Dear Low Priority Matches...

My time in low priority in Dota 2 was a deeply educational experience. Not in the boring school way. In the spiritual, character building, question your life choices kind of way.

At first I thought low priority was a punishment. How naive of me. It is actually a carefully designed social experiment where ten slightly unstable people are placed in a digital arena and asked to cooperate. The results are inspiring. Mostly inspiring in the sense that you begin to understand why ancient philosophers liked living alone.

Every match felt special. Teammates picked heroes they had clearly met five seconds earlier. Someone always announced they were playing their “best role” right before going 0 and 12. Another person typed motivational speeches in all chat while our Ancient quietly lost the will to live.

Communication was beautiful too. Some players spoke only in pings. Others wrote full novels explaining why everything was someone else's fault. I personally discovered new and creative spellings of my own name, none of which were correct.

The best part was the teamwork. By teamwork I mean five people pursuing five different hobbies on the same map. One farming jungle forever. One fighting everyone. One disconnecting. One arguing. And me staring at the screen wondering which life decision led here.

But in the end low priority made me stronger. Wiser. Slightly more suspicious of humanity. When I finally escaped, normal matchmaking felt like a luxury resort. People still argued of course. But now at least half of them wanted to win, which honestly felt excessive.

So yes, low priority was unforgettable. I would not trade the experience for anything.

Except maybe normal teammates.