SMITE ( Hi-Rez Studios )

[Falconeer]

I can't compare because I am less than an amateur when it comes to LOL/DOTA. Masteries are only a measure of how experienced someone is with a god so when you see someone with 32 Masteries (that Thunder symbol in the match loading screen) you know they are quite experienced with 32 different Heroes (At least a Mastery for each thunder symbol in the lower RIGHT corner of their "God Card"), as opposed to someone with only 3, or none at all. And if they have, for instance, the numeral VI on the lower LEFT corner of their God Card in that loading screen, it means they have 6 masteries with that god specifically, which means they are quite good at it. Max Masteries with each god is ten, and if I am not mistaken you unlock the Legendary skin when you get to "X".

Hi-Rez has been clear about wanting the game to be completely skilled based since the very beginning, so their stance is absolutely and strongly against the runes system that I understand is in LoL. They said multiple times that they want a player at his/her first game to have exactly the same tools a player who played for a year has. After all, Smite is more skill/shootey than the aforementioned titles, so somehow it is understandable. Also, no entry barrier whatsoever for new players.

Again, can't comment on the items/builds and that kind of complexity compared to other games. But there's a lot of theorycrafting on the forums, and new items get introduced with every patch (after all "it is still beta"). I just know that your characters don't get any bonus for playing a lot, you only unlock skins. So maybe you are right.

[Mrbloodworth]

Having played this a bit more, is it just me or is there a significant lack of depth in this game compared to LOL/DOTA2? It seems to have a simpler item system than LOL, and the lack of player-level stategy (runes and masteries) seems to lead me to believe it's very shallow compared to LOL. There's the added element of player aiming skill but no character building for the player. The mastery levels don't do anything as far as I can tell so I'm not sure what they are there for.

Personally, I'm all for loosing the attrition that comes with mastery and rune pages. As a newer lol user ( Read: Months and months of playtime, no boosts ) that plays mostly with friends, who are level 30. I felt this more then some, its "RPG" level of power progression gaps in lol. It does not matter how well you play if you don't have the runes and masteries. Something that for me, removes the "skill" in some aspects. In lol, the first  five minutes of farming are important, smite, not as much. This can be felt in early game ADC play in lol. I'm glad its not really as important in smite. ( Last hits are not all that matters in smite, In lol it does leading to arguably boring play for the support )

As for items, I disagree. The items themselves have "trees" with optional end item passives. I fully enjoy that a high level player in smite is playing the same toon as you are, puts more emphasis on actual play then number crunching before the match even starts.

YMMV.


EDIT: Clarity

[Falconeer]

Not sure if it is in League of Legends too, but I really like the auto-buy function in Smite. It can be programmed and stored within the client for each hero so you will be able to focus on fighting instead of menu-browsing, especially in the first part of the match. And it can be turned anytime when plans need to be changed on the fly.

Another thing I like that apparently got introduced with last week's patch and I only found out about two days ago is that you can setup different ways to fire your skills by summoning the "K" menu during a game and choosing what skills you want to go by quick-cast, insta-cast or normal-cast, independently from each other.

I think there are so many Quality of Life details in Smite that I can really just focus on fighting, instead of having to master the interface as a supposedly interesting part of the "learning curve". I know this is not what Haemish was talking about, but I wanted to stress again how accessible this game is while still offering lots of choices. Like the gamemodes: consider me a simpleton but arena is my favourite. It's just some 15-20 minutes of fast, furious and satisfying skill based 5v5 fantasy PvP.

[Mrbloodworth]

Yeah, none of that QOL stuff is in Lol. Its really a great feature in Smite.

Also, the roar of the crowd can not be ignored.

[MediumHigh]

I'll check this out to see how mash right click it is.

[Falconeer]

There is nothing to mash. You only right click to cancel skills.
You move with WASD, do basic attacks with left mouse click, perform one of your four abilities with 1, 2, 3 and 4. The end.

Think about a typical MMORPG way to control a character, but with 45 classes, only 4 skills per class, no tab targeting, no autoattack, super fast super precise super skilled combat, and you have it.

[HaemishM]

I wouldn't say it's SUPER skilled combat. There seem to be some ults on some characters that are insta-win if used even remotely competently. Fenrir's drag your ass into the turret range and watch you melt is my particular pet peeve FUCK YOU hate skill.

[Falconeer]

Fair enough, Haem. And Agree on the Fenrir one, but it's when I picked Fenrir myself that I realize: a) how easy it is to miss with that 'grab' skill, and how easy it is to get myself killed while I am at it.

It's just that you have to aim pretty much everything, and even when you don't have to aim you have to at least predict where the enemy will be in the next few milliseconds. I've seen the difference between average players and amazing ones and they just don't miss anything ever, they seem to know where you are gonna jerk and swerve in the next two seconds and it is scary. I like how the skill ceiling seems pretty high while the whole experience stays extremely accessible.

 

[MediumHigh]

Aiming pretty much everything isn't much of a draw, I actually do enjoy first person shooters were the reward for aiming isn't -10 health out of 300 which tends to be the case with skillshot based moba's.

[Mrbloodworth]

Its a draw for me, who can't stand un-dodge-able RTS combat crapola. I find the battles in this WAY more fun, and adrenalin inducing. I also agree with Falconeer, you may need to try those gods before calming they are insta-win. At first encounter, they are undeniably annoying though.

Good play is good play in smite, its not tempered by numbers. You do need more shooter-like map awareness and skills.

Fenrir TIP: If you are CC immune, he can't carry you, and you will end his ult right then and there, all of it, even his protections. If I see him in the match, I buy Purification Beads.

[Falconeer]

Also, and I feel this is important as demostrated by the fact that they decided to add an Arena League which wasn't planned at first, this game was conceived as a Third Person View MOBA, but the Arena mode -while very simple for obvious reasons- is just awesome PvP action that deserves praises and recognition for iteself.

What I am trying to say is that the "MOBA" definition is starting to feel too tight for this game. Sure, it can be played as a MOBA, 80% of the modes are MOBA based, but the combat itself is fantastic and what is actually pushing this one beyond the subgenre it originally chose to belong to.

[Nightblade]

The game still feels janky.

I played some games as two characters. Monkey Assassin, and Ra.

Hun Batz was ok, and had a few neat abilities but didn't really like how melee combat felt. While auto attacking, your movement was hindered and while you're sitting there mashing attacking the enemies; your blows feel like they lack impact. Kind of like Warhammer Online auto attacking.

Ra felt a lot better, a lot of fun sniping and a neat aoe ability that healed allies and damage foes; but all in all it feels... muddy. Like you don't have as much control as you should.

[Falconeer]

That's weird. To each their own but I've never felt this much sharp, snappy, responsive control in a MMORPG-style kind of combat since, well, ever.

[Mrbloodworth]

The Adventures of Denton - Episode 2

[Falconeer]

New god, the god of bees.

[Mrbloodworth]

The Visual changes to assault are stunning.

[Malakili]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU97w2DH5mc

[Mrbloodworth]

SMITE - God Reveal - He Bo, God of the Yellow River

    He Bo’s model, FX, animations and 2D Art have undergone a significant makeover, in order to better fit his mythology and legend.

    As part of this change, the “Flood Waters” ability has been renamed to “Atlas of the Yellow River”.

    The Cascade skin has also been remade as part of this change.

New Skins:

    Golden Sobek

    Golden Bakasura

Voicepacks:

    Bastet

General

    The mini-map is now semi-transparent. You may control the level of mini-map opacity as well as the display of fog of war on the mini-map by using the SETTINGS menu, User Interface tab.

    The God Screen and Match Lobby now show the Mastery Level of each god. Future releases will include an improved art treatment for this functionality.

    When dead and viewing a teammate, your view will now automatically advance to the next viewable teammate (or tower if all teammates are dead), rather than viewing the location where you died.

    The Match Accept dialogue on timed queues no longer stays up after a match is accepted.

    Enemy wards are now back to red when revealed.

    The end of match lobby screen has undergone some visual improvements.

    Popular Items and Recommended Items have swapped places on the Item Store. Popular Items are now the default view.

    The Stat Screen accessible from the item store now no longer includes base bot power in the physical and magical power fields.

    Fixed a couple crash conditions.

    The League screens have undergone some minor improvements.

    Fixed an issue where certain towers could display a red “splotch” on the ground when it began its destruction.

    Only 3 wards are allowed at any given time per player.  The oldest ward is destroyed when placing the 4th ward.

Spectator:

    Updated the keybinding screen with a number of previously unexposed commands.

League:

    Qualified players (playing at least 10 games in the league) has been removed from determining the top and bottom percentages.  Now all players that have at least one game played will be used.  NOTE:  Only qualified players get credit at the end of the season for participation.

    Added separate tracking of AFK and match lobby dodges.  There is an additional penalty (besides the loss incurred) to the players next win points.

Gods:

    Agni

        Noxious Fumes

            This ability can now be placed inside of walls and other blocking geometry.

    Ah Muzen Cab

        Hive

            Reduced movement speed bonus from 20/25/30/35/40 to 10/15/20/25/30

            Removed physical power scaling on the healing effect

            Increased mana cost from 35/40/45/50/55 to 40/45/50/55/60

        Swarm

            Fixed an issue in which victims towards the edges of the targeter were not highlighting.

        Honey

            Increased mana cost from 65/70/75/80/85 to 75/80/85/90/95

            Added a 55-foot radius indicator on deployed hives when Ah Muzen Cab is targeting with Honey.

                **Tooltip updated to indicate 55ft hive activation radius

            Fixed an issue in which victims would sometimes have honey persist on them until respawn and afterwards were no longer affected throughout the match.

            Fixed an issue where sometimes the ability would cost double the mana.

            Fixed an issue where players were not able to protect against the slow.

        Stinger

            Over the past weekend, we fixed an issue where sometimes the cooldown would be drastically reduced when picking up the dropped stinger.

    Anubis

        General

            Loading screen card has been updated.

    Ao Kuang

        Tornadoes

            This ability can now be placed inside of walls and other blocking geometry.

    Artemis

        Suppress the Insolent

            This ability can now be placed inside of walls and other blocking geometry.

    Athena

        Confound

            Fixed an issue where a victim of Athena's Confound could continue firing if the victim's player released the fire button while being taunted.

    Chronos

        Accelerate

            Over the weekend, fixed an issue where sometimes he would deal too much damage with his basic attack when selecting the IV quadrant.
        Wheel of Time
            The additional benefits granted by Wheel of Time when Accelerate is activated now last 7 seconds to match the duration of Accelerate.

    Cupid

        Fields of Love

            This ability can now be placed inside of walls and other blocking geometry.

    Hel

        General

            Fixed an issue with the lighting on her white stance lobby model.

        Hinder

            This ability can now be placed inside of walls and other blocking geometry.

        Cleanse

            This ability can now be placed inside of walls and other blocking geometry.

    Mercury

        Maximum Velocity

            The root immunity on this ability has been removed. Mercury will also no longer gain unintentional immunity to Cripple effects while active.

    Neith

        Spirit Arrow

            The radial targeter for this ability when aiming at Broken Weaves should be visible once again

    Poseidon

        Whirlpool

            This ability can now be placed inside of walls and other blocking geometry.

    Ra

        Solar Blessing

            This ability can now be placed inside of walls and other blocking geometry.

    Thanatos

        Fixed an issue where his basic attack progression animations could sometimes get out of sync with the hits

    Vamana

        Colossal Fury

            Addressed an issue with him staying in big form (visual only).

[Mrbloodworth]

I Wrote this up For Nebu. Re-posting here as others may find it useful:

Until you get used to it, don't get frustrated. For one. Combat between champs/gods starts WAY earlier than in lol. Just doing damage to minions grants XP, last hit is more.

When you play this, bring out your Shooter type map awareness. While laneing, if they have a jungle, keep an eye on the entries and exists. If you are a Mana heavy user, do take the blue buff. Be advised you can only have one buff at a time.

When you enter a match, unlike lol. You pick your "summoner skills" IN match. Choose wisely. You can not change them. You also buy consumables separately from items too. Consumables stack, but you can not switch what they are until you use them all. If you see Fenrir ( Wolf god ) in the match, I suggest getting Purification Beads if your god has no CC breaker. His bite and drag is killer, and hes normally a jungle.

I would recommend watching the god guides, under the TV icon > God guides for any champ you may be interested in.  Also, take advantage of auto skill level and auto items ( Check box before a match ) so you can focus on the match and your play. Just, as you go on, ween yourself off of them, there are better item builds than the recommended, obviously. But it lets you focus on what really matters a bit more in your lower ranks. Gameplay in the match.

Melee is much harder than Magic/ranged. Due to all the close proximity and aim requirement. I suggest a ranged/mage at the start. Ra is a good one.

Also, I can't stress how important the "V" key is. Its the call out system from Tribes/Plantside. Get to know it, get to love it.

That's all off the top of my head. Also, try arena, the roar of the crowed can't be ignored! :)

[Spiff]

My two cents, item-wise:
- Don't EVER use the recommended items tab, they are terrible builds for almost every god. There is a 'popular items' tab that'll get you a lot closer to a decent build.
- unless you are quite comfortable inventing your own oddball builds: start with a 'starter item' appropriate for your role (there is one for each role and a couple for tank/supports). They are great value for gold and leave you money to buy some consumables (a few green and/or blue pots do a lot early game) and/or a summoner skill.

Also: a very common mistake I see with new players is skill spam, it may look and feel like an RPG/FPS at first, but it isn't. Your mana is very limited, especially early in the game (even more so as a carry/tank) and replenishes very slowly without a buff.
You may feel tempted to blow all your gold on blue pots or "meditation" (the summoner skill, or "active" here, that replenishes mana): don't. It's a bad habit and will leave you wanting when the shit hits the fan and you need an actually useful active skill.

[Falconeer]

Smite will finally end open beta and go officially live in Europe and North America on March 25th 2014 and will celebrate the event
with a 100K USD Tournament.

ATLANTA. November 26, 2013. Hi-Rez Studios, a leading developer of free-to-play online action games, today announced that the 3D MOBA game SMITE will officially launch in Europe and North America on Tuesday, March 25, 2014. In addition, a $100,000 LAN Tournament to celebrate the release will be held the following weekend.
The company also announced their mythology-themed 3D action MOBA game has accrued over 2,500,000 registered players to date through its extended Open Beta phase.

The $100,000 SMITE Launch Tournament will take place on Saturday, March 29, and Sunday, March 30, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia in front of a live audience. The tournament will include the top four teams in Europe and the top four in North America who will have qualified from the SMITE Weekly Tournament Series beginning on January 4, 2014. The event will also be live-streamed worldwide via twitch.tv/smitegame.

Further information on SMITE tournaments can be found on esports.smitegame.com.

All player progress in SMITE's Open Beta will carry over to the game's general release. Also, all Beta players who reach level 30 before the launch date will unlock the Cacodemon skin for the playable god Ymir. For more information, and to play SMITE for free in Open Beta, go to www.SMITEgame.com. Tutorials, game play videos, and more community content can also be found at www.youtube.com/smitegame.

Regardless of how succesful it will end up being (it is already succesful, it is a matter of "how much") they are doing a really good job on the eSport side of things.

 

[Falconeer]

New Goddess, Nu Wa the Chinese Guardian of Heaven.

[Falconeer]

Literally WTF?! I don't even....

Not sure what will come next but they might have finally stolen my idea of doing a reality show about a real videogaming studio with a real published game.

[HaemishM]

What the fuck did I just watch?

[Falconeer]

New patch, revamp of a lot of interface screens and item purchase screen, and most importantly new god, Chaac the Mayan god of Rain.

Comes with a big huge axe and a Galactus-like helmet.

[Falconeer]

These people are weird... and their marketing strategies are even weirder.

[Ginaz]

If anyone is playing this, they have a special going on now.  All Gods, current and future, for $29.99.

https://account.hirezstudios.com/orders/smite-store.aspx

[Falconeer]

They have been running that special since... forever. I got it in 2012 when there were about 24 gods and I can safely say I've never spent 25€ better.

There are no words to describe how underrated this game is. It is nopthing short of fantastic if you are into third-person MMO-like PvP combat but 100% skillshot based. It's also a 3D MOBA, but not just. I've sunk about 300 hours /played into this and the majority of it has been in the arena mode. It's pretty much like two games in one (the classic MOBA and the Arena), and it is completely, utterly free to play. You can only spend real money over skins and voice packs, and leveling doesn't do anything other than gating access to the ranked leagues (to make sure newbs won't mess with it by ruining everyone's fun). The 29$ pack is great but if you don't want to pay you will just unlock the gods by playing, while still be able to use the normal weekly rotation of gods/goddesses.

This game is such a freaking gem, the pace, the rhythm, the flow, the precision, everything is absolutely amazing. And has been improving dramatically with every single patch, visually too. I honestly wish it'll go big after the official launch coming March 25th.

This is the latest goddess released, the 49th: Nemesis Goddess of Revenge.

[Ginaz]

They have been running that special since... forever. I got it in 2012 when there were about 24 gods and I can safely say I've never spent 25€ better.

There are no words to describe how underrated this game is. It is nopthing short of fantastic if you are into third-person MMO-like PvP combat but 100% skillshot based. It's also a 3D MOBA, but not just. I've sunk about 300 hours /played into this and the majority of it has been in the arena mode. It's pretty much like two games in one (the classic MOBA and the Arena), and it is completely, utterly free to play. You can only spend real money over skins and voice packs, and leveling doesn't do anything other than gating access to the ranked leagues (to make sure newbs won't mess with it by ruining everyone's fun). The 29$ pack is great but if you don't want to pay you will just unlock the gods by playing, while still be able to use the normal weekly rotation of gods/goddesses.

This game is such a freaking gem, the pace, the rhythm, the flow, the precision, everything is absolutely amazing. And has been improving dramatically with every single patch, visually too. I honestly wish it'll go big after the official launch coming March 25th.

This is the latest goddess released, the 49th: Nemesis Goddess of Revenge.

I played a bit today and was pretty fun, though it was against the AI.  I think it might be awhile before I try against human opponents.  I died 7 times compared to only killing the AI 4 times but I still managed to win.  I guess your minions act as meat shields?  Any suggestions which Gods to use?  I tried Ra and he seemed ok.

[Falconeer]

If you ask me about minions I assume you are not familiar with LoL and DOTA which is fine because I am not either. Yes, they are meat shields that follow a specific logic and are, both in Arena and in Conquest, an integral part of the gameplay and the win conditions. They do barely any damage but they need to be cleared in order for your own minions to advance and "push" towards the enemy side. In Conquest the goal is to defeat the enemy Titans (like, their base) and in order to get there you have to push through their static defenses (Towers and a Phoenix). These defenses won't target you as long as there are minions in their range and this is important because if they do they will easily waste you. So you want to stay behind your meat shields and make sure they will soak the Towers damage while you destroy them. They also provide money for you as long as you land the last hit on them, instead of having them killed by your own minions.

In Arena things are a bit different: First team who reaches zero points loses, and points are deducted from the enemy pool by having your minions reaching their side of the arena, or by last hitting the enemy minions (while you get no points if the minions kill each other).

I think this video explains the role of minions better than words.

About gods, ther are 5 categories: Guardians, Warriors, Assassins, Hunters and Mages. Each god or goddess play very differently, and their role can be changed dramatically through items, but the category they belong to usually dictate a few common traits:

- Guardians have a lot of defense and strong Crowd Control, but low damage. They are usually melee fighters (Hades being the exception). They deal magical damage.
- Warriors have a lot of mobility, decent survivability, decent attack. They are usually melee fighters. They deal physical damage.
- Assassins have mobility, devastating burst damage, usually very low HP but can escape in a few different ways. They are a noob-trap. Avoid at first. They deal physical damage.
- Hunters are ranged figthers able to deal ridiculously high-damage later in the game. They are not that tough but being able to keep a distance helps them. They deal physical damage.
- Mages are exactly what you think they are: casters of many different sorts, they are the most common class mostly because they can really be very different from each other. Some of them are tougher, some of them are less, some have longer range skills, some need to get closer, some heal, some support, some nuke, some DOT, and so on. They deal magical damage.

I would suggest to start with either a mage or a hunter because melee is really brutal the first few times you play. No matter what, you end up dead and you have no idea how it happened. That's especially true for assassins: it's easy to kill with them, but it's even easier to die. The skill ceiling in this game is high, mostly because it revolves around eecuting perfectly while at the same time having positional awareness, which is harder to master than one would think.

I would say that the easiest characters in the game are Neith, an archer that can easily get away from everything with a backflip, and Chang'e, a mage that has short range but also a bit of self healing and a getaway dance that makes her invulnerable for a second. Ra is also a good choice, he can heal and keep a distance, and his ultimate is lethal and blissful.

Don't take tanks (guardians) in your first games cause everyone will hate you for not doing what they expect a tank to do. And don't take warriors or assassins cause you will die every time you get close to someone wandering what the hell is wrong with this stupid game! (tip: hit Y to see what killed you).

I also think that before dabbling with Conquest, which is supposedly the "serious game", everyone should practice a lot of Arena, in order to have an advanced course on how to kill and not be killed by players, and see how group mechanics work.

Don't get discouraged if you get bashed at first. It is more chaotic than it seems but it gets incredibly rewarding when you start landing your shots and learn how to dodge your opponent's. Also, building a character with the right items makes all the difference in the world. Look up builds, copy from those who are good, and if you can stick to a couple of gods while you are learning. It's nice to try them all, but it doesn't really make you a better player, at least at first.

Hope this help a bit.

[Spiff]

It's still a MOBA so mobs and towers play a big role:
- Any minion/tower targets other minions first, unless you damage an enemy God in it's vicinity: then they switch to you. Especially at low levels this will hurt a lot, so be very careful (basically don't attack another god unless there's no danger of NPC aggro, or you're sure you'll get the kill)
Of course most hits can be body-blocked.

Ra is a good starting point imo, he can fill multiple roles, has a great heal and is pretty fast (movement speed is quite important). On gods like him, that have 1 or more good supporting skills 'cooldown-reduction' items are great.

If you like mages: Ao Kuang is also strong and not too hard to learn.
for ranged carry (hunter): Anhur is great and a bit of a pubstomper, Neith is very forgiving.
warriors: I love Sun Wukong, so much versatility. Guan Yu is fairly easy to learn and offers a lot to the team.
guardian: Sobek, complete pubstomper. That said, being a tank is a very unforgiving role.
jungle: I'm not a jungler, it takes a more conniving character than mine to be that bastard.

I'm not sure if F13 allows more than 1 raging fanboy per game, but I'm going to echo Falconeer in saying I still love this game.
Although somehow I've been watching more tournaments than actually playing lately. I mean I've never really watched E-sports or had any inclination to do so, but for some strange reason I enjoy watching this (even though some of their casters need to be filtered out of the gene pool).

[Edit] beaten by a much more informative post!

[Sophismata]

even though some of their casters need to be filtered out of the gene pool

Welcome to the age of unedited free expression; a time where any idiot with a microphone can share his delusions with an audience of thousands.

[Falconeer]

Alienware *Arena* Cup starting right now, live. Perfect if you are bored and want to see why this is not just a MOBA, and why it is an amazing team PvP game.

[Draegan]

This game used to look like crap, but that was like 2-3 years ago. Any good matches that you can link that we can watch on how shit looks now?

edit: watching that twitch stream now. It looks a lot better now.

[Falconeer]

I am addicted to the game so I am *officially* biased, but the UI has been redone completely, pretty much all the old gods and goddesses have been remade and the new ones are really high quality, animations included especially.

Here you can watch the final match of the Alienware Cup in HD to get a better idea of how everything looks, although some would argue that Arena isn't the real game (I disagree).
Here you can see the latest goddess reveal, Scylla the Horror of the Deep.

The one thing that keeps impressing me is how they are still pushing out new heroes that have unique mechanics and play uniquely and so smoothly, especially in a skillshot-based game. Sure, LoL, DOTA, etc, have more than just 50, but having a more direct approach due to the WASD movement and aimed shots it feels like it would be harder to make the characters stand out from each other, and still they do. Also, the netcode is surprisingly good and precise for such a fast game.