2016-09-21, 03:12 | Link #1 |
Paranoid Zebra
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Demonreach
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Paladins (Hero-based Team-FPS from Hi-Rez)
Anybody been playing this? Dabbled in and out of it a bit during alpha and beta phases and came back to it now that the Open Beta has released. So far quite a lot of fun even if I do miss the more open deck-building aspects the alpha had. BTW currently winning 5 versus player matches as Barik unlocks TF2 Engineer skin for him.
What is Paladins? At it's core it is pretty much A Team Fortress style hero-based shooter that Hi-Rez initially started as a revamp of Global Agenda's pvp mode. Alas after GA pretty much died, it was spun off into separate full-fledged project. The currently available gameplay is basically objective based mode called Payload, where you have to hold a capture point long enough to spawn a siege device and then push it to the enemy base within time limit to score points. A team who gathers 4 points first wins. You are awarded one point for successfully capturing a capture point and one point for successfully getting the siege cart to the enemy base. Alpha and Closed Beta gameplay also had few other modes like Survival(a kind of last-man-standing deathmatch with advancing poisonous fog slowly limiting play area) and a more complex version of Payload(with randomized capture point locations and multiple lanes), but they have been removed for reworking, so I would expect something like that to be added in the future too. The game currently has 6 maps with more to come over the course of the open beta. The hero customization involves setting up five passive cards as a loadout that alter the way your abilities work. The cards are acquire as you level up or can be bought via non-premium currency you acquire while playing. Alongside that, y ou have traditional MOBA-style item buying in-match that alters your stats and capabilities. Heroes Right now the game has 16 heroes available.They are separated into four definitions. Front-Liners:
Some Videos from youtube: Open Beta trailer Evie Gameplay from another youtuber Androxus gameplay from same youtuber Pip gameplay from same youtuber Before the toxic and nonsensical "omg overwatch rip off" coments(that ignore the fact that there's nothing unique about overwatch), here's a link where Hi-Rez CEO explains the history of Paladins development and backs up his arguments with pre-alpha gameplay videos. Either way Overwatch has nothing original in it - it is what blizzard always does - take parts and features of games available in the market and put them together in their own product. There's nothing wrong with that but its important to understand that none of mechanics are unique to Overwatch or originated in it, so any similarities between similar genre games are because they are similar genre games. This pointless argument happened with WOW, this argument is happening with OW. Let's nip this vicious circle in the bud and not start that comparison nonsense, shall we? So anyway, anybody else been playing this? Been playing this pretty much nonstop since since start of open beta and frankly the only real complaints I have is that Skye's ulti is completely broken(but will most likely be nerfed) and that a lot of new players seem to be...not very good at objective play? This game REALLY needs a comprehensive tutorial. That and game tends to disconnect randomly for me at peak hours. Also just a warning - till you reach Level 5 all your matches are against AI bots. Wheeew, this took loong to write up. |
2016-09-21, 13:47 | Link #3 |
Member
Join Date: Jun 2016
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tried it, i like what they're going for but i guess there are still a lot of things that needs to be worked on before we could make a final say on this thing
(also they can put all the "we're actually different from that other game" stuff on it but that won't change the fact that you'll hate it when your team mates tool around on their own throughout the match and never do anything about the objective... just like in that other game) |
2016-09-22, 08:56 | Link #4 | |
Paranoid Zebra
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Demonreach
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And the very first reply is (what I assume) bait with "omg overwatch rip off" video(specifically the one that was done by somebody who did absolutely zero research about the game or overall genre), despite specifically asking not to bring that complete nonsensical "discussion" into here, because it goes nowhere and most of people know better than to go into ridiculous arguments over "omg X ripped off Y because they are in same genre"
Niiice. Quote:
That's every objective based game tho. Take any MOBA, be it Smite, Hon, LOL, DOta, etc or any team based FPS, be it this, Dirty Bomb, even Team Fortress and you WILL have people like that. Its a problem with overall gaming community and not just a specific game. The fact that the beta just started would obviously attract people like that, but that is bound to fix itself over time as they dwindle down. Its all dependent on how lucky a side gets in matchmaking. Sometimes you might find fighting against bots actually harder than against people even. Till then I pretty much mitigate that by playing in party with people I actually know. There's also the fact that until you reach Account Rank 5 the game stealthily places you only to fight against AI bots. Who, as I said, might be even more efficient than players sometimes. I personally find Paladins to be more Solo friendly overall though than the other examples. As long as you competently play your role, you are contributing well to your side, due to lower time to kill than in something like overwatch where heals are abound. An endurance-based tug of war is impossible in Overwatch or Dirty Bomb and unless you and your team work perfectly together the damage that did not kill will get mitigated away by enemy healers. While in Paladins, since everything is cooldown based, you can do the whole attrition warfare thing by slowly but constantly pushing at the enemy side The game DOES need an actual tutorial tho. While anybody who played any MOBA will be familiar with class roles(since you have traditional moba elements like tank, assassin, support, ADC, etc), it can be a bit confusing for newbies. In a perfect world every hero would have personalized tutorial helping players learn how to play it but alas a general tutorial would suffice too. Last edited by Harry Dresden; 2016-09-22 at 09:12. |
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2016-09-22, 20:51 | Link #7 |
Winter is coming
Join Date: Aug 2008
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I don't need to do any research in order to FEEL that I'm playing a modded/reskinned Overwatch when I play Paladins.
The pre-alpha gameplay videos prove nothing by the way, since they are very different from what the game looks like now. It's possible that Paladins started off different to OW but then over time they change the game to become more and more similar to OW. One example is the knight's shield. In the pre-alpha video, his shield is small and it protects only himself. Now it's a big, rectangle and blue, nearly identical to Reinhardt's. When did they change it? Why did they change it? Now for the gameplay itself, I found Paladins very poorly designed: 1/ You can't choose the same champion someone else in your team already chose. It would be fine if this were a MOBA with 100+ champions. But Paladins has only 16 now, so your choice is very limited (especially if you play for free, you start with only 8). 2/ You can't change your champion during matches like in OW. While it's not a problem itself, the point is, unlike OW, the objective changes depending on the situation. You can capture the point, defend, or push the payload within the same match. The result is the imbalance among the champions. General purpose tanky dps champions are OP, while situational specialized champions are near useless. 3/ The loots from chests are pure garbage.
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2016-09-23, 04:10 | Link #8 | ||||||||
Paranoid Zebra
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Demonreach
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I am beginning to think that these tries to derail the thread into the pointless offtopic discussion are maliciously intentional now.
People CAN'T seriously believe OW invented team shooters, right? Then again we are living in the world where MMOs still get labeled "WOW clones"...Oh the humanity. Quote:
There's absolutely NOTHING original about OW designs or character concepts. Even Blizzard themselves were not stupid enough to claim that. Since hero shooters are all about mix and matching parts of MOBA with parts of a shooter gameplay, the hero aspect would obviously be taken from MOBAs. In this case most of paladins heroes are clearly inspired by their Smite counterparts(ex: Cassie is clearly based on Artemis, Skye on Loki, Fernando on Ares, etc) while combined with mechanics that existed in global agenda. Quote:
Is COD reskinned Battlefield? Is Hearthstone reskinned Magic the Gathering? Is Smite reskinned DOTA? Is OW reskinned Team Fortress 2? There's nothing original about OW's mechanics. Its literally mix and match of Global Agenda and Team Fortress 2. That's what Blizzard always does with every single game of theirs - they mix and match parts of existing stuff. They are Apple of video gaming. There's nothing wrong with that too, as the concept of "ripping off" is laughable in face of genre-specific gameplay concepts and mechanics. Quote:
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A shield mechanic is NOT unique to Overwatch. Even Smite had similar mechanic and a lot of Paladins is clearly inspired a lot by that game. Quote:
Having multiple same characters works badly in terms of game balance. It literally breaks apart team dynamics and it is something taken from MOBA genre as well since hero shooter genre is all about fusing moba and fps together. They plan to add at least one character every one or two patches. Next patch re-adds Ying, a dancer type of character who was there during alpha test but was taken out for a rework. The character is all about using mirrors - creating mirror clones that heal your allies and allow you to swap places with a clone or explode the clone, etc. They also are re-adding traditional payload mode from alpha in next patch. Quote:
You still however can modify your performance by switching your card loadouts, essentially altering the way your various abilities perform. Not to mention that every champion is very extensive in it's capabilities. Just being support does not mean you can't deal damage, for example. The only champion that is OP right now is Skye. Everybody else is easily balanced and counter-able. Quote:
Last edited by Harry Dresden; 2016-09-23 at 05:38. |
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2016-09-23, 05:44 | Link #9 |
The Chaotic Dreamer
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: In a cruel yet beautiful world
Age: 32
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Some may or may not find this article interesting: Paladins’ Todd Harris Rebuts 'Overwatch Clone' Allegations
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Last edited by Kismet-chan; 2016-09-24 at 13:35. |
2016-09-23, 20:30 | Link #10 | |
Princess or Plunderer?
Join Date: May 2009
Location: the Philippines
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^ Invalid link. Here's one site posting said article: http://massivelyop.com/2016/09/21/pa...e-allegations/
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2016-09-23, 21:45 | Link #11 |
MSN, FNP-C
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Ontario, CA
Age: 34
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Been watching quite a bit of YT vids from streamers on this game. Although this game is NOT a clone nor was it trying to copy Overwatch, it will always ride in OW's shadow and always be compared to OW simply because OW is made by Blizzard and Blizzard is big. Maybe if this game was released prior to any OW betas then it probably wouldn't have that much hate. I personally am not going to try out Paladins, I see no reason to when I already have OW and I think most OW players will think the same. I am not going to say Paladins is terrible since I never tried it and only watched videos, but it's hard NOT to compare it to OW and that's enough to stay away from Paladins. Good thing is though that it will attract non-OW owners since it's F2P.
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2016-09-24, 08:13 | Link #13 |
Princess or Plunderer?
Join Date: May 2009
Location: the Philippines
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I puked a little after hearing so much mentions of Overwatch in the video, especially with their tone that implies they don't believe the stand of Hirez in the issue.
But I guess that's how Roosterteeth handles "journalism".
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2016-09-24, 12:14 | Link #14 |
Paranoid Zebra
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Demonreach
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That's not just RT, that is pretty much every single case of blizzard game. It happened with WOW(and still happens as you see any MMO with skill bars refered by journos as "a wow clone"), it happened for a while with Hearthstone, now suddenly TF2 and other hero shooters never existed and Blizz suddenly invented the genre. I pretty much learned not to pay attention to that nonsense.
Either way, game really needs a tutorial a lot. Far too many times you end up in a match where nobody selects a frontliner/tank or does not bother to play he heroes to their strengths. Sometimes that leads to some hilarious wins(ex: winning by capturing and pushing with freaking Skye instead of a missing frontliner). But otherwise it can be quite annoying. Having a decent tutorial can help with that for people Last edited by Harry Dresden; 2016-09-24 at 12:48. |
2016-10-26, 09:43 | Link #15 |
Princess or Plunderer?
Join Date: May 2009
Location: the Philippines
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I've finally given Paladins (and Steam) a try and so far, the game is totally fun.
So far I've played a handful of matches with the free heroes, and still currently has a positive record. Kinessa was my very first hero to use. I'm at home with her gameplay, mainly standing around to get good shots, with the occasional oppression trap when the match reaches the payload stalking part. She has better handling compared to Viktor, whose gun jumps up like a fish out of water at the pull of the trigger. I'm not used to the teleporting skill, but I'll probably have to learn to use that. Viktor is good enough, but I still prefer Kinessa over him. At least his skills are all usable in battle. Main issue is the massive recoil. Skye made me enjoy being a flanker (at least during the sub-Level 5 matches). Basically, all she has to do is run around and pester the enemy team. I haven't used Skye much since I started playing with real people, mainly because the other players make sure to pick as many flankers or damagers as possible. As a result, most of my post-Level 5 matches were with either Fernando or Pip. Pip has what I think is the toughest basic attack to pull off accurately. Most of the time, I can't hit those far away. But I guess it's part of being a support. I still suffer from a lot of deaths every time I play as Pip, and yet I feel that I will see this guy more. Lastly, Fernando is currently the most fun and more productive hero that I have used. I have gone through games where I march mostly uncontested in Jaguar Falls. There are more times where I end up doing a mirror match with the enemy Fernando, though. I like his skill set, really. You get to shrug off anything that's not Drogoz's ult, then melt your enemies after the clash. I think my favorite part of every match is thinking of which upgrades to buy, mainly to shut down that pesky healer or Fernando, or making sure that the moments of peace are well put into use. Anyway, currently still at Level 8 and still relying on the default loadouts, but my first salvo already had two strangers adding me to their friendlist. It probably means that I did well, didn't I?
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2018-02-03, 21:22 | Link #19 |
Princess or Plunderer?
Join Date: May 2009
Location: the Philippines
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Alright Paladins players, anyone still playing? The last few patches were a doozy, and the community has been shaken by them. I'm no longer that eager to play any more than five matches a day, and not playing at all been getting more frequent on certain days.
It's just not as fun as before.
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