Chapter 343: Game Depth
In the experience store.
Zou Zhuo tossed his headphones onto the desk and stood up excitedly. "Wow! I made it to Diamond! I made it to Diamond! Hahahahaha!"
Zou Zhuo's excitement didn't draw much scorn; most players just glanced at him before returning to their own games.
Indeed, reaching Diamond wasn't easy for an average player, so a little excitement was perfectly justified.
The friend sitting next to him congratulated him. "Congrats, Little Fatty. Keep working hard, and Challenger is within reach!"
Zou Zhuo calmed down a bit and sat back down. "Ah, I wouldn't count on that. It was already this tough for me to get to Diamond; climbing to Challenger would be way too hard. But honestly, the more I play *League of Legends*, the harder it gets. The depth is really terrifying."
His friend looked puzzled. "Huh? What do you mean?"
Zou Zhuo grinned as he admired his match history. "At first, I thought *League of Legends* was way simpler than *Warcraft*. But the deeper you go, the more you realize the high-level games are just as tough as *Warcraft*."
"Let me put it this way—the two games are different types. In *Warcraft*, hitting the ceiling is obvious: your hands and brain can't keep up. You need faster APM, quicker reactions, and sharper decision-making. When you lose a team fight because of mechanical errors and your whole team gets wiped, you know you've hit your limit."
"But in *League of Legends*, hitting the ceiling isn't as clear-cut. A lot of people feel like they should be at least Platinum or Diamond, but they're stuck in Silver or Gold, so they blame their teammates."
His friend looked confused. "Isn't that the case? I really don't see much difference in mechanics between Gold and Platinum players."
Zou Zhuo shook his head. "Sure, some people get carried to Platinum, but there's a limit to how far you can be carried. If you're really bad and only at a Gold level, even a pro player can't drag you to Challenger."
"This is where *League of Legends*' depth comes in. It's not all about mechanics and skill—it's also about game sense. If you have good mechanics, you can carry from a carry role, but if your mechanics are average, you can still climb by playing simpler, more forgiving champions."
"A lot of people I've met have average mechanics, but they consistently play champions that don't require much skill and climb through game sense alone."
"The higher your rank, the more you notice those top players. Their decision-making is crystal clear—they know exactly what to do at every point in the game: how to snowball when ahead, how to stall and scale when behind. There's so much depth to it."
"Take the shop owner, for example. He reached Challenger with an insane win rate. Mechanics are only part of it. Mechanics can't solve everything because you can't guarantee your teammates are good, right? You're bound to run into idiots every now and then."
His friend chimed in, "But when the shop owner plays ranked, his teammates wouldn't dare throw the game—otherwise, they'd get banned."
Zou Zhuo: "...You get the idea. The shop owner's game knowledge is just insane. Those videos of his have been studied over and over—where he shows up at what time, how he directs his team when ahead, how he manages when behind. He reads the opponent's psychology like a book."
His friend nodded with an expression of enlightenment.
"Speaking of which, where's the shop owner? I want to share my good news with him!" Zou Zhuo logged out of his account, shut down the computer, and headed to the first-floor lobby of the experience store.
Chen Mo was sitting on the couch, reading a book.
Zou Zhuo sat down next to him. "Shop owner, I just hit Diamond! Aren't I awesome?"
Chen Mo glanced at him. "You sure are awesome. But if I remember correctly, the highest rank I set was Challenger, right?"
Zou Zhuo: "Wow, shop owner, you really know how to kill a guy's vibe!"
Chen Mo patted him on the shoulder. "You're still a long way from going pro, winning championships, opening an online store, and marrying a rich beauty. Getting all puffed up over hitting Diamond—that's not the right attitude."
Zou Zhuo: "..."
Chen Mo went back to reading.
Suddenly, Zou Zhuo thought of something. "Hey, shop owner, *Ancient Calamity* has been making a lot of noise lately. Are you really not paying any attention to it? I heard the game's metrics are pretty good."
Without looking up, Chen Mo said, "Have you played it?"
Zou Zhuo shook his head vigorously. "Of course not. I'm a loyal Thunder Game player—why would I play some knockoff game?"
Chen Mo replied, "It's fine. Go play it for two weeks, and you'll understand."
Zou Zhuo looked puzzled. "Really?"
...
At Dicha Entertainment, Jin Jieguang had a grim expression as he hurried toward Lin Chaoxu's office.
Two weeks after *Ancient Calamity* launched, its growth metrics had started to slow down for the first time. While active player count and average playtime were still increasing, the rate of growth had noticeably decelerated.
In contrast, *League of Legends* had seen its metrics accelerate since launch, with no signs of slowing down. This had put Jin Jieguang on high alert.
Although there hadn't been a major decline yet, the anomaly itself was concerning. Unsure of how serious the issue was, Jin Jieguang rushed to report it to Lin Chaoxu.
In the office, Lin Chaoxu looked over the data Jin Jieguang had handed him. After a moment of thought, he asked, "Have we found any issues with the gameplay? Did we conduct a survey?"
Jin Jieguang replied, "We did a survey, but overall satisfaction is still decent. The dissatisfied players couldn't really explain why—they just felt the game was monotonous or didn't let them show off."
Lin Chaoxu thought for a moment. "So, the high-end players aren't very satisfied?"
Jin Jieguang nodded. "That's about right. Since *Ancient Calamity*'s mechanics effectively boost the combat power of less skilled players, it naturally prevents the kind of one-vs-five domination you see in COG and *League of Legends*."
Lin Chaoxu frowned. "Can we fix it?"
Jin Jieguang looked troubled. "We could, but it would conflict with *Ancient Calamity*'s original design philosophy. If we increase the snowball effect, skilled players could dominate and crush newbies, which would put us back on the same path as *League of Legends*. That would hurt our expansion into the mid-to-low-end player market."
Lin Chaoxu was uncertain. It seemed that high-end player feedback was affecting *Ancient Calamity*'s post-launch metrics, but changing the gameplay would essentially overturn all of the game's advantages.