Far from it - I will similarly never be able to dunk a basketball, but I buy an NBA League Pass every year. I would need to have played hundreds of hours of Dota to get to a point where I could even entertain such a notion.Īnd bear in mind, this doesn't rule out Dota 2 as a 'good' esport. But I don't watch The International and think "I could do that". I watched all of The International 7 (as I do every year), beat all of my friends in the embedded Fantasy League, nailed just shy of half of my predictions (I thought Sand King would be picked more than Earth Shaker) and was heavily engaged in the tournament as a spectator. It's the sort of thing other esports can lack sometimes. It's aspirational, because there's the sense that with time and effort you too could play at that level. The best players are able to exhibit as much control over their cars in the air as they do on the ground, and they can use that to create opportunities for goals that their less skilled opponents can't deal with.įor an esport it's a veritable slam dunk - almost anyone can understand the fundamentals of playing the game, and as a result they can recognise the finesse and skill involved in playing at a pro level. But the ability to make fine adjustments to your course while in the air acts as a massive skill differentiator, because while your rocket car might be simple to control on the ground, in the air it's another beast entirely. Anyone can make their car jump by engaging the rocket boosters that power their car. Where the skill floor has players just colliding with a ball, at the ceiling pros spend as much time in the air as they do on the ground. It speaks to the high skill ceiling the game has - the idea that a game should be easy to learn and difficult to master is a familiar idea, but with Rocket League it's demonstrably true. Pros use the walls to their advantage, they take out defensive players to create a path to the goal and it's often shots that will just barely 'miss' the goal that are more dangerous than those on target, as the best players one-time a ball mid-flight after defenders have already committed to a save. With few players available on the field in Rocket League - most professional games feature teams of three - high level play focuses nearly as much on attacking opposing players as it does on the ball. The best players are able to exhibit as much control over their cars in the air as they do on the ground, and they can use that to create opportunities for goals that their less skilled opponents can't deal with.Īs the skill level increases, however, the game shifts away from its similarities to football and closer to Ice Hockey. Games with new players always remind me of those children's soccer games, as players careen into the giant ball, happy enough to make it move without really caring exactly where the ball goes. Once a player understands how to make the car move, they can make the ball move as well. The giant ball, the grassy fields and the giant goals all lend to the game's basic principle - to play Rocket League, all you need to do is smash your car into the ball to make it move. The superficial similarities to soccer are deliberate.
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