The MOBA Paragon (PS4, PC) has revamped its map and gameplay. Fans are reacting differently, but the success is there.
With “Monolith”, an update that was supposed to change everything, everything changed for Paragon at the beginning of December… This attracts new players and pleases the developers – some fans who liked Paragon no longer enjoy it.
Numbers after the “Monolith” update have gone up
The Monolith update has provided Paragon with strong numbers. Epic Games published the figures from the last week on their Facebook page.
These data were recorded between December 5 and December 12:
- *Active players per day on the weekend: increased by 34.78% compared to the previous week on the old map.
- *Average number of players per week increased by 44% compared to the previous week on the old map.
- *Number of abandoned games decreased by 38.77% compared to the old map.
- *New players spent 43.93% more time playing than on the old map.
- *Existing players spent 12.86% more time in-game compared to the old map.
- *Number of player-versus-player matches increased by 33.29%.
- *Average playtime on the old map (39.6 min.) vs. Monolith (36.5 min.) has decreased by 7%.
- *1% of the longest games on the old map (70.3 min.) vs. Monolith (60.3 min.) has decreased by 14.22%.
The conclusion is clear: “Monolith” accelerates the game, making it more “mainstream-friendly.”
On the US site Polygon, the Executive Producer of the game is congratulated on the success.
Epic Games sees it behind this. They say they have succeeded in adapting the game. Constant adaptation is the norm today, everything is a “work in progress”, constantly evolving. After all, the game is still in beta.
Paragon now more action-packed, shorter, less complex
According to Polygon, Epic Games has succeeded in making the game shorter and more intense, hitting the spirit of the times.
There is now less downtime in the game, more action. Paragon has been simplified, made less complex. Previously, according to Polygon’s assessment, the action was not intense enough. For the author of the article, “the old Paragon” was merely a test run. The real, the true Paragon is now seen. And that is incredibly successful.
Not everyone is a fan – but many are
It sounds like everything is fantastic. But that is not the whole truth. Already on Facebook, under the section with the great numbers, one can read: We know that the changes are difficult for some community members.
In community forums like reddit, opinions are divided about “Monolith”, the new Paragon update.
Some veterans find the game now too fast, too small, too simple. One can easily overwhelm opponents. The game has lost much of its depth and has placed damage at all costs in the foreground. “Glascannon” builds that neglect everything but maximum damage are the norm.
But even in the forums, there are veterans who enjoy the new direction: They liked the “old” Paragon but also see advantages in the new version. There are intense battles, writes another.
Acceleration instead of deceleration – this seems to be a new trend
From the outside, it appears that Paragon was once intended as an alternative in the MOBA genre, deliberately aiming to take a different path: to slow down the MOBA genre. However, Paragon had little success as a “calmer game”. This success is only now materializing as the plan was changed and the game was made more action-packed – in line with the spirit of the times.
This trend has already occurred this year. Paladins only found greater success when the game became simpler and faster, aligning more closely with its “genre primus” Overwatch. Even then, some veterans complained that the game lost what made it special. The success vindicated Paladins – perhaps the same will happen with Paragon.
