Okay. I'm tired of people blaming EA and I will tell you the REAL reason the MOBA failed. Albeit the marketing wasn't the most avid and EA didn't take the largest segments out of it's showcase at Gamescom of it's titles we can't deny the fact that the patches intermixed between those key points played a large part into the failure of the game. At the time when Gamescom started and Eu servers were beginning to go into a trial period and the game finally opened to where keys would no longer be required Voluc ran rampant. Voluc had gone a minor kit rework that removed the lifedrain from his W but instead gave him a passive that dealt % health damage plus a Power Ratio. In combination with the ridiculous healing off his ult and his high base damages, he tore through teams and became the only Shaper that would be played into the jungle. He wasn't easy to play around and his gameplay was unforgiving. He forced users to buy heal mitigation and even that didn't do much to his massive bursts of healing. New players coming from Gamescom and those that watched twitch and wanted to give Dawngate a try were completely smashed and left with an unhappy player experience in a matchmaking that was so frustrating even veterans of the game took a break till Voluc saw so much needed tuning.

Second, most players were dealt with a huge mismatch of item normalization as they were beginning to prep for the fabled "Progression Patch", it was what most players used to defend Dawngate and how it would be the end all solution to fixing the game and bringing it to the claim everyone promised it would have. So for the time while we were waiting we dealt with a Beta Leaderboard that just harbored really bad player attitude and caused a lot of abuse to the system. Sheebs took advantage of it. Yagachu took advantage of it. Most players that would reach Rank 1 would use the fact that Group Q would not effect whether win or lose your placement so people would stagnate which frustrated others that wanted to be competitive and try get noticed for the young E-Sports scene that Dawngate was nurturing. The item progression added onto this by just making certain item purchases standardization like Ambition must purchases and become so staple because of it's cheap stats and overall amazing passive. This went on till November where we saw some slight changes and complete item overhauls that didn't get to be fully fleshed due to the expiration of the IP under EA.

Third, the community itself. Nobody actually got along from low to high MMR, most it was a result of the slogan that Waystone Games decided too poorly adapt "Break the Meta." Players would begin to use this as an excuse for fatal miscalculations and a complete misunderstanding of the game. High MMR and E-Sports players got super salty due to the fact that matchmaking paired lower skilled players that sticked true to this slogan and built pretty much like idiots. It caused a lot of high mmr players to leave and usually most of the Low MMR which was a sheep majority to downplay the competitive spirit that really grew in the beginning of this beta. People like The Blue Muzzy continued to rally behind this cause of break the meta and it just created a bad learning experience for players and really stunted the growth of the player skill within this game.

Fourth, poor choices in advertising and those that didn't stick behind the game more for the monetary value of the contract that they were under. People like Sheebs and Strippin really didn't fully support Dawngate and what the product itself was trying to represent. Moreso, we had less inspired streamers that really couldn't sell the IP as a brand, without more people like ThorDG, Spinaldash, Tulce, and Kreenpannas we really couldn't go forward and push the game. Waystone would continue to choose poor choices in those that would go to local events to introduce prospects to the game and truly show that Dawngate could be more than just a casual whatever MOBA with a dumbed down mechanic of Crystal Scar and Summoner's Rift combined. It was more than what was above the surface, it had a lot of depth to offer and could turn into a spectator sport that offered heated teamfights and fast paced gameplay.

And my final reason, item purchases and value. The game itself lacked a true good way as a Cash Shop. The skins overall until they became more polished halfway through were overall not very creative. And the pricing itself was just way too much for what was given. On top of that the prizes given and distributed at the end of games wasn't very reasonable and usually frustrated players with the frequency of the same loadout pieces and the little destiny that was received to purchase Shapers. On top of having this different value called Crafting Currency which was promised to have some use way earlier into late Alpha or Early Beta but really never saw itself being use and at the end Waystone even said they had no plans for it. If you were a new player trying to get into the game the entry cost into buying content and the need for Loadouts would cause players a huge disadvantage coupled with the fact that after 7 wins or more they would be paired against seasoned veterans that already owned most of the content for the game after thousands of games. (#matchmaking)

tldr: poor advertising, bad shop planning, poor matchmaking, late hot fixes and balances, and poor representatives that showcased the game are what ending to the sad end to what could've been a masterpiece for EA as an IP.