Creative Assembly Reveals Free-to-Play Total War: Arena

[rofltehcat]

Sounds horrible but they haven't given us that much information either, so if could be vastly different.

Not a fan of F2P however, because they often turn into Pay2Win or even pay to have a chance. Plus F2P doesn't really mix well with strategy games in my experience. CoH:Online was horrible, for example.

 

[CorvusFerreum]

Meh. I'm not really interessted in MOBAs and I don't think the MOBA feels really fit Total War. The series is all about massive engagements and battles on a large scale. Creep waves just don't have this vibe.

snip

Heh, just saying, but in military terms Washington would be hard pressed to make the top 100. If you're talking bigwigs, then that'd be people like Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Nobunaga, Djenghis Khan, Timur the Lame, Julius Ceasar, and Rommel - generals that didn't merely win some battles, but pushed the boundaries past what anyone thought possible with an army.[...]

A game called "Total War" (The german translation "totaler Krieg" is closely tied to the nazi minister of propaganda, Göbbels) featuring Rommel a famous german general during WWII? I'm all for it, just to see the german media uses this as example that video games are evil and to see history revisionist ussing this situating to tout that not everything was bad back then. This is really always great fun.

 

[Kargathia]

Meh. I'm not really interessted in MOBAs and I don't think the MOBA feels really fit Total War. The series is all about massive engagements and battles on a large scale. Creep waves just don't have this vibe.

snip

Heh, just saying, but in military terms Washington would be hard pressed to make the top 100. If you're talking bigwigs, then that'd be people like Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Nobunaga, Djenghis Khan, Timur the Lame, Julius Ceasar, and Rommel - generals that didn't merely win some battles, but pushed the boundaries past what anyone thought possible with an army.[...]

A game called "Total War" (The german translation "totaler Krieg" is closely tied to the nazi minister of propaganda, Göbbels) featuring Rommel a famous german general during WWII? I'm all for it, just to see the german media uses this as example that video games are evil and to see history revisionist ussing this situating to tout that not everything was bad back then. This is really always great fun.

I must say I didn't consider the possible implications when translating this to German, but you're right: the potential drama certainly looks promising.

Also, nothing was said about creep waves. Just consider replacing creep waves with reinforcing batallions, and you've got quite the potential for massive battles on your hand - including tactical considerations of pushing vs gathering a huge army at your base.

 

[Jamane]

This has huge potential if they take the best parts of what LoL and Dota have done and make it completely their own thing. I mean, fuck lanes, fuck towers, make this the first truly different MOBA. Also, pick some truly unique and varied leaders. Not just the greatest of the greatest. Pick small timers like William Wallace and Joan of Arc as well as bigwigs like Washington... assuming of course that this is "all eras go" warfare.

or maybe a custom leader like they did in Shougun2 multiplayer

 

[Anathrax]

Apparently the team working on this is a completely different one than the one working of Rome 2.

Still not much hope though.

 

[Weaver]

I'm willing to wait for more details before passing judgement.
To be honest, I never liked total war's online multiplayer.

 

[Jebusetti]

For some reason the first thought that popped into my head upon reading this was "Total War: Dynasty Warriors"

*shudder*

 

[lancar]

Multiplayer, shmultiplayer... Free To Play online is just the latest bandwagon for the industry, and I hope it dies off soon. Call me a grumpy old git, but I prefer nearly all my games singleplayer offline.

 

[Quazimofo]

This has huge potential if they take the best parts of what LoL and Dota have done and make it completely their own thing. I mean, fuck lanes, fuck towers, make this the first truly different MOBA. Also, pick some truly unique and varied leaders. Not just the greatest of the greatest. Pick small timers like William Wallace and Joan of Arc as well as bigwigs like Washington... assuming of course that this is "all eras go" warfare.

Heh, just saying, but in military terms Washington would be hard pressed to make the top 100. If you're talking bigwigs, then that'd be people like Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Nobunaga, Djenghis Khan, Timur the Lame, Julius Ceasar, and Rommel - generals that didn't merely win some battles, but pushed the boundaries past what anyone thought possible with an army.

That said, this has the potential of being something really unique and interesting. Definitely keeping my eye on it.

I know someone would call me on that XD

I'm speaking strictly from an American perspective of who would be "popular" choices. Wasn't really talking about who were the best/most successful military leaders.

Well you did say "bigwigs" so technically he still qualifies

And considering MOBA originally grew out of RTS maps in StarCraft multiplayer, it shouldn't be to hard to raise the scale from individual PCs to whole units of troops.

Of course it wouldn't. The difficult bit is making it interesting and unique beyond the BASIC MOBA formula that League of Legends basically mastered. Kinda like how Sins of a Dark Age had someone playing a straight rts, with others controlling hero units, and how the upcoming Dungeon Defenders 2 (at least at the time of writing), has no gear for upgrades, just potions of varying degrees of influence, and a much closer third person view to make it much more personal.

 

[CorvusFerreum]

Meh. I'm not really interessted in MOBAs and I don't think the MOBA feels really fit Total War. The series is all about massive engagements and battles on a large scale. Creep waves just don't have this vibe.

snip

snip

snap

snippidisnip

Also, nothing was said about creep waves. Just consider replacing creep waves with reinforcing batallions, and you've got quite the potential for massive battles on your hand - including tactical considerations of pushing vs gathering a huge army at your base.

I assumed there are creep waves because creep waves are an important part of what gives a MOBA it's pacing and structure. I think they are kinda essential for a MOBA, though I ,might be wrong. I'm not really into MOBAs, I'm just extrapolating from the little amount of experience I hae and from what I have seem from others playing MOBAs.
Replacing creep waves with battalions would just make them bigger creep waves imho. A key part of the feeling of the total war series, at least for me, is the fact that you start your battles with a certain number of troops and have to manage those. I just don't know how they could get this vibe into a MOBA styled game. I might be wrong though.
Since it's free to play I don't see why I shouldn't give it at least a shot.

 

[Ashannon Blackthorn]

Seriously, who cares? As long as they don't sink the Total War franchises to fund this it's just another game on the market you can play or not play depending on your fancy.

(now if their others games suffer because of this, feel free to break out the pitchforks and torches, but common folks, least wait and see what they doing...)

 

[Saviordd1]

This has huge potential if they take the best parts of what LoL and Dota have done and make it completely their own thing. I mean, fuck lanes, fuck towers, make this the first truly different MOBA. Also, pick some truly unique and varied leaders. Not just the greatest of the greatest. Pick small timers like William Wallace and Joan of Arc as well as bigwigs like Washington... assuming of course that this is "all eras go" warfare.

How exactly are Joan and Wallace "small timers"?

OT: Eh, I think the MOBA area is getting crowded to an extreme, they're gonna have to be good to compete.

 

[Colt47]

The MOBA wars: Now with mass armies?

I'm just having a hard time seeing a point to this one. Didn't we already have multiplayer in the Total War series?

 

[JaceArveduin]

This has huge potential if they take the best parts of what LoL and Dota have done and make it completely their own thing. I mean, fuck lanes, fuck towers, make this the first truly different MOBA. Also, pick some truly unique and varied leaders. Not just the greatest of the greatest. Pick small timers like William Wallace and Joan of Arc as well as bigwigs like Washington... assuming of course that this is "all eras go" warfare.

How exactly are Joan and Wallace "small timers"?

OT: Eh, I think the MOBA area is getting crowded to an extreme, they're gonna have to be good to compete.

He means in the sense of knowledge from the general populace. Wallace is really only known from Braveheart, and Joan's known as that one woman/knight person.

Like Fappy said, lots of potential to soar or crash, let's just hope they try to flavor in more than just aesthetics.