Competitive | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Wed, 10 May 2023 09:04:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Competitive | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Evercore Heroes is a competitive PvE MOBA from ex-Riot Games devs https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/joao-silva/evercore-heroes-is-a-competitive-pve-moba-from-ex-riot-games-devs/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/joao-silva/evercore-heroes-is-a-competitive-pve-moba-from-ex-riot-games-devs/#respond Wed, 10 May 2023 09:00:09 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=614422 Vela Games, a studio formed by former Blizzard and Riot developers, has now unveiled its first game – Evacore Heroes. While this looks like a MOBA at first glance, the team is doing something a little different here, emphasising co-op play in a PvE setting rather than direct PvP competition.  In Evercore Heroes, players work …

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Vela Games, a studio formed by former Blizzard and Riot developers, has now unveiled its first game – Evacore Heroes. While this looks like a MOBA at first glance, the team is doing something a little different here, emphasising co-op play in a PvE setting rather than direct PvP competition. 

In Evercore Heroes, players work together to level up their heroes and defend their base from waves of monsters instead of attacking the other teams. The game features a variety of playable heroes with abilities inspired by characters from various established games, which isn't surprising considering some of the lead developers have experience from working for game studios such as Blizzard and Riot Games.

Players eager to try Evercore Heroes can purchase one of three founders packs starting at $20. All packs include an exclusive battle pass, instant hero unlocks, a spare beta key for a friend (three on the Evercore Hero pack), and various skins and cosmetics. The founder's battle pass contains exclusive skins, emotes, voice lines, and in-game currencies that won't expire. Players who buy any pack will get heroes Beko, Fyn, Shade, and Zari when they log into the game.

One of the core principles of Evercore Heroes is to avoid the toxicity that can come with conflicting goals among team members. To that end, Vela Games is looking into ways for matchmaking to recognize players who are still testing out new heroes to match them with others who share a similar mindset.

Work with your team to level up, empower your abilities, and collect Luum, the resource that determines your score. Each map (currently three) has unique objectives and bosses that work like MMO encounters. Evercore Heroes is set to launch as a closed beta on June 20th. All progress from this phase will pass on to the full release planned for later this year. The game will be free-to-play.

KitGuru says: While it remains to be seen if the matchmaking system will work as intended, the game's emphasis on collaborative play and unique objectives make it stand out from the usual PvP-focused games in the genre.

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Activision forces popular Call of Duty stat tracking site to shut down https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/activision-forces-popular-call-of-duty-stat-tracking-site-to-shut-down/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/activision-forces-popular-call-of-duty-stat-tracking-site-to-shut-down/#respond Mon, 29 Mar 2021 14:50:23 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=509677 When it comes to competitive shooters, there are often a lot of ‘hidden' stats that are tracked but not presented in-game. To make up for that, those really looking to improve often head to fan sites to see more detailed performance metrics. These type of stat trackers exist for Counter-Strike, Rainbow Six Siege and yes, …

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When it comes to competitive shooters, there are often a lot of ‘hidden' stats that are tracked but not presented in-game. To make up for that, those really looking to improve often head to fan sites to see more detailed performance metrics. These type of stat trackers exist for Counter-Strike, Rainbow Six Siege and yes, even Call of Duty. While most publishers just leave these sites alone, Activision is taking a far less friendly approach.

SBMM Warzone, a Call of Duty performance stat tracking website, has received a legal notice from Activision, requesting that the site be shut down. The publisher claims that the website violates Activision's API terms of use and also infringes on copyright.

Another part of the issue here is privacy, with SBMM noting that Activision is uneasy about potentially violating privacy laws in the European Union and United States. So while the website did run a premium membership program and advertisements, these apparently weren't the main points of concern for Activision's lawyers.

For now, SBMM Warzone will remain down, but the site creators are currently appealing to Activision, hoping to strike up some form of official partnership. There hasn't been an update on that front yet, but those who actively use SBMM Warzone may see the site return if Activision gets on-board, albeit with some changes.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Do many of you play Call of Duty Warzone competitively? Have you used SBMM before to see your stats? 

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Valve removes AI bots from competitive Counter-Stike: Global Offensive matches https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/valve-removes-ai-bots-from-competitive-counter-stike-global-offensive-matches/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/valve-removes-ai-bots-from-competitive-counter-stike-global-offensive-matches/#respond Sat, 09 Jan 2021 11:00:10 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=500367 Competitive CS:GO underwent a fairly major change this week, with Valve removing bots from the game. Traditionally, if someone was kicked or disconnected from a competitive match, they would be replaced by an AI bot that another member of the team could take over after dying. This feature has now been removed.  Bots in CS:GO …

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Competitive CS:GO underwent a fairly major change this week, with Valve removing bots from the game. Traditionally, if someone was kicked or disconnected from a competitive match, they would be replaced by an AI bot that another member of the team could take over after dying. This feature has now been removed. 

Bots in CS:GO have never been great and players have requested improvements to the AI. Rather than going in that direction though, bots are being removed from competitive (5v5) and Wingman (2v2) entirely. This brings CS:GO more in line with Rainbow Six Siege, which does not feature player-replacing AI bots in competitive modes either.

There is still some room for improvement here though. Valorant for instance provides the team with a cash boost in the event that they lose a player, giving them access to more gear and giving them a better chance of fighting back while missing a teammate. For now, Valve is not going in this direction but perhaps it is something the developers will consider later on.

There are other tweaks being made as part of this week's CS:GO patch, all of which you can find HERE.

KitGuru Says: What do you all think of this move? Bots have been a staple in Counter-Strike for many years now, so it is a little weird to see them removed. 

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Valorant ranked matchmaking is coming to the closed beta soon https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/valorant-ranked-matchmaking-is-coming-to-the-closed-beta-soon/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/valorant-ranked-matchmaking-is-coming-to-the-closed-beta-soon/#respond Sun, 12 Apr 2020 12:00:01 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=461669 Valorant has been in closed beta testing for the last week now, with players getting to grips with the maps and how to stay competitive. With that in mind, players are wondering when ranked matchmaking will be added. The good news is, it should arrive very soon.  Currently, Valorant players can hold practise matches or …

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Valorant has been in closed beta testing for the last week now, with players getting to grips with the maps and how to stay competitive. With that in mind, players are wondering when ranked matchmaking will be added. The good news is, it should arrive very soon. 

Currently, Valorant players can hold practise matches or take part in the standard matchmaking pool. Soon, a true competitive matchmaking mode will be added, according to one of the developers:

In the tweet above, one of Riot's developers says that ‘rated' testing is coming in a couple of weeks, so closed beta players will soon be able to start climbing the competitive ladder.

Valorant does already contain ranks too, so the foundation is there. There are seven main ranks: Mercenary, Soldier, Veteran, Hero, Legend, Mythic and Immortal. We don't know if ranking will be based on MMR, but likely will, as Riot is familiar with that system thanks to League of Legends.

KitGuru Says: I've been playing Valorant fairly regularly this week and so far, it is fun. It definitely shares a lot more with CS:GO than Overwatch. Have any of you played Valorant during closed beta? Are you looking forward to ranked matchmaking? 

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Smurfs invade Overwatch’s Top 500 as pros brag about multiple accounts https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/smurfs-invade-overwatchs-top-500-as-pros-brag-about-multiple-accounts/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/smurfs-invade-overwatchs-top-500-as-pros-brag-about-multiple-accounts/#comments Tue, 19 Dec 2017 19:28:29 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=358497 In its year and a half lifespan, Overwatch has developed quite the competitive scene, with many vying to earn a spot in the top 500. Unfortunately, the Top 500 is more like the Top 300, as many of the spots are occupied by alternative accounts, otherwise known as ‘smurfs’. For clarification, smurf accounts are often …

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In its year and a half lifespan, Overwatch has developed quite the competitive scene, with many vying to earn a spot in the top 500. Unfortunately, the Top 500 is more like the Top 300, as many of the spots are occupied by alternative accounts, otherwise known as ‘smurfs’.

For clarification, smurf accounts are often created in competitive environments in order for a good player to play at a lower bracket. This is done for a multitude of reasons, such as having fun at lower skilled players’ expense or making it easier to rank up due to duping certain matchmaking systems.

A third reason would be for bragging rights, as shown by professional Overwatch streamer aimbotcalvin, who was caught bragging about how four of his accounts had taken spots in the top 20. In fact, three of those accounts occupied the top 10. This attracted criticism from his viewers, who stated that he was taking those spots from more deserving players, to which he mockingly replied “earn it,” followed by the typical insult you hear from the online world.

This has created a dialogue across the competitive scene between pros and even casual players, to which Kotaku has followed and documented. Many fall in line with aimbotcalvin, such as McGravy, the team captain of pro team Envision who tweeted “If you are good at the game, it is not hard to get top 500 even with smurfs taking up 100+ spots. If you are complaining, you are bad. End of story.”

Of course, no one is denying that aimbotcalvin and, presumably, McGravy have earned their spots in the Top 500 as it does take skill to be there. The conversation is more concerning those that can’t break into the bracket because the Top 10 can dominate the Top 100 spots between them. Some even argue that the gap between 200 of the spots can be determined by roughly three to four wins, making it a lot more difficult.

Pro player Emongg seems to agree with the criticism and has stated that he is going to neglect all of his smurf accounts until they fall out of the Top 500, leaving just one deserving account in there. Overwatch implements a rank decay system, which by definition will help Emongg’s smurfs drop off in no time so long as he doesn’t give them attention.

None of this is breaking the rules exactly, but there is a moral fine line being exploited for the gratification of occupying so many spots. This is something Blizzard likely didn’t intend, even with their relaxed policy on smurf accounts, prompting players to suggest authentication systems to begin weeding out multiple accounts.

Blizzard has yet to address the situation and it is unknown if any action will be taken to change one player occupying almost a third of the Top 10.

KitGuru Says: While I can admire the skill taken to get so good at a game, I can’t admire the lack of sportsmanship from the competitive scene. The Top 500 becomes a parody of itself if it doesn’t occupy 500 individual players, but perhaps that’s just a personal opinion. What do you think about smurf accounts? Do you agree that aimbotcalvin has earned his four Top 20 spots or should pro players make way for other pros to gain the same achievement?

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Overwatch’s second competitive season has kicked off https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/overwatchs-second-competitive-season-has-kicked-off/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/overwatchs-second-competitive-season-has-kicked-off/#comments Fri, 02 Sep 2016 15:12:51 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=304929 The second season of Overwatch's competitive mode has kicked off a little earlier than expected on the PC. Initially, the second season was due to start on the 6th of September but it looks like Blizzard managed to get ahead of schedule, so it got a surprise launch today instead. Overwatch director, Jeff Kaplan confirmed …

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The second season of Overwatch's competitive mode has kicked off a little earlier than expected on the PC. Initially, the second season was due to start on the 6th of September but it looks like Blizzard managed to get ahead of schedule, so it got a surprise launch today instead.

Overwatch director, Jeff Kaplan confirmed that season 2 had begun in a Battle.net forum post. The second season is also live on the Xbox One but those playing on the PS4 will have to wait a bit longer.

OW_Eichenwalde_20.0

The second season of competitive play brings along some big changes, which are all listed in the patch notes for the update. Notable changes include the introduction of skill tiers, which Blizzard hopes will be a better representation of player skill, on top of that, Blizzard have switched the skill rating system to a 1-5000 scale to give players more detailed information about how each match affects their specific rating.

A lot of players were frustrated by the sudden death system during Overwatch season 1, so now that has been cut completely. There is a new map titled ‘Eichenwalde' and some adjustments have been made to things like match leaver penalties.

KitGuru Says: If you were put off by the first competitive season for Overwatch, then it might be worth dipping back in for season 2 as an awful lot has changed. Hopefully this time around Blizzard will have really nailed down its competitive mode, which has had to be re-worked a couple of times now. 

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Rocket League season 2 begins, did you get your crown? https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/jon-martindale/rocket-league-season-2-begins-did-you-get-your-crown/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/jon-martindale/rocket-league-season-2-begins-did-you-get-your-crown/#respond Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:54:37 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=283876 It's a sad day for those that were on the threshold of entering a new division, as Psyonix has brought an end to the first ever season of Rocket League. However, we're moving right into season 2 and things are going to work a little differently from now on. On top of that, everyone who …

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It's a sad day for those that were on the threshold of entering a new division, as Psyonix has brought an end to the first ever season of Rocket League. However, we're moving right into season 2 and things are going to work a little differently from now on. On top of that, everyone who competed above Bronze rank in the first season, will have a pretty crown to wear on their car to show off how well they did.

The beginning of Season 2 ushers in a new phase of Rocket League, with the developers shaking up how ranked play works. Moving forward, everyone will compete in 10 placement games for each of the different game modes – 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 etc. – before being ranked based on their skill. It's not entirely clear what skill is based on, but the idea seems to be ranking players based on how well they play, rather than the end result of the game.

This could theoretically reward riskier play like aerials and juggling and mean that if you have a game with a couple of team mates that don't perform well, you won't be as punished for it.

rocketseason2

Along with this update though, the 1.11 patch has also added some new features to the game. A new item rarity system has been introduced, so there will be some cosmetics that are harder to get a hold of than others. Wasteland and Snowday have now been added to the map rotation for private and individual matches, and community wise, players can now select only quick-chat in-games, and can report those that are being asses.

The Rocket Labs experimental playlist has also been added as an optional game mode. There players can try out some very different pitches, including one shaped like a horsehoe, another with two goals per side and my personal favourite so far, the one with ramps and second stories along the sides.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: What do you think of the way Rocket League is working now in Competitive Season 2?

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CS:GO professional players banned following match fixing scandal https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/csgo-professional-players-banned-following-match-fixing-scandal/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/csgo-professional-players-banned-following-match-fixing-scandal/#comments Tue, 27 Jan 2015 16:49:57 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=232767 Last week it was discovered that a professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive match between teams iBUYPOWER and NetCodeGuides.net may have been fixed, netting several players thousands of dollars through ill placed bets. Valve has since confirmed that match fixing did take place and has banned a total of seven people from future events. Valve confirmed that …

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Last week it was discovered that a professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive match between teams iBUYPOWER and NetCodeGuides.net may have been fixed, netting several players thousands of dollars through ill placed bets. Valve has since confirmed that match fixing did take place and has banned a total of seven people from future events.

Valve confirmed that after investigating the activity of relevant accounts, that a significant number of players placed high stake bets on the outcome of the match, the proceeds were later transferred to iBUYPOWER team members as well as the NetCodeGuides.net team founder, Casey Foster.

1275__600x0_cs_go_st

From this point forward the following players are banned from all Valve sponsored eSports events:

  • Duc “cus” Pham.
  • Derek “dboorn” Boorn.
  • Casey Foster.
  • Sam “Dazed” Maine.
  • Braxton “swag” Pierce.
  • Keven “AZK” Lariviere.
  • Joshua “Steel” Nissan.

Valve also posted a reminder of its policy on pro players placing bets: “Professional players, their managers, and teams’ organization staff, should under no circumstances gamble on CS:GO matches, associate with high volume CS:GO gamblers, or deliver information to others that might influence their CS:GO bets.”

2014 was a big year for growth in the professional Counter-Strike scene. However, there have been several major cheating scandals over the last six months alone, which may stunt the game's growth in 2015. That said, Valve seems to be remaining optimistic and is trying to clamp down on dirty players/teams.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: There have been several cheating scandals over the last few months in the CS:GO competitive scene, which is a shame. Hopefully Valve can clamp down on the dirty teams or players quicker this year in order to avoid this sort of thing happening again.

Source: Counter-Strike blog.

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