19 replies to this topic

[Sayan]

Heroes:

Are they level based?
How many spells/abilities do they have?
How many levels?
What kind of stats do they have?
Do they have many passives or have many actives?
Can they be equipped with items boosting their stats?


Commanders:

What is the unit limit per commander?
How many units can you select via cursor per command?
Can you group select them into select groups? Ie; Ctrl 1, Ctrl 2.etc
Are they easily microable, do they need heavy micro?
Can units be upgraded via a tech system? Do we have to purchase structures for it or by other means?

General:
Will the user interface (HUD) be different for heroes as opposed to the commanders?
What will the zoom features include?

If you can give us any clues as to what features we can expect from the gameplay, in general?

[Sarudak]

Now I certainly don't KNOW the answers to these questions but I think I can still answer most of them.

Sayan, on 23 February 2012 - 11:48 AM, said:

Heroes:

Are they level based? - I can't see it any other way
How many spells/abilities do they have? Traditionally 4 active abilities plus one or more passives possibly
How many levels? - No idea
What kind of stats do they have? -No idea
Do they have many passives or have many actives? Traditionally 4 active abilities plus one or more passives possibly
Can they be equipped with items boosting their stats? This is a staple of the genre so yes


Commanders:

What is the unit limit per commander? - I hope there isn't one but who knows
How many units can you select via cursor per command? - I would even more hope for no limit here as I don't understand the point of one
Can you group select them into select groups? Ie; Ctrl 1, Ctrl 2.etc - This is RTS baby stuff so yes.
Are they easily microable, do they need heavy micro? This I can't answer but I hope heavy micro is not the key to winning
Can units be upgraded via a tech system? Do we have to purchase structures for it or by other means? This I can't answer also

[DeadDove]

We're not going to get a ton of details until GDC, especially not with details like this. That said, I don't think SoDA will be that far apart from conventions in each genre.

[Sarudak]

Yeah I hope they don't try to go too far afield of proven mechanics. Hybridizing is already a great amount of innovation. I think just adjusting proven mechanics to make the two work together is probably the best idea. No doubt they already know this.

[Centurion]

I dont think any of this information will be revealed until they decide to put it on the website.

[Sarudak]

No doubt but speculation is fun.

[Thanatological]

Indeed, but if they seek too follow the tradtation then I honesty don't feel we will be getting anything new or fun. If they don't make the game their own flavor I honesty will lose intrest.

[Derantol]

Well, the very fact that they have a commander in MOBA game gives it new flavor. What will make that better is the level of interaction between the commander and the heroes, which (from the sounds of it) is a fairly intimate relationship. I think it would be perfectly fine to follow tradition in creating heroes, at least at the beginning. Once there is a confirmed playerbase, they can start exploring the less "mainstream" options before the idea of a commander is no longer a fresh one.

[Thanatological]

For a free to play MMO yes. But the commander in a MOBA genra is not really anything new. A few single player games that require purchese have such a style and, C&C fan game does as well.  There was also a few attemtps back in WC3 RoC days.

The issue is really making their own "flavor". Which should not really bad all that hard to do, so don't conform too tradional elements just for the sake of it. If it works it works, but that does not mean keep doing it.

Edited by Thanatological, 23 February 2012 - 11:34 PM.

[Hezron]

I'm still hoping that this isn't a MOBA genre game rather a RTS with heroes controlled by players.

[Sayan]

I also wanted to add something that bothers me as to the whole commander and heroes interaction: from what i heard, there can only be 1 commander per team? Is this true? If it is who decides who is commander and how, what if you don't like your commander? etc...

[Thanatological]

"One Commander is joined by a small group of Heroes to fight against another online team or against the AI in specific scenarios."

So yes there is one commander. Im going to assume the role is either rolled for by a click to apply button or filled prior to the game starting. I am kinda hoping it assigned pregame else we are doing to have a leaver issue for a F2P game.

[DeadDove]

Yeah, I really have no idea how matchmaking is going to work with the Commander role. I don't think it should be a matter of rank, since that will keep new players from learning the role, but I don't think it should be randomly assigned or something that's just "up for grabs".

[Thanatological]

Maybe once you reach a certain level of progression in the meta game, you unlock the commander role and can queue for games that will put you with lower level players. Or you host the game and take the commander role.. Either way an acceptable method is going to be hard to find and even more so for those people who would only want too take the commander role.

[Sarudak]

I'm fairly certain that you will enter the matchmaking system as either a commander or hero and then a match will be made from the available players. This should be a self-correcting mechanic because if there are too many heroes or too many commanders those choosing those roles will have to wait longer and thus those who don't mind as much which role they play will switch roles.

[Derantol]

Thanatological, on 23 February 2012 - 11:32 PM, said:

For a free to play MMO yes. But the commander in a MOBA genra is not really anything new. A few single player games that require purchese have such a style and, C&C fan game does as well.  There was also a few attemtps back in WC3 RoC days.

The issue is really making their own "flavor". Which should not really bad all that hard to do, so don't conform too tradional elements just for the sake of it. If it works it works, but that does not mean keep doing it.

I suppose what I'm saying is that introducing the commander to a MOBA in a balanced manner for multiplayer competition is what's going to be new. That, in and of itself, will add flavor because a commander/hero style game with a vibrant community doesn't exist at the moment, or so I have heard. In addition, that's going to be probably the toughest part, given a lack of precedent. Conforming to tradition, at least to some degree, would help alleviate the transition from a normal MOBA into this A-RTS, and then once the new system is established and proven, it will make it easier to then focus on parting somewhat with tradition.

[Thanatological]

Well said, I am going too have to agree there needs too be a level of conformiity for transitional purposes.

[Sobeman]

THing i'm afraid of is, if you have ever played HoN, LoL , DotA, etc then you know that 1 player can easily ruin the game for your team. I think the commander role could make this even more of a problem. I really hope they have a robust system for rating players and such like DotA 2 currently has.

[Thanatological]

I think we did kinda off adress this in another topic off topic. A lot of LoL HoN and the DoTa community has the problem because they ban who they feel like instead of dealing with the problem elements of the commmunity. So,  we did have a small off topic disccussion about them being hard and enforceful of rules and punishment of those who brake them.

[Sayan]

This is easier said then done in this type of genre given the fact that commanders will have that much more power so to speak as to when, what and how much units are needed in pushing certain areas of the map, it will be that much more important that you have a competent commander and this type of genre always seems to attract the worst kind of players not to mention that its F2P as well.

Also I would like to know if this game has its own servers, does Iron clad plan to host their own servers as in is it going to be a server to client game or a peer 2 peer game: there was only 1 stand alone P2P multiplayer game that i know that came out in this genre and that flopped mega huge, you might know it, it was called Demigod, they made the fatal mistake of making that game P2P and not server client based like LOL/HON/DOTA 2.etc and they payed the ultimate price for it, that game died faster than an emo kid with a shot gun.

Edited by Sayan, 24 February 2012 - 08:08 PM.