Low skill pool, low priority, and toxic players - Life on the bottom rung

Forum » General Discussion » Low skill pool, low priority, and toxic players - Life on the bottom rung 10 posts - page 1 of 1

Right, so this is part warning (to new players), part cry for help.

I'm Warmessiah. I have 140 hours on dota 2 and I absolutely adore the game. The community at the moment is doing everything it can to change that, and after two months on my main account stuck on low priority, it seems I've become a toxic player too. The cycle of low prio is one of the most punishing systems I have ever seen in a game - even more so than an outright ban - due to the tendency of low-priority players to report others, for arguments between toxic players to easily ruin the game, and for the situation to very quickly turn bad for you (the non-toxic low priority player). As a player who tends to lead teams and who mentors others, I'm not shy to talk over chat, help others out, or tell people my plans and ideas. Unfortunately it's this willingness to discuss and co-operate that makes me the target of toxics. I have had my time in low priority grossly inflated due to being reported for things as trivial as the character or lane I pick. I've been reported for carrying as Sven, for refusing to take mid as Ursa, for using escapes to leave teamfights when the rest of my team dies.

There is the rare game I play where my team is composed of other non-toxic players, and these games are the only reason I enjoy pub games. Having a game without trash-talking or players stirring up aggro is rare (about 5-10% of the time) and many of the non-toxic players I played with had similar issues. Most of them simply gave up trying to communicate entirely for fear of being reported, and spending even more time in low priority.

I've been looking for alternatives to pub games, but dedicated teams are few and far between, and my poor track record in pubs means that I'm often ignored. I'm not going to be cowed by toxic players, however, even if they do report me and keep me in low priority, but I'm considering switching for League of Legenda, a game I don't like as much as dota but one that has a much nicer community than the part of dota 2 I'm seeing right now. I hope, I know dota 2 has a great community - This forum enough is testament to that - So please help me find the nicer parts of it. Any ideas will be appreciated.

Posts: 5

How much time are you in low prio for? I have never been in it myself, but I suggest taking a break from Dota until the time limit is over. I dont really know how the low prio system works, but hopefully I gave some helpful advice.

Posts: 15

wrote:

LoL is fun until you get to ranked play. this its a cluster **** beyond that of DotA. Also you have to buy all the heros and deal with runes. laaame. Plus LoL does have an epic map like DotA nor does it have the epic in game music like DotA

Posts: 12

Why are you in low priority to begin with? Before you're good enough, just refrain from talking in pubs and stop rage-quitting. I haven't had a toxic game in hundreds of hours..

Notable (11)
Posts: 183
Steam: PeachFuzz

wrote:

At the moment? 35 days. I've given up playing on my main account and decided to use another Steam account to play. I tend to play 3-4 games a day, so even if I get reported once every 10 games, my time in low priority won't go down (each 'successful' report is equal to 2-5 extra days in low priority).

wrote:

Why are you in low priority to begin with? Before you're good enough, just refrain from talking in pubs and stop rage-quitting. I haven't had a toxic game in hundreds of hours..

I understand your point there - I was in low priority because I abandoned games or went AFK. Although I'm only a mediocre player, the low skill pool is entirely different to what I was originally used to, and it's unenjoyable playing the game with people who are either very new or very bad, so I do see a lot of terrible play (an Axe using his ulti to get lane creep farm, or a team buying four different couriers comes to mind). Those games are simply unenjoyable for me, so I don't see the point in staying.

As for refraining from talking in pubs; that's one of my complaints. Why should players be scared into silence because potentially 'toxic players' could be in their game and report them? I mean, if I have a team that tells me to play support as Sven, what am I supposed to do? It's either a case of telling them 'no' or ignoring them, and being reported, or doing what they say and having a terrible game (and probably still be reported at the end for feeding).

As for waiting until I'm 'good enough', the fear I have is that it's nigh impossible to leave the low-skill pool. I mean, even if I play an amazing carry, I'm still only 20% of the team, and if the rest of the team are new to the game, or are toxic, I'm just going to lose and spend more time in that pool.

Posts: 5

Humm, i'm quite sure that you can't be reported for playing "bad", or not responding to your teammates request,there's a big difference between intentional feeding, and just having a bad game in wich you die a lot.
Leaving a game is worth a report, 'couse if there's still samone who wants to try to win the game, no matter how bad it is, you're ruining his game (even if he's playng the famous carryMaiden with a 35minuts vanguard as first items, or if he's playng an all stats lion "'couse stats=damage you noob).

Verbal aggression is another thing worth report, that doesn't mean you shouldn't comunicate, that's the fun part of the game (imho), is amazing to find people who are able to comunicate and coordinate, at the same time is quite annoyng to have samone who is sure to know better than you what you should do, and doesn't miss a chance to tell you, and spend the whole game pinging around the map. suggestion: if you see that your team doesn't want to comunicate, stop trying and do your best with what you have.

Loosing a lot is not worthing low priority, so don't worry if you keep loosing some games 'couse bad teamates, it happens.

Posts: 34

wrote:

The low priority pool is a dark and terrible place.

Pu12e's 51-0 Night Stalker / Balanar Guide
Pu12e holds the record for Most Kills in DotaFire. 51-0.
http://steamcommunity.com/profile/Pu12e
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Notable (11)
Posts: 540
Steam: Pu12e
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I just look back at my time in HoN and realize the community in Dota 2 is a choir of angels in comparison.
Your best bet is to tough it out as best you can, or go play something else that isn't a "dota style" game.

Go play diablo 3 or god of war something where you can run around and just smash things, or if you find someone that's in low pro like yourself that's a decent player that just got frustrated and placed there then group up with them.

Once you have a lot more games played this problem will dissappear, casters go through it too because trolls exist unfortunately, I posted a topic like this before and I got the good advice: "play something else to unwind, or just play through it"
It's about all you can do man

Step 1: Pick Bristleback
Step 2: type in all chat:"GL hf"
Step 3: solo offlane
Step 4: first blood triple kill solo vs trilane
Step 5: continue head butting keyboard
Step 6: don't care, Bristleback doesn't give a ****
Step 7: screenshot repeated: BB OP comments in all chat
Step 8: alternate games with Slark pick

Notable (6)
Posts: 400
Steam: sulaxrox

wrote:

The low priority pool is a dark and terrible place.

Which is why you need to buy a for all the noob dagons. ;D

#killsecure#stopthedagon

I got to Notable, Thanks!
Check out my carrying guide: http://www.dotafire.com/dota-2/guide/alchemist-shrugged-a-carrying-guide-8022

Remarkable (24)
Posts: 503
Steam: R-Conqueror
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I have thankfully never been in a Low-Priority pool except for a few times where someone in the party (usually 3-5 people large) abandoned/disconnected from a game previously or something. If you party with friends and people you know work well, being in the Low Priority pool could just end up being some easy wins for you.

My advice, party up. Find those few who are decent and play together. If you get a network of friends and start making 5man parties of good humored individuals, their not exactly going to be reporting you and any flak from the other team can just be dismissed with a laugh.

"Windranger" is not how you spell Windrunner.

Posts: 52

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