Genesis Review: Yup, That’s A MOBA

The global esports industry has seen its activity, popularity, and revenue steadily grow in the past years, with a projected revenue stream in 2019 of $1.1 Billion . Despite some developing some of the most popular esports games – Overwatch and Starcraft among them – Blizzard seems to stumble time and time again when creating a meaningful esports division of its

With its campaign, the one thing that could really set it apart, inactive, Genesis has your typical MOBA modes. There’s training, a humans vs. AI mode, and 5v5 competitive. There’s only one map in the rotation right now, the usual three lane battlefield where you aim to destroy the enemy towers and reach their core. That’s not to fault Genesis for having this familiar element. The setup is just typical to MOBAs. In fact, there are some smart things going on in Genesis that address common MOBA probl

For a Jungler, a global ultimate is very valuable, and Karthus can easily use his to secure kills. The rework of Nunu has put him in an incredibly good spot, especially in the jungle. He can secure objectives, provide tons of utility, has great teamfight abilities, and is a tank. Nunu has become the Jungler’s dr

Genesis opens by explaining that humans and aliens teamed up to go through a portal in space. There are unknown dangers on the other side, which warranted the formation of a group of specialized individuals. Right after, you’re dropped onto a single-lane bridge and put in control of the beginner-friendly archer hero. Sound familiar? I immediately had flashbacks to the League of Legends tutorial. Genesis does try to set itself apart by focusing more on story. The tutorial introduces mysterious aliens that attack our alliance of heroes. What they are, and why they’re hostile, is a matter for the campaign. Oh yeah, there’s a full-on campaign mode. Too bad it doesn’t work at the moment, an issue the devs are actively fixi

Hearthstone has issues with its esports scene as well; mainly in that it seems unable to settle on the format for qualifying its players for Pacific theater WWII competitions or to select the best format for its annual championships. This is understandable when a game releases – but it’s been five years now since launch. Since then, we have seen players qualifying through Blizzard sanctioned tournaments, then needing to qualify in four distinct seasons, and now there’s an overhaul of the previous tour system to a three-tiered sys

Eight months later, we can say with absolute certainty that the statement was grown in the deepest levels of Blizzard’s PR dungeon, sprinkled with the highest quality of Corporate brand bullshit, and masked with enough perfume so as to hide its decaying stench long enough for people to forget about the whole thing. Two heroes have been released, and a number of events that focus on selling skins are all players have been given, and there is no reason to expect anything m

However, they seem to be content to sit in the pit they’ve dug for themselves. The Blizzard of today seeks to execute an entirely different vision than the Blizzard of twenty, and even ten years ago. Past performance is often a strong indicator of future action, and if in the future Blizzard were to gut Hearthstone’s esports and development team to reinvest into Call of Duty and Candy Crush , there would be no reason to be surpri

Long-standing G2 Esports mid laner Luka “PerkZ” Perković took the _ League of Legends _ world by storm in 2019. Prior to this year’s season, G2 announced their addition of former Fnatic mid laner Rasmus “Caps” Winther. As a result, PerkZ moved to the AD carry position. The risky move left many wondering where the team was headed, though G2 came out the other side even stronger than before. With PerkZ as their carry, G2 won LEC Spring after topping the regular season’s leaderboard. They next attended the Mid-Season Invitational, where they took down Korean powerhouse SK Telecom T1 and destroyed North American side Team Liquid to take the cr

This is advice that can be applied to practically every gunfight. Whether they’re being met head-on or they’ve managed to get the drop on the player’s squad, smart and precise repositioning by a single squadmate can immediately flip the table on any situat

Many consider Blizzard’s Star Craft: Brood War to be the foundation of all esports. By 2006, the game was established as a mainstream juggernaut icon in Korea and the global community. It was the first game to bring in big-name sponsors and had fans watching all over the world. At the height of its popularity, the video below gives a picture of the scope of popularity and production value that went into the ga

Is there a chance for Blizzard to thrive in the esports scene in the near future? Many longtime fans of the company would sure hope so – however, after all the stunts they’ve pulled, it’s hard to stay optimistic for the future of many beloved franchi

In most games, a character can hold one weapon or similar item in each hand, sometimes requiring two hands. Anything else would be in their inventory. This isn’t the case in League. Not only are players able to buy as many as six different swords, it’s often encouraged. Especially on certain ranged champions, the confusing bit is how someone would manage to make use of them all simultaneou