Infested Arena 2
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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.
yay reached lvl 60 on hard! :D We didn't lose, we all just left because we had other things to do XD more variety in end game bosses plz :(. Spent like 3 hours on that one game. haha
Best team: -Dead Eye (anti-SUI/boss), Psion (anti-mob/boss), Siefer (tank), Salv (heals)
:D
Thank you I will look into this and yes I will limit stalker had that already planned:)
2 things, first is a bug...when playing as pscion u use the aoe slow ability it only slows 1 target...this is true, but for some reason, tho lower levels of the ability it effects multiple targets...2nd is there a way to limit the amount of stalkers are on the map at a time? i just had a round when 4 stalkers spawned out of pods(2 mutated) and ripped apart the whole group 3 times before they died and this is around round 37 and it wasnt a siu round, but it was darkness.
I balanced the exp amounts on skills so that each sub class: tank, healer, or dos gas an equal opportunity to increase in player level. No dead eye abilities do not raise exp as that would defeat the purpose since dos get there expfrom killing. It works out like this if you r doing your sub class job you will gain exp very fast.
@Etravex: Go
Thanks! That makes sense, I was playing a DPS class, Deadeye. Does that mean I get more xp for using his abilities to kill units? Basically should I just pick Salv and spam heals if I ever want to get to level 10? Seems like it would be faster than murdering every unit on the map. I noticed early rounds you get about 1xp per kill. Do you get more as the rounds progress and for bosses?
Maybe an xp reward/bonus for completing objectives?
Stalker will bug on the specialist permanently if it falls into Salv's black hole while it's jumping someone.
I think i pointed this out earlier, but it could've been overlooked.
Seems like other stuff that interrupts it from doing whatever it's trying to do while jumping can screw it over in other ways.
@iXoZTwisted: Go
Wow wow wow... its going to be ok. Terrazine is on hold until i find a solution for the abuse. I'm not about to let people max out their terrazine and buy every weapon and armor set when I release them... Supply count is for nothing, I will look into stalker although I haven't seen it happen myself, Turret build krugs are at a disadvantage for going turret build when strongholds are up. Turrets will never be allowed to be placed on creep and there will be no marine spawning. Highest rounds were reset because I now feel that the 21+ rounds are pretty close, balance wise, to where I want them to be so the stat was reset so you can actually commend those who have reached higher rounds.
@biff10426: Go
Before yesterday the only way to gain experience was to kill units. So healer classes and tank builds were not receiving very much persistent level experience. Yesterday, I implemented player experience for healer and tank builds. When a tank uses tank abilities he receives a large amount of exp and same with healers and using heals. So you shouldn't feel as left out if you were playing those builds.
Advice? Use lots of abilities regardless the more kills, more tank skills you use, more heals you do the better exp you will get
Good luck
I saw someone in my game the other day that had a persistent level of 15. How long did he play do get that? 40000000 hours?
I started a game at persistent player level 5, on hard, we made it to about round 25 or so. I didn't even gain a quarter level. There something bugged with the xp? Or should I just quit my job and play this all day to gain levels?
Wait im confused. Theres no more terrazine counter? Whats the supply counter for? Stalkers Glitched. They jump on u and never get off lol. Krug seems useless in killing the Strongholds when going turret build. Cant get in range. Are you thinking of making krug summon marines and not turrets? Why were all the highest level reached deleted? And the terrazine counter also?
How did 2 patches patch while i was playing a 2 minute game... lol Well yeah terrazine isnt bugged is it called terrazine anymore?
Lol since terrazine is a resource, it is divided amongst the team when others leave. The terrazine returns to normal if you leave though. Unless you do a certain thing, then it stays. Abusable by some.
I find that spell damage is the only thing that matters late game as all the infested are pretty much glass cannons. Some specialists heavily rely on one or two spells to survive in the late rounds, as I think some other people mentioned, such as Fulgore and his Transfer.
@YinKuza: Go
PM me
@iXoZTwisted: Go
Actually I haven't heard that Terrazine can be abused. Why dont you elaborate
Terrazine can be abused =\ im sure you've found this out already. Fix it soon.
@Etravex: Go
Yes, indeed i have.
I would also prefer to tell you about the overpowered stuff, or show you them in the actual map, and what makes them overpowered in another place than this open forum, so that people won't take advantage of it. There are some things that i haven't pointed out due to that.
I test alot of different builds, and some of them, well... they are a little too powerful when used the right way.
There is a bug with the stop button. When I play Blaze, and issued a command to move to a certain location. While moving there, I press Stop (S), but it is not working. Blaze keep moving until he reach his destination, then stop
I only played Blaze so far, and experience this bug. Don't know if it exist in other heroes
@YinKuza: Go
Yinkuza are you telling me you made it to round 70 already on the new version?
@thewqlf: Go
When Blaze is in Protective presence he receives a armor bonus multiplier that is based off of his base armor. That is intended.
When a continue is used you receive 7 seconds of invulnerability; when you see your character graphic cloaked that means run 7 seconds are ticking.
Yes I'm planning on modifying an ability or two of Fulgore's so that he can last much longer in later rounds.
I will look into the Strongholds. thanks for the feedback