Genesis Review: Yup, That's A MOBA

Today, few companies are looking to create a new MOBA. Dota2 's player count has been on a slow, steady decline while League of Legends' has mostly plateaued. Riot Games still reports LoL ’s player count as an ever-growing number , one can only assume that’s due to greater international penetration as well as longtime players creating secondary or "smurf" accou


With success comes imitation. Many game developers saw the incredible financial success of both LoL and Dota2 and thought they could change the classic MOBA formula just enough to stand out. Titan Forge Games released Smite , a mythologically-themed third-person battle arena, in March of 2014. Although certainly popular by most standards and also featuring a world championship with a $1 million top prize, Smite never quite gained the rampant popularity of either LoL or Dot


Eight months later, we can say with absolute certainty that the statement was grown in the deepest levels of Blizzard’s PR dungeon, sprinkled with the highest quality of Corporate brand bullshit, and masked with enough perfume so as to hide its decaying stench long enough for people to forget about the whole thing. Two heroes have been released, and a number of events that focus on selling skins are all players have been given, and there is no reason to expect anything m


These are the standard runes for Marksmen. In the Precision Tree, Press the Attack gives solid burst damage in short skirmishes, Triumph and Bloodline provide sustainability in teamfights, and Coup de Grace allows Aphelios to secure kills and get further ahead. Then taking Magical Footwear and Biscuit Delivery in the Inspiration Tree gives Aphelios sustainability and survivabil


The inconsistency of the esports scene has resulted in some players leaving over the long-term. Disguised Toast, a popular Hearthstone streamer, recently returned a card reveal to Blizzard, stating that it felt disingenuous revealing an upcoming new card when he has issues with the state of the game as it sta


Aphelios has 5 unique weapons that each start with 50 Moonlight (Ammo). His basic attacks cost 1 Moonlight, and his abilities (Q and R) cost 10. Once his Moonlight hits 0 he will switch to the next weapon in the queue. Also, instead of upgrading his abilities when he levels up (like the other 146 champions in the game), the player can choose to upgrade either his Attack Damage, Attack Speed, or Armor Penetrat


As a Marksman who wants to use his abilities often and has empowered basic attacks, Essence Reaver and Runaan's Hurricane are core items on Aphelios. Infinity Edge is usually the strongest third item, but the rest of the build depends on the enemy team and how the game is going. Phantom Dancer and Guardian Angel provide defensive capabilities from Assassins and burst damage, Bloodthirster provides sustainability and damage in long teamfights, and Mortal Reminder counters an enemy team with a lot of healing. As for his unique stat leveling, maxing his Attack Speed or Armor Penetration is generally the best bet. Max Attack Speed first against a squishier team, and max Armor Penetration first against an armor stacking team. The Attack Damage Aphelios gains from leveling that stat does not scale well into the late g


With Aphelios' 5 weapons, two teamfights will never play out the same. The way he wants to approach a full 5v5 or a small skirmish will depend on his current main and off-hand weapons. The Calibrum, Infernum, and Crescendum Moonlight Vigils are very strong during developing teamfights, especially in small areas. The AOE damage and healing can win fights single-handedly. He can also use the AOE crowd control from his Gravitum Moonlight Vigil to initiate or disengage a fi


Crescendum (Chakram): Can't auto attack again until the projectile bounces back, but when returned, it resets his basic attack. Casting abilities creates copies of the chakram which then strengthens his basic attacks based on the amount he's hol


However, they seem to be content to sit in the pit they've dug for themselves. The Blizzard of today seeks to execute an entirely different vision than the Blizzard of twenty, and even ten years ago. Past performance is often a strong indicator of future action, and Dota 2 Patch 7.40 if in the future Blizzard were to gut Hearthstone's esports and development team to reinvest into Call of Duty and Candy Crush , there would be no reason to be surpri


Most game modes could canonically be explained away through various means. Modes such as Ultra Rapid Fire need the simple explanation of saying that the mages who manage the league would simply scale champion abilities to allow them to use multiple abilities in rapid succession. But what of othe


With its campaign, the one thing that could really set it apart, inactive, Genesis has your typical MOBA modes. There's training, a humans vs. AI mode, and 5v5 competitive. There's only one map in the rotation right now, the usual three lane battlefield where you aim to destroy the enemy towers and reach their core. That's not to fault Genesis for having this familiar element. The setup is just typical to MOBAs. In fact, there are some smart things going on in Genesis that address common MOBA probl