BLGaming Index

Beyond the Rift Special: Super Monday Night Com...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:41:00 +0000

Super Monday Night Combat!

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:04:03 +0000

I've been trumpeting the joy that is Super Monday Night Combat, but I've noticed not many of the average gamers have heard of it. So I'll do this little "Get to Know Super Monday Night Combat" article and hopefully you all will become more familiar with this game I love.

Monday Night Combat, Super Monday Night Combat's predecessor, was released on August 11, 2010 on the Xbox 360 as part of Microsoft's 2010 Xbox Live Summer of Arcade and is distributed through Xbox Live Arcade. It was released on January 24, 2011 for PC Via Steam. This was the first installment in a very fast paced over the shoulder action game with MOBA elements. Uber Entertainment is trying to realign with the ARTS scene with SMNC, by making it more than just an action game.

SMNC is a 3rd person shooter with Action RPG elements, and is unlike any game currently on the market. There are 2 lanes (Left and Right) in which bots spawn (like creeps in Dota/LoL/HoN). Your job is to push these lanes to the 'money ball' which is similar to Nexus/Ancient in other MOBAs. There are turrets, and various boosts around the map that add to the action feel of the game. The biggest boost is the Annihilator, it destroys all bots on opposing team as well as wounding the players. The game is far deeper than this, but I'm giving you the short and dirty for brevity sake. Expect a much longer and more thorough look at SMNC in the future.

I've really been enjoying SMNC, it's a very fun and fast paced game that's easy to love. Farming is less than tedious in SMNC and is actually quite enjoyable. The farm and poke formula that's part of the meta game in other MOBAs is lost on this one, it's an all out brawl! I can see myself playing Super Monday Night Combat well into release and beyond.

Interested in reporting on or helping out with SMNC tournaments? Make sure you join the #blgaming channel and send me a message. Let's hear what you love or hate about SMNC, let me know in the comments.

DOTA 2 Patch Released!

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:34:39 +0000

Just posted on the DOTA 2 blog are the notes for the patch just released this evening. The update adds a new hero, Outworld Destroyer, and over a dozen new features, including a new game mode, Single Draft, a new interface for finding lobbies, and the ability to jump to any position in a replay.

DOTA 2 beta invitees should be able to receive the update by restarting their game.

You can find the entire patch notes, as well as a link to the complete DOTA 2 changelog at the link below.

DOTA 2 Blog

Beyond the Rift webshow - Episode 32 VoD + RP G...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:48:27 +0000

Perfect Reign

If you have any critiques about the show, or if you're a pro and would like to come on the show, feel free to leave a comment as well!

In order to qualify for the RP giveaway mentioned in the VoD, all you need to do is comment in this article. If you post more than once you are disqualified (Staff members dont get a shot, sorry :< ). The contest will end at 8pm EST, Feburary 15th.

The RP winner is.......................

....

JavECakez! Congrats. Keep an eye on your PM box on the forums for the RP code

LAN support confirmed for DOTA 2!

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:56:50 +0000

In a recent interview by JoinDota.com's Ben "TobiWanKenobi" Dawson, Erik Johnson, Valve's Market Director of Operations confirmed that DOTA 2 will indeed have LAN support.

To quote Johnson directly:

Quote

Dota 2 will have LAN mode. There are some systems that LAN mode requires that we haven't finished yet, mainly because we've been focused on matchmaking. We know how important this feature is for the community.

This is great news for the DOTA 2 community as it not only guarantees the quality of LAN tournaments (and perhaps the quantity as well), but also puts DOTA 2 in the forefront of the MOBA (or Action-RTS if you prefer) scene, making it the first game of its type to natively support such a feature.

Johnson goes on to talk about Valve's commitment to the global DOTA 2 community, this years "The International" tournament, and even potential support for modding and custom games.

The whole interview can be found here.

New Concept art! Lycan, Lone Druid, and Sh...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:37:32 +0000

Valve feels really bad about taking down Dota 2 for Valentine's Day. So sad in fact, that they've decided to reveal some concept art for 3 "upcoming heroes." Take a look.

Lone Druid

Lycan

Shadow Demon

Usually released concept art is just a rough design of what the end result actually looks like, but in the case of Dota 2, it's usually spot on. Of course, you could always consider the original Dota model concept art. These are actually final concepts for the characters, so this is what they'll look like in game. This doesn't make up for the downtime, but it's a start.

Spend this downtime boning up on your Dota 2 sk...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:29:14 +0000

Reeling from server downtime? It's only been a few hours man, get a grip! But, I feel your pain, so I thought I'd showcase a member of the Dota 2 community that deserves a little recognition. His name is JohnnySigs and he not only streams Dota 2, but he's interested in helping everyone become a better player. Above is the first of many videos where he teaches the basics, and later on, the finer points of Dota 2.

Along with a playlist of videos aimed at improving your playing ability Johnny also takes some time out of every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to stream. He also plans on taking some time on Saturday to stream some more introductory style gameplay, for those of you who are either unfamiliar or just new. Streaming starts at 6PM EST and goes until question marks, which is a sure sign you're in for a good time.

Vying for his favorite hero slot, he has Shadow Fiend, Invoker, and Enigma. Though if he had to choose, it'd be Enigma. Stumbling across his videos, I thought they were a pretty good starter platform for new to the genre players.

Hope you like him as much as I did. Regardless of whether or not you liked him, Johnny requested that I help him express his gratitude to the Dota 2 community in general, specifically r/Dota2.

If you couldn't find the cleverly hidden links throughout the post, I'll collect them at the bottom here.

Playlist
Stream
r/Dota2

HoN New Hero Spotlight: Draconis

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:26:38 +0000

This Friday, Draconis awakens to blast some noobs off the map.

League of Legends Patch Notes - Nautilus

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:22:54 +0000

Good evening BLG readers! Udyr has just posted the patch notes for tonight's update and their new champion Nautilus. This patch also includes some big changes; specifically Soraka and Sona nerfs, and a significant upgrade to Shen. Will this bring Shen back to the top, or are these changes not enough? Leave your opinions of him and all the other changes in the comments!
[readmore]
Buffs will be highlighted in BLUE, Nerfs in RED

------------------------------------------------------------
PVP.net v1.54

Co op versus AI
- Added Ziggs, Master Yi, Nasus, Ezreal, and Nidalee to the bot roster
- Players can now add many more of the Beginner bots to Custom Games
Spectator
- Major item purchases will now be visually distinguished on the Scoreboard
- Ranked Teams

General
- PVP.net will now wait for 8 seconds after a queue dodge before requeuing

League of Legends v1.0.0.134
Nautilus, the Titan of the Depths

Staggering Blow (Passive) – Nautilus’ first basic attack against a target deals bonus physical damage and immobilizes the opponent briefly. Staggering Blow cannot trigger on the same target more than once every 12 seconds.
Dredge Line - Nautilus throws his anchor forward. If he hits an enemy, he'll drag himself to his target and his target to him. If he hits terrain, he'll drag himself to the terrain and the cooldown is reduced.
Titan’s Wrath- Nautilus places a shield on himself that absorbs additional damage based on his maximum health. While the shield is active, Nautilus' attacks deal damage over time to units around him.
Riptide- Nautilus slams the ground, causing the earth to ripple out in waves. Each wave deals damage and slows the targets hit. This slow decays over time. Multiple waves that hit the same target deal reduced damage.
Depth Charge(Ultimate) – Nautilus launches a depth charge towards a target that picks up speed as it travels. This charge knocks up all enemies it encounters while traveling and explodes on impact, stunning the target and launching them into the air.

Ahri

Spirit Rush
- The allied ultimate HUD indicator will now remain green until all 3 spell casts are used
- Cooldown between casts increased to 1 second from 0.75
- Cooldown increased to 110/95/80 seconds from 90/80/70

Alistar

Pulverize mana cost reduced to 70/80/90/100/110 from 80/90/100/110/120
Headbutt mana cost reduced to 70/80/90/100/110 from 70/85/100/115/130
Triumphant Roar mana cost increased at later ranks to 20/35/50/65/80 from 20/30/40/50/60

Cassiopeia

Fixed a bug where Miasma's slow was not stacking with many other slows in the game
Noxious Blast ability power ratio reduced to 0.8 from 0.9
Twin Fang damage reduced to 50/85/120/155/190 from 60/95/130/165/200

Gangplank

Parrley mana cost increased to 50/55/60/65/70 from 40/45/50/55/60

Raise Morale range reduced to 1200 from 1500

Heimerdinger

Fixed a bug where H28G Evolution Turrets could survive when Heimerdinger died if they were being teleported to

Irelia

Transcendent Blades' allied ultimate HUD indicator will now remain green until all 4 spell casts are used

Kennen

Thundering Shuriken cooldown increased to 8/7/6/5/4 from 7/6/5/4/3

Maokai

Vengeful Maelstrom's allied ultimate HUD indicator will now turn grey as soon as it is cast

Nunu

Fixed a bug where Absolute Zero's slow did not grant assists

Rammus

Defensive Ball Curl armor and magic resist values reduced to 40/60/80/100/120 from 50/75/100/125/150

Riven

Blade of the Exile's allied ultimate HUD indicator will now remain green until the shockwave cast is used

Ryze

Overload mana ratio reduced to 7.5% from 8%

Shen

Ki Strike
- Damage increased to 10-112 (+10% bonus Health) from 10-95 (+8% bonus Health)
- Cooldown is now reduced by 1.5 seconds whenever Shen attacks instead of 2 seconds when being attacked
- Now grants Shen 10/20/30 energy when he Ki Strikes
- Damage now scale correctly with all sources of bonus Health (% health runes, Juggernaut mastery)
- Added a buff timer for Ki Strike's cooldown (like Ziggs' Short Fuse)
Vorpal Blade
- Energy cost adjusted to 60 from 70/65/60/55/50
- Damage adjusted to 60/105/150/195/240 (+0.6 ability power) from 70/105/140/175/210 (+0.75 ability power)
- Heal effect changed to 6/10/14/18/22 (+2% of Shen's maximum Health) from 18/26/34/42/50
- If Vorpal Blade deals the killing blow, it will now trigger 33% of the heal effect for Shen
- Allied damaging spells can now trigger the heal effect, in addition to attacks (Vorpal Blade cannot trigger itself)
Feint
- Feint duration increased to 3 seconds from 2.5
- Energy cost reduced to 40 from 45
- Shield amount adjusted to 70/120/170/220/270 (+0.6 ability power) from 50/100/150/200/250 (+0.75 ability power)
- While Feint is active, Ki Strike’s cooldown reduction on hit is increased to 3 seconds from 1.5
Shadow Dash
- Cooldown reduced to 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 seconds from 10
- Energy cost increased to 120 from 120/115/110/105/100
- Restores 40 energy per champion affected (rather than a flat 50 energy if you affect one)
- Now deals 50/85/120/155/190 damage (+0.5 ability power) to Champions
- Taunt duration adjusted to 1.5 seconds from 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2
- Shadow Dash now grants Shen 50% physical damage reduction from taunted targets
Stand United
- Channel time increased to 3 seconds from 2.5
- Shield duration reduced to 5 seconds from 7.5
- Shield amount increased to 250/550/850 from 200/475/750

Shyvana

Fixed a bug where Flame Breath could shred the armor of shred-immune units (Dragon, Baron Nashor)
Dragon's Descent allied ultimate HUD indicator will now go grey immediately after using

Sona

Power Chord damage adjusted to 10 per level from 14 + 9 per level

Hymn of Valor passive attack damage and ability power aura reduced at earlier ranks to 4/8/12/16/20 from 8/11/14/17/20

Aria of Perseverance passive armor and magic resist aura reduced at earlier ranks to 3/6/9/12/15 from 7/9/11/13/15

Song of Celerity passive movement speed aura reduced at earlier ranks to 4/8/12/16/20 from 8/11/14/17/20

Soraka

Improved Soraka's basic attack to be more responsive
Starcall mana cost adjusted to 20/30/40/50/60 from 35/40/45/50/55
Astral Blessing mana cost adjusted to 80/110/140/170/200 from 90/110/130/150/170
Infuse
- No longer affects Soraka when cast on allies and cannot be cast on self
- Ally mana restore increased to 40/80/120/160/200 Mana from 25/50/75/100/125

Talon

Shadow Assault's allied ultimate HUD indicator will now go grey immediately after casting

Vladimir

Crimson Pact will now correctly work with all sources of bonus Health (% health runes, Juggernaut mastery)
Hemoplague damage amplification reduced to 12% from 14%
Tides of Blood healing bonus adjusted to 4/5/6/7/8% per rank from 8% at all ranks

Volibear

Fixed a bug where Majestic Roar could reduce minion movement speed to 0

Warwick

Eternal Thirst now deals 3-16 magic damage per stack, and restores an equal amount of health
Infinite Duress damage changed to 250/335/420 (+2.0 bonus attack damage) from 200/300/400 (+1.67 total attack damage)
Base attack speed increased to 0.679 from 0.644

Wukong

Cyclone's allied ultimate HUD indicator will now go grey immediately after using
Fixed a bug where Crushing Blow could reduce the armor of shred-immune units (Dragon, Baron Nashor)

Xerath

Arcane Barrage's allied ultimate HUD indicator will now remain green until all 3 spell casts are used

Zilean

Fixed a bug where Chronoshift could prevent a clone from expiring, allowing them to survive indefinitely until killed

Items

Sight Wards and Vision Wards now have a 0.5 second cooldown
Hextech Revolver spell vamp reduced to 12% from 15%

General

The disconnect notification will now only be shown to enemy players if a player disconnects and remains disconnected for 5 minutes. The message will continue to be shown without a delay for allied players.
Heal and Clarity summoner spells will now restore health/mana to the caster even if they are untargetable when the summoner spell is cast (Fizz's Playful/Trickster, Vladimir's Sanguine Pool, Zhonya's Hourglass).
Baron Nashor can no longer critically strike, but his base damage has been increased 10% to compensate.
Updated Baron Nashor's character stats so that his attack damage reflects how much damage he actually deals.
Kill messages in chat now have team colors and display who was slain.
Added Colorblind colors for Morgana’s spell shield and Spectator pings.
Fixed a bug where some particles would flicker unintentionally.
Fixed a bug where kill indicators were missing golden borders.

Co-Op Versus AI

Improved Ashe's use of Enchanted Crystal Arrow on long range targets.
Sivir will no longer get Sanguine Blade on Summoner's Rift.
Changed the disconnect adjustment to remove the Fighter instead of the Tank on Summoner's Rift.

You can view the source of the patch notes from Udyr HERE

The Nautilus Patch Preview for your viewing pleasure

The Nautilus Champion Spotlight

Valentines Day Downtime

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:37:51 +0000

Valve is making it easier to decide between spending Valentine's Day with your significant other or playing Dota 2 easier by providing us with a full 24 hours of downtime. On the official Dota 2 blog a post was made on the 10th giving everyone a 4 day heads up on the 24 hour downtime.

While the thought of going 24 hours without Dota 2 might shred your tiny heart to bits, there is a silver lining. With downtime comes presents. The first bit of news dropped on the blog was a mention of increased server capacity, which bodes well for those of you who still have yet to witness the majesty of Dota 2 first hand. Along with what I can only imagine will be a metric ass load of Dota 2 invites coming out in the next week, the same standard of measurement could be used for the amount of heroes being released.

According to the blog post, the next patch will be a 'packed one.' This is exciting news as I was growing accustom to having at the very least, a new hero each week.

As always, Valve likes to implement a little humor into their blog post by linking to their own wiki's Valve Time entry. Estimations on when the servers will actually be up? How about the next hero release? This month? Let me know in the comments.

SK.LoL picks up a new Jungler!

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:33:44 +0000

After having trialled with SK Gaming since IEM Kiev, we can now confirm that PL Filip 'Dedrayon' Romejko will join the team as our new Jungler.

For the full, article please visit the SK site
http://www.sk-gaming...eir_new_Jungler

PerfectReign kicking it with BLGaming!

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 04:00:04 +0000

Hello BLGaming! I am PR_Kumatei and I'll be your semi-regular newsmonger and general reporter, pleased to meet you. /smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

You might be wondering what the staff change is going to mean for you, the viewer, as well as BLGaming as a high-quality gaming news website.

In essence, not very much.

You can still expect the information on the games you enjoy the most to be reported on with utmost professionalism.

Although we may not have the same focus points as the previous owners (ergo, we have greater focus in League of Legends-based news as opposed to Bloodline Champions), we will continue our obsessive hunt for the greatest and latest with the intensity of a horizontally challenged individual in sight of a cheeseburger. #professionalism

You can also expect new life breathed into the community, with Perfect Reign Network's freakishly loyal (see:Daunn) fanbase following them about.

Personally, I hope to see you enjoy what Perfect Reign has to offer as much as I enjoy it already.

You'll soon see more of my inane chatter, but for now, I bid you adieu.

PR_Kumatei

Big Changes on the Horizon

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 05:23:15 +0000

There is going to be big changes around here. There's a new staff on the task of making this place YOUR Place for e-sports news, entertainment and giveaways.

We will be covering all the major games, throwing you streams and videos of games still in beta and other exclusive content.

To start us off, we have a $40 Bloodline Champion Punisher pack to give away on Valentines day! Lots more to come, so stay tuned!

League of Legends these days...

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:57:22 +0000

It has been ages since my last League of legends installment on our site. So much has happened since then (then being September 28th, ouch, since I last wrote an article) and so much has stayed the same.

On the Pro scene Team Dignitas (http://www.team-dignitas.org/) showed up and proved to be a true contender if not the new dominant force in the Western world. They already took home some impressive titles this season. Speaking of which, Season two has been underway for quite some weeks now and has already given away some of that 5,000,000.00 dollars in prize support.

[readmore]

The game itself has changed a bit. With season two came new masteries, now giving more viable options to supports, an incentive to spec up to 21 in more than utility and a harder jungle spec path.
In order to compensate for this and to keep the game fun and evolving, the jungle was changed, mobs are now significantly weaker and all the ‘little’ camps now give you some health back on defeating the ‘big mob’ (this has lead to riots in the golem community).
A lot of the summoner spells got their numbers tweaked, nerfing flash, Clairvoyance and exhaust, buffing heal and ghost.
Dodge is being removed as a game mechanic because Riot has an aversion to RNG when it doesn’t come to crits (feeding the trolls here) and is now somewhat stuck with champions who were concepted around it. Of those, only sivir got a remake so far, Jax and Udyr just got a nerf but I for one am sure this will get fixed.
Ranked finally gets a real team/guild system and people still complain about duoqueuers.

On the other hand a lot of things are still the same. First and foremost, the ‘standard’ laning. We still see AD and support bottom, AP mid, solo top and jungler. But since the jungle is no long a self sufficient source of EXP and gold ganks are now more frequent as are the wards to prevent these. Supports dislike CV lately and are moving over to heal, thus allowing a lot of champions who couldn’t heal to be support players.

The stealth make over is still hiding away in Magma Chamber which will be introduced when they finish project shiny, the 3D graphics overhaul.
And, of course, newer and better champions keep flooding in. Foxy foxes, tricksy fishies, robot freaks, sparky elementals and teddybears galore on the fields of justice. Their balancing seems to be a bit better these days and Riot has shown they are not afraid of throwing out a hotfix here and there. Skins keep streaming out of Riot but hey, they have to get the dough somewhere, right? Might as well be by making Te emo into mini-Superman.

That’s all I have for now but I might be back when a patch rolls along.

Until then, may you never have an AFK’er or feeder,
lSiNl

HoNTour Live!

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 17:05:40 +0000

HoN players will now have their chance to compete for cash, prizes and fame with HoN Tour! Designed for professional and casual gamers alike, each season of this massive tournament circuit will consist of multiple events across varying tiers of difficulty and reward. Registration is open to all HoN teams, so even new gamers can jump in the action. For more information on the Beta Season and to signup be sure to check out HonTour.com
[readmore]

HoN Tour is powered by Beyond Gaming’s unmatched tournament platform, which has been customized and fully automated for HoN competitive tournament play. Gamers will be able to compete in several simultaneous tournaments with varying structures designed to provide everyone with a fun engaging experience and give them the chance to prove their worth against opponents of similar skill levels. It all kicks off shortly with an accelerated Beta Season lasting two months and featuring $100,000 in cash prizes over ten events.

Bloodline Champions is LIVE at DreamHack Winter...

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:35:44 +0000

If you aren't watching the Bloodline Champions $10,000 Tournament live at DreamHack Winter this year, you don't need to miss the action! Tune into the stream below and watch as some of the very best from BLC battle for the gold - shoutcasted by our very own Semmler 'The Riot':

Watch live video from dreamhackblc on www.twitch.tv

BLG will cover Dota 2 Beta

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:55:55 +0000

Hello, BLGamers!

We are glad to announce, that our commentators Semmler the Riot and Tazzasaurus are now part of Dota 2 beta crew and will cover some games from time to time here at blgaming.com, so stay tuned as they are going to begin their streams soon!

Lord Salforis Hero Spotlight: HoN

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:49:33 +0000

Coming Friday!

Bloodline Champions $10k Tournament at DHW

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:49:11 +0000

Bloodline Champions will be returning to Dreamhack Winter this year, and so will BLGaming! You asked for it, and you got it! Semmler 'The Riot' will be traveling to Sweden once again to commentate this season's $10k BLC Championship!

Info on the tournament taken directly from the Bloodline Champions forums:

DreamHack and Alienware are proud to present the DreamHacks official tournament in Bloodline Champions at DreamHack Winter 2011. Bloodline Champions is a swedish PvP-game free-to-play with amazing gameplay. Tournament is organized by DreamHack, Stunlock Studios and 2GD Solutions and feature a total prize purse of $10,000.

Today we’re proud to present all the [readmore]details about our upcoming eSports tournament in Bloodline Champions. The $10,000 tournament will be a 16-team main tournament, 12 Teams will be Invited and an additional 4 teams will qualify from the DreamHack BYOC. The two best teams will play the Grand Final at DreamArena Extreme infront of thousands in the audience and hundreds of thousands watching the livestream. Professional commentary will be provided by Auguste 'Semmler' Massonnat.

All matches will of course be broadcasted live at http://www.twitch.tv. More information and details about the on-site coverage will be presented later.

Tournament: DreamHack Bloodline Champions, sponsored by Alienware
Dates: 24-26 November 2011
Location: DreamHack Winter 2011, Hall C, Elmia, Jönköping, Sweden
Format: 3v3 Arena
Teams: 16 (12 Invite, 4 BYOC)
BYOC Tournament format: Double Elimination
Main Tournament format: 4×4 Groupplay, Playoff single elimination
Tournament set-up: All matches to be played in the Tournament Area using highend Alienware Aurora Gaming Desktops. Grand Final at DreamArena Extreme.
Prize Purse: 10 000 USD
1. 6000 USD
2. 3000 USD
3. 1000 USD
Tournament application: E-mail your request to james@2gd.me
State the following information in your e-mail and use following subject ”DHW11 – BLC Application”.

Team Name:
Captain:
Lineup:
Country:
E-mail:
Cell phone no:
Skype-id/MS/IRC:
Notable Achievements/Ladder Rank:

The tweleve invited teams will receive a tournament pass which will allow free entry to the BLC tournament worth 450SEK per player.
The tweleve invited teams will be announced Monday 7th of November.
Players wishing to participate via the BYOC tournament must register at dreamhack.se for a BYOC pass.

Kill the King In-game Tournament #6 VoD

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 22:29:20 +0000

If you missed today's Kill the King, you missed some of the best action Bloodline Champions has seen since Dreamhack Summer - but don't worry! We have the Video recorded and waiting for your view! Be sure to check out the tournament, shoutcasted by Semmler 'The Riot' and Kast:

Watch live video from BLGaming on Justin.tv