{"id":1589682,"date":"2026-05-27T08:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T08:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/YXAVCyRJvjLUmYaea5GXd4"},"modified":"2026-05-27T08:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T08:50:09","slug":"deadlock-new-midlane-objective-turned-games-into-such-a-mid-only-fiasco-that-it-only-lasted-one-weekend-though-valves-still-experimenting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/deadlock-new-midlane-objective-turned-games-into-such-a-mid-only-fiasco-that-it-only-lasted-one-weekend-though-valves-still-experimenting\/","title":{"rendered":"Deadlock new midlane objective turned games into such a mid-only fiasco that it only lasted one weekend, though Valve’s still experimenting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Deadlock<\/a> still technically isn’t out yet\u2014which means that Valve’s gonna experiment. As was the case with last Friday’s patch<\/a>, that made a sweeping list of changes to the urn, one of the objectives on the game’s map that helps encourage players to actually batch up for teamfights.<\/p>\n

Previously, the urn spawned on one side of the map and had a drop-off point at the other\u2014the carrier’s movement was slowed considerably, and when they dropped it off, the opposing team could shoot the soul orbs that flooded out of it to recoup some of their losses. <\/p>\n

Per that patch, though, a huge list of things changed\u2014the new urn required players to melee it to pick it up. The new urn went into a depositing phase (shorter if you’re behind, longer if you aren’t) where the opposing team could melee it to change it to reward their team instead. And crucially, the new urn was always deposited at the midlane.<\/p>\n

This had, uh, some consequences. <\/em>I myself played a few games over the weekend just to see how it felt, and the interesting back-and-forth macro I was used to had clearly and plainly transformed into a “once every few minutes, everyone meets up in midlane and fights to the death”. <\/p>\n

Plainly put, the new urn was not only too important to ignore, it also overrode all other objectives and made certain heroes that are good at team-fights\u2014Lash, Billy, Dynamo\u2014or who excel at area denial\u2014McGinnis and Graves\u2014far more powerful than they otherwise would be. <\/p>\n

It being on mid also meant that it was stacked on top of the midboss, meaning whoever won the urn fight would often be in a position to go and grab midboss too. Snowball central. It was a little obnoxious. <\/p>\n

Here’s a thread in the game’s subreddit<\/a> to back me up: “We were already in a very team-fighty meta where being in jungle was borderline worthless, and all they’ve done is exacerbated the issue and make late game carries more obsolete,” writes one player<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

“This is just everything that was already wrong with the urn turned up to 11, to the point where it just completely warps the game around itself,” writes another<\/a>, to which a third mid-hater replies<\/a>: “It’s so fast you HAVE to be there. It’s very easy to get the urn to blue and cap it \u2026 so much macro depth and decision making feels like it’s been tanked.”<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n