Noobs and the Dota effect

The better the community gets for this game, the larger the disparity between noobs and vets grows. Because of the deep and structured nature of this game, there is a bigger difference between a team full of noobs and a team full of vets. This is beginning to be a problem.

The last 6 or 7 games I played were determined solely by the experience makeups of the teams. I, unfortunately, was on the team with more noobs most of the games. It was so frustrating to see them playing so poorly. Also, as a support I couldn't exactly lead the charge, so to speak. Tanks who stayed in our base 80% of the game, player-chasing assassins who had k/d ratios of 3-10, supports who never hacked turrets, assaults who never used their charge, snipers who would stay back in base but never buy turrets--these kind of behaviors annoy me to such a huge extent. There must be something that can be done.

I have two suggestions for solutions to this problem.

First, team select should not be the default option for servers. It should be turned off by default. It is much too easy to stack teams with team select. The most fun, balanced games are the ones where no one chooses a team and the teams are selected randomly. I know there are some servers that have this turned off, but the vast majority have it turned on.

Second, I would highly suggest some kind of server setting that only allows people of lower experience levels to join. A kind of 'beginner mode' of sorts. This way, we could give the noobs a place to get the hang of this game before they start playing more competitively.

I would also suggest adding more tooltips to the loading screens. We especially need one that says that assassins should mainly be killing bots and turrets (since this is probably the #1 noob mistake).

As a support I lead the charge plenty of times in pugs, and I can do it so can you

Did you try talking to them, giving them pointers, etc.?

Its hard to lead the charge when the whole enemy team is camping right outside your base thanks to overly defensive teammates. :cry:

TBH this game doesnt have any reason to worry about being competitive.

as much as i agree with what you are saying, what is driving me to jump on your bandwagon?

personally i think matchmaking is something that seriously needs to be considered for the pc version. although that would require something for people to be matched by...

I agree, it's beginning to become a problem.

If I see some low level players all jump to one colour in the lobby, and a bunch of higher level ones floating about, I'll jump over to assist the beginners. I'm a glutton for punishment, so I enjoy the challenge. XD

On that note, people really need to stop with the idea that getting rid of the team select system will magically make things balanced.

What it will do is get rid of the only method to play with friends/clanmates in a team-based online multiplayer game.

Yeah, not even close to a fair tradeoff for what amounts to some whining.

Fair point, but I've seen several good players (who communicate, so they're obviously friends/clanmates) stack teams and then roflstomp a team of randoms.

It might be acceptable to disable that part of the team-oriented nature to have a better pug experience.

Getting rid of any method for cooperative play for the sake of "a better pug experience" (read: I'm sometimes on the **** end of an unfair match) is a terrible idea.

Edit: What I mean is how do you disable "that part" of the team choosing? Currently there is only a single way to play with people, there are no alternatives.

I would happily accept alternatives, though, like only being able to join up with steam friends in a pre-game party system. But that would be a while in the making.

Everything else is fine for suggestion and debate but how do you define someone's skill level? Are we going by level and all-star level?

Don't be naive, we're not talking about a complete unilateral and permanent change.

Since most servers are going to be geared towards the pug players, it makes sense to start with servers that way. Those servers that are for scrim/war matches will still have team choosing.

If a party system is actually added down the line then I'd definitely support random teams being the default setting.

This is my most wanted feature for the game at this time. Random default is fine as long as we can play with friends when we want to.

The problem is that the chat is not really visible atm. I keep writing "HACK OUR TURRETS!!" but no one seems to see it... (or maybe they do, but they don't understand :-|)

I think Uber is planning on optimizing chat system, though.

I really hope people don't start taking the "High level means high skilled vet" approach to things because I'm ****ed if that happens lol.

First of all, I think that skill /= experience. Of course you have people with low levels who are very skilled, and vice versa. However, for the most part, if someone has a level under 10, they probably have not spent much time playing this game. Also, it should be mentioned that they would not be forced to play in those kind of servers. I think many of them would prefer it if given the option.

In regards to being able to play together with friends, I think if it unbalances pug matches than its not good for the game in general. Besides, its fun to play against your friends sometimes. I'm not saying you have to permanently disable the team select option for servers, just make it not default. I'd even support a reserve slot option for clan servers. For ordinary public pug servers though, I think its best to randomize teams each match.

I was actually thinking of something along thoses lines, but more like a server setting to define a level range requirement to join. Because it works both ways, nothing more frustrating for someone who understood a bit the game to play with a team where nobody has a clue wtf he's supposed to do.

There are plenty of people out there who have been playing the game on 360, just picked it up for PC, and know the game inside and out but are only level <10.

There are also plenty of people who played beta and know the game inside and out, but only fired up the full release a couple times and have a level <10.

There are waaay more people rolling round who are level 50+ who are so absolutely terrible I'd be surprised if they can even tie their own shoes on a morning.

Level really does mean absolutely nothing.

Why would a skilled player with plenty of past experience play on a noob server? (I guess he could have low self-esteem...)

Your argument does not even apply to my suggestion.

To stomp them. Some consider it fun

Because most of us don't have the time or inclination to spam join servers for an hour to find the one game with more experienced players than new ones.

There's usually a couple experienced players on every server, it's only a real problem when they're team stacked.