Hero Academy by Robot Entertainment - Free (Worldwide Release)

[DaviddesJ]

Originally Posted by ArtNJ

However, HA is already pretty punishing of rookies, and your talking some time to really go through the tutorials, plus a lot of practice games just to get to say 80% of your eventual skill. So having 8 unique factions someone can bust out on you in Summoner wars seems a really mixed blessing.

An individual game of Summoner Wars is more random, and therefore there's less of a feeling of having no chance even if you're up against someone who knows the game much better.

[DaviddesJ]

Originally Posted by ArtNJ

As far as the article comparing Summoner Wars and Hero Academy, sure more factions and deck building are great things if you dont mind a little complexity. However, its painfully obvious from the article that the author doesnt have a clue how Hero Academy actually plays. A majority of league games end with crystal destruction, and he thinks that crystal is a non-factor.

That's true, but it doesn't change his basic point that HA is a game of slowly accumulating incremental advantages.

Of course, different people will have different ideas about whether they like that.

[DaviddesJ]

Originally Posted by sapphire_neo

We see what we want to see

I'll sign off from the thread by leaving this info:

* Summoner Wars will have 8 unique Factions available at launch (as opposed to HA's 4 right now)
* Each Faction will have Reinforcements as well (additional cards/units that you can use to modify each Faction)
* There is also a Mercenary Pack which has cards/units that can be added to any Faction while following the deck building rules
* There are 8 additional unique Factions (for a total of 16), with Reinforcements, already existing for the physical game ready to be added as DLC each quarter
* The physical game will also receive an expansion where each Faction will have a new Summoner, greatly increasing the depth to each Faction and the game
* The game will also provide an option to buy all packs available at launch in a single bundle for discerning fans

Content is king

There's a lot of "stuff" here, which could easily support the conclusion that SW offers a "deeper experience", for someone who wants to play around with a lot more different options, but that's a whole lot different from saying it's a deeper game. I'm sure many people find Magic: the Gathering a deeper and more involving experience than Chess, even though one would certainly say that from a strategic point of view Chess is the deeper game.

[ArtNJ]

Originally Posted by DaviddesJ

That's true, but it doesn't change his basic point that HA is a game of slowly accumulating incremental advantages.

Of course, different people will have different ideas about whether they like that.

Well, it often is. One of the new maps (barbed crystal) which you probably havent played around with much is currently a brutal crystal rushing map. There is strategy to it, but with a slight error or a bad deck, its over fast. They might up the health on it to make it more balanced. They fixed the single crystal map, which is now a pretty slow map, the lowest % of crystal kills. The other maps are all pretty balanced now.

What he really seems to be talking about is when you get into an AOE trap. You take so much AOE damage that you need to heal and cant deal with the attacker, and he AOEs you again. That can indeed be frustrating, and sometimes devastating, but its rarely what the game is about.

[Wizard_Mike]

Edit: nvm.

There's no option to delete posts?

[incineratee]

Im playing this game for a week now and there is an achievement about submitting 5 turns but i cant seem to get that. Is there a bug for the achievement or anybody else get that ?

[Drakeer Melkhor]

I really like this game, Playdek did it again!

I only have 3 little complains:

- No real multiplayer competition: leagues, ranks, ELO... whatever.
- Press dice to continue... I really hate it!
- Summo...Wars

The game is a bargain at this price, seriously.

[Slacker]

Got the update. New map looks awesome. Looking forward to the new team tomorrow.

[Triscuitable]

Originally Posted by Slacker

Got the update. New map looks awesome. Looking forward to the new team tomorrow.

You mean next week.

[Triscuitable]

Scratch that. Lads and ladies, the Steam launch is on, and the TF2 team is really fun! It's not really overpowered (I'm just really good), but it is very easy to get the hang of; especially if you play TF2 already.

Sound weird? Well each unit does what they do in the FPS.

The Scout runs. Also costs no AP to play, so he's something of a "free unit". I drop a scout whenever I have one.

The Soldier has heavy damage and knockback. He's simple in the PC game, and he's just as simple in Hero Academy.

The Pyro attacks horizontally or vertically in a 2x1 path, allowing them to attack two heroes, or a hero finding cover behind a gem or an ally.

The Demoman fires grenades that deal splash damage to surrounding tiles. If he hits a gem, it takes a harder hit.

The Heavy Weapons Guy has a gun. He shoots things. If he shoots lots (three attacks), then he deals extra damage (his super move is triggered without a scroll). His gun does AOE damage at a distance, and heavy damage at close range.

The Engineer builds things. In HA, he upgrades ally's weapons, serving as a replacement for the sword item.

The Medic heals and revives allies. In addition to this, he can "tag" allies with his medigun to let them use their super attacks without a scroll.

The Sniper can shoot any enemy that is in the same row as him, and his first shot each turn is a critical (comically called "Aimbot").

The Spy is probably the neatest unit of all. He can backstab for 600 damage, and cannot be hit by projectiles. This simple trait makes him one of the most lethal units you can have, since pairing him with a medic makes him a risky target. Kill the medic to kill the spy, and risk a backstab? Or kill the spy and risk the spy being rezzed, or the medic killing you?

As I've mentioned, the Engineer and Medic have skills that replace items. This is because all nine classes from TF2 are on the team, so Robot removed the buff items (sword, shield, helmet, and scroll) from the team. The team still has the unique items of Jarate (the sniper's pee, which debuffs an enemy unit to allow for a really powerful follow-up attack), and the Sandvich, which allows a unit to move forward two more squares, and heals 400HP.

The team is free with the PC version of Hero Academy, which costs $5 and includes the Council and TF2 teams, as well as 18 TF2 avatars, and the Council Sampler and Super avatar packs. Equipping the "Variety" TF2 avatars puts hats on your TF2 units in-game as well, as a neat little easter egg.