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Let's talk about MOBA's: The dead, the surviving ones and the "unknown fated ones"

O

Omega Kirby

Member
The Top:
League of Legends
DOTA 2
SMITE
Heroes of the Storm


The Surviving Ones:
Vainglory
Awesomenauts
Paragon

The Dying Ones?:


The Dead Ones:
Demigod
Dawngate
Infinite Crisis
Strife
Arena of Fate
Heroes of Newerth
Rise of Immortals
Dead Island Epidemic
Magicka Wizard Wars
SMNC
Supernova - Bandai Namcos attempt of getting into the moba genre. Moba with RTS elements.
Dropzone

Unknown Fate Ones:
Gigantic
Master x Master




The moba genre is probably the hardest one for a new game to penetrate in and survive. It takes months even years for a new moba to grow and even then it at many times isn't enough for it to survive

Have you guys tried any of these? Any reason why they failed? How do you see the future of any of the still alive ones? Any input you'd like to share us.
 
Interfectum

Interfectum

Member
While it's no substitute for the real thing, Vainglory is pretty damn good for a quick MOBA fix. It's got item purchasing, jungling, last hits, etc.
 
S

Sawneeks

Banned
Heroes of the Storm is the junk food of the MOBA genre.

Not as complex as LoL or DOTA2 but it's a ton of fun in short bursts. Just don't play it too long or you will get really sick of it.
 
H

Hylian7

Member
TatteredHat said:
Is Heroes of Newerth dead yet?
Click to expand...

It's as good as dead. Really it was pretty much dead when Dota 2's beta was expanding. Many played HoN because it was effectively Dota 2 before Dota 2 was a thing. With Dota 2 being an actual thing, most had no reason to play HoN anymore. With all the stupid heroes they kept adding, there was even less of a reason to play it.

As a Dota 2 player myself, I just sit here watching many of these games rise and fall. So many of them I have seen be hyped to hell, and then suddenly are dead within a few months. You have the ones like LoL, Heroes of the Storm, and of course Dota 2, but then others that pop up don't stand much of a chance. There are obvious exceptions to the rule, such as Smite and Awesomenauts, but for the most part it holds true. I find it hard to get into any other ones than Dota 2 myself.
 
C

Crawl

Member
Finaika said:
Infinite Crisis :(
Click to expand...

image.php
 
A

Arkeband

Banned
Hylian7 said:
It's as good as dead. Really it was pretty much dead when Dota 2's beta was expanding. Many played HoN because it was effectively Dota 2 before Dota 2 was a thing. With Dota 2 being an actual thing, most had no reason to play HoN anymore. With all the stupid heroes they kept adding, there was even less of a reason to play it.

As a Dota 2 player myself, I just sit here watching many of these games rise and fall. So many of them I have seen be hyped to hell, and then suddenly are dead within a few months. You have the ones like LoL, Heroes of the Storm, and of course Dota 2, but then others that pop up don't stand much of a chance. There are obvious exceptions to the rule, such as Smite and Awesomenauts, but for the most part it holds true. I find it hard to get into any other ones than Dota 2 myself.
Click to expand...

Same. The only issues I've had with Dota 2 are Valve's typical hands-off approach to community curation, and its wonky hit-or-miss, experimental-feeling UI.
 
Z

Zukkoyaki

Member
Paragon will survive.

Not only does it seem to be a good game itself based on beta reactions, it's also a more distinct take on the genre for reasons like not having cartoony graphics and being a third person shooter.
 
P

PSqueak

Banned
Has cartoon Network expanded battle party yet, or is it still an Adventure time only game?

If they tapped into their full pool of characters across series, they could have a juggernaut in their hands.
 
A

ashecitism

Member
TatteredHat said:
Is Heroes of Newerth dead yet?
Click to expand...

Hylian7 said:
It's as good as dead. Really it was pretty much dead when Dota 2's beta was expanding. Many played HoN because it was effectively Dota 2 before Dota 2 was a thing. With Dota 2 being an actual thing, most had no reason to play HoN anymore. With all the stupid heroes they kept adding, there was even less of a reason to play it.
Click to expand...

And it looks like their current title Strife will follow it.
 
G

Glass Shark

Banned
I try pretty much every new MOBA that comes out. Most of them are just lesser clones of LoL or Dota. I think Battleborn has the potential to offer something unique for people put off by ge traditional overhead view. The $60 price could kill it before it really gets off the ground, though.
 
O

Ordinaryundone

Member
I miss Infinite Crisis; I never spent any money on it but I really enjoyed that game. The character interactions were spot on and I just enjoyed playing as all the different DC heroes.
 
R

RedSparrows

Member
Zukkoyaki said:
Paragon will survive.

Not only does it seem to be a good game itself based on beta reactions, it's also a more distinct take on the genre for reasons like not having cartoony graphics and being a third person shooter.
Click to expand...

Paragon? Distinct? Not the word I'd use. SMITE's been doing the 3rd person MOBA for years now, and there are other 3rd person MOBA-esque games out there.

Not a bad game, don't get me wrong.
 
G

Glass Shark

Banned
Zukkoyaki said:
Paragon will survive.

Not only does it seem to be a good game itself based on beta reactions, it's also a more distinct take on the genre for reasons like not having cartoony graphics and being a third person shooter.
Click to expand...

It doesn't have enough elements to justify it's different perspective. If you changed the camera to an overhead view it would literally just be a worse Dota.
 
H

Harken Raiser

Banned
I actually liked the character designs in Dawngate, but it was very much a LoL clone.

Does anyone remember Bloodline Champions? Not really a moba, but close enough to die like one.
 
D

Dram

Member
Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes - dead, didn't make it out of Beta
Warhammer 40,000: Dark Nexus Arena - dead, didn't make it out of Beta
Avalon Heroes - dead
Guardians of Middle-earth - alive
 
Mexen

Mexen

Member
Always watched the genre from a distance but secretly wanted to get into it. It seems too hardcore and I would not know where to start.
 
S

SpiceMelange

Member
lol HoN is not dead, there's still 50-70k people playing in concurrently. It would be a top steam game. Strife now that's a dead game. 10 people playing it, all support stopped.
 
A

Anno

Member
Omega Kirby said:
Would you guys say marketing, or better off said the lack of, played a major role in the demise of many of the now dead mobas?
Click to expand...

I dunno. I feel like I knew about most or all of them, I just couldn't be bothered. The genre inherently asks so much of people in terms of personal dedication and time getting better that there comes a point where I know I'm never playing one of the these that isn't Dota, no matter what.
 
Stiler

Stiler

Member
Err, why is neither League of Legends (The most played current moba) and Dota 2 not on the list? I Think they are pretty much the top 2 moba games atm.

Demigod was another I remember that sadly didn't take off. I actually quite enjoyed the game, even though it was a far smaller moba focused on a few characters rather than a ton of them. The maps and design of the game I thought were great. A nice change of pace.

Heroes of Newerth, ah, this was my entry to the Moba genre. I never played the original dota mod and HoN was the game that I cut my teeth on and played quite a bit, I still remember many of the heroes I loved, the puppetmaster, the owl-guy, Nova, Rampage.

I then went to League and that's where I ended up spending most of my time.

I still find it funny that LoL, even though it's a much bigger game and more popular that Heroes of Newerth still did many things better.

The ability for the "jungle" to be destroyed, being able to knock down trees and cause new paths I thought was great and made for some interesting strategies.

Also the fact that HoN had a REMAKE option YEARS ago and league still, to this day, has no such function or anything to help players when they get an early-game dc/afker or anything, it just astounds me.

Then you had the amazing voice/announcer packs, which league could easily afford to do but don't.
 
B

burntchomsky

Member
Hylian7 said:
It's as good as dead. Really it was pretty much dead when Dota 2's beta was expanding. Many played HoN because it was effectively Dota 2 before Dota 2 was a thing. With Dota 2 being an actual thing, most had no reason to play HoN anymore.
Click to expand...

That's completely accurate, but its a bit sad overall. HoN was actually a better game than dota is IMO. The modifications that were made to gameplay (i.e. support = fun, quicker speed between fights, more skillshots, less emphasis on carry / farm heroes) were all really good ones, and I highly doubt any will come to stagnant dota. I was one of the ones that abandoned ship once i got into DOTA's beta, and I regret it a bit now.
 
V

ViviOggi

Member
Omega Kirby said:
Would you guys say marketing, or better off said the lack of, played a major role in the demise of many of the now dead mobas?
Click to expand...
Hardly. Most of these games were marketed properly - on PC you don't have to throw millions upon millions on traditional ad campaigns, rather pay popular streamers to promote your game, host tournaments etc, you want to generate positive word of mouth especially for MP/competitive games. The publishers did all that and more yet like half of those games died in beta.

There's no marketing to a saturated market.
 
S

Stormhammer

Member
that lord of the rings moba was great for me as i liked playing on controller and hate the clickfest of LoL. it should've just tried the f2p model instead of a $20 entry fee imo
 
S

Syf

Banned
Omega Kirby said:
Would you guys say marketing, or better off said the lack of, played a major role in the demise of many of the now dead mobas?
Click to expand...
It's also difficult to break into the genre because the established games have so much more content, and people tend to stick with the one that they like because of unlocks or known gameplay. Little incentive to ever abandon the one they already play
 
D

Deadstar

Member
studyguy said:
Demigod_Cover.jpg


DEAD.
BURIED.
SIX FEET UNDER.
TURNED TO DUST AT THIS POINT.

RIP Demigod, you were awful.
Click to expand...

Uhhh....Demigod had some bugs but it is one of the best mobas to ever come out. The enhanced skill tree was an awesome idea along with the sense of scale. Demigod is a solid game, it just came out before Steam was really in full swing. If it came out today and was bug free, people would love it.

Demigod made major innovations for the genre that have yet to be copied. You could play with a low number of heroes per side all the way up to five if I remember correctly. It was really fun doing 2 v 2 battles or 3 v 3. The maps were all different and visually interesting as well, something you don't often see in mobas. Demigod's level designs destroy anything you see in Heroes of the Storm. I don't want to live in a world where people hate Demigod. It is objectively a good game.
 
H

Hylian7

Member
burntchomsky said:
That's completely accurate, but its a bit sad overall. HoN was actually a better game than dota is IMO. The modifications that were made to gameplay (i.e. support = fun, quicker speed between fights, more skillshots, less emphasis on carry / farm heroes) were all really good ones, and I highly doubt any will come to stagnant dota. I was one of the ones that abandoned ship once i got into DOTA's beta, and I regret it a bit now.
Click to expand...

I don't know if you have played Dota in the last year or two, but support has really changed there for the better. I highly recommend giving it another shot. Just a few of the changes involving support:

- Observer wards can be bought individually, and are 75g a piece now (meaning 150g for 2)
- Boots are 400g
- New items, many particularly useful for supports such as Enchanted Mango (125g, 1HP regen passive, consume for instant 150 mana), Faerie Fire (75g, +1 damage, consume for 75HP), Glimmer Cape (Hood of Defiance + Shadow Amulet, gives invisiblity and 45% magic resistance to yourself or any allied hero), Solar Crest (basically an upgraded Medallion of Courage, gives/removes armor and evasion from allies/enemies), Guardian Greaves (basically combining Arcane Boots and Mek, expensive recipe, no mana cost to activate and purges in AoE around you)
- You can actually see the spawn boxes on camps now, so you don't have to try to hope you placed the ward in the right spot.
 
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