Infested Arena 2
Now On B.net NA and EU!
Welcome Back...
It has been 43 years since your last encounter with the Infested, which took place on a space station in a remote part of the Universe. You thought you were victorious after defeating the Broodmother. Little did you know that the Infested followed you back to your home planet in the Galminus system and have since been mutating, evolving and multiplying directly above you. It is clear to you that the Infested are far more powerful than they were last time. Mutant strains and cross breeding has brought about new and terrifying Infested units. But, you are not easily discouraged...43 years has brought about advancements of your own. Prepare yourself the Invasion is about to begin...
Evolving from Infested Arena to Infested Arena 2
New Arena Invasion Dynamic
Infested Arena had 4 hallways which spawned the same amount of Infested units (a total of 2 different types: ranged and melee) at the same intervals with randomized Special Infested Units (SIU's) spawning at 1 of the 4 hallway locations at set times.
Infested Arena 2 has a randomized Invasion dynamic where at the beginning of each round randomized Drop-pods will fall from the sky in random locations. Once the Drop-pod lands it will begin generating eggs which after a short time will hatch and release the Pods designated spawn unit (i.e. Spewer Pod will spawn several infested spewer units). There is also a % chance based on active players and difficulty selected to generate new Drop-Pods at varying locations and varying times into the Arena. There are 4 basic Infested units (Infested Arena only had 2) each has it's respective Drop-Pod. Furthermore, you will easily be able to identify, with the "Infested Pod" dialog, all the current pods found within the Arena. In addition, Special Infested Cocoons will drop from the sky into the arena and after the duration will hatch a random SIU, all of which can be tracked using the "Infested Pod" dialog.
New Special Infested Units
There are now 10 SIU's including new ones, such as: Behemoth, Vile Imploder, Stalker, Desecrator. Some of the SIU's from Infested Arena were removed because...,well, they just weren't any fun.
Infested Blood Transfusions
Infested Arena 2 Introduces "Infested Blood Transfusions." Each time a Special Infested Unit or Boss is killed there is a chance for them to drop "Infested Blood" when one Specialist picks this up all specialists receive 1 Infested Blood. You can use a new menu to load up a stat tree in which you can further modify your Specialist by injecting yourself with the Infested Blood - Things ranging from increased movement speed, damage, extra shields, armor to having a chance to apply the "plague" or chain explosion reaction each time you attack.
Each available stat change found within the Infested Blood Transfusion Tree is modeled after Infested units you are fighting (Infested Bulwark Plating - Increase Armor +1/2/3/4/5)
Specialist changes
My original plan was to incorporate several new Specialists in Infested Arena 2, but after consideration and plenty of feedback I decided to change the fighting mechanics with each specialist. In Infested Arena everyone had energy and all abilities had close to a 10-15 second cooldown. Many times people would run until there ability was up. This wasn't to much fun. How could I make battle more fun and enjoyable? I decided to go with an action game battle dynamic. Each Specialist now has a total of 6 abilities (up from 4) and cooldowns are down around the 1-3 second mark.
Infested Arena witnessed 5 specialists who almost were identical in operation but with different special effects.
In Infested Arena 2 each Specialist is completely individualized everything about them operates differently from other specialists. Read on for details
A Few Examples of The New Battle System
Seifer's New Battle Mechanics
Built for Tanking.
-Seifer uses fast regenerating Energy to perform his abilities.
-Seifer has a "charging up" mechanic known as Ravager's Roar to boost his attack power and armor. With each roar Seifer receives 1 Ravager's Mark which will keep Seifer's damage and armor up until he uses "Igniting Wave." Once used all Marks will be removed. How do you get the most out of your Igniting Wave? Keep charging up with Ravager's Roar.
Fulgore's New Battle Mechanics
Built for damage from the shadows
-Fulgore uses Fast regenerating energy for a few of his abilities
-The rest of Fulgore's abilities operate off of a combo system known as Marks of Death. Each attack Fulgore executes has a 20% chance of awarding 1 Mark of Death. Other abilities and upgrades can apply additional Marks of Death just by using them. Fulgore can then choose to use his other abilities powered by Marks of Death. Once a Mark of Death ability is used all Marks of death are consumed. Depending on how many Marks of Death Fulgore had when executing the ability will determine the effectiveness of that ability (i.e. Vexing Shadows requires at least 1 Mark of Death. For each Mark of Death consumed when Vexing Shadows is executed Fulgore will teleport and deal extensive damage to 2 enemy units. If Fulgore has 5 Marks of Death then a total of 10 enemies will be warped too and attacked).
Blaze's New Battle Mechanics
Built for Siege and AoE
-Blaze uses Fury to power the majority of his abilities. Blaze's Fury meter starts at 0 and as Blaze attacks his Fury meter will begin to rise reaching a maximum of 100. As Blaze reaches certain thresholds of Fury he will be able to perform various abilities. Blaze also has abilities that require no Fury and will actually add a certain amount of Fury to Blazes Fury meter when used.
-Blaze utilizes "Presences" - Blaze can only have 1 Presence on at any given time and depending on which presence Blaze has on they will positively/negatively effect him (i.e. Fury Presence grants 150% additional Fury increase with regular attacks, Increases damage by 40%, and movement speed by 10%, but at the cost of degenerating Shields, and 50% increased damage from all Infested attacks.)
and much more.
Dead Eye's New Battle Mechanics
-Dead Eye uses Fast regenerating Energy to power his abilities. Dead Eye has the capability of dealing extreme damage to single targets as well as using superior crowd control abilities to protect his teammates. Dead Eye has access to Critical Strike Upgrades which allows every attack and ability a chance at dealing 200%, 205%, 210%, 215%, or 220% damage depending on critical strike upgrade level.
Salv's New Battle Mechanics
Salv can be used to focus directly on damage and AoE or Healing. Salv has access to Quick Access Heal buttons which allows him to cast his healing spells (via buttons on the leaderboard) at great distances. This way Salv can keep track of his teammates health and still remain an effective damage dealer.
Salv uses fast regenerating Energy to power his abilities and has great Crowd Control abilities such as "Mind Sync" which allows Salv to convert up to 10 Infested Units (SIUs included) to his side for a duration. This ability can turn the tide of battle quickly if the right units are "Mind Synced" (i.e. Mind Syncing a Special Infested Behemoth - sends the Behemoth to do massive AoE damage to all nearby Infested Units).
NEW SPECIALIST Psion's New Battle Mechanics
Psion is a new addition to the team and although requires a persistent player level of 7 Psion is a power addition to Infested Arena.
Psion uses fast regenerating Energy to power his abilities. Psion's main purpose is to rain down destructive electrical magic from above. All of Psion's abilities have some form of electrical attribute. Although Psion's Health and Energy starts out low Psion Energy Reserves start out higher than the rest of the Specialists.
Psion is capable of enabling "Flight Form" which increases his Electrical damage and increases his movement speed. Psion can traverse cliffs and has the ability of summoning his favored ally "Arc." Arc's weapon is increased along with Psion's weapon. Whenver you upgrade Psion's weapon the benefits transfer to Arc.
Psion is also capable of restoring teammate shields via the Quick heal keys located next to the leaderboard. Instantly clicking on the appropriate team icon will heal the corresponding teammate.
Persistent Player Level
All of your kills are permanently recorded within Infested Arena 2. Whenever you start a new game of Infested Arena too you will notice that your kills refelct all prior kills you have recieved while playing Infested Arena. As you Level up (via your Persistent Player Level) you will be granted access to exclusive Hero Specialist Units. In addition, you will partake in the Persistent Level Player Stat Menu.
The Persistent Player Level Stat Menu allows you (upon starting Infested Arena) to add upgrades (dependent on your Player Level) to your Specialist. In other words, the longer you play and the higher your Player Level the more initial upgrades you can make to the Specialist you have selected.
Please direct all future comments to the new Infested Arena 3 Page here:
Infested Arena 3 site
It's a little empty since it was just approved, but will be adding onto it in the future.
(plus you can get a look at a screen shot of the passive skill tree)
Private testing just started a couple days ago. I have a private Publishing of Infested Arena 3 on battle.net right now. If you are interested in testing or have friends interested please add me as a friend (info below) and make mention that you want to be a tester for Infested Arena 3.
Etravex#566
so when am i needed for testing?
The game is close! still needs some balancing work. I made it to round 28 with Slash on Hard with no problem...need to do some tweeking. Slash really has a completely different style of play
There are now 10 total starting specialists.
The seven from Infested Arena 2 will be returning: Seifer, Blaze, Dead-Eye, Salv, Fulgore, Psion, Krug
and 3 new specialists that will be introduced: Faith, Drake, and Slash
The item system is as simple as selecting the store clicking on the item that you want and your done. You dont have to equip the item. It works exactly like a MOBA item store (i.e. League of legends or dota). If anything the difficulty curb has only been lessened.
I know playing a support class could be fun, and it's one of those decisions that your damned if you do and damned if you don't. I tried to choose the best path that would suite the majority of players. Far to often I was getting complaints on the other side of the fence that people were quitting because "no one went healer" or "no one went take" or "our healer left' or "our tank left."
I built this game from the ground up and although team play will be encouraged, the balancing has been set for solo play as well. Meaning, that if your partners leave midgame the system will recognize that players have left and adjust so that the remaining players can finish wihtout being stuck.
i liked playing a support character though and about this buying selling stuff, ur scaring me into making this game too complicated remember i mean i don't want to always get stuck with 3 other guys who have no idea whats going on and just quit mid game cause they just cant get it....
The biggest things I've been aiming for with Infested Arena 3 is massive character progression and better balance.
As it stands now I can make it to about wave 30+ on normal difficulty and only to wave 4 on hard difficulty (LOL at savage and brutal). Instead of a linear monster progression model I went with an exponential monster progression model. I didn't like the fact that people could play their very first game of Infested Arena on the hardest difficulty and beat it... I want it to be a truly epic challenge to conquer Infested Arena 3 on the harder difficulties. That is why character progression plays a key in success.
In infested arena 2 you selected (from your hero panel) upgrade buttons and upgraded your weapons and armor etc... This is no longer available in Infested Arena 3. Everything has been transferred into an Weapons and Armor Store in which you can spend the minerals which you have acquired during the rounds to purchase new weapons and armor for your specialist. Each specialist has 5 Inventory slots, and will have to buy/sell/ efficiently in order to progress.
In terms of the persistent items that I was planning on implementing in Infested Arena 2, that will not be in Infested Arena 3. When I was developing the items a long time ago I realized that it was impossible to create a fun and challenging replayable experience when you started acquiring all the persistent gear.
great, cant wait to turn this into my new time sink of fun, did you decide to apply the last update that was planned for 2? with the armor and weapons you can buy?
Two new heroes have been added; making a total of 9 Specialists to choose from.
Yes I made some changes to the class structure. You no longer need a healer and a tank to progress. I removed the taunt abilities and the healing abilities and gave each hero a survival ability and team beneficial ability. I also removed the lock on 1 class allowed per game; so if you wanted to have 4 Tychus Specialists playing at the same time you can.
All of this is possible because of the character progression that each player will have access too. Not only will you have a huge passive tree to invest points into, but there is also purchasing items for your specialist as you gain currency. So even if you have 4 Tychus Specialists playing as the rounds progress they will all start to differ depending on how they get built.
i always thought tychus was the most fun, but i also loved being the healer those two were my favorite, it always seemed like you needed a healer though if u wanted to maxx it out
Oh forgot to mention that the level cap has been increased up to 50 (was level 20 in Infested Arena 2). Doesn't allow you to obtain all the nodes in the ability web, but gives you enough room to individualize your build.
Yes I plan to add new specialists. I'm not sure if any new ones will make the launch, but I have plans for additional ones already.
The new "ability web" (as I like to call it) replaced the Blood transfusion tree. Instead of getting blood drops you get 1 point to spend each time you level up for the ability web. As of right now The ability web has 180+ nodes which will help define your specialist by adding passive traits. However, it's not called a "web" for no reason; if you want to obtain a certain "node" far away on the ability web you have to "travel" to that node by spending points in prerequisite nodes.
The reason I wanted to create this type of system was to give all the character progression power to the player. You can pick your hero and build them however you like.
don't toy with me dude i'll have to change meh pants cause ill splooge and shit them at the same time....the blood transfusions were an awesome addition. what about hero's are u going to be adding purple ghost kerrigan or perhaps that swarm queen of kerrigans maybe even that primal zerg would be cool too
Yes you will need HoTS to play Infested Arena 3. HAHA Donthorax I've been working on Infested Arena 3 from scratch for over 3 months now I'm about 85% complete. The upgrading systems are now complete (which is by far the most time consuming to program); you will see what I mean when you play. Do you remember the Infested Blood Transfusion trees from Infested Arena 2? Well that tree x 100. Literally...
Etravex i swear to god man i can't take it anymore this is my absolute favorite game on sc2 u needs to hurry and finish it so i can start testing this pile....are you going to implementing the new add ons from the heart of the swarm? IE unites to go against maybe rogue terran
To give an update for those who are interested. I started Infested Arena 3 from scratch, instead of modifying the old Infested Arena 2 Mod. Things are coming along nicely. I do believe this will be the defining Infested Arena game in the series. The new systems that are being implemented are complex yet satisfying. Can't wait to show them off!
Cant wait, ive been looking forward to when this would be updated or fixed, even better hearing 3 is coming out, tho the long grind to max level with start again.