Yearly Archives: 2013

Camelot Unchained Funds Hours Ahead of Deadline

Call outs from PennyArcade against overzealous backers. Amazon’s payment systems crashing the day before close. Kickstarter refusing to extend the deadline an inch despite the downtime this caused. Heck even Mark Jacob’s Macbook was out of commission. Fate truly seemed against Camelot Unchained going into the final 2 days of the campaign with roughly $300,000 left to reach the needed $2 million. Some might say we needed a miracle. And then it happened.

The floodgates exploded, pushing Camelot Unchained up nearly 200 backers and multiple current backers upped their pledges. The final $100k went by faster than most press could keep up. Despite being a niche title with an extremely limited userbase appeal, the game hit record levels of Kickstarter comments and funded with an astoundingly high average backer contribution of well over $100.

But the revolution hasn’t stopped yet as the campaign nears its first extended goal at $2.1 promising archers and an additional race per realm. With the FP exchange system updated and crafters getting some serious love, the momentum seems to be continuing onward! Join in the celebration now at the KS comment page!

Dota 2: Wait For Me, My Princess

By Mohammad Abubakr, OnRPG Journalist

Dragonus, the Skywrath Mage, is the latest hero to enter Dota 2’s hero pool and become the 100th hero to be ported over to Dota 2! It’s amazing to see how Dota 2 has evolved since we first saw the game in action at The International 1. Continue reading on to learn more about Dragonus and other major changes brought by last week’s Dota 2 patch.

 

Skywrath’s lore is not as interesting as Ymir the Tusk but it is still worth mentioning. Skywrath is a high born sworn to protect whomever sits within the Nest of Thorns. He grew alongside the eldest Skywrath princess and fell  for her. However, while Skywrath was occupied with learning arcane and the mastery of Skywrath sorcery, a violent coup caused the ruthless younger princess to rise into power. Due to Skywrath magic only serving the Nest of Thorns, there was nothing he could do. He clings on to his post believing it to be the best hope of one day restoring his true love to her rightful place.

 

As suggested by the name, Skywrath Mage is an intelligence based hero but with the rare ability to increase damage done by one of his skills. Although he does not possess very strong crowd control abilities, his skills pack a punch and are on low cooldowns, allowing Skywrath Mage to impact extended confrontations in a serious way.

 

Arcane Bolt is Skywrath’s first ability dealing base damage + bonus damage based on his Intelligence. You do not typically see abilities scale in Dota 2 to ensure heroes are only capable of carrying at certain points of the game. Unless typical intelligence based heroes snowball early on due to easy kills, you will seldom see intelligence based heroes carry a game at its late stages.

 

The projectile for Arcane Bolt moves slower than a turret’s.

 

This ability has a decent range with high damage, low cooldown and mana costs making it great to spam during the laning phase both for securing last hits and harassing your opponent. The projectile moves very slowly at only 500 movement speed but is not evadable, once it launches it will hit. The projectile will also grant 325 vision around itself.

 

His second ability, Concussive Shot, is a massive range no target ability that functions similar to Tinker’s rockets. The closest hero will be hit, dealt AoE damage and slowed by 40%. This ability deals decent damage but will mostly be used for its slow.

 

Skywrath Mage’s third ability is Ancient Seal which amplifies magic damage while silencing the target. If this ability is coupled correctly with all other abilities, Skywrath Mage can very quickly burst down an enemy.

 

Similar to many other intelligence heroes, the ultimate is the main reason they are picked. Skywrath Mage’s ultimate, Mystic Flare, has a massive range, low cooldown and deals massive damage evenly split amongst all heroes in the area over 2 seconds. The catch is that the very high mana cost, 800 at level three, makes it hard to use more than once. If this ultimate is used on a single hero alongside Ancient Seal, their HP bar will very quickly disappear.

 

One thing I have noticed about Mystic Flare is that it does not feel like an ultimate. It may have the stats to be considered an ultimate but you cast it and think “That’s it?” The animation is very tiny and unnoticeable. It’s nothing compared to black hole or ravage. The animation just needs to feel a little more like an ultimate and maybe even some simple sound changes will make it seem more powerful.

 

Good bye, Lich.

 

Now, on to how these abilities should be skilled. Besides prioritizing Mystic Flare, Arcane Bolt should be given priority when it comes to leveling abilities. After Arcane Bolt and Mystic Flare are fully upgraded, you have a choice on which skill would be more beneficial. Depending on how the game is going, either Concussive Shot or Ancient Seal may be maxed. However, I find Ancient Seal to be of more use in most cases due to Concussive Shot featuring a static 40% slow. Leveling Ancient Seal will increase the duration of the silence but more importantly increase the magical damage amplification.

 

Skill priority: Mystic Flare > Arcane Bolt > Ancient Seal > Concussive Shot > Stats

 

For items, players have the choice between additional mana to allow for spamming (and in certain cases even just using the 800 mana ultimate) or intelligence for extra damage. I have tried building into Bloodstone for mana, health, mana regeneration and health regeneration but this item only helps when you are certain you will be able to land some early kills or pick it up very early on at which point the base damage on Arcane Bolt is high. You definitely need some stacks on Bloodstone to make it worthwhile, otherwise it is much too expensive. To combat mana issues, Arcane boots will be worn.

 

Instead, it makes sense to focus on intelligence and utility items to both aid your team and deal good damage. Items such as Sheep Stick, Force Staff, and Eul’s Scepter are recommended.

 

Eul’s Scepter can be used to help land Mystic Flare.

 

While Skywrath Mage is able to deal high amounts of damage, I cannot help but see him as a weaker version of Obsidian Devourer. Mystic Flair may deal massive amounts of damage and Concussive Shot is able to slow enemies but Skywrath Mage requires stuns to ensure the full duration is hit. On the other hand, Obsidian Devourer’s ultimate is able to hit all enemies for the same amount and hit enemies in Astral Imprisonment.

 

I have found that Skywrath Mage coupled with heroes such as Nyx Assassin can instantly kill off squishier heroes such as supports but let’s be honest Nyx Assassin can do that alone most of the time. There is no need to waste an extra hero slot on Skywrath Mage. And with the high mana cost on Mystic Flair, simple Pugna wards can cause Skywrath to kill himself.

 

However, do not let this discourage you from giving Skywrath a try. Only the best of the best will have to worry about drafting the best possible roster to do well in games. In public games, it is mostly just about having fun and that is an area where Skywrath Mage does not fall short. It is very fulfilling to see heroes melt before your eyes in your ultimate. Definitely give Skywrath Mage a try even if there may be better heroes. Who knows, with the way the game changes I might be proven wrong by a top team.

OnRPG Shotgun News 5/1: GW2, TSW, Camelot Unchained and Much More

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG News Newb

 

Guild Wars 2 Flame & Frost Event Reaches Peak

GW2Retribution

The several month spanning living story event in Guild Wars 2 called Flame & Frost has come to a climax with a limited time dungeon on offer now. Players take the fight to the Molten Alliance and kick ass. This phase of the event will only last for half the month though, and it will be the last chance to complete all the previous phases. So if you’re missing some of the stuff that came before now is your chance to get in on it.

 

The Secret World Reveals Issue #7

 

Joel Bylos came out of hiding to reveal some details of the upcoming Issue #7 update. The bulk of the content takes place in Transylvania and has a theme similar to James Bond and spy thrillers, with that special TSW twist of course. And of course we can’t ignore the new auxiliary weapon, the Flamethrower.

 

Camelot Unchained Kickstarter Enters Final Day

CU

The Kickstarter campaign for Camelot Unchained is entering it’s final day today with just under $200,000 left to go to reach the 2 million dollar goal it set a month ago. The comment section of the Kickstarter campaign has been a nonstop chat room for backers with over 100,000 posts made so far and several more being added with every passing minute.

 

Wargaming Salutes Vets in May

 

As part of National Military Appreciation Month Wargaming America is once again offering two featured bundles, 10% of each sale will go towards three military non-profit organizations, Homes For Our Troops, AMVETS, and Military Families Fund. There are two bundles to pick from, the first for $23.39 gets you 2,000 gold and 2.5 million credits. The second, more expensive bundle gets you a T34 premium tank and garage slot, 10,000 gold, 90 days of premium account status, and 1.2 million credits for $115.99.

Petroglyph Launches Battle For Graxia With New Replay Mode and More

Battle for Graxia: Murderhoof

 

Petroglyph® today announced that its Free-to-Play Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game, Battle for Graxia™, has launched with a new Replay Mode that provides a downloadable recording of a match. Also included is a unique ‘White Knight’ feature that has never been seen in a MOBA game before. White Knight gives players the opportunity to automatically replace others that have dropped out of a match.

 

“Battle for Graxia has been an evolving project and now has culminated into what we are excited to officially call its launch,” said Steve Tall, Executive Director of Battle for Graxia. “Throughout the development process we’ve worked with the community to create a game that adds even more fun for MOBA gamers. We can’t wait to see what the community thinks of the latest features.”

 

To celebrate the launch, content bundles are offered that include exclusive Immortal skins, in-game coins for store items, a personal in-game badge to show off accomplishments, and a variety of booster items to give new characters a head-start in competing in matches. Most features are available to Steam players via the game’s Steam page with some exclusives set aside for founding players the week of launch.

 

Wizards and Champions

Wizards and Champions is a free-to-play fantasy MMORPG from Ameridat and XAP Games designed in a classic style. It features a large, zone-based game world, character progression, crafting, guilds, dungeons, PvP, and more.

Wizards and Champions is a free-roaming, adventure oriented, fantasy MMORPG with first person combat.

WAC gameplay is locked first person UI with full aimed combat. Major activities are leveling a character, gaining wealth, gaining gear, crafting, farming, dungeon runs and optional PVP.

The main overland is 9 zones arranged as a single continent. There is content in the overland, as well as entrances to non-instanced public dungeons (caves, crypts, mines, ruins, etc). There are also 16 overland raid areas.

EverQuest II – Scars of the Awakened Press Preview

By MerryQuiteContrary, OnRPG Journalist

Everquest II Scars of the Awakened Preview

Yesterday I attended the press event for the 66th game update for Everquest II, titled Scars of the Awakened.  Producer Holly Longdale and Creative Directive Akil Hooper were our tour guides with designer Carlos Mora aka Gninja (the G is silent) behind the “driving” in game. With this game update a new zone is introduced as well as a new dungeon.  There have also been some class updates along with new tradeskill quests and collections added.  Scars of the Awakened will be available for play this afternoon (April 30th PST).

Everquest II Scars of the Awakened

Cobalt Scar is a new (to EverQuest II) advanced solo zone for players 93 to 95 though Akil tells us at 93 this zone would be a challenge. Advanced solo is what EQII likes to call zones meant for one to two players or one very well geared player. Cobalt scar is part of the EverQuest legacy and has several mob types the player may recognise from EverQuest such as the Othmir – an almost otter like creature. The difference in EverQuest II is that they seem to be zombies.  Osh is also here and meditating with pretty new particle affects.

Everquest II Scars of Awakened Sunset

Siren’s Grotto is the new dungeon with this game update and features, you guessed it, Sirens. And the model used for the Sirens is gorgeous. I am not sure I’ve seen a prettier model in EQ2. This dungeon has solo, party and raid content and comes in two parts: The beautiful underwater feeling of the Sirens and then the fear touched part with the “fights focusing on the nature of Sirens” according to Akil. This new dungeons also introduces new NPCs such as the octopus-headed mobs, Tavalan. Holly states that the Tavalan are a direct reference to D&Ds Illithid or mind flayers.  There is also continued use of voice overs in this dungeon as seen with the new content for EverQuest. This definitely seems to be a trend for both the EverQuest and EverQuest II teams.

Everquest II Siren Model

As with EverQuest listening to focus feedback from players, so too is the EverQuest II team. Primarily I’m talking about some class changes. Those worried about their class though can rest easy knowing the changes are more of the fixing annoying things variety rather than major overhauls.

 

In addition to the new zone and dungeon, an outdoor raid encounter (a big serpentine dragon also from EverQuest) has been added.  There is also a new PvP set called Chaos Bringer which can be purchased in Champion’s Respite. New tradeskill quests are also available and can be identified by the very bright green feather over the NPC’s head.

Everquest II Othmir

The overall goal of this update is to “create moments for players” and being “focused on immersing players” according to Holly while Akil mentions “focusing on supporting our storyline with strong visuals”.  From the look of things, it would appear they are right on track.

League of Legends: She’s Cold as Ice

By Jason Harper (Hhean), OnRPG League Reporter

 League of Legends Lissandra Review

 

Lissandra is a close range mage with an abundance of crowd control. Her kit grants her a lot of versatility, switching from ganker to kiter to initiator in the blink of an eye. While her damage output is on the low side, she can do an incredible amount of burst if she commits wholly to an engagement. She’ll mostly be found in mid, but can be placed in top if your team composition really needs it. Players with a knowledge of other close range mages, like Ahri or Swain, will likely take to her the easiest.

 

Pros:

Strong passive
Her gap closer is nuts
Scary initiation
Oodles of crowd control
Decent wave clear
Versatile ultimate
Good auto attack animation

 

Cons:

High mana costs force her into a passive early game
Her gap closer is predictable when used in the open
Unreliable escape
Has to be near point blank range to use her full potential
Squishy
Slowest movespeed in the game (She’s encased in ice after all)

 

Ability Summary

League of Legends Lissandra Iceborn

Iceborn [Passive]: Applies a buff that makes her next spell cost no mana. The cooldown is longer than all of her non ultimate spells, but is reduced every time she hits a champion with a movement impairing effect. This cannot be shortened by cooldown reduction items.

 

League of Legends Lissandra Ice Shard

Ice Shard [Q]: Short range, fast moving skillshot that deals damage and slows the first target it hits before dealing damage in a cone behind the target. Incredible ranged harass on a low cooldown. Very useful in the laning phase, where you can use the minion waves to extend its range. Due to its high mana cost, though, you need to be careful with how often you use it when her passive isn’t up.

 League of Legends Lissandra Ring Of Frost

Ring of Frost [W]: AoE that deals damage and snares all enemies around Lissandra.

 League of Legends Lissandra Glacial Path

Glacial path [E]: Long range, slow moving skillshot that damages and slow all enemies it hits. If it is triggered again, Lissandra will teleport to the current location of the projectile. Great for farming, escape and ganking.

 League of Legends Lissandra Frozen Tomb

Frozen Tomb [R]: When cast on an enemy, it will stun them, then slow and deal damage to all enemies within a radius of the original target. When cast on Lissandra, it will immobilise her, while also making her untargetable and invulnerable, while also dealing damage and slowing all enemies in a radius around her. While in this state she cannot cast spells, in the same way as a Zhonya’s Hourglass. As a rule of thumb, the stun is better used for duels or small fights, while the self-cast is better used in larger team fights.

 

League of Legends Lissandra Shenanigans

Combos & Shenanigans

Lissandra’s game plan will change over the course of the game. She’ll start out very passive, poking away at the enemy with auto attacks and Ice Shard, rarely casting when her passive isn’t up. When she starts looking for kills, and begins roaming about the map, she transforms into a different beast entirely.

 League of Legends Lissandra Escape Tool

Glacial Path is her primary ganking tool, but it can be extremely obvious when thrown out into the open. When fired, it leaves a glowing claw marker on the ground, so an enemy will always know exactly where you’re heading. However, if the ability is aimed into a place the enemy can’t see (past a wall, into brush, outside vision range), the marker won’t appear. The best option though is to always aim for a wall, where it will cover the claw marker and have its range extended by the positioning auto-correct. When abusing the auto correct, she can get around many common ward spots by jumping over two walls at once, or by using very thick walls to jump almost the length of a screen. By doing this though you are sacrificing a multi target slow, and a good part of Lissandra’s damage potential. Weighing up the benefits of surprise against its other benefits should be factored into any assault. If you’re ganking into a lane where an ally already has some crowd control, it is often better to follow up rather than to start fights by yourself.

 League of Legends Lissandra AoE Assault

Once the fight is joined, Lissandra is very straightforward. Use your Ring of Frost to hold enemies in place before you hit them with Ice Shard (and Glacial Path if necessary). If you fear retaliation, use Frozen Tomb on Lissandra. Otherwise, use it on the enemy and proceed to blasting them to bits. Bear in mind that in order for Lissandra to go for her full kill combo, she needs to be close enough to taste the enemy, so her target either needs to die or she’s going to be in for a world of hurt. In a team fight, it is often best to use Lissandra as a follow-up initiator before she gets her Zhonya’s Hourglass, as the short duration on her ultimate’s invulnerability gives her team a very small window to follow up on before she’s smashed into the floor. This is, unsurprisingly, much worse in solo queue than in organised play.

 League of Legends Lissandra Defensive Ulti

Thankfully, Lissandra doesn’t always need to act like a mad dive bomber, and can instead use her numerous crowd control abilities to keep an enemy at arm’s length. While she ties for the slowest base move speed in the game, a single hit from any of her abilities immediately means she’s moving faster than her foe. This often means that against melee enemies, Lissandra can keep herself close enough to use her snare, but continue to position herself just barely outside of their melee auto attacks.

 

League of Legends Lissandra Bloodstone Splash

Conclusions

While her voice work is very similar to Syndra’s, her aesthetics are certainly distinctive. Her spell effects are impressive without being cluttered, and her walking animation is eye catching. I’m not entirely sure why her design removed her eyes but still kept in a low cut top, especially since she’s not exactly a sexy looking woman. Her launch skin isn’t too impressive, just a red tint on a normally blue character.

 League of Legends Lissandra Follow-Up

I’ve really enjoyed the character, and think she’s got a lot of potential. As is well known by now, crowd control is king in LoL, and Lissandra is eyeballing that crown, if not wearing it on weekends. If she gets ahead, she starts doing terrifying amounts of damage, and even if she falls behind, her team can make use of her incredible amount of control. Her only real downsides are her passive early game and her nonexistent durability. Even the former isn’t too bad, since her early game is safe, she’s just not going to be getting many kills in the laning phase. I don’t think she’s going to be a ban/ first pick, but I do think she’s a strong addition to the roster that will have a dramatic impact on any game she’s in.

 

League of Legends Lissandra Final Verdict

Final Verdict

She looks like a strong pick that’s both versatile and fun. If you usually go for these sorts of characters, she’s a great addition to your roster.
To discuss Lissandra 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.

Yitien

Yitien is a browser-based, Asian-themed MMORPG. Select from one of three different classes, and embark on a variety of quests to grow in power and fame. The game gives players a reason to group up frequently, by increasing power when long-standing friends are in a group together. With several daily events to do as well, Yitien offers plenty of activities for casual and hardcore gamers alike.

Features

Four Classes: Will you be a warrior, with their high defense and health? Or perhaps a sword dancer, cutting through waves of enemies with ease. Perhaps a healer, supporting your group while devastating opponents? And of course, there’s always the deadly assassin if you prefer the shadows. The choice is yours!

Daily Events: There’s always something to do in Yitien. From daily events, to summoning and defeating powerful bosses, the game gives players something to do at all times of the day.

Character Upgrades: Build your character however you choose. Focus on defense, offense, or mix the two. Each character you play can be unique!