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StarCraft Universe appeals to Kickstarter audience for help
Remember StarCraft Universe, the fan-made mod that turned the RTS into an MMO? The project is still going strong after two years, but its development team is in dire need of funds to push it over the hill and into open beta testing. The solution? Kickstarter, of course. Upheaval Arts hopes to raise $80,000 or more to finish the first act of the game and get it into public testing. Currently there are two races in the game (Terran and Protoss), although with stretch goals the Zerg are a possibility. The team has some respectable names attached to the project, including Composer David Orr and voice actors Danielle McRae and Eric Dieter. StarCraft Universe will require Battle.net to play and will be completely free to all. If you're concerned about Blizzard finally lowering the boom on this mod, well, don't. The team says that it's gotten the studio's approval: "While Blizzard is not directly affiliated with this project's production, we do communicate with them to submit bug reports and make technical requests. They have given their blessing/permission for us to launch this Kickstarter, and they are supporting our efforts by featuring SCU as an arcade highlight."
The Repopulation gives an overview of its siege system
That's a mighty fine city you have on your hands -- mind if we take it from you? If you're part of a heavily armed group in The Repopulation, you might be able to say this. Doing it, however, is another thing entirely. That's why Above & Beyond has created an intricate siege system to allow players to assault and protect towns. The team said that it was quite mindful of typical tactics like zerging and 3:00 a.m. takeovers when it designed the system. Sieges have a cost assigned to them that goes above just a body count and will take place over three days to allow both the attackers and defenders adequate time to rally to their cause. There are also emergency energy shields and siege weapons to consider as well. The official site has an overview and sample timeline of a proposed siege, so check it out and see if this might be the next evolution of PvP battles.
Rage Against the Zerg: Horde premades sew up Alterac Valley with vicious Rath Strat
I don't run Alterac Valley because the Horde always loses there. Are you a Horde player who craves a win in Alterac Valley? Does the inevitability of the Alliance zerg leave you feeling spent and hopeless, devoid of your former lust for battle? Do you dream of complete Alliance annihilation, caroming atop an endless stream of Honor Kills? What you need, my friend, is an injection of the renowned Rath Strat, the PvP premade team strategy refined by Rathamus of Nathrezim (US) that focuses on battleground domination and savage player-versus-player combat. Rath Strat games are all about rack and roll -- racking up HKs and rolling over the opposition with a prolonged, satisfying crunch. The premades that have sprung up around this strategy thrive on its ability to bring the spirit of PvP back to a battleground that's become a ghost of its former epic glory. Savvy strategy or premade steamroller -- is this even true PvP at all? "Some argue that what we do is not PvP," Rathamus explains about the concept's detractors. "However, when we defend Galv, we are fighting players. When we retake our towers, we are fighting players. When we kick the Alliance out of our Keep, we are fighting players. Taking bunkers? Yup, player combat. Our push that has been coined 'The Death March' phase of the strategy? We are fighting players. The failure to stand and fight as a team nearly always results in a Stormpike Graveyard (or cave) HK farm fest." Is that blood lust we see beneath that hopeful expression? Read on, dear Hordie -- the Rath Strat may be just what General Drek'Thar ordered.
The Daily Grind: How do you like your MMO PvP?
So The Secret World's Fusang Projects PvP zone is a rollicking good time. And this is coming from someone who generally thinks of MMO PvP as ill-considered (at best). Why is it fun? I can't really put my finger on that. It's an absolutely huge zone, and beautifully rendered. It also supports hundreds of simultaneous players, and for the first week of the game at least, it's lived up to its constantly populated billing. It's pretty much a zerg, though, unless you happen to be in Ventrilo with a well-coordinated group. And therein lies today's breakfast topic. Assuming you partake of MMO PvP, do you do it in a small group or are you part of the hive mind? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Leaderboard: Open world vs. instanced PvP
In the great coliseum where PvP warriors go to clash metal and drench the sand with blood, there are two doors. One leads to a place where open world PvP is embraced; the other leads to instanced PvP. Each warrior must make his or her choice which door to step through, and once that decision is made, there is no going back. Except there totally is. Open world PvP has the allure of PvP happening anytime, anywhere. Theoretically, players can vie for control of towns and regions, amassing in large armies to sweep the land of unclean filth. Or they can just zerg a spot and be zerged in return. Instanced PvP is attractive for its tightly controlled setting. The teams are usually evenly matched in numbers, and clear objectives for winning are given. So out of the two flavors of MMO PvP, which is the superior one? Vote after the jump and then back up your decision in the comments!
Zerg Rush attacks your Google search
While it's not strictly World of Warcraft-related, we're obviously big fans of Blizzard around here. So it's pretty cool when search giant Google includes an Easter egg that's a direct shout-out to the company. Go to Google and search for Zerg Rush. When you follow those simple instructions, your screen is swarmed with Os that will slowly eat up the text on your screen. Click on the Os to do battle! The better you click on the Os, the higher score you will achieve. While this probably won't quite get you over any StarCraft jones you're feeling, this little screen game is a welcome distraction in the middle of a rough work day. How well are you scoring so far?
How Blizzard makes the StarCraft 2 races so iconic
The StarCraft 2 preview for Heart of the Swarm on display at BlizzCon 2011 last week was pretty much the same thing we saw a few months ago on the Blizzard campus. Fun as it was, we instead used our short time talking with with Blizzard's lead art director Samwise Dider to have him let us in on just how Blizzard is able to make StarCraft's three races so darn iconic. His answer was pretty simple. "Protoss," he says, "they're basically elliptical and circular. Terran are basically angular and square, and Zerg are very erratic and organic and spiky." Sounds plain enough. But when one of the game's new units (specifically the Protoss' Tempest, a strong capital ship with some heavy anti-zerg ability) showed up on the screen during the Opening Ceremony, players immediately knew the 'toss were getting a new toy. Is it as easy as shapes? "With Protoss," says Didier, "as long as you have a few of the basic things; big golden arcs and sweeping sort of angelic-looking wings and surfaces, you can make almost anything into Protoss. With Terran, they're all about the clunkiness, boxes, utilitarian. You take em out of the box, they're ready to go." And the Zerg? They're "just a gumbo of teeth and snot and bile," according to Didier. "We wrap them in the movement of a snake or a spider or a roach, there's your Zerg stuff." Boiling these races down into their elements like that is just another reason why this company, and its games, are so incredibly popular. "It's very easy to tell these races apart, because they are so diametrically opposed," Didier concludes, before deconstructing the series completely: "Gold, gray, brown." %Gallery-137265%
StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm preview: Kerrigan, again
When Blizzard announced that StarCraft 2 would be split into three different games years ago, there was quite a bit of weeping and gnashing of teeth -- lots of complaining that the new corporate entity of Activision Blizzard was triple-dipping our wallets. But time heals all wounds and in this case, the great reviews of the full-featured first title didn't hurt either. So it may come as something of a surprise to be reminded that as much fun as StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty was, you've got two more campaigns coming your way. At a recent press event inside Blizzard HQ in Irvine, California, we got to take a look at two single-player missions from Heart of the Swarm, the first expansion pack-priced followup, focused on the popular Zerg race. One note of warning before we begin: There are story elements revealed in these missions that will sorta, kinda spoil the plot of Wings of Liberty if you haven't finished it yet. If you aren't done with Jim Raynor's Terran campaign, play that and then come back. Otherwise, feel free to read on.%Gallery-124602%
Perpetuum dev blog talks new features, Interference system
Wondering what's going on in the world of Perpetuum? Wonder no more, as the official Perpetuum dev blog has been updated with news of today's patch as well as a number of both client and gameplay tweaks. First on the agenda is the fact that Avatar Creations is now offering two new languages for its sci-fi sandbox, and we're sure both the Slovenian and French-speaking communities will appreciate it. The patch also features the introduction of a new heavy mech robot (the Lithus), which "can be thought of as the big brother of the Sequer, and will satisfy all your hauling needs" according to Avatar's BoyC. Next up are a couple of additions to the character screen in the form of trophies and losses followed by the coup de grace of this particular patch: the Interference system. In a nutshell, Avatar is attempting to address the fact that players are clustering together in PvP and one-shotting opponents due to a mass of concentrated firepower. The designers intentionally avoided implementing friendly fire and robot collision detection in Perpetuum, and the Interference system "simulates the effects safely fighting in a close group would have on the combat effectiveness of the group in the real world. Basically members of the group would have to be more careful not to shoot any of their comrades, and thus be slower to fire and would have to devote a lot of their attention to working together with their unit."
Waging WAR: The new RvR... Are we there yet?
This past week was an exciting week for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning as the new RvR systems were released for testing on the public test realm of Warpstone. Greg took part in both the Wednesday night and Friday afternoon sessions, and writes about his experiences and impressions in this week's Waging WAR. When Mythic said that testing would begin in October, I don't think anyone expected to get his hands on the new changes to the RvR system so soon. Wednesday night was the first focused test, and I made it a point to take part. I also took part in the European-friendly session scheduled for Friday afternoon. Both events took place in the Tier 3 (Chaos vs. Empire) pairing across the zones of High Pass and Talabecland. There are certain issues that I feel are important enough to discuss regarding the way the new battlefield dynamics will bring about a golden age for melee careers, but this week, I want to focus on the RvR itself. Things have well and truly been shaken up, and this fresh experience is going to take some serious adjustment for veteran players as well as newcomers to the game. Continue along after the break for more discussion on the topic.
Interview: Starcraft 2 lead producer Chris Sigaty
Chris Sigaty has been a faithful Blizzard employee for thirteen years and served as the lead tester on the original Starcraft. He's worked his way up the ladder on various titles, and is now hauling the reins of three different races as the lead producer on the followup Starcraft 2. Additionally, he's the rhythm guitarist in Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain and has a rockin' metal head of hair.We sat down with him recently to talk about the much anticipated sequel, which became a trilogy somewhere along the yellow brick road of development. Blizzard is still hoping to release Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty later this year, featuring the Terran single-player version of the game along with all three races in the multiplayer that you've come to love like a dear friend ... a dear friend that sucks up all of your free time and enjoys kicking you in the ribs when you're down.Read on for all the Starcraft 2 goodies we could squeeze out of him, and find out why this title is poised to glue more butts to seats very soon.
Hands-on: StarCraft II multiplayer
It's been nearly two years since we were first embarrassed in a StarCraft II multiplayer preview, but we recently got our long-awaited shot at redemption. During the interim, we've logged countless hours with the original StarCraft and its Brood War expansion (having picked up new, digital copies for a mere $15) in order to prepare for this opportunity. The bad news? We still managed to get owned. Although, in our defense, we were playing against some hardcore fansites, and the setup of Blizzard's recent hands-on event was not unlike being dropped into a televised StarCraft tournament match in Korea with an announcer saying, "Okay, and ... GO!"That's the bad news. The good news is that StarCraft II looks simply amazing, and it plays even better. After you've pounded your brain with several hundred hours (for some of you, it's probably thousands of hours) of StarCraft, and you fire up StarCraft II, it's like being jolted by 1.21 jigawatts of mouse-clicking rapture -- which, thankfully, also numbed the pain of our ongoing losing streak.%Gallery-66757%
Eyes-on: Seven minutes of Starcraft 2 multiplayer footage
click here for high-res gallery or here for multiplayer video Seven minutes and six seconds, to be exact. That's pure, raw, Starcraft 2 footage coming at you just beyond the break, and it features Terran, Zerg, and Protoss units going at it. If you're still not sated, try out the direct video file here (it's 250MB), free from flash encoding. See how much you can resist trying to move the screen around with your own mouse, continually forgetting that – alas! – it's just a video. For us it happened right at the very end when that swarm of Ultralisks started pounding on that poor Terran Command Center. Ouch.To kill time until the game ships (hopefully) later this year, be sure to check out our new hands-on with the multiplayer and our interview with lead producer Chris Sigaty, both coming later today, and the new images in the gallery below.%Gallery-66757% Download in HD (250MB)
Warhammer: Where are all the gank groups (part 2)?
I'm sure many players are applauding the fact that Mythic has systematically eradicated gank groups from the RvR experience in WAR, however, it is saddening for many others. Gank groups were the elite of the elite in DAOC, and whether you liked them or not (or died to them or not), they played a huge part in the RvR scene. Put aside for a moment all the crashing cities and fortresses, overpowered crowd control abilities, class balance issues, and general bugs and performance problems in WAR. Does it not seem that for a game that was supposed to take RvR to the next level, it actually seems to have devolved it? If the holy trinity of class-balance is healing, tanking, and DPSing, it is my humble opinion that the holy trinity of RvR is the zerg, PuG, and gank group. I'm simply left wondering, where have all the gank groups gone? The previous paragraphs illustrate what is hindering gank groups from gaining traction in WAR. With a few minor shifts in design, I believe it is possible to reunite the RvR trinity. Step one is to overhaul crowd control. Every class should not have an arsenal of debilitating CC abilities like they currently do because combat becomes less about strategy and more about button-mashing CC when many players gather together. Step two is to place fewer rewards on objectives and more rewards on player kills. Step three will arrive with Land of the Dead if properly implemented. Hopefully, the zergs and PuGs fight over the main RvR campaign and there will be incentives for gank groups to do well in Nehekhara. Either way, the dual-endgame focus should split up the zergs substantially. The final step lies with the players. Mythic can only guide us so far and unless more guilds are willing to organize 6-12-man gank groups, they simply won't happen in WAR. A PR push from Mythic might help but the best chance for this to blossom will come when a few pioneering guilds take up the mantle and own it. Open challenges on server forums are highly encouraged! << Where are all the gank groups?
Warhammer: Where are all the gank groups?
You will commonly find gank groups in many PvP games. Gank groups are simply organized, pre-made groups, usually formed by members of the same guild that work extremely well together. Usually, a gank group will destroy a pick-up group (PuG) and zerg because they employ smarter tactics, keep cooler heads, and communicate more effectively.Gank groups were very common back when I played Dark Age of Camelot from 2001-2004. These 8-man special-ops teams would sweep in at high speed, disable as many enemies as they could with crowd control, and then quickly pick off targets one or two at a time. Most PuGs and zerglings would panic, which made the job that much easier.The true challenge would come when your gank group met an enemy gank group in the open field. The outcome would come down to a combination of skill, gear, timing, communication, ability timers (realm and master level), and even luck. Taking part in a gank group vs. gank group skirmish was probably the most adrenaline-inducing MMO experience I have had in an MMO and one I have been searching for in every new PvP MMO I try.
WARbander's Handbook: oRvR methods, maneuvers, and philosophy
Fear not, armchair general! There's a new strategy guide out there called the WARbander's Handbook that just might help your smaller force take on the zerg in Warhammer Online!"Zerg" is probably one of the more common words that come up when you talk about large-scale PvP in MMOs. Other words synonymous with "zerg" are "swarm," "overkill," "mindless," "%#@#$!" and "what a bunch of lamers." Okay, the last two were expressions, but they're probably the most accurate.When you call your enemy a "zerg", it almost always means they have more people than you, and if you're angrily calling them a "zerg," it probably means they're kicking your heiny. There are occasionally intelligently organized zergs, but most often they're mindless groups of players trying to overwhelm you by sheer numbers (not skill). They can be outclassed if you know what to do and this guide gives you the strategies to do it.Zergs are common in WAR because the RvR-centric game is built for tens to hundreds of people to try kill each other out on the battlefield. Group sizes are small (6 people), however, you can combine up to four groups and make a warband (24 people). Oftentimes you will encounter several enemy warbands when they are trying to lock a zone.
The Queue: Praying for the PTR
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Good afternoon, WoW Insider! I'm feeling pretty good today, how about you? Why am I feeling so good? The idea of the PTR potentially going up in the next couple of days is giving me a bit of a rush. Seeing all of the new stuff is one of the big things that excites me about MMOs, and of course passing that info on to you guys. Let's hope it goes up sometime soon, because it will rule.Firestride asked...What should I do if I get into an AV raid that is intent on zerging, and going up against an opponent who is also zerging, only better at it?
The Digital Continuum: It won't be World of Warcraft 2
I love Blizzard, and not just for creating World of Warcraft. I've loved them since they were called Silicon & Synapse and created Rock 'n Roll Racing. But if there's one thing I've learned about the developer, it's that when making games they prefer to improve upon established models more than anything else. That statement may seem to run counter to my title, but stay with me here.When Jeff Kaplan announced his move to the company's next-gen MMO, I didn't wonder if World of Warcraft would suffer. I also didn't ponder why Blizzard and Jeff made that choice and if it would mean their second massively multiplayer online entry was going to effective be a sequel to their first. All I considered was which MMOs they were going to pluck ideas from this time, and how cleverly they'd could be implemented.
New Starcraft 2 screens 'make it rain' zerglings
Click above to play "Where's Waldo's half-eaten corpse?" What's this, more StarCraft II screenshots? Admittedly, we're a bit powerless to stop ourselves from looking at these 10 or so new images from a Fansite kit that Blizzard discreetly updated (our compatriots say only eight of these are new, but we count two more that we've never seen before). If you take nothing else from these screens, just remember that zerg rushes still elicit a sensory overload billed directly to your occipital lobe. Latest pics are in the front of the gallery. So Blizzard, how about a public beta soon to feed our addiction? %Gallery-3311% [Via Big Download]
Blizzard releases Starcraft 2 Battle Report
Blizzard has released the first of what is to be a series of Starcraft 2 battle reports -- narrated videos of a match from the alpha version of the game. Here, we see associate game balance designers Matt Cooper and David Kim playing a 1-on-1 as Protoss and Terran, respectively, with commentary provided by lead designer Dustin Browder and e-Sports team member Robert Simpson.The announcers are comically enthusiastic at times, especially when a particularly mobile Protoss probe manages to run circles around a marine. If that sounds like something you'd rather not hear or f you're trying to watch this at work, a transcript is available below the video so that you can follow along. The official Joystiq Crystal Ball™ is telling us that when SC2 is released (even it doesn't know when), the forums will light up with cries of unfair Marauder rushes.Protip: HD version available on Big Download.
