It's not dead by any means, but why has it never come close to the popularity of League of Legends or Dota 2?
An Overview
I’ve been playing a lot of SMITE recently and I’ve mostly been having a ton of fun. I’ve been watching SMITE esports and found it thoroughly entertaining, yet it’s no secret that SMITE is nowhere near the popularity of the two titans of its genre. I’ve been curious as to why and thought I’d write my thoughts down here on Bean Talks Games. I also wanted to discuss why I feel SMITE is underappreciated and deserves more players.
The Obvious Reasons: Time & Money
League of Legends and Dota 2 have both been around a lot longer than SMITE and both are cut from the same cloth that is considerably older than SMITE (the original Warcraft 3 DOTA mod). Many of the players that play League of Legends or Dota 2 have been playing for a lot longer than SMITE has even been around and are loyal to their chosen game. SMITE has its core fanbase that loves it to death, but it hasn’t had nearly as much time as those games have had to round up and secure as many of the casual players.
The other obvious reason is money. While HiRez Studios is a large AAA gaming company, they are certainly nowhere near the likes of Riot Games or Valve. There is a level of production, game marketing, esports marketing, esports funding, etc. that Riot Games and Valve can achieve that HiRez simply can’t.
Another Reason: Its Gameplay Gimmick
The word ‘gimmick’ typically has a negative connotation associated with it, especially in gaming, but I don’t mean it in a negative sense here. SMITE’s gimmick is what makes it different and separates it from the big dogs- its 3rd person perspective. League of Legends and Dota 2 are both top down games with cameras that players have complete control over, while SMITE is a 3rd person action style camera with a much more restricted FOV and more restricted in how you can adjust it and move it. While SMITE’s gameplay gimmick is certainly what has drawn a lot of its players to it, it’s also probably what scares/deters a lot of people away from it.
Another Reason: Monetization
TL;DR, cosmetic monetization is a bit predatory, but it shouldn’t influence whether you want to try the game or not because it’s easy to ignore.
This isn’t a conversation about pay-to-win because it’s not a pay-to-win game. In this section, I just wanted to discuss how it goes about monetizing its cosmetics because they are absurdly expensive. The way gems (the premium currency) are priced and the way items are priced make it so that you always need to buy one tier higher than you want to and that you always have a little bit of gems left over. The 50 gems HiRez gives you for free every 7 days you log into the game can be nice for something like grabbing a booster or saving up over a long period of time for a battle pass, but doesn’t really do anything towards realistically getting a skin you want for your favorite character.
I understand it’s a free-to-play game and companies need to make money, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel like SMITE tries to nickel and dime you more than the likes of League of Legends or Dota 2. Although at least SMITE doesn’t have a subscription service, that would be ridiculous (I’m looking at you Dota Plus). SMITE’s cosmetic monetization seems more like a result of HiRez understanding they have a hardcore diehard fan base that is willing to spend money on their game and HiRez wanting to take advantage of that (much like what Bungie has done the last few years with Destiny 2).
It’s very easy to just ignore the constant promotions and overpriced skins if you have no interest in buying them. I’ve bought a few here and there, but for the most part, the only thing I’ve bought is the Ultimate God Pass, which gives you every single God in the game as well as every single God that will ever come out. The Ultimate God Pass is actually good value.
Why I Believe It's Underappreciated
SMITE can be an incredibly fun game. It’s wildly difficult to master (I myself have a very long way to go before I get there) and has a fairly gratifying learning curve. It offers auto-skill ups and auto-buy, so you don’t have to worry about that in the beginning, and with its ‘arena’ game mode you can easily practice new gods without the investment of a full standard MOBA game.
While the players you will likely encounter in the game will be somewhat toxic, as all competitive game communities are, the community Discord server is filled with nice people willing to help new players, mentors, and resources for new players to learn.
In my opinion, the 3rd person perspective also greatly enhances the MOBA experience by placing an even heavier emphasis on map awareness and having a strong understanding of what’s happening in a teamfight. The lack of a League of Legends ‘smite’ for securing objectives makes it more possible for teams to steal objectives even if their jungler is dead, and I’ve always felt like coming back into a game of SMITE is far more realistically possible than in either League of Legends or Dota 2.
I also personally love that auto attacks have to be aimed in SMITE. It helps reduce the amount of free damage and ensures that if you want to kill someone you have to completely earn it instead of just right-clicking them once and letting math do the rest.
It also does one of my favorite things in all of gaming, which is to reward fans of esports with rewards for watching professional matches as well as rewarding community members for engaging with content on Twitch with constant Twitch drops.
I think if more people gave it a real chance, they’d genuinely come to enjoy it and have a blast while playing it.
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