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Pros
Pro Characters are derived from mythological gods
Instead of imaginary champions and heroes, Smite derives its characters from ancient mythological gods from around the world. Coming from the Norse, Hindu, Greek, Roman, Mayan, Egyptian, Chinese, and the recently added pantheon to join Smite, the Japanese Pantheon. The roster consists of 72 gods at the moment, from 8 different pantheons around the world.
Pro Completely play to win and not pay to win
There is no difference between a new player and a world champion. All players are equal. You don't buy your runes or as we call it, actives with real-life cash, you buy them in game. You decide what active to use. This gives all players the ability to strategize and counter without using real cash. Microtransactions are only for buying gems (in-game currency) which you can use to buy cosmetic items which do not necessarily affect your play style.
Pro Updates often
Because Smite is a young game, updates are really often, new gods, maps, balance-path, etc. Expect to receive patches in a bi-weekly manner, alternating between god release, balances, and skins, then god release.
Pro 3rd person view is a unique twist on the genre
The 3rd person view used in SMITE is a big change from the top down views normally used in a MOBA. The game also utilizes WASD keys, unlike the traditional point-to-move system of traditional MOBAs. This creates a large blind spot behind the user's character and also makes sneaking behind someone for stealth attacks a viable option.
Pro Voice Guided System (VGS)
SMITE has provided the best and most efficient way to communicate in game. The VGS provides keyboard shortcuts for in-game commands like pressing the keys V>F>1 which stands for "Enemy missing left" and V>B>F meaning "Enemies at the Fire Giant'" or in simple terms, the enemies are doing the objective. This simple shortcuts are very useful in game communicating and keeping your team vigilant without losing focus in the game.
Pro Hi-Rez approaches the SMITE community for feedbacks, brilliant ideas and mechanics they could use in the game
The company behind the SMITE, Hi-Rez studios, actually listens for community feedback and looks for potential ideas and mechanics provided by the community. For example, the Odyssey ultimate reward last 2014, was nominated by players. The SPL Ticket Announcer Packs reward were also picked by the community. And some in-game skins are actually created by players. The Harajuku Neith skin, The Ba5s Drop Janus skin, the Opera Bacchus skin, were all conceptualized by Smite players. And the most recent one, the Demon Bull King mechanic, which disables the towers and phoenixes in Joust to prevent camping, and the addition of the Japanese Pantheon to the game, were taken from community feedback as well.
Pro 6 great game modes and a rotating match of the day
Smite has 6 game modes and all of them are extremely popular:
- Arena. A 5v5 deathmatch, no lanes or objectives. Arena is best for people who prefer intense combat over strategy. Good for impatient but independent players.
- Joust. A 3v3 mode, with a single lane and buff camps on one side, and an objective lair on the other side. The Demon Bull King provides a clearly interesting mechanic to Joust, kill it, and it disables the enemy towers, to prevent turtling, which is pretty common in Joust. Joust is great for working with a team. Everyone has a role to fill, and learning how to adjust your play for your two teammates is half the battle. Surprisingly focused on teamwork, despite small teams.
- Conquest. The typical 5v5 mode, three lanes, jungle, towers, objectives. Conquest is the standard game that everyone knows, and requires lots of communication.
- Siege. A 4v4 objective push map. Siege is similar to Joust, but has massive battles compared to small skirmishes. Two lanes definitely adds chaos to the mix.
- Assault. A 5v5 ARAM. Assault is randomized. Nobody gets upset when the team of all tanks lose. Just queue up again in 15 minutes.
- Clash. A 5v5 Conquest and Arena mix of style mode.
Plus, there's a rotating Match of the Day (MOTD). A random game mode with a twist, like max cooldowns, no basic attacking, god swapping and more. MOTD can sometimes be more fun and interesting than anything else.
Pro Great graphics and art style
SMITE, by far, has the best graphics and art style in the scene. The map design is great, Hi-Rez studios tries their best to keep the gods as mythological lore-like as possible, and the cosmetic skins crushes the other cosmetic skins in other MOBAs. They have these what they call Tier 5 skins, like the Archon skin for Thanatos, and Ragnarok Force X skin for Thor, which are straight fire and worthy for its cost.
Pro Multi-platform
SMITE is playable on PC, Xbox One, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch and has cross-play.
Pro Provides a lot of incentives to play the game often
You have the daily quests which rewards you favor and gems (in-game currency). So you don't have to worry about logging in daily, like its previous predecessor, the daily log-in reward.
There are gem events, which is a limited period of time in which players can get gems (valued in-game currency). There's a First Win of the Day reward (FWOTD). Rewards every time we win a match, insane sale discounts. Also, Hi-Rez employees sometimes give away in-game freebies in their Twitter account.
Pro The least toxic community for a MOBA
The community of Smite is the nicest in the MOBA genre and has many members who are ready to provide help and role coachings to new and less experienced players.
Pro Features three ranked modes
Smite features 3 ranked modes, mainly the 1v1, the newly added 3v3, both of which utilizes the new Joust map. And the 5v5, on the Conquest map. All of which features experienced players and intense matches to satiate your search for glory and honor in the league of Smite.
Pro Odyssey Event
Every year, SMITE releases an Odyssey event months before the Smite World Championships. Over the course of several weeks, cosmetic items are released every week until the start of the SWC. These cosmetic items will be available for purchase some time after the SWC and will be branded as "Exclusive Skins" after the event. Every purchase in the Odyssey contributes to the SWC Prize Pool. Players can obtain limited edition items when they purchase a certain amount of items. For example, the Archon Thanatos, and Ragnarok Force X Thor can be obtained by the player when they have purchased all the Odyssey Items. Additionally, every item purchase will grant an Odyssey Chest roll that can be claimed in the rewards center. This chest can contain god skins, ward skins, and voice packs. There is also a slim chance that the chest will grant exclusive in-game items.
Pro Beginner friendly
New to SMITE? Well, you don't have to worry. Get five free gods of every role at the start to help you learn the role you want. Learn the game basics and mechanics over the Practice mode and the Jungle Practice map where all gods are available for you to try and experiment with. The community is also friendly to new players. You won't have a hard time adjusting to SMITE's mechanics and gameplay.
Pro 5 free gods and five more each week
You start with 5 free gods and a weekly rotation of 5 more.
Pro You can use the VGS for efficient communication
SMITE uses the Voice Guide System (VGS), which is the most efficient way to communicate in a competitive game to date, providing keyboard shortcuts for preset voice commands.
For example, pressing the keys V>F>1 would send out a message saying "Enemy missing left", which means an enemy has disappeared from the left lane. While pressing V>B>F would send "Enemies at the Fire Giant'" or in simpler terms, the enemies are trying to take the objective. These simple shortcuts are very convenient, allowing you to quickly exchange information with your teammates without losing focus on the game.
Cons
Con Tanks have damage and scaling like mages
Why in the world would anyone make a tank have the damage of a mage? You either build a tank with lots of CC and survivability or you make them mages with a lot of damage, not both. But at the same time, if a tank builds a lot of damage, he becomes squishy. It all depends on how you build the god.
Con Most skins for the gods are limited or exclusive.
Even though they are just cosmetics and DOES NOT effect gameplay, Smite has a lot of God Skins that are limited or exclusive. If you are into making your favorite God look cool it is likely that your favorite skin for the God is exclusive or limited. This means that you either have to buy the skin during an event, bundle or chest. Sometimes for one skin you have to spend about $100 while also buying other skins.
Con Issues with the developer
Hi-Rez is worthless when it comes to dealing with years-long bugs. They put up a nice face when it comes to people praising them for their work, but they never answer to accusations when it comes to how their communication in the e-sports scene is so bad that some teams outright don't get paid, some are outed from the tournament with no warning. And in-game bugs, unprofessionalism, lack of attention to detail. Hi-Rez is known for being a bad company and has left many potential good projects behind in favor of a more profitable one. It is known by everyone by now that their management is completely biased and act like children. While their support team is alright, their coders are so horrible that even the support team's solutions don't work anymore.
Con Developers are greedy and don't invest in better servers for other popular regions
In summary, the developers opted to prioritize earning revenue through E-Sports Gambling and Mass Producing Skins, instead of investing in better infrastructure for other popular regions.
The game has a large fanbase outside North America with available servers, e.g. Australia, however there's an utter lack of acknowledgement by the developers for their playerbase in those regions, and by extension, the feedback provided by them. The servers are unstable to the point where connecting to North American servers with even over 200 ping is highly superior to playing in the local servers of those regions.
Con The third person view prevents sharing your teammates' vision
The lack of overhead view causes what happens to your teammates to be almost completely unknown. Without good communication, you are running blind and might as well be playing the game solo.
In other MOBAs, communication isn't as much of a necessity. If a "jungler" is nearby, you assume he wants to gank. When an ally dashes in, you assume he's positioning himself for a setup.
But in Smite, an ally might have dashed out in order to run away from a bigger threat, or you didn't notice he was waiting for a good opportunity to ambush someone in your lane.
You need to communicate in Smite, or your allies won't have any idea what's going on until it's too late.
Con Extremely limited
If you are a Magical damage god, you cannot buy Physical damage items, which applies to every single god. Meaning there is only one way to play a god.
Con Third person camera limits your view of the battlefield
Your camera is locked behind your character, so you won't have an overhead view or be able to view the entire battlefield like in most MOBAs. This makes communication much more important since you can only react to what happens in your line of sight. Without proper communication you won't be able to set up regular plays you could do in most MOBAs.
Recommendations
Comments
Flagged Pros + Cons
Con Meta is unstable
SMITE's meta has always been shifting ever since. In Season 2, the Hunter class is the most powerful class in the game, giving birth to certain unique builds like the Unicorn Build, an item build revolving on power, penetration and attack speed on hunters. Hunter items were soon nerfed. Then, back in Season 2, the Guardian class dominates the scene. Very long crowd control chains can kill almost everyone in an ability channeling gods era, and shuts down the powerhouses of team fights, the Mages and ADCs. Giving birth to the unique DirtyBubble Build, a build focused on protections and cooldown to counter the crowd-controls and burst damages from tanks. We all hope the Season 3 changes will balance overpowered classes and make the meta stable.
Con Excessive snowballing on certain characters
If not countered or shut down early, some characters can become extremely strong, making a comeback for the other team virtually impossible.
Pro Great community events in the form of Odyssey event and Smite World Championship
Every year, SMITE releases an Odyssey event months before the Smite World Championship. Over the course of several weeks, cosmetic items are released every week until the start of the SWC. These cosmetic items will be available for purchase some time after the SWC and will be branded as "Exclusive Skins" after the event. Every purchase in the Odyssey contributes to the SWC Prize Pool. Players can obtain limited edition items when they purchase a certain amount of items. For example, the Archon Thanatos, and Ragnarok Force X Thor can be obtained by the player when they have purchased all the Odyssey Items. Additionally, every item purchase will grant an Odyssey Chest roll that can be claimed in the rewards center. This chest can contain god skins, ward skins, and voice packs . There is also a slim chance that the chest will grant exclusive in-game items.