Monthly Archives: February 2015

League of Legends Nemesis Mode Review

By Jason Parker (Ragachak)

 

LoL Nemesis Mode Zany

You Should Be Enjoying This Battle More, Nemesis!

League of Legends‘ new flavor of the month mode, Nemesis, is really something. It’s ARAM with a choice. Its core concept is built around a 5v5 match where the enemy team picks your champions for you, bans included. While you can trade and strategize, you have to live with what they picked.  The goal is the same, but it is considerably harder given that you have no rerolls or second chances.  My first thought was that it would be, unsurprisingly, an incredibly toxic mode. Almost every game I’ve played or heard about, at least one person has raged, quit, or simply fed because they weren’t happy with the pick they were given.

LoL Nemesis Mode Selection

The argument can be made that the mode only fosters bad feelings, but I found a secondary purpose for this mode. It reminds me of DOTA2’s “Least Played” option, where you are forced to play champions/characters that you (personally) seldom pick.  If the devs at Riot are smart, they’re paying careful attention to who is banned and picked for the other teams. Both picks and bans are generally champions that have low synergy, low win rates, and are as a whole regarded as not worth playing. Champs that aren’t picked tend to be fairly powerful. After all, why give your opponents an edge?

 

LoL Nemesis Mode Taric

80% Luck, 20% Skill

So the enemy picks your characters. So what? For the player who is well-versed in a variety of characters it’s not a problem.  The problem lies with players who only choose to play a small handful of characters, unwilling to learn something new.  It forces players to play in a variety of situations. There won’t always be a jungler in Nemesis mode, and there are often lots of awkward or strange lane choices. TaricxGragas vs. ShenxPoppy was interesting to say the least.  One major downside to this mode comes in the form of players refusing to take what they are given, or being upset at what their team gives to the other.

LoL Nemesis Mode Shrine

What each player considers a “bad” champ varies. For example, champions that I consider underpowered are Zac, Shen, Ashe, and Janna, which are champions lacking burst damage.  But players that disagree might argue or fuss over the ban choices or the selections given to the opposing team. Another great disadvantage of this mode is when players go into this mode assuming they will get to play whatever champ they’re strong with or role they’re confident in.  Sure, I’ve managed to support in every game so far, but that doesn’t mean it will happen every time!  Players that cannot use this as a learning experience will not have fun here.

 

LoL Nemesis Mode Murica

Come Together, Right Now, Over Drag

It’s not all bad, to be sure. Sure, lots of toxic and negative behavior shows up in this particular mode, but it can teach a great deal.  Nemesis mode shows a team how to do creative and new things with whatever silly, absurd hand they’re dealt. So your team is Heimer, Sona, Taric, Hecarim, Urgot?  That’s not impossible to win with by any stretch. It shows you (the player) that not all the champions are as bad as you might think them to be. You will also possibly see a great deal of champions more than others. If a powerful champ is picked, the odds are high that the other team doesn’t think anyone on your side can use them! Show ‘em wrong, and get in there and do your best!

LoL Nemesis Mode Support duel

This is not ranked play. It’s just a fun normal mode to improve your skills in. It’s a mode that promotes trial and error, learning what can possibly work and what probably will not. It does not promote a new meta, or require players to work within that meta. Sure, there are champions that are stronger than others, but the odds of them getting play here are unlikely. Unless the enemy team is coincidentally very talented with Aatrox, and you think nobody is good with him because you thinks he sucks.

LoL Nemesis Mode Toplane

Chance of Diagnostic Error

One final note to consider: there is the chance that Riot is using this as a diagnostic tool. If they collect data on the champs and matches, the developers can use this in a positive way to influence not only the game but the community at large. I hope players will not only use this mode as a way to grief other players, though it is a noticeable trend. With a bit more positive outlook in the community, this could be an awesome popular mode that I’d be delighted to see return again in the future. You never know when you’re going to find a new obscure favorite champion from it!

My thanks to Vulkary Sori for his contribution to the article in the form of his screenshots.

LoL Nemesis Mode Buying Alistar

Eridanus Wars

Eridanus Wars is an online co-op space shooter using Virtual Reality (VR) technology. Join your friends in the cockpit and fly, shoot, and conquer space!

Features:

Conquer Sectors: Join either the Eridan or Federation faction and conquer sectors in space, each which has its own resource facility that will help the faction as a whole.

Fly Together: The game supports a unique co-pilot mechanic which allows you to go with one or two other player crew members in a single ship.

Built for Oculus: Eridanus Wars has been built and designed from scratch for the Oculus Rift device.

No DLC, No Pay to Win: The game will remain DLC free and promises only cosmetic microtransactions.

Dota 2: The New Bloom Festival & Winter Wyvern Reviewed

By Mohammad Abubakr

I have not been spending a lot of my time playing Dota 2 in the past few weeks. With my busy schedule it can be hard to commit to long Dota 2 matches as once you start, you really should play it out to the end. It is never fair to both teams to leave mid way (if there is an emergency, don’t let a game keep you there!). However, with Dota 2’s latest update introducing this year’s New Bloom Festival and the addition of a new hero, Winter Wyvern, I just had to check it out. Read on to learn what this year’s festival is all about as well as an overview of Winter Wyvern.

Firstly, while this year’s event goes by the same name as last year’s New Bloom Festival, only the Chinese theme remains the same. It is not the same raid boss style event we have come to expect.  “What was one is now two — strange twins at war with themselves, as if time’s nature itself has fractured. Some see it as a sign of worsening schism, while others see an opportunity to harness the Year Beast to fight the ultimate battle.”

Instead of a team of five teaming up to take down the year beast as fast as possible, this event pits five against five in a battle to not only destroy each other’s base, but also their own personal Year Beast. The Year Beast Brawl is like a normal match of Dota with the addition of each team’s own Year Beast charging down lanes towards the enemy. These beasts spawn every five minutes and are controlled by the AI. However, players can spend Ability Points to command the Year Beast. There are multiple commands and abilities available for use on the Year Beast such as a global Zeus ultimate or teleporting it to a lane of your choice.

At the start of the Brawl, players decide on the strengths and weaknesses of their Year Beast.

As mentioned above, these commands and abilities use Ability Points. This is a currency unique to this event and can be acquired by playing Dota 2, winning the Year Beast Brawl, or through purchase with real money. Your ability points are redistributed at the end of each match; be sure to use all your points in each match! I read a lot of complaints about the ability to purchase these points as they give teams an advantage from the get go. However, after trying out the game mode I did not feel there was a big need to purchase these ability points due to the daily bonus. I had plenty of ability points available for use and, thanks to the ability cooldowns, I never ran out of ability points by the end of the page. I can see this system being a problem in the beginning but after getting some free daily bonus points, I personally feel there is not a big problem with paying users gaining an advantage. This does not mean I am entirely happy with this event but my reasoning is on an entirely different front that I’ll get into later.

In order to join the Year Beast Brawl, you must queue for a game within random 15 minute time periods. A countdown will appear an hour before the start of each Brawl to give you time to prepare yourself and gather your friends. This horrible design decision causes the servers to get hammered in one small time frame. I could see my friends’ statuses change to ‘Finding a match’ right as the Brawl began. After waiting in the queue for multiple minutes, with many failures to find servers, I finally got into a game. There were some server issues even when playing but they were minimal, mostly consisting of a lag spike hitting every 10-15 minutes. I really do not understand why Valve would limit this event into random 15 minute intervals (it used to be 10 minute intervals initially…).

Players that win the Brawl are rewarded handsomely with item sets so the restriction to play could be because of these rewards. However, Valve could have simply limited the number of itemsets players could find every day and allow everyone to play the event at their own pace. Not everyone is able to have the game open at all times and wait for the event’s random time intervals to pop. I had to leave the game open on the side while doing some other work just to be able to test out the game mode.

There are many abilities available for the Year Beast but they are the same as existing hero abilities.

When I finally got to play The Year Beast Brawl, I was quite underwhelmed. It did not feel as epic as previous events. In previous events I felt like I was taking down a raid boss with my party in an MMO. This year I am just playing a normal game of Dota, which is not bad, with a stronger creep at my side. It feels like the marketing team at Valve worked to push out this update rather than the amazing designers we have come to love at Valve. It all seems like a cash grab via a rushed event.

On the other hand, it seems like a lot of time was spent on Winter Wyvern. This support hero can lock down enemies while also keeping her allies alive. Arctic Burn (Q) allows this dragon to soar, granting unobstructed movement, and attack enemies at long distances with a chilling attack that slows and damages enemies. This ability is very strong at all points in the game and can be used both offensively and defensively. It works great alongside Splinter Blast (W) which launches a ball of brittle ice that shatters upon impact. It is important to note that the ice does not affect the target and only damages and slows enemies within a 500 radius of the target.

Her third ability, Cold Embrace (E), encases an ally in an icy cocoon, blocking all physical damage and healing a percentage of their maximum health each second. This cocoon can also be cast on yourself to help you get out of sticky situations and bait attacks. Finally, Winter’s Curse (R) freezes an enemy in place, causing nearby enemies to attack their frozen ally. The 300 range radius for Winter’s Curse is quite small and often times you will be using this ability just for the 3 second stun.

Crystal Maiden’s new Arcana comes with a dog!

Prioritization of skills depends on both your playstyle and the enemy team composition. Aside from always leveling your ultimate, the other abilities can be leveled up with personal judgement. I am a big fan of Arctic Burn as it allows your carry to keep up with and kill slow enemies, it works great in a trilane. Splinter Blast deals a lot of damage but it can be hard to use against passive enemies. If the enemy team is very aggressive and always grouped up (either with heroes or creeps), Splinter Blast’s high damage is amazing. Cold Embrace is great but only if the enemy team has a lot of physical damage. It is similar to Omni Knight’s Repel which is great against spells but does nothing against physical damage.

Like Crystal Maiden, Winter Wyvern is very, very slow. You will want to pick up boots as soon as you can to keep up with other heroes. A Force Staff is also highly recommended as it can be used to push allies under your Cold Embrace or enemies under Winter’s Curse. From there on, you will move onto the normal support items depending on the state of the game and the enemy team’s hero composition. Items such as Mekansm, Eul’s Scepter, and Rod of Atos are great choices in many situations.

 

Conclusion: Not as Good as Last Year

I was quite disappointed with this year’s New Bloom festival. It seemed like a rushed event to make some easy money. The events in the past were amazing. You worked together with your team to tackle a new challenge that brought something new to Dota 2 outside the traditional 5v5 experience. This year we are just playing a normal All-Pick game with a pet that helps you take down buildings. I hope future events get more thought put into them. I have always praised Valve for their creativity and desire to make the best games, but this event does not represent the Valve I look up to.

However, they did do a great job with Winter Wyvern. While I am not a support player, I enjoyed my time with this hero. She does seem a bit weak at the moment but it will be interesting to see where the meta game and professional players take her.

Total War Attila: Now Available

Total War Attila

Total War™: ATTILA is now available to purchase at retailers and available for digital download.

The Dark Ages approach. A time of famine, disease and war, where refugees in their thousands flee from a sweeping tide of destruction and death. Desperate barbaric tribes rally against the ailing might of a dying and divided Roman empire; the light of civilization gutters and dims. In the great steppes of Scythia, a vast and terrifying force gathers, led by a warrior king whose thirst for conquest is utterly unequalled.

The Scourge of God, the very herald of the apocalypse, Attila the Hun.

In the next instalment in the multi award-winning Total War series of strategy games, Total War: ATTILA introduces exciting new gameplay mechanics which improve and add to numerous core turn-based and real-time Total War systems. The world will darken around you as Attila’s forces descend on your homeland creating a unique vision of survival strategy.

Total War: ATTILA is available for PC now. For more information check www.totalwar.com