Monthly Archives: May 2016

SMITE Patch 3.8 Notes – The Perfect Storm

SMITE 3.8 patch notes

Today Hi-Rez revealed the patch notes for Smite patch 3.8, The Perfect Storm, hitting PTS soon.

Season Ticket

The Season Ticket is getting an update after Dreamhack, and will feature the following:

  • 8000 FP – Enigma Chest roll
  • 8500 FP – Vicious Apollo skin
  • 9000 FP – Undying Chest roll

Players will also soon be able to access a new free avatar with the code #AlliedStrong in honor of this year’s Spring Fling. New achievements are also in for Loki and Zeus.

Conquest Map Changes

The speed camp has returned to Conquest. The boar camp is removed and mana camp to moved to where it was. Boar XP increased (now on duo side) and their sound reduced. Fire elemental gives more exp, and no longer spawn once fire giant has spawned. Back harpies moved back to back, respawn times are adjusted.

The reason for these changes is that in Season 3, the Jungler has become a mid-support role. Without a speed buff, map positioning becomes a risky chore that typically doesn’t pay off. Characters like Mercury as he’s better off with speed returning. As a result the solo lane is rebalanced out now so that jungle can rotate in to take the experience.

Itemization & Other Miscellaneous Changes

  • Bloodforge – New identify (remake). 2265 gold to 2850. Power up from 40 to 75. Passive: Killing enemy god forges a shield from their blood with health equal to 200 + 10 per player level for 20s. While active you gain +20% movement speed.
  • Gem of Isolation – Gold reduction by 150.
  • Heartward Amulet – Magic Protection upped by 5 (fix).
  • Hide of Nemean Lion – Reflects damage as physical damage (tooltip fix)
  • Rod of Asclepius – Health up 50. Aura up 25% healing. Tier 2 gets 10% aura as well.
  • Runic Shield – Cost reduction by 100 gold.
  • Witch Blade – cost reduced by 150 gold.
  • Spectral Armor – Passive gains visual effect. Swirly animation.
  • Stone of Gaia – HP5 from 10 to 15.
  • Wind Demon – New Passive: Your critical hits increase your attack and movement speed by 20% for 5s. Replaces anti-heal passive.

Consumables now appear on tree to select relics.

Fixed an issue with GM messages being sent out as GM global alerts (oops!).

 

SMITE Artemis Traps B

God Balance

  • Artemis: Hidden Trap FX more consistent across all skins.
  • Chaac:  Raindance slow increased.
    • Stormcall – Increased base damage.
  • Freya: Pulse lasts 6 seconds (1 second increase).
  • Kukulkan: Power of the Wind Jewel – Issue where Kuku’s passive would not get modified by rod of Tahuti’s passive.
  • Nemesis: Scales of Fate – Increase power gain/loss from 4% to 6%.
    • Divine Judgement: Protection stealing to 50% at all ranks.
  • Raijin: Improved Quality of Life to realize his potential.
    • Percussive Storm: Projectile Speed upped by 15 to 115.
    • Thunder Crash: No longer able to be stunned/silenced once he’s invisible (stop the stutter step).
    • Taiko Drums: Time in air increased to 4.5s from 3. Reduced mobility to 40% to balance.
  • Ravana: Mystic Rush – Radius from 12 to 15. Tool Tip indicates leap instead of dash.
  • Skadi: Rune of the Hunt – Kaldr basic attack decreased by about 10% per level.
  • Vamana: Armored Umbrella – Reduced power scaling by 30%
    • Umbrellarang – Increased power scaling by 10% per hit.
  • Xing Tian: Furious Roar – Duration up to 4 seconds. But dot decreased to 3% per second. Base Damage increased late game from 100 to 210!
    • Hook Slam: Ability now roots instead of slows on the slam hit.
    • Whirlwind: Casting time upped to 1.25s. New animation. Cooldown reduced to 90s. Ability now deals 25/45/65/85/105 + 35% per hook, rotation, and throw.

SMITE Susanoo C

God Reveal: Susano

Susanoo (spelled by Hi-Rez without the additional o) is Amaterasu’s younger brother from the same parents. A troublemaker that fights frequently with Amaterasu. In his lore, he refuses to sacrifice a child to Orochi, an eight-headed dragon. Instead he gets the dragon drunk, closes gates on dragon’s neck, and cuts off the heads.

Susano is an assassin designed to do damage safely by managing enemy movement. His kit is as follows:

Swift as the Summer Storm (Passive)
For each trained ability that is on cooldown, Susano gains bonus Movement Speed (4% per stack).

Storm Kata (Dash Special)
Susano moves thrice in quick succession; after each attack he has up to 3s to fire the next one.

  • First attack: Attacks all enemies in a cone.
  • Second attack: Attacks all enemies in a circle.
  • Third attack: Dashes forward.

Wind Siphon (Cone)
Susano commands the winds to blow, dealing damage in a cone in front of him. Enemies in the center of the attack are pulled toward him.

Jet Stream (Projectile Special)
Susano throws forward a gust of air which creates a whirlwind, dealing damage every .75s for 3s. The ability may be activated again to let Susano teleport to the whirlwind.
If the initial gust hits an enemy, the whirlwind surrounds and travels with them, and teleporting to the Enemy reduces the cooldown to 6s.

Typhoon (Ultimate)
Susano summons a hurricane at his location that pulls enemies toward the center while growing up to twice its size. Susano may activate the ability again to launch the storm in the direction he is facing, knocking up opponents in its path.

HoloGrid: Monster Battle Now on Kickstarter

HoloGrid: Monster Battle Now on Kickstarter

Today, Phil Tippett & HappyGiant announced the launch of a Kickstarter campaign for HoloGrid: Monster Battle, a new hybrid board game, CCG, and digital augmented reality game, recently named “Best Technology of PAXEast 2016” by http://www.MMOGames.com.

“No other tech on the gaming floor combined so many cool, new ideas at once quite like this game. It managed to put together AR, CCG gaming and mobile gaming into a mixture that engages with its personality and depth of play.”, said MMOGames.com. “HoloGrid could have easily leaned on its AR tech to make it simply a neat toy, but it has built a very compelling game in the process. It has managed to toe that difficult line between being accessible while also offering a strong level of strategy. In addition, it has a strong base to build on for more variety of cards. If HoloGrid can secure the right attention and make its game affordable, then Happy Giant has possibly caught lightning in a bottle.”

Phil Tippett is a 2-time Academy Award winning Visual Effects Supervisor and Director best known for his work on the original Star Wars films, Jurassic Park, Robocop, The Force Awakens, and many more. Tippett also created the “Holo Chess” scene in the original Star Wars, which he recreated for the Force Awakens.

“For years I’ve been making monsters for Directors to play with, and now for the first time, I’m making monsters for YOU to play with,” said Tippett. “We’re excited about the new fields of Augmented and Virtual Reality, and to be working with our friends at HappyGiant to create HoloGrid: Monster Battle.”

HoloGrid: Monster Battle’s gameplay is similar to Collectible Card Games (CCG’s) such as Magic: The Gathering or Hearthstone, but uses physical playing cards to trigger Augmented Reality creatures and a gameboard. Players will be able to play head-to-head, either locally or remotely, and offline, non digital play is possible as well through a physical board that will come with the product. A “Hybrid” Board Game, Collectible Card Game (CCG), and Digital Game in one, it delivers to players a new type of gaming experience.

HoloGrid: Monster Battle is being built for next gen AR & VR platforms, but will first release for mobile devices, giving players the feeling that the creatures of Phil Tippett are doing battle right in front of them.

“We’re excited to be launching this Kickstarter with Phil Tippett and his studio, and bringing to life a game so many of us have always wanted to play” said Mike Levine, President of HappyGiant. “This is our first step into a new world of AR gaming, and while we are launching it on mobile initially so everyone can play it, our long term vision is to bring it to emerging AR and VR platforms.”

Another exciting aspect of the project is the use of Photogrammetry to scan Tippett’s real life physical monsters into 3D digital assets for the game, giving them a level of detail and character unlike any other.

“We’d been doing experiments with Photogrammetry, but more on museum level artifacts,” said Levine. “At the same time we began exploring doing projects with Tippett, we had the idea, ‘What if we tried this on some creatures?’ The results blew us away. That’s really where this idea was born.” “And it’s the exact same technique we used on The Force Awakens,” added Tippett.

Rocket League Hoops Review: Basketball meets Rocket Cars

By Mohammad Abubakr

Rocket League and Psyonix have always set a great example for the game development community by offering a great game with free updates at a very generous price. After spending only $20 on the game, I have been gifted with multiple updates including new modes such as hockey without any additional costs. The game relies on loyal and happy gamers who will optionally purchase downloadable content for exclusively cosmetic purposes. Once again, Rocket League players have been gifted a new game mode, Hoops, which introduces basketball to the world of Rocket League. Read on for my thoughts on this new game mode.

Even with the addition of the new Hoops mode, the general gameplay of Rocket League remains the same. Rocket League is a Sports-Action game available for both PC and PS4 (with supported crossplay!). In the traditional game mode, players drive rocket cars aiming to ram a giant soccer ball into the opposing team’s net. This simple idea coupled with rocket cars and amazing controls leaves the strategy and gameplay only limited by your imagination and skill. You can use your rocket boost to fly, accelerate at high speeds to climb the stadium walls, and even execute flips to launch the ball at the opponents’ net. Psyonix has taken the already loved and proven gameplay from a soccer field to a basketball court.

 

It’s still pretty easy to score on yourself…

 

This new basketball court is not a simple skin of the traditional soccer field. It seems like a good amount of time was spent to polish this court to make it feel like an actual basketball court. While we expected the design to change and feature wooden flooring rather than grass, even the little details such as sound effects have been changed. These little things that you would never pay attention to, such as the squeaking of the tires imitating squeaking shoes on a polished court, can add a lot to the game. You only notice these things if they are missing. The atmosphere, including the music, helps to set your mood and make you feel like you are playing basketball, not soccer.

After getting used to the environment, it is time to get familiar with the court. As I am sure you all know, a basketball court features two basketball hoops. In order to score, you must shoot the ball into the air and into the opposing team’s hoop. Unlike soccer, your shots must fly through the air into the hoops. This means that simple shots traveling horizontally are not enough, the vertical component is vital. Fortunately, this is not very difficult to pick up in Rocket League. Like the traditional game mode, the game is very easy to pick up but still has a very high skill cap.

 

How to steal your team’s points

 

Anyone can pick up the game (I recommend using a controller) and learn to shoot the ball into the hoop after a couple of games. Granted you’re better off starting off with soccer to learn the ropes before moving onto the more advanced hoops. The technique is harder than the traditional game mode as you cannot roll the ball into the net but an accelerated ram can easily launch the ball into the air. When I first started playing the Hoops game mode, I wasn’t quite sure how to score or block shots. However, after trying it out for a few matches, I quickly picked it up and can now actually plan my shots instead of just getting random flukes. It is great to see the ‘pick up and play’ aspect of the game still alive in this new game mode.

All the components of basketball are present in Hoops. You can take shots, setup for alley-oops, block shots, and even slam dunk if you are creative (imagine flying and falling down on the ball). There are no automated buttons that must be pressed to execute these plays, it is all left up to your imagination and skill when it comes to driving a rocket powered car. The base game has not changed so you still have the familiar and natural controls from Rocket League at your fingertips.

 

I love flipping into a shot

 

All of this comes together to form a great new game mode that is available to all existing Rocket League players for free! Even after all these major updates to the game, all additional optional purchases are only cosmetic. In order to make your car your own, players have access to various bodies, rims, colours, and more. With the release of the Hoops game mode, Psyonix has teamed up with the NBA to bring official team flags into the game. These flags can be flown atop your car’s antenna to show your support to your favourite team and Psyonix. It is great to see free content being released to an already great game with the additional paid content only being cosmetic.

 

Conclusion: Psyonix Sets an Example for the Industry

The new game mode helps to make an already great game even greater. New game modes such as Hoops can easily be justified as paid DLC but Psyonix chose to give us this game mode for free and rely on new purchases and cosmetic DLC sales to sustain their company. Rocket League shows us that a great game can always get by without relying on DLC after DLC and a ‘pay to win’ cash shop. If you release a great game, gamers will flock towards it and even purchase DLC for the sake of supporting the game. Plus, the DLC is pretty sweet and is well worth the price if you care about your car’s cosmetics.

 

It can be easy to give up points if you’re not careful

 

If you have not already tried out Rocket League, I would highly recommend picking up this game. If you already own the game, be sure to jump back into it to try out this new mode. It adds refreshing new game play to an already great game.