"TANKS AREN'T TANKY" They say.
Another day, another post saying "TANKS ARENT TANKY". Half the comments: "YEAH THIS GAME IS DED" and the other half: "ITS A SKILL ISSUE"
You see these posts and the responses almost every day....
It seems that there's just no way to be tanky
Penetration is a god damn Psyop
Supports are kinda under whelming. Smite 2
Tanks are supposed to (be able to) W key
I'm honestly at my breaking point as a Support/Solo Main
Holy shit just buff the stats on defense items
These are pulled from just the last two weeks and I skipped A LOT. Let-alone content on other platforms like what Rogers Aquarium is putting out on Youtube. I don't agree with the core premise or conduct of that video, or really any of these posts. They all amount to bitching that you can't face-tank with impunity and that the absence of that gameplay loop means that support/solo as a role is dead. I couldn't disagree more and honestly I feel supports are more impactful today than they ever were in Smite 1.
But I can acknowledge that these players are feeling a sort of way, and its not productive to just say "skill issue" over and over again. To be clear, "face-tanking" style supports (like Geb as an example) are definitely struggling to compete with higher pressure supports. Pressure in lane during the first 5-7 minutes of play pretty reliably dictates the outcome of the match. And right now, "low-pressure" gods don't get enough compensation to have much chance against high-pressure gods.
So I sat down for a couple hours and brainstormed some starter items that could help enable lower pressure supports by rewarding/incentivize aggressive play even if they themselves don't do too much damage.
TLDR & Disclaimer: These changes/items are quite likely busted. But I wanted to encourage a more nuanced discussion and invite HiRez's design team to consider adding a bit more variety for tank starters. I do sometimes get the itch to play more "traditional" supports like Geb or Ganesh. But its pretty difficult to justify picking them when I know I'm effectively giving up the lane by doing so. And even though I like playing gods like Yemoja, I'd also like to at least have the option to provide more utility at the expense of less damage.