Vainglory Forums

Unfortunately, most of the posts in this part of the forum are complaints about bad games where OP's teammates were feeders, trolls, afks/droppers, and whatnot.
For those of you that have had these experiences, I have a few things to say about this that might help when you are raging after a poor game.
I want to make it clear that this isn't some form of retaliation on the complaints, and I'm simply offering my viewpoints to try and help.

1) I think most complaints have some degree of validity, but they fall short in seeing what a great, free game that VG is.
I hate meeting afks while trying to rank up, but I continue to enjoy the unique, core experience of VG. The dev team is hard-working, dedicated to gamers, and one of a kind.

2) Put yourself in so-and-so's shoes.
The afk might have had to leave for work, dinner, family, and other life priorities. They might just not care enough about this game and not understand how their actions affect other people like you. In any case, realize they are humans and they exist in the real world, so try not to vent at the game itself as it is a MOBA and hence a multiplayer experience. (If you meet a troll, just laugh and get through it, since these people are a part of reality. Shocker, huh?)

2a) Dealing with the afks and droppers is part of the playability and on the go uniqueness that this game enjoys while still offering core gameplay.
Recognize that a part of the mobile experience and its availability to today's world is dealing with all types of players, some who are simply looking for a casual experience. You gain some, you lose some.

2b) Don't feel like you are somehow especially prone to AFKs/bad teammates.
I've seen a lot of posts go on about how they are on losing streaks due to AFKs. Yes, this happens, but understand that your enemy team is equally (there are exceptions) likely as you to have an AFK. Don't feel like you are taking the hit for the afks, because the enemy players have probably shared the same experiences. This goes for bad players and feeders; they're not unique to you only. Try to make the most of good games and let those bad games slide (because bad games are not limited to you).

3) I hate to say this; but if you blame bad players for your tier, then you probably deserve that tier.
Pretty much until you are Pretty Good and maybe until The Hotness, the game is your job to win. Now, I'm not saying you're playing poorly, but you might want to practice multiple heroes, play a support (like Catherine), or just play more conservatively (i.e. less 1v1s). I watched ShinKaigan soloqueue to The Hotness in like 20 or so games, and he didn't seem to anything that special except support is teammates and fill in missing roles when needed.

3a) Again, don't blame it on the match-making system.
If you are, you are not understanding that the people you play against are going to be, on average, just as bad as your teammates. Matches are from a pool of queued players, and bad players don't just make your team. The enemy team might be so good for what seems like a long streak, but they are just as likely to be bad. The system is not flawed, we simply base too much of our conclusions from our observations of single and isolated cases.

3b) Don't expect your team to know what you know, or play how you think this game "is supposed to be played."
As in, don't run into a fight without your teammate with you and expect that they come running. It's best to assume they might not notice, not want to engage, or simply don't believe in you decision. The same goes for the opposite. If your team is taking Kraken or Gold Mine when you don't think they should, at least check nearby bushes and burst down the objective when timely. Don't just ignore your teammates (unless your whole team is running into a death trap), because this is a team game and you will lose if you cannot succeed as a team. While there are pretty blatant examples of people not knowing how to play, be understanding instead of bitter about a single person (they and others cannot force you into a low tier, only your close-mindedness can).

5) Lag is normally an internet or device/hardware problem and has nothing to do with the game (although particular regions do suffer game-related problems) itself.
The matchmaking system is not perfect, nor is it ever going to be. If the game was extremely punishing, new players would be deterred and given few chances to learn the game. We cannot simply take on a vindictive attitude towards others, especially for a new mobile MOBA that has the potential to develop a new community.
Karma level is still not the primary mean of determining your match; it has nothing to do with skill level. Your skill tier is more important for matchmaking and it is determined by ELO (which you can research).

We all know there are bad players, but did you know that the worst player is the one that uses the red/avoid ping on teammates? Doing so is not only a waste of your time and energy, but is extremely annoying, rude, and does no good for your anger. Using the avoid ping on teammates is like cussing them out in a no chat game, and is the worst form of playing this game regardless of the situation. If it happens to you, do not respond or retaliate at all.


Thanks for reading this far (or at least taking a glance), feel free to disagree, add onto this, and share your opinion below.

I totally agree, all the people complaining about their rank, the people that made it to higher ranks played through the exact same process, they just played better than you did.

Don't complain about your teammates, you are the only constant in each match, make the most of YOUR position. Also one observation, if you are one of those players that has those awesome amazing abilities to INSTA lock in on the player you just HAVE to be, yea you probably belong in your tier. Learn to balance your team out, a balanced team is going to do better more often, than you getting to play that one character that you HAVE to be in every game.

The problem with both of your arguments is that a lot of the people in higher ranks play nothing but team games with people they know to be good players. I don't even care what tier I'm in, but I deal with ridiculous stuff like this Saw build below on a regular basis. Unless one person can singlehandedly win a game, matchmaking / real-skill needs to be addressed.

@HAMMER
When you mention "higher ranks," if you are referring to the Hotness or above then my argument still holds. Read the text in point 3):

"Pretty much until you are Pretty Good and maybe until The Hotness, the game is your job to win."

I was saying that until you get to the point where you will have to deal with teams or highly skilled players (as you mentioned) as a solo-queuer, you can pretty much carry the game if you can support your overall team dynamic and have decent skill with 2 or 3 heroes.

Also, looking at the picture, your ally SAW's build was only flawed in that he had no boots. Otherwise, that is not an impossible build to play successfully with. While his KDA is pretty nasty, your team comp is horrible in that you have 2 primary laners. A team like that cannot survive against a more balanced setup like your enemies had.

Additionally, you didn't build any armor to defend against 5 Sorrowblades (I kid you not!) that the enemy had, which is kinda questionable especially since you went for a Shatterglass which provides minimal benefit to Cath, who is a protector and not especially heavy on the ability damage. It looks like you failed to adapt to the game and fill in the role of a proper tank when your team is obviously inherently squishy.

Furthermore, it looks one player lost that game (as in SAW, and I'm sorry in advance, not trying to make a case out of him). That has little to do with matchmaking since matchmaking does not assure that you are playing with proficient players, it ensures that you are playing with similarly ranked players. If you get a feeder or something similar, the match making system will not be able to fix that. The feeder is unidentifiable from the matchmaker except for his ELO and no system should simply tag/discriminate players for a lousy game. This is the reason that no matchmaking improvements will ever be able to remedy the specific problem you are talking about.

After looking over your comment a couple times, I don't see how my argument is flawed because I addressed that your enemy team was likely to have a lacking player any other match. And if they did team up, you were more than likely playing in or near The Hotness and above, and my argument still stands (point 3). This post was mainly addressed towards players in lower skill tiers who are still getting frustrated.

I'm not trying to argue here; obviously no one enjoys those matches. I simply see these matches as part of a mobile game and overall they are not problem for me and I encourage others to deal with the issue through controlling personal response instead of blaming the game for poor matchmaking.

How about here? Also due to the team being poorly composed? Or maybe because I keep matching with people who have no idea how to play.

Earning 514 gold in a game is impressive. I'm impressed by that.