I can see the potential as a less intimidating way to get casual players and friends into the game. The guaranteed shorter game time is also pretty good for when I want to play one more at the end of the night but don’t want to endure a possible 45+ minute slogfest.

However, the complete randomness of the items in a game where certain heroes are not very playstyle flexible and can be hard countered by actives feels pretty stupid at times. I played a game as Vindicta where the enemy got Knockdown in Round 1 and I could barely play the game until Round 3 where I got Unstoppable (which had a way longer cooldown). Item choices are hidden until a round starts, so there is no way to know whether you’re going to be hard-countered and need to build unconventionally in response. I feel like they should be able to balance the game mode better but I’m not sure how serious they’re taking it right now.

  • terabytes@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    4·
    8 days ago

    I think it’s mostly going to just be an arcadey mode. Not every hero is well suited, the items are balanced around the standard 6v6 format, and the legendary items are just silly (infinite magazine, piano drop) and that’s fine. I don’t know if I would ever try to get new players to start Deadlock on this mode, it’s not exactly beginner friendly. But it does have the advantage of a lower time commitment, and you can try a hero against real players in a short format, no consequences match mode this way. I think unless Valve sees a sizeable, recurrent player base for this mode they won’t change it much. Or unless someone at Valve is particularly fond of the mode.

    • Ilandar@lemmy.todayOPEnglish
      5·
      8 days ago

      Do you think the main mode is more beginner friendly though? This one is just fighting, there is zero macro and little in the way of strategic itemisation/building. It’s basically what low rank Deadlock already feels like, except it’s shorter and you can never get ganked by a player twice your power level.

      • terabytes@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        2·
        7 days ago

        Nah, I think this is actually worse in many ways. Fighting a Viscous who has enhanced rapid recharge who can spam slime punch nearly once every second isn’t a good or fun learning experience.

        It’s ARAM chaos mode.