Almighty Game Designer

Chapter 113: Can't tell what's going on!

The match ended after seventeen minutes.

Zou Zhuo typed GG as he stared at his Deathknight die with disbelief.

(GG stands for good game, usually by the loser first, praising how well their opponent played. This was usually done out of respect, with no negative connotations.)

At the end-screen, Zou Zhuo scratched his head out of confusion. He didnt quite understand how he was beaten, and just felt like he lost in every single aspect.

His opponent didnt do anything special either, going with the usual Blademaster +2. However, this felt completely different to the other matches Zou Zhuo played previously. He was on his backfoot the entire match, and felt that the game was never in his favour.

Moreover, he would lose small things here and there and would never manage to gain them back.

Zou Zhuo thought that the game lasted twenty or so minutes, only to discover at the end of the game that it only lasted seventeen minutes.

The spectators were also in shock.

What happened? Fatty lost?

It only lasted seventeen minutes!

How did he win? I didnt notice anything out of place from the orc player. It feels like he just kept harassing and steamrolled fattys units during the last battle.

My goodness, I dont understand anything in this battle among titans!

Another round? asked Chen Mo.

Zou Zhuo scratched his head, I wasnt quite in the zone the last round, lets go again!

Chen Mo nodded, Alright.

They started playing another round.

Zou Zhuo was much more careful this time around, giving his full focus. He also managed to find out that Chen Mo was playing Night Elves this time using a scout.

Relax, relax. Theres no way he could play all the races right?

Zou Zhuo steadily killed neutral creeps, but this time he was met with Chen Mos Demon Hunter. Although it couldnt go invisible like the Blademaster, he had mana burn. Every Time he saw the Demon Hunter on the screen his mana would get burned then it would run away. He couldnt catch up to him using his Deathknight at all, and there wasnt much else he could do.

After a few more mana burns, the Deathknight had no mana and couldnt heal itself even if he wanted to.

Zou Zhuo was now so irritated that he couldnt train units without worrying about the Demon Hunter. It either would come out of nowhere to hit his Crypt Fiends, end up killing Acolytes in his base.

Zou Zhuo called GG after twenty minutes.

It was just as before, there werent any special strategies with nothing out of line, but Zou Zhuo still lost for some reason.

He just couldnt beat him!

Going for more? asked Chen Mo.

Zou Zhuo shook his head violently, No more! That level of skill isnt normal. Whats your elo?

Chen Mo replied, Me? I havent even finished my placements.

Zou Zhuo laughed, Stop kidding, how could you be playing at this level before completing your placements? Are you playing on a smurf?

Chen Mo realised that it wasnt too out of line to assume that.

Zou Zhuo said, Add me as your friend, Ill consult you for strategies in the future.

Chen Mo nodded, Sure.

After adding each other as friends, Zou Zhuo said, By the way, do you want to join my Warcraft group? Theres a few highly skilled players in there. I wont be able to beat you, but you might meet someone who would give you a challenge there.

Chen Mo declined after some thought, Forget about it, thats too much work. Maybe next time.

Zou Zhuo didnt push any further as every single high skilled player he knew wasnt super friendly.

Alright, Ill go back to playing ranked games, Chen Mo bid Zou Zhuo farewell and continued to play his placements.

Chen Mo didnt plan to play too seriously anyways, but this Zou Zhuo guy wasnt a challenge at all! The others thought that Chen Mo was playing seriously, but Chen Mo played quite normally, and merely outmatched his opponent technically and by knowledge.

Strategies like mine rush[1], tower rush, cyclone spam, raider rush, lich and crypt field spam, summons rush that were commonplace in Chen Mos previous world were nowhere to be seen!

Chen Mo felt bored bullying noobs, and considered that he should give the RTS players a little hint to spice things up.

Whatever, Ill decide after the placements.

Chen Mo entered another placement match.

Zou Zhuo started his replay against Chen Mo within his group.

Zzz (Zou Zhuo): I just met a god in this internet cafe and got my butt handed to me

There were a few other high skill players in that group, so Zou Zhuo was only just above average, hence why the message didnt get too much attention and he has actually been made fun of.

Wow, Z-god getting bullied at an internet cafe tournament, how sad.

Yeah, I thought you were the self proclaimed Fates Internet Cafe killer. So did you end up meeting someone tough?

Hahaha, I wanna watch Z-god getting bullied.

Zou Zhuo was speechless. Whats wrong with these people? Laughing at my mishaps?

You guys should come try, its not that Im bad, the opponent is insane!

Zou Zhuo looked around within the group and found the usually quiet Kaiser.

@Kiaser K-god, could you take a look at these replays? Ive looked at them for so long and still havent figured out how I lost. It feels like I just lost mechanically. But I thought my mechanics were decent? Is the skill gap that big?

No replies.

Zou Zhuo was a bit butthurt but it couldnt be helped as Kaiser was hard to reach and was quite quiet in the group. Moreover, it was normal that he wasnt online when he wasnt streaming.

It didnt take long before someone watched the replay between Zou Zhuo and Chen Mo.

What? I just watched Zzzs match, were you playing at 80% hp? @Zzz

Zou Zhuo was speechless, No, its 100%.

Why does your Crypt Fiend look like its made of paper, the Blademaster one hits all of them.

Zou Zhuo: I dont know either!

Why was it Undead vs Orc in the first and Undead vs Night Elves in the second? Are they two different people?

Zou Zhuo replied, Its the same guy, he beat me twice playing random!

What the, youre joking right? Were you playing seriously? These were so one-sided.

Zou Zhuo replied, You think I wasnt playing serious? I gave it everything I had!

Well, I dont know then.

A few other players looked at Zou Zhuos replays, but none of them could tell how he lost either. As both parties were using normal tactics and were basically mirroring each others movements, Zou Zhuo always lost horribly.

It just wasnt the same watching replays compared to watching in person, it was even harder to tell in replays how fast the players were moving from replays. There were many players that were worse than Zou Zhuo, so what could they tell from the replay?

All they could tell was that Zou Zhou has a huge army! Zou Zhuo is attacking! Zou Zhuo has the upper hand! Zou Zhuo GGd!

There wasnt much Zou Zhuo could do as most of the better players were always quiet, and the frequent users werent usually that good.

Alright, Ill probably have to wait for K-gods reply.