Chapter 721: Pig Teammates Are the Biggest Threat (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Zhang Yi and Wang Han had a very good time playing.

They even forgot that they initially just wanted to get ahead of Old Song.

Although there were many things in the game they hadn't fully understood, and as frequent gamers, Zhang Yi felt that there were actually many details and complexities in “DOTA” that made it not simple to play well.

But for now, the overall impression the game left on both Zhang Yi and Wang Han was very positive.

Especially in terms of controls, it was very convenient. Wang Han, who had only experienced limited enjoyment in RTS games before, personally felt that DOTA was more interesting.

This was mainly due to the sense of presence; even when playing against the computer in “Warcraft” previously, she didn't feel much of a presence.

“DOTA” was different. Online, she could cast skills to assist teammates, or purchase corresponding equipment and level up to learn skills.

Wang Han could feel her presence within the game, not to mention that in her first match, she played an Ogre Magi, and even a Hand of Midas-equipped Ogre Magi.

“Don't look at the scoreboard,” Wang Han shouted at Zhang Yi, who was still checking the stats. “You're a carry, but you don't even have as many kills as I do, the support!”

'That's because you were kill stealing!'

Zhang Yi grumbled inwardly, but of course, he didn't say it out loud.

“Let's play another round! This time, I'll play Crystal Maiden. I just bought an Arcana! It also has other forms that need some data to unlock, but luckily, the co-op bot mode can achieve that.” Wang Han delightedly admired the Crystal Maiden Arcana she had just bought on the hero display interface.

Although playing the Ogre Magi hero was really fun, and she had even gotten an Arcana for it.

But this Crystal Maiden was simply too beautiful.

In this regard, Chen Xu also made some changes compared to his previous life.

For example, unlocking cosmetics and some related tasks for subsequent battle passes.

They could be completed in normal matches, but players could also complete them in co-op bot matches.

This was mainly to prevent players from deliberately messing around in matchmaking or even ranked games just to grind these items later on.

Including the co-op bot mode was to tell players that if they wanted to grind, they should do it in bot mode, which was more convenient and faster.

In this scenario, if players were still messing around in ranked or matchmaking, claiming they were grinding rewards, it would clearly be inexcusable.

As for whether it would affect monetization, the same old saying applied: “DOTA”'s cosmetic monetization pool was deep enough.

“I'll switch heroes and try one too.” Zhang Yi also nodded.

The Dragon Knight he just played, although not very strong in the early game, felt very powerful once he got some items, and transforming into a great ice dragon with his level 3 ultimate at level 18 was incredibly cool.

But this game had so many heroes, so he also wanted to check out other ones.

Of course, he did the same thing as Wang Han: he went into the in-game store and quickly glanced at the cosmetics.

He found that many cosmetics weren't available for direct purchase but required opening “treasure chests.”

However, some Arcana sets were directly available for sale in the store.

The Ogre Magi that Wang Han played earlier, the Crystal Maiden she was now going to play, and the Terrorblade he had seen before, all had corresponding Arcanas.

“This one is pretty cool!” Zhang Yi was immediately captivated by an Arcana for a hero named Nevermore, who was covered in crimson.

This hero was indeed quite handsome, and with the crimson flame Arcana, his coolness factor was maximized.

He glanced at the hero's description again. He couldn't make out the other details, but the word “core” was perfectly clear to Zhang Yi.

“Oh, there's a hero skill video introduction here!” At this moment, Zhang Yi also discovered something special: after clicking into a hero's interface, besides the relevant attributes and cosmetics, there was also a simple video introducing the characteristics of each hero's skills to players.

When excitedly starting their first bot match earlier, neither Zhang Yi nor Wang Han had noticed this.

“The first skill has three instances, hitting three times at close, medium, and long range. The second skill is for last-hitting and collecting souls. The third skill reduces armor, and the ultimate's damage is calculated based on the number of souls.”

Coupled with the simple skill description, Zhang Yi immediately understood the hero's characteristics. This was mainly because Shadow Fiend was a hero with very straightforward skill mechanisms, testing a player's fundamental skills.

However, for playing against AI bots, Shadow Fiend could be said to be a merciless hero for crushing weaker opponents.

With their previous bot experience, Zhang Yi and Wang Han still went to the same lane this round, even though the system's progression guide indicated that Shadow Fiend was a high-burst hero that needed levels and was more suitable for the mid-lane.

But for bot matches, neither Zhang Yi nor the other matched players paid attention.

The second bot match had a slight interlude compared to the previous one. This was mainly because Zhang Yi and his team increased the difficulty from easy to normal, and the matched random players were also a bit different from the previous wave; as they played, they kept running into the enemy's defense towers.

Out of goodwill, Zhang Yi gave the two players who almost fed kills to the bots a refresher on what they learned in the new player tutorial. Then, the guy in the mid-lane unmuted his mic, apologized, said he had to pick up his son from kindergarten, and immediately quit and went AFK, instantly making it a four-on-five situation.

Fortunately, it was just a normal bot match, and the bots would only group up mid and push after reaching a certain level and time.

Furthermore, once they reached a certain item threshold, the bots at this difficulty level wouldn't continue to buy items, even if they had more gold.

So, after Zhang Yi's Shadow Fiend accumulated a certain item advantage, he still managed to win the game by basic attacks all the way.

But Zhang Yi, unaware of these intricacies, simply thought he had almost lost to the bots. Fortunately, as the core, he turned the tide and avoided an embarrassing defeat against the computer.

“In this game, pig teammates are truly the biggest threat!” Zhang Yi remarked with some emotion.

“Indeed, it feels like all five people are indispensable. It's a bit different from FPS games where you can sometimes win a 1v2 with individual skill,” Wang Han agreed.

Clearly, in these two relatively short rounds, neither of them had fully grasped the other deeper content, but the immutable truth that the biggest enemy was pig teammates had already been thoroughly understood.

There were many players like Zhang Yi and Wang Han. After “DOTA” launched its open beta, most players immediately entered the pre-loaded game.

Among them were players like Zhang Yi and Wang Han, who played two rounds and found enjoyment, as well as some who played two rounds but felt a bit dizzy or weren't interested.

Within Nebula Games, Chen Xu, who was constantly monitoring game-related data, was not very surprised by this.

After all, no matter what game it was, there would always be players who liked it and players who didn't.

“DOTA”'s charm was undeniable, but it wasn't capable of conquering all gamers.

Moreover, the game had just launched; most players were still in the tutorial and bot match stages, and the game's true charm hadn't been fully revealed.

(End of Chapter) <>