Werewrym's Thoughts on the Summoner Showdown 2021
Werewrym
Member Posts: 2,830 ★★★★★
PREFACE
Having participated in the Summoner Showdown 2021, I wanted to do a write up about my thoughts and experiences post competition. I think I have to start off by saying that my opponents were both very good players and both of their decks were quite fun to fight against. Nothing I am going to say is meant in any way to take away from the victories they both got. Additionally I hold no grudge against Kabam for the bug that screwed up my gameplan, however, I am a bit dissapointed that the final video cut makes no mention of that bug and how they addressed it on the forums.
SOME THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
But before getting to the Miles bug I think there are a few things to keep in mind and some things that I think are worth noting. First, Kabam doesn't have to put on this competition. I managed to qualify for the tournament and that is awesome all on its own! Just the fact that they are giving summoners the opportunity to play in such a high stakes competition is amazing! The grand prize (in my mind) really is just qualifying.
Second, the people at Kabam are not "out to get us." I was able to chat with some of the guys coordinating this thing, and all of them were super cool. It was fun to nerd out about the game a bit and just chat about our favorite champs, or most wanted champs. Even after the bug they apologized for the mistake and offered me compensation (which was quite valuable).
Third, this new solo mode is freaking amazing!!! Like seriously everyone is going to fall in love with this game mode as soon as it comes out! I know I did, just getting the small taste of it that I did. Was it a bit rough around the edges during the showdown tournament? Absolutely, but I don't think that is something that we should try to stick to Kabam as if they intentionally did anything to frustrate summoners. There is so much that is amazing about the summoner showdown, and I think it would be unfair for me to make my entire judgement based on the bug that affected my matches.
THE INFAMOUS MILES BUG
So those are the positives in my mind and they vastly outweigh the negatives. However, all of this said, what happened to me was extremely frustrating, and the public response was frankly a bit insulting. Contrary to the public response, the private one was actually quite nice, as I previously mentioned, so I don't really understand how the public one could miss the mark by so far. In the announcement yesterday it was stated that "Due to the fact that we do not believe it would have changed the outcome in selecting the winner, we did not re-do the series." This is actually completely opposite of what I was told in private. The message I received after the tournament simply stated that because they didn't catch the bug on the build we played on and because the matches were scheduled so close together there was just no time to redo them. And because of this they offered me quite a large compensation package in game.
My question is, why not just say something similar in the public announcment and in the video? Instead the announcment feels like they are assuming that a bug causing me to lose during my very FIRST fight would have no affect on the rest of my fights in the most competitive gamemode in MCoC. This is absolutely absurd as anyone who plays in extremely competitive environments could tell you mental state matters a whole lot. Additionally, you could see that I even picked Miles in the following match and ended up never using him because I couldn't be confident that he would work as intended. So it most definitely affected the results in at least two ways, the first just being the fact that I picked Miles again, and the second, being that dieing to a bug in my first fight was demoralizing and completely ruined my confidence.
What perhaps frustrates me the most, is that the video does not represent what actually happened that well. The casting makes it sound like the mistake was on my end when in fact I was actually the victim of a bug. To make matters worse, the video cuts everything in my interview that I had asked them about the Miles interaction. So now for the 99% of people that watch the video and never visit the forums I just end up looking like an idiot who doesn't understand how node/champion interactions work. For me this is the biggest issue. I don't like that just watching the video you would never know anything went wrong. There should have been a pause immediately after my fight where they clarify the fight was bugged but due to time constraints nothing could be done and compensation was sent. Boom, done, they did their part, and this post would never exist. Instead here I am writing a novel that probably only 3 people will read because I feel like I need to defend myself from looking like a moron.
The worst part is, that I legitimately had the most clever pick out of anyone in the showdown. I don't say this lightly as there were a lot of great players involved and a lot of great counters used. But if you had seen a working Miles in the showdown I think you would understand just how crazy good that pick was.
THE POINT SYSTEM
I won't spend much time on this as I think everyone, including Kabam, has seen the flaws in the point system. This is one of those "rough edges" I mentioned that gets worked out over time. We all saw it happen multiple times, and twice during my fights, where a player won because they managed to die faster than the opponent. Obviously this is a really dumb way to score points and I don't believe it will be the way points are scored when this mode is released on the live servers. My thought was that this point scoring should have been inverted whenever the player didn't KO the oppenent. I have said this time and time again, but DPS is a really bad way to guage a successful fight. It would be better to just remove all time related point scoring.
WRAP UP
I don't know if anyone will have made it this far in my novel but if you are reading this I must both thank you for sticking around and apologize that you have spent so much time reading my thoughts. I want to reiterate that I am not angry or upset with the guys at Kabam. In fact, quite the opposite. I had such a fun time playing this new mode competitively against some of the best players and really hope that I can do it again sometime. I have just been a bit disappointed seeing the way the bug was handled publicly. I decided to make this post because I think it is worth hearing this side of the story, and you know, hopefully people don't think too horribly of me after my showing in the showdown hearing what I have to say.
If you watched to the end of the video and saw the parts that were included from my interview you will see that I legitimately tried to have fun with this thing and threw a point in the Wisdom mastery so I could talk about it in the interview afterwards and hopefully get some laughs (I thought it was pretty funny
). I might try to make a video or talk to someone with more of a following about discussing some of these things in the hope that more people might see and understand just what happened in the showdown. I also really want to talk about my deck and drafting process because I saw a lot of people criticizing one of my picks against Happy and I think people did not fully understand the strategy involved. Anyways I appreciate anyone who took the time to read any or all of my thoughts and hope to play some Solo Competitive matches against people in the community when it gets released.
Long live the king
Sentinel > Warlock
P.S. Do you guys think if I qualified next year my name would get spelled right then?
Having participated in the Summoner Showdown 2021, I wanted to do a write up about my thoughts and experiences post competition. I think I have to start off by saying that my opponents were both very good players and both of their decks were quite fun to fight against. Nothing I am going to say is meant in any way to take away from the victories they both got. Additionally I hold no grudge against Kabam for the bug that screwed up my gameplan, however, I am a bit dissapointed that the final video cut makes no mention of that bug and how they addressed it on the forums.
SOME THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
But before getting to the Miles bug I think there are a few things to keep in mind and some things that I think are worth noting. First, Kabam doesn't have to put on this competition. I managed to qualify for the tournament and that is awesome all on its own! Just the fact that they are giving summoners the opportunity to play in such a high stakes competition is amazing! The grand prize (in my mind) really is just qualifying.
Second, the people at Kabam are not "out to get us." I was able to chat with some of the guys coordinating this thing, and all of them were super cool. It was fun to nerd out about the game a bit and just chat about our favorite champs, or most wanted champs. Even after the bug they apologized for the mistake and offered me compensation (which was quite valuable).
Third, this new solo mode is freaking amazing!!! Like seriously everyone is going to fall in love with this game mode as soon as it comes out! I know I did, just getting the small taste of it that I did. Was it a bit rough around the edges during the showdown tournament? Absolutely, but I don't think that is something that we should try to stick to Kabam as if they intentionally did anything to frustrate summoners. There is so much that is amazing about the summoner showdown, and I think it would be unfair for me to make my entire judgement based on the bug that affected my matches.
THE INFAMOUS MILES BUG
So those are the positives in my mind and they vastly outweigh the negatives. However, all of this said, what happened to me was extremely frustrating, and the public response was frankly a bit insulting. Contrary to the public response, the private one was actually quite nice, as I previously mentioned, so I don't really understand how the public one could miss the mark by so far. In the announcement yesterday it was stated that "Due to the fact that we do not believe it would have changed the outcome in selecting the winner, we did not re-do the series." This is actually completely opposite of what I was told in private. The message I received after the tournament simply stated that because they didn't catch the bug on the build we played on and because the matches were scheduled so close together there was just no time to redo them. And because of this they offered me quite a large compensation package in game.
My question is, why not just say something similar in the public announcment and in the video? Instead the announcment feels like they are assuming that a bug causing me to lose during my very FIRST fight would have no affect on the rest of my fights in the most competitive gamemode in MCoC. This is absolutely absurd as anyone who plays in extremely competitive environments could tell you mental state matters a whole lot. Additionally, you could see that I even picked Miles in the following match and ended up never using him because I couldn't be confident that he would work as intended. So it most definitely affected the results in at least two ways, the first just being the fact that I picked Miles again, and the second, being that dieing to a bug in my first fight was demoralizing and completely ruined my confidence.
What perhaps frustrates me the most, is that the video does not represent what actually happened that well. The casting makes it sound like the mistake was on my end when in fact I was actually the victim of a bug. To make matters worse, the video cuts everything in my interview that I had asked them about the Miles interaction. So now for the 99% of people that watch the video and never visit the forums I just end up looking like an idiot who doesn't understand how node/champion interactions work. For me this is the biggest issue. I don't like that just watching the video you would never know anything went wrong. There should have been a pause immediately after my fight where they clarify the fight was bugged but due to time constraints nothing could be done and compensation was sent. Boom, done, they did their part, and this post would never exist. Instead here I am writing a novel that probably only 3 people will read because I feel like I need to defend myself from looking like a moron.
The worst part is, that I legitimately had the most clever pick out of anyone in the showdown. I don't say this lightly as there were a lot of great players involved and a lot of great counters used. But if you had seen a working Miles in the showdown I think you would understand just how crazy good that pick was.
THE POINT SYSTEM
I won't spend much time on this as I think everyone, including Kabam, has seen the flaws in the point system. This is one of those "rough edges" I mentioned that gets worked out over time. We all saw it happen multiple times, and twice during my fights, where a player won because they managed to die faster than the opponent. Obviously this is a really dumb way to score points and I don't believe it will be the way points are scored when this mode is released on the live servers. My thought was that this point scoring should have been inverted whenever the player didn't KO the oppenent. I have said this time and time again, but DPS is a really bad way to guage a successful fight. It would be better to just remove all time related point scoring.
WRAP UP
I don't know if anyone will have made it this far in my novel but if you are reading this I must both thank you for sticking around and apologize that you have spent so much time reading my thoughts. I want to reiterate that I am not angry or upset with the guys at Kabam. In fact, quite the opposite. I had such a fun time playing this new mode competitively against some of the best players and really hope that I can do it again sometime. I have just been a bit disappointed seeing the way the bug was handled publicly. I decided to make this post because I think it is worth hearing this side of the story, and you know, hopefully people don't think too horribly of me after my showing in the showdown hearing what I have to say.
If you watched to the end of the video and saw the parts that were included from my interview you will see that I legitimately tried to have fun with this thing and threw a point in the Wisdom mastery so I could talk about it in the interview afterwards and hopefully get some laughs (I thought it was pretty funny
). I might try to make a video or talk to someone with more of a following about discussing some of these things in the hope that more people might see and understand just what happened in the showdown. I also really want to talk about my deck and drafting process because I saw a lot of people criticizing one of my picks against Happy and I think people did not fully understand the strategy involved. Anyways I appreciate anyone who took the time to read any or all of my thoughts and hope to play some Solo Competitive matches against people in the community when it gets released. Long live the king
Sentinel > Warlock
P.S. Do you guys think if I qualified next year my name would get spelled right then?
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Comments
The moment you got hit by punishers special I knew it was the bug but the commentary made it out like you missed an ability or node. But true not everyone knows every bug in game so it's o.k. Then again the forum apology post was tone deaf. A defeat, especially one caused by a bug has a huge impact on further gameplay.
But congrats on getting in the showdown in the first place.
Is it possible to disclose the compensation?
I agree with everything you’ve said (except sentinel > warlock), I’m so excited to play this mode it looks incredible. Your point on why Kabam were different to you publicly/privately is very pertinent, it doesn’t make any sense at all.
All rational people would accept that a redo wasn’t necessarily within the time frame, but was never stated by Kabam in the video and it should have been. We get bugs happen, it’s unfortunate to be affected on this scale, but a small explanation rather than “it didn’t affect him” would be miles better (excuse the pun). Honesty is by far the best policy.
As a huge Miles fan, I would have loved to see him absolutely shred that fight and give him some of the recognition his buff needs. The taunt to deal with power, the unblockable specials all missing him, honestly I’m just imagining him heavy chaining the opponent in the corner over and over again not a care in the world. Your Miles pick was fantastic.
Your wisdom comment gave me a little chuckle as well
Dr. Zola
I read it all and my take away is;
1. I'd like to watch a vid of him with someone talking it through, perhaps lagacy, seatin or karate Mike
2. I want a 6 star miles...
3. The new game mode sounds epic
4. I'm glad kabam resolved it for him even if they didn't approach it ideally
Nice write up and don't apologise for the length of the post. Nearly all of us wade through @DNA3000 (@DrZola and @Magrailothos too) posts; when it's insightful and relevant an epic post is worth the read.
That being said, for current players the PR damage is greater. That the fight couldn't have been redone fairly is one thing, not owning up publicly is another. I feel I cannot trust Kabam to do the right thing. Kabam's first impulse is still to lie and deceit.
Not really surprised they lied publicly, it’s a Kabam norm.
And another note regarding the commentary in the showdown, I’d really love people who are really active in community to commentate in the showdown, they may not be the best players but their range to people and being funny who are very very energetic and jumpy to the matches will add a lot of fun. Don’t get me wrong, the puns are cool and I chuckle a bit but the commentator should be energetic and also the interview need to be by them coz they may not understand every aspect of what happened in match which in turn will make an engaging interview with the players.
Hopefully my point went through.
English is not my first language but I think I did good to convey my message.
I also agree with you in most points you made. It's admirable that despite losing so unfairly you still didn't let the bad part cloud your judgement. When I watched the video, I really liked the choice of miles, so it saddenned me that the bug screwed you over.
However I understand that Kabam had pretty much no other choice. I know it sucks but redoing the fight would be complicated and also what if you won this time? Your opponent would feel unfairly eliminated and we'd have another issue on our hands. You know too well how much a cooperative AI matters in scenarios like Spite. And that is tk certain extent random, so it isn't possible to recreate the situation as it occurred during the showdown.
All that I can say now is good luck next year, I hope you come back stronger and win this time.
Sorry the Kabam Response was unfortunately made by the same Moderator that is always controversial in the way they Communicate. You'd think another person would have been a better person to state what happened like Dorky Dave (who was there) or have another Higher Up or Moderator read what Kabam Miike was about to post as a fail safe.
I'm sorry you had to deal with this, the incorrect name spelling and then no mention in video at all to communicate to anyone watching that won't come to the forums.
I wish I could have been there as a co-commentator as I have done that work in the past along with voice acting and maybe I would have mentioned it but it is what it is.
You have my respect and many if not all the MCOC Community for qualifying, playing and then taking the time to address this on the forums. You're awesome and I wish you the best if you compete in 2022!
- Mando