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SMITE introduces Zhong Kui, tweaks Guan Yu
It's time for another SMITE update, and you guessed it, Hi-Rez has introduced a new god to its mythology-based MOBA. Zhong Kui, otherwise known as The Demon Queller, is version 0.1.1705's big kahuna. His Demon Bag passive allows him to capture demons and gain protection from each subjugated spirit. Zhong Kui also features a DoT called Expose Evil and a couple of other nifty skills that you can view in the video we've embedded after the cut. SMITE's latest patch also features significant updates for Guan Yu, including a new 3-D model, effects, animations, and art. Full details are available via the patch notes below.
Gamescom 2013: SMITE's latest god, new game mode, and Tencent partnership
MOBAs are great for the MMO gamer afflicted by that nasty distraction called life. They offer progression, PvP, and even some theorycrafting you can take to the water-cooler gatherings at work. In some cases, MOBAs even grant the player a variety of ways to play the game. SMITE is one of these gems. During our pre-Gamescom chat with Todd Harris, co-founder and COO of Hi-Rez Studios, we learned a few details about SMITE's coming additions of a new Match-of-the-Day game mode and the Chinese-themed god named Zhong Kui.
Hi-Rez revamps SMITE's conquest visuals
Hi-Rez has updated SMITE to version 0.1.1682, and if those numbers mean nothing to you, consider the official patch notes. They include major visual changes to the game's conquest map. While the layout remains the same, the aesthetics have been "fully revised" to better fit in with the rest of the game's art direction. The new version also features some item and ability tweaks as well as a new spectator mode layout and associated functionality. Full patch notes are available on the SMITE website. You can click past the break for a video clip showing off the conquest changes.
The Daily Grind: Should MMO studios outsource their communities?
If you played MMOs at the dawn of the genre, you'll recall that player forums were not considered a mandatory feature of a studio's infrastructure. Many communities resorted to wild, offensive, private forums in an attempt to avoid heavily moderated official boards that looked more like advertisements than conversations by the time the mods were done with them. (Anyone else remember Crossroads of Britannia? Good times.) Since then, MMO studios have figured out that forums (and their annoying cousins, social media) are highly useful tools for getting information to and feedback from their playerbases. But sometimes it's gone too far; we've criticized studios for posting updates only to social media outlets at the expense of their own native forums. Well, move over, ArenaNet, because Hi-Rez has topped you: Earlier this week, Hi-Rez decided to shut down its games' official forums and move forum discussion and support to Reddit, which upset not only those people whose skin crawls at the idea of participating on Reddit but also Redditors themselves, who proposed (unsuccessfully) that Hi-Rez employees be banned, essentially, for mooching. So what do you think -- should MMO studios outsource or crowdsource their forums, communities, and support to unofficial and potentially toxic private social media venues? Does it signal an industry shift, an insensitive budgetary decision from Hi-Rez, or a genuine desire to go where the perceived population density is highest? 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!
SMITE's newest god Tyr lays down the law
Hi-Rez has released a new SMITE god to the masses. The deity of this particular hour is Tyr, also known as The Lawgiver. If that sounds intimidating, wait until you seem him two-hitting enemies, knocking them senseless (and into the air), and generally doing his best to remain impervious to stuns, taunts, fears, and mesmerize effects. There are some Tyr-related patch notes on Hi-Rez's official SMITE website, and the firm has also released a seven-minute video detailing the character's abilities and lore that you can view after the break.
Chang'e, Faerie of the Moon dances into the SMITE fray
Hi-Rez's latest SMITE patch brings a host of stuff to the game including skins, voicepacks, new ranked queues, and a variety of item and ability tweaks. Most importantly, the new update marks the entry of Chang'e, Faerie of the Moon into the SMITE arena, along with her adorable jade rabbit minion. Chang'e can purchase and sell items remotely by sending the jade rabbit to pick them up, similar to a courier in Dota 2 except that only one item can be carried at a time. All of her abilities are based in some way on dancing, and she receives a 25% movement speed bonus when using them. Chang'e is a support character, boasting evade mechanics, a stun, and ways to heal mana and hit points. Check out the Chang'e reveal trailer after the break.
Hi-Rez's Todd Harris argues Tribes: Ascend is a 'complete' and 'content-rich' experience
We reported earlier this week that Hi-Rez decided to stop updating Tribes Ascend in favor of user mapmaking tools because the studio feels that the Tribes experience is "complete" as-is. In a follow-up interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Hi-Rez's Todd Harris has now discussed the development hiatus in more detail and answers some tough questions on extant issues with game balance. He argues that not only is the game complete, but it's already feature-rich and a bargain for the price. Since launch, we added 54 new weapons. We added a new game mode, a new leveling system, custom servers, server browser, shielded base assets, 29 new maps – all free – and all that in a brief period of time. We also added an option for people to pay one price and get all the weapons. I don't know of any other free-to-play game, other than our own SMITE, that has that option. It's free-to-play, but it does have a twist. You can get all the gameplay elements for the price of a normal game. It's fairly complete in its content. Harris also tells RPS that a new tutorial would be only a "modest improvement as far as new people sticking with the game"; instead, he says, he hopes to facilitate community resources. But mostly, he appears to believe the game has already found its audience. "The days of major changes in the game are behind us," he says. What about insinuations that the studio bit off more than it could chew? Harris explains that the studio has three small teams working on multiple games and has learned "learned the value of focus." According to Harris, Tribes has supported itself commercially and profits were always returned to the game's development. Even so, the studio is focused on the MOBA space: "SMITE is doing well enough that it's justifying a large amount of resources on it . . . we see the biggest studio opportunity on SMITE."
Hi-Rez exploring Tribes: Ascend user mapmaking tools
Tribes: Ascend may be on Hi-Rez Studios' back burner, but that doesn't mean the game is dead. Rock, Paper, Shotgun recently interviewed CEO Todd Harris, who said that Ascend will be getting user-generated mapmaking tools at some point. "The one thing we're going to be working on next is a path for users to basically add their own maps," Harris explained. "We just feel like it's at a good point to have users maintain it. We feel that it's a complete experience, and we want to give users the tools to add their own maps vs., say, us adding more guns that wouldn't benefit [the experience]." When can we expect the tools, then, and what form will they take? "There's actually some community work toward an SDK [software development kit] that's been started, and I expect more details from us in the next month. It's not anything that has a date yet or a full feature set, but that's the only real feature that we have in the works -- aside from some small bug fixes," Harris said. The mapmaking tool proper is a "fresh concept" that lacks a firm release date, but Harris said that six months is the current target.
Todd Harris confirms no more development on Tribes: Ascend
If you've been a fan of Tribes: Ascend, we hope you're happy with the current state of the game -- or that you like SMITE just as much. In response to a user inquiry, Hi-Rez Studios head Todd Harris announced that there are no major updates planned for the game within the next six months. The studio's current resources are devoted first to SMITE, then to Global Agenda 2, and beyond that a full-on sequel to Tribes: Ascend is more likely than a major content patch. While Harris goes on to mention that there are additional maps being worked on, he states there is no definite date for release, if indeed these maps are ever released. While support for servers and the existing game is not in question, the long-term health of the community without further content is questionable. And with no developers working on a sequel, even that seems rather unlikely at this point.
SMITE's new deity Chronos is a timely addition
It's easy to feel that there aren't enough hours in the day to experience all of SMITE's gods in play. Still, the newest patch for the game adds a figure whose moment has come at last: Chronos, Keeper of Time. If you'd like to give him a spin, you'll find that he's made with a tightly wound arsenal of tricks, keeping his enemies on their back feet while he ticks ever closer to victory. Chronos' passive is the ever-spinning wheel of time, which stops when Chronos uses Accelerate to move faster and buff his attacks. He can also drop an area damage spell and slow his enemies to earn valuable seconds of safety. And if the situation turns dire and his hour has come at last, he can simply activate his ultimate ability to rewind time, giving him a chance to recover his abilities and take a second shot at victory. [Thanks to Don for the tip!]
Rise and Shiny revisit: Global Agenda
Ah, I had some glorious times in Global Agenda, so long ago that Seraphina Brennan still worked here and we struggled to livestream the game to do a giveaway or two. The developers prepared some pre-made level 30 characters for us, complete with Massively logo holograms emblazoned across the chests. Sera moved on, livestreaming has become easier, and I haven't returned to the game nearly as much as I've wanted to. I'm not sure why. The game is free-to-play, and I have been enjoying online shooter titles more over the last several months. Then, when I told my boss that I wanted to check it out again, she told me that it was a good idea especially since Global Agenda 2 was announced late last year. What? This news must have passed underneath my very broad radar! Still, I was eager to revisit my old characters and see if the game is still as fun as I remember, so I spent the last week playing the game -- that is, when I wasn't fighting bugs in the game. And I mean technical bugs, not the good, scary space kind.
SMITE throws a disco party with new update
SMITE's boogying down with a new patch today, so heads-up for all of you wanna-be deities out there because the pantheon of the gods is about to clash with 1970s pop culture. The update has made significant changes to the conquest mode, with wider lanes, jungle fog-of-war, a slimmed-down map, and adjusted camp positions. There are also two new XP camps to be plundered, so level up while you can! Some of the characters have received tweaks, particularly visual and vocal changes. Most notably, Aphrodite can now assume the "Afro-dite" skin, taking her back to a time when disco was all the rage in the MOBA world. The patch notes have the full scoop over all of the changes, including teleportation consumables, combat blink, and new rank 3 options. Alternatively, you can check out the patch highlights video after the jump!
Some Assembly Required: Five ways MMOs should support player events
Over the course of Some Assembly Required, we've covered a few player-run events out there that haven't been highlighted in their respective game columns. After all, we're all about PGC here, and you can't really get content more player-generated than that! But with all the the possible events across the whole gamut of games, there's no possible way to attend them all, let alone cover them here; there is only so much time in the day and space in the column. Of course, that won't stop me from trying! From Age of Conan to Warhammer Online, a few of the events I've been able to catch are festivals, races, plays, fishing contests, tavern storytelling nights, quests (yes, quests), treasure/scavenger hunts, trivia contests, arena duels, gambling nights, musical concerts, war games, horse races, weddings, dance-offs, terraforming challenges, auctions, jousts, fashion shows, tournaments, funerals, crafter fairs, and more contests than can even be mentioned. These examples aren't restricted to any one genre, either; creatively concocted events run the gamut and include themeparks like Aion, MOBAs like SMITE, and more -- and not just sandboxes. As you might have noticed, that's quite a bit of content, content that comes at no cost to the the studio! So why is it these events can be so hard to find? With so much free content at their fingertips, it would behoove studios to make it the norm to support and promote these events. And the tools they need to do so are already at their disposal.
SMITE unveils Hun Batz, the new monkey god
The most recent SMITE patch did not add a new god so much as it monkeyed around with an existing one. Sun Wukong has been removed from the game for the time being and replaced with the Mayan monkey god Hun Batz. While Hun Batz has a similar overall set of abilities, he's undergone some tweaks, so even veteran Sun Wukong players will still have to take the simian out for a stroll to understand how he works. Hun Batz features several abilities to close range and deal area damage, while his passive ability ensures that each strike after an ability is more vicious. He also inherits any skins owned by players for Sun Wukong, so you don't need to go bananas over lost cash. Whether you were a big Sun Wukong fan or are just happy to get that monkey off your back, you can try out Hun Batz now with the latest patch. [Source: Hi-Rez Studios press release]
SMITE wises up with Athena
How many gods are left in the universal pantheon for Hi-Rez Studios to exploit for SMITE? We guess at least one more because the team has patched in Athena, goddess of wisdom. Athena is a melee tank who uses a bit of magic to help her allies and herself out in a fight. While she primarily relies on shield and spear, her passive ability gives her a ranged attack after using a skill. She also can dash up to (and through) enemies, taunt with a shockwave, summon ghost soldiers to form a shield wall, and teleport to an ally while protecting that ally from 50% of damage for a short time. You can check out the Athena reveal, including her lore and abilities, in the video after the break!
Choose My Adventure: Put me in, coach
Every games writer must wonder, at some point in his career, whether he is in fact horrible at video games. Be the game Dota 2, EVE Online, or any of the other titles that make up my weekly play schedule, I worry I'm much better at having a good time than I am at actually manipulating game mechanics and making them perform the way I would want. But it doesn't have to be that way. Yes, dear friends -- I can change. I just can't do it alone. I need your help to become the most powerful, handsome, talented, handsome, elite-geared, handsome video gamester in all the world. It's up to you to Choose My Adventure and in doing so to decide which title offers me the best chance of becoming a golden gaming god and offers you the best chance to be my tough-but-fair coach who is totally a lovable teddy bear underneath all the swearing and yelling.
Hi-Rez reveals SMITE's Isis, the Goddess of Magic
Ready for the latest SMITE character reveal? Isis is here, and Hi-Rez has published a blog post and a gameplay video heralding her arrival. The Goddess of Magic is a sceptre-wielding mage -- no surprise there -- who relies on her Funeral Rites passive ability and spiffy attacks like Wing Gust and Spirit Ball. Hi-Rez has also tweaked SMITE's level system in the latest patch. God leveling earns you worshippers after every victory, which in turn translate to God Rank for a given avatar. The devs have also changed the old player level to something called Beta level. If you reach Beta level 30 prior to SMITE's official release, you'll get a free Ymir Cocadeamon skin. There's more info on all the changes at the SMITE website, and don't forget the Isis trailer after the cut. [Thanks Don!]
SMITE unchains the might of Fenrir
After many years, we finally have the answer to a rhetorical question: SMITE let the dogs out. Well, one dog -- Fenrir. But he's enough dog to count for all the others. If you hadn't guess, Fenrir is the newest deity added to the game, coming into the game with a full suite of melee abilities suitable for a wolf feared by the Norse pantheon. Fenrir's core mechanic is a stacking set of runes, with each of his abilities gaining a major buff when at a full stack of five. Normally, Fenrir can leap to do damage to an area, leap to do damage to a single target, or buff himself with increased damage and lifestealing. With a full stack of runes, his area leap stuns, his single-target leap becomes an AoE, and his buff becomes more efficient. He can also grow to a massive size, increase movement speed, and carry an enemy god around like a chew toy. Take a look at all of Fenrir's trick in the reveal video past the break, and read up on the full list of changes in the official patch notes.
SMITE unveils Ne Zha with a video preview
Are you ready to jump into SMITE's deific battles with a new god? Then you'll be happy to know that the game has just added its 34th god, Ne Zha. The Third Lotus Prince gets to show off his stuff in the video preview located just past the break. On the battlefield, Ne Zha acts as a melee assassin, with abilities to enhance his melee damage and pull himself to a distant target as needed. He also has a ranged ability to add a stacking resistance debuff and a passive ability that turns a dead Ne Zha into a healing beacon for nearby allies. As usual, the video closes out with some demonstrations of what Ne Zha can do in various combat scenarios. Ne Zha's addition also sees the inclusion of integrated streaming into the SMITE client, with a special skin available to players who stream more than 5000 minutes of the game. Check out the full list of changes on the official patch notes.
The Game Archaeologist: When sequels attack!
Sequels are both the bane of and a fact of life for movies and video games. Well, "bane" is a strong word, and you're probably thinking of Batman right now anyway, but personally, I'm always willing to give the benefit of doubt to any continuation of a favorite franchise. While we don't see sequels pop up as often in MMOs, they do exist and have significant effects upon the original title that bears the same name. It's here that MMOs diverge from movies and other video games. With those, the original is not in any sort of danger, other than the perception of having its legacy dragged down into the muck (Caddyshack II, anyone?) and perhaps overstaying its welcome. An MMO sequel, on the other hand, can cause serious consequences to its ancestor. Here at Game Archaeologist, we look at classic games that have often seen their time come and go. But what happens to one of these titles when a sequel attacks? Almost anything, it turns out.
