Hey fellow Smite fans, it’s time for the second What’s Trending. As always, you can follow me on twitter @Macguffinstv and leave a comment below if you have an idea of the type of things I should focus on in this series.

The Reaper Tech Thanatos skin was announced with the 3.3 Patch Notes. From what I can tell it’s the most talked about skin out of the bunch that are planned, and for good reason. It resembles Thor’s progressive skin Ragnarok Force X, however it’s not a progressive skin that I know of. I love seeing this because it shows that the artists and designers over at HiRez are getting much more detailed with their work. If you went back and looked at a skin from the first few months of beta and compared it to this skin, it would be night and day. I feel much better spending my money on these higher quality skins than I did with say Zeus’s Stormbringer.

Professional Casters criticizing professional players. Isn’t that part of their job? A hot topic in the community was about a certain player getting offended by a certain casters critique of some of the things he did throughout a match recently. This has been a topic in the Smite community many times before, primarily with DMBrandon being at the forefront of community backlash, sometimes warranted, and sometimes not. Professional casters and players need to remember that they are in the spotlight of their respective communities, and whether it be by casters, other players, or fans, things about them will be nitpicked publicly.

There is a line that shouldn’t be crossed of course, as with most things, for example if a caster personally attacks a player publicly, that’s a huge problem. The critique should always be relevant to what is taking place and not veer off course, and players have to understand that they’re not perfect, and things they do wrong will be highlighted. It has to be tough though, all of the casters for Smite play the game themselves, and some of them at a high level, which means they have their own play styles, their own way of doing things. They must make sure to not let that interfere with their casting, for example by assuming what they would do is the only right way to do it. Bottom line is keep it professional.

Khaos of NME E-sports sent out a long blog explaining the situation that recently happened with his team. Below is a sample of the first paragraph.

“I’ve probably been one of the most transparent pros in smite, I don’t stir up drama and I try to be as nice and simple as possible. What I wanted most when I was grinding my way through challenger cup was to get to SPL and play in an environment that was hyper supportive and productive. I for one did not expect the amount of drama that exists in esports, despite knowing it happens all the time. I think to myself everyday I wish more people in Smite just got along and worked towards having fun at a high level, rather than simply looking good. Before Super Regionals, there was so much hate between players that spawned across all levels of play. It was just sickening to me because much of it was unwarranted. All I wanted was to sit at my desk and enjoy my time playing a video game. This type of drama ended for me in my high school days, and I thought I was rid of it. Fortunately after SR, the entire community seemed to be friendlier and closer, and I hope it only continues to go down this path, despite the rosterpocalypse.”

After reading his blog I have to agree that any environment that is flooded with drama will be toxic to all involved, even those who are the source of the drama. Personally, I hadn’t started gaming until after my time in the Marine Corps, and during high school I was busy trying to be something I wasn’t, a cool kid, I achieved that, but it was so filled with nonsense that it wasn’t worth it because of all the drama. I look back and wish I had embraced comics and video games like I do now. Drama will always be there in any organization, sport, or industry, and it’s up to you individually to put yourself in a position where it has little consequence for you.

From the sound of it, Khaos and Pain decided that some of their teammates weren’t taking things seriously and their attitudes caused tensions to rise to the point of breaking the team apart. I know personally I don’t like losing, but I’d like to think making it to second place at worlds would trump any thought of being upset at myself or my team. With all of that being said, I do hope we get both sides of the story and I respect Khaos for bringing his and Pains side to the public eye. So far all I have seen from Vetium is that NME sided with Pain and Khaos and basically kicked the rest of the team, but doesn’t go into detail or really defend himself and the others, so hopefully we get that in the near future. You can find the rest of Khaos’s post here http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1socjlm .

Reason Gaming has announced their return to competitive Smite. It’s been a long time since Reason Gaming has been involved in Smite, having been one of the more popular teams during the beta. Their new team is below. UPDATE: Reason Gaming has also announced their Smite Xbox One team, as seen below.

Mid: Fexez Xbox Mid: Ferleehz

ADC: Darzer Xbox ADC: Noziaa

Jungle: Alexi Xbox Jungle: Smifbonn

Support: Dirgius Xbox Support: Bramwell

Solo: Minos Xbox Solo: Kizau

Coach/Sub: Qiwen

Manager/Sub: Covertactician

Sub: MrCrunchy

Season 3 Relegations: NA Phase Two

— Team Flex vs. NielM: 3-1

— Problem Solved vs. Risky Behavior: 3-2

— Team Flex vs. Problem Solved: Yet to be played.

Season 3 Relegations: EU Phase Two

— Torpedo Gaming vs. Team Loyal: 3-0

— Team Leftovers vs. Team Astro: 3-0

— Team Leftovers vs. Torpedo Gaming: Yet to be played.

Allied made his debut as a Smite SPL caster, and fans were not disappointed. Ever since his guest casting throughout last season fans have approved of the knowledge that he brought to the program as a fellow professional player, however Allied has since retired from competitive participation and is now focusing on casting. He was able to keep pace with the matches and serve information to the fans that a caster who isn’t a former pro might not have. He seemed to have good chemistry with the other casters he worked with, and I for one look forward to more Allied casting in the future.