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The Most-Unfortunately-Coined Moba Term: Skillshots

GetMariahCarried··1 votes·1,066 views

I'd agree with a lot more people on their "Champ xyz is broken" arguments, if these arguments weren't littered with the mind-numbing "gg no-skillz champ" trashtalk infecting half of community balance discussions for a 2.5d game where everything is a point-and-click operation - all because SOMEBODY made the terrible mistake of coining the term "skillshot", a phrase that has tragically stood the test of time.

Where do you get off thinking the muscle skills and eye-to-hand coordination of mobas, of ALL GAMES, has ANYTHING TO DO with the actual challenges presented in mobas? That leading your shots on a 2D map with slow moving targets is the primary source of effort in a game centered around tactical-choices and teamwork?

I'd be as convinced by people telling me chess is a skill-less game, because it requires zero motor skills. Or, on the flip side, people saying "chess is a game requiring supreme physical endurance and psychological steadiness: one slip of the hand could destroy the entire layout of the board as you scatter pieces EVERYWHERE." I'd be as convinced by Windows fans saying "GG Mac sucks. No-skills OS. Icons too big and sharp." (Note, I'm typing this on a Windows machine. I don't give a crap about OS wars, or any nerd wars for that matter. I just despise a bad argument when I see it, whether it's an attempt to support something I agree with, don't agree with, or, frankly, don't care about.)

Why do you think Riot felt the need to screw around with Ryze and Veigar to little effect?

That's right, it's all your fault community. I hope you're happy with yourselves. [slayer-jinx-unamused]

7 Comments

Hayaishi22 votes

So what's the point of this thread?

Azuredragon6532 votes

{quoted}

So what's the point of this thread?

He's unable to dodge and land skillshots. He's mad because this (correctly) implies that he has a major lack of skill.

Ionian2 votes

You could call them unskillshots. You could call them flying objects that hurt. Their name is completely irrelevant. What separates good champion/ability design from bad, and what we, the players, want, is a very simple concept. C O U N T E R P L A Y

GetMariahCarried1 votes

The term IS completely irrelevant, which is one of my points. But when I read half the crap people spam in games to whine about their losses, it revolves around what somebody stamped with the term "skill". You can counterplay the crap out of a targetted ability. Just have a tank stand on top of the target. Or heck, you want to build other obvious ways to add risk to a certain ability use, or chance for counterplay? Pick one! Range. Other obvious means of minion/champ block. Damage stats. Cooldown reduction. Mana costs. Channel time. Visual cues. Required positioning. "Skill" shot or not, that has nothing to do with the degree of "skill" required to use an ability or counter an ability in a game that, like all 2.5d games with slow moving objects, has extremely primitive targeting mechanics HOWEVER you set it up.

You don't think people are affected by semantics? You may not be, but a lot of people are, and if they had a shred of sense, they wouldn't be. We'd have a lot fewer people acting like they've ascended to a heightened level of pro-play because they can lead a double-icon sized target moving across their screen at 2 inches per second. And we'd have a lot less of THOSE people feeling they're justified in flipping out about loss with a team they refuse to coordinate with, against a high-sustain comp they refuse to buy grievous wounds against. The people crying "no skill" are the people who actually don't know where the "skill" lies, while they infatuate themselves with the term "skillshot". Players act like they're taking archery classes or something. THIS IS NOT, HIGH-SKILL AIMING. AND IT NEVER WILL BE. That's my beef.

Abyssphere1 votes

If people obsessing over skilshots is the reason we get reworks that give champions less targeted abilities, then I'm glad about that. Veigar is in so good a spot compared to pre-rework now and feels about a billion times better to play against to boot. There is nothing negative about wanting a champion to have to try to kill you.

The Sword Saint1 votes

Skillshots take skill to land, and skill to dodge. If I predict your movements better than you predict my aim and I have the reaction time and precision to land the shot based on my prediction, that is an interaction that involves skill from both sides and my performance in that instant was higher than yours. If I click on you with a targeted ability and you don't have a spellshield or zhonias or something like that, that's it as far is interaction goes for that exchange.

Of course, that's only one narrow examination of skill, as skill is a blanket term that covers many things including game knowledge, positioning, timing, etc. on top of raw mechanics and aim.

None of that changes the fact that using non targeted abilities requires more interaction between players, and therefor has more opportunity for both players to demonstrate their 'skill'.

GetMariahCarried1 votes

Ya know, a long time ago when I played nid supp, whenever I'd start q-spamming I made it a point to always aim slightly to the left or right of players. Why? Because for enemies, reflex-sidestepping is a braindead reaction, but a lot of players hadn't ingrained the need to calculate WHICH sidestep direction was the best. Hence, if you aimed a spear dead on, you had a pretty good chance of ALWAYS missing against any opponent that's even SLIGHTLY paying attention. But if you aimed slightly to either side, you'd have a 50/50 chance to hit. Not because you were leading, but because of very basic consequences to human reflexes. Leading "skillshots" are even more braindead to "sidestep", i.e. stop moving for half a second. There's not even a dual choice there.

Was I more "skilled" by landing more "skill" shots this way? No, I was using basic 101 human psychology: Lots of people panic when they see spears, but they don't make it a point to do much else.

"Skillshots take skill to land". No they don't. Designing abilities to require the neural activity of a turtle instead of a potato does not make them "skill" shots. Moba players are so immersed in this genre, they've forgotten how primitive the physical mechanics of mobas really are compared to games that are ACTUALLY about physical mechanics. Again, mobas aren't archery classes.

You want to know how much "skill" you've developed spamming Lee Sin in a 2.5d game with slow-paced visuals? You've graduated from this level: http://orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker/ but not much else.

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