Smite 2 Beta — Early Thoughts

Smite 2 is a niche game, not exactly a household name. I’ve been trying the open beta, and right now it feels better than ever. The road here hasn’t been smooth — the studio’s had layoffs and restructuring — but despite all that, the core of the game feels great. Sure, there are things I don’t like, but clearly they’re doing something right because the game has found its playerbase.

Like most MOBAs, Smite 2 has its weaknesses. The knowledge barrier is huge: you don’t just need to learn items, you need to learn what every single god can do. Conquest, the main competitive mode, has a steep barrier to entry. For me, that’s frustrating and fun at the same time — part of the charm, really. There are things I’d do differently, but the designers have their own vision.

My own knowledge is patchy. I don’t fully know what each god does or how to build them. A lot of guides are outdated, especially for less popular characters, which makes it hard to find useful info. My perspective is probably different from most players: I’ve got experience from other games, but a lot of it is out of date thanks to Smite 2’s constant reworks and tweaks. Most live-service games aim for the lowest common denominator; Smite feels tuned more for higher-end players, which is interesting.

The game has so many moving parts it can be hard to tell what’s actually good. But quality-of-life changes are helping. The item builder is solid (though I keep forgetting to save builds), and my muscle memory still needs work.

My rough role notes so far:

• Carries — attack speed, strength, penetration
• Mid — cooldown, intel, penetration
• Support — cooldown
• Solo — still figuring it out
• Jungle — also no idea yet

At my level, most people don’t seem to know how to teamfight. Early game, they’ll play cautiously, then throw themselves into dumb fights later. Maybe that’s an account-level thing. I’ve also noticed almost nobody wards — maybe that’s also a low-level issue.

Because Smite 2 is so niche, SEO is a nightmare. Finding up-to-date builds and strategy is tough. I know I’m trying to run before I can walk, but playing has given me a new appreciation for how frustrating it is to keep a live-service game updated. I get why studios want the easy “hop in, spend money” models, but you never really know which games will take off and which ones will flop.

One final gripe: I don’t like the shop system. On console, it makes finding items really awkward. I get why they designed it this way, but it still feels like a PC port, and that’s one of the reasons I don’t have more hours in Smite.

All that said, I’m having fun — even typed part of this without looking at the keyboard just for a laugh. My blogs are usually serious, but this one’s more about enjoying the process and figuring things out as I go. Next steps for me are improving my builds, learning strategy properly, and getting a handle on Conquest.

Final note: no Tyr yet, which is a shame because I loved that warrior. Also means no Tyr lists… grrr.