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The Future of MOBAs
- Thread starter GooberDooberCBC
- Start date
genre is mainly gigantic on mobile, would love to see iterations of it that push forward mobile/touch specific things tho I doubt this will happen
things I'd like to see for new mobile mobas: shorter games, more sophisticated controls, something that pushes new types of quick strategies/metagame, etc.
things I'd like to see for new mobile mobas: shorter games, more sophisticated controls, something that pushes new types of quick strategies/metagame, etc.
I think MOBA elements will eventually seep into every genre. For Honor is basically a MOBA-light at this point, and it happened organically.
you mean pokemon unite?
for now it seems like they came late to the game, took a generic moba, and threw a pokemon skin over it.
Gigantic had a super striking art style and I was able to get into the game, but I won't pretend it wasn't opaque as all hell, lol. Managing the ebb and flow of a match was an acquired skill that players would regularly screw up. The moment when your boss pins the other team was always great though.
Tyto the Swift was my favourite, from concept to character design to play style. The flavour text didn't even know what gender they were and that the little mouse talked for them. I always wanted to port that concept into an TTRPG or something, it was so cool.
shure, enough will play it. but will it make mobas great again? eh...dont think so. well see.
As a lol player, I tried most of the mobile mobas and honestly all of them play like shit. Have no balance, don't provide a solid experience in features like efficiently checking map or chat or pinging etc. And I felt like nobody was even trying to play decently. It's like playing a half assed moba game for me. I'm very curious to see if the stuff i mentioned will be improved with wild rift. This is only my experience anyway, others might feel different.
I have played different PC, console and Mobile MOBAs, and the future is definitely on mobile. Mobile MOBA is already big here in SEA. I think the biggest factor is how accessible is the game as most people here have smartphones as their primary gaming device.
The problem with PC MOBA is that they are too complex for most people, and they would be eaten alive even on lower ranks without proper tutorial and practice. With mobile moba, casual players can easily join and play with the simplified controls, locked camera, and auto targeting. The speed of the game (ends in 15-25 mins) also allows people to play it during their freetime anywhere (office, school, etc).
Console Mobas are very clunky in their targeting controls, and the population is non-existent, so definitely it is dead there. Unless devs can figure out something.
The problem with PC MOBA is that they are too complex for most people, and they would be eaten alive even on lower ranks without proper tutorial and practice. With mobile moba, casual players can easily join and play with the simplified controls, locked camera, and auto targeting. The speed of the game (ends in 15-25 mins) also allows people to play it during their freetime anywhere (office, school, etc).
Console Mobas are very clunky in their targeting controls, and the population is non-existent, so definitely it is dead there. Unless devs can figure out something.
I hope we will see advancements in the genre. I LOVE league and enjoyed Dota aswell, I played hots heavily for a time too.
Now with only league and Dota left there's a gap especially with people getting tired of both games.
I would love to see a new studio start with a fresh take, keep to the RTS feel of league and Dota but with a smaller cast of heroes, unique map design and most importantly have that love added that both riot and valve seem to have lost for their respective games.
As such a big fan of the genre it's frustrating seeing nobody try stuff new and start with a fresh slate, with me going as far as "if nobody will make a new moba I'll make one myself". (That lasted a whole few months before realising game design is a LOT harder to learn that I thought it would)
Now with only league and Dota left there's a gap especially with people getting tired of both games.
I would love to see a new studio start with a fresh take, keep to the RTS feel of league and Dota but with a smaller cast of heroes, unique map design and most importantly have that love added that both riot and valve seem to have lost for their respective games.
As such a big fan of the genre it's frustrating seeing nobody try stuff new and start with a fresh slate, with me going as far as "if nobody will make a new moba I'll make one myself". (That lasted a whole few months before realising game design is a LOT harder to learn that I thought it would)
Dota was a big part of my growing up. While I don't play it much anymore, I still watch the competitive scene from time to time. But I can tell it's been in a decline as the new genres rise like battle royales and whatever else the kids are into these days. That's probably why both Riot and Valve are making spin-offs
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The pokemon Unity MOBA does look very simplistic which has its pros and cons. I hope that we do see the genre grow a bit more in different contexts.
I haven't played enough of it to comment on the balance, but Wildrift has fantastic controls. With champions I have played before on PC it was pretty quick to get used to Wildrift, and it plays like a quicker version of desktop LoL. I would play more of it but waiting for my favourite champions to get added.
I played every mobile moba to date. Wild Rift is the first, and only, one to not feel like complete shit.
In fact, it feels excellent - very thoughtful implementation that captures the feel of league champions perfectly
I still play it with a friend. It's fun and never have issues finding a game.
This is great to hear. I know Riot is on another level and I've been really hoping they bring the much needed PROPER gameplay experience to mobile. Also curious how it'll perform on Switch. Speaking of, I'm not updated if wild rift will be crossplay mobile-Switch? Not knowing any info on this I'm assuming it won't be since playing on touch controls vs joycons will most likely create a big handicap for mobile players.
Gotta keep the salt going at high quality, haha. But yeah great to hear it. As long as the game feels and plays great, it'll definitely be huge for lol on the go.
I play it daily too, but it seems like it never gets mentioned in these discussions, despite having the best implementation of level up mechanics I've seen in any Moba. I feel like if Blizzard had gone with a battle pass style monetization the game would've lasted longer.
Probably controllers no?
They want to design a game for console / mobile. The full fat version would require keyboard and mouse to be competitive. Also I think they think that the console audience only wants shorter game lengths and whatnot, which may be true. Probably true for me.
I played a few mobas on console, but the one I had most fun with was Awesomenaughts, and games there were quite short and sweet. I prefer action mobas though so I don't think Wild Rift will satisfy. I also liked Battleborn.
Well controllers are the obvious hurdle :P I did say both consoles support KB/M though, and Riot/Valve could even flog their own rebranded peripherals, I guess.
I think there *might* be some mileage in console player game time versus what's expected on PC, although the average game time in the most recent metas has come down to around 30-35mins.
I personally don't think I'll find myself playing Wild Rift, which is a shame as I'd liked to have used it as a stepping stone for my console mates. The games feel too long and exhausting on mobile and I've been spoiled by the full fat experience.
Maybe the timing thing will change when the consoles enter the better, but ultimately feel they'll be missing the play making rush compared to PC as that in itself is part of the learning and reward curve.
Yeah but you would then have to place on keyboard and mouse to stay competitive. Just because those devices support keyboard and mouse, doesn't mean that people want to use it.
Call of Duty supports keyboard and mouse too, yet the vast majority of players choose to use a controller.
People in these discussions treat controllers as some kind of limitation that devs have to work around, but the reality is that folks who play on console (over 200 million when you add up the platform hardware sales), likely actually, like playing on a controller. If you don't design around their preferences, and you just dump a game out and say 'he's league, but play with keyboard and mouse if you want to have a good time' then you're going to alienate the majority of players on these platforms.
Also something to think about is that this audience of players probably won't see it as 'full fat' vs 'cut down'. When I hear 'league but with controller support and faster matches'. I think 'better', not cut down or worse. Ultimately it's just a difference that caters to me, which is appreciable, not detrimental. I expect other players will see it the same way provided Riot support Wild Rift well.
I still think there's room in the console space for MOBAs to blow up. Smite still does pretty well and has very little competition. I expect Wild Rift to be huge when it finally comes to console.
I don't necessarily think it's the "future" of the MOBA genre, but I think there's a lot of space to explore it in VR and eventually AR/MR. Both in first person and third. I've seen a few attempts at it already and, though nothing has nailed it yet, I can see the promise. Even just spectating DOTA2 in VR is pretty compelling.
The original Auto Chess guys just announced Auto Chess MOBA. Curious as to how that'll pan out. Kinda of a weird full circle thing.
????
They literally released a new hero and major patch about a month ago. They also released an update just the other day for the DPC. Not sure where you're getting this from.
It still happens, but didn't in 2020 because of COVID. If thinks improve enough, there could be one in 2021, but COVID threw things out of whack.
Because they simply wouldn't work and are tied too hard to keyboard and mouse control. I can't speak for LoL as I don't play it, but Dota in particular would not work on a controller at all and requires keyboard and mouse to function. They couldn't even get Dota to work well on their own Steam Controller (although it can work for some custom games and watching live games or replays).
Porting these games to consoles would mean they have to be changed to completely different games. It would be like making a flat screen version of Half-life Alyx. It wouldn't be the same game anymore.
Actually LoL is being ported to consoles. To your point though it is essentially a different version made specifically for that and mobile. I don't think it's as extreme a change as the example you used though. More similar to the difference between Diablo 3 console and PC.
Like I said, I can't really speak for LoL, but I can tell you 100% Dota would absolutely be extremely different. Some heroes would even likely need to be removed or have their core concepts completely neutered (Meepo and Arc Warden come to mind) for a Dota console port to be in the realm of possibility, and even then it's still pretty much impossible. The idea of items like Linken's Sphere or Lotus Orb would have to be completely changed.
I really enjoyed Paragon. Never went full deep in it, but played 1 or 2 matches every day when it was still up and running.
Tried Smite, but the playerbase can be a bit toxic. I think that is the main issue with MOBAs.
Also, the learning curve is insane. Lanes? Jungle? Damn lol
Tried Smite, but the playerbase can be a bit toxic. I think that is the main issue with MOBAs.
Also, the learning curve is insane. Lanes? Jungle? Damn lol
