The Missed Opportunity – T3 Arena: From a promising launch to a Bot-filled battleground

T3 Arena is a fast-paced, multi-hero shooter mobile game by XD Inc. It offers an extensive hero selection and action elements. The game entered Early Access in March 2022 and was released globally later.

Once fantasized as the Overwatch on mobile, it had every opportunity to become a mainstream shooter title. In our review of T3 Arena, we stated the game’s strengths, providing it with well-deserved feedback. However, the initial charisma broke as soon as the game faced numerous issues, and it failed miserably. Thus, T3 Arena received a place on our missed opportunity column, where we explore the downfall of a game and what could have been better.

T3 Arena offers a ranked mode without any players

Funny but true that the game doesn’t have enough players to run the matchmaking system smoothly. Some new players even climbed up to the higher ranks so quickly; it’s no surprise the servers are filled with bots.

And how do I know that? Well, I checked myself. I used to play the game when it was released for the first time. I spent quite a few hours playing it, and I was amazed. Nevertheless, the game wasn’t heard of since then, and it influenced me to learn about its current state. So I installed it again, only to find all the said statements were true.

But what’s fun and sad for the game at the same time is that ranked mode couldn’t give any opponents in higher-ranked matches. It is because there are no players. Some said they have waited over 45 minutes for a single match, and then the next day, 15 minutes with no matches at all.

There were ping differences across regions. Being a worldwide playable title, a game must have servers to bind the players and keep them on a similar ping. It matters very much in keeping the competition healthy. However, the game failed again to provide this.

One of the biggest concerns of the game was not marketing the incoming updates, like seasons, heroes, sneak peeks, trailers, etc. The game didn’t promote it to the players, and this is another reason the player base eventually decreased.

Developers showed an unwarranted negligence with their creation

T3 Arena has been dealing with several problems since its release. However, the moderators on the official communities tried to prove their points by saying the game is still playable, only to be directly denied by some. Thus, it proves another point that the game wasn’t performing well enough to grab the attention it needed to survive.

Things started getting confused for the players after a few months of its release. The game was acting as a P2W title, where if you upgraded one hero, you would only get stuck with it. It didn’t leave any space for the F2P players, so each time they went for another hero, they couldn’t scale as well with the others, as the game gave nothing for the next heroes.

Players also claimed that some of the best characters are behind a paywall of a minimum of $200. Some spent more to get the overpowered characters. This created an imbalance between the F2P and P2W. Claims were also made against the black rumble boxes, which players used to receive skills and upgrades for their heroes.

Some players spent a lot on those boxes but kept getting nothing at all, creating higher frustration in the community. Besides, more issues were turning out to be bigger problems, hampering the attention from players to the game. The spectator mode was abused miserably to cheat. Players were able to watch their opponents in real-time in a PvP fighting game, destroying the key pillar of the mode’s characteristics.

Issues grasped the title tightly and only upscaled by far

By far, you know that the game was dealing with several issues. Rank boosting was one of the core concerns, along with the title, to was allegedly focused only on esports. By boosting their ranks, players were able to compete in tournaments. Players also claimed that some used boost, throw, or even team up with opponents to get a tournament. All of it was unnoticed or ignored by the developers.

Though the devs tried protecting the matchmaking system by introducing updates, they failed to have an impact on cheating. The game also pooled most of its resources towards esports, so regular players who came to enjoy the game were disappointed.

A more recent incident has also brought up the title’s negligence in caring for its players. The official Discord server of T3 Arena was attacked by some scammers, and they hacked multiple player accounts to take control of their personal computers.

All of it was done through the account of a moderator that was hacked and used to paste a link that asked users to reverify their accounts. The misery of the community mods was once again proved by a comment made by one user. It said that this hacking was the most exciting thing that has happened to the Discord community so far!

The most surprising thing is that T3 Arena, which once peaked at almost $2 million a month, now earns less than $50k per month, according to AppMagic data. The game’s lifetime earning is capped at a bit over $15 million, but for sure, the glory days are over for T3 Arena.

T3 Arena could be a game-changer, but it missed each opportunity to become one

Why are we saying that? The game features both 3v3 and 5v5 PvP modes that you can enjoy. So, it gives a set of choices for you to choose the size of your squads. This unconventional move was brilliant and could have bloomed the esports potential of the game.

But now players are leaving, bots are overwhelming the scenes, and the lack of events, season updates, and characters has tightened the neck of T3 Arena, and it barely breathes now. The developers also seem to leave the title, at least, we know by their actions so far. It doesn’t always have to be an “official” ending for a game, but sometimes the actions from the caregivers prove the end.

An originally 3v3-focused title, which later changed to a 5v5, couldn’t keep surprising the fanbase. Lack of advertisement, resources, care, updates, and imbalance in the ranked mode, hero acquisition, etc., have taken the game to a “no return” phase. After all, T3 Arena is now an established missed opportunity in the mobile gaming scene.

Read our other missed opportunity articles:

• The Missed Opportunity – Farlight 84
• The Missed Opportunity – Battlefield Mobile
• The Missed Opportunity – New State Mobile
• The Missed Opportunity – Everdale: Two Quiet Goodbyes
• The Missed Opportunity – Miraibo GO and Its Unrealized Potential

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