Vainglory (video game)

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Vainglory
MOBA

Vainglory is a

PC. The game is a version of the MOBA wherein two opposing teams of three or five players fight to destroy the enemy by controlling the path between the bases, which is lined by turrets and guarded by AI-controlled enemy creatures called minions. Off the path, players battle for control points that provide resources. The game was released for iOS on November 16, 2014, after being soft-launched for over half a year, with the Android version being released on July 2, 2015. A Mac and Microsoft Windows version of the game was released in July 2018. Through cross-platform play
, players on all four platforms can play together simultaneously.

The game's development started in 2012 upon the forming of Super Evil Megacorp. The game was unveiled at

multiplayer experiences similar to that of a LAN party
.

Vainglory received generally favorable reviews. Critics praised the game's graphics, characters, and

level design
, but criticized its lack of team communication features. Reviewers disagreed on the game's degree of accessibility to newcomers.

Gameplay

Defending a base from a kraken attack

Vainglory is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game similar to popular MOBAs like League of Legends and Dota 2 designed for smartphones, tablets and PC.[1] A standard for the genre, two opposing teams fight to reach and destroy the enemy's base while defending their own in a tug of war for control over three paths, the "lanes", which connect the bases.[2] In addition, there are "jungles” between the lanes, which contain creatures and objectives that can be killed or captured.

In Vainglory, teams have five players who each control an

computer-controlled characters, called "minions", spawn at team bases and follow the lanes to the opposite team's base, fighting enemies and turrets en route.[2] Lining the lanes are turret
towers that repel the flow of minions and enemy heroes. The player's objective is to destroy the enemy turrets and ultimately the "Vain crystal" in the enemy team's base.

As of Update 3.9, mastery points on heroes can be earned by playing matches with them. These mastery points unlock stars once certain thresholds are reached. When a match starts, players can see each other's hero mastery in the loading screen. All matches give points as rewards, but Standard 3v3 and 5v5 give bonus points. The same number of points are rewarded regardless of a win or loss.

In Ranked mode, players are matched by a ranking system. Commonly referred to as Elo/ELO, the rank points earned from match wins will go up, and so as players improve, so too will the skill of opponents. Elo is named after Arpad Elo, the mathematician and chess grand master who invented the rank score system that is at the heart of rank scores in Vainglory.

Vainglory started with seven heroes, and has since expanded the roster to 56 heroes as of Update 4.11.

balanced for fair play. For example, a hero may have high damage but poor mobility, or strong melee abilities but no ranged option.[3] Players choose between three abilities that upgrade via a common technology tree.[6]
There is a set number of heroes that are free to play, with the free to play roster being renewed every week.

The game uses two main in-game currencies for

in-app purchases: Glory can be earned through normal play and completing missions, and ICE (Immensely Concentrated Evil) can be purchased with real-world money. ICE can also sometimes be earned through game interactions, but it is a much less common reward. Players can unlock additional heroes for a certain amount of Glory.[3] Skins, which change the appearance of heroes, can be unlocked with ICE or by collecting blueprints from the Market or in-game quests. Crafting a skin via a blueprint also requires Essence, obtainable through reward chests or acquiring a blueprint for a skin that a player already owns. Special Edition skins may only be unlocked through Opals, obtainable through reward chests or frequent in-app purchase bundle packs. Update 1.18.0 introduced "chests," which provide another way of obtaining any of these currencies; chests become available after completing a certain action (e.g. win 5 games).[6]

Vainglory offers five main modes of in-game communication: team emoticons, strategic pings, static chat lines, party voicechat, and in-game chat (introduced on Update 2.6, 3.6, and 3.10, respectively).[3][6][7][8]

Update 2.5 introduced Talents, collectible hero upgrades exclusively for BRAWL game modes (Blitz and Battle Royale). There are (as of February 6, 2020) 168 different talents, as each hero is released with 3 different tiers of talents: rare, epic and legendary, which can all be upgraded through the games standard in-game currency Glory. Talents can be upgraded many times depending on their tier. Rare talents can be upgraded 20 times, while Epic Talents are upgradeable 10 times and Legendary 5 times.[9]

Update 3.4 introduced joystick control.

Vainglory's Halcyon Fold map, with team bases on both ends, the lane connecting the two on top, and the jungle underbrush beneath the lane

Development

Segerstrale presents on Vainglory at the 2016 Game Developers Conference.

In February 2012, game developer veterans from

Apple chose the game to demonstrate the graphics capabilities of their iPhone 6 and Metal graphics API at the iPhone 6's announcement event.[1] The game was soft-launched for six months prior to this September 2014 event,[2] and was released on November 16, 2014.[10]

Kristian Segerstrale, the founder of

Electronic Sports League announced the Vainglory Cup, a set of Vainglory competitions, to take place in June 2015 and elevated their partnership with ESL in Summer 2017 for organizing Vainglory 8 NA and EU.[11]

On March 5, 2015, at the

Google Play Store.[12]

Vainglory's artwork was produced by a team directed by Carlo "Chainsaw" Arellano. Players are also invited to guide the development of Vainglory by interacting with the developers through live streams on Twitch.[13]

Update 2.8 (September 2017) added Keyboard and Mouse support in addition to Samsung's partnership with SEMC for Samsung DeX, a docking station for Samsung S8/S8+/Note 8 to connect listed device to a PC.[14]

Super Evil Megacorp announced in early 2017 that a 5V5 mode was under development. The mode was released on February 13, 2018.[15]

A desktop version was released on Steam for PC and Mac users on February 13, 2019. It has mappable keys and similar mechanics to other desktop MOBA games like League of Legends. Players using the PC and Mac client can compete in matches against mobile users as well as fellow desktop players, making it a cross-platform game. A spin-off game Vainglory All Stars was developed by Bazooka Tango in 2020.[16]

On April 1, 2020, it was announced that Rogue Games (formerly both temporary publisher and developer of the game) would no longer continue development of Vainglory and intended to shut down the game. This caused NetEase (the publisher of Vainglory in China) to lose all faith in the project and determine to shut down the game in China as well.[17] As a result, SEMC announced that Vainglory servers would be transferred to the community, removing expensive servers with player data and making the game "client authoritative". This means there will be no future centralized game updates as well as a reduction in services such as party play, the friends list, leaderboards, and in game chat. This also brings other opportunities such as community organized balance adjustments, community built and run APIs, and long term stability of servers.[18]

However, as of 6 March 2023, the software for community servers has still been awaited by the dwindling community. Despite this, SEMC has continued to run servers, but with the lack of previously mentioned features. However, since the release of Catalyst Black on 25 May 2022,[19] a sole developer, Loquori, has closely worked with the community to bring updates and patches. In January, the first potential patch list in almost 2 years (the latest version of Vainglory, 4.13 was released on 14 March 2020[20]) was proposed by the community.[21]

On April 30, 2020, Super Evil Megacorp revealed[22] their next project after Vainglory, Catalyst Black — a new cross-platform battleground shooter.

Reception

The game received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game

Apple Design Award recipients in 2015.[24]

Matt Thrower of Pocket Gamer noted how the PC-based MOBA genre has had issues adapting its precise controls to the mobile platform, but that Vainglory trimmed features in the right areas.

pay-to-win".[2]

IGN's Dyer reported his games to be about 21 minutes in length and noticed that they tended to snowball out of balance by the time the Kraken creature appears at the 15-minute mark. Dyer added that the advantages of in-person team communication made games feel "lopsided".[3] Pocket Gamer's Thrower wrote that the game's "depth" was in learning how to use the individual characters, and that beginners were subject to an "impenetrable learning curve", especially without organized teams.[6] Ford of TouchArcade said his only issue was with players leaving their play session while the game was still in action, but felt this was mitigated by the game's "Karma" matchmaking system.[2] Ford otherwise reported that Vainglory played well as a whole as "probably the best MOBA on iOS".[2]

References

  1. ^ a b McWhertor, Michael (September 9, 2014). "This is the game Apple used to show off iPhone 6". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on September 11, 2014. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Ford, Eric (November 20, 2014). "'Vainglory' Review – Portable MOBA Magic". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on December 9, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Dyer, Mitch (December 10, 2014). "Vainglory Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Corriea, Alexa Ray (June 5, 2014). "Vainglory: Former EA Digital head wants to reinvent the LAN party with a new tablet MOBA". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on January 30, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  5. ^ "Vainglory Heroes". vaingloryfire.com. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thrower, Matt (November 18, 2014). "Vainglory review". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  7. ^ "Vainglory | The cross-platform MOBA". Vainglory. August 2, 2018. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
  8. ^ "Vainglory | The cross-platform MOBA". Vainglory. January 22, 2019. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
  9. ^ "Talents FAQ!". Super Evil Support. Archived from the original on November 11, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  10. ^
    CBS Interactive. Archived
    from the original on April 3, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  11. ^ "VAINGLORY SUMMER 2017 SEASON KICKS OFF TOMORROW ALONGSIDE UPDATE 2.6". Super Evil Megacorp. Archived from the original on September 10, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  12. ^ Dunsmore, Kevin (March 5, 2015). "Vainglory Brings the MOBA Experience to Android Today". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on March 7, 2015. Retrieved March 6, 2015.
  13. ^ Vainglory Casual (January 16, 2015). "(1/16/15) Dev Livestream - Now with more ChainSAW - Part 1". Archived from the original on December 16, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2016 – via YouTube.
  14. ^ "Vainglory to Introduce Mouse and Keyboard Support with Samsung DeX". Super Evil Megacorp. Archived from the original on July 23, 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  15. ^ Fahey, Mike (February 9, 2018). "Mobile MOBA Vainglory Upgrades To 5V5 Next Week". Kotaku. Archived from the original on February 26, 2018. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  16. ^ Forde, Matthew (March 17, 2020). "New studio Bazooka Tango launched by Vainglory creators". pocketgamer.biz.
  17. ^ "Vainglory - NetEase announces closure of PC + mobile MOBA title in China". MMO Culture. May 28, 2020. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  18. ^ Johnson, Kevin (April 2020). "Vainglory: Community Edition". vainglorygame.com. Archived from the original on April 5, 2020. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  19. ^ "Catalyst Black for iOS preview: An engaging team experience with varied modes and loadouts". Imore.com. April 28, 2022. Archived from the original on September 30, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  20. ^ "Vainglory | the cross-platform MOBA". Vainglory. March 14, 2020. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  21. ^ "Vainglory 4.14 balance changes locked in. Release pending with new iOS, Android, PC, and Mac versions". Old.reddit.com. January 28, 2023. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  22. ^ "Revealing "Catalyst Black" - our new Cross-Platform Battleground Shooter". Super Evil Megacorp. Archived from the original on May 13, 2020. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
  23. ^ Dredge, Stuart (December 23, 2014). "The best iPhone and iPad games of 2014". The Guardian. Archived from the original on January 5, 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  24. ^ Sarkar, Samit (June 9, 2015). "Apple Design Awards 2015 honor seven games, including Crossy Road and Vainglory". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vainglory.

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