Lemmings1
08-06-2009, 11:10 PM
HoN is a team game, and most fun when the team works together. There will always be individuals who are only interested in doing their own thing, but the current stats system actually encourages this.
Now, new and never before in DotA, there is a stats system that compiles cumulative stats as you play games. Using the current model, if you get 21 kills and die 3 times, those numbers are then added to your lifetime kills and deaths and forever impact your record. So now, not only to feel good about yourself without anyone knowing, people can see your cumulative lifetime stats absolutely out of context and not know how you came to get them.
This encourages what many are referring to as the Care Factor. Where person plays for stats. This leads to the abuse of certain heroes with skills that enable them to easily deal killing blows to heroes that are going to die anyways. To name three Scout, Thunderbringer, and Night Hound. I don't know how many games I've played where those heroes do NOTHING but creep, jungle, and KS other people's kills. When I say KS I mean the hero would certainly die without their help, they timed a nuke to deal the killing blow, and the killing blow was the only damage or ability they contributed to the kill.
Why do we care? It gets old having people like this in almost every game. It makes it harder on the team and it doesn't encourage the player to become any better at anything other than farming and KSing.
My solution? There are two major rating systems at the moment. One involves stats and the other a rating system. I say segregate them and make them mutually exclusive.
Public games: Use the public rating system and don't record stats. This would work great, you only get more points when your team wins! The only way to improve your rating is then to focus on winning, which doesn't have anything to do with KSing, but everything to do with the way the game is intended to be played.
A game called Natural Selection was a teambased FPS and it didn't show kills or deaths in the stats screen. After a few years they introduced kills and deaths into the stats screen and the community died. People stopped playing because it was no longer about teamwork and winning the match, but all about seeing how high one could make their stats.
Private games: If the game is private, then record scrim stats as stats are currently recorded for all games. A scrim is already about teamwork and winning, so stats should have a negligible impact on the game play.
Stats are great, they give a player something quantifiable that they are working on and reflects their skill. Stats give a player bragging rights, prestige, or whatever. But whats the point of having stats if the gameplay sucks.
I say gameplay first and stats somewhere after that.
Post your thoughts, solutions, etc. And I dare you to flame and show me how you are to lazy to think of something worth reading.
Now, new and never before in DotA, there is a stats system that compiles cumulative stats as you play games. Using the current model, if you get 21 kills and die 3 times, those numbers are then added to your lifetime kills and deaths and forever impact your record. So now, not only to feel good about yourself without anyone knowing, people can see your cumulative lifetime stats absolutely out of context and not know how you came to get them.
This encourages what many are referring to as the Care Factor. Where person plays for stats. This leads to the abuse of certain heroes with skills that enable them to easily deal killing blows to heroes that are going to die anyways. To name three Scout, Thunderbringer, and Night Hound. I don't know how many games I've played where those heroes do NOTHING but creep, jungle, and KS other people's kills. When I say KS I mean the hero would certainly die without their help, they timed a nuke to deal the killing blow, and the killing blow was the only damage or ability they contributed to the kill.
Why do we care? It gets old having people like this in almost every game. It makes it harder on the team and it doesn't encourage the player to become any better at anything other than farming and KSing.
My solution? There are two major rating systems at the moment. One involves stats and the other a rating system. I say segregate them and make them mutually exclusive.
Public games: Use the public rating system and don't record stats. This would work great, you only get more points when your team wins! The only way to improve your rating is then to focus on winning, which doesn't have anything to do with KSing, but everything to do with the way the game is intended to be played.
A game called Natural Selection was a teambased FPS and it didn't show kills or deaths in the stats screen. After a few years they introduced kills and deaths into the stats screen and the community died. People stopped playing because it was no longer about teamwork and winning the match, but all about seeing how high one could make their stats.
Private games: If the game is private, then record scrim stats as stats are currently recorded for all games. A scrim is already about teamwork and winning, so stats should have a negligible impact on the game play.
Stats are great, they give a player something quantifiable that they are working on and reflects their skill. Stats give a player bragging rights, prestige, or whatever. But whats the point of having stats if the gameplay sucks.
I say gameplay first and stats somewhere after that.
Post your thoughts, solutions, etc. And I dare you to flame and show me how you are to lazy to think of something worth reading.