EA Enters MOBA Arena with Dawngate

[IanDavis]

EA Enters MOBA Arena with Dawngate

A new MOBA hopes to shake things up with "ever-evolving, community-driven content and story."

Once upon a time, everyone had to make an MMO to chase after the World of Warcraft cash cow. However, the massive costs involved in actually making a AAA-quality MMO rarely resulted in Blizzard-levels of cash. Today, the games to make are MOBAs. After seeing the resounding success of League of Legend and the technically-still-beta Dota 2, it seems that every other game company has some sort of MOBA in the pipeline, EA included. While [a href=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-10-09-dead-space-developer-working-on-a-free-to-play-moba-report]the rumors[/a] whispered of a F2P MOBA from Dead Space devs Visceral Games, [a href=https://www.waystonegames.com/betaSignup/intro]Dawngate[/a] is coming courtesy of the fresh faces at Waystone Games.

Both Waystone and Dawngate are so new that its forums aren't even functional yet. There's not much to go on at this point besides the tiny blurb on the website. Said blurb states that Dawngate will be "built from the ground up to look and feel familiar". That may not sound exciting, but the MOBA genre is pretty well entrenched with the very explicit Dota formula. However, the "forge the champions you love for the roles you want" and "ever-evolving, community-driven content and story" bits do sound interesting, as neither items are found in the ancient Dota recipe.

Interested parties can throw their hat into the ring for a shot at the closed beta [a href=https://www.waystonegames.com/betaSignup/emailCheck]here[/a]. When the the beta begins and the target launch date are currently unannounced.

Source: [a href=https://www.waystonegames.com/betaSignup/intro]Waystone Games[/a]

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[EvolutionKills]

I can't even begin to describe how uninterested I am in another DOTA clone...

 

[FalloutJack]

Yet another haven for ten-year-old brats who cuss into microphones, whiners, griefers, sore losers, and of course the hardcore crowd who missed the point of gaming by not playing for gaming's most simple and obvious point of existence: FUN.

 

[Aeshi]

Oh great, another bloody MOBA trying to cash in on DoTA's fame.

Wish the whole genre would do us a favor and die off

 

[BanicRhys]

I really fucking hate DotA and I always have, ever since my high school days when we'd play games over LAN during class. All I'd ever want to do is have an actual proper Warcraft 3 match, but nope, all the fucking dude bros would refuse to play anything that wasn't DotA or Counter Strike.

Yet another haven for ten-year-old brats who cuss into microphones, whiners, griefers, sore losers, and of course the hardcore crowd who missed the point of gaming by not playing for gaming's most simple and obvious point of existence: FUN.

I know a lot of people think that comments like these are just sweeping generalisations and maybe they are. But, every single LoL player I know fits into at least one of those categories perfectly.

 

[DonTsetsi]

As always, EA is late for the party. By the time this releases, the MOBA market will be saturated.

 

[FalloutJack]

Yet another haven for ten-year-old brats who cuss into microphones, whiners, griefers, sore losers, and of course the hardcore crowd who missed the point of gaming by not playing for gaming's most simple and obvious point of existence: FUN.

I know a lot of people think that comments like these are just sweeping generalisations and maybe they are. But, every single LoL player I know fits into at least one of those categories perfectly.

Had I been so implied as to be making such a generalization, I would point out that I didn't mean everyone in these things was like that. After all, there MUST be normal folks trying to have a good time who would complain about such people, yes? The aim was to point out that the negatives I mention just...always seem to be there.

 

[bafrali]

EA and community driven content? Why do I get the feeling that they are promising too much right from the start.

 

[Elate]

Right, now wait until you get the inevitable:
-DLC CHARACTER PACKS
-DLC UNBALANCED ULTS
-SUPER PREMIUM MEGA FUN TIME SUBSCRIPTION
All for the low, low price of your immortal soul.

 

[Talaris]

God knows how much EA is going to rip out of the game to sell back to us as micro-transactions. As if the whole MOBA community wasn't off-putting enough, now there has to be an EA one which, let me guess, will be locked onto Origin.

 

[EvolutionKills]

Yet another haven for ten-year-old brats who cuss into microphones, whiners, griefers, sore losers, and of course the hardcore crowd who missed the point of gaming by not playing for gaming's most simple and obvious point of existence: FUN.

I know a lot of people think that comments like these are just sweeping generalisations and maybe they are. But, every single LoL player I know fits into at least one of those categories perfectly.

Had I been so implied as to be making such a generalization, I would point out that I didn't mean everyone in these things was like that. After all, there MUST be normal folks trying to have a good time who would complain about such people, yes? The aim was to point out that the negatives I mention just...always seem to be there.

Yep, I just fail to see the appeal of having other people involved in my gaming experience. More often than not, they tend to fuck it up. I have some friends that I enjoy playing Co-Op games with (Killing Floor, L4D2, Saints Row the Third), but that's about it.

I just re-installed Dragon Age II and Fallout: New Vegas, because I prefer my RPG's with less real people in them...

 

[GodzillaGuy92]

While [a href=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-10-09-dead-space-developer-working-on-a-free-to-play-moba-report]the rumors[/a] whispered of a F2P MOBA from Dead Space devs Visceral Games[...]

For whatever reason - lack of sleep, I suppose - I read this as "the rumors whispered of a F2P Dead Space MOBA from Visceral Games," at which point I would have done a spit take had I been drinking anything.

At any rate, I look forward to EA thoroughly sodomizing League of Legends's wonderfully-executed free-to-play system by locking UI elements behind a paywall and implementing microtransactions for players who wish to immediately teleport back to base or recharge their abilities.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I know that's what I thought the world needed. More MOBA games. I keep hoping they are a fad that'd go away but I think I am horribly wrong.

 

[FalloutJack]

Yet another haven for ten-year-old brats who cuss into microphones, whiners, griefers, sore losers, and of course the hardcore crowd who missed the point of gaming by not playing for gaming's most simple and obvious point of existence: FUN.

I know a lot of people think that comments like these are just sweeping generalisations and maybe they are. But, every single LoL player I know fits into at least one of those categories perfectly.

Had I been so implied as to be making such a generalization, I would point out that I didn't mean everyone in these things was like that. After all, there MUST be normal folks trying to have a good time who would complain about such people, yes? The aim was to point out that the negatives I mention just...always seem to be there.

Yep, I just fail to see the appeal of having other people involved in my gaming experience. More often than not, they tend to fuck it up. I have some friends that I enjoy playing Co-Op games with (Killing Floor, L4D2, Saints Row the Third), but that's about it.

I just re-installed Dragon Age II and Fallout: New Vegas, because I prefer my RPG's with less real people in them...

Indeed, for my co-op fun, I prefer close friends, or in fact my girlfriend. Random people on the internet that you're unfamiliar with are practically the definition of the term 'pot luck'.

 

[Candidus]

At any rate, I look forward to EA thoroughly sodomizing League of Legends's wonderfully-executed free-to-play system...

Wonderfully executed? Did they make glyphs free and open up all the heroes, then?
If not, then I'd say it's just OK. Par for the course for `F-2-P` games.

I'm a former LoL player, SMITE fancier and big DOTA2 fan. I'm not loyal to any one game though, so I'm actually interested in playing Dawngate. I won't pretend to hope that its business model will follow DOTA2's mind you... if the game allows you to "forge" custom heroes, then that's where the register will be hanging out, no question.

Have thrown in for the beta.

 

[Anathrax]

Interesting. Here's a couple of questions.
1) Do I have to use Origin? No? Go to question 2. Yes? Piss off.
2) What makes it different than DoTA/Lol? Stupid answers like "THIS PROVIDES REALLY FAST ACTION PACKED SANDWICHES" does not count.

Answer those and I'll give it a try.

 

[GodzillaGuy92]

Wonderfully executed? Did they make glyphs free and open up all the heroes, then?
If not, then I'd say it's just OK. Par for the course for `F-2-P` games.

Confession: That statement was mostly based on hearsay combined with what little experience with the system I've had after a mere dozen or two games. So go ahead and take what I said with a fairly large spoonful of salt.

Even so, the overall point remains that if EA manages to implement a more reasonable F2P model than Riot's, I'll eat the laptop I'm using to type this message.

 

[Tanakh]

That may not sound exciting, but the MOBA genre is pretty well entrenched with the very explicit Dota formula.

That is just not true. If you are avid fan of ARTS, MOBA or whatever you want to called, then you know SMITE, DotA, LoL, HoN, Awesomenauts, SMNC, Demigod and the rest of em are very different one from another.

As for the game, I might be interested, nahh, who am i kidding, there is almost zero chance this game will be something more than a cash cow. I expect zero tactical play and no promotion at all as an e-sport.

Even so, the overall point remains that if EA manages to implement a more reasonable F2P model than Riot's, I'll eat the laptop I'm using to type this message.

I have trouble imagining a less reasonable F2P model than Riot's, for me it's on par with SW:ToR in the sense that it cripples the gameplay and tactics of LoL. The only thing that comes to mind is removing IPs, but that would hurt their earnings...

 

[hazabaza1]

Haha, story, hehe, moba.
Yeah no this is going to be a money sink and will only be played by the people who for whatever reason really hate dota/LoL.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

As always, EA is late for the party. By the time this releases, the MOBA market will be saturated.

You mean it isn't already?

I will watch this with interest, (EA products are at least good for a laugh when they fail/break/suck).