MMO News

Guardian Stone Second War Mobile Review
Skyforge Dark Omen Update Now Live
PWI: Elysium Expansion Announced
Star Crusade Trailer (GDC 2016)
Heroes of the Storm Reveals Dehaka
Mabinogi Duel Launches Home of Magicians JERHNA Update
Elsword Perkisas Phase 2 Trailer
Shadowverse Launch Trailer
World of Warplanes Developer Diaries: Spring Offensive
World of Warships Developer Diaries: Soviet Cruisers

Posted: 16 Mar 2016 07:38 PM PDT

Guardian Stone: Second War is a strategy game for the android and iOS by NHN Entertainment Corp. You are put in the shoes of one of the "successors" of the heroes of a previous war against the Dragon Deathlord and his army. As the next generation of heroes, you inherited the power of the guardians, beings of power that provides you with abilities and bonuses in battle.

But everything’s not alright in the current world as people who have the "gift" are looked at as heretics due to the deceitful actions of their predecessors. Your public appearance matters little though as the Dragon Deathlord's return is imminent, and your skill at using your guardian is all that stands in the way of his army's complete victory.

The visuals and perspective may be different, but gameplay follows Summoners War.

Gameplay

Guardian Stone's gameplay focuses on and around unit collection and development. As the current user of the guardians you set yourself apart from typical humans with powerful abilities and protections. Battles are mostly instanced encounters using your three equipped guardians in turn-based, initiative controlled encounters. Each equipped guardian is given a set of active or passive skills that you can use alongside the active skills your chosen hero has.

Gameplay consists of circling through game modes where you can evolve, enhance or strengthen your hero and guardians.

Your Guardians and You

As part of the successors of the first war, your character will be based on one of the three character types that you will see in the intro. Either go for the strapping warrior class, the nimble and accurate, archer class, or the arcane, mage class. You aren't given any customization options for the classes so you are basically locked into your choice for life (or until you create a new account). But at least the game throws you a bone in the looks department to keep your class interesting, as you can see the equipped armor and weapons your hero has. This is a feature pretty much unheard of in mobile titles.

Guardians are fully 3D animated, with quite a bit of diversity now that the game is a bit past launch.

You can enhance your character's abilities and skills by getting equipment and weapons through monster drops or rewards. In combat, you will get enhanced guardian-type reliant "barriers" that will protect your HP from straight attacks from opponents.

Guardians on the other hand are segregated into three types with each type stronger and weaker against another in a rock-paper-scissor system. Solar, Lunar, and Stellar make up the three guardian types. The game in fact puts tremendous emphasis on your character and their guardian's synchronization. Your three equipped guardians will determine the type of barrier your character will have along with the damage type you will dish out.

As I've already mentioned. Guardian Stone allows your guardians to be enhanced, evolved and strengthen in a lot of ways typical of the fantasy mobile genre. However, what sets Guardian Stone apart is the addition of an automated guardian training system exclusively for Guardian Stone.

The system works similar to how you can send your monsters in Monster Rancher on expeditions to level up. That's also how it works in Guardian Stone. You can send your guardians on expeditions and leave them there for a certain duration. If you get lucky, they will bring loot back in addition to experience points. Also there are instances where you can assign more than one guardian on an expedition, thus allowing you to really upgrade your other units as you spend more serious time with your main lineup.

Battles

Guardian Stone's battle system works just like your old school rpgs. You will be battling in turn-based battles where you get to choose from nine abilities. Six will be from your chosen three guardians while the remaining three are from your hero.

Battles are all about hero guardian synergy, though you can mostly wing it in PvE.

The typical battle scenario consists of two waves set up as 3v3 battles. Each guardian equipped will provide you with their type of barrier as well as their offensive abilities. You have control over both targeting and barrier placement, which is reliant on your guardian placement.

Single player PvE battles are energy based encounters that follows your character's plotline. It seems that most of these battles are easy even in the later stages and are to be taken as a means to level up your lineup and unlock game features. You are also somewhat introduced to the world you are living in as you get to interact with NPCs who will not just provide you with quests, but a bit of narrative to build out a better backstory.

Other battles in game are now concentrated on PvP, dungeon runs, and the occasional event monsters that NHN throws at you.

You'll be spending most of your mid-late game playtime on dungeon runs as you gather runes, essence, and guardian fodder for upgrading your current main lineup. You'll need this to stay competitive as you ram your head against other players to rise to glory in PvP.

Conclusion: Excellent 5/5

I must say that I am impressed with Guardian Stone: Second War. Not only did a game, for a first time in a really long while, deliver such an engaging intro, but it maintained a real bleak setting (for the heroes at least) without making the game look and feel bleak. In fact, NHN really did solid work with the game's aesthetics. The voice acting is a bit off, but overall the feel is one-of-a-kind.

The gameplay itself is pretty easy to get into and contains a lot of familiar vibes, especially from Summoners War. If you got hooked with Com2uS' monster collecting offer, I'm definitely sure you'll enjoy this one. As for those who aren't and are on the fence about trying Guardian Stone, I don't have the exact words to convince you to try. It's really one of those games you stumble upon while bored on a Saturday afternoon, only to find yourself losing yourself to it until the sun sets.

Guardian Stone: Second War is an easy to jump into game that hides an expansive experience within its cute exterior. It's a diamond in a rough in an ocean of crappy titles.

Full Gameplay Image Gallery

[See image gallery at mmohuts.com]

The post Guardian Stone Second War Mobile Review appeared first on MMOHuts.

Skyforge Dark Omen Update Now Live

Posted: 16 Mar 2016 04:01 PM PDT

Developer Allods Team and global publisher My.com, proudly present Dark Omen, Skyforge's newest update. The update contains a new questline and tools to improve quality of life for Pantheons – Skyforge's equivalent of guilds. Dark Omen is an update, setting up and enhancing gameplay for a future expansion that will come soon for the highest level of players.

Dark Omen update features:

New Operation System: Operations are a system in which high level players can combine their powers to more effectively fight off the continued invasions on Aelion. This system will receive an overhaul with a clear progression bar and an increase in overall ease of use for players.
Elder God Questline: Players can learn what it takes to become an Elder God and continue their divine journey during the next Invasion on Aelion. They can fight against the metallic threat in a series of missions leading up to a showdown with the Mechanoid Boss!
Pantheon Fusion Tool: Any Pantheon, large or small, seeking to merge themselves with another Pantheon, will now be able to accomplish such a feat. Pantheons can join forces and battle Aelion's threats together!

View the complete update details here.

The post Skyforge Dark Omen Update Now Live appeared first on MMOHuts.

PWI: Elysium Expansion Announced

Posted: 16 Mar 2016 03:00 PM PDT

Today, Perfect World Entertainment Inc., a leading publisher of widely-acclaimed free-to-play MMORPGs, announced PWI: Elysium, the 12th expansion for the flagship fantasy MMORPG. This update marks the game's largest expansion to date and will introduce a fully customizable homestead-building system, a max level 10-player instance, and weekly cross-server PvP tournaments for highly coveted rewards. In addition to releasing this massive expansion, PWI will make its debut on Steam.

Inhabitants of the Perfect World will have a new place to call home when PWI: Elysium arrives. For the first time, players will be able to build and customize their own housing with the Homestead System. Nestled in the heart of a forsaken forest lies a lavish mansion, ready to be designed and furnished. These homesteads serve as a safe haven for wandering travelers, where players can also craft items, offer contract jobs and generate precious resources.

Elysium also introduces a brand new 10-player instance called Uncharted Paradise. This area once served as home to a prosperous village, but was destroyed and divided into seven pieces of land after Pan Gu flooded the world. Conquering this max-level instance will bring players one step closer to becoming a true Celestial. To achieve this, they must team up with others to complete seven trials, requiring them to defeat seven difficult bosses.

PWI: Elysium also includes plenty of other new content and gameplay updates, including weekly cross-server PvP tournaments, upgraded weapons and gear, as well as new fashion, mounts and flyers.

The post PWI: Elysium Expansion Announced appeared first on MMOHuts.

Star Crusade Trailer (GDC 2016)

Posted: 16 Mar 2016 02:46 PM PDT

Star Crusade, a sci-fi CCG, presents its first official trailer during GDC 2016.

The post Star Crusade Trailer (GDC 2016) appeared first on MMOHuts.

Heroes of the Storm Reveals Dehaka

Posted: 16 Mar 2016 02:26 PM PDT

Heroes of the Storm has confirmed that Dehaka, from the StarCraft universe, will be the 50th hero entering the Nexus.

Dehaka plays the role of a melee warrior and has a unique mount feature with a zerg-based kit. Find out more with the abilities and screenshots below.

Mount

Brushstalker (Z)
- You cannot use Mounts. Instead, you may burrow to any bush or vent on the Battleground. 40 second cooldown

Trait

Essence Collection (D)
- You collect 10 Essence per Hero Takedown, and 2 per enemy Minion killed nearby, storing up to a maximum of 50 Essence.
- Activate to consume all stored Essence and regenerate Health over the next 5 seconds for each stack consumed.
- Can be cast during Drag and Burrow.

Basic Abilities

Drag (Q)
- Lash out with your tongue, dealing light damage to the first enemy hit, and dragging them with you for 1.75 seconds.
Dark Swarm (W)
- Over the next three seconds, you gain the ability to move through units and deal damage in an area around yourself. Deals double damage to Heroes.
- Can be cast during Drag and Burrow.
Burrow (E)
- Burrow into the ground, entering Stasis and becoming Invulnerable for 2 seconds.

Heroic Abilities

Isolation (R)
- Launch biomass that deals damage, silences, and slows the first enemy Hero it hits by 30% for 3 seconds. For the next 6 seconds, the affected enemy loses sight of allied Heroes, and has greatly reduced vision.
Adaptation (R)
- After a 5 second delay, 60% of all damage taken during this time will be returned to you as Health.

Heroes of the Storm Reveals Dehaka

[See image gallery at mmohuts.com]

The post Heroes of the Storm Reveals Dehaka appeared first on MMOHuts.

Mabinogi Duel Launches Home of Magicians JERHNA Update

Posted: 16 Mar 2016 01:28 PM PDT

NEXON freshens up Mabinogi Duel with its latest Generation 3 update, Home of Magicians JERHNA.

Mabinogi Duel is an action packed mobile TCG featuring exquisite character designs and explosive gameplay through the use of magical cards of valiant heroes and destructive spells. Players can battle formidable foes in story mode to continue their adventure or test their skills and tackle other players in PvP mode.

The new content featured in the "Generation 3 Home of Magicians JERHNA" includes:

New mystical spell cards
2 new valorous magician cards, Mage Xenoa and Mage Seimora
Never before seen, 5 star cards with powerful abilities to defeat your foes
New card deck organization system that allows players to arrange their decks for different strategies
Several last season's favorite cards to boost your deck

The post Mabinogi Duel Launches Home of Magicians JERHNA Update appeared first on MMOHuts.

Elsword Perkisas Phase 2 Trailer

Posted: 16 Mar 2016 01:17 PM PDT

Elsword presents Perkisas’ Phase 2, the Incarnation of Greed, a new raid that will kick off Chapter 2 of Season 2.

The post Elsword Perkisas Phase 2 Trailer appeared first on MMOHuts.

Shadowverse Launch Trailer

Posted: 16 Mar 2016 01:11 PM PDT

Cygames presents a trailer for Shadowverse, a strategy card game for mobile.

The post Shadowverse Launch Trailer appeared first on MMOHuts.

World of Warplanes Developer Diaries: Spring Offensive

Posted: 16 Mar 2016 12:16 PM PDT

The World of Warplanes team looks at the latest update, the Spring Offensive.