Yeah, me. (Also, Get in here Beorn) (Destiny)

by Earendil, Tuesday, January 20, 2015, 10:52 (3385 days ago) @ Fuertisimo

You make me wonder if I have a split personality that posts on DBO under a different user name.

I too, am of the prestigious age of 30. I too, grew up with Myth:TFL and to a greater extent Myth:SB as my gaming career highlight. My clan (which I shall call all gaming groups from here to eternity) only ever did okay. We entered a few, held our ground against the first or second team, and eventually fell without notice.

What makes it the height of my gaming career was FFA, particularly KotH, CTF, and to a lesser extent LmotH. If the map was Proving Grounds, I couldn't be stopped, averaging 2 armies wiped per game. One of my best matches was finishing a KotH FFA game with the equivalent of 3.5 armies destroyed, and there were only 5 other armies. At my height, I made it to top 100 in KotH, and I did it playing 4-6 person FFA games, not that pansy 1v1 shit that players used to get to the top :)

I had a knack for predicting where players would go, what they would do. I could scout an area, see a single unit, and know what all was there and what they were likely to do. I could watch team percentages drop and know exactly what they had lost. I could goad and lure almost anyone to precisely where I wanted them. I wish mics were standard back then so I could hear them realize what was about to happen to them. I can't do any of that any more.

In the last few years I got into DOTA2 with my house mates. I used to play DOTA in College, back when it was a WC3 add on. With DOTA 2, even though I had a "team", it was obvious that I was not as sharp or as trained as my Myth days. I couldn't predict players so easily, I couldn't out maneuver them. Perhaps this is an advancement average player skill level over the years. No one (at least I hadn't) played a game like Myth before, it was new ground to master. Now popular games are more or less modifications of existing games and ideas. There are a lot more gamers, who have spent a lot more time, and they done it on games that are rather similar to the current stock.

I lost 3-2 in the finals to My Modem Is on Fire, for any vets who remember those people).

Yep, I know that name :)

In Myth 2, the biggest tournament close to the games launch was Trial by Combat. I managed to finish as a first alternate for the finals (7th place), barely missing the top 6 and entry to the final round.

I finished 2nd out of 6 in my semifinal bracket, just behind eventual tournament winner Voodoo.

I remember VooDoo as well, but it wasn't spelled that way? If I recall that was back when symbols were allowed in names, so many didn't stick to the strict 26 character alphabet.

So, in conclusion... Are there any other "aging" (I hate to use the term at 30, but in competitive video game years that is ancient) Bungie gamers who also look back fondly towards their youth? Are there any others who recall devastating defeats that left bitter tastes in their mouths? Any particularly thrilling victories that sent your adrenaline surging?

I'm aging, I'm not as good, but I also think that my "skills" don't translate so well to the games I play today. I'm not an aggressive player, which served me well in Myth FFA, but not so much in Halo. I pull in a positive KD spread in Destiny, but I end with 10-15 kills. The 10 kills without dying in Iron Banner was a pain for me to get :)

I don't think I had many devastating defeats, probably because I was never that good, such that a lose was a blow to my hopes and dreams. But Myth certainly provided some of the best wins of my gaming career. I should see if I have any of those old films still, and if I own software or a machine that will even play them...

Oh to find another game like Myth, instead of the FPS, RPG, and RTS games that I like to play today. Of course, I don't think I'd want to know that I'm no longer good at Myth :)