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Well, it's no secret to anyone that the average skill level of SoD players is significantly lower. This has been repeatedly confirmed by all sorts of inter-portal events, qualifiers for the CIS championship, and even regular Tournaments. VT players consistently beat SoD players on their own turf. Of course, there were losses too—it's not as if there weren't—but the general statistics are quite one-sided.

2 Vic. Can we conclude that a VT player has higher skill than a SoD player because they are smarter? I will present my arguments on this topic.

There was a period in "Heroes life" when the wonderful League of Heroes website missed the boat (no offense—it happened) regarding the emerging online movement led by Armageddon and Balamut, and they were taken in by the Portal. Although, IMHO, ideologically and spiritually, the League would have found it easier to reach an agreement with those guys, but it didn't work out.

At the same time, the Portal back then was a bit different, more oriented toward the social component than the competitive one. This led to a sharp conflict between the old Portal users and the incoming online players. As a result, the vast majority of online players moved to the one created by Bay—these were all the people from St. Petersburg, Muscovites led by Stinger, DVStranger, etc., all the Belarusians, and some Ukrainians.

It turned out that 90 percent of the best players (and likely even more) ended up on Bay. Everything that the Heroes world had produced in terms of competitive mastery across various circles over many years ended up on Bay. Players like Cobra, Bayazet, Mike—I've heard of them as tournament players since 1999—and Stinger, AlexGreat, DSVasya went through a grueling tournament school before they became fathers.

And gradually, influenced by many factors, these players moved to TE and later to VT.

One could say that completely independently of them, almost from scratch, circles were growing on the Portal, and slightly later on World. You cannot compare potentials; on one side, you have the cream of the gaming world collected over more than ten years, and on the other, new communities of online players who mostly have a 3-4 year history, or even less, behind them.

In theory, the best minds of the new circles, upon maturing to the top level, should have moved en masse to TE... but that is exactly what we don't see. Among the new players, there are both fans of TE-VT and opponents, the latter of whom, judging by comments on the Portal and World, are even more numerous.

I am writing this not to start a flame war, but simply to show that player communities choose their own paths of development.

This is a path already traveled many times. For example, in Europe, Christianity won as the only true and correct religion. And in Asia—Buddhism and Islam. There are extremists, but most people accepted such a difference as a given, though after long wars.

The same thing is happening in miniature here. You cannot say whether one game is better or worse. Both have a sufficient number of fans.
I don't believe in the death of SoD. Back in 2002, people talked about its inevitable death after the release of the fourth game. TE players talked so much about the death of SoD... Let's say, in 2-3 years, when the new players mature and gain tournament experience comparable to the Bay circle, only then can we talk about the skill level of SoD players.

And you should judge not by Pit or NeoEndy, some of the early tops of the new circles, but by players who have already entered mass tournaments, where character and skill are forged in the heat of battle and experience is acquired. It is from them that the new Stingers and AlexGreats will emerge.

And I, by the way, feel the same, even though I barely play SoD and only have a general idea of how to play it.

Yura, could it be that by not playing SoD and only knowing it in general terms, you are judging this version unfairly? All your positive emotions from the game were experienced specifically with VT, and therefore you perceive the differences present in SoD with hostility.

For example, I played VT very little for various reasons, including having little free time when it finally became available. I admit that VT might be better than SoD, but only as a hypothesis. More likely, both versions will continue to exist successfully and equally.