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MMO Mechanics: MOBAs vs. MMO battlegrounds
It may feel as if MMOs have always existed as a core part of our gaming repertoire, but the genre made its indelible mark on the industry just over a decade ago. MMO titans like World of Warcraft, EVE Online, and City of Heroes shaped the mechanics we now use as markers and basic standards for the quickly growing genre, and those mechanics have been reiterated and reforged by the countless additions to the MMO clan that we know and love today. This new MMO Mechanics column aims to navigate the mechanical minefield that is the modern MMO through in-depth opinion pieces, comparative analysis, and a little bit of Irish wit, starting with a peek at what distinguishes MMO PvP battlegrounds from Massively Online Battle Arenas. If women are from Venus and men are from Mars, MMOs and MOBAs must be from different galaxies altogether. Despite the similarities between MMO PvP arenas and MOBA matches, the two take very different approaches to progression, persistence, and matchmaking. This leads to two very separate yet equally engaging ways to test the mettle of your character against the might of a human opponent.
Petroglyph to shut down Battle for Graxia just two months after launch
Due in part to the colossal success of League of Legends, the past few years have seen dozens of new MOBAs enter development. The genre that was once a niche inhabited by just a few indie developers has rapidly become one of the most competitive online gaming markets in the world, and small studios are finding it difficult to compete. Independent studio Petroglyph Games found this out the hard way when it launched free-to-play MOBA Rise of Immortals in 2011 to a less-than-stellar reception. The studio attempted to revive the game recently with its Battle For Graxia update, which overhauled the entire game to be more like other competitive PvP-focused MOBAs and added interesting new features like the White Knight system that replaces players who leave in the middle of a game. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have revived the game, as developers announced today that they will be pulling the plug on June 27th. Petroglyph's future now looks uncertain, as the studio has recently lost the development contract for End of Nations and failed to secure funding on Kickstarter for its own RTS game, Victory. [Thanks for the tip, Venova.]
