After playing the beta quite often on both PS4 and XB1, I wanted to give a few comparisons between console experiences and some suggestions for balancing and basic MOBA gameplay.
1.) Equal Rank Matchmaking
- In most MOBAs like League of Legends or DOTA, you are queued up with people who are close to or within the same rank as you in order to create a more even distribution of game experience on both sides of the match. This way, people who just signed on for a game for the first time won’t be paired up with someone who’s been playing the game professionally for years. In my own experience during this beta, I managed to rank up to level 17, but I was consistently being placed with players at Rank 1 or 2, and against players of rank 50 or 60 or even higher than that (highest I was queued up against was rank 89), which made for a very one-sided game.
2.) Quitters/Disconnects
- While the option to leave a matchmaking game at any time should still be kept available, I feel as though there should be some kind of consequence for leaving mid-match. Most 5v5 games can be balanced due to the equal number of players and targets for each team, along with the ability to multitask and cover secondary objectives (like the buildables and Thrall hires and minion waves) without leaving the other team members at a disadvantage. If someone drops from the game, either due to a bad connection or a willful disconnection, this puts the rest of the team at a serious disadvantage, and most 5v4 games will end in favor of the team with the higher number of players. I lost six consecutive PS4 matches due to player disconnections, and I even lost two team members on one of my matches, making it a 5v3 game that ended terribly. Because of the consequence a disconnected player has on not just his own game, but the rest of his team members, there needs to be some incentive (i.e. XP reduction, 30 minute match ban, etc.) to see each match through to the end and not leave team members hanging mid-match.
3.) Friendly Unit/Terrain Collision
- One of the most annoying and frustrating aspects during multiplayer is when you aim a dash skill (like Montana’s Lumberjack Dash or Deande’s Burst Dash) and the attack completely fizzles when you run into one of your own minions or friendly Thralls. While this would be understandable for enemy units, this kind of unit collision with your own friendlies is simply a nuisance to the gameplay and should be removed for friendly units.
4.) “Ghosting” Skills
- Another issue I noticed more often with PS4 than XB1 matches was the occasional activation of a skill… that produced no effect. I would activate the skill, and the cooldown would start, but the attack itself would not actually occur. It would make sense if I had been hit by an enemy skill that stunned/silenced/knocked up my character, but this would happen when I was not under fire at all. This is a rather troubling issue, as a player’s skills must be 100% responsive to input, no question. If a player’s skill is trumped by an enemy disabling skill, then it would make sense for the player’s skill to fizzle, but input must always be 100% responsive. I’m sure this can be fixed easily, though.