MMO News |
- Amazon Games Reimagining Breakaway Warriors
- Vainglory Summer Season 2017 and Update 2.6 Arrive June 21
- Dead by Daylight Now Available on Console
- Neverwinter Shroud of Souls Update Available on Console
- SMITE Patch 4.11 Overview (Code of Chivalry)
- SMITE Black Knight & Noble Knight Osiris Skin Preview
- Team Racing League Steam Early Access Trailer
- Lineage 2 Classic (EU) – Zaken Update Now Live
- Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord E3 2017 Hands-On Preview
- Vainglory Grace Reveal Trailer: Embrace Your Redemption
| Amazon Games Reimagining Breakaway Warriors Posted: 20 Jun 2017 05:01 PM PDT Amazon Games has begun a new public alpha phase for Breakaway Warriors, and this time they’re focusing on community feedback. Key in this update is an updated roster of Warriors, created to give players more unique and ownable characters. This includes changing Spartacus to Argus, Anne Bonny to Kyra, and Morgan Le Fey to Korryn. The latest build also focuses on improving character movement, balancing the gold economy, refining Buildables, and changes to ability use. You can find more details at the developer blog linked below. The post Amazon Games Reimagining Breakaway Warriors appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| Vainglory Summer Season 2017 and Update 2.6 Arrive June 21 Posted: 20 Jun 2017 04:41 PM PDT Super Evil Megacorp, creators of Vainglory, the world's leading mobile esport, is kicking off its Summer 2017 esports season tomorrow, alongside the launch of the game's 2.6 update. The competition this summer will heat up even more following North American team Cloud9's triumph at London's O2 during the first-ever Unified Western Live Championship. Vainglory's Update 2.6, which also launches tomorrow, will introduce new hero Grace, and new skins for Skye, Samuel, Koshka and Reim.
Also beginning with the Summer season that starts tomorrow and continuing through the remainder of Vainglory's 2017 esports calendar, ESL, the world's largest esports company, will produce regularly scheduled broadcasts of Vainglory's professional league, the Vainglory8, after the two companies joined forces in May to bring mobile esports to the iconic O2 for the first time ever. Vainglory8 Summer 2017 is one of the most anticipated seasons yet, featuring top performing teams from across Europe and North America such as the recently crowned Unified Western champions, Cloud9 and Team Solomid (NA), as well as Unified Western runners-up G2 esports and Fnatic (EU). ESL's broadcasts of the Vainglory8 Summer 2017 Season kicks off this weekend from June 24-25. Viewers can tune into the Vainglory Twitch channel, YouTube channel, or Facebook page to check out all of the action.
Further raising the stakes leading into Worlds later this year, Vainglory welcomes ROX Armada of South Korea, previously Invincible Armada, to the Vainglory competitive community. The ROX Tigers, a professional League of Legends gaming team, are a powerhouse in the esports industry, making it as far as the semifinals in the 2016 League of Legends World Championships. ROX Orcas, a professional Overwatch gaming team launched in December 2016 and has already made strides in the competitive Overwatch scene. ROX Armada will be made up of some of Vainglory's top esports professionals, including World Champions Eutaek "Mango" Jeong and Hyeonjun "Druid" An, and new team member Junyoung "Engineeus" Choi. To celebrate the newly formed team, ROX Armada will premiere for the first time at the Amazon Mobile Masters Tournament Series in New York at KCON on June 23 against North American powerhouses, GankStars, Tempo Storm, Tribe, Cloud9 and NRG.
"As one of the top Vainglory esports teams in the world, we're excited to see Invincible Armada compete under the new banner of ROX Armada,"said Bo Daly, Co-Founder & President of Super Evil Megacorp. "South Korea is known for its dominance in esports and the Vainglory competitive scene is no different. With ROX Armada's roster at full strength, the upcoming East Asia competitive Vainglory8 season will be the most exciting yet."
Invincible Armada, now ROX Armada, most recently took first place in both the Vainglory8 East Asia Spring and Winter Championships. The team was also crowned the first-ever Vainglory World Champions in December 2016 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. In previous seasons, Armada, won VIPL Season 3, the VGL Korea Summer Championship and the Samsung Galaxy Vainglory Invitational at E3 2016.
Vainglory generated incredible growth throughout the last year in terms of active players, esports views and overall community engagement. Vainglory tripled its active player community on Android and generated more than 450 million minutes of competition watched on streaming platforms, 1 billion matches played, and leagues in North America, Europe, Japan, China, Korea and Southeast Asia. Vainglory is forging the path for mobile games as they shift from short-session, standalone gaming toward deep, shared experiences.
Vainglory8 Summer season kicks off this weekend in the West from June 24-25. Viewers can tune into twitch.tv/vainglory to check out all of the action. Just prior to that, five North American teams compete against ROX Armada in Amazon's Mobile Masters tournament, streaming live at 10:30am ET on June 23 on twitch.tv/amazonappstore. The East Asia Vainglory8 league in which ROX Armada will make their professional debut will kick off on July 1st local time. The Korean broadcast will be streamed on http://play.afreecatv.com/ The post Vainglory Summer Season 2017 and Update 2.6 Arrive June 21 appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| Dead by Daylight Now Available on Console Posted: 20 Jun 2017 03:35 PM PDT The hugely successful PC game Dead by Daylight is out now in North and South America on PlayStation 4 and XBOX One, with a following release later this week for European territories including the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Developed by Behaviour Digital and published by Starbreeze Studios, Dead by Daylight has sold over 1.8 million copies worldwide. Dead by Daylight: Special Edition is available now at select retailers for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Also available as a digital purchase on the respective platforms, the Dead by Daylight: Special Edition contains the following:
Dead by Daylight is an asymmetrical multiplayer (4vs1) horror game that casts one savage Killer and up to four Survivors that desperately try to survive a terrifying nightmare. Survivors play in third-person with a strong situational awareness to avoid being caught, tortured and slayed. The Killer plays in first-person, focused on hunting down and killing their victims. Released on PC in June 2016, Dead by Daylight has already sold more than 1.8 million copies on the digital distribution platform Steam and became an instant favourite with streamers on Twitch and other streaming platforms. The post Dead by Daylight Now Available on Console appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| Neverwinter Shroud of Souls Update Available on Console Posted: 20 Jun 2017 03:16 PM PDT Today, Perfect World Entertainment Inc., a leading publisher of free-to-play MMORPGs, and Cryptic Studios announced the Shroud of Souls update for Neverwinter: The Cloaked Ascendancy is available today for Xbox One and PlayStation®4. The last surviving member of the Cloaked Ascendancy warns adventurers of a dragonborn necromancer shade wielding an evil artifact with the ability to summon an army of wraiths. The River District is once again threatened in the latest update to the free-to-play MMORPG based on the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, which brings quality of life improvements to Strongholds guilds, co-op and competitive gameplay. After perishing in an attempt to steal the "Shroud of Souls" from its vault, the dragonborn necromancer returns as a shade manipulating a spectral force to overwhelm the city. Heroes of Neverwinter must now end this undead uprising before Morlanth can recruit even more powerful sprits for her legions. The Loadouts feature, Strongholds upgrades, including a customizable Guild Hall as well as a new "Marauders" event and more come to Neverwinter in the Shroud of Souls update. New features in this release include:
Also coming to Neverwinter on all platforms this week is the Protector's Jubilee (June 20 – 27). The city will be decked out with confetti and festive decorations to celebrate the game's fourth anniversary. During Protector's Jubilee, adventurers can celebrate Neverwinter's latest milestone by completing special quests for rewards throughout the Sword Coast. This year's festivities will yield brand new incentives for players, including the chance to earn a Jubilee Unicorn, Shadow Dragon Throne, Firebreathing emote or furniture for the Great Hall. Plus, Lord Neverember will reward all of the city's brave adventurers with free giveaways throughout the week. The post Neverwinter Shroud of Souls Update Available on Console appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| SMITE Patch 4.11 Overview (Code of Chivalry) Posted: 20 Jun 2017 02:47 PM PDT SMITE offers an overview of Patch 4.11, which introduces Cu Chulainn and the new Code of Chivalry event. The post SMITE Patch 4.11 Overview (Code of Chivalry) appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| SMITE Black Knight & Noble Knight Osiris Skin Preview Posted: 20 Jun 2017 02:42 PM PDT SMITE showcases the Black Knight Osiris and Noble Knight Osiris skins, part of Patch 4.11. The post SMITE Black Knight & Noble Knight Osiris Skin Preview appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| Team Racing League Steam Early Access Trailer Posted: 20 Jun 2017 02:33 PM PDT Team Racing League, a team-based 3v3 racing game, announces its upcoming early access and free single player demo. The post Team Racing League Steam Early Access Trailer appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| Lineage 2 Classic (EU) – Zaken Update Now Live Posted: 20 Jun 2017 02:06 PM PDT Lineage 2 Classic continues to evolve and EU official server has just received new content update "Zaken" named after the main new epic Raid Boss – a mighty demonic pirate. Only top level players are able to enter Zaken's ship and get out alive with countless treasures – top-grade equipment and a special "epic" earring. Along with other high-level content like new locations and new ways of enhancing gear, the game offers easier EXP for beginners and new achievements. The publisher, 4game platform, invites everybody to try the update during free access weekend from June 23 20:00 to June 25 23:59 CEST. The post Lineage 2 Classic (EU) – Zaken Update Now Live appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord E3 2017 Hands-On Preview Posted: 20 Jun 2017 01:25 PM PDT Now that the madness of E3 2017 is finally petering out, I have had a chance to collect my thoughts. And those collected thoughts drew me to one conclusion. That hands on time with Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord was the most fun part of E3 for me. Maybe I should tell people about the experience? Well my sentient half-mad subconscious, I believe you've talked me into it. Let's dive into E3 one more time to talk about just how good the medieval combat experience is in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord! The Arena The combat experience in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord can be seriously overwhelming. Trying to learn what the heck is going on while commanding 30+ units in a warzone would be a hellish experience, even for a multi-year gaming press veteran like myself. Luckily the first step of TaleWorlds Entertainment's demo was the arena. Not unlike WWE's Royal Rumble, you get thrust into a rather large flat arena to do battle against 34 (or so? I can't remember the exact number) of AI combatants. Your goal is to survive to the last man, perhaps racking up a few kills in the process for bragging rights. But you've only got a shield, a sword, and six or so throwing axes to make it happen. And yes, weapons and shields have durability, so use them wisely. For starters I'll get it out of the way, this is not some braindead AI we're talking about. You can't run in and bash them to death without resistance. While maybe 1/6 times this can actually net you a quick kill, at least half of the time you will end up with a kick to the gut that sends you defenselessly spiraling to the ground. Instead you have to analyze the situation and take appropriate counter-measures to each scenario. Is the AI using a sword and overly aggressive? Bash their head in with your shield when they pull back to attack you and then don't ever give them time to recover. Raining arrows from afar? Use your shield to close the gap, or beat them at their own game with well-timed throwing axes, then charge them when a well-placed axe makes them falter. Get double teamed by a spearman and sword and board warrior at the same time? Die like a dog. There's a reason those damn Romans/Greeks conquered so much of the known world haha. This combo basically got me every time, and I still haven't figured out a good counter measure for it! The AI is smart enough that the spearman will actually hide behind the swordsman's shield, and stab past his makeshift ally to constantly deal out damage to you. Color me impressed. After two extremely poor showings, I got the knack for combat. It's very jarring at first, but feels second nature once it all suddenly clicks. While ranged attacks like archery and axe throws act like any TPS would albeit with far more noticeable gravity pulling the projectiles down, the melee is an all new experience. By aiming the camera you can aim your melee swings, or move your shield into position to intercept attacks. This can feel like rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time at times as you might click the block button before you tilt your camera, or tilt your camera but be in a refractory phase after doing an action and unable to block in time. The whole thing is a very cerebral experience that leaves an immensely high skill ceiling for players to master through hours of gameplay. Another nice touch was that you can even pick up gear of fallen enemies to use as your own. This became key in my final arena playthrough as I cycled through my entire gear set about three times before finally getting downed in the final three due to the spearman, sword and board combo. The AI is very skilled, and once you engage in combat there is no real opportunity to turn and run away effectively. If you engage, you have to go in with the mentality that you or the enemy isn't leaving the battle. But there's a ton of tricks you can pick up to tilt the encounter in your favor. Well timed kicks can push them off balance, or if you have a shield handy you can slam it in their face to push them back. Both leaves you very vulnerable to counter attack though, so use them sparingly. Also during one confusing point I accidently equipped two shields before proceeding to bash my foe into the ground, using them as blunt weapons. Finally there is a combo attack system in which if you time your strikes alongside your vision tilt, you can chain one attack after another for a brutal combination with virtually no downtime between swings. Even knowing I could do it, I barely managed to use it in actual combat once or twice. Clearly it exists to separate hardy veterans and punish novices still getting their feet wet. I'm still kind of grumpy that I didn't get a chance to complete the arena. I feel like it's a mandatory prerequisite to be able to handle yourself and perform well once in actual combat. Battle Demo Part 1 – Mounted Cavalry Command Just as I was starting to get my bearings with melee combat, it was all thrown out the window as I mounted up for part 2 of the experience, an actual cavalry battle on horseback equipped with a spear, sword, and shield. Surprisingly the horse riding came more naturally to me than the combat system. The controls are as simplistic as possible with holding back (s) as your means to slow down, continuously holding forward as a means to speed up, and all the aiming and attack systems carrying over the same as in the arena. However, that's not to say mounted combat is in any way easy. Landing a well-placed spear thrust was hard enough against a stationary target in the arena. Trying to hit a moving target while on a horse charging forty MPH is a whole new level of insanity. I wouldn't mind a jousting practice mode to get the hang of it, as learning to do so in the middle of combat is too much. But that said, you can only do so much as a commander. Knowing how to use the F keys to boss around your subordinates is the subtle but real skill of these large scale battles. Commanding units will feel very familiar to Total War players. My recent experience with Total Warhammer in particular made this system feel right at home. Just imagine you are the lead commander of a squadron in Total War, and you will instantly get what is going on here. You can tell your units to spread or tighten into formation, follow you into battle, line up and charge forward into an enemy, retreat and spread out, or focus effects on guarding you should you be seriously wounded. What makes perfecting this system truly challenging is that your horse leaves your NPC followers' horses in the dust. You have to keep this in mind or you will find yourself alone and charging into a hail of archer fire. Getting it just right so that a few of your NPCs take the initial blunt of the charge is the key to maximizing your usefulness on the battle. Of course with all the chaos going on, there is quite a bit of luck to this. You never know when someone is going to shoot an arrow into your horse's eye and send you hurtling to the ground after all. Your horse has a separate HP system, as does all enemy mounted units, so keep that in mind when going in for an attack. If you can down an enemy commander's horse, you will have a much easier time circling around to pick off the less mobile and isolated target. My initial four charges broke the enemy's lines horribly, before I got too wrapped up in the battle and rammed my horse straight into a hillside. With enemy units quickly approaching from behind, I lacked the time and momentum to pull a perfect Mario Kart style 3 point turn, and asked my guide how to dismount. Dismounting doesn't change your roll as a commander. I was still able to utilize my cursor and commands to line up my squadron to pick off the bulk of the approaching enemies. I only had to dirty my blade on a single foe before the entire pack of goons were dead around me. Utilizing the commands at distance, I ended the match without ever even making visual confirmation of the enemy commander following. Truly knowing the combat system is secondary to knowing how to properly command your forces. Battle Demo Part 2 – Mounted Archery Khuzait Ambush I took like a duck to water in the second round of mass combat as I took on the role of a Khuzait mounted archer commander. Mounted archery is extremely challenging, but if you have a steady hand and proper timing, you can dish out insane destruction on your foes. With archery you have a few seconds after pulling back the bowstring to ensure a tight aiming reticle. If you hold the bowstring any longer, your reticle will expand at a rapid pace, ruining your accuracy. You can still fire it off if there is a large enough pack of enemies, but since you are only packing a little over 40 arrows for a battle, I recommend making every shot count. The interesting mechanic of mounted archery is that you can only reasonably fire decent shorts off to your left. Being that your right hand is pulling back the bowstring, it makes logical sense that this is the case. But in the heat of combat it becomes challenging to both keep your squadron on point while always keeping your enemy target on your left side. Even worse, at one point I was over eager and found myself sandwiched between the two main enemy forces in a crevice between sand dunes. With enemy mounted spearmen charging at me from the right side, the only counter measure at my command was to charge forward, take evasive maneuvers, and hope no straggling soldiers would break my horse's momentum. A nice feature that was present in last year's demo made its return here. Each shot you fire off and land will showcase the damage dealt and to what it was dealt. But for bragging rights, they will also tell you the difficulty of the shot you landed. Even if you only dealt 30 damage to an enemy horse, that 13 difficulty rating will boost your moral pretty fast. It was during this battle that I got a real sense of how awesome the real-time physics rendering is in the demo. An enemy mounted spearman broke free from the chaos and picked up a huge amount of speed to charge at me. At about 10 meters I managed to land an arrow right into the horse's eye for over 150 damage (most of my arrow shots were doing about 18-40 damage, and point blank spear stabs about 50-90 for reference). The horse died on impact, and the poised spearman went flying to the ground just short of reaching me. That's so satisfying! Between my keen aim and well commanded squadron, the second demo battle was a complete route. It was over in barely a minute, and I still had about 5 arrows left with no targets to put them in. Back to the Total Warhammer comparison, if a battle becomes too one sided or key commanders become injured, the enemy will enter a routed state and begin to flee. Once all surviving enemies are in a routed state, the battle ends. I imagine this will become key in multiplayer combat at launch as you will need to carefully control the loss of units versus kills while keeping all your commanders safe and sound to maximize the power that morale has over the battlefield. Battle Demo Part 3 – Mounted Cavalry Hard Mode Having seen my action combat and RTS skills in action, Frank gave me the greenlight to challenge the first battle a second time… only now on hard mode. The AI, already formidable before, upped their game to levels I simply couldn't match. Two mounted squadrons ran cross patterns through my ranks, thinning them out in nasty fashion before the ground infantrymen even had an opportunity to clash. I managed to separate and slay one of the mounted squadron's captains to sway the battle back into our favor, but my crossbowmen were left unprotected and a prime target for the other mounted enemies in the meantime. While in my first run I found I could run through the enemy's backline nearly unscathed, the archers taught me a valuable lesson in charging solo on hard mode. My horse was sliced to shreds by the barrage of arrows before a wayward infantry unit stalled me long enough for the second mounted commander to run his spear through me at high speed. The spear strike likely would have been an instant kill had I not pulled back and made an evasive dash to the side, but even still I lost 60% of my health from that single strike. I called my squadron back for one final charge, only to find while circling the outskirts of the battle that only five or six horsemen of my original twenty-five answered my call. Together the six of us made a brutal last stand against overwhelming odds, sending the main line of infantry spearmen and another group of crossbowmen fleeing from our presence. But as I turned to charge once more, I found myself completely alone behind enemy lines. My remaining squad had gotten caught up in the ranks of the fleeing enemies, unable to return to formation. With the meter at the top of the screen indicating the battle was about to be lost, I desperately charged the second remaining squadron of crossbowmen. I fell to three back to back arrow strikes before ever getting in spear length of the squad. My remaining units immediately fled as my death was the final straw to break our morale. Closing Thoughts Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord's mounted combat and squadron commands met and exceeded my expectations. I never felt like I lost due to shoddy unresponsive controls. It was clear that my inexperience was my downfall, and that the difficulty curve present would make even veteran gamers like myself have to work at the game to overcome the odds. The sound effects, physics, and pacing of battles all meshed together into a beautiful massacre that I feel I was only barely able to appreciate at its fullest. There's clearly an immense amount of depth to be found here, and the better you get at it, the more that awaits for you to discover and master. With so many factions' fighting styles to learn and learn to fight against, I could see myself playing Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord for hours without tiring. Gritting my teeth as I face off with superior players in deadly combat time and time again. Despite the amazing state the game is clearly in though, TaleWorlds still feels it has a long way to go before its ready. They aren't even teasing a release date. So we'll all have to sit on our hands and bide our time until the day comes that they feel it's ready. If you want to see more of the combat in action, be sure to check out our interview with Frank Elliott here. The post Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord E3 2017 Hands-On Preview appeared first on MMOHuts. |
| Vainglory Grace Reveal Trailer: Embrace Your Redemption Posted: 20 Jun 2017 10:19 AM PDT Vainglory reveals Grace, a warrior of Light who uses a heavy mace and shields to protect her allies. The post Vainglory Grace Reveal Trailer: Embrace Your Redemption appeared first on MMOHuts. |
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