Bran's Newbie Adventures In ConquestLand - Episode 1 :: Branmuffin17's Blog

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This here's a candidate
for "too long, didn't read,"
but if you've got the time,
some quality stuff, indeed.

Despite the total number of SMITE matches I've played over the past couple of years (approaching 2,000, and 521 hours according to SmiteGuru), I'm a Conquest newbie.

I've written guides, you say? Even one for Conquest? That's called a talent for gathering info, combined with the willingness to spend lots of time writing / honing / correcting / BBcoding. My actual skill in the game? That's another story. Actually, that's THIS story.

Depending on how often I attempt Conquest matches, and as I feel or see any progress in my level of play, I'll share my experiences in this type of format.

A History Of Me & SMITE

SMITE was (and continues to be) my first and only MOBA. I'd dabbled a couple of hours in some previous games, but that was about it.

Most of my early days, other than maybe 10-20 conquest matches where I had absolutely no clue what was going on, was spent playing Assault. It gave me a feel for general gameplay, forced me to play and learn the various gods, and how to think about building to fit certain circumstances with limitations. Creating the Assault guide, which has gone through many, many iterations, also quickened the learning process. The best way to learn a concept is to try to teach it yourself.

I eventually (over the past year or so) started getting into Arena, and rounded out my game a bit more with the ability to go back to base and purchase things when I was ready. What a difference that was from Assault! (Oh, and no more Meditation, amirite?)

I started into writing individual god guides for Arena...which culminated in the Overarching Arena one. It ended up being a technically easier project than Assault, but still taught me some things, of which I conveniently ignore sometimes.

Case in point: this horrid match. This was my 2nd go-round with a build suggested to me by KingScuba, moderator of the official SMITE forums. Starts , Shoes of whatever type, , then basic attack items (e.g. , , etc.). Since basic attacks don't come online til mid-game, build order is 3>2>1 (with ult whenever available). See, my first game trying this build went a lot better. Granted, Prism saved me a couple of times, but I was starting to feel the build coming around at the point the enemy team surrendered. Understandable that they did so, given the score, but here's a hint...take a look at our . He didn't move from base. They surrendered a 4 v 5?

Anyway, that spawned a case of overconfidence, which was shattered in the first minute of the 2nd match, where I was the first to die (but not the only one). The enemy team snowballed from there, and at least 3 or 4 of my deaths were within 5 seconds of STEPPING OUT OF MY BASE. It was incredible, and I hope I never experience that again.

I'll be trying that build again, but trying to use my head and play it safe.

In the end, I think I'd always wanted to write a Conquest guide, and I saw a huge gap that was calling for my writing efforts. The idea I had was to help curb some of the millions of questions I see asked over and over in Reddit/Smite/SmiteFire forums. If I could put something together that was complete enough that it could draw new players into the game with better knowledge, thereby decreasing some frustration, then I would have done a good thing. I figured I'd learn a lot myself.

And I think that brings us up to speed. Thank goodness...that was getting to be too lengthy. I sometimes have a problem with verbosity.

The 2 Matches

I played my 30th and 31st Casual Conquest matches last night with Prism.

I played Solo in the first match, and found myself against . Went 7/6/9. Not too shabby, especially since we were handicapped for most of the match...our decided the game required a solo effort... to start, a death almost immediately, and the culmination of it all, with 3 of us going for the Gold Fury while went on a 1 v 3 fight a short distance away. "She" ended up leaving the match with toxicity, and we surrendered after we were wiped a few minutes later. Eh, I still had fun. I was actually willing to make another go at it.

For the second match, Prism had a suggestion. So I went with his favorite god, , again Solo with him as Jungler, and faced off against . Now, I was definitely a bit concerned. I just unlocked her with favor a short while ago, and had only played 2 matches EVER with her. Not fully familiar with her skill set, or how I should build. He walked me through it, of course.

Went 3/0/0, but was definitely helped a ton by Prism putting ganking pressure on as we tower-dove. I like her, though. Spent my built-up daily login gem cache on her voice pack and Diva skin.

Understanding vs Application

So let me clarify something. If you ask me about a concept regarding Conquest, I'll probably provide a decent answer. I get it. I know the importance of buying wards. I get it about rotating. I guess I'd better. Otherwise, my fingers have a mind of their own, and my brain was on vacation while creating that guide.

But here's the most difficult part for me...how to APPLY that knowledge effectively in a game where there are so many things to think about. It gets to a point that I get into a match, and I start worrying so much that I forget how to F@#(*&^ build. I think this is a point that many others probably experience as well. Hence why we have so many Assault and Arena players that avoid Conquest like the zombie plague.

Sure, there are other things that turn people off to Conquest...

Length of the game
Higher instances of toxic players
Much more technical gameplay (thank goodness no denying by last-hitting your own minions! F that!)

In both games, I was babysat by a jungling Prism, who, for the entire match, was talking to me on Curse as if we were hanging out at a coffee shop. I mean, serious, HOW THE HECK can people TALK when they're playing this game?!? I have an issue with multitasking, apparently. So he reminded me when Blue Buff was up, when I should go with him to help Mid, to watch out cuz the enemy Jungler was missing, etc. He might have told me a lot more, but I'm not sure my brain registered everything he said.

Back to the ward concept. I get it. How can I give an example? I bought them. Yes, sir, I did, starting around the 5 min mark. But application...to apply. To USE.

Prism: "Um...Bran...those s don't help your team when they're sitting in your bag..."

Yup. That's me in a nutshell.

Toxicity & Respect

Since I'm on a thought-flow process right now, I just need to chat about something. I know people bring it up all the time...I read the Reddits.

And the main question people like me ask is..."why are people so toxic?" It spins off from there, such as "do they enjoy it? Does it make them feel good about themselves?" to "this game must be their life," or "they've got issues at home."

I'm plenty old enough to remember when cell phones and the internet weren't things. I'm also the kind of person that sees someone 20 feet away coming into the store as I'm leaving, and I wait and hold the door for them, just because. So yeah, I think about other peoples' feelings, even if I inherently don't really like them, or my only interaction with them is through my computer screen and keyboard. I treat people the way...yeah, you know. Even when I was a horribly moody teenage dirtbag, I knew what respect was.

I know this game spans a wide range of ages. I'm a father of 2 kids, have a wife and a mortgage, and I play with kids that are still in high school. And I remember high school...not quite fondly. It was something I had to do. So I haven't forgotten that life can suck...the pressures of grades, friends, social issues, family issues, etc. I went through enough of that myself.

And look, I'm not blinding myself to the change our social lives have experienced through current technology. But I don't quite comprehend how separation from direct physical interaction makes bad-mouthing and cussing people out an acceptable practice. Just because you aren't going to feel the repercussions (at least not immediately), does this tell people "this is okay"?

Well, I can't stop these people from doing that, but I'm not going to become that. I'm chill. I just like playing games. I like playing games even more when I'm playing with people I know. I'm lucky I have a good computer, and the free time to waste time, so I'm not going to blow my karma, bachi, or whatever, by being a ****.

So understand...even people that seem like they might be trolling because they suck so bad...some of those people might be like me. Whether I suck or not, trust me, I'm trying to get better. Everyone has their own learning curves. They hit plateaus. Their peak might be a hill to your mountain.

Hmmm, think of it this way if you have a bad player. At least in casuals (I won't subject anyone to ME in Ranked), it's a unique situation not unlike Assault, where you're handed an imbalance. What can you do to slow the bleeding? Is it something you can learn from, and maybe use to improve your own skills?

If you don't mind losing (I guarantee nothing regarding my skill level), and want to play with someone that won't yell at you, feel free to hit me up. My IGN is Muffinman17, and I'm on PC only. As stated previously, I have a family, so I only play at night, after my babies have gone to bed. This is usually around 9pm and later, Pacific time (I live in Southern California). I'm open to almost all game modes, but usually prefer Assault or Arena. I'm not averse to playing Conquest anymore, but sometimes won't be able to talk (need to keep voice down). I'm also open to talking about builds or whatever. I love the discussion.

Hope to see you in game!

~Bran, the guy that forgets to place wards.

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(394) |

@Zilby thanks dude. Yeah, I understand...it's just when I get all frazzled, it's...personal. I'd beat my head against the wall but I can't conjure up the effort to do it, haha.

Thing is, historically, I've been a pretty good gamer. I mastered, like, corner-hopping, the original Rainbow Road on Super Nintendo. But those were simpler days. I shy away from the overly complex cerebral games, or things that require major multitasking (OG Starcraft was the peak of my heydey).

So when it gets to games where it's action-y but you have to also plan ahead (like SMITE), I guess I just need a lot more practice. And that'll mean swimming through the smamp-fest that is the toxicity of MOBA players. And that's what prevents me from putting forth more dedicated time to it.

If I were just able to play with you guys, I would play it in a heartbeat. Sucks that we're all over the map and it's difficult lining up gametime.

(132) |

Cool blog bran :]
Interesting to hear your whole story and whatnot. Just so you know, almost nobody plays as well as they can theorycraft on HOW to play, everyone makes bad decisions in game. I was streaming for 4 hours today doing commentary on my play, and I cannot tell you the number of times I did something in game that I thought was right without paying much attention to it and then 5 minutes later commentate that what I did was wrong or not-optimal and then follow up by saying what I should have done instead.

Basically, don't set your expectation to be that you'll be so good at Conquest that if you looked back on your match you'd have done exactly the same thing in every scenario. Everyone makes mistakes, even the pros. Just keep going at it until you feel confident one way or another and I think you'll find that Conquest is one of the most (if not THE most) rewarding game types to play :)

(105) |

You guys remember my mistake guide. Most of the mistakes int there are mistakes I have been guilty of or still am sometimes.

(56) |

I'm scared that I left bran with a warding scar ,_,

But it was awesome helpin yo' *** bran <3

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Bran's Newbie Adventures In ConquestLand - Episode 1

The 2 Matches

Understanding vs Application

Toxicity & Respect

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