Publisher GameForge has announced that a new patch, version 2.7, is now available for Orcs Must Die! Unchained, which is currenlty in closed beta. The main gameplay mode of the game is a card-collecting MOBA using the mechanics of the original games, but the update adds some additional old-school Survival mode content including 50 challenges for the player to complete.
”the player faces wave after wave of enemies, rises in level and improves their traps. These traps can now be upgraded a total of three times with the aid of gathered crafting materials – at account levels 25, 50 and 75. This helps the equipment not only get stronger, but also gives them a further socket per increase which can then be filled with crafted materials, providing further bonuses and improvements.” said Robot Entertainment in a press release sent to GameWatcher. Three maps will be available for Survival Mode: ‘Crogon Keep’, ‘The Wall’ and ‘Frostbite’.
The update also addresses some gameplay changes for the main competitive mode as well. For starters, the 2.7 update addresses “turtles”. That is, players who stress defense. While Robot wants that strategy to be a valid one to adopt, ”our game was heavily rewarding playing very defensively for a long period of time.” While “turtling” was supposed to be balanced by the fact that the opposing team could farm at will, the late game made farming obsolete thanks to the cap on minion portals.
”To counter this, we are allowing overflow minion portal experience to continue upgrading minions. This rewards teams that continue to farm and apply pressure in the late game rather than falling back onto defense,” explained the developer.
Another major change introduced by the patch is that the hero roles are now gone. Instead, former hero roles are now selectable perks during hero selection, granting that hero’s stat bonuses. The reason for the elimination of hero roles is to allow more diverse gameplay. ”The old role system was causing us to make design decisions that pigeon-holed heroes into one kind of play. We feel we can make better heroes by focusing on coming up with a solid set of interesting abilities for a hero and not worrying about ensuring that a certain ability intended for a defensive hero is weak when used on offense.”
The full patch notes page can be found here. Gamers interested in checking out Orcs Must Die! Unchained can visit the official site here.
