Guild Wars 2

<3

Welcome back!

I like you Xeph and your point of view, you should definitely start streaming!

Made post similar a week ago after quitting my team. So ye I agree that this patch had so much potential until they decided on the current runes & sigil changes.
Even though I quit my team, there was no point in time before that Guild Wars 2 was so enjoyable to play casually.

And Xeph, not sure if you are returning to the game or not after this thread.

I don’t know why these threads keep popping up but I paid a hefty sum of 600 gems for my Toxic Offshoot Finisher so I’m gonna keep using it. Problem!?

I wouldn’t judge humanity based on replies like this. Gaming used to be different when the barrier of entry to online games was higher in terms of cost and intent. Even at the risk of sounding offensive: I think it’s pretty obvious when someone is really young and just wants to vent. Why? Because of the narcissistic tone, and the obsessive focus on “being good”. One doesn’t need to read too many rants to realize that just about everybody feels weak and useless alone. If the response to this is to beat down other players instead of figuring out ways to be a better teammate, then it’s no wonder online PvP is seen as the cesspool it is, and why many just quit it.

Years back when I was more active in the FPS community, losing face by blaming others would get you banned from servers and teams. It was totally okay to rage when I got railgunned for the 20th time in a row, but blaming others was the thing you shouldn’t do. Now you can blame others for your shortcomings because the game protects them because “we’re all equal”.

EDIT: Here’s food for thought; what if there were absolutely no rewards to winning or losing akin to how games were before? What if we did not have A.net hosted tournaments, but only player hosted arenas which are community moderated?

Sorry but in my experience with the GW2 community every time any aspect of pvp that melds with pve you will get a toxic pve crowd that ruins other peoples fun for their own game. Case in point look what happened with the Dolyaks and the PvE crowd. 20 to 30 lead a dolyak around, didn’t wvw and ruined the matches for a lot of people. I try and they flat out refuse to listen. So why wouldn’t their kitten iness annoy me? Why do they deserve my respect, when they won’t give it to me in the first place? can handle a player still learning their class, but those that don’t listen (you know who you are) Are the real cause of the toxicity and ruining others enjoyment of the game.

When I was discussing those points, I wasn’t doing so for the point of view of someone who has a team; infact I rarely team que anymore, but rather either solo que, or duo que with a friend.

I have on several occasions landed with people from pve land, but I have also learned they have capacity to learn if you communicate with them, if not raging on map chat and being generally toxic bares no fruit, it also could lead to increasing other players frustration within the game. There is no point in generally being hurtful, if it bares no fruit, in this case 9 out of 10 times it doesn’t, in which case there is no point in doing it.
Just because I used to play this game competitively and happen to have a team doesn’t render me unsympathetic, to the situation, it also doesn’t mean that I never solo que, nor does it mean that I have not encountered players that have no clue what they are doing.
The fact of the matter is I just don’t find a burning desire to advertise it, or condemn a whole side of the community to ridicule, I find it more productive to actually try and assist them. It also helps nurture better pvp players, then trying to drive them away.

In every match making to date there is a certain aspect of luck, you might end up with better players then the opposing team or worse, there is nothing you can do about the luck of the draw, there is no system out there that can guarantee you a 100% fair match. Anets system may seem faulty, but that also can be attributed to the small population size of the experienced pvp players, meaning that more times then not your going to end up with people that are fairly new at pvp/

If you find that the way I phrased things is insulting to yourself, then you need only look at the content of my message, I am not trying to personally insult anyone; but if you are so hyper sensitive that you find my choice of words insulting to yourself, then I apologize regarding that matter, I will edit the previous message so that it may suit your taste.

Regarding your last message, that is 100% bogus; the lifeblood of any competitive game is its casual community, they make up the largest amount of viewers, they are the ones the pour resources into the company, that can then further better its game. There is no game out there comprised of only competitive players that has seen any success in the long run.
If you cannot accept that there are going to be people playing this game, who are not skilled or have a shallow understanding of it, then you best change games.

To argue about balance is one thing, but to argue that its fine to ridicule a side of the community, that can only help to serve pvp, is rather daft.
Que pops were terrible post patch, the empty mists was enough to make me log out the instant I logged in.

Oh and for the comment about me trying to get a job with Arena-net, well its been awhile since I have argued with someone so daft, you sir are not only the problem with the community in this game, but just generally mis-informed.

I have gone through your previous posts, and I see the trend you have been following, I just have a question why don’t you just quit the game if you hate it so much, or have you made it your personal quest that everyone else should hate it as much as yourself ?

Oakwind.6187:

I wouldn’t judge humanity based on replies like this. Gaming used to be different when the barrier of entry to online games was higher in terms of cost and intent. Even at the risk of sounding offensive: I think it’s pretty obvious when someone is really young and just wants to vent. Why? Because of the narcissistic tone, and the obsessive focus on “being good”. One doesn’t need to read too many rants to realize that just about everybody feels weak and useless alone. If the response to this is to beat down other players instead of figuring out ways to be a better teammate, then it’s no wonder online PvP is seen as the cesspool it is, and why many just quit it.

Years back when I was more active in the FPS community, losing face by blaming others would get you banned from servers and teams. It was totally okay to rage when I got railgunned for the 20th time in a row, but blaming others was the thing you shouldn’t do. Now you can blame others for your shortcomings because the game protects them because “we’re all equal”.

EDIT: Here’s food for thought; what if there were absolutely no rewards to winning or losing akin to how games were before? What if we did not have A.net hosted tournaments, but only player hosted arenas which are community moderated?

I wouldn’t be an MMO then. People play MMOs to level and progress and achieve in game rewards. Playing for “fun” is ok with games like Mario or Contra or whatever.

I agree with Part 1.
Part 2… well, Karla already pointed the obvious out.

Sorry bud, but as much as I respect your play from the past I have to disagree with the general scope of your post.

You cannot isolate this ‘toxicity’ to the sPvP crowd. This toxicity is a symptom of the anonymity of the internet, not of some ultra elitist faction – this is nothing abnormal for a game in modern times. Is it acceptable? No. But that’s a much larger issue.

To be honest, I find it kind of naive for you to even consider that the tiny pre-patch sPvP crowd (which is who I assume you’re addressing) would even be large enough to cause this ‘toxicity’ on its own, as it is now easily dwarfed by the influx of new players. What is actually toxic are these kind of finger pointing posts, instead of writing about how all players in general should treat each other with decency you chose to single out and blame a small group of people, perpetuating the already partisan atmosphere that exists in this game. Xeph, people are jerks sometimes. Plain and simple, it doesn’t matter which aspect of the game they identify themselves with, we all have equal capacity to be an kitten .

In your mini discussion on compassion for other players did you ever consider that maybe the angry kid slinging mud at people during a game is bullied daily at school (or hell, even work). It doesn’t excuse their behaviour, not at all – but like you said everyone has outside influences that may be setting them off on that day. Honestly if you you don’t like what they’re saying do what any sane person would do: report them, block them – move on.

We shouldn’t be trying to pit people against each other with posts like this. I could point out toxicity anywhere in this game (rangers in pve, fractal AR, speed running/full zerk comps), but what good does it do to attempt to shame and alienate a group of players? None. How about we just agree that people need to be kinder in general instead of pointing the finger at one group.

Maybe when we’re done we can all hug each other and roll down a grassy hill like we used to do as kids. Or play this pokeman kitten I hear about sometimes, what the hell is a moltres anyway?

Oprah.1347:

Sorry bud, but as much as I respect your play from the past I have to disagree with the general scope of your post.

You cannot isolate this ‘toxicity’ to the sPvP crowd. This toxicity is a symptom of the anonymity of the internet, not of some ultra elitist faction – this is nothing abnormal for a game in modern times. Is it acceptable? No. But that’s a much larger issue.

To be honest, I find it kind of naive for you to even consider that the tiny pre-patch sPvP crowd (which is who I assume you’re addressing) would even be large enough to cause this ‘toxicity’ on its own, as it is now easily dwarfed by the influx of new players. What is actually toxic are these kind of finger pointing posts, instead of writing about how all players in general should treat each other with decency you chose to single out and blame a small group of people, perpetuating the already partisan atmosphere that exists in this game. Xeph, people are jerks sometimes. Plain and simple, it doesn’t matter which aspect of the game they identify themselves with, we all have equal capacity to be an kitten .

In your mini discussion on compassion for other players did you ever consider that maybe the angry kid slinging mud at people during a game is bullied daily at school (or hell, even work). It doesn’t excuse their behaviour, not at all – but like you said everyone has outside influences that may be setting them off on that day. Honestly if you you don’t like what they’re saying do what any sane person would do: report them, block them – move on.

We shouldn’t be trying to pit people against each other with posts like this. I could point out toxicity anywhere in this game (rangers in pve, fractal AR, speed running/full zerk comps), but what good does it do to attempt to shame and alienate a group of players? None. How about we just agree that people need to be kinder in general instead of pointing the finger at one group.

Maybe when we’re done we can all hug each other and roll down a grassy hill like we used to do as kids. Or play this pokeman kitten I hear about sometimes, what the hell is a moltres anyway?

I do agree with what your saying, there is no way that toxicity would stop, but at the moment its just amazing how there is of it going around; I am fully aware its never going to stop, all I am saying is hopefully more people make an active effort to try and avoid that kind of behavior.
I had a game earlier where two people were basically afk in base, because one of them had a legendary and the other proceeded to call him a pve scrub, the argument lasted the whole game.
The amount of trash talk in map chat, far surpasses that of release.

Whilst I do understand that this won’t stop, I am just hoping that people actively try and stop that behavior.

Moltres is a chicken.

I think personally that both sides of the “toxic” issue need to grow the hell up. Stop whining at people when everything doesn’t go your way and conversely learn the ignore function and shrug off ragers. I also think its a totally overblown issue. We have too many special flowers on both sides of it.

So, I hear what you are saying, but you have to realize that much of the toxicity is a product of the environment. Many veteran players have been toiling away in this game getting angrier and angrier at the lack of direction and support. A big complaint that is still unaddressed is a simple gate to team and solo q. Rank 10? How can a level 1 with 0 games played enter into ranked queues?

I think if the MMR works in such a way that if a level 1, fresh off a mob train, PvE guy wants to step into PvE and gets in his first game with someone with 1k games played, there is something really wrong with that and, by nature, there is going to be tension.

I do not condone players that are abusive. I, myself, do not act in these manners and find it repulsive, but i believe Anet gets much of the blame. They rarely listen to feedback, they head in their own direction with their heads down and their fingers in their ears and it drives people crazy. When you do things that make people crazy, expect crazy people actions.

brannigan.9831:

I think personally that both sides of the “toxic” issue need to grow the hell up. Stop whining at people when everything doesn’t go your way and conversely learn the ignore function and shrug off ragers. I also think its a totally overblown issue. We have too many special flowers on both sides of it.

There are no sides, its just a group of people making the game unpleasant.
I don’t understand why people assume there are sides, toxic behaviour is unacceptable in any shape or form.

Xeph, I don’t think anyone really has a problem with PvE players coming to play PvP. In fact, I think we can all agree that it’s a good thing.

The problem occurs when you have a rank 1 person who just bought the game or someone who just decided to click “solo queue” while doing the queensdale champion train wind up in a game with top 100-500 players because Arenanet chooses to start their MMR at an absurdly high level.

The other day in a solo queue game I found myself 3v1ing on a neuted mid point for over a minute and a half. We were two capped on the other nodes. My team apparently lost a 2v4.

The reason why this is happening in my opinion is this: In single player games like chess, you can start out someone’s MMR very high because there is no way that a person with an MMR of 1000 will ever beat someone with a skill level of 2000.
In Guild Wars 2, you have 4 other people on your team, which means with a huge amount of carry, we can see people with an MMR of 1000 winning in games of people say, with MMRs of 1800, because the 1000 newbie has people rated 2000 on his team, or there is just a particularly hard counter comp.

Good post Xeph, don’t let the peeps get ya down <3

infantrydiv.1620:

The problem occurs when you have a rank 1 person who just bought the game or someone who just decided to click “solo queue” while doing the queensdale champion train wind up in a game with top 100-500 players because Arenanet chooses to start their MMR at an absurdly high level.

The other day in a solo queue game I found myself 3v1ing on a neuted mid point for over a minute and a half. We were two capped on the other nodes. My team apparently lost a 2v4.

The reason why this is happening in my opinion is this: In single player games like chess, you can start out someone’s MMR very high because there is no way that a person with an MMR of 1000 will ever beat someone with a skill level of 2000.
In Guild Wars 2, you have 4 other people on your team, which means with a huge amount of carry, we can see people with an MMR of 1000 winning in games of people say, with MMRs of 1800, because the 1000 newbie has people rated 2000 on his team, or there is just a particularly hard counter comp.

Blame Arenanet for not changing the MMR system, instead of insulting the new players because guess what you need those new players if you want sPvP to keep getting resources.

The older players have to keep pressing until a dev aka Justin comes in and tell us the status of the new MMR or ladder system. Until then, there is no reason to be bashing the PvEers for Anet’s failure.

With that said, it is better to be nice to the new players because by the time Arenanet hopeful decides to introduce a new MMR system which wont happen until May 27. the initial excite over the new changes in sPvP would have died down and You (veteran PvP) better hope as many new players stuck to it as possible.

tl;dr
Don’t get mad at the new players get mad at Arenanet for not having the foresight to see the MMR system being bad for both new and old players.

silvermember.8941:

infantrydiv.1620:

The problem occurs when you have a rank 1 person who just bought the game or someone who just decided to click “solo queue” while doing the queensdale champion train wind up in a game with top 100-500 players because Arenanet chooses to start their MMR at an absurdly high level.

The other day in a solo queue game I found myself 3v1ing on a neuted mid point for over a minute and a half. We were two capped on the other nodes. My team apparently lost a 2v4.

The reason why this is happening in my opinion is this: In single player games like chess, you can start out someone’s MMR very high because there is no way that a person with an MMR of 1000 will ever beat someone with a skill level of 2000.
In Guild Wars 2, you have 4 other people on your team, which means with a huge amount of carry, we can see people with an MMR of 1000 winning in games of people say, with MMRs of 1800, because the 1000 newbie has people rated 2000 on his team, or there is just a particularly hard counter comp.

Blame Arenanet for not changing the MMR system, instead of insulting the new players because guess what you need those new players if you want sPvP to keep getting resources.

The older players have to keep pressing until a dev aka Justin comes in and tell us the status of the new MMR or ladder system. Until then, there is no reason to be bashing the PvEers for Anet’s failure.

With that said, it is better to be nice to the new players because by the time Arenanet hopeful decides to introduce a new MMR system which wont happen until May 27. the initial excite over the new changes in sPvP would have died down and You (veteran PvP) better hope as many new players stuck to it as possible.

tl;dr
Don’t get mad at the new players get mad at Arenanet for not having the foresight to see the MMR system being bad for both new and old players.

Well said.

I would say that more direct dmg is not necessarly a bad thing. For example it is great for rangers to open up direct dmg builds.

The classes that already deal a lot of dmg with little effort should be nerfed/reworked differently. Especially thief is really problemativ and needs to become less polarising. Not only will it always remain kittenty in the hand of weak players and too good in the hand of pro players with the current design – I also think like no other classes it occupies the slot of roaming/glass cannon direct dps. This should actually be accessible to much more classes like ele, ranger, rifle engi etc but they all lose viability if they are so easy to kill by thieves while also lacking the stealth and mobility that thief has.

True facts, Creating build diversity by allowing you to mix and match all the sigils and allowing you to have two on a twohanded weapon was really cool; But the nerfs to the sigils to compensate should have been greater.

Some of the runes/sigils are now Lyssa(prenerf) level Apex build Kitt.
I’m looking at you Runes of Strength Sigils of Generosity and Energy
(Especially with the vigor nerfs, you’d have to be crazy not to use energy on most professions)

Yes, energy was a clear candidate for 33% or 25%. Wonder why they didn’t do that.

Dojo.1867:

I would say that more direct dmg is not necessarly a bad thing. For example it is great for rangers to open up direct dmg builds.

The classes that already deal a lot of dmg with little effort should be nerfed/reworked differently. Especially thief is really problemativ and needs to become less polarising. Not only will it always remain kittenty in the hand of weak players and too good in the hand of pro players with the current design – I also think like no other classes it occupies the slot of roaming/glass cannon direct dps. This should actually be accessible to much more classes like ele, ranger, rifle engi etc but they all lose viability if they are so easy to kill by thieves while also lacking the stealth and mobility that thief has.

Well, I do agree with your points of increasing build diversity, but the problem is this change just made classes that were strong, even stronger; defensive rune sets saw no buff, therefore its caused damage to go completely out of control.

I had hoped that there would be a sort of global nerf to classes that dealt too much damage, mainly thief and mesmer.

bhagwad.4281:

Oakwind.6187:

I wouldn’t judge humanity based on replies like this. Gaming used to be different when the barrier of entry to online games was higher in terms of cost and intent. Even at the risk of sounding offensive: I think it’s pretty obvious when someone is really young and just wants to vent. Why? Because of the narcissistic tone, and the obsessive focus on “being good”. One doesn’t need to read too many rants to realize that just about everybody feels weak and useless alone. If the response to this is to beat down other players instead of figuring out ways to be a better teammate, then it’s no wonder online PvP is seen as the cesspool it is, and why many just quit it.

Years back when I was more active in the FPS community, losing face by blaming others would get you banned from servers and teams. It was totally okay to rage when I got railgunned for the 20th time in a row, but blaming others was the thing you shouldn’t do. Now you can blame others for your shortcomings because the game protects them because “we’re all equal”.

EDIT: Here’s food for thought; what if there were absolutely no rewards to winning or losing akin to how games were before? What if we did not have A.net hosted tournaments, but only player hosted arenas which are community moderated?

I wouldn’t be an MMO then. People play MMOs to level and progress and achieve in game rewards. Playing for “fun” is ok with games like Mario or Contra or whatever.

I seem to extract the notion from here that MMOs are expected to be as miserable as real life is; desperate struggle for rewards at the cost of trampling over others. Be as it may, there’s life outside the game, and I wouldn’t expect “rewards” to hold anyone’s interest for long that has lived past pre-adolescence. To me personally – and I highlight that it is my opinion only, not to be taken as fact – a good competitive game whether it be a win or a loss, is much better a reward than a virtual chest full of virtual bling. There’s way too much focus on rewarding people and too little focus in enhancing competition through professional balancing.

Granted game design in general seems to be leaning on the reward-aspect more these days instead of gameplay. I admit I chuckled when I heard in an interview a developer call damage a reward to the player. Again personally I think that’s deplorable, and indeed I hardly play the game anymore. I do respect some people at A.net so I partake in these discussions at times out of sheer curiosity.

Xeph.4513:

Dojo.1867:

I would say that more direct dmg is not necessarly a bad thing. For example it is great for rangers to open up direct dmg builds.

The classes that already deal a lot of dmg with little effort should be nerfed/reworked differently. Especially thief is really problemativ and needs to become less polarising. Not only will it always remain kittenty in the hand of weak players and too good in the hand of pro players with the current design – I also think like no other classes it occupies the slot of roaming/glass cannon direct dps. This should actually be accessible to much more classes like ele, ranger, rifle engi etc but they all lose viability if they are so easy to kill by thieves while also lacking the stealth and mobility that thief has.

Well, I do agree with your points of increasing build diversity, but the problem is this change just made classes that were strong, even stronger; defensive rune sets saw no buff, therefore its caused damage to go completely out of control.

I had hoped that there would be a sort of global nerf to classes that dealt too much damage, mainly thief and mesmer.

Yes I see what you mean but I think those classes need to get some of their skill dmg ratios nerfed. Just theoretical a tool that has the same power scaling for everyone (dmg sigil procs) will do more for the classes with already weak power scaling (in this scenario ranger) than for the one with already strong power scaling on skills. It buffs both but it actually somewhat evens out the difference.

Thief just is at a very awkward to balance spot. This class needs less evades, burst damage and more survivability when just taking the damage. This would actually open up more builds for thief than what we have now and I think it is just fair if everyone has to do the same math of how much survivability they want to sacrifice for damage instead of basing survivability for one class completely on ability mechanics.

Oakwind.6187:

bhagwad.4281:

Oakwind.6187:

I wouldn’t judge humanity based on replies like this. Gaming used to be different when the barrier of entry to online games was higher in terms of cost and intent. Even at the risk of sounding offensive: I think it’s pretty obvious when someone is really young and just wants to vent. Why? Because of the narcissistic tone, and the obsessive focus on “being good”. One doesn’t need to read too many rants to realize that just about everybody feels weak and useless alone. If the response to this is to beat down other players instead of figuring out ways to be a better teammate, then it’s no wonder online PvP is seen as the cesspool it is, and why many just quit it.

Years back when I was more active in the FPS community, losing face by blaming others would get you banned from servers and teams. It was totally okay to rage when I got railgunned for the 20th time in a row, but blaming others was the thing you shouldn’t do. Now you can blame others for your shortcomings because the game protects them because “we’re all equal”.

EDIT: Here’s food for thought; what if there were absolutely no rewards to winning or losing akin to how games were before? What if we did not have A.net hosted tournaments, but only player hosted arenas which are community moderated?

I wouldn’t be an MMO then. People play MMOs to level and progress and achieve in game rewards. Playing for “fun” is ok with games like Mario or Contra or whatever.

I seem to extract the notion from here that MMOs are expected to be as miserable as real life is; desperate struggle for rewards at the cost of trampling over others. Be as it may, there’s life outside the game, and I wouldn’t expect “rewards” to hold anyone’s interest for long that has lived past pre-adolescence. To me personally – and I highlight that it is my opinion only, not to be taken as fact – a good competitive game whether it be a win or a loss, is much better a reward than a virtual chest full of virtual bling. There’s way too much focus on rewarding people and too little focus in enhancing competition through professional balancing.

Granted game design in general seems to be leaning on the reward-aspect more these days instead of gameplay. I admit I chuckled when I heard in an interview a developer call damage a reward to the player. Again personally I think that’s deplorable, and indeed I hardly play the game anymore. I do respect some people at A.net so I partake in these discussions at times out of sheer curiosity.

Depends on why you play. If you play for just fun, good for you! I play to get virtual progression in order to cover up life’s inherent meaninglessness. But there’s no reason why developers can’t cater to both needs.

There are three problems:

- The MMR system places totally new and tournament level players in the same matches.
- The vast majority of the new players that enter pvp, enter with a mindset that they know everything allready.
- Veterans that see the same mistakes made over and over by these new players end up flaming them when they had enough.

All 3 of these issues need to be fixed.

bhagwad.4281:

Oakwind.6187:

bhagwad.4281:

Oakwind.6187:

I wouldn’t judge humanity based on replies like this. Gaming used to be different when the barrier of entry to online games was higher in terms of cost and intent. Even at the risk of sounding offensive: I think it’s pretty obvious when someone is really young and just wants to vent. Why? Because of the narcissistic tone, and the obsessive focus on “being good”. One doesn’t need to read too many rants to realize that just about everybody feels weak and useless alone. If the response to this is to beat down other players instead of figuring out ways to be a better teammate, then it’s no wonder online PvP is seen as the cesspool it is, and why many just quit it.

Years back when I was more active in the FPS community, losing face by blaming others would get you banned from servers and teams. It was totally okay to rage when I got railgunned for the 20th time in a row, but blaming others was the thing you shouldn’t do. Now you can blame others for your shortcomings because the game protects them because “we’re all equal”.

EDIT: Here’s food for thought; what if there were absolutely no rewards to winning or losing akin to how games were before? What if we did not have A.net hosted tournaments, but only player hosted arenas which are community moderated?

I wouldn’t be an MMO then. People play MMOs to level and progress and achieve in game rewards. Playing for “fun” is ok with games like Mario or Contra or whatever.

I seem to extract the notion from here that MMOs are expected to be as miserable as real life is; desperate struggle for rewards at the cost of trampling over others. Be as it may, there’s life outside the game, and I wouldn’t expect “rewards” to hold anyone’s interest for long that has lived past pre-adolescence. To me personally – and I highlight that it is my opinion only, not to be taken as fact – a good competitive game whether it be a win or a loss, is much better a reward than a virtual chest full of virtual bling. There’s way too much focus on rewarding people and too little focus in enhancing competition through professional balancing.

Granted game design in general seems to be leaning on the reward-aspect more these days instead of gameplay. I admit I chuckled when I heard in an interview a developer call damage a reward to the player. Again personally I think that’s deplorable, and indeed I hardly play the game anymore. I do respect some people at A.net so I partake in these discussions at times out of sheer curiosity.

Depends on why you play. If you play for just fun, good for you! I play to get virtual progression in order to cover up life’s inherent meaninglessness. But there’s no reason why developers can’t cater to both needs.

A gentleman’s response, I like it. I meant to highlight that I find that there’s too much emphasis on the reward aspect. I find it detracting because people then get obsessed on winning and start having not only five enemies, but five plus four. To me it’s a problem that has its roots in greed and ego, both natural in humans, but still keeping us from becoming better teammates.

Locuz.2651:

There are three problems:

- The MMR system places totally new and tournament level players in the same matches.
- The vast majority of the new players that enter pvp, enter with a mindset that they know everything allready.
- Veterans that see the same mistakes made over and over by these new players end up flaming them when they had enough.

All 3 of these issues need to be fixed.

I fully subscribe to this. I rage myself from time to time. But when you meet a D/D thief with Signet of Shadows 3 times in a row in your team. Well, it gets nasty.
Also, people don’t read the team chat nor watch the map. They cap home and it gets decapped behind their backs, literally.
There should be some design changes in this game that would educate new players, imo, e.g.
1) No access to solo/team q before r20-30.
2) No points for killing people in hotjoin – only ticks and objectives. Reasoning: atm people fight off points and chase instead of capping. Unfortunately, they bring these habits to queue.
3) The only chat that is visible during the soloq match is team chat.
4) Default builds should be close-to-meta specs and not e..g D/D P/P thief with soldier’s amy and thief’s runes.

Power Creep + Toxicity = Toxic Creep

Well done Xeph.