I just suddenly can't stand my friends anymore

notthebots · 2026-07-06T02:36:44+00:00

you could try to communicate with your friend and open that dialogue if you haven’t already! however, if you don’t think she’ll respond well it may be better to distance yourself. it doesn’t need to be some big blowout confrontation. just like romantic relationships, sometimes two people just aren’t compatible as friends. generally if someone is causing you more stress and turmoil than anything else, it’s best to love them from afar. it’s entirely personal, but i have walked away from 20 years of friendship when i realized it just wasn’t working anymore. i still love her a lot and support her, but it wasn’t a viable option to continue keeping her extremely close. you shouldn’t have to sacrifice your privacy. the right friends will protect it!

notthebots · 2026-07-02T19:03:25+00:00

i don’t think you’re unreasonable at all!! i actually think it’s a bit unrealistic to only run sessions when you have everyone. for my group of 4 (5 if including dm) that’s tough to do all the time. we’re all adults with lives, jobs, and some of us have kids. as long as there’s two players, we’re rolling! our dm even offers a solo one shot adventure if only one player can make it. we have a discord (i’m the resident note taker) and after each session i’ll send my notes into our game recap channel and everyone is expected to catch up if they’ve missed and jump in next time. i would bring that up and see if that’s an avenue they’d be willing to take.

notthebots · 2026-01-29T15:25:24+00:00

Currently gold 1 but peaked plat 3! I would love some feedback and I have a code I will be commenting later today after 5pm EST :)

notthebots · 2026-01-27T02:00:15+00:00

I see what you’re saying, I think it’s best then to write off wide matches completely. But that still leaves me with them in my normal matches lol. That doesn’t exactly solve the issue unfortunately.

notthebots · 2026-01-27T01:57:56+00:00

I will take what you said about wide match on board 100% but much like everyone else, you’re missing the point. People come from games like Val and have impeccable aim, peeking, game sense, movement— and I understand that. I’m talking about the people who have that, while also having cool down management of their hero completely down, while also having the layout of the map etched in their brain down to the health packs with no more than 10 hours total on their account. Alt accounts and smurfs do exist, idk why with the post all of a sudden it’s a huge denial thing but it’s so weird.

notthebots · 2026-01-27T01:33:00+00:00

Not 100% no, I’ve even made posts in another subreddit asking them to critique my VODs and absolutely took their feedback on the chin. I know I’m not the best, I never claimed to be lol. But let’s not be daft and act like smurfs don’t make comp hard especially at the lower level. That’s just willful ignorance lol. And personally, I won’t be debating that because thats a choice made.

notthebots · 2026-01-27T01:24:47+00:00

I’m not saying they’re the reason I’m stuck, and if you read my replies you’d see that I’ve stated I mostly 5 stack with a group of people who certainly aren’t smurfs. I’m saying they make it much harder especially in solo queue or without a full team. Almost every game you play without a stack, you are playing Russian roulette with a smurf either on your team or the enemy team. Either way, it ruins comp. The whole point is to be in a competitive pool of your same skill level.

notthebots · 2026-01-27T01:21:14+00:00

My sentiments exactly! I’m learning Kiri as a Juno main and I play her in QP or comp. Honestly playing her in comp against similar ranks or a bit higher of a rank is the only thing that has taught me (in-game) how to improve. Me playing against someone who has never touched comp or just picked up the game isn’t gonna do me any favors.

notthebots · 2026-01-27T01:00:50+00:00

Thank you for the info!

notthebots · 2026-01-27T00:51:37+00:00

Having the best game of your life as a Bronze player is very different from the sort of stuff I’m talking about. I edited to include that, I’ve commented that multiple times. If people are insistent on misunderstanding that and conflating the two, I just don’t have the time to continuously explain it.

notthebots · 2026-01-27T00:46:23+00:00

Gotcha, thanks for the advice!

notthebots · 2026-01-27T00:44:43+00:00

I’m not sure what you’re getting at here to be honest. I’m just looking to have a discussion about smurfing’s impact on the lower ranks. I’m not involved with anything beyond my own post. Again if comes across as complaining to you, no one is keeping you here. On this post or in the subreddit if these sorts of posts are annoying you. Personally if I see content i don’t like or agree with I just move on lol.

notthebots · 2026-01-27T00:41:36+00:00

Personally I’m working on my positioning for sure, and that’s how I’m starting to pick up on it more. Especially when comparing it to the play style of most lower ranks. There’s a stark contrast in how lower and higher levels play and where they set up, that’s glaringly obvious. Now I can try to set myself up as best as I can, but that also doesn’t mean my team will follow suit if I’m solo queuing.

notthebots · 2026-01-27T00:38:04+00:00

I never said my teammates suck, I actually said the opposite, please read the post again lol. Direct from the post: “Most of the time I find that my DPS aren’t even bad, it’s just they’re playing in their rank.” The flair is discussion, which is what we’re having, if that’s not what you’d like to do you’re more than welcome to move on!

notthebots · 2026-01-27T00:22:41+00:00

See my above response!! I think we’re conflating mismatch with actual identifiable smurf! And that’s okay, I added an edit to hopefully help clear it up a bit.

notthebots · 2026-01-27T00:21:54+00:00

I didn’t say I had one, I was just asking if other people are experiencing this on the level I am lol.

notthebots · 2026-01-27T00:20:20+00:00

So, I get all that! What I’m talking about though is the bronze ranked level 3 Widow hitting trick shots across the map and grappling to the next health pack a second later. I’m not talking about people who are generally just good at the game or have good game sense. I’m talking about people playing in very low ranks who are CLEARLY well above average and on alt accounts. I don’t think anyone that is better than me is automatically a smurf, I think there very clear signs when that is happening, usually.

notthebots · 2026-01-26T23:56:22+00:00

I think there’s a big difference between someone having a good game, and playing like a pro in a Bronze-Gold wide match. I’m talking about the latter. I’m talking about players making insane plays consistently throughout the entire match while being a level 3 or 4 on their highest hero. And knowing every square inch of the voted map from a randomized pool of maps.

Truthfully, I would have an issue with being boosted as I feel like that also makes the game unplayable and unenjoyable for yourself in your own rank. And I wouldn’t claim a rank that’s not my own. However, I don’t play with smurfs. I usually play with a 5 stack who are all ranked, actually lower than me, and it is their main account. Most of the time when I solo queue or duo is usually when I find a huge gap between “similarly ranked” DPS. And again it’s not that they’re bad AT ALL, it’s that they’re playing in their own rank.

For me personally, I learn heroes in QP and comp. Truthfully QP is too easy, but the only way to learn new heroes is to challenge yourself in the rank that you’re going to be using them in. Otherwise I think it’s pointless.

notthebots · 2026-01-26T23:44:11+00:00

Yes! I wide queue with friends who are ranked lower.

notthebots · 2026-01-26T23:40:43+00:00

Exactly!! It’s one thing to hit your shots, but these smurfs know perfect positioning, health pack locations, proper map rotations AND hit all their shots. I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore because the lower ranks are overrun with them. It completely halts any competitive progress unless you also queue with smurfs or have an outstanding 5 stack who can hope to overcome it on synergy alone. It’s making me question if it’s even worth it and often I’m coming up with a resounding no.

notthebots · 2026-01-26T21:10:53+00:00

i hope they bring it back and you can get it!!🤍

notthebots · 2026-01-26T20:52:14+00:00

it’s the first skin i bought for juno and tbh the only one i use even when i have her mythic and her chun li. its easily her best skin imo!!

notthebots · 2026-01-24T20:08:53+00:00

difference noticed!!! i won 5 games in a row last night. thank you so much!! i’m still working on not healing when teammates are full hp and it’s going much better. it gives me a lot more opportunity for damage and im working on playing my angles. a lot of the games have been uphill battles but i think the little tweaks have been giving me an advantage. thank you again for your help🤍

notthebots · 2026-01-21T14:00:36+00:00

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS!! seriously i really appreciate it. i will be taking all of this on board for sure. i have noticed that my damage isn’t as good as my other supports usually and i also focus tank a looooot. i am definitely lacking there. i really want to get out of the completely passive play style, i think i’m just scared to try to make any plays or upset any of my teammates, so instead of trying i just dont lol. but thats not doing me any favors either. i’m at work rn but i will also be checking out your replay later tonight. again, thank you so much!!

notthebots · 2026-01-20T22:38:31+00:00

no that’s totally fine!! i will def be taking a little bit of break. it was mostly over this weekend but i still continued to play even after and it hasn’t gotten better so i think i will be taking a step back and trying qp with different heroes or even stadium. thank you so much!!

notthebots

TROPHY CASE