4Game

I'm an Archon III (2,610 MMR) who has up until now always played on EU West, generally spamming Visage. It's a comfortable rank on a comfortable server – short queue times, and folks generally have a decent picture of the broad strokes of how to play DotA (the concepts of creep equilibrium, team roles, priorities, counter-strategies, etc.). Players are largely on the same page and make some effort to coordinate. You'll meet toxic players of course, but chat's at least lively and you might even meet some chill players to balance it out. It's fun, and I've added folks I've met on ranked to play together again.

Now I've recently moved overseas such that my closest server is Japan. And let me tell you, it's a world of difference. Queue times are a bit longer, but still reasonable. The first thing you'll notice, really, is that chat is utterly dead. Write whatever you like – you won't hear back until you do something someone disagrees with, at which point it'll turn out they can all talk just fine, as long as it involves flaming you.

The second thing that'll sink in is the consequent total lack of coordination. My first match, we ended up with three Drums of Endurance and two Vladmir's Offerings (despite making my build clear from the drafting phase). My second match, we ended up with a pos 5 Terrorblade who said nothing the whole game. As there's so little coherence, and the skill level seems generally lower across the board, matches are usually stomps, with the winners determined like a rolling a bucket of dice. You're left feeling hollow whether you win or lose.

Take me back to EU West 🥲 what is this circus