Chapter 320: Chen Mo Starts Streaming
"Alright." Li Jingsi nodded. "Actually, I still prefer 'League of Legends' a bit more. The art style of this game is more comfortable, while 'Warcraft' is too dark."
"Log in and wait for me first. I'll start the stream."
Chen Mo logged into his account while downloading the streaming software.
Chen Mo had a streaming room on the Fish Slacking Game Platform, which he had used before when promoting "Onmyoji," but he hadn't used it since.
Chen Mo didn't play games much. After all, no matter what level of opponent he faced, it was just a curb-stomp, which was boring. However, this time he was streaming with a specific purpose.
Ever since "League of Legends" launched, people on the forums had been discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each champion.
At this point, the players' overall skill level was still relatively low, so their evaluations of champions didn't quite match the actual combat effectiveness.
The initial 25 champions all had decent pick rates. Since Chen Mo had done a good job with the numerical balance, there were no bug-level champions that could dominate a match just by being picked.
The jungle, ADC, and support roles were fine because the champions had clear roles, different mechanics, and overall similar power levels.
For the ADC role, Miss Fortune was an easy champion to pick up, Ezreal was very mobile, Ashe had a team-wide stun, Twitch could deal explosive AoE damage in team fights, and Vayne shredded tanks quickly and could show off.
These five champions each had their own characteristics, meeting the needs of most players, and any of them could be played effectively.
The players' opinions mainly focused on the mid lane, especially regarding Twisted Fate and Anivia. Most players felt they were too weak.
Annie was a simple and brutal mage with AoE crowd control and burst damage. Kassadin was a highly mobile snowballing mage. Karthus, even if he fed late game, could still be very useful. So these three mages were relatively more popular.
Players generally felt that Twisted Fate and Anivia were too weak—low damage output and easy to kill. Anivia especially had constant mana issues, and her Q skill could barely hit anyone.
After the new version update, these opinions grew even stronger.
Ryze was a mid-lane mage who had a bit of everything but excelled at nothing.
Katarina could dash around and look flashy but seemed to deal no damage.
Fiddlesticks' ultimate had such a long channel time that it was hard to land.
Sivir didn't feel like she had any carry potential; she just used her ultimate to lead the team into feeding.
Janna just blew wind and healed, with almost zero presence.
What were these five new champions even for?
Especially after ranked mode was introduced, the forum debates over champion balance grew more heated.
"Please, Chen Mo, just delete Anivia already. Besides turning into an egg, can she do anything else?"
"And what's the point of Teemo? When I see a teammate pick Teemo in ranked, I just want to surrender immediately!"
"To be honest, Twisted Fate is also trash. What a waste of being the first champion shown in the CG. He lands, makes money, and then feeds with his ultimate!"
"Honestly, anyone who doesn't pick a tank top or tank jungle in ranked can go die!"
"I seriously doubt whether Chen Mo can balance 'League of Legends' properly. I respect the balance in 'Warcraft' because Chen Mo is a pro himself, but he clearly doesn't play 'League of Legends' well. He hasn't even mastered it himself, so how can he balance the numbers?"
"Yeah, think about the 'healing' Alistar and the 0-8 Tryndamere. Oh my god!"
"Hey, Chen Mo, find a reliable balance designer to fix 'League of Legends' balance. If this keeps up, a good game will be ruined!"
...
Soon, the streaming software was set up.
Chen Mo logged into the game, tested it, and found no issues. He posted a Weibo: "Fish Slacking Game Platform, room 10013, streaming 'League of Legends.'"
After posting the Weibo, Chen Mo put his phone down and said to Li Jingsi, "Come on, let's queue for ranked."
"I just checked, and my champion proficiency isn't high enough..." Li Jingsi said helplessly.
"Oh, hold on." Chen Mo quickly logged into the admin panel and set both his and Li Jingsi's accounts to have full champion mastery.
"Alright, let's queue." Chen Mo sent Li Jingsi a party invitation.
Li Jingsi: "...Alright, that's pretty strong."
...
On the Fish Slacking Game Platform, many people received a notification.
"The streamer you follow, Silent (room 10013), has started streaming! Go check it out! [Click to jump to the stream]"
Everyone was confused. What was going on?
Silent started streaming?
Since it had been a long time, many people had completely forgotten when they followed Chen Mo.
After all, it had been two and a half years since Chen Mo dominated the "Warcraft" ladder, and two years since the "Onmyoji" SSR summoning stream. Many had nearly forgotten that Chen Mo even had his own streaming room.
Soon, a flood of viewers entered the stream.
The number of people who had followed Chen Mo's stream wasn't large—only about 200,000—but Chen Mo had many Weibo followers. As soon as he posted that Weibo, many people entered the stream on their phones. Within ten minutes, the viewer count in Chen Mo's room reached 240,000 and was still climbing.
Soon, the screen was filled with floating comments, and everyone was excitedly discussing.
"Wow! S-God has emerged! How long has it been since S-God played?"
"S-God, play 'Warcraft'! The ladder is lonely without you. Some kid named Throne has taken the top spot. Can you stand that?"
"Where's Chen Mo? Why no camera? Why isn't he talking?"
"The stream room and game ID match. This should be Chen Mo himself, right?"
"What, is Chen Mo going to play 'League of Legends'? Is he going to show us the 'healing' Alistar and the 0-8 Tryndamere?"
"Look, we all understand you want to promote 'League of Legends,' but do you have any idea how bad you are? You're clearly a negative example!"
"Everyone, shut up! I want to see Chen Mo play 'League of Legends' so I can feel intellectually superior, hehe!"
All sorts of comments were flying.
Chen Mo hadn't even opened the comments, nor had he turned on his camera or microphone. He didn't care what the players were saying. His only goal was to tell these viewers: "Watch closely and learn."
Telling jokes or playing to the crowd was what streamers with no skill or fans did. Chen Mo had no interest in that.
I play games with skill. Let me show you what high-level play looks like!