Although many players were enjoying the game, Chen Mo knew that COG's gameplay was still full of loopholes. It was still a long way from being a proper MOBA.
In the eyes of the average player, this map was very interesting, different from any other game on the market.
Each hero had a different role and could work well together.
They only needed to control one hero, which was more friendly to new players.
The pace was faster, a match at most 40 minutes.
It took into account teamwork and individual heroism.
Of course, it was difficult for players to sense the huge potential behind the game, they just had a vague feeling that the game was fun.
But that wasn't the case for Chen Mo.
After seeing DOTA and LOL, two MOBAs with different characteristics, COG was now like a sieve in Chen Mo's eyes, full of holes and loopholes.
There wasn't a clear position in the hero design, the balance was extremely poor.
The map layout was unreasonable, the jungle was a narrow strip, which made it easy to gank online.
There wasn't enough positive motivation for players, there weren't even special rewards or sound effects for kills.
The learning cost was high.
The equipment system was loose and unsystematic.
The controls were still heavily influenced by RTS games, and the opponents were extremely unfriendly to the players.
The snowball effect was too obvious, and there were very few opportunities to turn the tables.
The players were having a lot of fun now, entirely because COG had just appeared. Everyone was very noob, they were happy when they won, and didn't feel as frustrated when they lost.
In this environment where noobs pecked at each other, the fun of COG was infinitely magnified, which was why it looked beautiful.
But what if the players improved, their understanding of the game deepened, and they developed more and more strategies?
The players would need a yardstick to measure their skill, and so the ladder came into being. What if everyone played the game to win, and a large group of players with a deep understanding of the game and good mechanics gathered on the ladder?
Then the flaws of COG would be infinitely magnified.
There would definitely be people saying that the Dark Ranger's win rate was too high, that she was too strong, and that they should weaken the Bloodmage!
Or people would say that the number of monsters was too unreasonable, that the jungle was too small, that the game was too tiring, and that there were too few opportunities to turn the tables …
Every imperfect little setting would become a crack in the dam, ultimately causing the game to completely collapse.
This was the reason why Chen Mo didn't bring out the MOBA right from the start.
Balance was too important. It could even be said that it determined the life of a MOBA game. If Chen Mo released an imperfect MOBA game, it would be equivalent to sending this advanced concept into the mouths of other designers. The end result would be that other big companies would make a better MOBA game, and Chen Mo would lose everything.
This was something Chen Mo couldn't accept.
However, at this stage, Chen Mo finally had the ability to bring MOBAs to the world.
In fact, Chen Mo had already decided on a development plan a long time ago, but many things happened at the same time, making the development of the game even more urgent.
After Emperor Dynasty Entertainment and Fantasy Gaming Platform formed an alliance, almost half of the distributors in China came together to take down Emperor Dynasty Gaming Platform.
Outside of China, there was also a game with elements of MOBAs, and they had already formed a partnership with GA. Chen Mo believed that they would soon release a more complete MOBA game.
Now, Chen Mo had to come up with an absolutely dominating game to take over the entire Chinese video game market. Only then would he be able to completely destroy the large distribution network that Emperor Dynasty and Fantasy Gaming had formed, and firmly hold onto the MOBA game as a cash cow.
In Chen Mo's previous life, Dota and League of Legends were the two pinnacle MOBAs, having explored the genre to the extreme. However, these two games ended up on completely different paths.
Dota had reached the pinnacle of balance. Almost every hero had a place to play, and there were all sorts of different strategies. The competitive aspect of the game was top notch.
However, due to the high difficulty, style, and history of the game, although Dota was the first to appear, it didn't manage to take over the MOBA market on a large scale.
League of Legends, on the other hand, took a different path.
By changing the style, simplifying the operation, and fixing the routines, LOL minimized the difficulty of MOBA games, allowing it to be popularized by many people who didn't originally play Dota. With all these factors stacked on top of each other, the MOBA market was harvested and became the most popular game in the world.
However, this also brought about other problems, such as fixed strategies, poor balance, and low control (relatively speaking).
Every time League of Legends was updated, there would be some unpopular and popular heroes. Although there were some heroes that could be developed, there were still a lot of heroes that could only sit on the bench, completely missing out on high level matches and professional matches.
So, could it be possible to take the best of both worlds and create a perfect MOBA game?
Basically impossible.
Obviously, these two games could see each other's strengths and weaknesses, and both attempted to make changes in their respective directions. However, they were on two completely different paths after all.
Simplifying the controls and expanding the player base meant lowering the upper limits of the game, and even breaking some of the balance. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
Both of these games were MOBA games that had been developed to the extreme. Dota was like Go, with more variations, but it was difficult to pick up and relatively niche; League of Legends was like Xiangqi, with clear rules and a large number of players, but a fixed strategy.
Dota was great for Chen Mo, but he needed to expand his playerbase as much as possible. He needed to compete with the local distributors for more customers, and use a shocking game to solidify his playerbase.
At the same time, he wanted to use this game to monopolize the MOBA market, and kill off any other games that tried to imitate or catch up to him.
After thinking about it, League of Legends was more suitable for Chen Mo's current needs.
Of course, another important reason was that Chen Mo didn't know how to play Dota in his previous life.
Even with Memory Playback Potions, Chen Mo could barely recall some of the hero's skills, but it would still be difficult for him to perfectly recreate Dota.
As for League of Legends, Chen Mo definitely wouldn't use it the same way. After all, his coding skills were already very strong.
Moreover, in Chen Mo's previous life, League of Legends had been constantly changing and revamping over the years. Many concepts were constantly evolving, so Chen Mo wouldn't stick to any design concepts that were clearly out of date.
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