Category: Video Games

Video Games, WarFrame

Warframe: A Free-to-Play Power Fantasy

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Warframe: A Free-to-Play Power Fantasy

Warframe is all about power fantasy, and the game embraces that fully. A lot of new players wrongly think they can rush to the end of the main quest and hit maximum power. But quests are more about storytelling and adding flavour to the world. Real power comes from customising, building new gear, and improving it.

There’s a power ceiling in Warframe, with the devs giving you both a floor and a ceiling to work towards. That floor is lower than most people realise, and the ceiling is pretty low for most of the content. The key things you want are mods—they’re the foundation of everything. Out of around 1,200 mods, I use maybe 100 at most. Other items are similar to mods but act more like extra bells and whistles. Are they necessary? Not really—they’re just nice quality-of-life options. For example, there are 148 Arcanes, but I only use about 20.

Some people might not like Warframe’s loot-shooter style, but honestly, it’s not all that different from other live-service games. Take Genshin Impact as an example: it has RPG elements, focuses on loot, and lets you make custom choices too. You can play any character in both games and still do just fine. Sure, in Warframe (and Genshin), some characters are better at specific tasks, making certain things easier. The big difference is that Warframe values your time far more than Genshin does. With Warframe’s trading system, you can earn loads without spending a penny.

Why I Like Warframe

So why do I like Warframe? It’s the customisation, the movement, and the power fantasy. When I tried Genshin, I felt lost after the main quest and couldn’t get more characters. Worse, some stuff had been retired, and I couldn’t earn it anymore. Warframe, on the other hand, keeps retired items tradable or brings them back during limited-time events. Most content is still earnable, even if a Prime item gets retired.

Warframe has been going strong for 12 years now and has a massive amount of content. During that time, they’ve taken risks, revisited content, and added new ideas. Instead of sticking to a formula, they’ve expanded so much. You can race in Warframe, fly spaceships, and more. They’ve taken the game far beyond the original vision, all while keeping it as extras to the base game.

The game doesn’t do the best job of signposting what you should be working on. It can feel overwhelming at first, especially with over 750 items to unlock and use. Things like Mastery Rank act as a progress bar, but the game doesn’t explain them well to new players. Each rank gives you access to new guns, features, and plenty of areas to explore. Once you unlock more features, the game truly opens up with endless options to pursue.

Even though I’ve done nearly everything in Warframe, I still find stuff to farm and things to do. Updates and changes keep the game fresh, and I either revisit old content or get ready for what’s next. Most importantly, Warframe never feels like a full-time job to me. I can take breaks and catch up with little effort, and that’s why I keep coming back.

It’s not perfect—they’ve made plenty of mistakes—but they’ve worked towards better systems. I’d love to see them revisit older content and improve it further. A good example would be adding a pity system to everything, not just some of the newer content. If you don’t enjoy it, stop playing—it’s free to try, after all.

So, what do I have left to do after all this time? Solo a boss fight with certain frames, collect my missing mods, and finish off my Arcane collection. I also need to adjust builds for exalted weapons that have been reworked, farm the newest frame from the Temple, and get the last of the Cedo weapons.

Video Games

Xdefiant is weird

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Xdefiant is weird

XDefiant is weird. The game is deeply confusing. On one hand, we have a Call of Duty arcade shooter mixed with a hero shooter, with core mechanics clashing. You can see hints of that conflict. The end result is a messy mismatch. Combine that with an art style that’s a mishmash of ideas, and the result is that XDefiant lacks any identity and feels ill-defined. Feels dated like an early 2010s game. I’m not sure who this game is for. Call of Duty veterans? That’s a tiny market. 

The gunplay is okay. Nothing to shout about, with a fast time-to-kill (TTK) that clashes with hero abilities designed for a much slower TTK. Map design feels like an arcade shooter—funnelling players down narrow paths with dozens of lines of sight you can’t cover. Common design for shooters nothing wrong with that. It’s colourful at times, but often dull, and boring, with generic characters—and that’s the problem. It’s a generic shooter. Nothing really stands out. It’s conservative in every respect and dull. Takes no risks.

As a shooter, it’s sort of fun but feels empty and lifeless. Does not use characters well at all. Nothing brings it all together and the result is bland. Only thing keeping you playing is progression, XP lock keeps players engaged. Attachments are behind that and weapons. Similar to other shooters. With shutdown everything is now unlocked. There’s no other gameplay hook that stands out. I’m left asking the question: who is this game for? Why was this made? Why?

Three hundred employees worked on this to deliver the bare minimum, and even then, it was delayed. Tons of basic features are missing or mismatched with the rest of the game. Some good news: the sound design seems to be okay. It’s an okay game, and that’s the problem. It’s just okay—a game with no clear direction. No single-player mode to fall back on, no co-op mode. Two most successful shooters of last decade have done something new. This game offers nothing new.

I’m no game reviewer, but I can see certain problems surely everybody else can. Unless this is a case of people investing time and not wanting to quit. Call of Duty is fast-paced. Its fast abilities rarely take you out of the action—that’s on purpose. Designers know you don’t want to die before using that super special attack. Yet that lesson is lost here. Worse still, some of the former designers worked on CoD. It seems to clone ideas without introducing anything new, being ultra-conservative without taking risks.

Unlike operators, which are skin deep, customisation in XDefiant is similar to hero shooters. But the problem is that everybody feels the same. Abilities don’t really have an impact. So why were they included? Dig further, and you’re left asking why certain choices were made. Why did the team go with such a fast TTK?

Feedback from Two Years Ago

My first impressions were pretty bad, and I didn’t enjoy the game. The core is deeply flawed in some respects.

Movement feels heavy and sluggish, while sliding feels smooth with aiming. It’s an odd contrast that feels disjointed. It just feels bad playing this game with a controller right now. Each complaint I had flowed into one thing: I was not having fun. The game felt like a worse Call of Duty clone. If you want to clone a game, you need to make a better version of it or introduce a new gameplay hook. Instead, the designers seemed to blindly follow the trend without considering other options.

A super short TTK with poor hit detection feels awful together. I have no idea if that’s due to the tick rate or by design. I found it hard to trace players, as the art style bends people into the background. Maps don’t suit having so many game modes.

A big problem was the game’s lack of direction. Beyond being a shooter, crafting useful feedback became difficult. I simply didn’t like the game in its current state, and that’s okay.

Some good news movement feels better. The bad news is shotguns feel like they wanted a slower game still. Core of the game is still flawed with hit detection still iffy, kill trading a thing which is rather funny. Some more good news it feels better on a controller. It a bit more fun. Lacking something magic and seems to follow trends without something new to offer. Worse still seems to misunderstand each choice that CoD has made and follows it blindly. From former CoD devs that raises questions. Art style is better but people blend in. Lack of direction remains. I sort of like the game now but it still not good enough. It sucks to see it die.

You can see they wanted a slower game. Shotguns still feel heavy and less arcade-like. But the rest of the game doesn’t have the same level of weight. It’s subtle, but noticeable. There are hints they wanted a hero shooter. However, the game was pushed in the opposite direction, creating this weird mash-up monster. Okay, maybe that’s harsh. I remember making the same movement point during the beta—and I was downvoted for it. Good news: they backtracked. Bad news: my broader point about not having a clue what direction they wanted rings true. It just all over the place.

Netcode and hit registration issues stand out. If you’re going to make a game this generic, it better be technically brilliant. Yet this game isn’t. It’s built on a bunch of flaws that were already pointed out during the beta. Even after all the delays, these issues weren’t fixed. Credit where it’s due: they delayed the game. But given the barebones content at launch, what were they working on? Did all the artists become beta testers? For a competitive shooter, you need outstanding netcode. Was Ubisoft trying to make an esport title? If so, why combine hero shooter mechanics with CoD-style gameplay?

It’s a dead game now. It’s dated and generic, with its funeral set. Perhaps Ubisoft will learn its lesson. Small-scale projects, taking some risk, and focusing on a gap. I respect them for trying to bring all their characters together, but two games in one did not work. Rumours are a buyout is coming soon.

Making games is hard. Making a successful game is even harder. It sucks that this game is shutting down. It could have been rebooted, but that would have required serious retooling of the core experience. Ubisoft, in the end, did not want to do that—business, after all.

Gaming News

Xdefiant is shutting down

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XDefiant is Shutting Down

I played the beta test for XDefiant back in 2023 – you can see my first impressions here. I wasn’t particularly kind in my review, as I found the game underwhelming.

Despite initial hype – with around 3 million players trying the beta – Ubisoft went silent for two months. When the game finally launched in 2024, it reported 10 million players over its first two weeks. But now, barely a year later, XDefiant is shutting down. The game has already been delisted, with servers scheduled to go offline in June 2025. Ubisoft has offered refunds for certain purchases and for items bought within the last 30 days, suggesting all in-game sales will be suspended.

When someone mentioned the shutdown to me recently, my first reaction was: That game actually came out? I couldn’t even remember playing it until I looked it up. That alone says everything: the game lacked any lasting identity. Its name and branding felt generic, like a shooter from a decade ago. I’m still surprised Ubisoft didn’t use the Rainbow Six branding to leverage an existing fan base. Oddly, while it avoided Rainbow Six in its name, XDefiant borrowed character factions from Ubisoft’s other franchises, including Far Cry, Watch Dogs, and Tom Clancy titles.

The Fallout

Ubisoft announced the shutdown alongside news of studio closures and layoffs. Two of the primary studios behind XDefiant – Ubisoft San Francisco and Ubisoft Osaka – are closing, resulting in 143 and 134 layoffs, respectively. Ubisoft’s Sydney office is also downsizing.

This game was supposed to be Ubisoft’s big entry into the live service genre, positioned as a direct competitor to Call of Duty. But it’s clear Ubisoft miscalculated. The company has faced a string of lacklustre releases and financial struggles, and XDefiant became another failure in its growing list of missteps.

Revisiting XDefiant

I revisited XDefiant, and to its credit, it’s more polished than it was during the beta. However, key issues remain, the biggest being its lack of progression. There’s nothing to keep players coming back.

Shotguns still feel heavy and clunky compared to the smooth handling of assault rifles. The maps are vibrant, but the overly dark character designs hurt visibility. While Ubisoft has made slight improvements in this area, it’s still not where it needs to be.

The map design follows the arcade-style formula of Call of Duty. A standout feature is that weapons and attachments are not locked behind progression; everything is available from the start. This is a refreshing change from grind-heavy systems, but it’s also a double-edged sword. Without progression hooks, there’s little incentive to keep playing. The game’s basic daily challenges and camo unlocks tied to levelling feel like afterthoughts.

If XDefiant had launched in 2023 with its current polish, it might have stood a better chance. But the delays and absence of essential features at release doomed it. To me, it feels like a carbon copy of Call of Duty – well-executed but saddled with the same flaws. It’s a fast time-to-kill game with restricted movement and map design, seemingly tailored to make casual players feel good.

Lessons Not Learned

Ubisoft’s belief that XDefiant could rival Call of Duty was naive. Call of Duty’s free-to-play offering is a global juggernaut, consistently among the top five games. Once again, it’s the lower-level developers – not the executives who made these decisions – paying the price for failure.

Live service games can be incredibly profitable, but success demands a long-term vision, a steady content pipeline, and robust management. Ubisoft seemed to skip these steps, relying on a few beta weekends and a delayed launch. The lack of basic content at release was shocking.

This shutdown echoes Concord, Sony’s live service shooter, which was cancelled just two weeks after its October 2024 launch. At least Ubisoft can claim XDefiant lasted longer. But it’s frustrating to see publishers repeatedly chase trends without learning from past mistakes.

A Broken Industry Model

The deeper issue lies in the rising costs of game development, which have fostered a risk-averse, short-term mindset. This stifles creativity, leading to fewer new games, longer development cycles, and an overreliance on updates for existing titles.

Perhaps the solution is to balance smaller, experimental projects with a few major releases every couple of years, alongside a single well-supported live service game.

The gaming industry’s COVID-era boom is over, and many studios are scrambling to adapt. Until the industry rethinks how games are planned, developed, and released, we’ll continue to see more XDefiants: trend-chasing projects burdened by mismanagement and poor execution.

A Missed Opportunity for Preservation

One final frustration is that XDefiant will not be preserved. Game preservation is crucial, and it’s a shame Ubisoft didn’t consider making the game open source or revamping its assets to avoid IP conflicts. Instead, it’s being written off as a tax loss – another casualty of corporate thinking.

Preserving games, even flawed ones, matters for gaming history. Sadly, XDefiant will soon be forgotten, a fate it could have avoided.

Marvel Snap

Fixing trust: A Message to Second Dinner

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Fixing trust: A Message to Second Dinner

Marvel Snap faces several critical issues that need urgent attention. Two major problems stand out:

  1. Card Acquisition
  2. Series Drops

In February 2024, I shared my concerns about series drops on my blog and Reddit. At the time, I didn’t fully grasp the broader challenges the game was facing. Since then, my understanding of these issues—and how they might be fixed—has deepened.

Here’s my message to Second Dinner: you’ve lost my trust. I no longer believe you’re acting in the players’ best interests to resolve these problems. What I want is simple: regular communication about these issues and a discussion of potential solutions. A bi-weekly or monthly update would demonstrate that you’re listening and working towards fixes.

I’m not asking for a detailed timetable—software development timelines can and do slip. But if you continue down this path, you risk killing your game. Many games have followed similar trajectories, and the results are rarely good. You’ve already had months to address these concerns, and the patience of many players, including myself, is running thin.

Addressing the Core Problems

1. Card Acquisition

The current card acquisition system is slow, frustrating, and heavily skewed against players—especially newer ones. With five new cards released each month (one season pass card and four spotlight cards), resources like spotlight caches and the token shop are stretched thin by design. This creates several issues:

  • Spotlight System Lockouts: Some cards, like Baron Zemo (released in April 2024), remain inaccessible for months. Zemo has not appeared in a single spotlight cache and costs a staggering 6,000 tokens—resources that take weeks or months to collect. Even then, players must wait for his occasional appearance in the token shop.Marvel Snap decks are small and highly optimized, so many cards don’t have equivalent substitutes. Without access to key cards like Zemo, players are locked out of entire archetypes. If they finally acquire the card months later, the meta may have shifted, making their effort feel wasted.
  • Resource Scarcity: The game’s limited token acquisition and spotlight cache availability worsen the issue. Players are forced to make tough choices that often feel unrewarding, especially when meta-defining cards are out of reach.
  • New Player Turnoff: Snap does a great job onboarding players in Series 1 and 2, but Series 3 (with 109 cards and growing) throws them into a chaotic grind. Without clear paths to unlock archetype-defining cards, new players quickly become frustrated and disengaged.
Suggested Fixes for Card Acquisition
  1. Curated Unlocks in Series 3: Once a player enters Series 3, every level could provide a curated card, giving them control and direction over their collection.
  2. Catch-Up Bundles: Introduce affordable bundles for specific archetypes to help new and returning players catch up.
  3. Resource Improvements: Increase token rewards and spotlight cache availability to make the system more player-friendly.

2. Series Drops

The series drop system is another source of frustration. While Snap does a great job onboarding new players with curated card pools in Series 1 and 2, Series 3, Series 4 (27 cards), and Series 5 (73 cards) create an unmanageable bottleneck. Players face daunting odds when trying to acquire specific cards, leaving many unable to build competitive decks.

Key Problems with Series Drops
  1. Inconsistent and Bloated Drops: Series 3 has 109 cards (soon to be 112), making it nearly impossible to acquire specific cards in a timely fashion.
  2. Unclear Schedule: Players have no visibility into when cards will drop or why certain cards are chosen.
  3. Poor Value: Recent series drops often include underwhelming cards, offering little to address the core accessibility issues.
Proposed Fixes for Series Drops
  1. Predictable Schedule: Establish a regular, transparent schedule for series drops.
  2. Cap Series Sizes: Limit Series 4 and 5 to a maximum of 20 cards each, with older cards moving down more consistently.
  3. Lower Token Costs: Reduce the cost of Series 4 cards to 1,000 tokens and Series 5 cards to 2,000 tokens to improve accessibility.
  4. Remove Duplicate Spotlight Cache Cards: Ensure players don’t waste resources on cards they already own.

Moving Forward

Second Dinner, the time to act is now. Your players need regular communication to rebuild trust and stay engaged. Developer blogs, forums, or live updates would provide much-needed transparency and show players you’re serious about addressing their concerns.

Take inspiration from Warframe’s developers, who host weekly and monthly update streams to discuss progress and engage with their community. While your monthly season updates are appreciated, they feel more like marketing tools than meaningful communication.

We’re not asking for miracles, but we do expect accountability and meaningful progress. The longer these issues go unaddressed, the harder it will be to retain your player base. Listen to the community, address these problems, and show us that you’re committed to making Marvel Snap the best game it can be.

Final Thoughts

I know these aren’t perfect, catch-all solutions, but they’re a starting point for dialogue. What do you think, fellow players? Are these issues affecting your experience? Let’s discuss.

WarFrame

How to buff Koumei

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How to buff Koumei

I’ve shared my first impressions of Koumei previously—feel free to check it out. After further testing, I have a few minor tweaks and suggestions for improvements.

The first major quality-of-life change would be to reduce her casting times, either specifically for Kumihimo or as a general reduction across all abilities. Currently, Kumihimo is an attack that forms a long, narrow line, applying status effects in a small area. That line looks like a series of X shapes. However, the status effects are random and not controlled by the user, making it feel like a roll of the dice for a chance to apply each effect. Reducing the casting times here is essential. Alternatively, the shape of the attack could be adjusted for easier application and greater consistency, or the gaps between the lines could be narrowed.

For Omikuji, an obvious improvement would be to reduce the number of kills required for challenges at the start. Additionally, allowing players to choose decrees would make this ability more user-friendly. Another option could be to offer a bonus for collecting decrees. Overall, the requirements to complete these challenges need reviewing. A re-roll system with a cooldown would be helpful, and the cooldown period for completing a challenge should be shortened.

With Omanmori, the internal cooldown on charms should either be removed or reduced to 0.2 seconds. Players should be able to recast it before it expires.

As for Bunraku, I think it would be fine with a reduction in casting speed.

I’m not asking for a damage increase, as Koumei is a frame geared towards early players, and I’m unsure how these changes would impact her overall damage output.

WarFrame

Dante, Jade, and Koumei: First Impressions

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Dante, Jade, and Koumei: First Impressions

Koumei

Koumei’s theme centers around randomness, a mechanic core to Warframe’s looter-shooter design. Given that randomness is fundamental to the game, integrating it directly into a frame’s abilities could lead to some interesting gameplay. But how does it play out? Koumei’s abilities are impacted by five dice rolls, each making her abilities more effective based on a high enough roll. Only benefits—no penalties here. Here’s a breakdown of what she does:

Kumihimo creates lines with random elemental status effects. High rolls apply all effects, while lower rolls apply fewer. Each line has a unique status effect and is spaced two meters apart.
Omikuji grants a random decree, challenging you to complete a task. Unlike Duviri’s system, you don’t have a choice here, and there’s a long cooldown after each cast.
Omamori can heal or block incoming damage based on dice rolls and may even grant invulnerability.
Bunraku deals a cone attack based on line of sight, with the number of applied status effects determined by dice rolls.

Koumei’s kit sounds promising in concept, offering randomness that’s generally predictable enough to be practical. But in practice, Kumihimo typically only applies a single status effect, and the scattered damage can be unreliable. You might get unlucky with where each line lands or what effects they apply, often leading to only one status effect taking hold—if an enemy even walks over it. The casting speed here is slow, too; the lines spread only after you cast, forcing you to recast repeatedly in hopes of better results. Not ideal for a caster frame, as her damage output feels too low for the risk you’re taking with these rolls.

Omikuji brings back the downside of Duviri’s decree mechanic, offering random challenges without player input. While random decrees might sound cool, the lack of choice means you can end up with something almost worthless, and the cooldown for earning another can feel punishing. In shorter missions, this ability feels rather wasted as you’re unlikely to earn many decrees per round.

Omamori has some defensive utility but still feels too random. With internal timer limits and dice rolls impacting the number of charms, it’s unreliable for survival.

Bunraku is Koumei’s only reliable damage source, but even it suffers from inconsistent damage types. However, it’s easier to apply than Kumihimo, which is a plus. Overall, while her kit provides variety, Koumei’s randomness and lower base power end up making her feel frustrating to play. Though she has potential for high status output when luck’s on your side, she seems destined for the bottom tier without major quality-of-life updates. It’s disappointing for a frame that had an entire update named after her. New players can find her on Earth, but she requires some advanced mods to make full use of her status effects. On the bright side, her theme song is great! Go give the soundtrack a listen.

Build suggestions alone can’t help reduce frustations with low damage output, slow casting speed. Natural talent helps with casting speed, but damage is to random. Problems are to great for modding to address. Just can’t recommended playing her at the moment not even for star chart.

Summary:

Pros: High potential for status output
Cons: Low damage, inconsistent effects, random decrees add little, not beginner-friendly

Jade

Jade’s theme is angelic jade light, which offers a mix of support and offense. I really liked her original concept art, which brought me back to the game after a long break. The idea of an angel frame is fresh in Warframe, where we’re often cast as demons by NPCs—her look and lore give her a unique place among frames. Her passive ability provides two aura mod slots, which is quite handy. Overall, her concept is strong, though her gameplay can feel a bit clunky at times. Here’s what she brings to the table:

Light Judgment heals and deals heat damage.
Symphony of Mercy boosts strength, damage, and shields per second, allowing players to pick the enhancement they need.
Ophamn Eyes lowers enemy defense, slows them, and deals heat damage. It can revive allies, though it’s not the most effective tool for that.
Glory on High grants flight and activates a heat-powered exalted pistol, which can detonate judgments. Unfortunately, movement in this form is limited, often causing you to hit the ceiling in narrow areas.

On paper, Jade’s abilities seem well-rounded, and she feels balanced as a frame that can support teammates while dealing decent heat damage. Her Symphony of Mercy adds versatility to her role, letting you adjust to team needs on the fly. However, the restricted movement in Glory on High impacts her survivability since she relies on mobility to dodge damage. Limited testing in Steel Path shows that Glory on High has okay scaling, though there are still concerns about it. A few tweaks to her aerial mechanics could make her playstyle smoother. Overall, though, Jade is promising and has a good balance between support and offense.

Build Suggestions: Focus on heat mods to enhance her heat damage output. Range with strength with fire rate is something to consider. Glory on High output can be increased with fire rate.

Playstyle blends defensive and offensive, not just a purely focused support role. You can do that but pure focus on that is wasting the oppounity.

Summary:

Pros: % healing, heat damage, strong buffs, defense reduction, two aura slots
Cons: Restricted movement in Glory on High, survivability linked to her exalted form

Dante

Dante’s theme centers around being a seeker of knowledge and keeper of Orokin history—a librarian isn’t exactly the most thrilling concept in a looter-shooter, but it surprisingly works here. His passive scans enemies into the codex, which might not be groundbreaking but suits his lore. Honestly, I didn’t have high expectations, but he’s turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Dante combines power and flexibility in a way that feels genuinely effective. Here’s a breakdown of his abilities:

Noctua is an exalted tome weapon dealing either slash or radiation damage.
Light Verse grants overguard and increases health.
Dark Verse deals slash damage in an X-shape in front of you.
Final Verse allows you to combine verses to create unique spells:
Triumph (two Light Verses) creates a boosted Light Verse.
Tragedy (two Dark Verses) applies slash, heat, and toxin damage over time in an area.
Wordwarden (Light followed by Dark) summons a Noctua copy that attacks at 50% of your damage.
Pageflight (Dark followed by Light) increases enemy damage taken and applies a small amount of slash damage.

Dante is a true caster frame that manages to support and deal damage effectively. His primary damage source, Noctua, is versatile, making him flexible without being overpowered. My biggest concern here is scaling; Noctua might struggle in higher-end content. Simple yet effective, his kit requires a bit of planning with Final Verse, allowing you to focus on either support or pure damage depending on your needs. This versatility is refreshing, but relying heavily on Noctua for most of his damage can be a bit limiting. Overall, Dante is a strong addition that’s fun to play and offers a satisfying balance between offense and support.

Build Suggestions: Given Noctua damage heat focused build seems to be the way to go. Strength seems to be the way to go but have not played enough to settle on final direction.

Everything beneifts from each other so just chain stuff together and enjoy the spell book fun.

Summary:

Pros: Overguard and increased health, versatile damage types, flexible verse combinations, can act as a weapon platform and status primer
Cons: Noctua’s scaling may struggle at high levels

Closing Thoughts on Dante, Jade, and Koumei

All in all, Dante and Jade stand out with their balanced support and damage capabilities, giving players a solid set of tools without overshadowing other frames. Both bring a unique feel to the game, and their abilities are fun to use. For builds, focus on Noctua for Dante, with a generalist approach to benefit the rest of his kit, and emphasize Glory on High for Jade to get the most out of her abilities. Koumei, however, needs significant quality-of-life updates to become viable. Quick comparison: Jade is more ability-focused, and Dante is a bit more weapons-focused. I plan on using both Dante and Jade during Steel Path and other high-level content. Two out of three solid frames isn’t bad at all!

Smite

Smite 2 Alpha Thoughts

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Smite 2 Alpha Thoughts

I have been playing Smite 2 since the earliest closed weekend alpha. Alpha software is still in a very early stage, with decisions being made on core gameplay and features that have yet to be added. The foundation of the game exists, but content is sparse; this stage is all about ensuring that the core mechanics can support the rest of the game. Complaints about the game lacking content at this point misunderstand the nature of development. Comparing an 11-year-old game to a brand-new one being built from the ground up is unrealistic.

The developers are currently focused on porting characters over while updating effects and designs. The emphasis has been on quality-of-life improvements and reworking older designs. The current alpha roster seems to be building a library of abilities that can be used as a basis for further character porting. Although this hasn’t been explicitly stated, it appears to be the case. More complex characters, which require additional time and resources, are being skipped for now, with various features either missing or yet to be added.

While the game mechanics generally make sense, I have some concerns with certain balance choices. It seems that balance has taken a backseat to content porting at this stage. Judging certain aspects of the game is difficult when matchmaking is inconsistent. Minor changes have gradually reshaped the gameplay. For example, the removal of the class system has shifted the focus toward INT (Intelligence) and STR (Strength) as more important factors in determining roles. Characters now deal either physical or magical damage: Physical damage scales with STR, while magical damage scales with INT. However, building INT on physical characters does not convert their damage to magical. For example, Sol deals magical damage but can benefit from STR in a carry role.

Some characters are designed to play multiple roles, gaining bonuses like extra utility when building INT. This approach shows promise in creating a flexible set of role archetypes. I hope the developers are bold enough to expand on this concept with early, middle, and late-game design. One possible idea could be that building STR on magical characters increases attack speed for ranged attacks.

In addition to changes in character design, itemization has also been revamped. The game now uses a recipe-component mechanic, allowing players to switch between build paths without being overly punished. If you make a mistake, the system is far more forgiving.

The two biggest changes, however, are how relics work and the introduction of active items. Relics can now only be selected at the beginning of the game and have long cooldowns. As a result, crowd control has become much stronger and more impactful, though there has already been a reduction in crowd control duration across the board. There is also less choice in terms of relics, with older relics moving to active items. These two changes have significantly altered how the game plays.

Additionally, wards now offer less vision and have shorter timers, meaning junglers face fewer counters than before. Combined with some buggy interactions, this creates a rough experience. At this point, I’m unsure about the direction the developers want to take the game.

Currently, the game feels snowball-heavy, with a focus on bursting down opponents and chasing them. The damage feels unavoidable, and there are few options for recovery when you fall behind. The early game has a punishing focus, with no trade-offs for characters that excel in this stage. Perhaps I’m wrong, but the base strength of characters seems off, and I worry that using this as a baseline could lead to future problems.

It’s also hard to describe the art and graphics; something feels off, as if the characters don’t quite fit into the world. The Conquest map remains unchanged, making the layout feel overly familiar. It’s still very easy to move between the jungle and lanes. While various new objects have been added, they don’t significantly change how the game feels.

Overall, Smite 2 feels like a love letter to the original game—more of a remaster than something entirely new. Even ability sounds have been transferred over. It seems like the developers are playing it safe instead of experimenting with bold new ideas. Despite this being a new engine with a new team building the game from the ground up, Smite 2 still feels like it’s treading familiar ground.

I understand that finding the right balance between innovation and preserving what works is tricky, but with no competition on consoles, Smite remains the only MOBA in town.

So, should you try it? Not yet—unless you can stomach an early-access game that could disappear, like so many live-service games over the years.

Marvel Snap, Video Games

Deadpool diner

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Deadpool diner

Deadpool Diner is an event within Marvel Snap. The second dinner followed industry trends and added a stamina system to the event. You can bypass it by spending money, which is a rather predatory practice that exploits players. Mobile gaming has been home to some awful, abusive mechanics for a while now. People, in general, have well accepted it, gotten used to it, and allowed it to carry on. Marvel Snap has avoided it until this event, which leaves a sour taste.

The next point is that the event is time-limited to earn a card; you need 500 million points to get it. Given that I have just 200k, I’m quite a way off from earning it. The result is that players are doing whatever they can to earn it. You can’t really blame players if you make a time-limited event and lock a card behind a massive wall. The result is a rather unfun mode within the game.

The last problem is that the mode is very similar to ladder mode. A couple of key differences are that Bubs decrease, but your progress overall does not. Once you reach a certain rank, you don’t derank. The event overall feels like a massive chore to play and is, well, unfun.

So how would I have done this event?

For starters, I would have replaced the existing ladder with it. Next, no stamina system and increased the length of the event to a month. Decrease the costs to earn the new card and add more cards to earn per week. At higher ranks, I would give players decks based on the movie, making it more like a draft preview of what is going to come soon.

What I have learned from this mode is that retreat is a skill I need to get the hang of more. Also, my game knowledge about decks at times is lacking.

Smite

Balancing the Triangle: Rethinking Gods’ Strengths and Weaknesses

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Balancing the Triangle: Rethinking Gods’ Strengths and Weaknesses

Game Feedback: Balancing and Design Considerations

  1. Symptoms vs. Root Cause:
    • A symptom serves as a sign of an underlying issue but isn’t the cause itself.
    • In the game context, free beads are a symptom, not the root cause of gameplay dynamics.
    • Players’ safety improvements in Smite 1 stem from design choices, but the fundamental cause lies elsewhere.
  2. Design Triangle: Damage, Mobility, and Ease of Use:
    • Gods’ balance hinges on three factors: damage, mobility, and ease of use.
    • Currently, gods exhibit excessive strength with minimal weaknesses.
    • This imbalance leads to a race toward overpowering abilities and power creep.
  3. Practical Implementation: Example with Zeus:
    • Zeus, lacking mobility, should excel in high damage output.
    • His sole crowd control (CC) would be a short stun.
    • Design flexibility could allow abilities to adapt based on the player’s role.
  4. Trade-offs and Weaker Corners:
    • Gods shouldn’t excel in all three corners of the triangle.
    • As power increases, trade-offs should emerge (e.g., harder-to-use abilities or lower damage).
  5. Super Mobile Gods and Crowd Control:
    • Highly mobile gods should naturally lack immunity to CC or hard lockdown abilities.
  6. Difficulty in Dodging Abilities:
    • The game currently lacks the feel of a fighting game due to reduced skill shots.
    • Setup options are prevalent, making it easier to land abilities.
  7. Power Curve and Kit Weaknesses:
    • The overall power curve needs adjustment.
    • Some kits require more weaknesses and less strength.
Smite

Smite 2 alpha first impressions

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Smite 2 alpha first impressions

Smite 2’s first-weekend alpha has just finished, and it is in a very early state. It feels like an alpha piece of software, unfinished with barebones features. A fresh foundation to build on, with core mechanics being the most important thing to focus on during this alpha period. Once they are finalized, it’s unlikely they will change due to everything else being built on top of it.

Alpha patch notes can be found here.

Gods can now build any item, with Strength (STR) and Intelligence (INT) replacing physical and magical damage. These two different stats have different effects on scaling their abilities and basic attacks. The only negative aspect is that there are more terms that can confuse players—references to physical and magical damage feel odd with STR/INT floating around. I would prefer if Smite stuck to two terms when it comes to damage. Let me give you an example: magical and physical protections. Which items protect me against strength attacks? I can already envision new players and returning players who don’t follow the patch notes asking that very question for years to come. Having more knowledge to learn means a higher barrier to entry. I’m sure the designers are aware of the KISS principle (Keep it simple, stupid). On a positive note, I appreciate how each type of damage now has a symbol showing its type. Reducing the knowledge required with lifesteal and penetration, thumbs up here—this is a good change overall. Movement changes are also overdue. Displacement CC changes reduce the number of terms in the game, and that is a good thing.

Front End UI:

  • The current UI feels functional and temporary, as confirmed by the patch notes. However, on consoles, it appears rather clunky to navigate and use.
  • The shop experience on consoles is frustrating. Here’s a simple solution: add a virtual cursor that can be controlled by the joysticks. Warframe uses a similar system, and it’s cross-platform.

Gameplay Changes:

  1. Tower Bounties and Health Bars:
    • These small changes could be positive, but there’s concern that most players won’t notice them.
  2. Minions:
    • While a small change, most players will likely notice the adjustments to minotaurs.
  3. Infamy System:
    • The shake-up in how jungle camps work introduces some problems. First, there’s no progress bar. Second, it’s not obvious what’s happening. For average players who don’t read patch notes, there should be clear indicators of changes.
    • On a positive note, the buff descriptions before pickup are a huge improvement.
  4. Interactive Map Objectives:
    • Some objectives (like Warhorn) lack clear explanations. Players need to know what they’re doing and what the objectives do.
    • The change to jungle buff pickup is good.
  5. Stealth Areas:
    • I’m glad stealth areas made it into the game. They add an element of strategy, using the map as a tool.
  6. Gold Fury and Ancient:
    • It’s unclear if the UI shows the bonus given after killing the Gold Fury. Ancient provides another strategy for breaking into a base. Objective control becomes more important.
  7. No More Classes:
    • Removing classes is a positive change, but playstyle tags should be visible during god selection. A sorting system would prevent the overwhelming feeling from the large roster.
  8. God Ability Text:
    • Short and long versions of ability descriptions are perfect. However, accessing them on a controller feels a bit clunky.
  9. Full God Kits:
    • With limited playtime, I appreciate what you’re trying to achieve with full god kits. My concern is ability bloat—adding too much while reducing weaknesses and giving gods too much versatility.
    • Various changes have noticeable gameplay impacts.
  10. Item Changes:
    • The component-based system is a step in the right direction. However, there’s worry about how actives and passives work on controllers.
    • The crafting recipe system isn’t very clear in the current UI. It’s essential to ensure players understand it.
    • The flexibility to choose starters without being forced into a specific option is a positive change.
  11. Wards and purification Beads: Turning these two into free resources I hope will see increased use of wards and make beads easier to balance. My only worry about wards is not being able to replace them, being able to buy new one for gold that resets the cooldown would be good.

Item Slots:

  • Inventory management now allows you to change slots around, which is a welcome improvement.

Consumables, Actives, and Passive Items:

  • Consumables taking up slots makes sense—early game, they’re crucial, but they become less useful late game.
  • However, the controller scheme feels a bit clunky when using these new items. Improving it is challenging due to the limits on button combinations.

Core Combat:

  • At times, hitting basic attacks felt a little off. I’m unsure if this discrepancy was due to the model style in contrast to the conquest art.

Conquest Map Design:

  • I would prefer the jungle to feel more like a maze. Creating difficulty in ganking lanes and deciding to give up farm for a gank feel impactful.
  • Currently, more cartoony style, but I was hoping for something different. Don’t mind this new direction being colourful. While I love the overall look of the game, it doesn’t quite fit the art style of the gods.