In the midst of the 2017 Dota 2 Asia Championships, where Invictus Gaming spanked tournament favorites OG to the tune of 3-0, there was also some tough love being thrown around by the Dota 2 analysts, including recently hired CEO of the popular eSports team Evil Geniuses, Peter "ppd" Dager.
After game one of the series, the panel of analysts took a question from social media. The question was simply "Is MMR really an indicator that you are a good player?"
Without hesitation, Dager let out an emphatic “Yep, it is.”
“If your MMR is not good and you’re like ‘oh, I’m in the trench,’ news flash: you’re not good," Dager said.
This is from a man who was a part of EG's International-winning team that took home more than $6,000,000 USD in prize money from that event, so he certainly knows what he's talking about. You can watch this line, out of context, here.
Also on the panel, popular Dota 2 commentator Kevin "Purge" Godec added added “If you are in the trenches, it’s probably because there’s a skill you haven’t learned or practiced well enough that will get you out.”
Dager’s take wasn’t all negative, and it shed light on what makes Dota 2 unique as a competitive game.
“People always ask me ‘how do I get better? How do I improve?’” Dager said. I always tell them: make friends with people that are better than you. Play with them a lot, and, eventually, you’ll learn what makes them a good player, and maybe you could even eclipse them.”
These comments are indicative of the tough-love nature of Dota 2. I’ve never played a game where the fellow players were so harsh, but also so informative. It wasn’t simply “KYS loser,” it was “Don’t auto-attack the creep wave in the laning phase … loser,” for example (with more colorful language, of course).
You need to go into Dota 2 with the realization that you’re really bad (and MMR is a good indicator of that), but that you could get better. You’re a long way from the pat-yourself-on-the-back land of Overwatch, that’s for sure.
