Is the game worth playing in 2021?

[kemulli]

So I've been periodically deleting and reinstalling this game since 2019 and each time I get disappointed by lack of content and excess of bugs :D... and the last time I played it was in May, and now I kinda miss the game but I don't wanna bother reinstalling if there is nothing worth coming back for. So can someone tell me is there anything worth my time now? New events? Game modes? Good balance and matchmaking? Bug fixes?

[⛧Blasphemous⛧]

It's not worth to play rn, at least for me. Game has many major problems which make it unplayable but i was kepg playing in last months because of someone i love. Here you are, some of those problems:
*In-game bugs(you can still get stucked in maps and literally can't move or do something. Only thing you can is waiting for enemies to find and kill you so you can respawn.
*Extremely annoying server problems. In last 3-4 splits of 2020 season(season 3) many ranked games were suddenly getting cancelled(game sending all players to main menu screen) even in high elo.
*Cheating problem. EAC is literally a joke and i don't think it's not blocking any kind of cheats or mods which can effect the gameplay. I was master in half of the last season(also hit the gm twice) and i encountered more than 10 cheaters in december. I'm talking about real cheaters who are using aimbot, speedhack, wallhack and most importingly drophack. I even recorded the matches from replay section and sent them to hirez support but they simply don't care. Did you see an enemy player who is getting penta kill every 5 seconds and spawncamping 1v5 in any other game? :D
I uploaded one of the cheater matches replay to yt and reddit , i can send the link if you don't beliave the fact that cheaters dominated the game. Seriously there are drophackers in grandmaster leaderboard(top 100 players). How can someone have %100 winrate over 100 matches and all of the enemy players getting kicked from the game, disconnecting or crashing in his all matches? Hirez can easily check the logs on their servers and actually they don't even need it. They can only replay the matches to see how cheaters destroying the high elo(i don't even want to think about lower ranks).
Also mm sucks a*s. I was gm and i had an unranked, a silver, 2 plats aganist 4 masters and a diamond. Game's player base is getting decreased day by day and it seems like mm setting up matches not by looking to elo, it's just sending players to same match from different ranks to reduce queue time . i can even say it's sometimes full random.

SHORTLY stay away from this game or you can download it to see the champions and gameplay. Probably you would enjoy it until you get cheaters who will ruin your day or bugs which can cause you to crash 4-5 times in a row. I suggest you to try it because this is the last season of Paladins. Try to enjoy it if you can. Sadly i can't enjoy it any more. Good luck!

[kemulli]

Originally posted by Zhinnie The Pooh:

It's not worth to play rn, at least for me. Game has many major problems which make it unplayable but i was kepg playing in last months because of someone i love. Here you are, some of those problems:
*In-game bugs(you can still get stucked in maps and literally can't move or do something. Only thing you can is waiting for enemies to find and kill you so you can respawn.
*Extremely annoying server problems. In last 3-4 splits of 2020 season(season 3) many ranked games were suddenly getting cancelled(game sending all players to main menu screen) even in high elo.
*Cheating problem. EAC is literally a joke and i don't think it's not blocking any kind of cheats or mods which can effect the gameplay. I was master in half of the last season(also hit the gm twice) and i encountered more than 10 cheaters in december. I'm talking about real cheaters who are using aimbot, speedhack, wallhack and most importingly drophack. I even recorded the matches from replay section and sent them to hirez support but they simply don't care. Did you see an enemy player who is getting penta kill every 5 seconds and spawncamping 1v5 in any other game? :D
I uploaded one of the cheater matches replay to yt and reddit , i can send the link if you don't beliave the fact that cheaters dominated the game. Seriously there are drophackers in grandmaster leaderboard(top 100 players). How can someone have %100 winrate over 100 matches and all of the enemy players getting kicked from the game, disconnecting or crashing in his all matches? Hirez can easily check the logs on their servers and actually they don't even need it. They can only replay the matches to see how cheaters destroying the high elo(i don't even want to think about lower ranks).
Also mm sucks a*s. I was gm and i had an unranked, a silver, 2 plats aganist 4 masters and a diamond. Game's player base is getting decreased day by day and it seems like mm setting up matches not by looking to elo, it's just sending players to same match from different ranks to reduce queue time . i can even say it's sometimes full random.

SHORTLY stay away from this game or you can download it to see the champions and gameplay. Probably you would enjoy it until you get cheaters who will ruin your day or bugs which can cause you to crash 4-5 times in a row. I suggest you to try it because this is the last season of Paladins. Try to enjoy it if you can. Sadly i can't enjoy it any more. Good luck!

thanks for a thorough explanation man! honestly I'm not surprised about anything you said. I started playing this game in early 2017 and some bugs have persisted throughout the years, such as makoa hooking people through walls, so I wouldn't be surprised if that is still present. also drophacks and aimbot have been a common occurence in this game since I can remember. seems hirez/evil mojo just wants to squeeze out as much money as possible out of the remaining playerbase. guess I'll stay away from the game for the time being.

[MrPotMask]

People still play?. Yes

Still throw, afk in casual, report target in ranked? Yes

Why they dont leave?, whats the incentive?. The 450 crystals to farm on the battle pass by doing lots of training matches.

[SlvtDanteChosenOne14]

No it's not worth playing, fact. The developers made the game easy to require not a lot of skill. It started when they nerfed mobility, they did that to copy overwatch. Which is sorta the opposite of what they should have done.

Them making it easy for casual people, is what they have done for every game. And mostly everyone in every game left, they killed every game all the way back to global agenda. Every game they have made they have done the same thing, they never learned.

Paladins developers don't understand paladins, to make good to very good balance changes.

They don't listen to people like me, hardcore gamers that are competitive. That's why every game is dead, again from global agenda there first game.

If they listen to people like me, that have common sense/logic. They can make balance 70% good, after that. People will start telling people about paladins having good balance, and people will start coming back.

But from what they have done, from their first game global agenda that wont happen.

Around 4 years ago 60% of paladin's player base left, the year after around 20% left because of the terrible balance changes.

I will break and go into matchmaking, I will continue after. Before 60% left, matchmaking was not as bad as it is now, true that matchmaking to be good there needs to be a big player base. But before 60% left, matchmaking was not good. so player base is not 100% the cause why matchmaking in paladins is terrible now. The other part why matchmaking is not that good, is because the matchmaking system that competitive games use. Was created years ago before competitive games were even created, the system competitive games use was created for chess. So the matchmaking system does not work 100% the way it should when put into video games. The other reason matchmaking is not good, is because the matchmaking system has a forced 50% win/lose rate. Which forces someone that has been winning to lose, which makes rank not 100% skill based. combine that with terrible balance, and the matchmaking will be what you see now in paladins

So the reason matchmaking is terrible in paladins is:

Player base
Matchmaking system
matchmaking system that has forced 50% win/lose rate
Terrible balance

Ok back to the history of hirez and paladins.

Around the time after 60% of the player base left, hirez left china because they couldn't pay tencent. After that happened they signed a contract with mixer, to broadcast live paladins esports qualifiers only on mixer. Which was a stupid move, when the contract with mixer was done they went to facebook. When that contract was done, shortly after they killed paladins esports. From the time 60% left, all these things they did of leaving china etc. Of course was because they couldn't afford to pay who they needed to pay, they lost money. They continued to lose money. They weren't making profit, continued to not make profit. And still they are not making profit. Now not only with paladins but with all the games, even before paladins came out. Hirez was losing money with smite, because of the terrible balance changes they were making. People started to leave smite, which is what I have said since global agenda. That every game hirez has made they have made terrible balance changes, or terrible changes in general, or both. To cater to casuals, or because of the terrible balance changes people leaving. Them losing money because people leaving, because of the terrible balance changes. After that them making changes like ob64.

Also after 60% of the player base left, after they left china. hirez fired more then half of paladins staff.

So, is it worth playing no.

[_⁧⁧i]

Play ranked with a friend or get ready to be squashed under the toxicity that is online.

[Standin.A_ayu]

Tbh, It's not worth it if you want a really outstanding game or anything however I'd still say that the game runs just fine and sure there are a few glitches at times and tons of issues with the matchmaking systems. I still play disregarding these minute details as I don't really play professionally or anything.

[kemulli]

Originally posted by SlvtDanteChosenOne14:

No it's not worth playing, fact. The developers made the game easy to require not a lot of skill. It started when they nerfed mobility, they did that to copy overwatch. Which is sorta the opposite of what they should have done.

Them making it easy for casual people, is what they have done for every game. And mostly everyone in every game left, they killed every game all the way back to global agenda. Every game they have made they have done the same thing, they never learned.

Paladins developers don't understand paladins, to make good to very good balance changes.

They don't listen to people like me, hardcore gamers that are competitive. That's why every game is dead, again from global agenda there first game.

If they listen to people like me, that have common sense/logic. They can make balance 70% good, after that. People will start telling people about paladins having good balance, and people will start coming back.

But from what they have done, from their first game global agenda that wont happen.

Around 4 years ago 60% of paladin's player base left, the year after around 20% left because of the terrible balance changes.

I will break and go into matchmaking, I will continue after. Before 60% left, matchmaking was not as bad as it is now, true that matchmaking to be good there needs to be a big player base. But before 60% left, matchmaking was not good. so player base is not 100% the cause why matchmaking in paladins is terrible now. The other part why matchmaking is not that good, is because the matchmaking system that competitive games use. Was created years ago before competitive games were even created, the system competitive games use was created for chess. So the matchmaking system does not work 100% the way it should when put into video games. The other reason matchmaking is not good, is because the matchmaking system has a forced 50% win/lose rate. Which forces someone that has been winning to lose, which makes rank not 100% skill based. combine that with terrible balance, and the matchmaking will be what you see now in paladins

So the reason matchmaking is terrible in paladins is:

Player base
Matchmaking system
matchmaking system that has forced 50% win/lose rate
Terrible balance

Ok back to the history of hirez and paladins.

Around the time after 60% of the player base left, hirez left china because they couldn't pay tencent. After that happened they signed a contract with mixer, to broadcast live paladins esports qualifiers only on mixer. Which was a stupid move, when the contract with mixer was done they went to facebook. When that contract was done, shortly after they killed paladins esports. From the time 60% left, all these things they did of leaving china etc. Of course was because they couldn't afford to pay who they needed to pay, they lost money. They continued to lose money. They weren't making profit, continued to not make profit. And still they are not making profit. Now not only with paladins but with all the games, even before paladins came out. Hirez was losing money with smite, because of the terrible balance changes they were making. People started to leave smite, which is what I have said since global agenda. That every game hirez has made they have made terrible balance changes, or terrible changes in general, or both. To cater to casuals, or because of the terrible balance changes people leaving. Them losing money because people leaving, because of the terrible balance changes. After that them making changes like ob64.

Also after 60% of the player base left, after they left china. hirez fired more then half of paladins staff.

So, is it worth playing no.

ah yes, the infamous OB64.... I played paladins at that time, and I'm still surprised at how the game didn't completely die at that time, it was borderline pay2win. I still think that Siege of Ascension Peak event was the peak of this game, if they continued doing what they were doing with that event this game could've killed overwatch... but it seems that HiRez doesn't know how to think long term, they just think about how to squeeze out money from players at the moment.
anyway, thanks for the comment... It's sad to see what state the game is in, but it is what it is.

[♥ ObiMeowKatnobi ♥]

bought Overwatch they are like 15$ last sale

[BumBum348]

Its become too toxic now, lots of drop hacks, and evil mojo doesnt care anymore. This game is slowly dying, as you can see from the steam charts. Casuals have become like ranked, so you cant play it casually, as intended. Or you just get reported. If you try a new champion or a new loadout in casuals, you are called a thrower and reported for the same. And I need not say about the bugs

[Zarinthal]

They're about to drop a lot of nerf/buffs in next patch, game is still alive, just not what it used to be. After 3 years that's expected of a free game. I don't get many bugs, but I also don't max out my settings and I pay for good internet. It's not a perfect game, but a lot of people's issues with it are self inflicted either by their ignorance of the technology or their own unreasonable expectations of an old free game. We just got a new champ, another new o e coming soon, so people who say "game dead" are just talking ♥♥♥♥ because they can't handle what the game is now, how sad for them, going to be tough when they grow up and go out I to the world expecting all this perfection and optimization lmao. I have tons of fun because I want to, but then I enjoy playing cyberpunk as well, so to each their own. I say try it out, but don't expect AAA. Whenever games bugs, I reset router and reboot computer, usually everything is fine after that. Even issues with the game itself usually resolve quickly, but it's best to reset everything on my end anyway. I even stream it sometimes with very little issue.

[Nefser]

Originally posted by BumBum348:

...Casuals have become like ranked, so you cant play it casually, as intended. Or you just get reported. If you try a new champion or a new loadout in casuals, you are called a thrower and reported for the same. ...

You don't get called for 'throwing' unless you act like a random, sit in the base, feed the enemy by just rushing in, ignoring your teammates asking you to group up. That's why you get reports. Also, it's because people misinterpret what the rather poor title "Casual" infers...which is that it infers far too much.

A casual mix of players. A casual, pick-up game of 10 randoms. Ever see casual football or basket ball games? Just simple, pick-up games? No one ever calls them "casual" if one side is playing to win and the other is just mucking about...running with the ball in hand, etc. They'd get kicked out (or just kicked) straight away.

Casual is really just non-ranked, that's all. It's still a match to be played and won, otherwise what's the point? Why have a score of 40 or objective control for 400? Why? Why not just have TDM for 5 minutes if it's that casual.

Why?!? Because there is STILL a competitive element to it, but it's just not ranked.
---------------------------

Yes, you can try a new champ...but at least play with bots for a level or two to get a feel for it, otherwise, you're doing a disservice to other players in your team. I accept players that are level 2-8+ or so...but I DON'T appreciate level 0's or even level 1 (esp. as it's so easy to level any champ to 2). <--- This is also linked to people that don't know how to work as a team, group up, buy items, buy the right items, etc. etc.


I get accused of being a 'tryhard' when I'm just trying to win a 'casual' match. WTH What's wrong with trying to win? What's the point of playing this game, if we're just randomly shooting/healing with no purpose?

[Aeonarx]

The most important problems that really kill the buzz are the lack of matchmaking and laggy servers. Everything else could be lived with.

[RaKi]

Originally posted by BumBum348:

Its become too toxic now, lots of drop hacks, and evil mojo doesnt care anymore. This game is slowly dying, as you can see from the steam charts. Casuals have become like ranked, so you cant play it casually, as intended. Or you just get reported. If you try a new champion or a new loadout in casuals, you are called a thrower and reported for the same. And I need not say about the bugs

Thats not an issue of the game - its your personal issue, that you think you can ruin 9 other people's game, just because you want to try out a new champ/loadout and are incapable of clicking on a bot match.

This game is a team game - so if you want to NOT play with a team but solo try out stuff , bot matches are the place to do so. And I'm sure this has been pointed out to you in the past - but you seem to have classified this as toxic, rather than simple logic.

Aside from players like BumBum who think they are entitled to ruin other people's matches, this game is actually kinda ok and worth installing.

Yes, the servers are laggy, the bugs are actually mostly gone (when compared to the good old days when Z1 was bughunting and screaming HIIIREEEEZ every 15 seconds). The gameplay is kinda fun and the balance is sorta ok.
There are plenty of people who own Overwatch and massively prefer Paladins.
If you are looking for a vibrant ultra-competitive scene, look elsewhere. If you want an accessible moba-shooter for casual or semi-sweaty gameplay, install it again.

If you are not grinding comp with premades etc, you should have good games in mid-tier ranges. Cheating/drop hacking is an issue at lower ELOS (in both comp and casual, because thats where the newly created cheater acconts start out at) and it's an issue at top ELOS (because thats where they end up).

If you just play a relaxed game without sweating and tryharding or being stupid enough to grind competitive rankings, you will have fun matches most of the time in comp (in casual, the mm is a lot worse than in the past, because of the smaller player base).

[State Line Crosser]

Originally posted by Full Middle Malcomist:

ah yes, the infamous OB64.... I played paladins at that time, and I'm still surprised at how the game didn't completely die at that time, it was borderline pay2win.

It wasn't borderline. Right at the end they allowed purchasing of radiant chests with crystals.

OB64 nearly killed the game. The most played game mode after casual siege was training siege. If that hadn't gotten the attention of hirez management they certainly would have milked what little they could of the playerbase and moved on. Fortunately the stupid art thing gave them an easy PR out and the game lived on until the next calamity(s).