Monthly Archives: October 2012

League of Legends Teases Zed, a Shadowy Assassin

League of Legends Teases Zed, a Shadowy Assassin

 

 

Today Riot Games released a sneak peak of an imposing new champion arriving soon in League of Legends‘ on the Fields of Justice. What we’ve gleamed from his brief background is his mechanics relate to the shadows. Below is the official transcipt from Riot:

 

 

Since early antiquity, shadows have long been a subject of fascination. If you’re a scientist, your shadow is probably a simple projection of light. If you’re more spiritual, your shadow might be a reflection of your more shady whims. And if you’re following a forbidden path filled with dark techniques and even darker motives, it’s possible that your shadow is a sinister companion ready to help you pull off a vicious assassination in some dark corner of the Fields of Justice.

 

 

While we’re delving into the forbidden ways, allow us to introduce Zed, a relentless ninja master who’ll leave your enemies scared of their own shadows.

Outspark Raises Hell with Chilling Halloween Spookfest

Outspark Raises Hell with Chilling Halloween Spookfest

 

 

Today Outspark treated its community of over 10 million registered users to a wonderfully wicked Halloween Spookfest. Here’s just a sample of the haunted happenings:

 

 

For the first time ever, nightfall has descended on the wildly-popular party MMORPG, Fiesta Online, and ghosts have taken to the skies to welcome the mysterious Dark Pegasus galloping into town. The Jack-O-Lantern monster, master of untold evil, stirs up trouble as players scramble to collect vials of monster blood for valuable loot bundles that include EXP, a choice of costumes, and a mini-pet. Additionally, players can win elegant formal wear for upcoming holiday galas by participating in the Halloween Photobomb, a fun event where Fiesta characters are photoshopped into iconic movie scenes. There’s also a supercool Halloween Parade taking place today, Wednesday, October 31, 2pm PT, on the Fiesta Teva server. Those seeking to dress up can check out the killer Halloween Trick or Treat Bags for a special one-day only BOGO promotion.

 

 

Luvinia Online, the lush free-to-play anime fantasy MMORPG, is full of sweets. Hunt for candies on a Monster Bash or GM-guided tour, and receive potions, gems, and wands that turn friends into pumpkin heads. Find the missing imps for even more goodies.

 

 

Dark Blood, the hit free-to-play hardcore arcade brawler, is also getting spooky as players introduce their DARK BLOOD BATTLE PETS to the Halloween Hell Knight. Bring him pumpkins found on dungeon runs to get Halloween Pumpkin Candies which are psychedelic healing lollipops that make heads and arms ginormous. Collect all two hundred pumpkins and the Avatar Pumpkin Head is yours.

 

 

Call of Gods, the free-to-play browser strategy sim RPG, has players killing zombies for valuable rewards including rare hero cards.

British Tanks Take the Stage in World of Tanks Update 8.1

British Tanks Take the Stage in World of Tanks Update 8.1

 

World of Tanks

 

Wargaming today announced the release of Update 8.1, adding the highly anticipated British line of armored vehicles to the free-to-play MMO action game World of Tanks. The newly added national tech tree contains 22 finest models from the Royal Tank Corps across three main tank classes. World of Tanks Update 8.1 will be available on October 31 for the European players and on November 1 for the American community.

 

 

The infantry/cavalry concept of the British armored warfare has been modified to fit into World of Tanks’ three class system of light, medium, and heavy machines. The slow and clunky but powerfully gunned and thickly armoured British heavy tanks can rival the vast majority of top tier machines, while the fast yet firepower lacking medium and light tanks can prove to be invaluable for scouting in combat.

 

World of Tanks

 

Besides the familiar Matilda, Valentine, and Churchill models that are present in the game as the Soviet Lend-lease premiums, the British line features a wide selection of tech modifications for the Black Prince, Vickers and Cruiser tanks. Further up the tech tree, the selection of armored vehicles includes a diverse range of agile cruiser tanks, such as the Covenanter, Crusader, Cromwell, and the Comet. The Medium branch is topped with two ferocious modifications of the Centurion tank, while the top tier heavies include the maneuverable Caernarvon, the powerful Conqueror, and the intimidating FV215.

 

 

Along with the massive addition of new vehicles, Update 8.1 also introduces an overhauled rendering system for Province, El Halluf, Dragon Ridge, and Abbey battling arenas, while the list of premium vehicles now includes the Soviet SU-122-44, the German Pz IV Schmalturm VI, and the Panther M10.

OnRPG Shotgun News 10/31: SMITE, Wizardry, Neverwinter, and Dragon Nest EU!

OnRPG Shotgun News 10/31: SMITE, Wizardry, Neverwinter, and Dragon Nest EU!

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Neverwinter Reveals Control Wizard

A new video released from Neverwinter highlights the Control Wizard. The minute and a half video goes through Control Wizard’s early abilities which include a teleport, a ray of frost, and the impressive ice storm. It has some great looking spells and debuffs. Watch the video below to see what I mean.

 

 

Tricks in SMITE This Halloween

While most of the world will be focusing on treats today SMITE has decided to focus on tricks, more importantly the Trickster God Loki. A new video has been released revealing that Loki would be coming to SMITE. And though he may not be as good looking as Tom Hiddleston he certainly has sweeter moves. The near five minute long shows off Loki’s abilities one by one and shows him in action before going into build options. Check it all out in the video below.

 

First Wizardry Online Webcast Tomorrow

 

The first webcast about hardcore MMO Wizardry Online is being held tomorrow on Twitch TV. It is only expected to last 20 minutes but during that time they will reveal how to get into beta, and details on what Wizardry Online is and how the game will work. Check it out tomorrow at 4pm Pacific time.

 

 

Dragon Nest EU Full Website Coming Soon

eFusion has announced that the official website for Dragon Nest EU is scheduled to go live sometime early in November. Meanwhile anyone interested in getting the latest information need only go to the official Dragon Nest EU Facebook page which will also play host to some fun Halloween events.

WoW Wednesday – Cross Realm Zones

WoW Wednesday – Cross Realm Zones

By Meredith Watson

 

 

World of Warcraft‘s Cross Realm Zone feature feels a bit like how things used to be in classic and TBC and not in a good way.  Zones are now packed with players mostly in the low level areas but higher level areas can be affected as well. We had gotten used to levelling a new character in relative peace and quiet with all the mobs and resources to ourselves. I don’t recall anyone over the years saying “I sure wish this zone was heavily populated.” Which begs the question: Why has Blizzard done this?

 

 

Cross realm zones, according to Blizzard’s mouthpiece, were introduced as “a new technology that allows players in under-populated areas of the world to meet, group up, and adventure with players from other realms. This technology effectively populates low-level zones and other previously uninhabited areas, resulting in a livelier game world.”

 

 

However noble the intentions were behind cross realm zones it seems this feature has turned into a bit of a stinker with the community at large.  There are no doubt a few who enjoy it, particularly in Pandaria where CRZ isn’t available unless you are grouping with a Real ID or battle tag friend. This is actually a very nice feature for Pandaria but the real problems are in the 1 to 85 content.

 

 

As an example, I am levelling a new human warlock. Northshire Abbey has multiple players now whereas a few months ago (and for the past few years) the zone would be dead. It isn’t that big of a deal given the amount of mobs in this particular area but where it really became an issue for me was in Goldshire. Yes, Goldshire has always been a pit of depravity but now so even more. Today, at one point there was a sea of names in Goldshire and the vast majority had the asterisk behind their name indicating they were from a different realm.  I thought I would move on to Night Elf lands hoping it wouldn’t be as crowded.  I was wrong. Dolanaar was every bit as crowded with more players than I had ever seen in that area – most of whom were duelling outside the inn.

 

 

Surely this isn’t such a bad thing? On the face of it, no. The more the merrier except this is WoW we are talking about which has a notoriously horrible community.   So now that we have CRZ we also have more kill stealing, fighting for resources, quest items and rare or quest mobs.  While on my little warlock I was fighting mobs directly on the quest item I would need to loot but, of course, someone runs in and loots the item themself.  I finish killing the mobs (you are welcome) and, needless to say, had to wait for the item to spawn.

 

 

Talia, a level 90 paladin says  “Blizzard seem to have this notion we are all happy go lucky players and that we will help each other out as far as grouping for quests, etc.  goes but with most people this isn’t the case.”  Feiyra a level 86 mage who has recently been levelling in Northrend on an alt had this to say “I didn’t notice CRZ so much going through the level 70+ zones. They weren’t that populated so it must be more of a lower level thing but it does make me wonder how CRZ will affect a new player”.  How the community behaves can affect new players. Recently I was talking to a woman who had tried WoW but didn’t continue with the game past the starting zones because of the rudeness of other players. Populating low level areas, the first thing a new player encounters, may not be the best of ideas.

 

 

The problem is, like with cross realm LFG, players know they aren’t likely to encounter the same players again and there is a sense of anonymity allowing them to act badly whereas their behaviour could affect their reputation on their own realm.  With CRZ there isn’t any common decency. It is a free for all.  Maybe that is what Blizzard means by “a livelier game world”.

 

 

“We understand that players are concerned about CRZ potentially impacting the sense of community. Cross-realm zones were intended to make lower level zones feel less empty, but may also impact other more populated zones. With more populated areas, we’re aware of concerns over increased competition for resource nodes as well as quest and rare mob spawns. This is something that we’re in the process of evaluating.”

 

 

Aside from the actions of the players there are the lag and performance issues to contend with as well.  Blizzard has recently stated they are aware of and are continuously working on the issue.  That is great that they are working on the technical side of things but one has to wonder what the point of all this is.

 

 

It is clear that cross realm zones are here to stay and that Blizzard will likely ride out the criticism but what would be nice is the option to not participate in CRZ. Many have used the paid character transfer service. Would this mean they are entitled a refund because they no longer may be on that realm at any given time?

League of Legends: LoLth

League of Legends: LoLth

By Jason Harper (Hhean), OnRPG League Reporter

 

 

League of Legends‘ Elise is an odd dual form character that switches between a mage and an aggressive bruiser. This unusual combination gives her the feeling of playing two champions simultaneously, rather than being in possession of two halves of a single kit. People familiar with the other dual form characters, Jayce and Nidalee, will likely be most at home with her. Experienced junglers may also find her an interesting change of pace, as her kit gives her plenty of tricks to use when not in the lane.

 

 

Pros:

One of the strongest AP junglers in the game

Strong ganks after level 3

Good mid game presence

Has good base stats, allowing her to stack gold items in the jungle

Her spiderlings make a great shield, especially against Blitzcrank

None of the abilities she gets in spider form cost mana

Her spider form can do a lot of damage, while also being fairly durable

 

 

Cons:

Still isn’t as good as the typical jungle picks

Her laning ability is not great

While her one stun is very good, it’s her only form of crowd control

Her human form is only useful for setting up her attacks as a spider

Limited mobility when she has nothing to attack

Like other dual form characters, she lacks a real ultimate

Her human form has a very limited mana pool

 

 

Ability Summary

Spider/Human Form [Ultimate]: Switches between her human and spider forms. When switching to spider form, it will trigger her passive to summon spiderlings around her. Her spider form adds some of her AP onto each auto attack, while granting her durability and speed. All the spells in her spider form have no mana cost, which offsets her tiny mana pool in human form.

 

 

Spider Swarm [Passive]: Elise spawns with a number of spiderling stacks governed by her rank in Spider Form. When in spider form, she will summon a number of spiderlings equal to her spider swarm stacks. If any of these spiderlings are killed, she’ll lose a stack for every spiderling lost. These stacks can be regained in human form by casting spells. Her in-game tooltip for how this passive functions is awful.

 

 

Neurotoxin [Q Human]: Targeted nuke that deals bonus damage based on the target’s current health. Her most mana efficient harassment tool in the lane. After the laning phase, or when jungling, just use it at the start of a fight then forget about it.

 

 

Volatile Spiderling [W Human]: This one’s probably one of the more oddball abilities in the game. Upon casting, Elise will summon a spiderling next to her that will then scuttle to wherever you clicked. If the spiderling doesn’t hit anything before reaching its destination, it will move towards the nearest target, prioritising champions over minions. Once it reaches an enemy target, the spiderling will explode, dealing damage. If there’s nothing that the spiderling can attack, it will stand about for a while providing vision. While this ability can be used as a scouting tool or conventional skillshot, abusing its added AI can make for some weird trick shots. If you aim the spider so it deliberately misses an incoming creep wave and ends its movement near the enemy caster minions, you can have it threaten your enemies hiding around the backline, or simply blow up those squishy caster minions for mucho mucho moolah.

 

 

Cocoon [E Human]: Skillshot that stuns the first enemy it hits. As her only crowd control, being able to reliably hit with this is essential. Every time a Cocoon misses an enemy, a baby spider cries.

 

 

Venomous Bite [Q Spider]: Targeted leap that deals bonus damage based on how much health the target is missing. Functions very similarly to Trundle’s Rabid Bite. Useful as a short range gap closer, and a bit of free damage.

 

 

Skittering Frenzy [W Spider]: Grants an attack speed boost to Elise and her spiderlings, while also giving health gain per attack. This ability will melt anything that Elise is able to fight for the full duration, ideal for clearing jungle camps or tearing down stunned targets.

 

 

Rappel [E Spider]: Elise spidermans off into the sky, making her untargetable while she’s not on the ground. While in the air, Elise can see all possible targets in her range, including those in brush, but not stealthed targets. If there’s an enemy in range, she can drop down on them. Even if the target leaves her range while she’s dropping, she’ll still land on them provided the command was given before they get outside of her reach. Very long range gap closer that also doubles up as an evasion tool. Great for use in the jungle, where she can leap into the air, then drop over a wall onto a jungle camp for some satisfying escapes. If you don’t grin like a madman after dodging a Crystal Arrow with this thing, I’m afraid you have no soul.

 

 

Combos & Shenanigans

It is always in Elise’s benefit to start fights in human form. Since she should spend most of her time in spider form when moving around the map for the added movement bonus, this can require some preparation. You’re going to need to get used to her movement speed, and always arrive at a fight with the cooldown on her ultimate at 2 seconds or less, so you can immediately switch to her spider form again after blowing her human form’s spells.

 

 

The most critical spell for any Elise player is going to be her Cocoon. Once you have a target locked down with a Cocoon you might as well display “FREE KILLS! COME ‘N GET IT!” in giant neon letters above their head. The ideal combo would be to hit your prey with some Neurotoxin, followed by a Volitile Spiderling, switch to spider form, Rappel towards them as they begin to get out of the stun, activate Skittering Frenzy and give them a Venomous Bite just to finish the job. If your target is still breathing, either switch back to human form for a last bit of burst to finish them (Volatile Spiderling is great for this at close quarters) or run off as a spider, waiting on your cooldowns for a second round. If you didn’t use Rappel when attacking, you can use it after blowing her damaging abilities to act as a reset during the fight, buying time for her cooldowns before attacking again.

 

 

Conclusions

Riot have released so many Grim-Dark characters recently that I’m just gagging for an upbeat character again. If Zyra, Diana and Syndra hadn’t come out recently maybe I’d be a bit more forgiving on Elise, but her personality really doesn’t stand out. Looking back, Jayce is the only exception in a long line of dark characters that have been coming out in a steady stream since March.

 

 

Elise’s mechanics, however, are as interesting as they come. While she doesn’t have the same tight feel as Jayce, with his clever cross form combinations, she has a load of very unusual abilities that make her play like no-one else. Much like Syndra, who also had a bunch of interesting tricks, she feels like she’s far too weak to make up for her unusual gimmicks. A character like this is really unlikely to be popular, given she’s hard to play and spiders are hardly a theme people get enthusiastic about, so why hobble her with some atrocious base stats?

 

 

Final Verdict

She’s a bit weak, but these dual form characters have a tendency to get much stronger with mastery. Pick her up only if you’re after a completely oddball character.

 

To discuss Elise 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.