Monthly Archives: March 2016

Team Solomid Acquires Top Vainglory Team

Team Solomid Acquires Top Vainglory Team

Super Evil Megacorp’s Vainglory has attracted one of the top eSports organizations, Team SoloMid (TSM), as it continues to gain momentum as the world’s leading touchscreen esport. TSM has jumped into Vainglory with the acquisition of Alliance, reigning world champion and the No.1  seed for the upcoming North America Winter Live Championship. Vainglory was recently crowned the “Best Mobile Game” by the GSMA and Gamelab Mobile during the 2016 GLOMO Awards at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and is currently the fastest growing mobile game on Twitch, with 150 million minutes watched in 2015.

 

“As a global leader in eSports, we are always looking to expand our reach and attract new fans,” said Andy “Reginald” Dinh, CEO of TSM. “The mobile games community has grown extraordinarily quickly in the past few years, and Vainglory has exploded onto the eSports circuit over the past six months; it will be exciting to see it reach its huge growth potential given the amount of devices on the market.”

 

The acquisition of Alliance by TSM, who finished second in the 2015 North American League Championship Series (LCS) Summer Playoffs, is the latest a series of recent eSports team acquisitions in the Vainglory competitive scene, including Team Secret, G2 eSports and SK Gaming. The Vainglory eSports scene also includes hundreds of original teams, including home-growth professional teams paying players under contract such as GankStars, Halcyon Hammers and Phoenix eSports.

 

“We’re thrilled that Vainglory eSports has grown so quickly and that less than a year from our first tournaments, we have such rapidly growing viewer numbers and that so many professional organizations and partners are involved,” said Kristian Segerstrale, COO and Executive Director, Super Evil Megacorp. “Some day someone will create a competitive game on touch screens that will attract audiences that are 3-5x larger than the biggest PC games today. We’re excited to be working with the amazing Vainglory community to be part of that evolution.”

 

TSM’s Vainglory team is made up of Nick “CullTheMeek” Verolla (jungle/lane), Mico “MICSHE” Dedicatoria (lane/jungle) and Michael ‘FlashX’ Valore (roam). FlashX and MICSHE started their competitive careers as Alliance in the ESL Vainglory Cup Series in May 2015. Together, they won the Autumn North American VGL Qualifier last year, making it to the VIPL (Vainglory International Premier League) Season 2 in Korea last October, where they won in dramatic fashion. CullTheMeek was recruited from the first world champion team GankStars Sirius. This roster will now be competing as a part of the TSM family, and it recently won the  North American VGL Winter Qualifiers #2 (defeating GankStars Sirius), earning the No. 1 seed at the Vainglory Winter Live Championships.

 

“This opportunity, simply put, is a dream come true,” said Valore. “I have always been a passionate gamer, and TSM is the pinnacle of eSports in North America. As a kid, my parents always told me to find a job doing what I love, and thanks to TSM, I have been given that opportunity. Our team has always strived for success and now we have the supportive structure we need in order to achieve greatness. I am incredibly grateful for this chance and I know that we will not let TSM down.”

 

Following 2015 in which Vainglory players took home more than $350,000 in prize money globally, 2016 is already promising to be bigger and more intense. The Vainglory Winter Live Championships for North America will take place at a sold-out Red Bull eSports Studio in Santa Monica, Calif., from March 11-13 and the Europe Winter Live Championships will take place at the Gfinity Arena in London from March 18-20. NVIDIA and Amazon Coins will return as sponsors for both the North America and Europe events. While NA is sold out, the few remaining tickets for the Europe event can be purchased at  http://vainglorywintereu.eventbrite.com.

SMITE Skadi Patch Notes Reveal

SMITE Skadi Patch Notes Reveal

This afternoon, Smite revealed the patch notes for update 3.4, continuing changes in Season 3 and revealing the next God coming to Smite: Skadi.

The Season 3 Ticket has been unveiled and will be available for 600 gems. This season ticket frame can be mixed with any other previously unlocked frames. There’s also a new announcer pack, featuring none other than Hinduman – watch out for the “MOM, GET THE CAMERA! I GOT A PENTAKILL!” shout if you’re lucky enough to score one.

New achievements have been added for Hades, Hel, and Ullr, some of which should be easy to obtain and some . . . not so much.

The Store now has an “Undo” button which will allow players to fix purchasing mistakes.

A boar has been removed from the Fire Giant (solo lane) side of the jungle, in order to tone down solo experience that was being gained too quickly.

Item wise, the Glowing Emerald has had its price reduced by 50 for the whole tree; Hydra’s Lament will have no cooldown on procs; Masamune gets a physical power buff from 30 to 50 and a 200 Rage cost reduction; Rod of Asclepius’s aura gets buffed to 20% (up from 16%) and gets slightly cheaper; and the Rod of Healing will be 30 gold cheaper.

A few minor tweaks for the gods in Season balance includes a few buffs: Hercules, raising his movement speed by 5 and base damage by 4; Chaac, lowering his Ultimate cooldown from 90s to 75s; and Kulkulkan, scaling up Zephyr magic by 15% and reducing whirlwind’s mana cost. Other god changes includes Ra’s passive granting a longer movement speed duration, Raijin’s double-stacking Percussive Storm being fixed; Rama’s Astral Arrow regeneration speed up and mana cost down; and Anhur’s Feeble buffed to 20 (from 15) and Impale given a lower mana cost.

Finally, the big news of the patch: Skadi. Skadi is a hunter capable of pushing with plenty of damage and disruption, while in turn sacrificing movement. Skadi comes with a pet wolf, Kaldr, who can be controlled and utilized on the battlefield to increase her damage. Her kit makes her excel in 1v1 fights, especially against melee and assassin types.

Her Passive is Kaldr, The Winter Wolf, which grants her this pet as an ally.

Skadi’s 1 ability, Piercing Cold, hurls a spear forward which pierces enemies and slows. Kaldr does double damage to enemies affected by this ability.

2, Rune of the Hunt, Calls or recalls Kaldr on enemies, and can be used as early as level 0. As it is leveled, Kaldr gains more damage and new abilities, including a dash attack, self heal, and Skadi movement buff.

3, Permafrost, is a new form of crowd control. It places a large patch of ice on the ground which causes any enemies in it to slide in the direction they were moving at the time. If they collide with someone in the ice, they will bounce back in the opposite direction (like a game of hockey). Enemies cannot control their movements in the ice but can jump out with abilities. Skadi also gains a movement buff while in the permafrost.

Skadi’s ultimate, Winter’s Grasp, casts a storm around both Skadi and Kaldr. It roots enemies within the area of effect, causing damage over time during its duration, fully healing Kaldr and making him temporarily invincible. These storms can stack, making a venn diagram of death.

Full PTS patch notes can be found here.

Mirage: Arcane Warfare

Mirage is a skill-based FPS game created by Torn Banner Inc, the creators behind Chivalry: Medieval Warfare. Players can tear their enemies limb from limb with destructive magic and melee combat, while wielding complete control over every slash and spell.

Features:

Fantasy setting: Warriors armed with steel and magic bring violence and death as they do battle across a fantastical Arabian and Persian-inspired setting of desert sands, market bazaars and grand palaces.

Skill-based action: Tear your enemies limb from limb with destructive magic and melee combat.

Class system: Experiment and find your perfect playstyle between six diverse classes including stealthy assassins, hulking brutes, powerful mages and more.

Trinium Wars Early Access Key Pack Giveaway

OnRPG has partnered with IME Online to celebrate the arrival of early access testing for Trinium Wars with a code pack that no only will get you into beta for free, but unlocks a gas mask and 5000 cash currency as well!

Developed by Jang Wook Lee, Lead Artist of Diablo 3, Trinium Wars is a post-apocalyptic Sci Fi MMORPG set in the remains of Planet Earth after World War III that is now controlled by mutants. Join the fight for the rarest substance in the universe: Trinium. Support the Human forces to reconquer their home planet, which they had to leave after the devastating consequences of World War III, or join forces with the Narc, who were forced to leave their planet after depleting all its resources. Exciting and varied quests will lead you through the story of Trinium Wars. Special instance missions let you Tanks, Mechs or even Monsters. As high level content up to 1000 players can simultaneously fight in the “Resource War” mode, build up camps and mine precious Trinium. For fast PvP fun Trinium Wars offers an additional MOBA style Arena mode while the base-building mode will allow for more tactical choices and the chance to craft new equipment, potions and even skills. The big run for Trinium has started – be part of it!

 

To Redeem your Key:

  • Launch the Steam client software and log into your Steam account.
  • Click the Games Menu.
  • Choose Activate a Product on Steam…
  • Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the process.

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Path of Exile Ascendancy Updated Review

By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor)

 

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Last week I ascended. No not because I bought a new computer and the holy lord Gaben rewarded me with new playable games. Rather a new patch for Path of Exile arrived that changes well… not everything. But close to it! Before, reaching the end in Path of Exile was a bit lackluster, since the game keeps receiving updates, but never actually had something special to do when you get to the higher levels. It was clear to players and devs alike that the game needed a bit of a fresh challenge, and with Ascendancy, the Path of Exile fans are finally getting the end-game content they’ve wished for.

Its been a good several months since I last played the game, and just like me there are a lot of other players that come back with each update trying out the different challenges. But there is always a reason why most don’t stick around. Akin to Warcraft, most people hang up their boots after a few weeks of testing out the latest expansion. Ascendancy is a game changer though; there are finally a lot more things you can do and challenges you have to face to get decked out in the end. And the first major content update I want to talk about is the Labyrinth.

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Unlike previous major updates focused on expanding the story with new arcs to explore, Ascendancy is more of a side tale focused around answering the challenge of the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth offers some truly unique challenges not seen before in Path of Exile. Players need to go in with a plan as the penalty for dying now is sending you back to start, do not pass go, do not collect nifty enhancements to your character. In the Labyrinth you will face a lot of challenges, including new monsters and traps that will test your reflexes, timing, and ability to utilize your movement skills on short notice. We’re not talking about a few sparse traps hidden here or there either. Depending on how much RNGesus is against you, you may run into giant areas on each level of the Labyrinth that will make you scratch your head pondering how anyone could possibly run through unscathed.

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Without spoiling too much about the Labyrinth, let me explain to you how exactly you can clear the whole place and earn new enhancements for your current equipment. You start out entering the dungeon just like most of the levels you are used to in Path of Exile. The first floor will quickly get you accustomed to the traps you will face as you hunt for the randomly generated key locations to unlock the next zones. Rinse repeat as the traps start to overlap more and more, and the monsters get tougher and rougher until you’re at the last level of the Labyrinth. The random generation shines here more so than anyone else in the game as sometimes the trap combinations are a mega headache, and just what you’d expect for end-game. Every new level you unlock, at the start of the entrance you can see your progress and what exactly you will need to get through that zone. If you are fortunate you will find everything by luck while dodging the traps. Most of the time though you will reach a dead-end and realize you need to backtrack through the death trap to find the key you missed.

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As I said earlier, dying is not an option (duh) unless you enjoy throwing your keyboard through the window. If you die, your progression in the Labyrinth will get reset and you will have to start over again. Since we were given alpha access and a character to clear the new content with, we were given some really good equipment to help our progression. But even with the right and perhaps even best equipment available for our classes, the Labyrinth still proved to be anything but a cakewalk. I spent my whole Saturday trying to clear the levels only to still come up short by the end of the day from underestimating traps or misclicking. But slowly and surely I managed to learn from my mistakes to get my groove back, getting further and further in with each subsequent attempt. When you clear the whole Labyrinth, you get to battle a truly epic boss that makes even the traps of the dungeon seem dull in comparison. Past this battle awaits the chance to enhance your equipment with new effects and benefits, or even enhance your skills with new powerful unlocks that no single character can fully acquire. This is the heart and soul of the expansion: The Ascendancy Classes.

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In total there are 19 new Ascendancy classes, each containing their own skill tree. Each core class in Path of Exile has three Ascendancy classes (except for the Scion class which at present has only one). And each Ascendancy class changes the principles of the class drastically to make your character and class feel completely different from not only your pre-ascended character, but from the other two Ascendancy classes. And since making your character, leveling it up and using the right skills is of such a high important to the hardcore fans of Path of Exile, a lot of the die hard fans couldn’t wait to get to theorycrafting and balance testing just what this means for the competitive Leagues Path of Exile has become so renowned for.

 

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Conclusion: Excellent

As a fan of the game I must say I’m once again absolutely hooked to the game. The game isn’t only about rushing through the content while making your character as powerful as possible anymore. With regular competitive Leagues, and now a new engaging end-game that pushes their industry leading customization to even higher peaks, Path of Exile has never felt more perfect. Teaming up with friends to work together (or laugh at each other’s failure) to beat the Labyrinth is a delight. And the challenge is rough enough that anyone busting out Ascendancy skills feels truly accomplished in the community. Big props to Grinding Gear Games for still caring to innovate and push their game to the limits when most MMO teams seem content to dwell in the status quo.

Want more Path of Exile Ascendancy? Check out JamesBl0nde’s gameplay video of Shadow/Assassin!

Path Of Exile Ascendancy Review

Kritika: The White Knights Celebrates 600th Day

Kritika: The White Knights Celebrates 600th Day

GAMEVIL’s action RPG, Kritika: The White Knights has surpassed its 600th day of service, a significant milestone for the publisher as well as the mobile gaming community.

In recognition of its 600th day milestone, the Kritika team will send out in-game bonus rewards such as Gems, Equipment Tickets, and Gold that will be concluding on March 10. Additionally, the Kritika Facebook page will reward players with 3 Gold Gem Keys for every 1000 new ‘likes’ the page receives between February 29 through March 14.

Launching June 15, 2014, Kritika: The White Knights accumulated 1 million downloads in its first week of global service. Kritika’s live service team provides monthly updates which include over 100 single player levels, 8 playable classes, weekly guild battles, Ethereal Items, and a pet system.

Kritika’s developers, Funflow and All-M, continue to provide monthly content and gameplay updates to maintain the game’s commitment to excellence.

Over its life span, Kritika: The White Knights developed a global self-sustaining community. The game’s dedicated fan base resulted in an overwhelming amount of fan-created art, player guides, videos and community events. Kritka’s community also created its own eSports tournament, held in South East Asia, featuring the best players in the world competing in a Monster Wave competition.

On its one year anniversary, the Kritika team created limited edition White Knight figures to be rewarded to the best players in the game.

Through continued development support, high-quality updates and a stellar community, Kritika: The White Knights accumulated over 20 million downloads.