Need for Speed World: Go Speed Proxzor Go!

By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Need for Speed is by far the most known racing video game franchise in human history and most likely anyone who considers themselves a racing fan has played one game of the series before. This game has been running for a while now, and I decided to try this game to see if it lives up to its glorious popular franchise. There aren’t many racing MMORPGs currently on the market and thus Electronic Arts really found an untapped niche to dominate with Need for Speed World.

 

 

After loading up the game it is time to make your driver! There aren’t many possibilities to tweak your driver however because the only decision that you have to make is which one of the cars you can afford and want to start off with.  As expected, the starting vehicles are ugly, have low stats, and more or less made me cringe. Thankfully I found a Mitsubishi. I was basically making a choice between the 2 most expensive starting cars because the rest aren’t worth your cash. As a wise man once said to me, “Never save money on something that you will use often.”

 

My second choice was the Nissan, a beautiful looking car which was very popular in the 90’s.

When I got into the world with my beautiful looking Mitsubishi I started off with the tutorial race. In this race you will learn the mechanics off the game which is fairly simple. Like any other racing game you will use the WASD keys to accelerate and steer. The spacebar is used as the handbrake however donuts are nearly impossible to pull off with the control scheme. I’m such a child sometimes when it comes to driving games so this was the first thing I checked. I’m like one of the guys that just rams you for fun just to see you roll over or crash into a wall in a burning ball of flame, costing you the game. And of course in the tutorial this style worked wonders as my fellow computer racers weren’t even within my rear view mirrors 10 seconds after the starting line.

 

 

After the tutorial is completed you spawn in the world real overworld. Because this game is an open world you will see all the other drivers riding around the city or just chilling at a random starting location or finish. The game also supports single player races that put you up versus the computer so if you have trouble finding an opponent you can always choose to just start your race so you only have to wait as long as you’re willing to. I always found someone to race with however so I haven’t used this function and I’d recommend neither should you. You’ll be missing out on ramming real people into fiery death balls after all! In my second race I was introduced to four new features that make the game much more challenging and fun. The main feature that caught my attention though was usable skills. These skills are involve awesome maneuvers to irritate and crash your opponents as well as nitro boosts to get you back in the race should you fall behind.

 

 

One of my gripes in this game is the lack of language based server segregation. My server was filled with Portuguese speakers that I couldn’t speak with so that kind of had me feeling left out of some of the action. However this small gripe is easily overshadowed by how important skill is in this game. I won all my matches quite easily, even against much higher level players with better cars. Although I couldn’t match their speed on the straightaways, with proper use of skills and aggressive driving you can usually force them to back off.

 

 

One great example is using the car magnet skill when a foe is speeding ahead by driving on the wrong side of the road. After targeting a foe with this skill, all NPC controlled vehicles will merge towards the driver, almost certainly causing them to crash unless they have some mad skills. To make it fair to both players the person which is on the lead cannot use this so the other player hasn’t got a chance to get back into the race which in my opinion is quite fair.

 

 

Graphics

This game is really beautiful and is definitely above the norm in F2P Online racing games. The following specifications are needed to play this beauty of a racing game:

 

Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz/Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz with at least Windows XP installed.

1GB of RAM (Windows XP) 2GB of RAM(Windows Vista/7)

NVIDIA Geforce 6800, ATI Radeon X1300, or Intel GMA 950 that is compatible with DirectX 9.0c

4GB of free space

 

 

If you have no idea whatsoever what in the world these specifications means, and they all look like weird hieroglyphs to you then I’d say everyone with a computer that has been purchased in the last 5 to 6 years is easily able to play this game without any trouble.

 

 

Conclusion

Electronic Arts really made one hell of a game, this title really lives up to the Need for Speed franchise and the developers should be proud of their creation. Not only is this game really beautiful, the game mechanics are really top notch as well. I had a lot of fun playing this game but unfortunately the lack of English speaking players on the EU server made me feel like a lone rider. Nevertheless this game is really something fun to play if you are bored or you’re simply looking for a game to play with friends. Because of all the fun features this game can keep you quite busy for hours. I spent my last 30 minutes reviewing this game by driving around with no rubber on my tires left and chased by a gazillion police cars.

Meta’s Verse: City of Heroes Winter Event 2011

By Meticulous Meta, OnRPG Paragon Reporter

 

 

Winter has come. The ski chalet is open, hordes of snow creatures torment the city and someone has kidnapped baby new year! Sounds like a pretty average winter in Paragon City actually. Every year always brings new events to the holiday festivities in City of Heroes. However this year the additions were noticeably smaller. Two badges, a new temporary power and a non combat are only the beginning.

 

 

 

Winter has been an important time in City of Heroes since the beginning in 2004. In the beginning there were presents scattered through the city. What was inside each gift depended on if you had been naughty or nice. The next year introduced the festive jet pack and Operation Holiday Cheer and Operation Scrooge, essentially an attempt to ruin the festivities and the retaliation to save them. 2006 brought what is easily the most popular part of the winter event, the ski chalet in Pocket D. Inside Father Time is asking for your help in rescuing Baby New Year (the ugliest baby ever).

 

 

In 2007 we got candy canes to buy things with and the ability to ski the slopes while timed. 2008 gave us the luge which is a challenge just to complete thanks to high speeds and edges that are too close for comfort. With 2009 came access to the Lord Winter’s realm where heroes and villains team up to fight against the Lord Winter himself. This was accessed by finding large presents throughout the city and waiting for the timer to reach zero so you could join the invasion force. Last year we met Lady Winter who, I have to say is far too good looking for the giant snowbeast Lord Winter. Assuming they’re together that is.

 

 

So that’s the past. And looking back, we the players got spoiled with having something big come out for several years in a row. The slight disappointment that came when I first read the patch notes has gone and now I’m casually enjoying the event as I have for many years now. With all the other amazing things that have come out this year it really was no surprise that the winter event additions would be small.

 

 

 

Instant Snowstorm Temporary Power – This is a purely cosmetic power that surrounds you and your allies in a wonderful snow storm. Each charge only lasts 10 minutes and you can only have 3 charges at a time. It is the closest thing to actual weather you can get in City of Heroes and something I would happily pay to be able to have all the time. As it is obtained through candy canes or opening presents you can only get it this time of year. Which means in July everyone will want them, because who doesn’t want snow in July?

 

 

Duplicating Gift – The gift that keeps on giving. These gifts come from presents, being bought with candy canes or getting one from another player. What do they do exactly? Just make more of themselves. Pass the gift on to someone else and receive the Gift Which Keeps Giving badge. Receive the gift and get the Gift Getter badge. This was likened to a chain letter and seems to be only mildly popular. Mostly with those who want the badges and little interest beyond that.

 

 

Lord Winter’s Realm LFG Tool – This year instead of accessing the Lord Winter’s Realm via presents, which often resulted in failed attempts at defeating Lord Winter due to low numbers, the dev team has given us access to the Realm via the Looking For Group tool. With this tool you can be anywhere in Paragon City or the Isles and get on a Realm run. This makes the likelihood of failure much lower and hopefully makes it much more popular.

 

 

 

The newest change this year is the introduction of the Paragon Market. And so for the first time we are able to buy permanent winter related items; the first of these items is the Snow Beast. It looks like he was made using the MVAS model from the Vanguard pack. He is smaller than the snowbeasts we’re used to seeing in the game and has the ability to fly. This adorable non combat pet is really just too cute to pass up. A second item will soon be released into the market but as of now no further details are known.

 

 

 

The winter event is going on from now until January 3rd, 2012. There is something for everyone in this event. Well, unless you hate the cold. Then I guess you should take a vacation to somewhere warmer.

 

 

Meta’s Verse is written by Meticulous Meta who is in the chalet enjoying an eggnog while watching catgirls curl up by the fire.

Star Wars The Old Republic: PvP

By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor) OnRPG Journalist

 

If you’re reading this today it likely means you’re stuck at work and counting down the minutes till you can go home and hop into Star Wars The Old Republic. So allow me to help pass the time and share my thoughts on the recent PvP and warzone updates brought into the game leading up to launch.

 

 

Warzones have been seen before in a lot of MMOs and are quite popular among the PvP fanbose. Bioware added its own magic touch to this game feature to create warzones unique to Star Wars. There are currently three warzones that have been seen and played during the last betas. These three warzones all had some uniquely made concept, and each had its own following of fans. I’ll be going over the pros and cons of all three but first a small tid bit of info. To make things fair every player that joins a warzone is matched to the highest level so that their stats are on par with each other. They however lack the skills of a higher level so they still have a little disadvantage so to speak.

 

 

Voidstar

In this warzone both sides have to fight their way through in a race against time. You will have to access the ship’s data core while the other side tries to defend the ship and prevent the other side from reaching the data core. The battle takes place on a lost ship which has supposedly some sort of schematics to a powerful weapon that both sides want. Now that the long lost ship has been rediscovered both sides are racing to the depths of space to take control of the vessel and access the secrets stored in its memory banks. The fight takes place in the ship and you will have to break in through different sections of the ship in order to steal the secret schematics of the powerful weapon. While you are doing this however, the defending side will try to prevent you from taking these schematics and thoughtful team play has to come from both sides in other to emerge victorious. I personally found this the least favorite warzone because of the intense pressure placed on each member of the team. Also if one team had higher level characters, it really created an imbalanced match-up, despite the game’s power balancing in PvP.

 

 

Huttball

Huttball is by far my favorite warzone in SWTOR as well as most of the forum community. The concept is simple capture-the-flag mechanics as seen in many MMOs. However, Bioware added a nice touch to it by changing the flag to a ball. In essence it’s American football.. in space! Two teams meet inside the deadly arena also known as The Pit. In the pit players will have to take control of the ball which appears in the center of the map. If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on the ball, you must survive the barrage of foes and try to get the ball into the enemy team’s goal. The goal line is very close to the opponents spawning area so it will be hard taking the ball to the other side without any team work. Team tactics are far more important in this mode than any of the others so be sure to communicate with your allies. Throughout the level there are traps scattered on the map that will help you push enemies away or damage them. You can also use objects and ramps as launching pads to dodge and juke your enemies. In essence, the uniquely designed map can become your best friend or worst nightmare. At the end of the game the team with the most points wins and is rewarded with a lot of coin and experience.

 

 

Alderaan

The Alderaan warzone has a concept which is also quite known in the MMO scene and is fairly simple to understand. This Warzone takes place on an iconic world and players have to take a troop transport to get to the battlefield. In this warzone you will have to take control of certain laser turrets that are spread across the battlefield. Once one team has captured all the laser turrets then the enemy’s transport is knocked out of the sky, ending the match. There are three turrets total and tough strategic decisions must be made through the match of who to use as defense and who to send on assault missions. This Warzone is one of the hardest in my opinion and often stretches out into some pretty intense battles. Once again communication is key to your success.

 

 

Outside of the warzones there is also World PVP that can keep you occupied in certain areas. It will however totally depend on what server you are playing. There are PvP servers and PvE servers so that every player gets their choice to either experience a realistic warring world, or pick flowers without getting disturbed. I personally am a big fan of PvP servers so I will roll my Dark Sith there.

 

 

Conclusion

It’s been a pleasure hyping this game over the past few months. I personally am a big fan of this game and a big fan of its various PvP modes. The Warzones shows us the caliber of Bioware’s studio, and I expect to see plenty more amazing warzones in the future. Look forward to further coverage of Star Wars from me as I intend to stick around with this game for quite some time.

League of Legends: You’re a wizard, Ahri!

By Jason Harper (Hhean), OnRPG MOBA Reporter

 

 

 

Welcome summoners, to the patch v1.0.0.130 article for League of Legends, the game that I’ve now been writing about for nearly a full year here at OnRPG. This patch includes new runes, a nerfed Warmog’s Armour, an updated champion page UI and Ahri, The Nine Tails Fox.

 

 

Ahri is a highly mobile mage, focused on luring enemies close to her in order to deal good amounts of sustained damage. She is an easy character to play for a primarily skillshot based character, acting as a very good gateway character for someone trying to get to grips with skillshots for the first time, or someone who likes their skillshots to be lacking much risk. Her playstyle is somewhere between Ezreal and Sivir, which works out very interesting when she’s a mage and neither of those characters are. For that reason, she also might make a good bridge for a ranged carry player looking to learn a mage.

 

 

What she isn’t is an assassin. She has very few single target abilities, and most of her damage is quite sustained rather than bursty. Don’t listen to everything the champion spotlights tell you, and for the love of all that’s holy, don’t level Parrrley last on Gangplank.

 

 

 

Most of Ahri’s offense revolves around Orb of Deception [Q], a short but wide skillshot that deals magic damage as it moves away from her, but true damage as it returns. As with Sivir’s Boomerang Blade, the best way to make use of this on its own is to hit enemies just short of the ability’s maximum range, so when they’re tagged with the first hit, the second comes almost instantly after.

 

 

Of course, if you’re aiming to thread the spell into the rest of her kit, you’re find her synergistic abilities let her perform a simple combo. As an enemy moves in a predictable manner, throw out a Charm [E]. Bear in mind this is a skillshot that can hit minions, so be careful where you’re firing it, as enemies can easily make use of minion waves or jungle creeps to shield against the shot. While they walk towards you, trigger Fox Fire [W], which will land three hits on the nearest enemies, focusing heavily on the poor soul you just dragged towards you. While they’re unable to avoid it, finish with the Orb of Deception as the brutal icing on a cake of pain.

 

The following is a special note on fighting against Ahri, which you will have to do every match into the next week. When she’s heading in for the kill, Her most damaging attack by far is the second hit on an Orb of Deception, so avoid this at all costs. When close to you, an easy way of avoiding this damage is to simply dash through Ahri herself, allowing the Orb to return to her before it reaches her, and giving her less time to compensate by moving with her ultimate. Another trick for characters that have such abilities is to fling Ahri over your shoulder towards her Orb, giving her no chance to compensate, and wasting her Orb completely. What won’t work is stunning or even killing her. The Orb will still return, regardless of the state of Ahri, so don’t think you can finish her off before the orb gets back. Just get out of the way.

 

 

Her ultimate isn’t a necessary component of her skill combos, as is the case with other mages, but more of a positional tool and slight damage enhancement. She’s able to be very mobile for a short period of time, getting access to three dashes over ten seconds, but due to the cooldown of the ability, this should be used with caution. The obvious two uses of the ability are escape and chasing. Either use the dashes to cover a lot of ground quickly, or ulti to juke away from foes and over thin walls. Another trick though is using the ultimate to buy time for her cooldowns, rushing forward, letting off her spells and then dashing away or around enemies to buy time for a second combo. In extreme circumstances it can be used to rapidly adjust where a returning Orb is heading, letting it curve through the air to hit its intended target. The amount of damage from the projectiles fired from the ultimate are pretty minimal, and shouldn’t be relied on for anything but finishing off enemies already on their last legs.

 

 

One of thing of importance is that all of her skillshots don’t seem to have variable distances, and all travel a set range. This makes quick casting on her very easy, since you won’t accidentally shorten your own range by having your cursor in the wrong place. However, this also makes her ranges very predictable. Against skilled enemies though, your predictable range will allow them to preempt any attacks you make as you get to the ideal range. Be aware of this, and compensate accordingly, either by varying when you attack, or trying to guess which way they’ll move.

 

 

Take a level in Orb of Deception first, for early game poke and farm. Max it out first, since its her main damaging ability. Level two is time for Charm, as it might land you a kill if the enemy are being incredibly thick, or save you from a jungle gank. Max it second, so you get a good, long duration out of it. Fox Fire should be grabbed at level 4 and maxed out last. It mostly just an added bit of damage you get when people stray too close. In Dominion, don’t bother leveling Fox Fire with the free three levels, instead take it at level 4, which you will inevitably get at the start of the fight at the windmill.

 

 

For items, start with boots and three health potions. In Dominion, I find the stock Prospector’s Ring, boots, and potions set up works well. Stack Doran’s Rings for an early game advantage in Summoner’s Rift. Two or three is good, depending on how you’re doing. Get a Hextech Revolver next. While it isn’t the best item to go for on many casters, on Ahri it is a very good item when combined with her Orb of Deception and her passive, letting her get health at a decent rate. This, combined with a elder lizard buff will allow her to be near impossible to remove from a lane. Now that you can farm and gank safely, look to getting her more damaging AP items. Rylai’s Crystal Sceptre is a great choice against bruisers, and is near a necessity on Dominion. Rabadon’s Deathcap is the standard damage enhancer for all mages everywhere. Rod of Ages isn’t a terrible situational pick on her, but should be used only when you’re already dominating your lane, and think that the Doran’s Rings aren’t needed, and a Catalyst Of The Protector is better suited for your current situation. While rushing the Hextech Revolver is a good plan, you don’t need to be in any rush to convert it to a Will of the Ancients.

 

 

Run with a stock 21/0/9 mage focused mastery for summoner’s rift, aiming for cooldowns, magic penetration and ability power. On Dominion you’re better suited to a 21/9/0 page, because you’re rarely going to run into mana issues on that game type. I’ve been making use of magic penetration marks, mana regeneration seals, ability power per level glyphs (cooldown reduction is also a good choice in this slot, as can be flat magic resistance when going mid), and ability power quintessences. While I haven’t made use of the new runes myself yet, getting hold of the new spell vamp quintessences may help if you’re having trouble with her laning.

 

 

I find it very hard to be enthusiastic about Ahri. I think she’s powerful, provided you’re looking for a sustained damage mage with a bit of durability and mobility at her disposal, but there’s nothing to her that grabs my interest. She’s very similar to quite a host of other characters that preceded her, with very little new on show. If you don’t already own any character that makes use of skillshots, then she could be a good choice as a learning experience. If you already own a number of similar characters, you have to ask if you want more of the same, or if you’re better off expanding your roster a bit in other directions.

 

 

I think my key problem with the character is your skill with Ahri is going to be dependent more on aim rather than long term strategy, which is the aspect of play I enjoy most when playing a mage. Seeing when to attack, planning your moves ahead on how to drive an enemy into the perfect position and then bombarding them with bursty death is simply one of the finer moments in league of legends. She doesn’t have any of that sort of play, and while being a mage, plays far too similarly to an AD carry, possibly my least favourite role.

 

 

While its probably not the most game shattering of changes, I really do like the improvements to the champion splash screens. I like the way you can now buy characters while also, you know, actually seeing what they do. The little videos that now accompany each ability in the game likely took a while to make, but are a brilliant learning tool for new players, both for when they use that ability as a character, but also when they’re killed by something they don’t understand. Now all we need is something that actually lets us see what a skin looks like in game.

 

 

The new runes open up a good chunk of potential options, though for the most part they are for specialized tasks. The percentile health runes are mostly garbage, as they give simply too little health to be worthwhile against simply getting flat health, or health per level runes. The others though, have their place. The lifesteal quintessences, for example, might make quite a good jungle rune pick, though I’ve yet to give them a run myself.

 

The nerf to Warmog’s armour was inevitable. The sheer number of people using the “Atmog’s” build was getting a bit silly. The only issue though is that Frozen mallet still remains unchanged, so “Atmallet”, while not quite as good at the old Atmog’s, is still good pick.

 

 

To discuss some of the changes yourselves, post in the massive League of Legends thread in the free to play MMOs section. If you haven’t tried League of Legends yet, you’re missing out.