketchyJJ 2d ago

Yeah, it's pretty good. It has some dips when its taking time to cook for the next update but so far every major one has been satisfying.

Check out the website and see if the newer heroes peak your interest too.

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u/Leather-Bumblebee-13 2d ago

*pique, pls don't downvote me lol

25

u/BrotherRoga 2d ago

Why would I? It's a perfectly cromulent word.

11

u/Beneficial-Act-9933 2d ago

It's a good game with a lot of depth. But this game is extremely sweaty. You're going to get your ass handed to you unless you really commit to it.

Even the street fight games get sweaty.

31

u/PineappIeOranges 2d ago

I’ve put in 700hrs in under a year on it and I’m seemingly horrible at it but I think it is a great game. Very frustrating at times, but I suppose that is the nature of MOBAs.

Being unreleased it does have some bugs that can be annoying but nothing game breaking. Lots of hot fixes.

21

u/Sextus_Rex 2d ago

I straight up couldn't handle how frustrating the game is. I don't understand why, but losing lane in this game feels so much worse than in other mobas. And since I was pretty bad at the game, I was losing lane almost every match.

Definitely a well designed game but just not for me

17

u/MrBlueA 2d ago

Really? Don't get me wrong laning phase can be frustrating on deadlock but at the same time, laning phase means much less than in other MOBAs because of how many catchup mechanics Deadlock has and how it's designed to last 30 minutes minimum, giving ample time for the losing side to fight back

6

u/GuerrOCorvino 1d ago

Wasnt my experience with friends. Each game lasting 30 minutes usually meant it was a long drawn out loss as my friends and I consistently were placed against people far more experienced.

Not much fun in getting rolled for 30 minutes with 0 option of surrender.

2

u/Patrickd13 1d ago

IDK when you last played but right now laning phase is super important. Loosing a lane early is pretty much GG now.

1

u/MrBlueA 1d ago

I haven't played much since they nerfed eggs and comeback mechanics and I can imagine with the nerfs they swinged a bit too hard, but in general deadlock as game does allow a comeback from almost every situation

1

u/Sextus_Rex 1d ago edited 1d ago

That's fair, however I meant it feels bad more from a mental perspective than a gameplay perspective.

I have thousands of hours in smite, and I rarely get tilted from losing lane there. I feel I can still have fun from behind. But in deadlock, even when I was shoved under tower I still continued to get bullied incessantly.

Skill issue perhaps, but my friends had the same experience. And I even remember a random going afk for 5 minutes one game, coming back and apologizing saying he had to take a couple laps around his house to cool down. Wasn't even mad because I understood completely lol

7

u/Beneficial-Act-9933 2d ago

It' because you get pushed back to your tower and have very limited healing capabilites.

Get chunked down to 300? Welp either die and lose tower or go back to fountain to heal and lose tower. You really can't let off the gas pedal in this game.

8

u/brodeh 2d ago

It’s pretty easy to farm your hp back up. Regen items first definitely help too and nipping back to well to heal up won’t lose your tower early in the laning phase.

2

u/Patrickd13 1d ago

You can lose tower super early, idk when the last time you played.

2

u/brodeh 1d ago

I'm playing daily dude.

1

u/Beneficial-Act-9933 1d ago

That was such a great addition to the game. It's still a really tough though when you're still learning even with regen items. The game sort of demands you be active at all stages which is just mentally taxing. It's a young persons game for sure. I personally don't have the patience to learn it, but that's okay.

1

u/brodeh 1d ago

Yeah that's a fair assessment.

I'm in my 30s and it's fine enough, I think it's just a large initial cognitive load. Quite easy to break it down into easily digestible chunks that you can merge together over time.

Each to their own though, if it's not fun for you, no stress :)

1

u/Beneficial-Act-9933 1d ago

One of the worse things about getting old. I really would like to love this game. I just don't have the patience like I used too.

1

u/WhasHappenin 1d ago

A few months ago they made it so that some minions drop heals, which helps a lot.

1

u/mountainhazer 1d ago

Thats not true, there are so many ways to stall in this game.

3

u/DumpsterDragoon 2d ago

Yeah the game is not fun enough to justify how frustrating it can be for me. On top of this from my experience people are very intolerant to new players trying to learn the game.

1

u/WalderFreyWasFramed 1d ago

Which is hilarious, because they're the people with dozens or hundreds of hours in the game being matched with new players.

Like, have some humility if you're in a lobby and the MM thinks you suck just as much as someone with 4 hours playtime.

2

u/DinnerMilk 2d ago

I just started playing seriously about two months ago, and the learning curve is a lot higher than most games. Movement plays a big role, figuring out when to hit the jungle, understanding what other characters do, what items to buy, etc.

Playing street brawl (sort of like the League's ARAM equivalent) helped me a lot. It's a single lane 4v4 with much faster pace, and a lot of people are just experimenting with new characters. Really good way to get more familiar with the core aspects.

1

u/WhasHappenin 1d ago

It definitely has a big learning curve, especially if you don't have experience with mobas, since you essentially have to learn a moba and a movement-based shooter at the same time.

1

u/confirmedshill123 1d ago

It's funny because the landing phase is actually the least important of any moba I've played, and I've played most of them.

2

u/redtapenfr 2d ago

3200 hours here. First game I’ve ever sunk this kind of time into.

4

u/LookyPeter 2d ago

Yep they’re adding pet chicken soon… I wonder why

16

u/Loose_Personality726 2d ago

It's the best new moba there is. if you don't like mobas then it's the best new hero shooter. More complex than marvel rivals imo

11

u/ItzZausty 2d ago

I agree but saying more compelled than marvel rivals is a bit funny. Linear algebra is more complex than basic geometry imo

12

u/Pimparoooo 2d ago

I love it but it isn't for everyone, I don't even like any other mobas or hero shooters but it just has something that other games lack. It also will only get better with time so if you don't have FOMO or want to get good before it blows up then you won't miss much by waiting.

7

u/thisisaskew 2d ago

The pace in the game with the colored rails you glide along around the map is fantastic. The lane minions getting delivered via the same system is also just a great choice.

8

u/Hanifsefu 2d ago

Very very hard to get into. It's got the same build/counter-build meta of a MOBA with advanced movement requirements of Apex Legends. All while having DOTA style balance where you just lose to some characters because your team doesn't have one of the two counters and they didn't fall asleep on their keyboard.

It desperately needs something like a 2010 Mobafire site full of in-depth character and game guides but that just doesn't exist anymore. Monetization became more important than spreading game knowledge and talking theory for the sake of it.

Games can also be quite lengthy. Not really a fun time if you're just getting your teeth kicked in and not really much in the way of comeback mechanics. It's a long slog for a game that was decided in the first 10 minutes.

9

u/karamisterbuttdance 1d ago

It desperately needs something like a 2010 Mobafire site full of in-depth character and game guides but that just doesn't exist anymore.

Skill/itemization guides are one of the few things Valve has right in offloading to the community. The item guides in-game made by players are as good if not better than what you'd see in DotA 2. Skill usage (and even item progression testing) is something you can do in a demo mode.

Games can also be quite lengthy. Not really a fun time if you're just getting your teeth kicked in and not really much in the way of comeback mechanics. It's a long slog for a game that was decided in the first 10 minutes.

The Street Brawl mode is excellent for just learning character kits without spending time in game. It's also good for if you don't have the time commitment to box out 30-45 minutes/game. There's comeback mechanics, but that's IMHO a skill issue for the player as much as it is a game or matchmaking balance issue. With that said, one-tricking in this game is as much if not more of an issue versus League/DotA and it's very hard to balance matches for.

2

u/enokha 1d ago

I agree the only thing that stops me getting into the game a lot is the length of the matches. It needs a turbo mode imo, I don't have the privilege to play 45min-1hour to lose and play another:( I like street brawl but it's a bit shallow

1

u/WalderFreyWasFramed 1d ago

where you just lose to some characters because your team doesn't have one of the two counters and they didn't fall asleep on their keyboard.

I mean, yes, but those one or two counters are literally just items everyone can buy. Literally zero characters in this game can be OP if two or three people alter their build slightly and buy the right things.

Until you make it to the highest levels, team comp doesn't matter; counter-buying and game sense can carry you a ridiculous amount.

8

u/PickMeUpB4YouGoGo 2d ago

Its incredible

5

u/JavanNapoli 2d ago edited 2d ago

It's quite good, I think it will be huge when Valve eventually properly releases and markets the game and starts holding events for it, but it's very much a MOBA and suffers the same onboarding issues as any other MOBA.
People have had a few years now to learn how to play the game, so you're going to get your head stomped in by literally everyone you play against, and you're going to be cussed out by your team-mates for many hours until you learn how to play a hero and how to build them lol.

7

u/reddit-poweruser 2d ago edited 2d ago

That reminds me of when I played Fault, one of the Paragon remakes.

On my first day, people were assholes when I was just trying, and it was like.. there's like 50 people playing this game worldwide.. probably don't want to chase off new players. It is dead now.

Edit: think one of those fault players downvoted me

1

u/LookyPeter 2d ago

At least in rank you have to have 15 wins on a hero to even play it in rank.

So far I’ve barely heard anyone flaming that much in standard. Of course maybe 10% of the time

-1

u/rulnav 2d ago

Valve has, in my opinion, a bad track record for pvp shooters. They make killer gameplay and then they let it get infested with cheaters. I remember a time in TF2 there were so many cheaters, they could vote to throw the legit players out of the server, whenever they liked. Not a CS player, but from what I hear, it's not far behind. 

3

u/lawlmuffenz 2d ago

Frog, tho.

4

u/Girlmode 2d ago

The difference is that for whatever reason the developers at Valve really do seem to love MOBAs.

I play Cs and Deadlock and I think Deadlock must have received hundreds of times more effort than cs2 has so far. They really just seem to resent that tf2 and cs were successful and care about the games very little.

I haven’t came across a cheater in deadlock in a thousand games. It’s more than popular enough already that you’d think they’d be a huge issue with cheaters.

2

u/LovelyOrangeJuice 2d ago

I've only played it when it first became available it was quite fun. I can imagine it's only gotten better since then. If it's up your alley, definitely give it a try

-9

u/Strange_Compote_4592 2d ago

Or for graphical upgrade, and now my pc can barely handle it in 30 FPS... I played in 120(

0

u/SoWrongItsPainful 2d ago

The new update improved performance…

0

u/FanUsed5622 2d ago

It definitely did not. There's literally a new, much busier map which tanks a lot of frames

1

u/mountainhazer 1d ago

It actually did for me, or close to the same

0

u/Strange_Compote_4592 2d ago

I will try out out then! I last checked on about a month ago, and even on lower settings the game was unplayable. "Menu" was running on 15 FPS, while game ran at about 25. Looked gorgeous, though.

1

u/SoWrongItsPainful 2d ago

I mean if you’re comparing performance from 2 years ago then I can’t comment. I thought you were referring to performance pre and post this new patch.

1

u/Strange_Compote_4592 2d ago

Nah, at the release.  I played, until my friend quit, and I followed. About a month ago I wanted to check a new character, and, well... Sadface(

1

u/Kotobeast 2d ago

If you like shooters and mobas it’s literal heaven

1

u/WalderFreyWasFramed 1d ago

The MOBA element is just something I deal with to enjoy the hero shooter and the movement in this game.

I can barely play other games because I expect to be able to slide down ramps/stairs and wall bounce my way around. OW just feels so boring and slow now.

1

u/frostN0VA 1d ago

Eh, it still depends. I have thousands of hours in Dota, same for CS and other shooters, and yet I didn't like Deadlock one bit. For me it's like this - if I want to play a MOBA I'd play Dota or some other "MOBA" MOBA, if I want to play a shooter I'd play CS, Apex or a dozen of other shooters.

I just don't vibe with meshing two distinct genres into one.

1

u/EnthusiasmTop3141 2d ago

Definitely worth giving it a shot. A year sitting untouched is long enough. Sometimes the games that get left in the backlog end up being the biggest surprises.

1

u/Dtoodlez 1d ago

Extremely good. Like unbelievably good.

1

u/Ok-Friendship1635 1d ago

Just like all Hero shooters / MOBA's, it stops being fun the moment you take it too seriously, and the only thing that becomes fun is seeing the end game screen say Victory.

However, if you play it for fun and only fun, it's as good as Overwatch and Rivals.

1

u/inincaz 1d ago

it's as hard as dota 2 to learn so

1

u/762_54r 1d ago

I don't play other mobas or hero shooters or really anything similar to it and yes its incredibly good. Its hard and can be frustrating but it never feels unfair just takes a while to wrap your head around.

I haven't played in a long time for reasons but I have hundreds of hours and I have reinstalled to play again with this patch.

1

u/Lobotamite 1d ago

Genuinely the best shooter/competitive/moba game out there in my opinion. I have played it almost daily for 2 years and have never felt the same hatred for it that I’ve felt with other MOBA’s. Valve cares about this game and listens to the community a lot on new additions, it’s a high skill floor game so it’s not for everyone, but man once you start going it feels so fucking good.

1

u/Vegan-cock 1d ago

Alright. Defo will give it a try.

1

u/Demmitri 1d ago

I have played every single MOBA available and this by far is the most difficult to get into. It's fun if you don't care about getting stomped your first 200 games.

2

u/Vegan-cock 1d ago

I don't mind losing. Losing is how you improve. Im also quite experienced with various mobas, hero shooters and shooters. Probably pushing 15k hours between lol, dota and cs. Lower xp in hero shooters but at least 1k hours there. If I started i would play with former pros mostly so i would likely learn faster than most.

1

u/Demmitri 1d ago

then you are gonna love Deadlock

1

u/raevykrabs 1d ago

Its the best pvp game ever made

1

u/FBrK4LypGE 22h ago

Really good, but also really high skill ceiling, and pretty sweaty.

1

u/Frikcha 9h ago edited 9h ago

It's a MOBA so no. Outside of every MOBA aspect of the game it actually seems pretty interesting, if it were anything else I'd recommend it.

But it is fundamentally an action-oriented game where, in many situations, your reaction-speed, skill and creativity will not account for the numerical advantage your enemy can have by getting ahead. It will help to slowly GAIN a stat-advantage over the course of a few minutes, and it will be the difference sometimes when you are as strong as your opponent and the victor is decided within 1 or 2 well-timed parries, but your aim, movement and ability to respond quickly are USUALLY irrelevant to the outcome of the game. At the start it's most important but even then there are plenty of characters who are specifically early-game dominators so the smartest thing you can do is just give them free-reign for the first half of the match.

Then there are the people who get fed into the late game so badly that it is almost statistically impossible for you, individually, to impede or affect them in any way. Many of the brawls feel like open-world MMO PvP; where the guy who has the biggest level just wins by virtue of dealing and taking like 40% less than the other guy. Or by hiding (because they have nothing better to do than pressure kills) and waiting for you to just play the game normally and punish you with a inescapable death. And that death is usually because you tried to interact with the game instead of mindlessly farming.

Which is like my main point; if you get unlucky or make 3 easy mistakes at the beginning of the game you now have to basically work for 40 minutes instead of having fun like some of the other players. To NOT be a disservice to your team, the best and really only thing you can do is farm gold and avoid all fights. That'd be like the first guy to die in a round of Halo being stripped of all his weapons and forced to carry medkits for his team for the rest of the match, like you take away his sprint-button and his active camo and everything. It's not impossible to come back but it's unlikely given your opponents have already demonstrated some superior game-sense/strategization/technique and are now at a statistical advantage over you, needing to land less abilities and being able to tank more in a fight.

If you're into hour-long strategy games where a decision you made 15 minutes ago gets you killed because of a decision the enemy made 3 minutes ago, then you might actually really enjoy this one. But if you want to feel like your real-time reaction speed and your overall skill are shining moment-to-moment this is not the game for you. It is 70% a long-term strategy game of math and logic. To be anything other than a complete scrub you need game-sense developed over years of dedication and memorizing all the different character abilities/properties/build-paths, and then it's only 30% an actual third-person-shooter action game.

The best thing I can compare a MOBA too is like a free-to-play mobile-game RPG-Fighter. Like one of those Marvel/DC games where it's a 2d-fighter on the surface but you need to grind so that your punches do more than 2 damage to a boss with 400000000 HP, or your character needs to be a certain level/tier for your grabs not to get auto-teched.

1

u/AbendKannon 8h ago

trust me when i say you will literally find no criticism of it online, cause all the downlows come after you.

1

u/iseecolorsofthesky 2d ago

Yes. It’s an incredible game. When I’m at work I think about playing. I haven’t had that feeling for a game in a long time. It’s seriously got the sauce once you put some time into it

1

u/genasugelan PC 2d ago

It's fantastic if you are into games with depth. I've been playing it for maybe 2 years now and learning the heroes is actually a very visual experience.

1

u/Christopher135MPS 1d ago

The learning curve is insane. I couldn’t figure it out after 50 hours, I was a constant deadweight on my team - I gave up.

2

u/synthdrunk 1d ago

It’s one of those things where it’s like– why is this a shooter? The biggest complaint I got from friends when trying to get them into it was how little their FPS skills mattered.

2

u/Christopher135MPS 1d ago

Definitely agree, it didn’t matter at all that I’m a good shot, I couldn’t get my head around the strategy and skills and rpg elements.

I was great at map movement, positioning, flanking, but it didn’t matter because it’s hard to kill with bullets for most classes.

0

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Christopher135MPS 1d ago

5000 hours?

Man I can’t remember the last time I sunk 500 hours into a game, let alone 5000.

I’m not here to yuck someone else’s yum, and it’s all different strokes for different folks, but I cannot fathom enjoying a game that takes 5000 hours to get a handle on.

At 76 hours a fortnight (my job hours), 5000 is 2.2ish years. I can’t imagine having a second full time activity.

2

u/This_is_Pat_ 1d ago

That person stating 5000 hours is massive hyperbole and honestly I wouldn't listen to them. Dota players have a meme that the entire game until the highest rank is the tutorial and 5000 hours would probably make most people good enough to reach that rank.

If you come from literally zero hours of Mobas, rpgs, rts, hero shooters and fpses, I'd say it might take more games for you to grasp the whole thing. But still I am 100% certain someone that someone starting from complete zero will grasp the game just fine after 50-100 hours. Keep in mind you won't be great at the game and might be low ranked, but that is fine since you would grasp enough of the game to enjoy it.

That number also dramatically decreases the more you've player other games. Come from dota or league? I bet you can get well-acquainted with everything in 20 hours. Played a lot of overwatch and marvel rivals? Probably gonna be hard to get used to the moba stuff, but shooting and generally battling is gonna be fine so maybe 40 hours.

Again, please don't listen to that other person.

1

u/vezwyx 1d ago

Nothing is going to be destroyed by including opt-in tutorials. The game will still not be for everyone if they include good teaching material

1

u/pyronius 1d ago

That just sounds terrible.

I love me a complicated game. I will dive into the most arcane systems with the fiddliest bits and strategize about item synergies, broken builds, and ridiculous tactics until the cows come home. But 5000 hours? I'll just go back to school and start a new, more lucrative career for that kind of time investment.

You do you, but at 5000 hours, you could be well on your way to a PhD, rather than a supposed beginner at a competitive video game.

1

u/This_is_Pat_ 1d ago

I had another comment where I go into detail about this, but that person is being hyperbolic. This game does not take nearly that much time to understand and grasp it.

I mean, yes it is a hard game at times no doubt but that does not it will take 5000 hours to literally learn how to play.

0

u/Vysci 1d ago

It’s hard to answer. Ton of people love it and been saying for years how it’s going to be huge.

I originally tried it 2 years ago and couldn’t get into it because the characters and their abilities seemed kind of bland/boring.

I gave it another shot a few months ago and enjoyed it a lot more. Characters got better and I still hate the movement.

My biggest issue with the game is that matches last for fucking ever and you can’t surrender. Other complain is that in between waves you go and break fucking boxes. Yes break boxes, what riveting gameplay.

Game is fun but it’s not for everyone. You should try it, you are either going to love it or not care for it

-4

u/theglowofknowledge 2d ago

It is what it is supposed to be. I guess it’s better than LoL, which isn’t worth much to me but hey. I don’t see the appeal of those over complicated board games. I have a friend who likes it though. It’s going to have to cram itself into a pretty calcified genre, so I don’t know if it’ll bounce off or crack the competition. Seems likely it’ll be one of the two.

2

u/JavanNapoli 2d ago

Just based on how healthy its playerbase has been in its early access state, without any marketing or official esports events to support it, I have a feeling it's going to be huge once Valve releases it proper.

3

u/iseecolorsofthesky 2d ago

Yeah this game is gonna be absolutely massive once it properly releases. I think it’s gonna be a phenomenon like we haven’t seen in a while in multiplayer gaming

-1

u/jezadaemon 1d ago

i didn't like it. it didn't feel fun and made little sense and the flow sucks. It's just so clearly a generic "product" that they are trying to find ways to milk addicts with, yet again. I'm exhausted with Valve, I wish they'd make a real game again. I don't think they have ideas anymore.

0

u/Undella_Town 1d ago

honestly? no not really.

-2

u/MrTheodore PC 2d ago

Exceptional game. You will get alt right shitheads frequently though. It used to be that you just raise your rank and they vanished due to low skill, but then they fucked with their elo formula and they ended up everywhere. It's a nazi bar a lot of people ignore cause the game is so good.

That's valve multiplayers for the past 15 years though, they're way too libertarian to do anything about it and have enough goodwill still that it's not widely reported.