Paladins - FPS MOBA by HiRez

[Falconeer]

It's a cross between Team Fortress, all the MOBAs, Borderlands, and the new Blizzard Game (Overwatch?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XQJvAO4nR0

The unique part? Collectible cards, and deckbuilding. You have to buy and collect cards, build a deck, and in every match you DRAW some of your cards basically getting different powers, effects and the likes, as in a TCG. The mechanics are unclear but the teaser is there. It sounds so stupid it could actually work. "Early Access" coming soon.

[Hoax]

Oh this is the game that is forcing them to pretend they didn't abandon Tribes?

[Nija]

Speaking of abandoned, they don't even mention Global Agenda anywhere on their page - do they!?

This company is great at getting things to market. I'll give them that.

[Rendakor]

Smite is the only thing of theirs I've played and I love it, so I'll give this a shot. At least I can hope for a reasonable one-time fee to unlock all the things.

[Kail]

Pretty excited for both this and Overwatch.  I generally really like the cartoony style of these games, and the idea of a first person Dota has always had a lot of potential in my opinion.  I'd be surprised if they offered the equivalent of the Smite "$20 to get everything for free forever" pack again, but I'd love to be proven wrong.

[Rendakor]

It's my biggest hangup with LoL and HotS; DotA's "all free" is obviously my preferred option, but a one-and-done fee is also reasonable. I'd even pay up to $60 if the game was good enough (since that's the standard game box price) but I have no patience for grinding to unlock champs nor do I want to be nickle-and-dimed to death.

[Trippy]

Pretty excited for both this and Overwatch.  I generally really like the cartoony style of these games, and the idea of a first person Dota has always had a lot of potential in my opinion.  I'd be surprised if they offered the equivalent of the Smite "$20 to get everything for free forever" pack again, but I'd love to be proven wrong.

SMITE, also by Hi-Rez, is a 3rd-person DOTA. Paladins is not a 1st-person DOTA.

[Rendakor]

It's not? What is it then?

Edit: Nevermind, there's a video. No longer really interested.

[Kail]

SMITE, also by Hi-Rez, is a 3rd-person DOTA. Paladins is not a 1st-person DOTA.

Hmm, you're right, my bad.  Thought I heard something about this at E3 but I guess I had it mixed up.  Still looks potentially neat, though the idea of huge game changing effects attached to a randomizer is kind of a head scratcher.

[Yegolev]

I just watched the video and it seems both derivative and late to the party.

[Gimfain]

Another TF2 style game in development, with the same style as overwatch, battleborn and gigantic. I find myself more interested in Lawbreakers but will probably test most of them, that's the beauty of f2p gaming.

[Brennik]

Oh this is the game that is forcing them to pretend they didn't abandon Tribes?

Hey now, there's a PTS 1.1 patch out: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fnu0Xe9bnZAVPu9eLLBvE2rgZcdqVd7x3SF3ayIDkto/pub. Still waiting for rifle/SMG nerfs...

And hopefully this will get Blizzard to hurry up with Overwatch beta, I could use a TF2-clone to play.

[Malakili]

One of the troubles all these run into is that TF2 is actually just really good at what it does.  They aren't really going to add anything to make that formula better.  Heck, even TF2 made itself worse when they added all the new weapons and unlocks.

[K9]

The way they describe the cards system is awful. The last thing most players want in this sort of competitive game is more RNG.

[Yegolev]

I find myself more interested in Lawbreakers but will probably test most of them, that's the beauty of f2p gaming.

I'm going to start off with Battleborn and see what happens.

[Nebu]

I just watched the video and it seems both derivative and late to the party.

Yes... similar to Overwatch.  No interest at all.

[Hoax]

Overwatch looks fucking awful. I'm so proud of you guys.

[schild]

HiRez is the lord high master of following fads 6 months too late. In this particular case, 2 years too late.

[Kail]

The way they describe the cards system is awful. The last thing most players want in this sort of competitive game is more RNG.

I assume that's by design.  I've seen a few interviews where devs have expressed a train of thought along the lines of "casual audience > competitive audience, so we'll put in mechanics the competitive audience will dislike so that will push us more towards casual players" even if casual players don't particularly like the mechanic either.  Critical hits in TF2 for example.

[Yegolev]

I'm not sure the stick is better than the carrot when attracting customers but OH WELL that's why I'm not a game designer.

[Falconeer]

WHile I am all for a new "PvP" objective-based game that manages to be good, even more so if it's an FPS, both Overwatch and Paladins strike me as really dull. Clearly, it's too soon to tell but their art style is sad to me. Gameplay, we'll see. The card gimmick? It could be a genious idea or the epitome of stupid. I'm open to the former, but I'd put a lot of money on the latter.

[Draegan]

I bought the founders pack for 20 bucks last night. The game is pretty fun. I actually like their card system.

[Falconeer]

I tried it too and I like it but it feels a bit weightless. It's way earlier in beta than Overwatch, so I am sure it will improve the same way Smite went from bad to great in the span of 18 months across the beta, but at the same time I am starting to see a pattern in newer "flashy" games that I am not sure I enjoy as much as I thought I did. The last batch of colourful/cartoony action games seem to be very far away from me both in terms of style and gameplay pace, and nothing ever made me feel as old as Battleborn, Overwatch and Paladins recently did.

The card system is an interesting change, but it also screams of pay2win to me and in general it is a huge real money sink which is what keeps me away from games I would otherwise love like Magic:The Gathering and Hex. Also, I am not sure it holds up well against Overwatch, but I should give them both a spin again back to back in a few months. That wouldn't be too surprising though: the strength of Smite came from being very well done but also filling a market hole no one was going for. But when Blizzard is selling the exact same product you are, things are going to look pretty bad regardless of the quality.

[Nija]

and nothing ever made me feel as old as Battleborn, Overwatch and Paladins recently did.

In Battleborne, there is SO MUCH going on. I haven't played the others, so I don't have a comment on those.

Let me rephrase.

It's a very strange mix where you have a lot of classes with very few skills. So your actual play is quite boring. But there is all kinds of crazy shit going on in the world that you have to keep up with. To me that's entirely backwards.

Yes, I know I just described the MOBA genre. I don't understand that either.

[Setanta]

I'm enjoying it - bought the Founder's pack. I'm enjoying it more than Overwatch which I haven't played because Blizzard is happy to take my money and not let me into the beta.

I'd say its got a long way to go but so did Smite and Smite is a decent fun game.

[Ginaz]

I have 3 beta invite codes if anyone wants them (no one post wonders please ).  First 3 PMs get one.  You'll have to send the PM with an email attached since I have to type in the email on my Hi Rez account page and hit a send button for it to happen.

Edit:  I've only played a little bit but I've had fun so far.  It'll be interesting to see how this stacks up against Overwatch.

[Falconeer]

The business model is what bothers me. It's a big gamble, as it will probably decree its success or failure, but I'd bet for failure. It screams of "pay2win", and I doubt there are many who like that in their FPS.

[Malakili]

Ah, yeah, that is a concern.  If there is one thing Heroes gets right in my opinion it's the price tag.  I'd much rather just buy a game for 40 bucks and have the game than have to do the whole unlock song and dance.

[Falconeer]

A Paladins First Look.

[Ginaz]

The business model is what bothers me. It's a big gamble, as it will probably decree its success or failure, but I'd bet for failure. It screams of "pay2win", and I doubt there are many who like that in their FPS.

I think they may be going with the same sort of business model they have with Smite, with a few differences.  All champions will be f2p and they will be offering skins for purchase.  If thats the case, then I'm not worried about it being p2w.  As for the cards, after you finish a game, you get chests which contain cards.  You can then craft your duplicate cards to make another card.  So by just playing the game on a regular basis you can add to your collection.

[Falconeer]

I think you are being optimistic. Chests can contain Legendaries and Epic cards, which means cards that make your character outright more powerful. And realistically, the play-time necessary to obtain the same cards you'll get by spending 2$ will be daunting. Sure you can do it, but in the meantime you'll get reamed by those who shelled out the cash (<--- pay 2 win). Clearly, I hope I'm wrong, as I like Hi-Rez and their games. But I doubt they rippped a system out of any TCG since M:tG to basically give away the most rare/powerful cards for free.

[Draegan]

Even then you get gold which you'll use to buy packs when you win games. Plus dropping 40 bucks imnsure gets you a ton ofnpacks too.

Cards are really good in this game, but I don't see too much of an imbalance. You still have to aim and pray to rngesus.

[Draegan]

I think you are being optimistic. Chests can contain Legendaries and Epic cards, which means cards that make your character outright more powerful. And realistically, the play-time necessary to obtain the same cards you'll get by spending 2$ will be daunting. Sure you can do it, but in the meantime you'll get reamed by those who shelled out the cash (<--- pay 2 win). Clearly, I hope I'm wrong, as I like Hi-Rez and their games. But I doubt they rippped a system out of any TCG since M:tG to basically give away the most rare/powerful cards for free.

Even so,  legendary cards have a 1 to 2m cooldown whn you die compared to lesser tier cards that can be 10 seconds.

Im not that worried about it. I suck at these games anyway.

[Hoax]

The core fps mechanics look via twitch to be much much worse than TF2 or Overwatch (which I wasn't super thrilled with).

The card thing actually seemed like a goofy cute gimmick (except that unlocking/picking a new card mid-fight seems crazy awkward atm) but nothing matters if the underlying gameplay is so vanilla and lame.

I'd declare Overwatch the clear winner from what I've seen of the two but I honestly don't think its going to do any better at unseating CS/TF2/all those russian f2p fps games than HOTS did at being a relevant moba.

[Ginaz]

I still have 2 keys for this if anyone wants them.