by JR Cook - 6 years ago     show comments

If you are reading this article then you are not like most Heroes of the Storm players.

If you follow the HGC and watch professional players play then you are not like most Heroes of the Storm players.

If you have a favorite Heroes streamer or watch Heroes streams on Twitch then you are not like most Heroes players.

If you listen to one or more Heroes podcasts then you are not like most Heroes of the Storm players.

If you upload replays, if you reference tier lists, or watch YouTube video about Heroes then you are not like most Heroes of the Storm players.

If you read patch notes then you are not like most Heroes of the Storm players.

The point I am making is that most people who play Heroes of the Storm do nothing more than log in to play the game. They don’t follow the competitive scene, they don’t listen to podcasts or watch streams, and they don’t read articles. They just play.

Some people call players like this filthy casuals and look down on them. How dare they just play the game to have fun and not devote countless hours of their lives outside the game to git good?!?Spoiler alert: a lot of these players are good. Some of them are really good.

What they may lack in strategic knowledge they more than make up for in mechanics. Casual players aren’t limited to Bronze and Silver. There are plenty of casual players even at Diamond and Master.

The problem is that try-hard players, and if you are reading this article I am lumping you into that category, often find it frustrating when other players don’t have the same level of game knowledge that they do. They just assume that everyone understands the game as well as they do and when someone doesn’t they get upset.

How do they not know to bait the Punisher over the wall?!? How do they not know better than to take the Dragon Knight over the bridge?!? How do they not know that no one is banning Garrosh anymore?!? WTF!

They don’t know because there is nothing in the game to convey this information to them.

Try to take a step back and put yourselves in their shoes. How much of what you know about the game did you actually learn from playing and how much did you learn from a stream, a podcast or an article?

Odds are that most of what you know about the game you learned from outside sources. It is great that you enjoy the game or are passionate enough about it to want to experience it in ways beyond simply playing it. This no doubt helps make you a better player but you have to remember that not everyone is willing or able to go that deep into the game. As a result, you have access to information that they don’t.

You might not want to hear this, but your ability to play the game well and your knowledge of the game are not the same. In fact, the more that content you consume about the game the more likely it is that your knowledge of the game will at some point exceed your ability to play it.

This is a tough thing for some players to accept and it can lead to frustration. They listen to three different Heroes podcasts each week, never miss one of Grubby’s streams, and stay up on the latest HGC meta and then get upset when someone in their game does have that same level of knowledge.

Rather than getting mad at your teammates for not knowing something that is so obvious to you, appreciate how rare your knowledge is. Look for constructive ways to share that knowledge with your teammates.

One of the best ways is to be proactive.

Don’t wait until someone starts to take the Dragon Knight top to try and convince them to go somewhere else. Say something before the game like, “If we get the first DK we should try to take the towers and gate mid and then go bot.” Instead of spam pinging that you want them to attack the Immortal on Battlefield of Eternity try saying “We have a lot more damage than they do, we should attack instead of defending” before the game. The same thing goes for Infernal Shrines. Rather than assuming everyone understands how to bait the Punisher and spamming retreat pings when they don’t, give a little reminder before the first Punisher phase that everyone needs to get behind the gate asap if you lose the Punisher to avoid getting jumped.

This may sound basic but that is because you understand the game better than most players. Remember casual players may not have that same level of game knowledge but that doesn’t make them bad players. Help them when you can by sharing key pieces of information but don’t over-coach or micro-manage.

A lot of players have this backward but the more knowledge you have the more responsibility you have to adapt to your team. You might know that letting a tribute go is the “right thing to do” if the enemy team is Level 10 and your team isn’t but if your team goes to contest it is on you to follow. Sure, you can try to discourage them with a ping or a proactive comment like “we should let the next one go if they have 10 and we don’t” but in the end if it looks like they are going in you better be there with them.

Yes, it is probably a mistake but it is an even bigger mistake to not back them up once the decision is made and there is no point in complaining about it after.

To wrap things up, don’t get upset when other players don’t understand the game as well as you do. Recognize that your knowledge is a skill set that most people lack. Use that knowledge to help your team as much as you can but don’t be afraid to throw that knowledge out the window when your team is committed to doing something else.

If you are smart enough to know that fighting when down a talent tier is wrong then you are also smart enough to know that letting your team fight 4v5 when down a talent tier is an even bigger mistake.