Competitive Keeps Killing Games

Comments · 183

• JE

  @jerri7417 · 2 weeks ago

  Surprised when confronted with the question of 'what's killer instinct?', Pat didn't immediately atomize.

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• MO

  @moonmannd7501 · 5 days ago (edited)

  There&apos;s an old Walt Disney quote where he was asked which of the films he made was his favorite, and he answered &quot;whichever one you like the most.&quot;<br>And the idea nugget at the center of that answer is unironically kinda the energy you have to go in with for picking a main in a fighting game or similar thing, at least to start out. Just put the cursor over whichever one is most cool or cute or even hot to you and start playing.

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• DW

  @Dweltpanic · 5 days ago

  My friends and I used to play a lot of Rainbow Six: Siege and encountered this constantly. A cascade of map changes, weapon attachments removed, utility items removed, abilities nerfed, etc. Things that casual sh*tters like us enjoyed that were changed for the benefit of e-sports players.

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• XS

  @XShrike0 · 6 days ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wgoFD_ZikM&amp;t=55">0:55</a> Reminds me of Smash players. &nbsp;What was the joke? &nbsp;&quot;Fox only, no items, Final Destination.&quot;

  107

• TH

  @theotherjared9824 · 6 days ago

  Multiplayer modes should have 3 pillars: casual, competitive, and private. There can be a mode to goof off with friends and strangers alike, a mode for sweats to duke it out in isolation, and a mode that can be curated by a host to play however they want.

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• ET

  @ethantaylor9613 · 4 days ago

  This is a big problem in tabletop games as well. Back in Warmachine third edition, they kept giving significant boosts to casters that were already extremely powerful because they were under performing against like the five other things people were playing at the top level levels.

  3

• XC

  @XC11301991 · 1 day ago (edited)

  Apex Legends also has stupid balancing for comp, one in particular was balancing where competitive players were all swapping to controller due to the strong aim assist. Bangalore, a default vanilla character that never received major changes for years started picking up in use due to smokescreen ability blocking the broken Aim Assist. Instead of the devs addressing the actual issue, they nerfed Bangalore instead for her high pick rate in competitive.

  2

• DI

  @DigitalMoonlight · 3 days ago

  The heydays of Starcraft, Warcraft 3, Unreal Tournament and Quake really highlight how you can balance for competitive while fostering healthy casual communities through custom game modes whether it&apos;s freeze tag, instagib, footmen frenzy or aeon of strife, there&apos;s something for everybody if you make your game a sandbox for players to make their own rules.

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• AZ

  @Azarian · 5 days ago

  The scope of wanting to make 2XKO as competitive as possible is so riots MO, they fucking GUTTED Yuumi because they had no idea how to deal with her.

  18

• NI

  @NibelungJ · 6 days ago

  As an old Overwatch player, I love how the myth that Mercy optimal gameplay was to hide and fly in to get big rez, spread around public knowledge.<br><br>Probably no one cares, but Mercy was, alongside Symmetra and Reinhardt, the &quot;not FPS player trio&quot;. They were characters you could pick up and play with your friends even if you lack major hand-eye coordination to do sick headshots. Their gameplay plan was very unique, and IMO, a big factor of what made Overwatch a truly fantastic casual game.<br><br>Mercy base game plan is to stick with the tanks to keep them alive, and fly to the DPS when you need safety. If you didn&apos;t healed or boosted a lot of damage, you would take forever to get your Ultimate and be able to do that peak move of rezzing everyone and save the day.<br><br>What ACTUALLY happened is that, people tested out how the SR system worked under the hood, and how it used to give out higher value to certain actions the devs assumed would be big plays. And Mercy highest point move was exactly resurrecting another player.<br><br>So, in the HIGH END of play, from people who were too attached to increase their competitive rank, they would pick up Mercy, charge up their ultimate, and THEN stop healing and just look for big rez opportunities, because if you raised a ton of people in the match, it would skyrocket your SR.<br><br>And that&apos;s when you started seeing Grandmaster Mercy players with 30% win rate or so.<br><br>Blizzard changed how mercy score worked behind the scenes BEFORE the rework, giving less points per rez, and during that brief period, it was almost impossible for Mercy to get Play of the Game, or even &quot;be on fire&quot; anymore.<br><br>They broke their best designed character for casual players because people used her to exploit competitive ranking.

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• ST

  @stelardactek · 5 days ago

  I&apos;ve said this for years and years and years now, tho I phrased it as pvp rather than competitive.

  7

• VA

  @Vanity0666 · 6 days ago

  It&apos;s only a problem when a game changes its direction after it has already come out in an attempt to chase alternative profitable revenue streams.

  6