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DEAD ISLAND: EPIDEMIC This thread is to discuss and share things regarding Dead Island: Epidemic is a MOBA - a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game of its own kind. Rundown of the game  Dead Island: Epidemic (DIE for short) is a player vs player hunting and domination game. Twelve players arranged in three teams of four are pit against one another to search out supply points for their families back home. The general format of the maps is a somewhat symmetrical island vacation resort that has been infected and all humans -- barring the visiting player characters -- have been destroyed by a zombie virus. These zombies are found all over the map throughout a game and come in different shapes and sizes, some with special abilities which incapacitate players. The Puller zombie lashes out with his tongue and can hold a player down for as long as 5 seconds as they get beat upon by hordes of lesser zombies, or even enemy players. Zombies drop the supply points needed to get to the game-ending goal score that each team is racing toward throughout a match. There is another major way to get supply: King of the Hill style supply points, designated by flags, give steady streams of supply points. Of course, these major objectives are fought over continually as part of the race to be the first to hit the game ending score and enter the Final Countdown before the game ends. There are currently ~14 characters in the game to choose from and each has a unique set of abilities that can be contributed in a team fight or versus hordes of zombies. That sums it up for the core elements of the game.  There are no dragons in game. Write to the devs. Features The game hooks the player with buttery smooth gameplay (so long as you have a computer with reasonable specs) and highly intense back-and-forth gameplay which arises from the combination of a need for the steady stream of supply from holding Flags and the zombies which are just waiting to be hunted. Things can get especially frantic when special zombies pop up that drop 33x-100x the supply of a lesser zombie and can sweep a solid score lead into a neck-to-neck game at the drop of a hat. There are just two ways to bring new supplies into the game: Kill zombies and control supply point flags. But that doesn't mean that we can't have another way to feed our children supply points: After a team has brought about 5/8th of the supply required to enter the Final Countdown back to their pickup truck (which serves as base for each team), the base becomes vulnerable to theft by other players! This represents another way that games hit serious reversals and the reigning king for a match can end up with egg on their face. Of course, it doesn't always have to come down to a dramatic reversal -- it is a viable tactic even to focus on playing as a raider and attempting to steadily fish supplies out of the enemy base from behind their back with a team of two players (to handle the defensive turret which otherwise interrupts those with thieving aims). Special Zombies There are some notable zombies. As I said above, certain special zombies called Pullers have a tongue lash which incapacitates player characters for upto 5 seconds if no help arrives to stun a player out of his disabling attack.  Special zombie Floater Floater zombies spit acid bile that covers the ground, dealing damage overtime. Ram-type zombies charge nearly across the entire screen, dealing AOE damage and stunning those its tramples -- friend or foe alike. I rather enjoy watching this zombie run over a horde of lesser zombies like so many arranged dominoes before a toddler. But so far we have not discussed the special, Special zombies. These guys we have discussed thus far typically drop 3 supply points. They just aren't that tough to kill if you are a solo versus them, although they do (rarely) spawn in an Elite form with bonus HP, damage, and a larger supply drop. The real hunters are looking for the big prizes. The Zombie Looter is a giant zombie Santa Claus Pinata-type muthafucka given that he walks around with a garbage bag slung over his shoulder and upon death Drops about 100 supply points, representing several minutes worth of supply received by holding a single flag. The Looter however is pretty drat weak, his sole asset among Zombie Kind being that he is unusually large. Possessing a single strong melee attack and a bit of extra HP, he can be 1v1'd by an uninterrupted player (although it will take some time to clear out the possee he typically shows up on the map with).  Our second big prize is a doozey -- the Zombie Hoarder shows up on the map (spawning in semi-random intervals, just as the Looter does) and is truly a Boss Monster. He is completely immune to stuns, incapacitates, disables of any kind and furthermore he mutated some extra tongues and an extra aoe attack in the case that he spawns as a Puller-type. Same deal when he spawns as a Floater, puking out large puddles of bile that do way many damage if you spend any time steppin' on it. There's more to know about zombies. Some stuff is not well-known especially such as exactly how the zombie spawns are regulated for the big uglies as well as the common cannon fodder. Important questions for those who want to optimize their gameplay by knowing the best times to go look for farming opportunities if there is a lull in the action. Some level of naivety regarding game mechanics is always one of my favorites when it comes to playing a new game but surely all of this will be investigated in detail as the game becomes more popular and more competitive. CHARACTERS, PLAYA'  Berg, a player character, concept art as a zombie Let's have a rundown of some (not quite all) of the characters so that we can develop an idea of their different play styles. Several characters have had three versions made of them which have totally different sets of abilities and playstyles.  Player Character Isys in her three flavors: Isys, Armored Isys, and Mutated Isys Isys is a melee character who does steady melee damage and is somewhat durable for being a pretty little lady. Her survival is aided by a solid amount of Life Leech. She chases people down with dashing attacks. Armored Isys, however, thrives in stationary positions. She can build a turret that deals serious damage to intruders on whatever she has claimed as her territory, drat it! Mutated Isys is viscious in melee.  Amber in her three flavors: Amber, Armored Amber, and Mutated Amber Amber has solid support abilities. Her Q is a melee ability that snares and reduces the damage of enemies hit for a short period of time. Amber also has a heal castable on friendly players, and a smoke bomb which reduces damage in an AOE, among other abilities.  The three flavors of Berg, the Lumbermancer Berg throws great wooden logs and they stun people. He is a melee support with a solid cleave attack. Logs. Of course, he comes in an armored and mutated version.. wonder what those do. For one, Mutated Berg has a bad rear end shield that reduces damage taken when activated.  Bryce in his three flavors Bryce is a surfer dude who likes shooting from range. Bryce is a steady ranged damage hero. Armored Bryce wrecks with the highest burst damage ability in the game on his Q, a dashing Assault that can be reactivated twice more after the initial blow, once to stun and damage, and again for well gently caress it, more damage! Mutated Bryce is a disabler and debuffer. Nitty Gritty Features Alright so we've covered most all of the basics and how the gameplay works out. But how do the developers expect to make money? How about keeping players who aren't soley driven by a deep, blood boiling rage that insists that they play another, another, another game in order that they may see their foes driven before them, maimed, mutilated, and their families left starving without supply points? Weapons Well basically the idea is to keep players hooked with progression. You can shop for weapons, receive them in blue prints then craft them, and these weapons are arranged in tiers. Every character enters the game with a ranged and melee weapon and these weapons themselves level up between games. So your weapons level and your weapons themselves are swapped out as one finds new blueprints and can afford to craft them with the rewards that players receive at the end of each game. There are currently over 50 different weapons in the game with varying basic attributes -- Some give you more crit chance, or life leech, or reduce the cooldown on your dodge ability and increase runspeed, or increase the amount of Fury you generate. Fury is used for the secondary attack that each weapon has that does bonus damage and grants a dash forward (fists), knockback (pistols, shotgun), and so on. The player's account itself also levels up. This prevents a player from progressing too fast, I guess. It isn't my favorite feature. Characters Characters level up throughout a match which allows the player to prioritize the order in which they acquire their abilities and player characters also level up between maches. This unlocks secondary and tertiary effects attached to abilities. Armored Bryce's second and third damaging strike on his Assault skill become unlocked after a person has played perhaps 10 or 12 games as the character. Buying a new character from the Shop and not having access to 100% of his abilities right off the bat can be a bit annoying but it is mitigated in that you will be placed in matches with other players who have not unlocked all abilities. It doesn't take long to level up to max for each character (same for each Weapon). That about sums it up for progression. Finally, Consumables There are awesome consumables: Bandages to heal and grant minor buff, Grenades to throw and stun enemies, and Boxes to hide in:    Grappling hooks to pull oneself across the screen quickly, pills to fill up your Fury bar or reset your Dodge, Supply hooks to literally steal supply from a character who is carrying it. And of course there's a brain with some fumes at the top left there. Mystery brain. Other Modes Briefly, there are other modes. You run through hordes of zombies with a crew of three to four players and fight a boss!  Relaxing way to level up weapons and characters Alright I believe that about sums it up for the feature set in Dead Island: Epidemic. Media Highlight Reel (Montage) - Dead Island Epidemic CLOSED BETA MOBA  A full game with live commentary: Dead Island Epidemic CLOSED BETA Bryce Pistols I  The field is open for discussion regarding all aspects from the basic features of the game to strategy talk. Best Regards, RG
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Jun 4, 2014 20:14
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reserve
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Jun 4, 2014 20:14
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I've been playing this with my brother, and holy loving poo poo people are bad at this. It's not even a hard game to grasp. Start killing zombies instead of rushing the gate and hitting it? Check. Ignore hoarders and looters, and allow the other teams to get them while you run around killing zombies / getting flags? Check. If hoarder / looter is actually killed and supplies taken, ignore protecting the carrier until they are out of harms way? Check. I don't know how many games I've encountered people just not getting it. Even a simple thing as the gate should be simple to understand if someone tells you to rush it... Despite all that it's pretty fun. I'm playing normal Amber at the moment. It's not a normal "fragile healer" by any means. Late game the Q-attack is amazing for allowing your team to get fast kills on reckless opponents. VVVV: Yeah. The coop part is boring as poo poo at the moment. MrOnBicycle fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Jun 4, 2014 |
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Jun 4, 2014 20:50
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I wish they'd expand on the Alien Swarm style co-op stuff, but moba-likes make money so that's never going to happen :/
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Jun 4, 2014 20:54
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Saint Freak posted:I wish they'd expand on the Alien Swarm style co-op stuff, but moba-likes make money so that's never going to happen :/ Yeah, they have a whole 'nother game waiting to be made IMO. Maybe they will expand into a whole PvE game at some point. MrOnBicycle posted:I've been playing this with my brother, and holy loving poo poo people are bad at this. It's not even a hard game to grasp. Eh, I honestly don't think the best tactics and strategy have been deduced yet. I don't see any reason not to explore the way that hanging back and farming, etc, can impact gameplay. I rather like hanging back and leaving the opening gate a little bit late but with an extra level and 20 supply (that otherwise is left behind to rot) on my character.
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Jun 4, 2014 22:12
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I have been thinking about how to min/max on the farming in this game so that I can make a valid comparison with just running around and focusing on flags. The thing is, zombies spawn randomly. The only predictable spawns in the non-flag areas appear to be when the map is new. So either zombie hordes don't respawn at all or they come in very slowly. I have done only a small amount of testing on this, though, and the test consisted of running around to see if I can trigger zombies with a footstep. Problem is: Mixed results. Sometimes I walk somewhere in the open areas and zombies pop up, other times they don't. I am interested in this because some special zombies give as much XP as a player kill, and supply to boot. Anyone have any insight on zombie spawns? The only predictable ones I know are when the map is brand new and when you begin capturing a flag.. Do you think it could be worth it to spend time farming zombies for supplies 'n stuff? Oh yah, random tip: A few times while playing a damage hero (armored bryce comes to mind) people have thrown me their supplies while I was delivering. That gives the damage dealer a nice boost in experience since you get XP per supply delivered and makes 'em more likely to be able to squish other players. It is nice to get a level boost from zombie farm too.. Best Regards, RG
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Jun 4, 2014 23:56
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It might be. But my point still stands. If you play against people who didn't load up the game for the first time, you need to be watching the map and pinging it and be available. For instance, if a hoarder/looter spawns, you can ignore it if you think you can't take it down fast enough. But as soon as you see it move on the map, that means another team is on it and that your team need to intercept them before they can get the loot. Especially in the case of hoarders where a couple of kills win you the game. About opening the gate first: Not only do you get 20% core attributes boost, you are first on site (i.e can go for the already spawned looter, which you then drag towards your base while killing it) and it's a small psychological win.
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Jun 5, 2014 08:18
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 BETA KEY !!!! W6WPA-D5VZW-T4IN6 MrOnBicycle posted:It might be. But my point still stands. If you play against people who didn't load up the game for the first time, you need to be watching the map and pinging it and be available. It is a pretty crazy huge attribute boost! I suppose my hope is that there is more than one way to be effective. Although I do know that things tend to simplify down to 'one optimal way' to do it in videogames, I think it happens more quickly in people's own brains that it can be said to actually have been discovered.
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Jun 5, 2014 18:35
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Alright, highest damage in <5 seconds combo to a single target? No ults (still, mention any especially good ults, I have no idea what some character ults do e.g. armored berg's) I vote armored Bryce, assuming lvl 20, Q-Q-Q-W-2handed fury Best Regards, RG
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Jun 8, 2014 09:25
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I have made some newb-friendly videos with some tips and info about the game and characters Dead Island: Epidemic Armored Bryce Guide Video 1 Dead Island: Epidemic Top Tips Video 1 Tier 4.5 Bryce Sniper Rifle Poison Bottle Fast Weapon Guide Strategy Best Regards, RG
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Aug 12, 2014 22:42
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I got all of the Dead Islands in a bundle or something recently so I'm definitely into this. I don't know what a MOBA is so I figure this is a pretty decent babby's first.
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Aug 22, 2014 12:39
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Spanish Matlock posted:I got all of the Dead Islands in a bundle or something recently so I'm definitely into this. I don't know what a MOBA is so I figure this is a pretty decent babby's first. Have you enjoyed your time spent in DI:E? Some major upgrades coming in the pipeline right now. The next big releases are going to be focused on PvE content which will help a lot of players have fun getting the gear together that will let them be competitive in Scavenger.  Made 2 vids! The first is a Montage with lots of asskicking. I mixed the music track on the video myself (from royalty free music people have made available). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AjvjdaCXIs The second is one continuous sequence from an epic Endgame moment in a Scavenger match. I'm playing as Wanta. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6stmU0L7hSQ Enjoy, if you have any questions I'll bite on 'em just hard enough to give you an answer.  Best Regards, RG p.s. some (notreally) details on the new PvE mode incoming "CROSSROADS" http://www.deadislandepidemic.com/crossroads/index.html RichardGamingo fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Oct 9, 2014 |
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Oct 9, 2014 22:09
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