Noble Press - Tumbled Edition

The PAX Prime 2012 Experience

The gamer haven that is PAX Prime  is annually hyped up for good reason. This year’s expo filled with video game goodness included speaking with developers, artists, playing demos, gathering swag, epic booth displays, crazy gaming set ups, and of course, being packed in a convention center full of other people that get it. 

[caption id=”attachment_20339” align=”aligncenter” width=”310”] Line to get into PAX Prime.[/caption]

[caption id=”attachment_20338” align=”aligncenter” width=”310”] But once you get in, things like this are yours for the experiencing![/caption]

Although there were tons of things to see/do at Pax Prime 2012, the much anticipated Torchlight II demo always had a maxed out line of people. This upcoming action RPG is the second of the highly acclaimed Torchlight franchise. The original Torchlight was a sleeper hit that built upon what the hordes of seasoned veterans from Diablo II already knew and loved. One of the biggest improvements that Torchlight made on the Diablo franchise was that it allowed for huge amounts of modding—it even came with an editor and forum site that allowed making and sharing mods.

The biggest drawback to the original Torchlight was the lack of multiplayer. This missing aspect led to the player base to try and create their own multiplayer mods. Runic Games quickly picked up on this need and now, we have Torchlight II coming out on September 20. From the demo, it was immediately apparent that the graphic design remained largely the same but the particles, textures, and effects were substantially improved.

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The demo allowed players to try the multiplayer aspect, and everyone was beyond thrilled with it. Of course, after playing the game, players were rewarded with a Torchlight II swag bag, but the multiplayer aspect was really the draw. It’s good to see how far Runic Games has come, especially with the rumors that Torchlight II will be what Diablo III should have been… but please don’t cuss me out, Jay Wilson.

The original intention for Torchlight was to raise funds for an MMO. If Torchlight II becomes as successful—or even more so—than the original Torchlight, that Runic Games MMO may come quicker than expected.

Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) also made a showing at PAX Prime, with a tournament sponsored by Plantronics GameCom.

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Team Dynamic was in full effect and easily won the semi-finals against Murder Inc., only losing a few rounds. I snagged Todd Williams (aka Anger) of Team Dynamic right after they beat Murder Inc. for some perspective on the new CS: GO, and found that CS: GO is a lot more like 1.6 than like CS: Source because there’s much less gun recoil, which makes twitch gameplay more crucial. Anger was more used to 1.6 so it’s a game he got used to quicker than CS: Source. He said that immediately prior to this tournament, they had made some updates that affected the tournament gameplay, but he was able to get used to them on the fly. He also noted that playing the game online right now can be a little laggy, but it’s flawlessly smooth on LAN.

I also had the chance to speak with League of Legends game developer Morello, who worked on Guild Wars 2 for over three years. According to him…

…he made some mistakes.

When I asked him what these mistakes were, his response was that he primarily worked on the Mesmer class, which was the most underplayed class in Guild Wars I and continues to be in Guild Wars II. They are also currently the most underpowered class. He believes that there were a lot of things different they could have done with Mesmers, but thankfully, a lot of his poor design choices were screened out by others. He also mentioned that all in all, working on Guild Wars II was a positive experience that helped him grow while as a new game designer.

While hanging out with League of Legends senior concept artist IronStylus at the League of Legends PAX party, he admitted that Darius is probably overpowered right now, because he fills the same role as Garen but is more aggressive. Diana is mourned by many League players as being overpowered, and her restriction from the NA Regionals seems to be a clear agreement to that, but actually, the Reds insisted that it was because she’s so new, not op.

IronStylus’ love for Leona is quite well-known:

At the League party, I had the pleasure of meeting his lovely, self-described “warrior” wife Kathryn and learned that both Leona and Diana are based off of her. And Leona really does look like her! How awesome is that?

During the Riot Q and A, the question of adding more manly support came up, and Morello assured the concerned questioner that indeed, more manly support was needed and would be added soon (Riot has a two supports per calendar year schedule).

[caption id=”attachment_20363” align=”aligncenter” width=”310”] Developer Q and A[/caption]

As for new maps, Morello answered this commonly asked question with the idea that new maps add no extra depth to the game. The League of Legends development team prefers to focus more on team/player interactions, champions, and items. They plan on taking a hard look at the current items in particular, and either reworking or adding more items so that items add more to gameplay. This does not necessarily include actives, but the items should “change how you think about your character.”

[caption id=”attachment_20365” align=”aligncenter” width=”310”] No Magma Chamber for you.[/caption]

The developers also admitted to the mobility creep that many have noticed with the new champions. They plan to fix this not by buffing old champ move speed or by nerfing new champs, but through items. Also, with the rise in popularity and notoriety of ARAM, they are constantly looking into improve it. According to Morello, though, it’s hard to navigate which aspects to improve first. From his vague answer, I got the feeling that premade ARAMs will eventually happen, but in the far future. Finally, the current and omnipresent meta of solo top, solo mid, jungle and two bot was said to be “broken frequently,” according to Morello, and that although they encourage teams to experiment and play more dynamically, they do not think that the meta is as strong as much of  the player base feels that it is.

Tl;dr PAX Prime is awesome, and you should probably go next year.

Finally, look who I met:

[caption id=”attachment_20368” align=”aligncenter” width=”310”] Hideo Kojima, ladies and gentlemen.[/caption]

Original Article