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Into the mind of a 10 mmr player
Or
Things I learned from the Blizzard campaigns
Or
Things I learned from the Blizzard campaigns
Introduction
Lately I have been binging Grubby’s Bronze League Heroes series – for those unfamiliar, this is where he watches and analyzes low level ladder games. And while I find this series both extremely entertaining and educational, him being one of the best RTS players in the world actually makes him grossly unqualified to understand the decision making behind the plays that low mmr players make. The fundamental premises of a low mmr player’s decision making is so different from his, that it’s like trying to understand the culture of a different planet through human societal axioms.
In this article I would like to suggest and illustrate how the low mmr player’s mindset is a direct result of the education he undergoes in his first contact with the game, via the blizzard campaigns.
And why you may ask, is this in the tutorial section? My reasoning, was that besides satire, this article may prove to be insightful, both for mapmakers creating new campaigns, looking to either follow in blizzard’s footsteps or avoid doing so, and possibly for players who are wondering why they seem to be stuck in low mmr, or at least why they can blame that too on Blizzard entertainment. But mostly, to finally offer some relief for those high skill players who are kept up at night, pondering over the mysterious phenomenon, that bizarre and almost uncomprehensible ecosystem, a peek into low mmr.
Lastly the reader may ask themselves what makes this pompous writer see himself as qualified to analyze this behavioral pattern more accurately than the professionals in the field. To this my answer is twofold –
1. as a native and longtime resident of planet Lowmmr, I believe I can understand my own culture in a way that outsiders simply cannot.
2. More importantly - I write here as a suggestion and a theory. If the words on this page have moved you, have made you feel something inside that empty husk you used to call a soul, have convinced you or even been somewhat thought provoking, then my job here is done. And if not, than I had fun writing in this strange style, and being a dad I’m pretty ok with saying things even when I am the only one entertained by them.
As a finishing comment to this introduction, I will just say that while I believe that the campaigns indeed teach you how to be a truly terrible player, they are still great. I have played through them many times, and derived countless hours of fun from them. I actually think that While this great community has surpassed the original game in many ways, the original Blizzard campaigns still stand almost uncontested. Their strong plot and characters, amazing voice acting and clear linear playability are still a golden standard for campaign creators.
From here on, in order to abbreviate and avoid value based terms such as good and bad players, I will use the well known* terms COP and COG- for Campaign Oriented Players and Gameplay, and subsequently MOP and MOG for Melee Oriented Players and Melee Oriented Gameplay.
And Now, let us dive right into the concepts that make COG truly shine.
by people who already read this
Time is on your side
What is probably the core tenet of COG is that time is on your side. This is in polar opposition to the core RTS concept that time is a precious resource. MOG players recognize that, and try to optimally maximize their progress in the shortest amount of time. This goes directly against the teachings of the campaigns.How is this lesson learned?
Static enemies
In most levels of the campaign, you start with a minimal amount of units, while the computer already has a fully fledged, fully guarded base. the longer the game goes on, the more this power dynamic shifts in your favor. Your army grows larger and stronger, while the enemy force stays essentially unchanged.
Level caps
While having level caps is understandable for campaign consistency and balance, there is also a price. Knowing you can only grow one or two hero levels per campaign map, means that you will almost always hit that cap by the middle of the level. This also adds to the feeling that there is zero urgency to be out on the map. Whereas in MOG you should want to spend every passing minute making your hero/es stronger and gaining an advantage over your opponent – the campaigns teach you that there is no real benefit gained by being constantly active, and no real detriment to sitting AFK in your base.
The Various Applications of this lesson in COG:
Avante-garde build orders
MOPs approach each game with a plan of their build order. They know how many workers they need on each resource and what order they have to build each building in, in order to achieve the army composition they are aiming for at the maximal speed. COPs however, do not share this concept. Since there is no urgency, and eventually you will have the resources you need to buy what you want, you can just see what you want as you go. Do you want a hero? Good, buy an altar. Are you missing wood? Ok, add some more peons to lumber or buy a shredder. Since there is no rush, and as aforementioned time is on your side – you can just buy what you want, when you want it. So while a MOP will watch and think he is watching an “innovative” build order, that is just him trying to apply his MOP based paradigm of “build order” where in reality it just doesn’t exist in the COP’s lexicon.
AFK gameplay
As previously touched upon, this is very direct result of the training of the campaign. In addition to time passing being exclusively in your favor, there are yet additional incentives to camp in your base.
- Enemy attack waves – In the MOG world, although enemy harass is definitely a factor, it is often possible to counterplay that with the base’s natural defensive measures, in a way that will make it less cost/time efficient for your enemies than the value you are gaining elsewhere on the map. In the campaign however, your enemy has no concept of preserving their forces. The jass function that sends attack waves is appropriately named suicideUnits (or something like that). This means that your base will most likely take heavy damage if you are not there to quell the attack. This serves as yet another incentive to stay at home.
- Enemy base defense - In the campaign, most enemy bases have constant static defenders. They have a given amount of buildings, and a given amount of defending units that will be recreated if you destroy them. This translates to gameplay in that harassment is futile. If you try harassing or attacking when you don’t have a strong enough army – you will get wrecked, and that may well lead to you not having a strong enough army to stop the attack wave heading for your base. and the harassment hampered your enemy in no way. They will have fixed whatever damage you did by the time you can rally your next attack. This teaches the COP, that the safest way to win the game, is to camp out in your base until you have amassed a large enough army to take out the enemy base – which as mentioned, is not growing in parallel to you, but just sitting and waiting politely for you to build up your army so you can come and annihilate them.
Clicking all upgrades
MOG players, in their strive for efficiency, only buy the unit upgrades for the units they are using. This is a cohesive part of their attempt to produce the strongest possible army, in the shortest amount of time.
In contrast to this ,COPs are devoid of this pressure or of a concrete plan of which units they will be using. To the COP, by the end of each level of gameplay, he will ideally have all possible upgrades. He will probably have at least one of each type of structure too. And by all means why shouldn’t he? In a world where there is no pressure, and no shortage of resources, why shouldn’t you upgrade everything? This logic in turn, creates an almost impulsive habit to click on an any upgrade button that is clickable. Does this result sometimes in delaying buying other units or buildings? Indubitably, but again, something taking more time is not a valid concern to the COP.
Menagerie army composition
The MOP, who lives in a time constricted world, knows that the fastest way to a strong army, is to “pick a lane”. Choose the specific units that will be the core of his army, and work on training and upgrading them as fast as possible. Many of the same unit are also more practical to manage. The COP, intends on having everything upgraded by the end of the game. Therefore, all units are equal to him and isn’t it good to have all the different units and abilities at your disposal?
Another factor that adds to this are the campaigns showing you by example that this is how an army is built. Many levels start off with a variety of units, and encourage you to try out the next type of unit. This goes together with the fact that the enemy armies are also always a salad of mixed units. If they have rock, paper and scissor units, then don’t you also need all types of attack and armor to cope with that?
Other tenets of COG
Here is another lesson from the campaign that contributes to the COP mindset even though it is not directly related to the time paradigm :Strange base layout
You may have, on occasion wandered into a COPs base (not to be confused with a police station). you may have been captivated by the beauty of the layout, the geometrically spread farms, and two towers acting as the front doorposts to the base. things may have been spread out across multiple acres. To the MOG trained player, this may seem strange. It may seem unstrategic, as you can just run past these towers and attack the other more crucial buildings/workers. The MOP, may prefer to cluster his buildings closer together to block out unwanted blademasters, or to keep them all in range of a single tower.Once again, the campaigns taught the COP everything he knows about base layout. In the campaign your enemies send attack waves that suicide against your base. they don’t try to optimize and kill important targets. They just run in and start hitting things. Having scenic towers marking the entrance of your base is completely a functional choice, when you are used to enemies who respect the Geneva convention to attack towers first and not run past them.
This also explains the great fondness of building towers in general. When your enemy is sending predetermined attack waves that might not even have a single artillery unit, having a collection of towers in your base is a joker.
In terms of having your base extremely spread out – this is again following the example of the tutorial. Whether as an aesthetic choice to make things more realistic, or as an intentional decision to make the bases harder to defend, base layout in the campaigns is often extremely spread out. Such is the way of COG.
And thus we have reached the conclusion of my rant.
Thank you for joining me on my journey towards understanding but an inkling, of the illusive and mysterious ways of the Campaign Oriented Player.
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