16 May 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
Guess what kind of character she is?! Did you say physical mid-range tank? If so, you need to uninstall SMITE right away! Isis, the latest sexy female to be added to Hi-Rez Studios’ mythological MOBA doesn’t feature the curvy character art like her in-game sisters, but she can be just as pesky.
The Egyptian Goddess of Motherhood, Magic and Fertility fulfills the niche of a support mage. Isis is a dangerous foe in lane or with allies capable of AoE debuffs, sharing regen or negating damage to allies. Like numerous recent additions, Isis has a special meter for her scepter. Only enabled when she launches her ultimate, the scepter will explode dealing damage and healing allies when triggered.
Isis launches with a unique Queen of the Nile skin alongside a new cross-promotion skin for Global Agenda. Vulcan players, including myself, will want to reach level 30 in Hi-Rez Studios’ original game to unlock Sentry Vulcan. In addition to skins, the developer is retiring the rather pointless notion of levels in SMITE. In its place will be God Worshippers. As players win with each god they will earn points towards God Mastery. A total of 10 levels are in the current system. It is unknown what God Mastery offers at this time.
Hit the jump for the full god reveal of Isis, Goddess of Magic. We’ll have more on her and Fenrir next week as part of the on-going SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained column. Continue Reading
15 May 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
*Note* Updated with the latest offer. Stay tuned for more!
Grabbing the latest skin for Artemis is as easy as pi. No, the other kind of pie. Actually, that’s pretty difficult too. It’s easy as cake, but that’s a lie. Uh, it’s easy as boiling water, assuming you’ve easy access to fire. Okay, it’s as easy as a Loki gank. Previously teased in the patch from earlier this week, the promotion is now live and features the complex task of hitting a button. The only catch is that you’re required to have a Twitter account. I mean, it was labeled as a Twitter promotion after all.
Head on over to WishPond, fill in your email address and click the ‘Claim offer’ button to have a Stalker code hand delivered by the robots of the Internet to your personal email account. From there, grab the code and manually type it into the SMITE game client. Yeah, Hi-Rez Studios can make a fantastic and unique MOBA, but has trouble with the copy and paste function!
Now that I’ve that secured, it’s time to go work on Cacodemon Ymir again, which you earn by hitting Level 30 before the game launches. Oh, and while you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow @LoreHound.
13 May 2013 | |
Mordil
That’s right! Hi-Rez Studios is breaking into the eSports scene by offering their own weekly NA and EU bracket tournaments every Saturday and Sunday.
The prize pool is $1,000 for each bracket, every week!
The games are organized so the casters can stream practically every match on SMITE’s Twitch.tv channel.
Those of you who want to sign up (good luck!) should head over to the new eSports hub, esports.smitegame.com.
For those of us who want to just watch, NA coverage begins at Noon EDT (7pm GMT) and EU coverage begins at 9am EDT(3pm CET).
In addition to EU being split off from NA, EU has different language coverage on different channels:
- German is on www.twitch.tv/smitegameDE
- Polish is on www.twitch.tv/smitegamePL
- French is on www.twitch.tv/smitegameFR
Read on to see the full rules!
Continue Reading
25 April 2013 | |
Mordil
With the latest patch integrating Twitch.tv and adding Ne Zha, Hi-Rez Studios also finally released the Beta promotional skin, Cacodemon Ymir.
To snag yourself this skin, all you have to do is hit level 30 before SMITE goes live.
When will SMITE release? Well Todd Harris suggested around 40 gods in this recent interview we had with him.
For those of us already level 30 (you should mock iTZkooPA for not being 30 already!), all you have to do is play an Arena, Assault, Conquest, Ranked Conquest, Team Ranked Conquest, or Domination match once to unlock it.
Good luck on the grind, SMITErs!
23 April 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained is a column dedicated to introducing prospective players of SMITE to its massive back story of lore. From the Greek to Hindu, each week we’ll look at two characters from a major pantheon and provide a quick recap of their history and in what capacity their digital incarnation will represent on the field of Hi-Rez Studios’ upcoming MOBA.
Lore: Ne Zha, or Nezha as his name is most commonly spelled, originally came to Chinese folklore as a Taoist protection deity in Buddhist mythology. The boy was born as such after gestating in his mother for three and a half years. Upon his unusual birth his father, a powerful military commander named Li Jing, assailed his son with his sword in fear of creating a demon. Unphased by the cut, Ne Zha sprang from the ball of flesh a boy grown, fully capable of talking and walking at birth. This would not be Li Jing’s last attempt on his son’s life.
Ne Zha is best known for his roles in the popular culture Chinese mythology of Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West. It’s not his competition and later friendship with Sun Wukong, or conquering of the sea that gave Ne Zha his identity as a protector. It’s his work against the summons of Ao Kuang for boys and girls of his home province, Chentang Pass, that the Third Lotus Prince is held in such high esteem. After hearing that his minions had been defeated, Ao Kuang arranged a meeting with his family and that of Ne Zha. The embarrassed Dragon King threatened to flood the entirety of Chentang Pass. To save his family name and the people of his hometown Ne Zha committed suicide, returning his body to his parents. Continue Reading
22 April 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
When you’re playing an online game there are a few crucial systems under your control that you depend on for an enjoyable experience. Your computer, your Internet connection, your input devices (no batteries here!), they all have to be responding adequately or one may be thrown through the other. On the flip side, the company providing the experience needs dependable servers, few latency spikes and, naturally, compelling gameplay.
What if the gameplay itself becomes frustrating?
I’m not griping about a challenging boss fight, the umpteenth FedEx quest, an unusual balance change or an encounter so unique or gimmick-driven that it’s outside the cultural norms. I am referring to actual gameplay systems that cause active inhibitions. In an MMOG, you can brush a nuisance game mechanic off. There’s plenty of other content to chose from. Worst case, you have to wait for the next batch of content. In a MOBA, that’s not possible. Unless the character is modified it’s possible to come across the “broken” design at any moment. Continue Reading
18 April 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained is a column dedicated to introducing prospective players of SMITE to its massive back story of lore. From the Greek to Hindu, each week we’ll look at two characters from a major pantheon and provide a quick recap of their history and in what capacity their digital incarnation will represent on the field of Hi-Rez Studios’ upcoming MOBA.
Lore: *twang* Apollo, God of music, poetry, oracles, sun, medicine…let’s just go with art. He’s the God of Music et. al. No, that’s not correct either. Anyways, aside from being the god of plague, he was a fairly benevolent and talented individual. Born of Zeus and Leto, he came from the same seeds as his gamely twin sister Artemis. Given his ridiculous proficiency for mastering a vast array of topics, Apollo was a clever and complex individual routinely given different praises through the times of ancient Greece. Complex enough to maintain the same name and heritage for the Roman pantheon!
Be it with bow and arrow or his famed lyre given to him by Hermes, Apollo could turn the tides of war with a variety of resources. Early fame was brought to him when he killed Pytho, the earth-dragon of Delphi, after it was sent to end his mother’s life. Unphased by her minion’s failure, Hera sent the giant Tityos to finish the deal. Aided by Artemis, the pair once again saved their mother from certain death. Zeus then stepped in, casting Tityos to Tartarus for crows to feast on his liver. Continue Reading
16 April 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained is a column dedicated to introducing prospective players of SMITE to its massive back story of lore. From the Greek to Hindu, each week we’ll look at two characters from a major pantheon and provide a quick recap of their history and in what capacity their digital incarnation will represent on the field of Hi-Rez Studios’ upcoming MOBA.
Lore: Aphrodite, by all accounts, is incredibly attractive. The Greek goddess of love, procreation, beauty and pleasure is so desirable that the rest of her pantheon feared that godly rivalries for her hand would result in war. This is despite her being born a full adult from the mutilated genitals of Uranus. Ehem. Origin aside, her beauty resulted in an arranged marriage to Hephaestus, the ugly and deformed equivalent of the Roman smith Vulcan.
Being a deity in the Greek pantheon means such a social chain as marriage wouldn’t stop her from messing around. Aphrodite had the pick of any man she desired, gods and mortals alike. The rotating consorts caused as much strife as Zeus and the other leaders likely feared. For instance, her union with the violent God of War Ares bore Phobos and Deimos, the personifications of Fear and Terror that road to battle with their father. Continue Reading
