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League of Legends talks nerfs and reveals Lulu, the Fae Sorceress
If you can't quite get your daily dose of adorableness with Teemo or Annie, you'll definitely want to pick up League of Legends' next champion, Lulu, the Fae Sorceress. Riot Games revealed Lulu this week with a stunning art spotlight and followed up with a full gameplay reveal and a patch preview video. Lulu is the first true support champion that's been added in quite some time, with abilities that shield and buff allies while slowing enemies. All of Lulu's abilities center around her adorable little faerie companion, Pix, who fires energy bolts at the targets of all her attacks and can be commanded to shield allies or follow enemies to grant vision. Lulu's introduction patch will be arriving with a whole host of balance changes and gameplay tweaks. Ramus will have his effectiveness as a rapidly ganking jungler nerfed with a reduction in his base damage and armour. Shaco's early-game ganking potential has been found to be a bit too strong, while his late game potential is lacking. He'll be rebalanced to make him scale better into the late game. Jax was dying far too easily in teamfights, so developers have swapped the damage and ability power from the active part of his ultimate for additional armour and magic resist. Lifesteal items are also on the chopping block, with the goal of making damage harder to regenerate in a lane. Skip past the cut to watch the full patch preview video in HD.
League of Legends retiring classic skins
Get your wallets out, summoners! Four classic League of Legends skins will be retired from the store as of Monday, March 12th. The skins in question are Emerald Taric, Unmasked Kayle, Nightmare Cho'Gath, and Butcher Urgot -- and who doesn't want his favorite slaughter machine dressed up as the friendly neighborhood butcher? While they may make a future reappearance for special events, the vintage skins won't be commonly available anymore. The good news is that for the last weekend they're up for purchase, the skins will be on 75% sale, and the champions they belong to will be on 20% sale until Monday as well.
League of Legends reveals Fiora, The Grand Duelist
If you're fed up with all the recent mage champions added to League of Legends, you'll be happy to know that the next champion due to hit the scene is a true melee carry. Fiora is a competent initiator able to dash around a teamfight picking off fleeing heroes. Fiora's passive causes her to regenerate health every time she hits a target, stacking up to four times if the target is an enemy hero. Her first move, Lunge, is a double-dash that can be used to land a hit and escape, chase down a fleeing target, or initiate teamfights. As if that weren't enough mobility, Burst of Speed gives bonus movement speed for every basic attack or lunge that hits while it's active. Burst of Speed also provides an attack speed boost, and its cooldown resets if Fiora kills an enemy champion. Riposte gives Fiora a massive attack damage buff, causing the next basic attack or spell against her to be reflected back at the attacker. Fiora's ultimate, Blade Waltz, makes her rapidly bounce between nearby enemies, slashing each one for physical damage. Fiora is invulnerable during the move, but could easily be counter-attacked when it ends.
Rumble Between the Junglers: Questions about the DotA name
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Mathew McCurley takes you through the world running parallel to the games we love and enjoy, full of rules, regulations, and esoteroic topics that slip through the cracks. Behind the scenes, people are moving about, reading papers and commenting on filings and jockeying around the words of a paragraph to make it "feel" nicer. We don't like using the word "community," one might say, because it is a sympathetic word, and we do not need sympathy at this hearing. Thousands of dollars an hour are thrown at the problem for however long the team needs to work on it. I bet there were a few nice late-night sushi orders. These are the stars of the show -- two copyright and trademark filing teams, potentially backed up by a litigation team, positioning over the DotA trademark ownership issue. Last week on The Lawbringer, I gave a summary of what is happening between Valve, Blizzard, Riot Games, and the DotA community, concluding that the fight over who owns the DotA name has to be fought now because of a fight brewing for years as the genre grew. In order to expand our minds just a bit and start thinking like we want to understand the problem, we need to build a framework around the DotA issue with questions about what this is all about. Let's boil the issues down to simple questions.
Rumble Between the Junglers: How the DotA fight began
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Mathew McCurley takes you through the world running parallel to the games we love and enjoy, full of rules, regulations, and esoteroic topics that slip through the cracks. Defense of the Ancients is a genre all unique to itself. Sure, the concepts are not brand new and the bulk of the original game was created using the Warcraft III World Editor, but the lasting appeal and standing reverence of the DotA genre continues today and shows no sign of slowing down. Part tower defense, part real-time strategy unit movement, this game type has experienced astounding growth all over the world over the last decade. As the genre grows, Defense of the Ancients-style games, or MOBAs (multiplayer online battle arenas), or ARTS (action real-time strategy), or... wait... what are we calling this genre? My initial reaction to the entire naming fiasco was wonderfully summed up by Joystiq's own JC Fletcher: "Which giant company has the rights to the fan-created, community-promoted word 'Dota?'" He's right to be cynical -- justice will be meted out over a word that was born in the Blizzard maps community because of the actions of two super-huge gaming companies. That's not all there is to the story, however. Therein lies the crux of the hot topic of the day -- Blizzard has finally thrown in its opposition of Valve's attempt to trademark the name Dota for its upcoming release of DOTA 2, a literal successor to the original DotA throne. The problem is that there are a whole bunch more facts, people, and anecdotes in this story than most people know. I wrote a short post on the Dota trademark issue a few days ago that served as the basic of basics, what the news was about. Here's the short version: Valve is attempting to trademark a name that many gamers (and companies) consider to be a general term for the genre rather than the proper name for the game that spawned the genre. Hell, it could be both.
The MMO Report: Chocolate makes you fat edition
This week on The MMO Report, Casey delivers a Valentine's Day rant before moving on to the latest news -- namely, The Secret World's release date rumors, Wakfu's PvP, and the sunset of sci-fi sandbox Earthrise. He also rounds up the latest Blizzard headlines, noting the lawsuit against Valve, World of Warcraft's recent sub losses, and the "valiant and pointless exercise" of rebuilding Azeroth in Minecraft. Finally, Uncle Casey's Mailbag provides a forum for the debate over just how we're supposed to pronounce "SWTOR." All this and more in the video behind the break!
Riot releases new League of Legends Nautilus spotlight video
We brought you Riot's new Nautilus reveal a couple of days ago, and now the company has released a second video featuring its latest League of Legends champion. The clip features seven minutes worth of strategy and gameplay footage, all of it centered around the beefy new melee tank. Whether you make use of Nautilus' anchor (and its associated drag ability), or spread his damage around to multiple targets, you'll find him to be a worthwhile addition to just about any fight, according to Riot. Head past the break to view the full video. [Source: Riot press release]
Blizzard opposes Valve's DOTA trademark application
Blizzard has filed an opposition in Valve's ongoing trademark application to trademark the word DOTA, an acronym for the Defense of the Ancients map made popular through Warcraft III's custom map scene. DOTA was responsible for a good portion of Warcraft III's success and widespread competitive play, and the community has been calling the genre DOTA for many years before Valve began development of DOTA 2. Valve hired on DOTA developer Icefrog to develop a new DOTA product from the ground up in house. Other DOTA developers went off to form Riot Games, which makes the incredibly popular League of Legends. And even as Riot tries to shift the nomenclature from DOTA to MOBA, the community that started it all is still winning out. Even Valve head honcho Gabe Newell said he didn't like the DOTA or MOBA acronym, instead substituting ARTS, or Action Real Time Strategy, in its place. Filing an opposition does not necessarily mean that Blizzard wants to trademark DOTA -- it doesn't. Rather, an opposition makes light of information otherwise not seen and shows that there is more at stake and more people and parties have a stake in the word DOTA as being a community-owned term. Valve and Gabe Newell responded to Blizzard's opposition by stating that the game being developed was a true sequel to DOTA and rightfully should have the moniker trademarked. However, the DOTA genre is still very much a term used to describe the three-lane tower setup of the classic DOTA map. Blizzard will be releasing its own Blizzard DOTA game in the future through its brand new Battle.net Arcade system.
League of Legends reveals Nautilus, announces Sona nerf
Riot Games adds a new champion to League of Legends' growing roster every few weeks to keep the game fresh, and this week Riot revealed the game's next champion Nautilus, the Titan of the Depths. Nautilus is a tank with a unique initiation ability: He throws his massive anchor toward a target, and then drags himself toward the anchor. His abilities encourage spreading damage around during team fights, with his passive adding bonus damage to his first attack against a champion every twelve seconds and immobilising them slightly. A shield ability and area-effect damage spells make Nautilus a dangerous tank to be near during team fights. A number of gameplay and balance changes will be coming in the Nautilus patch. Shen is getting a complete ability set retuning to make him scale better to late game, and let him function better as as tank. It's been a long time coming, but unsurprisingly LoL's dominant support champion Sona is due for a few nerfs in the upcoming patch. The mana regenerated by Soraka's Infuse will be increased but she'll no longer be able to cast it on herself to essentially have limitless mana. Nerfs are also on the way for Vladimir, aimed at decreasing his early game presence without disrupting his fun gameplay. Check out the full patch preview video after the cut for more details.
Blizzard taking Valve to court over 'DOTA' trademark
Which giant company has the rights to the fan-created, community-promoted word "Dota?" That's up to the courts now. Blizzard has filed a Notice of Opposition with the US Patent and Trademark Office, seeking to block Valve's registration of the word. The word has been used exclusively in reference to a (mod of a) Blizzard game, the document explains. "By virtue of that use, the DOTA mark has become firmly associated in the mind of consumers with Blizzard, including to signify a highly popular scenario or variant of one of Blizzard's best-selling computer games, Warcraft III."Valve, the document goes on to claim, hasn't used the word for anything yet. There's also a lot of history of Warcraft III, which is a really strange thing to read in a legal document. The case is in discovery now, with pretrial procedures taking place throughout this year and into next. We hope this court proceeding doesn't delay either of the games, as those companies are quite capable of delaying their games on their own.
League of Legends reveals Ziggs, the Hexplosives Expert
If you're a fan of League of Legends' cute, fuzzy, and distinctly psychotic yordles, you're in for a treat this week! Riot Games has revealed the game's next champion, a furry little yordle who's as adorable as he is deadly. Ziggs the Hexplosives Expert may look innocent enough, but he'd just as sooner drop a bomb in your lap than give you a hug. In a new gameplay reveal, developers give us a look at each of Ziggs' abilities, some screenshots of him in combat, and a dose of lore to blend the new champion into LoL's ever-growing roster. Ziggs is able to throw a bouncing bomb, set up a delayed satchel charge and scatter proximity mines across the ground that detonate on contact. His ultimate ability, the aptly named Mega Inferno Bomb, is essentially a long-range portable nuke that deals massive damage to those inside the primary blast radius. All of these abilities add up to make Ziggs a scary little damage-dealer to come up against in a match. The Ziggs patch will bring with it a number of additional balance changes, including the removal of the critical strike mastery in the offense tree, a buff coming to Jax, and a significant nerf heading for Lee Sin players. Check out the Ziggs patch preview video after the break for more details.
League of Legends releases Ahri, the Nine-Tailed Fox
Back in September, Riot Games was so excited about an upcoming League of Legends champion it had barely begun working on that it released the concept to fans far ahead of schedule. The champion later became known as Ahri, the Nine-Tailed Fox, and last week we got a sneak peek at her abilities and the balance changes that would be accompanying her arrival. That patch went live this weekend, and Ahri has now been officially released. In a new champion spotlight video, LoL's resident strategic expert Phreak discusses each of Ahri's abilities in detail and gives tips on playing the champion effectively. Ahri is a mage assassin, able to dish out considerable damage in a short space of time. After landing a number of spell attacks, Ahri's next spell will hit with a huge bonus to spell vamp. By sending an Orb of Deception through a whole wave of enemy creeps once the spell vamp buff is active, Ahri can heal herself for a significant amount. Her ultimate allows her to quickly dash around the field of play, either to chase down a fleeing champion or evade pursuit. Skip past the cut to watch the full champion spotlight video in HD, and stay tuned to our weekly Not So Massively column every Monday for more LoL news and updates.
League of Legends to introduce big changes with the Ahri patch
Riot Games has revealed that the long-awaited League of Legends champion Ahri the Nine Tailed Fox will be coming in the very next patch. In addition to heralding the arrival of the new champion, the Ahri patch will introduce some major gameplay changes. In a new patch preview video, lead champion designer Morello and spotlight announcer Phreak discuss the biggest balance and gameplay changes coming in the next patch. Twisted Fate's attack range will be increased, and he'll now be able to manually pick a target for his attack once he locks a card. This should prevent cards hitting the wrong target and make him better able to harass in a lane without leaving himself exposed. Tryndamere receives a much-needed nerf to his self-heal as he tends to have a full rage bar when he's doing well in a lane and the heal ends up being much too powerful. The "perseverence" mastery in the utility tree is being removed and replaced with an old "strength of spirit" mastery that converts maximum mana into bonus health regeneration. With the removal of dodge runes, Phreak and Morello also discuss some new ones being added to make the game a bit more interesting. Skip past the cut to watch the full patch preview video, and stay tuned to our weekly Not So Massively column every Monday for more LoL news and updates.
Riot Games' close calls with disaster
Riot Games CEO Brandon Beck gave the closing keynote at last week's IGDA Leadership Forum in Los Angeles, California, and during the talk (in which he made the point that "Riot's secret weapon all along" has been its employees), he gave a few interesting examples of how Riot's staff had really gone the extra distance to turn League of Legends into the successful online phenomenon it is today. His first example was about the matchmaking system -- originally, Riot struggled to make sure that players were matched up against each other in an interesting and effective way, and the company ended up bringing in not a game developer, but a programmer with a PhD in computational biology whose "thinking was radically different and compelling," according to Beck. A month after this hire, the company had a whole new matchmaking system, and in the end, it turned out to be "too fair" -- the games were too close. Since "what players remember are the outliers," according to Beck, the team developed "snowball items," which were "risky purchases that rewarded flawless execution." That bit of gameplay mixed up the matches, and came to be the system the game uses today.
Why you might like Blizzard DOTA
Fans of Defense of the Ancients, the immensely popular Warcraft III mod that spawned an entirely new genre of gaming, are already conditioned to love Blizzard DOTA. I got to play it this week at BlizzCon 2011 and had a great time getting into the very familiar world. However, many Blizzard fans are not DOTA enthusiasts or even privy to the genre itself. WoW players may not really understand what this Blizzard offering is about or even why they should be interested. Warcraft fan-favorite characters Thrall and Arthas are making appearance in Blizzard DOTA, which means gamers who have ever wanted to pit these monolithic figures against other Blizzard staple characters will get the chance. Here's what you need to know about Blizzard DOTA and why you just might like playing as one of your favorite WoW personalities. Defense of the Ancients was originally a Warcraft III mod that became so incredibly popular that it spawned the genre know known as MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) or ARTS (action real-time strategy), depending on who you ask. The game consists of three paths that connect two bases with destructible buildings and towers along the path routes. Waves of minions or creeps, NPC characters that spawn endlessly from both bases, meet in the middle of these lanes to do battle. You control a powerful hero who levels up, gains skills and abilities, and can purchase items from a shop. Your goal is to fight these minions and enemy players, destroy the enemy towers and buildings, and win the game.
Prime World shows the glory -- and defeat -- of combat
For DOTA and League of Legends fans out there, Nival's Prime World shares a competitive spirit that's worth keeping an eye on as it goes through development. The Facebook-integrated game encourages players to build up their castles, band together to fight mobs, and face off against each other in battles of supreme strategy and bloodsplosions. Nival has released a new set of screenshots today showing off Prime World's combat in action. The studio is proud of the rich colorset and visuals it's created for the game, and the team is hoping that they will appeal to those interested in good-looking PvP. You can check out all of the action-packed screenies in the gallery below! %Gallery-125703%
Blizzard DOTA, coming soon to a new platform called Blizzard Arcade
Blizzard DOTA was back on the floor of BlizzCon 2011 last week, after spending a year away from the spotlight being "completely rebooted." We played the game as soon as we possibly could, finding it to be a much more polished take on the popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) gametype. "Last year we had basically the style of the art, and the look that we were going for," says Samwise Didier, Blizzard's Senior Art Director. But as I said when I played the early version of the mod, the game itself wasn't quite as polished as the look and feel. "This year," says Didier, "we really focused on taking the DOTA-style game and really making it our own." Blizzard has done a few interesting things to the gametype that has made League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth so popular. But the most interesting may just be how the company plans to release it. Blizzard is going to make sure everyone has a chance to check it out, even if they don't own StarCraft 2. "We haven't figured out the details," says Didier. "But there will be a free-to-play Blizzard DOTA on our Blizzard Arcade. We don't know how many heroes there will be, or how many maps, but we definitely want to make sure that everyone knows it will be free-to-play." %Gallery-137263%
StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, Blizzard DOTA teasers evoke some emotion
Our hearts beat with a combination of blood, Big Macs and Dr. Pepper. StarCraft 2's heart beats with millions of ruthless, juicy aliens, and as the above BlizzCon teaser shows, Sarah Kerrigan's heart doesn't beat at all. We're not saying she's heartless, but to be a strong female lead these days, not giving a crap about anything except revenge is sometimes necessary. Being a cyborg and making that distinction truly literal is just a bonus for game journos everywhere. A teaser for the Blizzard DOTA mod for StarCraft 2 channels a markedly different emotion than vengeance -- watch the video and decide for yourself what emotion that may be, but for now we're going to call it "Valvey scorn."
Hands-on with Blizzard DOTA: Tweaking the genre it created
Mat McCurley is on loan to us from WoW Insider, which dispatched him to BlizzCon 2011 just in time to bring us this hands-on with Blizzard's upcoming MOBA! Blizzard DOTA has been reborn! We first experienced the StarCraft II module back during BlizzCon 2010, when the game felt like a very different affair. Now, Blizzard DOTA has been more streamlined to make for a unique and new playstyle. While the basic gameplay of the tri-lane DOTA maps stays similar (with two forces of minions ever-locked in eternal combat moving up and down lanes), there are changes that give the game a bit more dynamic player control.
BlizzCon kicks off; new WoW, DotA details abound
Today's a big day for Blizzard fans, as BlizzCon is kicking off in full-swing! The opening ceremonies are underway as we speak, and there are already a couple of juicy nuggets for World of Warcraft players. WoW players who upgrade their accounts to the 12-month subscription model will receive two lovely gifts: access to the next WoW expansion's beta test and Diablo III. That's right, upgrade to the 12-month subscription plan and you get Diablo III completely free. Blizzard has also announced its upcoming DoTA title, and we'll have a hands-on with that as soon as possible, so stay tuned for more BlizzCon excitement. [Update: It's official, folks. The newest World of Warcraft expansion is Mists of Pandaria. Players will have access to the Pandren race as well as a new hero class: the Monk. The newest trailers are embedded behind the break. Check out the official post at WoW Insider for more!] [Update: The Monk is not a hero class. Sorry for the confusion!]
