- Joined
- Dec 30, 2007
- Messages
- 48
"Yeah... I think we're about good to go."
WHO ARE YOU
Man, I dunno.
Old fogey who just won't stay dead, thinks he's all that.
You know what it is.
WHY DID YOU LABEL A TEAM RPG "HERO ARENA"
Keep reading!
GIVE ME THE LORE
Long ago, the land was ruled by the Old King, who would do anything for his kingdom. He united the world and led its inhabitants into a golden age.
Time passed, and a portal to another world was discovered, claiming the lives of numerous explorers who ventured into it.
Determined to shield his kingdom from fear, the Old King took a controversial measure; he made a covenant with a portal-walking demon called Sevarrys in hopes of earning a means to safely traverse the world beyond. Ordering his knights and loyal retainers to neither fear nor pursue, the Old King alone stepped through the portal and was never seen again.
With the Old King gone, the world fell into turmoil, and the two ruling powers went to war. For years, blood has been shed endlessly. Now, it's your place to end it the only way you know how: by assassinating their leader to claim victory.
WHAT IS IT?
It's an RPG, sort of.
You and your team have a city to yourselves, with everything you might imagine is there—an altar, a fountain, a marketplace and some shops, guarded by soldiers and towers.
Beyond, myriad creeps to kill that scale with the average level of your party, sometimes growing tougher faster than you can keep up. Indefinitely resetting "instanced" dungeons, with bosses that unleash powerful scripted abilities and pursue Heroes with logic and extreme prejudice. They'll require coordination, as well as clever use of powerful skills and items, if you want even a chance at taking them down.
That's the easy part out of the way, anyway.
The hard part is that—past that tough-ass enemy Gatekeeper NPC who you haven't gone near cause she's mowing down creeps like grass—there's another team of players on the other side of the wall. And they have the same idea as you, as well as the same shops, the same dungeons, the same enemies, and the same objective: beat up some nerds and assassinate a king.
But you can handle them, right?
Ten players, two teams. Have at it.
YOUR FRIENDS
These guys are technically your enemies too, but you might want an introduction.
This is the City Altar and Chaplain. The latter can usually be seen walking around keeping the guards healed. The former cannot, because it's a building and that would look funny. These guys are responsible for bringing you back from the dead, which is pretty easy to do.
Naturally, without them, it's much harder to do.
The mighty Town Guard, a group of combat-trained and ready individuals who will challenge any task. They have trained their entire lives for this moment, and will stalwartly defend their city for the whole two seconds each of them will live when the other players show up. Mostly they're just meat shields. They'll protect you as you run into the city, and prevent creeps from getting too rowdy.
The mighty Captain of the Guard, a combat-trained and ready individual who will challenge any task. He has waited his entire life for this moment, and will stalwartly defend his city for the whole eight seconds he lives when the other players show up.
This guy's actually pretty tough, especially if the Chaplain is backing him up. But he's still one of those "fight hard and lose gracefully" types. He's got a couple of skills, but he's not as smart as the tougher NPCs.
The Royal Gate and its Gatekeepers.
That's Wistrasa—defending the South—on the left, and Valroth—with the North side—on the right. They do mostly the same stuff, it just looks a little different, depending on which one of 'em it is. Different strokes, and all. She's the efficient type, and he likes to do things with a little flair.
Strength-wise, either of these dudes could solo your town guard and keep on kicking, especially because they'll usually warp a couple of additional guards in if you look at them the wrong way. But you should keep an eye on them regardless. There's no way to -protect- your Gatekeeper, cause they're on the opposite side of the Royal Gate from you, but watching him (or her, for you Southern folk!) is usually a good way to keep tabs on what's going on.
When they're not doing anything else, they like to take to creeps like a lawnmower. Just for the fun of it!
When a Gatekeeper dies, both of the gates will open, allowing the teams to invade eachother's maps. The surviving Gatekeeper will report back to their own town, to help defend the King.
Oh, that guy in the middle? I don't actually know who he is. Some freelancer, I guess.
King Talos and King Aldric, repping the North and South respectively. Talos took a queen, who goes by the name of Loraetia. Aldric's more of a warrior-king type, so he just hangs out with the Jailor Attenborough. Same story as with the Gatekeepers, though. They're really similar, once you get to know them.
Royalty is a pain, and these guys will teach you what it feels like to sit under the sword of Damocles. They will do it by hammering you and all of your friends in the face repeatedly until you are dead. Stronger than any dungeon boss, these Kings don't mess around. But you're protecting them, not vice-versa. Let the enemy into your throne room, and you'll certainly pay for it.
Or: KILL THIS GUY TO WIN THE GAME
YOUR REAL ENEMIES
If your "friends" are more like "conditional enemies", then here's some people who hate you no matter who you are.
This is Geomancer Muru, the leader of a local kobold clan that's up to no good, as kobolds are. He's big, and likes to show it by throwing his weight around. His Burst Lightning will knock you back pretty hard. Don't let him corner you, or you might regret it. He's the level 5 boss.
Skymage Arren leads a force of elves who have defected from the ruling powers. He can be found chilling in his tower, doing all sorts of aerodynamic maneuvers on his dragonhawk.
Naturally, he doesn't like it if you stand next to him for too long. Arren is the level 10 boss.
Stronger still is Deathsinger Sevarrys.
Hey, now you don't feel so sorry for reading the lore!
Her voice can shatter dimensional walls, and people often say it's loud enough to wake the dead.
Sevarrys is the level 15 boss. You can take on any of these guys a little earlier, of course, with a balanced team and a smidge of coordination. Teamplay is the way to win!
HEROES
There are currently nine Heroes, though I'm planning on adding more at some point. I won't talk a whole lot about them, but their skill-sets are a lot of fun. Each Hero has four regular skills and an ultimate; I'm not detailing every single one of them here, but I'll talk about the important ones!
* Rogue - Agility: A melee Agility hero with the only stealth ability. Fervor immediately gives you an extra attack against your current target. Backstabbing targets deals additional damage based on Agility, and restores some mana; backstabbing a target from invisibility will stun them. Your ultimate, Shadowstep, moves you behind a target, silences them, and reduces their attack damage! Great for getting into position.
* Hunter - Agility: A ranged Agility hero. Track Down lowers a target's armor and reveals them. Strafe, a low-cooldown ability, fires moderately damaging arrows at all targets in an AoE, even through the fog of war. Primal Strike knocks a target back and slows them for an extended duration; your ultimate, Black Arrow, deals -physical- damage to a target equal to a large percentage of its maximum health after a short casting period. Black Arrow has the longest range of any ability, but the Hunter has the lowest HP of any Hero.
* Ice Mage - Intelligence: An Intelligence hero. Ice Breath hurls a long-range snaring projectile in a line, dealing AoE damage around the first target it hits. Deep Freeze renders an enemy, or the Ice Mage himself, invulnerable but unable to act for an extended period. Your ultimate, Cold Snap, creates a slowing field in a large area of effect, while affecting your teammates in the area with a powerful Frost Armor.
* Fire Mage - Intelligence: A powerfully scaling Intelligence hero. Flame Shock knocks back a single target and deals Intelligence based damage. Meteor Shard stuns a target and deals massive Intelligence-based damage to all units in an area of effect. The Fire Mage possesses the self-explanatory Flame Strike; her ultimate, Forbidden Sun, refreshes the cooldowns of all other abilities, allowing for incredible burst damage and powerful lockdown combos.
* Arcane Mage - Intelligence: A utility hero with powerful late-game burst. The Arcane Mage possesses Polymorph, which renders a single target temporarily useless. Mana Flare is a mana burn that deals damage to a target based on a percentage of the Mage's maximum mana pool. Arcane Burst, your ultimate, dispels all magical effects in an area and deals damage to enemies based on a percentage of your mana pool, restoring an equivalent amount of mana to allies in the area.
* Cleric - Intelligence: A dedicated healer focused on cast times rather than cooldowns. Smite throws a projectile that deals Intelligence-based damage to the first enemy it hits, healing all nearby allies for this amount. Astral Remedy and Inner Fire augment the survivability of allies, healing them on cast. Chains of Light snares an enemy in place; your ultimate, Benediction, casts Astral Remedy and Inner Fire on all nearby allies, while affecting all nearby enemies with Chains of Light.
* Warrior - Strength: The Warrior's Charge leads him into battle, rushing to a target point and dealing damage based on his current health. Piercing Strike shreds armor and deals damage based on Strength and Agility (and makes some bosses -hate- you). His ultimate, Last Stand, gives him a massive amount of armor and HP regeneration for a short time.
* Paladin - Strength: A hybrid Strength hero. Holy Shock heals a target ally or damages a target enemy for an amount based on your Intelligence, while True Strike stuns for an extended duration and deals damage based on Strength. Sanctify protects a target unit from a certain amount of Magic damage. The Paladin's ultimate, Celestial Judgment, stuns a target for three seconds; after this time, it suffers damage based on its missing HP.
* Berserker - Strength: A savage Hero with a lot of longevity, but poor scaling. Axe Throw deals damage to enemy targets in a line based on your Strength. Devil Roar boosts the damage of all nearby allies at the cost of your HP. Blood Thirst gives you a percentage of lifesteal--and in this game, lifesteal affects all damage, rather than just melee attacks. Your ultimate, Dance of the Red Moon, leaps to a target, knocking all enemies around it aside, and locks the two of you in place for a short duration, dealing damage over time.
There are more Heroes to come, and building a balanced team is essential! Though the battle proper doesn't begin until a team kills the other's Gatekeeper, a to-the-death Arena Battle will occur every 30 minutes, giving an edge to whichever team is victorious.
(Hero suggestions welcome. I love ideas!)
SYSTEMS
*Floating damage text
*Floating spell text, complete with "channeling" and "spell cancel" indicators
*Scaling abilities
*Projectiles
*Knockback
*Lifesteal ability grants percentage lifesteal on all damage
*Shared bounty from creep kills, with floating text
*Resetting dungeons with respawning creeps.
*Boss loot system - everyone gets an item of their choice!
*Custom models - weapons display in your Hero's hand!
*And more...
WHAT ABOUT THAT OLD KING GUY
When the Old King stepped through the portal, his fate was unknown.
But if you can find him, and learn from him, you will certainly win the war.
The demon Sevarrys, who he made covenant with, still lives in this world; perhaps she holds the key.
MAP STATUS
Playable!
I'm calling it an early beta version. I've been running tests, public and private, to get everything bug-free. I still have some balance changes and tweaks I'd like to make before I upload it here, but I'll probably have a version up sometime this week if not tonight. Plus, I'd like to approach the terrain with a little polish, as it sort of fell by the wayside while I was making the map.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Leave 'em here.
