Posted on March 20, 2013, in Episodes and tagged blip tv, chaosd1, Hi-Rez, mmo, mmo grinder, MOBA, review, SMITE. Bookmark the permalink. 49 Comments.
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MMO Grinder 
I might be the only guy who would even care about this, but why do you think Airmech is even simpler than SMITE?
In Airmech, Zerging with units or your mech is completely possible, there’s no real penalty for death beyond cooldowns. You don’t have dozens of Airmechs to learn and understand the mechanics of. You don’t have to purchase mid-match items to tweak your abilities and stats. There’s no “laning” or “jungling”.
The item system reminds me of Battle for Graxia(a MOBA on steam).
Contrary to LoL and DOTA2, the items in Graxia have tiers. Most have 3, some 2 and 4.
Also, also, Graxia has one extra thing for their “immortals”: a signature move. This is a very strong move, that you can only use once per match. So best saved for either the end of the match or to turn the tide when you’re losing. And they can usually do that.
Then again, after the enemy team used theirs, you still have yours.
And that’s what sets Graxia apart from LoL and Dota.
Oh, and “turret repair kit”. Useable once per turret, repairs 30HP per second for up to 90% of the total turret HP, interrupted if the turret is hit even once while the repair kit is active. Using it forces you to defend the turret and call in people from other lanes, which basically triggers teamfights.
Most new players claim it’s pointless. I see it as an opportunity.
I want to try this thing. I really do. I have since the old video you posted, and the one video you had up on Twitch (which has also disappeared into the ether, boo). It’s just that in my experience, the communities for these kinds of games are about as toxic as you can get short of EVE. And I’ve been playing crap online since Doom II came out.
I think the last one of “these” I played was Super Monday Night Combat, which actually kind of had the same format as this in terms of the character action, but MAN, that thing choked under the weight of the asshat crowd fast. (That, and it didn’t help that you leveled up crazy fast, and there was no leveling back down to balance it out, even tho levels were mostly used for matchmaking only.)
Oh, and someone wanted me to add, regarding that old Twitch stream video, “I find your half-naked dancing Egyptian lady to be pertinent to my interests, and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.”
Also, is there such a thing as a “referral” (like the link you put up there) to send to people who already had a Hi-Rez account for Tribes or Global Agenda?
‘Cos the link you put up there for the sign-up is only for people who didn’t already have an account. (I think.)
Unless there’s an option to enter whoever referred you in game, that’s the only way, unfortunately.
LOCO anyone?
So which do you prefer, SMITE or Reague of Regends?
(Stuff like that is a big reason why I listen to those MMO Underground pod casts.)
I still have the version from that Beta key you sent me, and I have to say that SMITE just keeps getting better. I’m by NO means a DOTA fan, but the simplicity and lack of commitment in SMITE is what sells it to me. I hate having to plan builds and pore over stats, so being able to just jump into a game, pick a god I like and actually play is very welcome.
And yes, that Ultimate God Pack is a great idea. I might have to follow your advise and get it.
just started messing around w/ this today and i gotta say it’s pretty fun
You know, there are quite a few “proper” MMO’s that I can’t tell apart if I turn the nit pick part of my brain off.
I guess if it works it works, but I do wish developers would be at least a little more adventurous with their design. But I guess when things are this expensive to make you tend to be wary of cutting your own trails.
SMITE is incredibly fun for me, even as a veteran of DotA, LoL, HoN, and DotA2. I just enjoy its less-taxing systems and its unique perspective of god-like characters. If there was a game I could really suggest to people who were unfamiliar with the genre but want to get into it, it’d be SMITE.
I wish I could have spent the $30 on the all-gods unlock package, but sadly, I am unemployed.
Great review like always. Enjoyed the Review of SMITE (Which honest to god caught my eye more than LoL initially…possibly because of the previous video of the beta).
The intro even summarizes how I feel about people talking about DOTA/WC3 Mod/LoL and claiming it’s fun. It’s just not appealing and all play the same in general. Though now that you covered SMITE, have you any plans to review Super Monday Night Combat? The free one. you have heard of it a lot probably but one day you have to visit it just to share your view on the Third Person SHOOTING version of the game.
I always seem to run into wannabe leaders barking orders more than actually playing. Someone’s gotta remind them that we’re a pug. One thing I really liked in LoL was playing against bots. That was much more relaxing and you could learn to play a bit before getting into PvP.
They’ve been slowly implementing it into the gameplay, as now you can queue with friends in Solo Practice and Solo Arena (but only 2 other friends) letting you face bots, even if in a slightly less realistic scenario.
I really like the game and compared to Dota2 it’s actually fairly soft on my hardware, considering I’m playing on a really crap laptop (though I probably shouldn’t announce that too loudly). I find the community actually somewhat nicer than typical, but I kind of assume that this will go away should the game ever become more popular. I’m also quite the scaredycat kind of person, so I appreciate all the non multiplayer options for practise and the alternative, less serious game modes that are actually fun. It sometimes feels in the other MOBAs like you are a neophyte for playing the other modes, but in Smite I feel Arena is generally acknowledged to be fun and even Joust has its justification if you just want to be super casual with a friend.
If you like Herc you might be pleased to hear that they actually buffed his ult quite a bit.
“Just looking, can you tell these games apart?”
Heehee, nope!
As a PvP hater, I won’t mind if you don’t feel like covering Battle Area games. I’m sure others will be disappointed though.
The graphics look pretty good to me, but I spend more time playing PS1/N64/Game Cube generation games than new ones.
I’m going to take it that the bulk of vocal SMITE players are hormonal 13 year old boys; my least favorite type of human.
Hmm, guessing the next episode is maybe….uhh…Runes of Magic?
Sounds like we’re of the same mind on PvP and MOBAs since they’re really just a PvP game. I just got so sick of the oh so often rage fits, demanding and elitist attitude people would throw around due to PvP that I just avoid it as best I can.
Guess you didn’t read the ending “credits” as he mentioned what he’s doing next towards the end. It’s going to be Age of Conan, you know, by Funcom which also did The Secret World, his current form of online crack. Still figure it looks interesting and I’ll try it at some point, so don’t think I’m bashing the game here.
Heheh, didn’t see the point in reading credits when it’s probably just Jon for everything.
I am a social person & I like playing tabletop D&D with other people, but I do not enjoy playing video games with others at all. The reason I play FTP MMOs is because of the price tag, which is perfect for my broke ass.
The elitist attitudes don’t help either; it’s like being inside a virtual Youtube Comments Section. I really like it when MMOs let you get rid of the chat box entirely.
I’ve played Age of Conan. I guess somewhere around level 18 or 20 it starts punishing soloers by making them grind the same shit over & over again until the enemies are well below their level, because if you get the attention of an enemy, they call their damn friends over. I’ve read that time spent soloing for any reason in MMOs, even among team players, far surpasses the amount of time you’ll spend begin on a team, so Enemy AI Mob Mentality is a horrid feature.
Other than that I rather like AoC. It’s only a pity I wasn’t there around the time of this hilarious glitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyCm8GOEoT8
Which is why I called them “credits.” The SMITE video played with the credits was running longer than the actual credits so he just started putting in comments, such as which game he was doing next. I was just going, skip ahead, skip ahead, skip ahead, “this sure seems long, wait, that’s not credits on the bottom”, at that point I went back and started reading.
Never tried AoC yet, I have heard of the spazzing NPC bug and saw videos on it though, think I even saw that one before too.
My money is on either that or Forsaken World
Could I get a SMITE invite/referral? I guess it gives you some points to spend and me the chance to try it :D. (The email-address used to create this post is fine.)
Also, yeah the three screens of the isometric mobas look the same, especially if you look at the mini-map it seems that there are almost no differences … apparently the first map every moba does is the same as used in Dota
I still have 1 or 2 beta keys lying around. I can give you one later on in the day. The mini maps only show the general lay of the map. There are many crucial differences in the terrain though (only speaking about difference between DotA and LoL). I would go into more detail if I wasn’t on a iPod touch right now.
Just click that link below the video and you can sign up now… or click this one: https://account.hirezstudios.com/smitegame/default.aspx?referral=2125899&utm_campaign=email
Ahhh thanks, missed that link somehow
‘Prepare to be horrified.’
Me: It’s going to be the Caramelldansen, isn’t it? Yup, it’s the Caramelldansen.
Here’s the thing: my experience with Blizzard RTSs online play since the first Starcraft is that the “stop having fun” guys is the default type of player. And this goes just as much for the non-standard map mods as it does ranked and even non-ranked matches. So my cycle has been new Blizzard RTS or RTS expansion comes out and I eagerly try the multiplayer after I’m finished with the single player campaign and after a week or two of near non-stop verbal abuse from my ‘allies’ for not playing in an absolute prescribed way with nigh perfect precision and speed I swear it off (the only exception to this are costume game types hardly anyone else seems to play).
So having a genre that grew out of a Blizzard on-line RTS map mod sours me on the very concept; and most of the stories I hear about the communities confirms my trepidation.
Nice review Chaos unfortunately I don’t have much to say as I LOATHE this genre, don’t get me wrong I’m sure their great games but in MMOs I avoid PvP like the plague and refuse to play games with open PvP (ie WoW) and these kinds of games have pretty much just cherry-picked that PvP and made a stand-alone game out of it…the multiplayer portion of games like Counter-Strike or Team Fortress 2 fall under this mentality for me as well.
I do have one question though…is there a “Basic Attack” in this game…IOW if you click a button (ussually left mouse button) can you simply attack w/ your weapon of choice or can you only attack with your skills. It’s a pet peeve of mine if you can’t.
Oh and before I go unrelated question…Is there a trial for Secret World I can’t seem to find one
To answer your basic attack question, yes all gods have a sort of an ‘auto attack’
You left click to perform auto attacks, skills are initially bound to 1,2,3, and 4
To question A: Yes, there are basic attacks when you click the left button, it just depends on which god you’re playing as. Melee gods like Thor and Ymir swing their weapons, while mage and ranged gods like Ra, Ao Kuang and Artemis fire a bolt of energy or shoot an arrow respectively. Basic attacks have a range of uses, and in most mage and tank classes, it’s nigh useless, while carry, bruiser, and assassin gods can usually mow through a enemy’s health with a basic attack alone.
To Question B: As of right now, they got rid of the trial when they went B2P, but I have friend referral codes available that grant you a 72 hour pass. E-mail me or provide me with one you use, and I can send you one through the new recruitment system.
Awesome thanks for the quick responses…useless or not I like the option to just swing my sword (or w/e) freely..it feels wrong otherwise
Thanks Chaos I sent you my e-mail
Well, since you mentioned LoL, I’m going to compare it to DotA, since I played DotA 2 quite a bit.
What’s different in gameplay is that DotA is less forgiving of mistakes. If you die, you lose 300 of your unreliable gold. Let’s just say, it’s gold that is the easiest to get.
Instead of having buffs in the jungle, it has 2 rune spots that spawn every 2 minutes. These have various benefits, and tend to help out most in the early-mid game, when ganking is happening.
I’m not sure about this one, but DotA seems to have more activated items. You have to manually press a hotkey to make the item do what it should do. It allows the characters to pick up items that can benefit their team or themselves.
Another mechanic is the act of denying. You can deny your own creeps, your towers and possibly heroes, though I’m not sure about that one. When you deny, the rewards of whatever denied are lessened. Creeps give less exp, towers less gold, not sure about heroes. Doing this means the enemy team has to farm more than usual.
In DotA, you also get more heroes that have their own units you can control. While really tough, it’s rewarding if you can master a hero like say meepo. This hero actually has more units as his ultimate of himself. The downside is they can’t use items the main meepo uses, but also all meepos die if one dies.
Furthermore, stats aren’t just Magic resist, physical resist etc. They are broken down into agility, strength and intelligence, and they all do different things, obviously. However, to gain damage, you need to buy pure damage items, or the heroes’ main stat.
I don’t think this is all of it, but it’s what I have noticed over about 50 or so matches. Needless to say, the game’s harder to play right.
Now on-topic: Wow, I got the ultimate god pack in closed beta. Lucky me, huh… Anyway, the game can be fun. If you don’t let any of the balance issues bug you or any of the rude community members. I haven’t played it much lately, but I think I’ll give it another shot after this. Since it’s basically my first moba, it shouldn’t be too hard to get into.
As a player that has spent a lot of time in both games, you bring out most of the differences. The point that Chaos was making though is that they all LOOK the same and the most basic style of gameplay is also essentially the same (goal of game, how to move, how to attack, etc.). The way to play LoL and DotA though are completely different. There are a lot of differences to just the general map that make the games different from each other. As for your activated items comment, I do believe league has a whole lot more activated items than DotA (as long as they haven’t introduced any new items since when it was still DotA in Warcraft III)
Dota=/=Moba
A term made up by LoL’s developer Guinsoo and former Dota 1 dev.
Just thought I’d tell ya. Action RTS is the better word but LoL wants to be called Moba…well let them. Dota probably doesn’t want to be called Moba afaik.
Game looks quiet cool..might give Smite a shot considering I gave any game you mentioned recently a shot and was not disappointed(especially Warframe I adore atm).
Here’s the problem with that. “Action RTS” or “ARTS” may be a hell of a lot more fitting term than “MOBA” (Which I even admit in my LoL review, is a pretty vague term that can apply to a LOT of games.) but it’s the one the media has latched onto. SMITE identifies itself as the term. Near every popular news outlet uses the term to describe the genre, and ultimately, it’s the media that’s going to decide the final name by ingraining into the culture. Ozzy Osborne admits that when he formed Black Sabbath, he was only looking to write “scary music” and no intention of having the media come up with the term “Heavy Metal”. But someone did, a lot of people used the term, and it stuck.
It’s the genre popularizer the tends to get the genre formed and unfortunately it’s League who’s got the massive following even its fans don’t even seem to realize it has.
Sorry to but in, but I’ve always thought that action RTS isn’t a great name for the genre, because of games like Super Monday Night Combat (3rd person shooter), Awesomenauts (run-and-gun platformer) and, of course, SMITE (action RPG, I guess): Games which are unequivocally part of the genre, but have nothing to do with strategy games.
In addition, there are games like Sacrifice, Battalion Wars, and Brütal Legend which definitely aren’t MOBAs, but are action-RTS hybrids, and indeed have for more RTS elements (particularly in the case of Sacrifice) than Dota.
And of course, AirMech, which is both. If you didn’t have a term like MOBA, you’d probably have to classify it as an ARTS-ARTS hybrid. (That last one’s a nitpick, but it still bothers me.)
I agree that MOBA’s a horribly generic term, but at least even the people who don’t agree with its use agree on what it means — not counting the weird fringe games like Bloodline Champions.
Well, even most LoL fans know/admit it’s just a term that was absolutely made up to describe their game.
“Dota clone”
Just wasn’t going to work..
Although in the end most people will latch on to 1 game or the other and only refer to each as “Dota” or “LoL”..
But yeah, Smite’s more like a random hack and slash/beat em up you would download from a consoles marketplace or a 5-10 dollar game on steam..
Just showcases the GIGANTIC problem with calling the games that evolved from Dota’s framework “moba’s”
Hell, still are a lot of sites that refuse to acknowledge the moba word and label them just “Strategy” or “Real time strategy”
Smite is pretty fun, its just a shame Hi Rez couldn’t balance a box on a perfectly level surface.
Oh look, spring break is next week. Guess I know what I’m trying out.
this review is seriously making me consider getting into it.. also speakin of neith’s dance there… that’s also the female pandaren’s dance in WoW.. i think i cringed a bit the 1st time i saw that
I really like this game, the concept and the characters. Sadly, I have not played it much… at all on line. All I have done is a bunch of off line tests, because I kept getting afraid of going online, due to what I have heard of MOBA players attacking bad people, and since this is my first MOBA… yeah, I was worried i was going to get nothing but flack.
Still, I have been keeping up, though I didn’t see that Aphrodite was released, and that was cool. When are we getting more Mayan gods, and what about some Japanese Shinto gods, or Native American? All these would be cool. That’s the main thing I really like about this game, using these gods and how they designed them. I love mythology, so this is like a huge party for me.
Chaos, I am still very happy you gave me this beta key, and I am glad I bought that God pack ages ago. Sorry I never played with you, but maybe one day. These new modes interest me, like that Arena mode. I may stick to that for awhile till I get the idea on how to best play the gods I like.
Great video as always, and I loved that ending movie. Hi rez really loves this game it seems.
Coming from league of legends, the only issue I had with the game was the awkward hotkeys for skills. Also had zero idea how to navigate any of the menus. The small amount of time i spent with it though, I thoroughly enjoyed. The only thing keeping me from playing SMITE more is the amount of time and money spent into league. Thanks for the great video Jon!
I’m not interested in MOBA’s at all..but that official video was pretty awesome. But seriously Neith, Wtf?
What? You don’t like Caramelldansen?
just saw that ingame today.. i thought he added the music… cept he didn’t that actually plays while she’s doin that
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