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Vainglory 5v5: What's Next for the Mobile MOBA?
Vainglory is expanding its scale to a more traditional 5v5 mode — but what will it mean for competitive play?
There are two key things that set Vainglory apart from other popular MOBAs today: It's only on smartphones and tablets, obviously, but it's also a strictly 3v3 experience.
Keeping the on-the-go MOBA to three players per squad made a lot of sense at first, requiring fewer players to get a match started and keeping the battles a lot shorter than in PC-based rivals like League of Legends and Dota 2. However, that single-lane approach comes at the expense of strategic depth. It's the kind of limitation that could put a ceiling on Vainglory's competitive ambitions over time.
That's exactly why Super Evil Megacorp is knee-deep into development of a true 5v5 mode, which promises a larger map and more strategic opportunities for players. But how will this significant shift alter the growing Vainglory pro community? We spoke with several people in and around the scene at the Unified Western Championship in London to get their perspective on, and hopes for, the impending upgrade.
Growth spurt
Vainglory's eventual addition of 5v5 play was teased at the start of this year, sending players and fans alike into a tizzy — but it's clear that there's still a lot of work left to be done. Super Evil Megacorp CEO Kristian Segerstrale took the stage at the championships to offer a status update on development, and showcased the first rough testing footage of the mode.
It's still early at this point: The map they showed was a checkerboard-laden blank slate peppered with chunky, low-polygon barriers that signaled rough paths through the world. Concept art showed visions of what Vainglory's first three-lane map might look like, including the Storm Queen's coliseum or a "hyper-aggressive magical wilderness called The Churn." And no matter what form it takes, the map will feature more objectives to keep the larger teams occupied as each battle unfolds.
The 5v5 code is ready, but the map isn't just yet
© Super Evil Megacorp
I spoke with Segerstrale at the event, and he said that it'll be a couple months before the 5v5 mode is ready for community play testing in a limited beta. Beyond that, it could be late this year before it's available more broadly, whether that means it's freely released to everyone or just a larger testing group. And there's sure to be a ton of tweaking needed after the fact to ensure that everything is properly balanced for high-level play.
According to Segerstrale, they're trying to keep Vainglory's super streamlined approach, which puts a focus on action and frequent matchups on the compact map, as best they can despite the promise of a larger, more varied battlefield. And while matches are sure to last longer, given the added space and increased number of objectives in play, the team hopes to minimize the impact.
"We want to make sure that we maintain that ethos: we don't want to waste anyone's time," he affirms. "We want to keep the action as compressed as possible, so that there's no moments where people just farm or do rotations where they never see each other — which is no real fun for players or for spectators."
"It took us years to perfect the map that we have now. We don't expect 5v5 to come out of the gates being the best ever thing. We're excited about it, but we expect to have to tune it over time," he admits. "We ultimately want to offer our community the opportunity to play these things, and then we'll evolve over time as we best see fit."
And what about the pro community? Vainglory has already amassed numerous noteworthy teams and an ever-growing list of major organizations, including this weekend's big winner, Cloud9. How will the shift to 5v5 affect them?
"We actually don't know," he admits, saying they've been engaging the team captains and organizations to gain early feedback. "We really don't know."
Bigger ... and better?
Team SoloMid's Michael "FlashX" Valore claims that 5v5 has been his "biggest wish" for the game for some time now, although he notes that there's some uncertainty over whether it will be the new normal for esports play. "The only thing they haven't confirmed is that it's actually the future of the competitive structure," he says.
Unified Western Championship winner Gabe "Gabevizzle" Villarin of Cloud9 echoed FlashX's excitement over the move, saying, "I think that will be incredible for the game itself. It'll be very fun to watch, and I think it'll be very skillful to play now since we're just playing 3v3."
Despite the excitement over the news, the big question mark remains: Will the community fully embrace 5v5 and leave behind the unique and currently thriving 3v3 play? And will that happen immediately, or will 5v5 need extensive refinement before the community is willing to make the move over?
The three-lane map may look something like this
© Super Evil Megacorp
"The thing about 5v5 is that it's a pretty monumental task, because the entire foundation of Vainglory has been balanced, created, and molded around 3v3," says Ben "FooJee" Watley, a Vainglory caster and head coach for Echo Fox's team.
"The introduction of a new map … maps are not easy, as a lot of people may just think. There's some complexity there, but the bigger complexity is having enough heroes to support the 5v5, and then the balance," he adds. "And SEMC is still a pretty small company. I think it'll be interesting when we'll actually see it — I'll be super surprised if it came out in 2017. And then how does the community adapt?"
Will Vainglory lose its "special sauce" by ditching 3v3 for competitive play? FooJee isn't convinced that it's the most critical part of the Vainglory experience. "I don't think the 3v3 is as important as people say it is — it's just all it has been," he says. And it seems unlikely that SEMC or the pro community would bother trying to keep both 3v3 and 5v5 going at a high level.
"Whether [5v5 is] accepted or not, it'll be all or nothing. If it's a competitive acceptance, it will be either 5v5 or 3v3. I don't think it makes sense to try and keep both alive. That seems very complicated and confusing," he affirms. "The good thing is that 3v3 is super successful, so if for some reason 5v5 is a little wonky and people aren't in love with it, then it can be a game mode in and of itself. Perhaps competitive still lives where it does today."
The next level
What about the broader implications of changing a relatively entrenched pro scene from three-player teams to five? Gabevizzle suggests that a roster shuffle is assured, and that some organizations may suffer as others pluck players to fill out their expanded lineups. "Either more competition is going to come in," he says, "or it's going to hurt the organizations in the end."
TSM's FlashX believes that the advantages far outweigh the downsides, however, and sees the move to 5v5 as one that will unlock a lot of tactical possibilities in the game, thus encouraging the use of more analysts and coaches to drive their players' strategies. Cloud9 credited much of their success last weekend to clever draft picks from their analyst, physiX. As Vainglory expands, so too will teams' reliance on outside help to enhance their in-game play.
They'll need a larger stage for 5v5 battles
© Ravi Lakhani/Super Evil Megacorp
"If they expand and create a more dynamic map, it's going to allow a lot more room for deeper strategic thought, and it's going to make support staff like coaches, analysts, and managers a lot more valuable," FlashX asserts. "Plenty of teams in the scene already have them… in professional sports, you pay these coaches millions and millions of dollars. For coaches in Vainglory to really have that role, Vainglory needs to increase the strategic depth."
Organizations are already thinking ahead, too. Alex "PwntByUkrainian" Novosad, the CEO of Gankstars, the Unified Championship's runner-up, says they "can't wait for 5v5 to come about," and that he's been prodding SEMC about a move to 5v5 or even 4v4 for some time now. Expanding the roster to field a competitive team for a more advanced game will require more infrastructure, more talent and, yes, more money to make it happen. They're already working on all of that.
Gankstars is already planning for the 5v5 move
© Ravi Lakhani/Super Evil Megacorp
"As an organization, we need to have more analytical resources and definitely a solid coach," he says. "3v3 has enough for a few analysts to gnaw on; 5v5 will double that. I think the orgs that recruit the best analysts now and build the infrastructure will find themselves way ahead of the game once 5v5 lands."
"And of course, we are building relationships with more players to ensure that we can make them an offer at the right time and that they're likely to accept. Finally, we're looking at investments, as 5v5 will take twice the money of a 3v3 [team]. Essentially, it's about stepping up your game across the map," he adds with a laugh.
Wait and see
If competitive Vainglory does indeed embrace 5v5 when it lands — and all indications are that the scene is willing and ready to do so — then it may come with some bumps along the way. Vainglory might not prove to be as immediately engaging and entertaining to watch as a 5v5 experience, and it could take a lot of community-aided tweaks to get things just right. Not every current team will smoothly transition to five players, either, and some organizations could lose out along the way.
But if Super Evil gets it right, the richer 5v5 experience could yield more exhilarating battles between its top teams, driving viewer growth, boosting prize pools and giving Vainglory a shot at building up to the kind of success enjoyed by other headline MOBAs.
"I know the vast majority of professional players want 5v5, and they do hope that that's the direction that SEMC goes [with competitive play]," says FlashX. "Obviously, it's going to require huge rebalancing across the board, which is a lot of work on SEMC's end. But if they see the long-term value and obviously the long-term potential, which I know us professional players definitely do, then I think that's the right way to go."
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