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.
Latest Patch Notes
This Map was created for the NA Server. If you are from EU server please include the version you are playing in your comment
Comments
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_ForgeUser4426202 Owner
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Posted Jul 2, 2011One of my friends (I guess) found this bug a few days ago. When you use Krug's Thermo Blade and use Quick Maneuver right into it, the blade stays there for about 35 seconds while not doing actual damage. Great recent upgrades, by the way! I'd like to see more of switching in-and-out type of abilities, like Blaze's Presences, as it can make players have to make important decisions instead of doing the same thing over and over again every game.
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Posted Jul 2, 2011Max atk speed is .04. Frenzy works its just that the tooltip from blizzard wont display it i believe. Imploders are ment to be. They have armor reduction so kill them before they hit you or kite them a lil bit. I think an SIU to be 10 exp would be better than 3.
Just some bugs that come to mind Sometimes imploders or maybe just mutated imploders atk Arc's hp before shields are down. Arc can die with 1.3k shields still up lulz.
Sometimes propagators are not stunned by blaze's falcon charge. I use it right when pods pop and everything gets stunned and all (creepers aboms insectipedes etc) but u see the prop just run away lol
Some skills effect the invincible eggs. Just like the fulgore transfer from back then, blaze's knockback/multitargetting thingy can hit the eggs if theres enemies around it. Also combustion effects eggs also. Of course that still means you need an enemy right on it that youre attacking.
Are behemoths ment to kill Arc? If behemoth stuns Psion or any infested stuns, it destroys arc. It also takes away steath from Fulgore. And resets Blaze's presence.
The strongholds seem a bit difficult at round 4... Because theres 4... At round 1 if the objective pops up its 1. At 2 its 2. At round 3 its 3. At the first couple rounds the strongholds become alot more difficult then when at round 15 where u can do enough dmg to kill them.
Oh yeah... Theres a major bug with this one. I mentioned it a while ago when my friend and i found it and i thought it was fixed. Theres an invincible glitch (basicly) that allows a group of 3 people start the game with 2 people picking. Then the 3rd person sits there and acts as the invincible one. I wont go into detail to prevent abuse.
Small typo bugs: On blaze(and maybe everyone else) when you hit tier 2, the description says munitions. You mean ammunitions right? On blaze fury presence says +5 range. You changed that to +2.
I love the new addition to Dead Eye and Psion for sure =) Its fun being able to choose different routes for them. I agree with Otakuma, Dead Eye should have 2-3 range more than blaze with fury. Or just nerf the range so Dead Eye has more lol Sniper>Chaingun in range all the time.
I think the new armor on Psion/Arc/DeadEye makes them alot more useful lategame. Especially on Psion/Arc =) Great work
Overall i love this game. Thanks for making it the only game i play LoLz =) Besides like sotis... but for every 1 sotis game i play like 25 IA2 games.
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Posted Jul 2, 2011@Alexon88: Go
If the boss fights took you 10 minutes on easy you were clearly doing something wrong... But yeah, after i saw you saying that you die in the first round on easy, i stopped wondering.
Learn the different character aspects as if you're dying on round 1 on easy, you're far from experienced enough in this kind of map.
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Posted Jul 2, 2011Hello,
me: I played this map on easy sometimes. EU.
feedback: The fights need far too long. 5-10 Minutes for a boss, feels longer!? Starcraft 2 is an RTS game. -why dont u include macros when you do such long wow fights? XD
-Also "easy" and we sometimes die in the first round. I use all abilities.
-Hotkeys, You swapped the Attack button so my Hotkey for Attack is now E instead of T, I like fun games that let me not use my default settings (rest of abilities works of course)
anyway: I see a high quality gaming in this map. but for me it's too long paced. gl hf.
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Posted Jul 2, 2011has someone mentioned the imploders yet? they can kill almost anything in under 10 seconds, with maxed armor. if thats intentional fine but maybe lower their health.
i love the insectipedes they are a great addition. prop horns are useful now and thats great too. im guessing that .07 is the max possible attack speed but ive noticed that infested frenzy doesnt seem to improve my attack speed as any character
adding the armor to dead, salv etc was brilliant they are now useful late game. keep up the great work im doing my best to make sure that this stays on page 1 of popularity
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Posted Jul 2, 2011With regards to Krug, one of his Abilties ought to scale with his Wep damage - for a level 10 unlockable, he seems kinda lack luster.
Perhaps making turrets scale kinda similar to how Arc scales with Psion.
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Posted Jul 2, 2011Just want to post a bug;
While playing as Krug, and the first wave was to kill 0/1 Strongholds... I destroyed a stronghold with his Pyro Charges, but it didn't register... so we didn't get the objective met. And since then, the "Round" has been stuck at level 1 ever since, I mean, rounds were still being raised as normal... just the visual Round tab's stuck on 1.
Another Bug;
That floating protoss Hybrid boss... thing, with the Blue AoE Bolts - when you've been incapacitated, them AoE bolts resets your resurrection bar.
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Posted Jul 2, 2011@Etravex: Go
This map is really fun and I spend more time on it than I probably should, being lvl 16. Registered just to say my thanks for you doing it the Blizzard way: "It'll be out when it's out."
Totally agree with Celois. Particularly on SUI's needing to be worth more exp. As it stands, you get 3 exp for something that takes much more effort and skill to kill than your run of the mill 3 zerlings. I'm particularly biased about this, because I love using SUI spec deadeye. Btw, switching the second barrel for spec builds was an elegant solution to the too much dps problem. Good stuff. Although, could you perhaps give deadeye the option to buy more range? He has a sniper rifle, but blaze outranges him with a chaingun.
Also, a suggestion, if I may. Sometimes when I'm playing, I feel totally in the zone, slaughtering zombies left and right, but then BAM, 40 second intermission when you don't even want/need it. Could you, perhaps, make a skip intermission option/button. Also there are sometimes waves where you don't do much, could there be an option to speed up the wave somehow? Perhaps do it like a towerD, have the option to spawn all the creeps at a higher rate to speed up the round whole also getting some kind of exp bonus for it. Or no exp bonus.
Either way, good work. Keep it up.
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Posted Jul 2, 2011@Etravex: Go
It is a good map and you've been pretty timely about addressing bugs. I mentioned that one about Lacerations kicking away enemies a little too far sometimes and a few days later it was changed; good shit.
As far as the perma items and stuff, I dont mind that it's taking long to figure it out; I always appreciate something being well thought out and implemented instead of being broken and rushed. 'Sides, I've had the chance to earn plenty of carbon steel in the mean time, so whenever it is implemented I should be able to buy some stuffs.
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Posted Jul 1, 2011@beerwolf: Go
They're going to be used to buy new permanent items which will be coming soon. Just keep killing those bosses!
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Posted Jul 1, 2011Quick question;
When downing a boss, you get stuff like Carbon Steel and Terrazine... what are they for exactly ?
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Posted Jul 1, 2011@iXoZTwisted: Go I like the combined ideas. Thanks for tweaking my numbers. It was mostly the concept that I wanted to throw out there and figured it would need work. I ran an excel sheet on a couple different denominator variations and it didn't seem that bad but I guess you're right that is a lot of exp (though keep in mind it can take about 2+ hrs to achieve lvl50!).
@Etravex: Go
Yeah I saw a lot of complaining and wanted to offer just some friendly improvements. I have some more ideas that I'm sure I'll be throwing your way once the next updates come out :) Thanks for listening to your fanbase!
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Posted Jul 1, 2011Love your map... enough said =) im very glad that the items are coming. It seems like the exp thing that Celois mentioned would be a little too much. At round 50 u can get 6 exp per kill. You can get easily 200 kills. 1.2k exp in one round... Too much. Maybe u can combine Celois's two ideas.
On Lunatic •For Lights: Xp = 1 + Waves/10 | Rounded to lowest integer.
On Savage •For Lights: Xp = 1 + Waves/15 | Rounded to lowest integer.
Brutal •For Lights: Xp = 1 + Waves/20 | Rounded to lowest integer.
Hard •For Lights: Xp = 1 + Waves/25 | Rounded to lowest integer.
Normal •For Lights: Xp = 1 + Waves/30 | Rounded to lowest integer.
Easy •For Lights: Xp = 1 + Waves/35 | Rounded to lowest integer.
Change the number untill you seem fit. Maybe start at 5 instead of 10. Maybe make it by 10s instead of 5s. Keep up what youre doing because this map is great =)
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Posted Jul 1, 2011Thanks guys,
The Item system has been delved into quite deeply. The item mechanics and menus and trigger setups are working perfectly. The resources and item saving is working perfectly. This is all I can tell you for now.
There is something that I will post in a couple of days that will be the whole story behind the item delay etc... Unfortunately I'm not at liberty to speak quite yet. In a couple of days you will see why. Thank for your patience.
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Posted Jul 1, 2011Celios, Awesome post.
Etravex. I don't know if you have been able to tell by my posts, but i love your map. Yes, I know I have asked repeatedly for a high level tank, like an immortal. But besides that, I may have something for you to look into for your items issue. Have you looked into the Zerg Hunter RPG model? It has an awesome item system, just a thought. I don't like how limiting the skills get in ZH, but other than that I love that map, in yours the only thing I don't like right now, is that it is either tipping to the OP mobs and SIU's or Characters..... I really wish there was an easy formula for you to fix this. I am guessing not, but I hope this solution appears for you.
So, all in all, yes I love your map, it just gets a little frustrating when teams fail because there is no coordination. But that is the issue of playing any Online game with complete strangers, other than that, the game is really well rounded, just needs polishing nothing major.
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Posted Jul 1, 2011I try to say my thanks when things are good. I do see where you get the idea of the complaints. Admittedly I've complained, too. I really do love the map. I wouldn't be lvl 15 if I didn't like it, lol. I appreciate that you've been keeping up with the map as much as you have and actually listening to the players.
I can only hope that this map goes a lot farther and becomes even more of a success
Kudos, Etravex.
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Posted Jul 1, 2011@Celois: Go
Thank you Celois,
Seems lately everyone only has negative things to say about the map. Either complaining or getting upset about bugs. Nice to see someone not complaining rather complementing and giving extremely helpful constructive criticism. I value your response and like some of the ideas you proposed because they make sense.
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Posted Jul 1, 2011I’d just like to say you’ve done a great job and have shown some amazing dedication to your map! I liked the original Infested Arena which I played to death and I have put a considerable amount of time into this map (lvl 14 now) as well. I’ve played enough that I feel confident in offering some of my own feedback on the map:
o Add a visible count-down timer for game-setting selection screen/hero selection screen. I’ve played several games where someone is dropped (either by BNet or disconnect) at the game-setting screen before they select and the game is unable to start. 30 seconds should be more than enough time for people to select modes.
o Player-exp system needs some reworking. First of all, player-exp per kill should increase as the number of rounds increase. As of now, if one is farming for exp/steel it is best to play until about wave 40-50 and quit. On a similar note, SIU’s should give more player-exp per kill than lights. It is often more rewarding for players to go AoE/mob control than it is to go SIU-killer builds and there is no reason an SIU should give the same exp as a single unit.
There should also be a benefit to playing on harder difficulties, aside from extra carbon steel. It would encourage lower-level people to select things aside from easy/normal. E.g. Each harder difficulty gets x% more exp across the board or something.
To solve this, I propose two preliminary formulas based upon the current wave:
For SIUs: Xp = 10 + (Waves/5)^2
Killing a boss should reward everyone on the team with player-exp (as opposed to whoever gets last shot in). The amount should increase as bosses become more difficult. E.g. Wave 5 boss -> 100, Wave 10 Boss -> 250, etc. I’m not sure on a good way to implement this formulaically.
o Bosses should always drop an infested blood. While most of the time they do, I’ve found a lot of bosses fail to drop blood, especially later on.
o SIU cocoons need tweaking. It is very frustrating to have to remind other players not to kill cocoons. But thinking about it, why shouldn’t you reward teams for being proactive and moving around to kill eggs before they hatch as opposed to just camping? I’d like to see cocoons hatch faster but if killed have them count as an SIU kill and/or have the chance of dropping infested blood like a normal SIU.
o Seifer’s Igniting Wave is really opposite of his other skills and feels like a relic from Infested Arena 1. It negates roar and it requires a lot of money to be remotely useful, and even then other characters have better AoE. Not every character needs to have a targetable AoE. How about changing it to something like a toggle-able Immolation with upgrades to reduce its mana consumption/second? It could do damage based upon the current weapon upgrade or have its own ability damage tree.
o Psionic’s Cylone Beam is a poor skill. First it requires standing still which is not a problem if there is a tanking Seifer on the team, but most later rounds require a fair amount of kiting meaning you can expect an instant incap. Now being vulnerable might be worth it with the right team build if the DPS was good, but its not. I’m not sure what to suggest at the moment, but I would like you to think over what role the skill is supposed to fulfill and tweak it.
o As mentioned by the previous poster, Krug’s turrets are quite weak late-game and a bit bland. How about the options of upgrading the turret into different towers each with extra ability upgrades? Possibly with the cost of an extra nuclear charge. E.g:
I will think about your problem with the item-system. Have you considered having items being more ‘side-grades’ (ala TF2) than direct upgrades? For example, a piece of armor that can provide 10% resistance at the cost of 20% movement speed. Or a weapon that that provides leech-energy at the expense of less max energy. Just some food for thought.
I hope you find some of my suggestions useful and again thank you for creating and continuing to maintain a great map.
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Posted Jul 1, 2011Turret build Krug is a bit lackluster endgame, after wave 50+. 800-1000ish damage (after armor) with .35 attack speed doesn't really cut it when regular mobs start having 20k+ health, and there's a limit of how many turrets you can fit in a single choke point. After wave 70-80 they aren't even useful for cannon fodder, as the swarm takes out a turret in 1-2 seconds. As for bosses, turrets start doing constant 0 damage thanks to their huge armor at around wave 50-60.
Another issue is that turrets don't seem to get any synergy from blood skills. Neither weapon nor ability damage upgrade seems to affect them, which leaves a turret Krug user left with a ton of excess blood.
Currently it feels that it's a must to change your spec gradually for the later levels, starting with turrets but switching to either weapon damage or ability damage spec for endgame and phasing out turret use. They either need area damage/multitargeting so they stay useful against regular enemies, or armor piercing against bosses. And some armor upgrades, so they last longer when a single enemy starts doing 80+ damage a hit. You could make these upgrades obscenely expensive, so people couldn't buy them at early game and cause imbalance but still keeping the build viable for endgame, since you have so much excess money after maxing out turrets anyway.
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Posted Jul 1, 2011You should increase the max amount of blood obtainable at the beginning. 5 would be good... Higher level players would want more blood if they use that. Can you maybe implement 1 item for each character soon thats not overpowered so we get a taste? we can give better feedback instead of drooling over items lol =)