Not that I condone rage quitting, but between time and experience in a game, I'll take time anyday. That's just the reality of the situation. The best counter to rage quitters is to play with those you know; gaming friends who don't rage quit. Not everyone has them though.

Not true. Last night I played a 2v2 as UB against another UB who was very good. We lost, but I was able to see the other UB was considerably faster than me (so I've obviously overlooked an ability somewhere) and used completely different tactics. I was able to use those tactics later to much better effect.

They also played better as a team, co-ordinating their attacks, particularly late game, in a focussed hit and run tactic which was difficult to counter. If I had quit the game early because we were against better players I wouldn't have seen what they were doing and right now I would be no wiser.

What is true is that Demigod offers little more than direct observation of the opponent's movements. There's no quick references, but a slow and painful process of gaining experience. I hate that in a game.

Guild Wars, on the other hand, is a game that I gradually learned to master, and though I was being owned at the beginning, I knew what they were throwing at me. 

In Guild Wars, if you click on an opponent, you can see their health bar and an icon of the skill they are using at the moment. If you move your cursor over to that icon, you have a thorough description of what it does. A really quick way to really learn with the pros and how to counter what they''re using. Just see it for yourself:

I would love to see something like this implemented in Demigod.

Right now? Nothing but frustration for those with less free time or less inclined for this kind of game. That's one of the reasons why it's out of my hard drive at the moment. Demigod right now is for pros and for people that want to become pros. There's very little middle ground for causal players. Period.

Wow, so you had to stick around for 30 minutes to realise that the other UB was faster than you? You couldn't work that out by the fact he munched your face everytime as you tried to run away? Spending more than 5 seconds looking at each skill tree would solve that problem.

Again, if you are at the point of quitting, of course they played better than you, or you wouldn't have been losing. There is little to be learned from sitting around waiting for the inevitable. You know why they used hit and run? Because they'd push, and then they'd have to go and heal because you know, they didn't want to die. If the game is truely at a point where its gg, time to leave, then there is nothing left to learn. I'm not saying you leave after first blood or something stupid. The lack of information about what your own team is doing, let alone the enemy, and the lack of reliable replays means there is very little to be learned by making the game 10-15 minutes longer than it needs to be.

Sometimes if you're unlucky enough to get a teammate who is feeding the enemy over and over and over and over no matter what you say, it's hard to stay in the game.

I don't remember saying he was faster than me for 30 minutes... Initially I was faster - yes, I used the tree to find what I wanted - duh! But somewhere he gained a little extra, dunno what, I thought I'd got everything covered.

This wasn't a game which was over quickly, we put up a good fight for the first 40 minutes, then got overwhelmed right at the end. They got ahead on levels early - for some reason my team mate decided to camp on one of the flags for a while leaving me to fend off attacks - 1 v 2 is not a good match up. Maybe he went to make a cup of coffee or something, dunno...

If it wasn't over quickly, why would you rage quit? Of course you learn things from close games.

Exactly. But if you had quit early, you would never have known that is possible.

Consider this: as a complete n00b, I made a pro sweat to the last because I refused to give up.

Fight to the last breath! Never give up! Never surrender!

I might ragequit this thread

There's a difference between a n00b (just learning the game) and a n00b (complete dick). Sounds like you got the latter. Spoils the game for everyone. That's when a surrender button would be useful...

But it's the "n00b (just learning the game)" who should stick with it and learn.

The "n00b (complete dick)" should put the game back in the box and get a refund

You meant newb (learning the game) and noob (one who sucks), yes?

They're not the same, though.  Newb is people who are bad because they are "new" to the game. (Hence the spelling)  They may eventually be good, but they are bad because they don't have experience.

Noobs just suck.  They will never get good.  It's also a derogatory term.  N00b is "leet" spelling of the same.  "Nub" is just lazy.

I could care less if people quit.

I get pissed off when they all quit before the end, denying me my favor. That is the only issue.