Monthly Archives: August 2011

League of Legends: Hey, Hey! He’s the Wukong!

League of Legends: Hey, Hey! He’s the Wukong!

by Jason Harper (Hhean), OnRPG DotA Reporter


 

Welcome summoners, to the patch v1.0.0.122 article for League of Legends, the game that just loves to monkey around. This patch includes reworks to both Kayle and Tryndamere, limiting the range on global ultimates, new character models and Wukong, The Monkey King.

 

Wukong is a burly melee damage dealer with some interesting tricks under his elaborate belt. Most of his tools are similar to other characters of this type, so if you’re comfortable with the play style of characters like Xin Zhao, Jax or Master Yi, you shouldn’t find anything too out of the ordinary here.

 

His most powerful ability has to be his Nimbus Strike [E], a gap closer, attack speed steroid and farming tool all in one. There is rarely a situation where this ability isn’t worth using every time it’s off cooldown, given its wide utility and low mana cost. The only drawback is it has no crowd control, but asking for more stuff on this ability would just be greedy.

 

After Wukong has Nimbus Striked his way into the faces of his foes, he can follow up with a Crushing Blow [Q]. This attack both resets his attack animation, and reduces target champion’s armour. Currently this ability only reduces the character’s base armour, and not their total armour, which severely limits its effectiveness. This is his worst ability by a long margin, best used only for getting sheen procs and the attack animation resets allow him to get more hits in.

 

 

His Decoy [W] is by far his most fun and satisfying ability. The more I played Wukong, the more I realized how versatile it is. The stealth component can be used as a gap closer, to mask movement between brush, to get people to guess incorrectly at junctions in the jungle and so on. The stealth also will reset enemy targeting, so if you’re being focused in a team fight by someone like Vayne or Ryze, you can simply stealth and wait for them to start hitting someone else, or your decoy, before you move back into the fight to murder them.

 

The clone though is the really interesting part of this thing. The decoy itself counts as a champion for the purposes of targeting, so you can use it to bait out ultimates, and block skill shots that usually pass through minions. Combining the decoy with the stealth allows you to both cancel enemy attacks using the stealth, then bait them into wasting something important on your newly gained stunt double. A great example of this is you can use the Decoy to take an Enchanted Crystal Arrow for you, while you stealth off, giggling mischievously at the poor Ashe who just wasted her ultimate.

 

His ultimate, Cyclone [R], is a stock standard ‘Spin to win’ attack that knocks enemies into the air after the first hit. It’s a serviceable ultimate that does a low amount of damage, best for hitting enemies with the knock up, and then cancelling it. It gives his kit some needed crowd control, but isn’t great as the multi target team fight ability that it likely was meant to be.

 

 

At level 1, grab a rank in Nimbus Strike. Max this first, and use it often. Crushing Blow is a level 2 snatch. Decoy is best grabbed at level 4, when the risk of ganks from a jungler increases dramatically. Once your Nimbus Strike is maxed, go for Crushing Blow, and leave Decoy as the last to level.

 

Start out with a regrowth pendant and a health potion. The health regeneration will help in the lane, and it will cheaply upgrade into a philosopher’s stone when you’re done. Then either grab a heart of gold if you’ve been struggling in the lane and are wanting for more gold, or go straight for your sheen, then into trinity force. After that, go tanky. I wish I could recommend things outside of the spotlight, but having played around a bit with the character, I’ve found few better options. If you find something better, please share it on the forums.

 

For his Masteries, make sure you have 21 in defense. You’re going to be in melee a lot, which means plenty of dangerous situations. Where you put the other nine is up to you, though I’d recommend utility. For Runes, just roll out the standard burly melee page – Armour penetration Marks, Armour Seals, Magic Resistance Glyphs and whatever you prefer in Quintessences.

 

Wukong is an absolute blast to play. He has a number of failings, most notably his complete inability to jungle, his weak Crushing Blow and lacklustre AoE damage on his ultimate. I don’t think he’s the best melee bruiser by any means, but I certainly think he’s the most fun. I love characters with reactionary abilities, and his Decoy is just an incredible laugh due to how many tricks it allows him to pull.

 

 

His laning ability is quite strong, but I’ve been finding his damage output doesn’t scale well into the late game. He seems to be at his peak in the roaming phase, when he can leap into people, use his combo and then trigger his ult to stop escape, ripping their health off quite effectively. His decoy is also at its peak during this time, using it to mask when he leaves a lane for a gank, and Decoy feints are possible without getting slammed by numerous AoE ultimates.

 

I think he’s going to be one of those characters that are going to be largely useless a while, until he gets a few damage tweaks and a fix to his Crushing Blow and he suddenly becomes a monster in the hands of some top player. Right now though, he’s still sleeping in stone.

 

The reworks to both Tryndamere and Kayle look to have had the same purpose, to reduce their ‘feast or famine’ style of play. In their old forms, they were both too reliant on getting as wealthy as possible as quickly as possible in order to become late game powerhouses.

 

Kayle suffered from this more so than Tryndamere, with her passive essentially giving her free gold. The problem though, was if she didn’t get gold, her passive was worthless. Given that not getting gold is really what your team’s support really should be doing in order to funnel money into the carry, she never quite fit into any team. Her new resistance shredding passive helps encourage team play, and means she still benefits from it when acting as the team’s support. Is it overall weaker? If she was a carry, yes, it’s a downgrade. Since she’s a support, this new passive allows her to do her job well, without starving the rest of her team.

 

While I’m happy with her new passive, the other changes to her do read more like a flat nerf, with reduced lane sustainability, lowered base stats, and lowered utility on her Reckoning. I like the direction Riot have gone with her rework, but think she’s going to need a little bit more work to become a viable debuffer/support she’s clearly been intended to become.

 

 

Tryndamere switching to a Fury mechanic seems thematically appropriate to me, disregarding how it affects his overall power. From what I’ve seen of him, he still seems a bit on the weak side, but at least he’s now consistently on the weak side, and not swinging wildly from useless to godlike on a match to match basis. He’ll likely get some tweaks soon and become fairly dangerous afterwards.

 

I wish I could comment more on the global ultimate nerfs, but in the time I’ve been taking between patch day and finishing this article, I’ve not seen a single Pantheon or Twisted Fate played. On paper these changes don’t seem too bad a nerf, since it only limits them to hopping from one lane to another, rather than being able to jump from top to bottom in an instant. Their ultimates still give them great maneuverability and map control, it just means their backdooring shenanigans aren’t quite so annoying. It’s clear though that these nerfs have significantly affected people’s perceptions of the characters, and they’ve completely dropped off in usage.

 

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.

Gamania Announces Tiara Concerto, The Musical MMO

Gamania Announces Tiara Concerto, The Musical MMO

 

 

 

Gamania Digital Entertainment today is proud to announce a new musical adventure in the skies, its upcoming MMO game, Tiara Concerto. Information on the game’s storyline and world has been revealed, giving players a sneak peek at the mysterious musical instruments used to ward off enemies and unlock new dimensions. In addition to the game, Tiara Concerto’s RD team has created a new comic series, Tiara Concerto Mini, which will appear in weekly installments on the official Facebook fan page, revealing additional information on the game.

 

 

The story of Tiara Concerto transports players 800 years in the past, to the time of the Star Chord Judgment – the result of wasteful Humans exhausting all of earth’s resources. In their final hour, with the world on the verge of self-destruction, the legendary Seven Wise Men managed to unlock a new dimension, saving the Humans from complete annihilation. While their home world was lost forever, the surviving Humans managed to escape judgment by living on floating islands in the sky. As years passed, they developed a mysterious skill called “Tuning,” in which they used instruments to produce resonance with energy from the past, thereby allowing them to slowly reclaim resources from their homeland. Now, the Humans must cooperate with other magical races – the Elves and the Beasts – to take down the Rhythmic Monsters prowling the skies and bring back their lost civilization.

 

 

Besides 3 races, the game also boasts 3 classes, the warrior, ranger, and tuner. While the warrior is self explanatory and the ranger fills a sort of dual role between rouge and gunsmith, the tuner is rather unique. By channeling tunes and building into a crescendo, they are able to buff allies while playing as a DOT styled mage that can turn a battle over a long course of time. Interestingly enough, a system seems to be in place in which rhythm and style plays into the combat to reward teams that work together in flawless unison. OnRPG will be keeping a close eye on this one to see if it lives up to its beautiful teaser trailer.

Tiara Concerto

Tiara Concerto takes place in an apocalyptic world. Due to the wasteful extravagance of humans, their original home world was lost in a cataclysmic event 800 years ago. Before all was lost, the Seven Wise Men managed to combine their knowledge of magic to unlock a new dimension in which humans could survive on floating islands above the wasteland and devastation.

 

As time passed, humans further pushed the limits of this breakthrough, developing “Tuning.” Through Tuning they were capable to resonate with hidden energies from the past. Now they have united with the mythical beast and elf races to attempt to use Tuning to reclaim their lost homeland.

 

Features

 

3 Playable Races: Embark on your journey as a human, beast, or elf. Each offering specialization in stats to utilize various classes in new more powerful ways. Humans offer well rounded attributes, making them ideal for balancing the weaknesses of classes to cover more potential roles in a party. Beasts are speed and strength specialists but lose out on mental based abilities. Elves have access to the technology and equipment of the ancients and strong mental prowess, by lack the physical power of the two larger racial options.

 

3 Classes: Play as the powerful Warrior, Agile Ranger, or Intellectual Tuner.

 

Unique Combat System: By chaining your skills together in harmony with your allies, you can unlock the secrets of music and the most devastating magic available in the game. Experience a unique action oriented combat that rewards players for style and rhythm above all else.

DOTA 2 Announces $1 Million Tournament at Gamescom 2011

DOTA 2 to Host $1 Million Tournament at Gamescom 2011

 

 

DOTA 2, the inevitable successor to the original MOBA that started it all, will be returning once again to revolutionize the genre. Though details are still scarce, the first ever public game access will be witnessed at Germany’s Gamescom 2011, in which a $1,000,000 international tournament is being held!

 

The EU, China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Denmark, Ukraine, Russia, Vietnam, and the Phillippines will be sending their finest to battle over the prize money in a in double elimination play-off format. Unable to attend Gamescom? Sadly so am I but DOTA will be broadcasting the tournament live in Chinese, English, German and Russian courtesy of NVIDIA, the event sponsor.

 

Gamescon begins August 17th so stay tuned for more intense gaming news on not only DOTA 2, but Firefall, Guild Wars 2, and TERA Online!

Lord of the Rings Online – You Shall Not Pay!

The Lord of the Rings Online –You Shall Not Pay!

Neil Kewn (Murxidon) – OnRPG Journalist

 

 

 

The Lord of the Rings Online is an interesting game. Unlike many of its peers, it isn’t an MMO that plotted to overthrow the market leader nor was it forgotten about a mere six months after release. LOTRO has always been there, gleefully welcoming new subscribers whilst providing a steady stream of content to those who already inhabit its servers. The game was well-received upon its release way back in 2007, and player numbers have been more or less good – or as good as they can be in the P2P market. Not content with this, Turbine, Inc. announced last year that the game was stepping out of its Shadows of Angmar and going free-to-play. The first major Western MMO to do so, but definitely not the last.

 

With news that the games profits had more or less tripled, its conversion to the love-it-or-hate-it cash shop model was a resounding success. Not only did it breathe new life into the game, it dawned on many other publishers that free-to-play is a viable option in supporting their increasingly derelict virtual worlds. The Lord of the Rings Online is here to stay, but how does its new funding dynamic affect the most important part of any MMO, the gameplay?

 

 

There’s a lot to see and a lot to do in Middle-earth, and any fan of Tolkien’s vast lore will have an absolute hoot roaming the fields of Turbine’s design.  Free players are welcomed with open arms, and they get a fair chunk of content without paying a dime. All four races are available (man, dwarf, hobbit and elf) in addition to seven of the nine classes. From there, it’s pretty much up to you. Traditional but refined, the beginning stages of your journey into Middle-earth are story driven introductions that help you get to grips with the game. Any MMO player will feel very comfortable controlling their character and performing abilities, everything is very fluid and very natural.

 

This high shine has come from its three years as a P2P title, funded by reoccurring subscriptions.  It is stable, polished and gracefully aged. LOTRO follows the tried and tested methods of MMO progression and adventure, so there isn’t a lot of innovation to be found. If you aren’t a fan of World of Warcraft or RIFT, Lord of the Rings is unlikely to change your mind.

 

As it doesn’t attempt to rewrite the formula, gaining experience and levelling is a pretty standard affair. Questing is your first port of call, with numerous NPCs in the many towns, villages and settlements all in need of assistance. The tasks given to you aren’t particularly original or challenging from the outset, with kill-x-of-beast and delivery quests making an appearance, but it’s all tied together within a narrative taken straight from the tales. Whilst there are standard, throwaway quests to spend time on there’s also important, story quests signified by a flaming ring over the quest givers head. These adventures aren’t just an interesting diversion, they aim to tell a story and you will no doubt bump into a few familiar characters on your travels. They’re fun and an excellent way to bring depth to the world.

 

 

What LOTRO lacks in originality it makes up for in atmosphere. It’s one of the few MMORPGs that manage to conjure a real sense of fantasy and wonder. Beautiful art direction makes exploring a truly engrossing activity. From quant old English towns to vast snowy mountains, the world of Middle-earth is an attractive and varied landscape. Even today, LOTRO is a great looking game that is kind to lower-end systems.

 

With reoccurring subscriptions now optional, a cash shop has made its way into Middle-Earth to help support the free side of the game. Using Turbine Points, players can invest in virtual goods that benefit their characters both aesthetically and practically. The LOTRO Store, as it is known, is jam packed with items (including the game’s two critically acclaimed expansion packs). Purchasing any item from the store automatically upgrades your account to Premium status, unlocking an increase in the gold cap and an additional character slot. Players who want to see everything the game has to offer can subscribe to the VIP service, similar to the monthly payments that supported the game previously but with 500 free Turbine points a month.

 

Those who aim to stick solely on the free side of the fence may become frustrated as they climb through the levels. A lot of quests have been sorted into Quest Packs, reserved for the paying adventurer; meaning freeloaders may struggle (or get bored) of grinding to advance. Luckily free players do get access to two Skirmishes, instanced group encounters, to help spruce things up. One has players defending against waves of enemies, whilst the other tasks you with fronting an assault. It’s a great idea and one that works well. Both are great fun.

 

 

Crafting in LOTRO is vast. You can choose to specialize in all manner of different vocations; depending on your playing style and how committed you want to be with creating, using and selling items. Harvesting professions enable you to gather resources from Middle-Earth itself, putting them to good use in other areas of expertise.  Choose to become a farmer and your produce will be sought after in the cook profession, or you can be a little more traditional and craft weapons and armour for yourself and other players.

 

 

Lord of the Rings Online is still one of the big Western MMORPGs. I wasn’t sure if the free-to-play re-launch would upset the balance of the game, but it’s seemed to have breathed new life into it. Free players get a considerable chunk of content for what was once a premium game, meaning you can have hours of adventuring before the incentive to drop several dollars on extra content becomes warranted. The much-heralded Monster Play PVP may be reserved for paying players (for now), but there’s still a lot to sink your teeth into in this award-winning use of Tolkien’s mystical works.

 

Graphics – 5
Controls – 4
Features – 4
Customization – 4
Community – 4