Chapter 467: Your Game Balance Is Broken!
All the spectators' hearts were in their throats!
Digua's Archmage led the militia charging straight toward the Elf base, starting to build arrow towers right at the Elf entrance. Since Digua had been producing only basic-tier units, the Human forces held a numerical advantage on the field, and the sight of multiple arrow towers being constructed simultaneously was incredibly imposing.
"There's hope! Digua has the numbers advantage right now. Even if all these units die, as long as the arrow towers go up, it'll be fine!"
"Origin is completely pinned inside its base now. Let's see how it responds!"
"Origin's Demon Hunter has already rushed back, the War Ancients planted outside are heading home, and the Wisps are starting to build Ancient Protectors!"
"Origin's response is excellent—it's not sticking to its original plan. Instead, it's choosing to build more Moon Wells, reinforce its army, and even bought mercenaries from the Mercenary Camp!"
"The Demon Hunter killed some Peasants to level up to 2 and immediately upgraded Immolation! This is bad—Digua's defensive towers haven't finished upgrading yet!"
"Holy crap, that Demon Hunter's positioning! That Immolation is burning Digua so badly!"
"Come on, Digua!!"
Clearly, Origin didn't panic like a typical Human player facing a Tower Rush. Instead, it treated it like a very ordinary tactic, calmly executing its counter-strategy step by step.
Most Elf players facing a Tower Rush would upgrade Evasion on the Demon Hunter for better damage reduction, but not Origin. It directly chose Immolation (commonly called the Fire Ring). That was because its positioning was so absurdly precise that it could continuously chase and burn, ensuring it roasted as many Peasants as possible!
As the game dragged on, Digua's situation grew worse.
While a Human Tower Rush could be very effective against Elves on close spawns, it was by no means a guaranteed winning strategy. Otherwise, whenever Human and Elf players met on close spawns, they could just skip the match and declare the Human the winner, right?
A Human's Tier-1 Tower Rush was a desperate gamble that sacrificed economy and development. If it failed, the longer the game went, the harder it became.
After the first few waves failed to crush Origin, Digua's situation grew increasingly dire. Several arrow towers were forced to cancel after being reduced to low health, and others were destroyed outright.
The Tower Rush had gained Digua no advantage in the early game!
Watching halfway through, Chen Mo shook his head with some regret.
Li Jingsi and Goph both let out soft sighs.
Clearly, Digua had little chance of winning anymore.
The tactic itself was correct, but it still came down to the same problem: mentality and execution!
In terms of execution, Origin's was indeed excellent, but even with the APM cap, it wasn't completely overwhelming for a human. The key issue was mentality.
Origin was an AI with no emotions, but Digua wasn't like that. After the first wave of the Tower Rush was repelled, he started to panic. Every time his execution wavered, Origin would seize on the opening.
As the game progressed, Digua's execution grew more chaotic, while Origin pressed harder and harder, playing more and more aggressively.
Finally, as the last arrow tower Digua had planted at Origin's entrance was destroyed, he reluctantly typed "GG."
On the screen, Digua's expression mirrored Starlight's. But Digua looked even more pained—after all, his defeat wasn't just his own failure. This tactic had been developed through an all-night collaboration between Li Jingsi, Goph, and several other top domestic players.
Losing under these circumstances, Digua felt not only a deep sense of helplessness but also a measure of self-blame.
What if he had kept his cool?
What if his hand speed had been a little faster?
But those "what ifs" didn't hold up.
...
At the post-match press conference, Digua didn't say much like Starlight had. He simply bowed to everyone and said, "I'm sorry. I did my best."
Many people in the room felt their eyes sting. They could see that Digua genuinely wanted to win and had given it his all, but he simply couldn't beat Origin.
Sometimes, competitive gaming was like that. No matter how much regret you felt, a loss was a loss. Any explanation just sounded like an excuse.
Digua's defeat filled everyone watching this man-versus-machine battle with deep concern.
Many tried to console each other: "It's okay, we still have Goph. The strongest Orc player, the King of Frontline Combat, hasn't made his move yet!"
But they didn't know that Goph himself felt Digua had a better chance of winning this match!
Because Goph's strength lay in frontline micro-management. Against other human players, that was indeed an advantage, but against Origin... it didn't count for anything!
Especially since he played Orc.
Although the fans hadn't lost hope and were still looking forward to Goph stepping up to face Origin, the atmosphere among professional Warcraft III players was already thick with near-despair.
If even the strategies developed by Digua and a team of pro players had been crushed 2-0, then who could possibly beat Origin in even a single game?
...
At the experience store.
Wan Feng and the others were comforting Digua.
"Don't be too hard on yourself. You did your best. After all, your opponent is an AI."
"Yeah, the despair we're feeling now—chess pros went through it long ago. It's nothing. Losing doesn't mean anything. The sky hasn't fallen."
Even as they said this, everyone felt terrible inside.
After all, everyone still wanted humans to win.
Digua looked up. "Actually, I think the tactic was fine. The problem was my hand speed—my fundamentals weren't strong enough. But maybe if a stronger Human player took over, they could win?"
Wan Feng winced. "Bro, you're the world's top Human player. Who else could we get?"
Digua looked at him. "Remember that match before? The guy who spelled out 'NB' on the map with arrow towers while playing against you?"
Wan Feng: "..."
He was recalling some unpleasant memories!
But Wan Feng did realize something. Yes, there was still Chen Mo!
However, when Chen Mo's name came up, the others didn't react much.
Goph said, "Chen Mo still has the skill, but... when we asked him privately today, he said he wasn't really interested in playing."
"Why?" Digua asked, puzzled.
Li Jingsi explained, "It's the same reason he stopped playing the ladder. He only played the ladder to promote Warcraft III in the first place, not to compete. He thinks fighting an AI should be the job of professional players."
Goph added, "I think another big reason is that he's not sure he can win either. Of course, that's just my guess..."
Everyone: "..."
Digua said helplessly, "So what do we do? Should we all go talk him into it?"
Goph said, "We'd better think of a good reason first."
Everyone fell silent again. Yeah, what reason could they give?
"For the sake of all humanity"? That sounded a bit too dramatic.
The biggest benefits of beating Origin were fame and money, but Chen Mo didn't seem interested in either.
Li Jingsi thought for a moment and said, "I have an idea."
"Oh?" Everyone perked up. "What is it?"
Li Jingsi sent Chen Mo a message.
"They want you to go fight Origin."
Chen Mo quickly replied, "No."
Li Jingsi replied again, "They say the only reason Origin is so invincible is that your game balance is broken. The Elf race is too strong, so they can't win."
Soon, Chen Mo replied, "What? My game balance is broken? No way! Tell them to hold on!"