Yearly Archives: 2011

Starcraft 2: Journey to Diamond League Wk9

My Journey to Diamond League Wk 9

By Mohammad Abubakr, OnRPG Journalist

If you missed any of the previous weeks in my journey to diamond league, check out the Starcraft II review section. (http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/Starcraft-II/reviews)

 

 

Week 9

Games played: 10
Initial Rank: Silver – 38
Final Rank: Silver – 31
Win/Loss: 5/5

 

Facing a Zerg on the map Tal’darim Altar made me think I would be safe from early aggression and free to drone because of the map size. I scouted a large amount of Zerglings in my opponent’s base but continued to drone until my baneling nest was complete.

I was hoping that my banelings would be ready by the time the attack came as just two to three banelings should have been enough to fend off the attack. Unfortunately the attack came sooner than expected and one spine crawler with four zerglings were not able to stop the attack. I was forced to concede upon losing all of my drones.

 

Couldn’t he have come later?

After reflecting upon that match I felt that I was being much too greedy. I expanded and continued to drone even after I saw a large amount of zerglings. My initial thought was that he produced a large force of zerglings just for defensive purposes but I was wrong. If my opponent wanted to simply defend a small amount of zerglings with one or two banelings would have sufficed. I need to work on my reactions.

The following game was my second time going up against drop play on the ladder. I only had experience with drops a couple weeks ago when an opponent used it against me for the very first time, other than that the only time I had seen it was while watching tournaments. My opponent was a Terran player that spawned close by air on the map Shattered Temple. He continued to apply pressure with marine and marauder drops in my main base denying mining time and forcing cancels on the spire. After losing the spire I should have morphed it outside of my main to avoid getting it denied as mutalisks would have allowed me to easily fend off drops.

I had overlords to spot incoming drops but my reaction time was not quick enough. He would drop in front of mineral patches so that my Zerglings were unable to attack his units from all sides. This gave him the advantage because his ranged units could continue to attack while my melee units had to get close.

 

Good unit positioning

The third drop finished the game as I had no chance of making a comeback upon losing my lair. I am quite good at focusing on the mini map in MOBA games but I have difficulty keeping track of it in SCII. This is probably because I have a lot more things I need to focus on, while in MOBA games I only need to worry about positioning for one unit.

I played the following game against a Terran on Typhon Peaks very passively and only produced units when defending. Since we were spawned close by ground, the Xel Naga tower helped to warn me about any incoming attacks. I only produced an army when I saw an attack coming and continued to drone otherwise.

This helped me to build up my economy and make good use of my limited larvae. His attacks were with small armies composed of marine, marauder and siege tanks. Therefore I morphed zerglings, banelings and mutalisks and with the help of spine crawlers I was able to fend off attacks with ease.

 

 

Working On It…

 

After setting up my third base, I morphed a large army and overran his base. While he might have been able to defend, I made sure to kill all of his workers with my banelings. He was smart to leave the game.

The next game my Protoss opponent four gated me. I was able to hold off the aggression but since he had walled himself in, I had no scouting information. I forgot about my overlord and did not use it to scout. Turns out he also had hidden starports and was aiming to follow up the four gate with a void ray and phoenix attack. My spire was not complete when his air army showed up and was forced to concede because I had nothing to fight his air army. Once again I have lost a game due to a lack of vision.  It might take some time getting used to continuously scouting and gaining information but I feel after I learn to scout effectively these cheese and all-in plays will not be very effective against me as they are meant to surprise opponents.

Although I did not play a lot of SCII games this week because of limited time, I think I am making progress. By the end of the week some of my opponents were gold league players. Hopefully I’ll be able to join them soon.

If there are any suggestions or feedback about this series, please let me know on the OnRPG forums  (http://www.onrpg.com/boards/) @ Abubakr (http://www.onrpg.com/boards/member-abubakr.html). Alternatively you may message me in Starcraft II (Abubakr, 109).

Dungeon Defenders

Dungeon Defenders takes place in a once war torn world that was made peaceful by four legendary guardians of the realm. The legendary guardians trapped a dark power inside an impenetrable stronghold to ensure it would never be unleashed upon the world again. Unfortunately those guardians left their younger kin in charge of the common household chores of the castle while off to complete greater quests. These kin have now unleashed some of the dark magic upon the castle and are in a desperate struggle to protect the inner sanctum from the monsters that threaten it.

 

Features

 

Four Characters: Play as the magical Apprentice, keen Huntress, hearty Squire, or cunning Monk as you defend the castle with unique abilities and weaknesses.


Unique Tower Defense Aspect: Although the game plays from an action game perspective, it is definitely a strategy game at its core. Build your fortress in preparation to defend against the various hoards seeking to destroy the castle. Skill plays a big part but without a plan, you’ll never survive.

 

Deep Stat System: As you battle, you gain experience to place into leveling your various skills and stat points. Or you can use your hard earned loot to upgrade your various tower structures to ensure a stronger fortress has your back.


Difficulty Settings and Modes: Players can adjust the difficulty of each mission to one of four levels. Also extra modes such as survival mode exist to truly test your skill.

 

Familiars: Players may tame tiny dragons and other creatures to accompany them in battle. They can be leveled and customized to suit your needs.

 

Battlefield Heroes Online to be Published by Aeria Games

Battlefield Heroes Online to be Published by Aeria Games

 

 

 

Today Aeria Games made the announcement official that they would be acting as the official North American publisher for EA Dice’s MMOFPS, Battlefield Heroes Online. This long running MMO brings players all the action of FPS games within a cartoony looking world with colorful graphics and a bevy of fantastic weapons.

 

 

General Features

Choose from countless customization options to design your unique war hero.

Deploy your hero onto the battlefield and engage in all-out war with players from across the world.

Level up and unlock new skills as you rise through the ranks of your chosen army.

A variety of weapons and vehicles to master! Machine guns, sniper rifles, tanks, planes, and more are all at your disposal.

 

For more information on the various classes and two factions, check out their new Launch Trailer detailing some of the customization available within the game.

DC Universe Online Adopts Freemium Model

DC Universe Online Adopts Freemium Model

 

 

SOC president John Smedley made the announcement today that DC Universe Online will be adopting a Freemium model in the coming month of October. No longer will players be forced to buy the box and pay subscriptions in order to experience the basics within the DC Universe.

 

I’ll start by laying out the three models available to players in this freemium model:

 

Free: New players will now have access to the current gameplay in DC Universe Online (including Gotham City, Metropolis, and all current raids and alerts), with the ability to create two characters, join a league and many other benefits. Free level players will be able to purchase downloadable game packs/updates, additional character slots, powers and more through microtransactions.

 

Premium: Any player who has spent at least $5 (including former paid subscribers and new players who have purchased $5 of in-game items) will qualify for the Premium access level. Premium level players will have more benefits available to them than the Free level player, including additional character slots, additional inventory slots, and higher cash limits. Downloadable adventure packs, additional character slots, and more can be purchased in-game.

 

Legendary: Maximum features and benefits are included at this level. Loaded with enhanced additional features, Legendary access will be available for a $14.99 monthly fee and includes all DLC packs at no cost, more than 15 character slots, more than 80 inventory slots, the ability to form unrestricted-sized leagues, and many other benefits.

 

 

Those that purchased the life-time subscription will of course be included in a permanent Legendary status once the new business model is implemented. This announcement is being made about 7 months after the official launch of DC Universe but Smedley assures the press that it was not made as a result of dropping subscription numbers.

 

“In terms of ‘Is it a result in a drop in subs’ – absolutely not,” he said. “This is the right business model. If I can be honest, the game ended up costing a lot more than we thought it would, and this was our preferred business model from day one.”

 

He also assured that the upcoming cash shop will not sell power or experience, and will be fully concentrated on developing the best cosmetics items to improve all players’ experience in the game. Because if there is one thing I love in a super hero game, it’s an endless choice of costume pieces!

 

OnRPG will be sending one of its reporters to go hands on with DC Universe when it goes F2P later this year to tell you our impressions of the changes. For now you can discuss the upcoming changes in the growing Thread on our forums.

League of Legends: A Figure in the Myst

League of Legends: A Figure In The Myst

By Jason Harper (Hhean), OnRPG MOBA Reporter

 

Welcome summoners, to the patch v1.0.0.125 article for League of Legends, the game that welcomes strangers. This patch includes numerous small changes to items, UI and champions, some major changes to Taric and the addition of Riven, The Exile.

Riven is a highly mobile melee damage dealer with a fast paced playstyle reliant on rapid combinations of both her abilities and auto attacks. Outside of managing her passive, Riven doesn’t consume any resources to use her abilities, much like Katarina and Garen. If you’ve been playing a good bit of God of War or Street Fighter recently, and wanted to bring some of the gameplay into League of Legends, Riven is likely the character for you.

While that sounds like the sort of stupid claim you’d usually see in a bit of marketing fluff, the way she threads her Broken Wings [Q] with the rest of her kit has a very similar pace to performing combos in a fighting game. This is because each of her abilities are very lacklustre when taken on their own. Each hit from Broken Wings does pathetic damage, and her only crowd control ability, Ki Strike [W], is an AoE stun with an extremely short duration (a lousy 0.5 seconds). Valor [E], her remaining ability, is a short range dash that won’t allow her to go through impassible terrain, but will let her pass through champions, minions and any spell effect that makes an impassible object, like Anivia’s wall. It does give her a shield when she dashes, but the amount of damage it absorbs can be pitiful until you make use of its impressive attack damage scaling in the late game.

 

When she strings even two of her abilities together though, she can be a force to be reckoned with. Broken Wings alone can be used three times in a row, with the final blow blasting your foes all over the place in a giant, satisfying explosion, resulting in some hefty chunks of damage. That combo alone would be impressive, but when you start using her autoattacks and her other abilities in between her uses of Broken Wings, she can be genuinely scary to deal with.

Valour, attack, Broken Wings (1st hit), attack, Broken Wings (2nd hit), attack, Ki Strike, attack, Broken Wings (3rd hit), attack is probably her most ideal combo, but you rarely get the opportunity to use it on an enemy dumb enough to stand around long enough for you to spam it on them. Usually you’re going to need to hold on to Valour as either a positioning tool to use to juke incoming attacks, use the shield to protect yourself from incoming burst, or use it to escape. Enemies also don’t often stand around for you to use ideal combinations of auto attacks on them either, unless they’ve got no other option. Usually you’ll be using parts of combos, and then using other parts while different abilities are on cooldown, simply because it winds up being much more practical at any given moment.

One thing that Riven does very well during her combos though is she can move extremely erratically using both Broken Wings and Valour. If you get used to when you need to highlight nearby enemies while using Broken Wings, causing her to turn, and when not to highlight something, (resulting in a longer dash when near enemies, going past them) she can make a very hard target for skill shot reliant characters. This becomes especially nasty when she’s very close to an enemy, as she can switch sides numerous times in a single combo, acting very similarly to a cross up in most fighting games.

 

It’s worth noting that managing Riven’s ‘resources’ can be unusual at times. She can freely use her abilities whenever she likes, but has absolutely no means of regaining health and no means of poking someone in a lane. So while her mana is essentially infinite, her health is a resource that you have to pay very, very close attention to. Any time she takes a hit that isn’t stopped by Valour, you have to respond with a trade. Don’t allow anyone to bully you in a lane, as you will undoubtedly lose it if you cede control to the enemy. Always try to maintain a life lead, and always pay close attention to the enemy’s life, especially if they’re a sustainable character like Warwick or Garen. Keep hitting those sods or they will rip you to pieces. Playing passive as Riven at the wrong times will cost her the farm that she really, really needs to be effective late game.

 

You might have noticed I’ve not brought up her ultimate, Blade of the Exile/Wind Slash [R] yet. That’s because the former is simply a steroid you use at the start of the fight, and the latter is pretty pathetic. On paper it looks impressive, but the awful travel speed on it make it near useless in practice. It rarely hits against anyone not stunned or rooted, since the projectile is slow enough for an enemy to simply walk out of the way of it. That and its damage in the early levels feels underwhelming. Later on it gets better, but until you get some attack damage, your foes will feel little more than a light breeze.

 

Take a level in Broken Wings to begin with. Her level 2 is dependant on who you’re laning against. Valor is better for rushing down ranged enemies, while also protecting yourself from their harass. Ki Burst is better against a melee character who’ll be coming at you anyway. The level 3 pick up is usually the other ability you didn’t pick, as she benefits from spamming as many abilities as possible. Level 4 is a second level of Valor to help with her early game survivability. After that, concentrate on Broken Wings to get her damage output up, followed by finishing levelling Valor. Ki Burst isn’t worth leveling until last, as it only reduces its cooldown with level, as is worthless to use if her damage and survivability aren’t up to par.

For her items, I’ve been build- ATTACK DAMAGE! MOAR! Whether you get it from stacking Bloodthirsters or going with the Atma + Warmog build, what you’re after on Riven is loads and loads of attack damage, tempered by just enough defense to keep her alive. Her starting items are going to be a Doran’s Blade or Vampiric Sceptre for jungling, and cloth armour or boots (with health potions) for laning, depending on her match up. Her early game is very reliant on vampiric items to help keep her in the lane if she’s solo laning or jungling, so stacking Doran’s Blades or taking a Wriggle’s Lantern on her can be a very good idea to help her stay in the fight. Youmuu’s Ghostblade is a very good late game item on her, when enemies begin stacking armour against her, so Brutalizer can make a good mid game pick.

 

Trinity Force seems like a great item on her, until you consider her passive is essentially a better Sheen that scales off of her full attack damage rather than her base. This means you get more returns from stacking attack damage rather than getting the odd sheen proc on top of her passive, as you’re going to get more use out of your passive than of sheen, since one has a cooldown and the other doesn’t. Xepherous, the champion’s designer, even admitted on the forums that her passive was deliberately made to make Riven one of the few bruisers that didn’t need a Sheen. While you get a bunch of other nice bonuses from the Trinity Force, using your gold on it is only going to result in a suboptimal build.

For her Masteries, I’ve been using an experimental 15/15/0 set up, grabbing the attack damage from the offense tree, while also trying to get as much survivability as I can out of her. The stock 21/0/9 offensive set up also works well on her, for something a little less oddball. For Runes you can roll out with the stock bruiser page I’ve referenced for the past few articles, armour penetration marks, armour seals, magic resist glyphs and health regeneration quintessences. Alternatively, due to the percentile bonus her ultimate adds to her attack damage, you could simply stockpile attack damage runes, though it’ll only really be effective if you think your enemies left their brains at home and forgot to bring armour runes into the match, or you’re planning on jungling.

In all honesty, I’m starting to get bored of melee damage dealers. I haven’t played a character with a ranged auto attack since Orianna, and my enthusiasm for this sort of character has worn thin. Riven is very active, but I’m just so tired of playing the same archetype over and over. If you want to be pressing buttons all the time while fighting, and are fine with a lack of sustain on your characters, then I’m sure she could be a good pick.  She has a clever set of abilities that mesh well together with one another exceptionally well, and I can’t doubt the craftsmanship that’s gone into her design, but I just found myself wanting to get done testing her so I could move on to playing someone I was actually interested in. Is she strong? Eh. She feels very middle of the road. Maybe a slight bit underpowered? Couldn’t say really. The active component on her ultimate feels lacklustre and her stun is pathetic, but the rest of her kit is solid. She’ll likely get some slight numerical buffs alongside some little utility tweaks in the next patch, and then be a damn good champion overall. I’m simply looking forward to a change of pace next patch.

 

Patch stuff! The new Taric is fabulous. If you love support, but also love being a walking nuclear bomb that both helps your team and blows up anything that gets near you, I highly recommend giving him a go. He’s a complete blast to play now, and I’m loving the changes he’s been given.

Hooray for the jungle icons being updated through wards and clairvoyance! While most experienced players are keeping track of jungle timers, that little usability tweak really helps when you lose track in the heat of the moment. The new potion queuing is a similar boon to help with those horrible moments when you accidentally waste a potion due to slamming that potion button twice in a blind panic, only to realize you just wasted 35 gold. Panicking idiots rejoice! We are saved from our own stupidity!

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.

Legends of Xian – Historic Chinese Action

Legends of Xian Review: Ancient Chinese History is Just a Click Away

By Bryan King (Bryan), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Legends of Xian is adapted from Ming Dynasty, which is one of China’s most popular web games in 2010. Legends of Xian is a perfect combination of RPG, strategy, adventure and various styles. Based on history of China’s Ming Dynasty, the entire game features vintage character design, vast territories throughout ancient China, diversified game systems, and unique game setting. You’ll have fun in heroic adventure, affairs management, level upgrade, and unforgettable battles; you’ll find tons of in-game events, diversified equipment & a huge weapon refining system, an interesting slave system, and an exciting arena system.

 

A Dive into Chinese History (Character Creation):

Legends of Xian’s character creation allows you to choose between three states within the ancient Chinese Ming Dynasty:

 

Yongle State – Occupying the Central and northeastern areas, famous for its brave citizens and lionhearted warriors.

 

Wanli State – Located in the northwest, noted for its valiant heroes from successive wars against the northern invaders.

 

Hongwu State – Situated in the southern fertile lands, contains rich resources, and has an advanced economy and a powerful army.

 

 

The sense of nationalism instilled in the early character customization is quite an interesting way to spark up rivalry between new players. Once you choose one of these three factions, their appearance doesn’t mean much, however, because their map design and playing style plays the same.

 

Oooh…. Ahhh! (Graphics & Sound)

Upon logging in, I was greeted by rather impressive, authentic Chinese music as opposed to many Chinese dynasty browser games. The music just has a soulful, well-produced ambience about it that many oriental based games seem to lack. Sound was very responsive, with each menu having a stylized “click” or confirm tool that wasn’t an annoyance, and can easily be turned off within the game’s extensive options system.

 

The only annoyance I found within the game was within the combat sound’s confines. The repetitive slashing noises constantly droned on in all aspects of combat, including when my entire army consisted of… archers. I hope the LoX team addresses this.

 

The game’s UI and graphics are pretty standard for a F2P browser game, especially considering how much information has to be handled by the player at once, between Buildings, Technology, Units, Unit Equipment, and so on and so forth, the game does a decent job of handling a sensory visual overload in a somewhat sleek and easy to explain interface. The game’s models look crisp, but it’s nothing stunning or spectacular. If you’re looking for client-oriented graphics, you won’t find it here. However, if you want a well-represented expectation of Ancient Chinese combat and management, you’ll find it here.

 

I Win… Already? (Gameplay):

For the most part, Legend of Xian’s gameplay hovers around basic PvE and PvP combat, however, players will find that this system later branches out into an open PK mode, siege battles, state wars, and clan wars. Considering this is all set up in a browser-game is an impressive feat. The game’s introduction allows a smooth transition into the combat, and by smooth… I mean almost a slippery slope.

 

The first problem I encountered was how unchallenging the content was, for the first ten levels of my experience, I didn’t even see more than one move in battle, I killed all of my enemies in one shot, even when I was severely outnumbered in terms of population numbered. Every single time, I got “perfect victory”, returned to town, gave the NPC the quest item they wanted, and I was showered in EXP, resources, gold, and so on and so forth. The translation within the game is not perfect either, I often found myself stumped and confused at random NPC blurts (“I’VE WAITING BEEN!”) within the game, often getting in the way of me absorbing what I needed to do for the quest. This is a lukewarm aspect of the game, and the other features of the game are much more enticing than the game’s overall gameplay polish.

 

 

Farewell! (Conclusion):

Legends of Xian excels in the prospects of sound and has many enticing features that may just make it worth trying after a lazy day at work, or in short bursts of time. However, the gameplay does not make the game as worthwhile to play as more polished. If you’re a Chinese history nut, this game does provide some authentic information in an active environment for you to enjoy.

 

Pros:

+ Game’s music is very well done.

+ UI is streamlined for an accessible experience

+ Well done storyline.

 

Cons:

–  Boring and unchallenging gameplay

–  Quest and NPC translation are distracting and lackluster

–  Combat sounds repetitive

 

 

Graphics/Sound – 4/5
Gameplay – 2/5
Features  3/5