Yearly Archives: 2012

Eve Online Inferno Launching May 22nd

EVE Online: Inferno Launching May 22nd

 

EVE Online

 

Building on a unique achievement in gaming history with a 9th anniversary celebrating continuous year-on-year growth earlier this May, CCP Games and its award-winning game EVE Online are nearing release of a 17th free expansion, EVE Online: Inferno, to all subscribers on May 22nd.

 

 

More than any other expansion in EVE‘s history, Inferno aims to shake up all levels of warfare in the over 7,500 solar systems in EVE‘s massive universe. Overhauls of major war-related game systems will affect player-driven conflict and the first set of many new ship modules to come promise to alter tactics at the most visceral levels.

 

EVE Online

Key features of Inferno include:

Mercenary Marketplace: pay the best guns-for-hire to settle your scores or make yourself avaialble to the highest bidders in the most notorious PVP universe in gaming

War Declarations: reworked systems to help you wage war and keep track of your legacy

Missiles and Launchers: savor every moment from launch to impact with missile launchers and dramatic new missile effects

Factional Warfare: enlist in a faction and join the entry-level game of conquest with more rewards and deeper gameplay than ever before

Visual Updates: Enhanced graphics on ship models and increased options in the industry-leading character creator

Plus Kill Reports, Unified Inventory, 16 new modules and dozens of enhancements to both graphics and gameplay

 

 

“There has never been a more exciting time to try EVE and become the spaceship pilot you always knew you should be,” says Jon Lander, Senior Producer for EVE Online. “The EVE universe is, now more than ever, staggeringly ripe with possibilities for adventure, stories, profit and, well, really satisfying explosions with the new missile effects.”

 

 

EVE Online: Inferno bolsters the EVE universe for DUST 514‘s addition later this year, where millions of soldiers in a free-to-play PlayStation 3 shooter will join EVE pilots in the same persistent universe.

E-Sports @ OnRPG: May 14th Report – Round of 4

E-Sports @ OnRPG: May 14th Report – Round of 4

By Umar Farooq (Kluey), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

 

Evil Genius Acquires More Players!   

ThorZaIN recently blew foreign fans away with his Dreamhack Stockholm victory and the ability to play on par with Koreans without actually training with them. Because of this and the fact that his contract was coming to an end, Evil Geniuses had to attempt to pick him up. Surprise, surprise, they had a better offer than any other team. ThorZaIN will be sent to Korea to train in the Slayers house beside some of the best Terrans in the world. I think in the next 6 months, we will see a new ThorZaIN be it an improvement or a slump. There have been many a time where a player will have a little ‘marathon’ and a team buys him for a large sum of money but the player’s marathon ends there.

 

As for their DotA 2 team, they acquired two players, Bulba and Universe. I’ve seen Bulba play with the team on EG.DeMoN’s stream and he seems to be getting along well. Universe on the other hand is a familiar name as he did play in ‘The International’ but placed 7th. EG’s DotA 2 lineup has been quite weak in the past few weeks. They’re not the best team in the world but to be honest, I don’t think that is their goal. EG would much rather become the best American team in the world. 

GSL Code S Ro.4

Squirtle out-played HerO. That’s the bottom line. HerO looked unprepared and shaken up in the set. The final game, he totally misread Squirtle’s somewhat obvious build of Dark Templars and lost to cloaked units. Why was he so shaken up?

 

 

Game one in their set. HerO played absolutely sick. He held off an Archon attack perfectly and executed a contain break near perfectly. HerO then went on to lose because he left his army out in the open. An extremely rookie mistake stopped him from making his first appearance in GSL the best it could possibly be.

 

MVP played like MVP. The usual abusive style that every RTS gamer wishes he had; the ability to read your opponent like a book. That’s why MVP is a 5-time GSL finalist and 3 time champion. PartinG’s build was extremely tech heavy. If you’re increasing your tech so extremely fast, the one thing you cannot do is get units. MVP in game one pulled his SCV’s to contain PartinG and block his third but ended up out right killing him. In game two, he used a 1/1/1 cheese and killed PartinG again. Finally in game three, PartinG retaliated. He showed us why he is the best PvT player in the world. PartinG mustered up the best unit combination possible and showed us superb micro. MVP was out-played and lost. To end the series, MVP does another all-in move by loading up his entire army into medivacs and dropping in PartinG’s base. Had those medivacs died, MVP would’ve lost the game right there and then. In the end, MVP does what it takes to win and that’s why he’s able to become the most successful SC2 player.

If you remember back in mid to late 2011, the GSL finals were garbage. Artosis would try to hype them but in the end, they were just really bad. In 2012 and even December of 2011, we saw some of the sickest finals ever. DongRaeGu vs. MMA, Jjakji vs. Leenock and DongRaeGu vs. Genius are all brilliant examples. This season, we’ve got another final that could easily top all of these. Protoss vs Terran is currently the most exciting match up. There is nothing more interesting than a triple pronged attack using drops or a showcase of sick micro with Storms and blink as Protoss.

 

 

The International

The International, if you don’t already know, is the Superbowl of DotA 2. Last year’s grand prize was 1,000,000 USD. So far, four teams have been invited. Last year’s champions Na’Vi and the powerhouse chinese team, DK. Alongside them, two extremely strong teams were invited, aL from Austrailia and Orange from Malaysia. What’s expected next is an American team. Which one? It’s hard to guess to be honest. Quantic has recently acquired all of ex-GoSu who have been on a ‘hot-streak’ lately. Evil Geniuses has been buying new players to try and get back into the scene. Not to mention the countless unsponsored teams who have loads of talent but no back bone to support them.

MU:eX700 Beta Test Begins

MU:eX700 Beta Test Begins

 

 

WEBZEN Inc. announced the start of the user beta test for MU:eX700, an expansion update for one of their famous titles, MU Online.

 

 

Today, WEBZEN has opened the MU:eX700 beta test to users for a week until May 17th. To participate in the beta test users must possess a “Gold Channel Ticket” in MU Online. During the test, all players will be able to enjoy the test from level 600.

 

 

After any changes made from user feedback during the test, MU:eX700 update will officially launch on May 31st, one week after the open beta test. At this time, the global PVP tournament will receive registrations until the end of June. Winners and participants will have a chance to win cash items worth a total of $15,000 (USD).

 

 

Jihun Lee, Head of Global Publishing, said, “We are thrilled to announce the 7th major update for MU Online where the contents have been both enhanced in quantity and quality.” Also he said, “We will put our full efforts and receive feedback from users to continue the open beta test into official launch.

 

 

Meanwhile, WEBZEN.com will have various events giving away gifts to bug reporters and open beta reviewers during the OBT period.

Spirit Tales Flooded with Players on Launch, Opens New Server

Spirit Tales Flooded with Players on Launch, Opens New Server

 

 

Due to a successful first day launch of the Spirit Tales open beta, KoramGame is excited to announce that a new server, Varus, will be available for all users starting today at 12PM PDT (-7 GMT). Server Varus will add 3 additional channels to prevent monster spawn camping and overcrowding. Events such as “Open Beta Blastoff,” where players can win the new Apple iPad, will continue uninterrupted on all servers. If the influx of excited Spirit Tales players continues throughout the weekend, KoramGame is prepared to open its third server, Server Abyss, the following week.

Divina Quick Change Classes Guide (PvE + PvP)

Divina Quick Change Classes Guide (PvE + PvP)

By Tiramisu, Beanfun Representative

 

 

 

With Divina‘s Quick Change feature, there are many class combination and possibilities to choose from. With so many combinations, picking your sub class can be a daunting task. This guide will hopefully help you to better decide your class combination in regards to your play style.

 

 

For the PvE types focused on taking on Dungeons:

Here are the role functions according to Class.

 

Primary Party Roles

Tank – Knight

Healer – Cleric

Damage Dealer – Sorcerer / Machinist / Assassin

 

Secondary Party Functions

Crowd Control – Sorcerer / Machinist / Cleric

Off-Tanking – Knight /Assassin

Buff / Debuff – Cleric / Sorcerer / Machinist

Pull – Machinist / Assassin

 

Recommended Class Combinations:

In general, there are three types of Main/Sub Class makeups you can go for.

 

 

1)      Support / DPS (Damage Per Second)

This makeup is best for overall versatility. If you choose either a Tank or Healer, choose a DPS class for your secondary, or vice versa. This ensures that you will always have a desirable role in any party situation.

 

Examples:

[Light] Cleric / [Destructive] Sorcerer – (Healer and DPS role)

[Guardian] Knight / [Ninjutsu] Assassin – (Tank and DPS role)

[Artillerist] Machinist / [Light] Cleric – (DPS and Healer role)

 

 

2)      Complimentary Classes

This type of makeup is for those of you who’d like to better improve the versatility of one specific role instead of having to worry about two different party roles. If you choose a Tanking role for instance, you can choose a class that is similarly good at tanking, such as Assassin (high evasion build). The main purpose would be to not have the same class, but to provide more options for you while primarily focusing on one Party Role that you like.

 

Examples:

[Destructive] Sorcerer / [Dark] Cleric – (primarily DPS, however can utilize Cleric for healing)

[Mechanic] Machinist / [Stealth] Assassin – (primarily Ranged DPS, however can switch to Assassin for Close DPS)

[Ninjutsu] Assassin / [Destroyer] Knight – (primarily DPS, however can utilize Knight for emergency tanking while keeping up DPS with Destroyer spec)

 

 

3)      Same Class – Dual Spec

If you like a certain class way too much over the other classes, you can just pick the same sub as your main. There are a few benefits to this. One is that you can have access to both sides of your Specialty Skill Trees with a push of a button to switch. Another is that you would not have to alter your play-style very much when switching, and even just use the Quick Change feature if your character is running low on health to switch to a same-spec’d class and have your HP/MP replenished to full. So essentially you double your one class’s endurance.

 

Examples:

[Guardian] Knight / [Guardian] Knight – (can switch when life is low – double life Tank)

[Light] Cleric / [Dark] Cleric – (always able to heal, but can switch to give more DPS)

 

 

For the PvP types focused on going toe-to-toe against other players:

 


Sorcerer vs Knight            Uh oh, the Knight has closed the distance!

 

 

The Sorcerer is in trouble now… or is she? Quick Change to Assassin! Now the tables have turned

 

 

Class Quick Change is essential to winning the battle against another player. Although what type of class you are fighting against will also greatly affect your battle strategy, here are a few recommended class combinations to give you an idea of the possibilities open to you.

 

 

Possible Class Combinations:

[Dark] Cleric / [Destroyer] Knight – The Cleric’s PER and CON buff skills greatly help the Knight class. Starting off with the Cleric’s DoT (Damage over Time) spells, then switching to the Knight should give you an effective damage boost. When you get low on health, you always have the option as a last ditch effort to switch to your Cleric class, toss on a few more heals, and smack ‘em with a few more DoTs to finish them off.

 

[Destructive] Sorcerer / [Stealth] Assassin – The Sorcerer by itself does heavily damaging spells, however if you find yourself in a tight spot against an opponent with high magic damage resist, you can switch to the Assassin to dish out high physical damage instead to bring the battle back in your favor.

 

[Artillerist] Machinist / [Ninjutsu] Assassin – Start off with the superior range of the Machinist to deal as much damage as possible before your opponent closes the gap. Once you are low on health or they have closed the distance, switch to your Assassin and make them pay with some close ranged attacks of your own.

 

[Dark] Cleric / [Mysterious] Sorcerer – With the Cleric’s Fire and Ice or Dark Sands Curse, they can seriously up the potency of the Sorcerer’s elemental firepower. Hit the opponent with all the Debuffs and DoTs you have before switching to the Sorcerer to make quick work out of them. These two classes complement each other nicely and can be a nuisance to deal with.

 

[Guardian] Knight / [Light] Cleric – For team based battles, having a dedicated healer is essential. Having the Knight charge in first to attack and harass players will be vital against keeping them off your squishier teammates. Inflicting Sprain on as many members as you can would put a damper to their movement. Switching to Cleric would give you a few options; you can focus on healing yourself if most of the other team is attacking you and keep them further distracted, or if they stop focusing on you, concentrate instead on keeping your teammates alive to help your team to victory.

 

Assassin to Sorcerer Quick Change

 

 

As the game is still in its early stages, more effective class combinations are sure to be found in the upcoming months. However, if you have trouble deciding what to choose, these class recommendations could provide a good starting point to finding your very own Quick Change combination!

Realm of the Titans offers Beta Rewards and Ladder

Realm of the Titans offers Beta Rewards and new Ladder Tracking

 

 

After many months of refining, AeriaGames is ready to push their Asian styled MOBA, Realm of the Titans, into beta testing. Today also marks the introduction of official ladder tracking so competitive players can see how they stack up versus their rivals!

 

 

For those who missed out on last year’s beta test and want to learn more about the game I would recommend checking out ColbyCheeze’s impressions video or Hhean’s full review to get a feel for the game. It definitely carries its own style in the MOBA genre through features including 8 item slots, unusual monster spawns that can be unleashed against your enemies, and interchangeable ‘summoner’ skills that allow you to switch tactics midgame to catch your foes off guard or counter a powerful tactic being used against you.

 

 

For those interested in hopping into the beta, Aeria has plenty of rewards lined up including the awesome beta titan badge for those who reach level 5 during the beta test.

 

 

 

In addition players can strive to achieve greatness each day as the top rated, top killer, top assister, and top tower destroyer each day will receive unique badgers as a trophy to show their greatness to others.

 

 

Finally those participating in the beta will receive a free Battle Turtle Soul Taker skin just for signing in! For more information check out their official thread discussing rewards. Also be sure to join OnRPG’s discussion thread to tell us your thoughts on the game!

LoL: Hello. My name is Varus. You killed my Family.

League of Legends: Hello. My name is Varus. You killed my Family.

By Jason Harper (Hhean), OnRPG LoL Specialist

 

 

Welcome summoners, to the patch v1.0.0.139 article for League of Legends, the game that is prepared to die. This patch includes spectator mode, a reworked Ryze, altered AP items and the belated addition of Varus, The Arrow of Retribution.

 

 

Varus is a ranged AD carry with good poke and a lot of utility, but has a very unreliable damage output. He’s designed around hitting the enemy from as far away as possible, with one of the longest pokes in the game, faster than average movespeed, and absolutely no durability. Due to the way his abilities interact, he must do sustained damage to get the most of his burst. As with most ranged AD carries, he’s best placed in the bottom lane, though Riot did try to make him mid viable. Whether or not they have succeeded remains to be seen.

 

 

Your main strategy as Varus is to poke the enemy from as far away as possible with his Piercing Arrow [Q] to soften them for his approach. Once you’ve established a life lead, you can now begin bullying your lane with his auto attacks, and abuse his fast movement speed. Even one tap from Varus’ auto attacks can lead to some great followup damage in the lane, as getting a quick stack of his Blighted Quiver [W] on an enemy before immediately popping it with an instantly released Piercing Arrow or Hail of Arrows [E] can lead to some impressive damage.

 

 

The absolute perfect damage combo from Varus would be to kill a minion (or champion) to trigger his passive, then hit an enemy champion for three stacks of Blighted Quiver, root your target in place with his ultimate, Chain of Corruption [R], hit for three more stacks, Hail of Arrows, three more stacks, then finish with a Piercing Arrow. If you are able to actually do this the enemy is likely already being locked down or is just thoroughly stupid. As a whole, stick to the skill order outlined above, but just fire off as many shots and/or abilities as you think you can get away with before backing away to safety.

 

 

More often than not though, his ultimate should not be used to initiate fights. It’s got a short range, doesn’t stop other ranged characters from hitting you back and has a slow projectile speed, making it easy to dodge. Chain of Corruption is best used for two purposes. One is to chain it in with other crowd control effect after your initiator has already run in and locked the enemy team, keeping the enemy from fighting back for an even longer time. This has the benefit that the enemy can’t attack you if they’re already locked down, and you can pick the target you want because they should all be unable to move while you’re taking aim. The second use is to stop bruisers from murdering you. Varus’ escape tools are non-existent, so holding your ultimate back for the inevitable point in a team fight someone tries to jump on top of you can buy you the time your tanks will likely need to peel those burly enemies off your fragile self.

 

 

In a duo lane, start with Piercing Arrow for its crazy long range pokes. As a solo, however, I found Hail of Arrows to be more effective, as the slow allows trades to go in your favour. Blighted Quiver should be taken at level 2. As a duo, get Hail of arrows at level 4, and as a solo take Piercing Arrow at level 3. Piercing Arrow should be maxed out first, followed by Blighted Quiver second.

 

 

Start with boots and three health potions. I swear at this point there’s no reason to buy anything else on any character type except support. Hoping Riot are looking into this. After that, treat him like any other ranged AD. Stack Doran’s blades for a good laning phase; two is common, but three is good if you’re having a tough time. Rush that Infinity Edge as soon as you can. Good follow up items include Bloodthirster (More poke damage), Phantom Dancer (More Blight stacks), Last Whisper (Better in the late game when armour stacking becomes commonplace), and Banshee’s Veil (Allows you to poke without trading with long range mages like Xerath). Whatever you do though, don’t fall into the trap of trying to build hybrid or AP items on him. The damage simply doesn’t stack up well compared to a simple AD build.

 

 

He requires 21 points in the offense tree in order to be effective, but where you put his remaining 9 points is really up for personal preference. I like the mana regeneration from the utility tree because I find that varus is not only mana hungry, but unlike many ranged ADs, actually has to use his abilities frequently in order to have a decent damage output. For his runes, you’re going to be using armour seals and magic resist glyphs as usual. For his marks and quintessences you have some room to play with. How much you balance between his attack damage and armour penetration is dependent on if you want to strengthen his comparably weak late game, or make his strong laning that much stronger. For a lane build, I use full AD in both marks and quintessences, and for a more balanced build I use three AD marks, six armour penetration marks and AD quintessences.

 

 

Varus’ damage feels on the low side to me, and I don’t think that this damage is lost in favour of strong utility. While his utility is good, it simply doesn’t feel comparable to Ashe’s dominating presence in a fight. He also is an extremely micro intensive character, requiring you to hit with three different sorts of skillshots reliably, and invest in auto attacks before taking the gamble that you’ll actually hit. While most competent players will hit with most of his shots, a single missed opportunity can potentially cut his damage output dramatically. I suspect that he will have his specialist, fanatical players that will invest a lot of time mastering his every nuance to bring out his potential in full.

 

 

Varis is alright. I can see his appeal, but I don’t think he’s going to be a great pick unless some of his ardent followers really spend the time to crack the character open. If you’re an experienced ranged AD player looking for a personal project to sink some time into, I’d advise giving him a look when he comes on free rotation. For everyone else who might be looking for a nice new AD in one of their secondary roles, I’d say there are better options.

 

 

The AP item reworks are hopefully going to spread around the love to new item builds for mages. Currently people haven’t altered their builds much due to the changes, but we’ll likely see some shifting around in the coming weeks as the general playerbase slowly begins to adapt. While I really like the healing reduction added on Morello’s Evil Tome, I can only really see it being taken against very sustain heavy teams where one ignite simply isn’t enough. While increasing the cost of Will of Ancients now puts its cost more in line with other items, its new cost still feels on the high side. The new and improved Deathfire Grasp is deadly as all hell. Put that on your glass cannon type AP nukers and just go nuts. Just be aware that its range isn’t so great, and you’ll be very fragile if you’re only carrying one and a Deathcap.

 

 

I’m actually not sure if the Atma’s Impaler nerf was too far, given that the item was already beginning to drop off a bit in use. I guess Riot were simply sick and tired of seeing the Atmog or Atmallet builds in so many games, and simply wanted to see it gone. For those of you who still really, really want to shove an Atma’s Impaler into your build, the breakeven point for the item is now in the 3000hp range, so you’ll need to stack a few health items now for it to be worthwhile.

 

 

A big hubbub was made over what looked to be a major rework to Ryze, but he’s pretty similar to how he was before. Even if you still build him in the exact same tanky build as before, his damage output is now slightly higher than it once was. Combined with his new super fast movement speed, he can be a massive threat late game, as escaping from Ryze can be a genuine challenge now. The reduced range on his Overload does hurt his laning though, so while his threat level is now higher overall, you can now bully him far more easily in the early game to prevent him snowballing into the tanky mage-monster we all know and hate.

 

 

Spectator mode also has (finally!) made its way to League of Legends. While I do think this is a good time to be celebrating the inclusion of this much requested feature, it still has some functionality that needs work. While watching a friend’s game is great, being able to spectate what a friend is watching would also be a welcome feature. My big gripe with the system currently though is that while you can move back and forth along the timeline of a game freely, you can’t go back beyond when you started spectating, and you can’t go back once the match ends. Still, it is good to be able to watch what people are up to, and mercilessly mock them in tells.

 

 

Not that anyone I know would do such a thing.

 

 

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

DragonNest Launches Guild Rumble and Spirit Garden Update

DragonNest Launches Guild Rumble and Spirit Garden Update

 

 

Players who have been hungering to see exactly how their guild stacks up against others will get to experience the ultimate player versus player challenge with today’s DragonNest “Guild Rumble” content update.

 

 

Every month, the guilds of Altera will be called upon to fight monsters, earn achievements, and face off against each other in the arena to prove which guild is the best. Every player will be rewarded for their efforts as well as their performance, so everyone wins. The champion guild each month however will take home exclusive costumes, mounts, and all-important bragging rights.

 

 

In addition to the Guild Rumble event kicking off today, a new PvP map is also being added to “Dragon Nest.” Spirit Garden is a new medium sized PvP map themed to the River Ruins Path dungeons. Five PvP modes are playable in Spirit Garden, including: Respawn, Rounds, Protect, Free For All, and Domination.

 

 

Check out their new launch trailer to see guild battles in action!