The first thing I thought on seeing these was "now THIS is a great setting for a Diablo game!" Not that I had any problem with Diablo 3's shots... just that the darkened dungeons and dried-up looking surface areas reminded me of D1 & 2. #mytheon
Is it just an ego thing? Do they do it just to show off their guns? Maybe tear the sleeves off their robes, throw some Copenhagen in their lip, and then go around breaking islands while drinking a PBR?
And where does all that lava that is always flowing around in Hades go? Ever been to Hawaii and seen the lava there? It's constantly piling up and forming huge messy piles of lava rock when it cools. Is that part of the punishment of Hades, having to clean up dried lava rock? #mytheon
Steve "Guinsoo" Feak was the second "owner" of DotA. He created the DotA All-Stars for The Frozen Throne. IceFrog later inherited this version.
Steve "Pendragon" Mescon was DotA's community expert (he managed the DA website) until just a few months ago when IceFrog and Pendragon decided to part ways. He still managed DotA-AllStars website, alongside his work with League of Legends.
Don't think that they're doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. They have to compete with the established DotA and the only way to not be labeled a copy that costs more than what they already own is to offer it at a similar price point (nearly free). The reasoning behind this is probably similar to pay-to-play MMOs going free-to-play. They're doing this in order to stay competitive.
@Leanid: Well it is true its probably made that way in order to be able to compete with the massiveness of dota. And given that they are aiming to make the game competitive they need as much people on it as possible to build a strong community but still... props to them since this isn't a mod but a full game they are giving for free. Hopefully their balancing will be much better than the one from dota, but anyways im looking forward to this.
I was so excited when I found the preorder page and it listed $30 as the price. I was ready to throw down my cash right then and there.
Then I found out the game is free and the preorder is for special stuff! So I put down my money anyway so I can get the dark Annie skin with the bondage teddy bear.
This was brought up in another comment section, but is there any reason why there is no link to the League of Legends website included in the article?
All three of the "League of Legends" links in the article go to the same page - a Kotaku tag search for the game, which brings up a whopping four articles, with one an announcement and a second a feature. Given that we already HAVE those links in the sidebar, both above and below the related articles, I'm not sure what that accomplishes.
We don't necessarily need to link to the game's website in every article, but for smaller indie games like this it'd be useful.
@spiderweb1986: I agree! & It has already been brought up. WTF Kotaku? No love for the devs? j/k I know you love em, but you should really link to their site. It makes sense, no?
I just don't think this is truly the case. I believe HoN will be the one to pull DotA players if any game will. It is literally a DIRECT copy of Dota. That includes the map, creep spots, shops, Roshan, and heroes too. All this and it has DOW2-esque graphics.
LoL looks like a fun game, but without the depth of Dota.
Possible the best way to deal with this game, keeping it free so as much players as possible can play it, while you offer non-balance-changing content as microtransactions. This system proofed that itself in the past so i think Riot is on a good way.
"We've played a lot of those games, and we are aware of where microtransactions screw up the gameplay.
They primarily do this by selling power, which is not how we are approaching this."
The cash shop is primarily for purchasing non-gameplay affecting items. Everything else can be purchased by influence points (points earned by playing more games).
Just to clarify, the Preorder pack notes that it comes with 20 champions. This just means that the champions are already unlocked for you. Those who do not want the collector's pack can unlock these champions through regular gameplay.
A friend of mine insists I pick this up as it's "exactly" like God of War 1 & 2. He claims it's the first successful replication of those 2 amazing games and that if I love them (I do), I'll love this every bit as much. Now I read Kotaku's review and it doesn't even mention God of War. I think I'll continue with my current plan of not buying the game and saying things like, "Uh-huh," "hmm" and "REALLY?" every time my buddy tells me this is essentially the first "next-gen" God of War.
11/05/09
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11/05/09
Is it just an ego thing? Do they do it just to show off their guns? Maybe tear the sleeves off their robes, throw some Copenhagen in their lip, and then go around breaking islands while drinking a PBR?
And where does all that lava that is always flowing around in Hades go? Ever been to Hawaii and seen the lava there? It's constantly piling up and forming huge messy piles of lava rock when it cools. Is that part of the punishment of Hades, having to clean up dried lava rock? #mytheon
11/05/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
Steve "Guinsoo" Feak was the second "owner" of DotA. He created the DotA All-Stars for The Frozen Throne. IceFrog later inherited this version.
Steve "Pendragon" Mescon was DotA's community expert (he managed the DA website) until just a few months ago when IceFrog and Pendragon decided to part ways. He still managed DotA-AllStars website, alongside his work with League of Legends.
07/14/09
07/14/09
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07/14/09
Fair enough. The developers themselves are really nice people though. I wouldn't be surprised if they did this because they love their fans.
07/14/09
07/14/09
Then I found out the game is free and the preorder is for special stuff! So I put down my money anyway so I can get the dark Annie skin with the bondage teddy bear.
07/14/09
All three of the "League of Legends" links in the article go to the same page - a Kotaku tag search for the game, which brings up a whopping four articles, with one an announcement and a second a feature. Given that we already HAVE those links in the sidebar, both above and below the related articles, I'm not sure what that accomplishes.
We don't necessarily need to link to the game's website in every article, but for smaller indie games like this it'd be useful.
07/14/09
07/14/09
That is a lot of acronyms!
07/14/09
HoN is great, no mistake but somehow LoL captures that same feeling that DOTA does. And you can't beat saying, "Hey guys, I'ma go play lol."
Ahh...this is gonna be such good times.
07/14/09
I love that League of Legends:Clash of Fates is abreviated to LoL: CoF. Saying Lawl Cough is fun >_>
07/14/09
I just don't think this is truly the case. I believe HoN will be the one to pull DotA players if any game will. It is literally a DIRECT copy of Dota. That includes the map, creep spots, shops, Roshan, and heroes too. All this and it has DOW2-esque graphics.
LoL looks like a fun game, but without the depth of Dota.
07/14/09
07/14/09
That is ridiculously cool.
And thank God they're not selling power - that would kill the game since it is so competitive.
I hope this works for them.
07/14/09
From the developers themselves
"We've played a lot of those games, and we are aware of where microtransactions screw up the gameplay.
They primarily do this by selling power, which is not how we are approaching this."
The cash shop is primarily for purchasing non-gameplay affecting items. Everything else can be purchased by influence points (points earned by playing more games).
Just to clarify, the Preorder pack notes that it comes with 20 champions. This just means that the champions are already unlocked for you. Those who do not want the collector's pack can unlock these champions through regular gameplay.
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
Free to play, polished DoTA?
Thank you Riot! Thank you so much!
04/14/09
04/14/09