Review the SMITE 2 Closed Alpha 2 update!

Ford James · 2024-09-17T15:34:52.004Z

The SMITE 2 Closed Alpha 2 update is now live, introducing the Pyromancer objective, two new gods in Nu Wa and Amaterasu, a vast array of bug fixes, and plenty of buffs and nerfs to the existing roster. The full list of detailed patch notes is on the official blog post, but for this bounty, we want to hear your thoughts! Jump in-game, spend some time getting used to the changes, then come back here and review the latest patch for us. What are the most important changes? Are the buffs and nerfs along the right lines or is there more still to be done? What are your thoughts on the Pyromancer? Tell us all this and more to win $3!...

Cloggedbean 9/24/2024, 9:26:19 PM

Let me start off by saying over all the patch was a W!
I thinking the biggest thing was the crit nerf, followed by nerfing Jing and Susano. Crit was too strong but now i think it is in a way more balanced place. Susano is also in a better place. he was to powerful before. hes still strong but not op. Adding the pyro was nice, becuase now theres an object to get to when you dont have the majority of your team with you.
As for the new gods I think nu wa's late game burst is too much. I havent played as Ama, but facing her she seems on the weaker side but that could be user error so we shall see.

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Inpunktion 9/24/2024, 6:50:18 PM

Overall this patch was a big W for the Smite 2 community. Others have said it but the crit nerfs were necessary and crit no longer feels like the most oppressive and best way to play every adc, although I do believe it is still much stronger then simply building attack speed and Qins blade. Those critical nerfs along with the nerfs to certain characters like Jing Wei, Susano, and Bacchus were the most important changes to make those stand out characters a little less overbearing.

Pyromancer feels a little out of place to me, it is powerful though don't get me wrong! The Runic Bomb that Pyromancer drops is best used for securing objectives rather then being used to push towers or hit enemy gods, Runic Bomb deals 1,000 damage to objectives at level 10+ so using it in tandem with Sunder to take away or secure fire giant is extremely handy in turning team fights with how strong that objective is at the moment. Using the bomb to secure ancient fury is also more useful then simply using the bomb on a tower or phoenix considering ancient fury disables every tower and phoenix under the enemy teams control for a good chunk of time allowing you to clear out multiple structures with ease in a single siege. Overall I think Pyromancer is fine and allows teams to further increase their objective secure pressure but I think the damage of the Runic bomb should be toned down a bit or changed, having it do the same damage as Sunder to objectives seems a bit unnecessary to me and makes it serve the same purpose as a relic already in the game. If it were up to me I would remove sunder from the game, replace it with a more skill expressive relic, and keep the Runic bomb the way it is.

Once again this patch was a good step in the right direction for sure, the new gods are not insanely over or under tuned. Map keeps getting better and better aesthetically speaking. There was a sudden influx of bugs that have been really grinding the player bases gears but once those are fixed I'm sure this patch will be seen as overwhelmingly positive.

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NiteDark 9/24/2024, 5:38:52 PM

For me, the Closed Alpha 2 update brought a lot of interesting changes that made the game much better. Starting with the arrival of the new gods Nu Wa and Amaterasu it further increased the gods available in Smite 2. Nu Wa being a crowd control god with AoE damage and stealh strategies. Amaterasu, on the other hand, has a very high teamfighting potential. I think the two gods fit very well into this Smite 2 meta. We also had several bug fixes , buffs and nerfs to existing gods. I thought all the buffs and nerfs were good, nerfing the strongest gods and buffing the weakest ones. Lastly, the best change in this patch, the addition of Pyromancer. With this addition we will have new strategies, especially in the mid game.

yan57436 9/24/2024, 4:20:20 PM

Smite 2 alpha patch review

Crit Nerf

I think this is where we felt the most impact on the game, as the crit was very dominant, making a nerf necessary. It's very common in MOBAS, now it's up to the developer to adjust it so that it doesn't become weak (we'll see in game).

Nu Wa & Amaterasu

I really liked the additions, I'm very intrigued to see how Amaterasu is balanced, it seemed a bit overdone to me (I hope I'm wrong haha).

Map and objective

I find the idea that the towers are in fact strong and there to protect you very interesting, so while for me they are something that will help me, for the opponent they are a possible challenge to take down, making it more necessary to use team strategies (especially).

Post-PTS changes

As someone who has played LOL for a long time, I believe that this is what really sets this game apart from the rest, LISTENING TO THE FEEDBACKS, this is incredible, seeing the appropriate adjustment according to what the fans complain about (without taking into account exaggerations, obviously) is a wise decision, after all, if you ignore who plays your game, what prevents those people from stopping playing?

Final thoughts

Overall, I think this is what stood out the most for me, I've read some reviews reporting bugs, but I haven't dealt with it too much, but I'd also like to point out that I generally play the game without sound (where some of the complaints are).

CMDR Henckes 9/24/2024, 3:37:36 PM

There were minor fixes, and some things that I would like to go back to as it was, but how the game is still in alpha, a lot of things probably will change and go back over time.

One thing that was very welcomed is the combat tutorial, for most players this isn’t that much but I remember when I started in MOBA games, tutorials and training maps are really good to get some abilities and understand some elements that are hard to get just playing against other players.

The new tower's status made you be more careful while advancing in lane and I felt that it gives you the need to be more strategic, but it isn’t a great difference but a nice small change.

I don’t play much with Morrigan, but when I play with her in the jungle and the nerf was a little too much for me, it was a lot harder and I think she must have some buffs in future.

The other buffs and nerfs weren't so much of a change, some ones I think weren't necessary like the Ares nerf but I think it will give us possibilities for rethinking some game strategies with my friends.

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AzteckIk 9/24/2024, 5:12:47 AM

The changes to both Ranked and balance are positive, although I'm not a huge fan of the tank item changes but the crit changes were necessary

With the integration of the pyromancer, more importance is given to an early game around the Fire Giant in order to obtain the runic bomb and how it helps with objective control and the siege of the enemy in conquest.

the game feels better, more fluid as a console player, and the developers' response to bugs was incredible. I also believe the new goddesses bring a lot of excitement to the current competitive scene and the game, and that excites me and gives me a lot of hope for the future.

JHenckes 9/24/2024, 2:35:40 AM

I'll highlight the main points that caught my eye:

First about the characters: I didn't enjoy playing Amaterasu that much (as much as I love the mythology behind this god), but she's definitely a very strong character. On the other hand, I loved Nu Wa, she's much more enjoyable to play now in Smite 2, she has a very lively gameplay that values the player's skill and she's also straight into the meta, very strong.
The map has become more visually pleasing and also more intuitive to view, it's a great change.
I haven't seen so many bugs during my games, but I can see from the comments that it was one of the patch's strong points.
Pyromancer's return brought back good memories of Smite 1, it's always welcome!
One of the things I liked most was the Role Queue. I've needed it for a while now, it really helps organize matches and makes the game more fun.
Finally, another thing I noticed was the buffs to the towers, now they're a challenge and they've gained a lot more importance in the game!

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Zombie-k316 9/23/2024, 3:33:24 PM

I would say this new big update for Smite 2 has made the game so much better such as Jing Wei getting her nerfs, Two of my more favourited deities being added to the game.

Out of Nu wa and Amaterasu i would say i definitely prefer Amaterasu as i really enjoy the movment speed and damage that she can provide for both herself and allies with is amazing to me.

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Feddboii 9/23/2024, 9:50:38 AM

https://youtu.be/6H0ueiuW-cs https://youtu.be/6H0ueiuW-cs

Here's my discussion with two of my queue partners on the 9/12/2024 patch notes. We talk about what we like, the big changes players should look out for, and updates that may fly under the radar. Like and Subscribe but also leave comments. Tell us where we're right and tell us where we're wrong (respectively). I want there to be constant knowledge sharing in the smite 2 community and if I or we get it wrong somewhere, let us know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=691ug7aM9KU

Edit: Noticed the audio quality was toned a little low, re-uploaded with improved audio.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/6H0ueiuW-cs?feature=oembed

Edit: Noticed the audio quality was toned a little low, re-uploaded with improved audio.

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BabyPlutt0 9/22/2024, 10:47:37 PM

My impressions of the patch are as follow:

the map looks really good now.

the tower health buff is really good as before it felt way to easy to kill a tower.

more health on the objectives is really good too because it was way to easy to kill them.

nerfs on crit feel great as it was too overtuned and some gods would abuse it.

the Nu Wa changes make her feel like a way more complex God wich i find great,Ama also feels great but both not OP.

Pyro addition is great i thought it was a great objective before and still is.

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LightRoast 9/22/2024, 9:28:10 PM

Overall, game feels like it has moved in a better direction (especially after the PTS bonus adjustments).

Game flow feels less quick, but early game is still incredibly important with all the gold adjustments in camps/minions/towers and structure health.

Several viable frontline items to run with higher physical protection values (and nerfs to crit).

New gods have new layers to their kit which can increase their skill ceilings even if they're considered some of the more plain gods from Smite 1.

Sunder nerf was needed. May still be a must-buy for some comps at high-level but requires some thought to execute now.

Unfortunately the game is still littered with bugs (to be expected to some degree).

Frontliners have all the fun active items it feels and their ability to move the map is incredible with portals.

Junglers get their farm taken all the time with how squishy camps. Junglers should have more ownership of the camps in the jungle and laners should have mini objectives to fight over that's less tanky for them to contest.

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Rikky 9/22/2024, 5:30:43 PM

To be honest, as a scale of 1 to 10,

I would review the closed alpha 7/10.

Why?

To be honest, gameplay wised, I simply love it !

Assasins are super great, you don't know which one is meta, but that's how it should should be done.

Itemization is super great, since you can create a lot of builds independently of str/int or str & int

Everything is great.

BUT (There is always a but on a 7/10 rating.

My subjective opinion count as it follows:

1) "The more protections you have, the more damage you deal."

This passive on Bacchus super irritates me(including back on smite 1)

Gods who prio resses do not deserve damage. SPECIALLY on Bacchus with 3 CCs.

2) Performance. Personally my PCs specs are super great EXCEPT Graphics card which is on the bare minimum. I do not mind playing on Low performance but please fix the performance.

Last but not least:

3) Why is there so many bugs and performance issues, but they prioritize on content creation ? (New gods)? I understand that the team is halved by 2 because of smite 1 and 2, but why would you force your client to pay the alpha test and you know that you should consider the performance,bugs and UI fixes (bugfixes) but instead you create more content? Content can be created further the next year. Atleast make your customers who bought the alpha testing to enjoy the game.

Thank you.

Smite 2 IGN: Rikky

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ShadeSMITE 9/21/2024, 6:09:32 PM

The buffs and nerfs were a bit better after they changed the patch notes from what they were originally.
Nu Wa and Amaterasu both extremely broken and the Queens of the new patch unless these new hotfix nerfs tone them down enough.
Tanks got better, everything else got worse.
Crit nerfs were good because marksmen were just beating everything else.
Tower buffs were needed.
The patch could've done more after 3 weeks I think but it was alright, the hotfix made me feel better about it.
The best parts of the patch imo were fixing the bugs, and fixing settings not staying saved every time you get off.

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raccoonbro 9/21/2024, 7:10:13 AM

Impressions on the patch, first and foremost is tragic that we had to lose active pig dashing (Circe’s Hexstone losing the ablilty to be used while channeling abilities) but devs said it had to be done, will be missed.

Ama is very strong, I would say probably overtuned. The way her 1 and 2 scale with INT via increased healing and mitigations makes her a menace to deal with as a backliner, bulid her with INT and enough CD to play off of those abilities for sure. Anything else kinda goes bulid wise. Her Ult change to gain an AOE on the final strike also feels super nice. Nu Wa also feels much stronger with all the addition of an extra effect on her abilities, some similar to Smite 1 (the 1 and 2) and the 3 and 4 gaining an auto effect which can make her much stronger in brawling early. Don't think she's misbalanced much - likely just needs some tweaking to some numbers, while I think Ama more.

As for other balance shifts, Trans and Book nerf were needed. Might have gone too overboard on buffing some protection item stats, but I haven't felt the tank meta yet. Susano nerfs were needed, the buff on Anhur's 1 I know yall sleeping on, he needed that so bad. Overall snowball was reduced as well through some of the gold and XP shifts in conquest, nice changes there

Patch was solid. Excited for more

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Dadnaya 9/20/2024, 11:57:56 PM

This patch has been generally a good update. Being a fan of both Amaterasu and Nu Wa made me happy seeing them ported over and their changes were delightful. Nu Wa can now work better as an ADC and even Amaterasu to some extent.

The new toggle items are a step in the right direction, featuring more ways to "play the game" without them just being a boring 'press button to gain small buff' actives.

The pyromancer is also an old good addition and is nice to see back.

Hoping to see more of these down the the road in future patches!

Elech 9/18/2024, 9:30:31 AM

Nu wa being released and she feels fun but so hard to win with while also not feeling terrible makes her satisfying to play.

I always thought players were there to protect the tower and not the other way around but having a buffed tower in Smite actually now makes the low pool of mages to play easier and not just a free kill.

As a Sol main having her artwork changed is great to see.

Ofcourse Elite queues for ranked is a step in the right direction. This will remove a lot of the frustration of the 5 stacks at high end ranked.

Pyromancer returning is nice. More objectives is more fun in my opinion although a different form of mini boss would have been appreciated but thats just my opinion.

A very much welcomed Bacchus nerf. Hopefully some more but we will see how he feels after a few more weeks of play.

Beads having a shorter cooldown too just adds more safety to the game which is good and bad. We will need to see overall how it reflects gameplay but likely a good change atleast for now.

The biggest is the role queue getting added (returning) This was fully needed from day 1 but other priorities had to come first i guesss.

Good patch overall. Alot of nice balance and updates. Seems like Hirez are listening

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DiscoFerry 9/18/2024, 9:27:59 AM

It's definitely a step in the right direction, a lot of the balance changes were ones I fully expected (Susano Bacchus Jing Sunder nerfs). Map looks noticeably better visually, and map objectives feel more like objectives and less like tissue paper now.

Both the new gods are fairly fun, although Intelligence Amaterasu is easily the most broken god of the alpha so far and should definitely have been nerfed before release (turns out like 4 seconds of 80% mitigation isn't a great idea for a character building full damage!)

The patch also addressed some of the most annoying bugs in the previous alpha patch, like the settings resetting and post lobby XP/worshipper bars disappearing to opposite sides of the planet. It does seem to have introduced a fair set of new bugs (AOE neith ults??), which hopefully we won't have to wait another 3 weeks to see a fix for!

Elite ranked queue sounds like a good idea, but also seems to not be working as intended, so i'll reserve my judgement there.

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NotAValveGame 9/18/2024, 1:40:54 AM

My thoughts are really as follows:
Crit nerfs were big, crit was over tuned and needed to be pushed down.

Nu Wa as a character is going to fit a new role but not be as annoying as she is in smite 1 with her ultimate and I really like that.

Towers are actually a threat.

Objectives feel like they are a bit harder to kill.

Map looks good

Bugs with the voicing of the characters specifically their taunts, jokes, and laughs really takes away from the characters themselves.

I am so so so so happy that they made post PTS balance changes, that was massive to see and it makes me so happy.

Role q is one of the best things that was added to smite ever

Sunder nerf is good but doesn't kill the item.

Overall I like the patch. Fix the small bugs and its really good

ChrisTDickson 9/17/2024, 9:21:55 PM

Crit nerfs are a huge W, still viable, but toned down.
Nu wa/Ama feel viable but not OP.
Map looks amazing with the additions
Pyro is a welcomed addition
Towers are more imposing, W.
Objectives are harder to kill.
Snowball isn't as prevelant.

Solid patch.

Ford JamesMod9/20/2024, 2:23:00 PM

https://twitter.com/SMITEGame/status/1837129865583099964

The official SMITE 2 Twitter account has put out a survey calling for thoughts on the Closed Alpha 2 update, so we'd recommend copying your thoughts over there too to feed back directly to the devs!