Category: Editorial (Page 22 of 34)

      How are slimes treating you in 1.3?

      February 27, 2011 /

      Slime troubles.

      I’ve enjoyed just about everything in the Minecraft 1.3 update. The new lighting looks awesome, beds work fantastically, even in multiplayer, and I’ve even used the new half blocks on a couple structures. There is one thing that has plagued me to no end: slimes.

      Slimes used to be fairly uncommon creatures. They got removed. They got put back in the game but were super rare. The 1.3 update, though, made them extraordinarily common. I had to decommission one of my mob spawners because the design was getting horribly clogged with slimes. The former mob spawner seems to now be a slime spawner. I snapped the image above last night after I noticed my new mob spawner upstairs had slowed. Gee, I wonder why?

      I’ve read in several forum threads that slimes are buggy in multiplayer, but I’m hoping we see some sort of hotfix soon. Unfortunately, the entire Mojang team is at GDC right now, so we’ll be waiting at least a couple weeks before any kind of fix can be issued. Are you seeing slimes everywhere or are they a rare sight?

      Editorial, Minecraft

      Few champions are as fun as Blitzcrank

      February 25, 2011 /

      steamgolem_splash_3

      Last week I spent most of my League of Legends games playing Blitzcrank. The Crank, as I lovingly refer to him, has long been one of my favorite champions. I was just getting a handle on Pudge when I started playing LoL, so Blitz seemed liked a natural transition.

      There’s been a lot of debate about Blitzcrank’s relative strength in the game, but for my buck, he’s as strong a toon as you could hope to have on your team. Blitzcrank dramatically changes the way the game is played for the people playing against him. The ability to remove an enemy from the safety of his team or turret while simultaneously pulling him into lethal danger is a mechanic no toon in the game can answer. Add to it the fact that he can silence his prey as they come in for a landing and even elusive targets, like Kassadin and Shaco, get turned into cash.

      The real key to success with Blitzcrank is encouraging your team to push and push hard. If you can organize a five man rush down mid around level eight, you can cripple the enemy’s ability to farm. That kind of push typically results in a stalemate. Rocket Grab gives your team a massive advantage in that situation. Even if the push stalls, chances are you can pull a couple kills for your own carry while forcing the enemy team to defend a turret instead of farming their jungle or pushing your lanes.

      If you’re in a funk or just need someone new to try, give Blitzcrank a shot. Be ready for criticism, though. As fun as it is when you land that hook, it’s also painfully obvious when you miss. For every “lol, bad blitzcrank,” I’ve heard, though, I’ve also seen “gg blitz” or “blitz won that one” in the post-game lobby.

      Champions, Editorial, league of legends

      Magma Chamber delayed by the ‘Shiny’ update

      February 21, 2011 /

      magma_chamber

      This past week’s patch fueled a surprising outburst of rage, mostly centered on the IP system remake. Of course, any time Riot makes an unpopular decision, the forums explode with demands for Magma Chamber and general unrest. Phreak responded with a fairly lengthy post, covering most of the features Riot has yet to release. It’s not really news, but he did reiterate the fact that Magma Chamber is being delayed until the graphical update, which Riot calls “Shiny,” is released.

      In short, that’s a huge bummer. I know that Shiny is meant to improve the graphical experience on both the low and the high end, but it means very little for veteran players. Newcomers might be slightly more impressed, but what we really want is features. I read an article in a digital media class in college about the intersection of graphics and gameplay. Though I can’t find the article, a simple search for “graphics vs gameplay” brings up scads of blog posts, articles, and forum threads dedicated to the discussion, most of which lean in favor of gameplay. That’s no surprise – I think almost everyone could agree that gameplay makes the game. It’s interesting to see developers then go for graphics in many instances.

      Now, I don’t really think that’s what Riot is doing. Riot’s growth has been something of an anomaly in the development community, so as a company, they have to focus on the total package experience and getting that total package to as many players as possible. That includes the people playing at the low end of the hardware spectrum. It just sucks that veteran players are still waiting for a compelling feature release, and the thing that’s holding it up is a graphical overhaul.

      Current Affairs, Development, Editorial, league of legends

      Xypherous sheds some light on the Eve/Stealth remake

      February 21, 2011 /

      evelynn_splash_1

      We’ve been hearing about an Eve remake for months now, but nothing has really happened, other than of course the big nerfs she caught a couple weeks back. Now that things have leveled off a bit, players will undoubtedly start to get restless for a full remake. Xypherous, one of the newer designers at Riot, shed some light on the process thus far.

      It’s a long but fairly interesting read if you have the heart. Basically, they keep changing and changing things, hoping to land on that magical spot where she feels both decent to play and to play against. I think it’s going to be a tough thing to balance. Long duration stealth is a big problem for this game because so few champions have a way to directly counter it, and too many counters makes the mechanic unenjoyable for the stealther. There are a couple stealth mechanics that I think are fairly well implemented, though.

      Akali stealth seems pretty good, though I would like her to appear a bit longer than she currently does on attack. Shroud works for her opponents because they can generally guess where she is and adjust accordingly. Shaco, though he has his issues, is actually a good example of stealth these days. He can use it for positioning an attack, but in most cases, players see the little puff of smoke he leaves in his wake. It also has a short enough duration that he is compelled to attack shortly after he enters stealth or he’ll be vulnerable to attack shortly after.

      Eve just has too many tools for extended stealth to work. She can stun, has a nice nuke/debuff, and can heal massive amounts of health, which refreshes her ability to deal sustained DPS. Add to that her high mobility and you have a champion that frankly, shouldn’t have passed the drawing board. Based on the direction the rework process has been headed, I’ll be interested to see where we end up in the next couple months.

      Champions, Editorial, league of legends

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