Explain MOBA Games to me

[BlueWeasel]

I will never put down a MOBA game again until I die, it's as simple as that.

That's quite the commitment.

 

[Chiropteran]

I don't really like the usual description as "well it's an RTS where you just control one unit". Uh, not really. There is no base building, no tech tree, no peons or gatherers to control. Usually just your hero.

Really, I see the MOBA genre as an evolution of the old FFA hardcore PvP MMO games. One problem with a free for all pvp MMO was high level characters picking off lowbies, and how the game gets stale after awhile when certain high level players can control everything and new players have no chance.

The most exciting time is when the server is wiped and everyone starts a new character at level 1 and you can try to gank someone but you can't just gank newbies with your max level character because you only have a newbie yourself. Those first days after a player wipe it's more about killing mobs, farming gold, collecting equipment. PvP is careful ganks and ambushes.

Shadowbane actually had a server that was supposed to wipe every month or two to give this new game experience regularly, but I don't think they actually went through with it.

In any case, no game took it to the absolute extreme- effectively wiping the players every couple hours, so you just step in and start new for a single session- not until DOTA and related games came out.

DOTA is really just a very simple and basic multiplayer RPG with mandated teams and a set victory condition. I think it would be pretty interesting to see a game that made a more FFA form of MOBA with a week or two between resets and no set victory condition, but right now it seems every MOBA is very similar to DOTA with slight differences.

 

[smackababy]

MOBA is a chance to find out exactly how much you hate Brazilians and Russians and how much you are willing to torture yourself for the most gratifying win you'll ever get. Every game is either extreme rage or satisfying ecstasy. No middle ground required.

 

[blackwhiskers]

DOTA is really just a very simple and basic multiplayer RPG with mandated teams and a set victory condition.

this statement couldn't be more wrong. imo, there has been no pvp rpg that has even approached the raw complexity of dota's combat. the heroes, their anti-heroes, item builds, etc, all make it into a really tight and fairly unpredictable team based pvp experience. I truly don't think that any pvp rpg has been as flexible and as balanced as dota is.

the statement that dota is somehow a basic rpg might stem from the impression that the heroes in dota only have a few skills and a few item slots on them at all times, but really, the possible combinations, interactions and, consequently, choices you have to make elevate dota above all pvp rpgs no matter how many thousand swords or whatever you can equip your character with. it's all about the fact that hero/skill/item/team choices matter greatly and all this madness still remains balanced.

 

[chalmers]

I played once and had virgins screaming at me, so I deleted it.

 

[Chiropteran]

this statement couldn't be more wrong. imo, there has been no pvp rpg that has even approached the raw complexity of dota's combat. the heroes, their anti-heroes, item builds, etc, all make it into a really tight and fairly unpredictable team based pvp experience. I truly don't think that any pvp rpg has been as flexible and as balanced as dota is.

There aren't really any anymore. Shadowbane had a wonderful form of balance, but it was inherently different from the sort of balance dota has because shadowbane characters were all built from scratch by the player, not like dota 2 where your abilities and such are predefined by the hero you play.

But shadowbane ultimately failed, the game engine was garbage and the non-pvp aspects of the game were boring and repetitive, and no other company wants to try that type of mmo again.

I thought Darkfall might fit the niche, but's too different- basically a glorified first person shooter with rpg elements rather than a real pvp rpg.