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Penny Arcade - Comic - The Things We Do For Skins

DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
edited May 2017 in The Penny Arcade Hub

imagePenny Arcade - Comic - The Things We Do For Skins

Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.

Read the full story here


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  • RottonappleRottonapple Registered User regular
    I don't play Heroes of the Storm, but I had to download it and slog through 10 matches with "friends" (and by friends, I mean strangers who were there doing the same thing) so I could get my free mount for WoW, so I can sympathize. We played against bots on the easiest setting and still lost like 3 matches. I only ever played Hearthstone for the same reason.

  • Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    I love HotS, and I generally hate MOBAs. My love of Blizzard properties is strong enough to overcome that hatred I guess. I tried LoL after getting so much enjoyment out of HotS, but that one doesn't let you play solo with bots. There's no way I'm playing with that community of people...

    I also tried Hearthstone recently... it was the most infuriating game I've ever played.

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    That last panel is sufficient to scare me off of HOTS

  • Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    I think an hour might be a bit of an embellishment, but a long game like that even if it ends in a loss, would net you a ton of character and account XP.

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
  • DrascinDrascin Registered User regular
    Enlong wrote: »
    That last panel is sufficient to scare me off of HOTS

    For the record, as someone who is not a fan of MOBAs, I can tolerate HotS more than LoL (which I have also played, and for the same reasons, ie, friends ask me to play with them) precisely because games don't last an hour. A game of HotS seems to last like half as long as a game of LoL. Rounds are comparatively quick in most scenarios I've tried.

    Steam ID: Right here.
  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    Yeah, most HotS games last 20-25 minutes. A game is considered to have run really long if it reaches the 30 minute mark. And by that point the map will basically win itself with whatever the victory condition is. A 30 minute Punisher, Immortal, Zerg Wave, or whatever will win the game all on its own, simply because the power scaling after that much time is ridiculous.

    Obviously it won't take the dragon an hour to attack the enemy's ass with fuckin' shit. At the 30 minute mark the fuckin' shit will be so strong it will win the game all on its own.

  • Hanktheguy Hanktheguy Registered User regular
    I got no idea what they're talking about I've been stuck with Xbox 360 since 2014

  • trickcyclisttrickcyclist Registered User regular
    And that's why I'm not getting officer Dva.

  • Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    And that's why I'm not getting officer Dva.

    Eventually you'll be able to get the skin from a lootbox. The HotS thing isn't so bad though, you don't have to win the games, you just have to play some games. 10, I believe.

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
  • PMAversPMAvers Registered User regular
    I have the opposite problem with the Nexus Challenge, where it doesn't reward the Officer skin in the game I actually care about. Since I have absolutely no interest in playing OW, and it's still my most regretted purchase.

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  • Omnikron13Omnikron13 Registered User new member
    Oh c'mon... Ragging on a game for laughs is one thing, like the 2nd panel, but total distortions of reality is a bit much. One of the things that you objectively can't complain about with HotS is game time. A 30m match would be considered long...

  • Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    Is this gonna be like the internet after that WoW episode of South Park?

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    Omnikron13 wrote: »
    Oh c'mon... Ragging on a game for laughs is one thing, like the 2nd panel, but total distortions of reality is a bit much. One of the things that you objectively can't complain about with HotS is game time. A 30m match would be considered long...

    It's like they feel like they have a sort of license just because they're artists. ;)

  • Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    Omnikron13 wrote: »
    Oh c'mon... Ragging on a game for laughs is one thing, like the 2nd panel, but total distortions of reality is a bit much. One of the things that you objectively can't complain about with HotS is game time. A 30m match would be considered long...

    I think the joke is that Gabe is bad enough to make things that aren't supposed to happen happen.

    Big Dookie wrote: »
    I found that tilting it doesn't work very well, and once I started jerking it, I got much better results.

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  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    Hyperbole for effect may be the thing.

    Like, "an hour" is apparently an exaggeration, but the general idea of "the game lasted quite some time after it was effectively impossible for us to win" comes through, even if the time is closer to half of what's said in the strip.

    Still, at least it's not, like, Monopoly.

  • StasisStasis Registered User regular
    Enlong wrote: »
    That last panel is sufficient to scare me off of HOTS
    This right here is why I'm irked by this strip.
    DotA and LoL are games that take an hour to lose and I can't stand them. HotS is not. HotS is way faster, more varied, and more exciting than other MOBAs I've played, but now some people might avoid it because Gabe grossly exaggerated what he didn't like about it.

  • Master_EegMaster_Eeg Registered User new member
    Normally like PA but this is just a cheap shot, love me some HotS and never had a game longer then 45m (most take less than 30m).

  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    HotS is by far my favorite MOBA, but that has still been my experience getting dat D.va skin.

  • Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    Y'all are getting a little too worked up over an exaggeration.

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    Skull2185 wrote: »
    Y'all are getting a little too worked up over an exaggeration.

    Basically, people are fine reading hilarious strips often using hyperbole when it's about OTHER people's babies.

  • TallanastyTallanasty Registered User new member
    Did you guys actually even play the game? HotS is the moba with the shortest gametimes. Most games lasting from 12-20 minutes.

  • TallanastyTallanasty Registered User new member
    Good satire is good if it has at least anything in common with its subject. In this regard, this comic failed pretty hard.

  • bobbyg27bobbyg27 CARegistered User regular
    It seems like Gabe/Mike/Jerry have disliked HOTS since before this Overwatch cross-promotion. Gabe mentions map mechanics in HOTS that aren't even in the current map rotation, like the coins to turn in (which is a mechanic in Blackheart's Bay or maybe Tomb of the Spider Queen, both of which are not playable except in custom games at the moment).

    It's definitely fine to not like a game, to each their own, but I think what makes HOTS players sad about this comic is that it is turning off potential new players with unfair exaggerations. It's actually not as grueling as the comic makes it out to be to play, with a friend, 5 Versus AI games (these can be completed in under 5 minutes each if you cheese the beginner AI) and 5 quickmatch games (these games typically last about 20 minutes unless it's a stomp). Winning is not even a requirement to get the skin. We HOTS players are excited about the cross-promotion, and I think we've seen a lot of new players start playing the game beyond the requirements for the OW skin because they found they enjoyed it, which is great for the (relatively small, compared to LoL and DOTA2) HOTS community. So again, it is just sad to see some high visibility bashing of our less-popular-but-not-less-loved game with incorrect information being presented to readers who may have been interested in trying it before reading the comic.

  • umlammyumlammy Registered User new member
    An hour long game? I know you're exaggerating and trying to be funny but usually that exaggeration is based off of something true about the subject. Heroes games aren't long
    unless everyone playing is a fucking vegetable.

  • vivomancervivomancer Registered User new member
    Did you mix up HotS with LoL? I've had maybe 5 games of HotS take longer than a half hour in my almost two years of playing it. It may have confusing objectives but it probably has the shortest matches of all the MOBAs out there.

  • weyesweyes Registered User new member
    edited May 2017
    So is this a guest strip from the writers of The Big Bang Theory?

    weyes on
  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    Good god.

  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    Enlong wrote: »
    Good god.

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  • PonyPony Registered User regular
    Hrm.

  • QuoteQuote Registered User new member
    Yeah, that comic was terrible, because it's obvious that they have almost no idea what HOTS actually plays like these days. Humor (and Satire) only works if it's based on real things, not made-up "facts" about a game that you haven't played in years.
    Reddit also seems to be unhappy with the strip: https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ad57v/unfortunate_misrepresentation_of_hots_in_penny/

  • MarcinMNMarcinMN Registered User regular
    edited May 2017
    Well, at least the reddit link is a possible explanation for all the new people suddenly posting. Just couldn't resist coming over to defend their pastime...

    I don't feel this is any harsher of a critique than those we've seen PA level at other games over the years.

    MarcinMN on
    "It's just as I've always said. We are being digested by an amoral universe."

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  • PavioPavio Registered User regular
    I love Mike and Jerry, but come on. I'm glad that people who actually play HOTS have jumped on here and called them out for this comic because it's just plain wrong.

    I played League, I played Dota 2 (and original Dota in Warcraft 3), and I play HOTS. I've never had a game get close to an hour. That was the huge draw of HOTS. That's why when I'm feeling like a MOBA I play HOTS, not the others. That, and it's centered around teamfighting over those objectives in panel 2. Which also shortens the game.

    Jerry's write up for this one doesn't excuse the misrepresentation one of the game's major selling points, which is the shorter games. It's just not logical to have that be your punchline.

    Also, if you want to see the statistics that show it's in the very low 20's, here's some data from hotslogs put into excel:
    http://imgur.com/NVzLSJc

    v6h3hfs2v597.png
  • PavioPavio Registered User regular
    MarcinMN wrote: »
    Well, at least the reddit link is a possible explanation for all the new people suddenly posting. Just couldn't resist coming over to defend their pastime...

    I don't feel this is any harsher of a critique than those we've seen PA level at other games over the years.

    I've laughed at many of the harsh critiques they've given of games that I love. I even was laughing by the second panel here! But it's the completely false third panel that is the issue. They're claiming 40 minutes longer than the statistical average of 20-21 minutes.

    v6h3hfs2v597.png
  • PonyPony Registered User regular
    so did this comic get posted to a HotS subreddit or something

    I feel like we're under siege

  • I needed anime to post.I needed anime to post. boom Registered User regular
    Pony wrote: »
    so did this comic get posted to a HotS subreddit or something

    I feel like we're under siege
    Quote wrote: »
    Yeah, that comic was terrible, because it's obvious that they have almost no idea what HOTS actually plays like these days. Humor (and Satire) only works if it's based on real things, not made-up "facts" about a game that you haven't played in years.
    Reddit also seems to be unhappy with the strip: https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ad57v/unfortunate_misrepresentation_of_hots_in_penny/

    liEt3nH.png
  • Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    Good lord folks! Blizzard isn't going to shutter HotS overnight because Penny-Arcade doesn't much care for it and made a dang joke...

    Maybe just chill out and go play some HotS? Even if you only play one game, it's still an hour of enjoyment instead of worrying about what someone said about the game you like on the internet.

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
  • VinvenVinven Registered User regular
    edited May 2017
    This is a really shitty attempt at humor and insult to HotS. If you don't like the game then fine, but don't portray it as something it's not.

    Games take 30 min at most, and they add one or two unique objectives per map to make it something other than boring laning.

    Joke about the game all you want, but all I see is an attack on the game using complete falsehoods.

    Vinven on
  • AdûnâiAdûnâi Registered User new member
    edited May 2017
    I've just created this account for the sole purpose of repairing the damage this unfunny and factually wrong comic might have caused.

    First, this comic says a match takes an hour. This is ridiculously false.

    In my two years of playing this game, a match usually takes 15-23 min. 10 min is really fast, but possible. 20 min+ is late game. 30 min is super ultra late game. I only had five games that lasted 40 min, and that's just insane.

    So 60 min is not an hyperbole. It's a plain lie. And a lie that can scare people off of the game. I know because I left Dota2 where a typical match does last 60 min, or even 80. Or 180. So it brings up the PTSD I have from that game ^^

    Second, this comic says objectives are confusing. In fact, they're anything but confusing. They're too simple, in my opinion. Once every ~3 min, an area highlights on the map about 20 sec in advance, you go there and fight the enemy team for it. If you win, you get a unique pushing power.

    That's it. You can't really be confused by it. Sure, it takes time to master it, but getting into it is immeasurably easier than learning hundreds of items in LoL, Dota2 or Smite.
    Vinven wrote: »
    Games take 30 min at most.

    Thanks for supporting our community! But I don't understand why everyone keeps mentioning 30 min. In HotS, a typical match ends at 25 min at most. 30 min is only possible if both teams have global compositions on Dragon Shire or late-game comps on Tomb of the Spider Queen, and neither team can finish the game. That is, fringe situations. One in a hundred games. But not a rule. 25 min is already a super late game, and whoever wins a teamfight, wins a game 100%.

    Adûnâi on
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  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    Skull2185 wrote: »
    Good lord folks! Blizzard isn't going to shutter HotS overnight because Penny-Arcade doesn't much care for it and made a dang joke...

    Yeah, they can do it much faster, like an hour tops.

    So play one more game before they close it down.

  • HennoHenno Registered User new member
    I don't play Heroes of the Storm, but I had to download it and slog through 10 matches with "friends" (and by friends, I mean strangers who were there doing the same thing) so I could get my free mount for WoW, so I can sympathize. We played against bots on the easiest setting and still lost like 3 matches. I only ever played Hearthstone for the same reason.

    Yeah, you dont really wanna play games that remind you of how much of a shit awful player you are

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