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Search Results for: guardians of the middle-earth

Middle-earth gets more Guardians; you get avatar gear, life-size Gandalf

By  •  November 28, 2012

It’s getting pretty crowded on the Guardians of Middle-earth roster. Over the last few months, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions have released a steady stream of information regarding the characters you can expect to employ when Guardians of Middle-earth lands on Xbox Live Arcade next Wednesday, December 5. This week is no different, as we’re introduced to two new guardians who’ll lend their abilities to the team-based arena battler.

Haldir, the dexterous and deadly elven striker, uses his speed and ranged prowess to lay down punishing fire. In a pinch, Haldir can teleport to a desired location, stunning enemies with his next shot before finishing them off with devastating special attacks from a distance. Lugbol, on the other hand, uses his summoned wolves to soak up damage and taunt his enemies. The undead goblin, possessed by an evil entity, then utilizes his dark mastery of fire and lightning to visit utter destruction on his victims. See both guardians in action in the Battle Profile video below.

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More MOBA know-how from Guardians of Middle-earth

By  •  November 22, 2012

Thanks to Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions and their ongoing efforts of to get your MOBA skills up to snuff, the fourth video in their MOBA Mastery guide is available for your dissection. The video series, aimed at exploring the genre in broad strokes and progressively finer detail in preparation for the December 5 launch of Guardians of Middle-earth, continues to peel away another layer of strategy this week. Like an unending, informative, Tolkienian onion.

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Bringing a MOBA game to XBLA: Guardians of Middle-earth detailed

By  •  November 15, 2012

XBLAFans was able to sit in on a conference call last week with Guardians of Middle-earth Producer Bob Roberts and Senior Producer Ruth Pomandl. They shared intricate details about the game’s development process, what it was like to balance a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game for the console space and some details about how various systems will work in the game.

Players new to the MOBA genre should consider checking out Monolith’s own video tutorial series explaining it. The basic idea, though, is that players choose one of a number of heroes (five of them are unlocked initially, and the others are unlocked via in-game currency), and fight on a team of five champions against a team of five other champions. While each champion has unique talents and attributes, there are five basic character archetypes. These include:

  • Enchanters –- low maximum health and low physical damage, but they output lots of ability damage and withstand ability damage better than other classes.
  • Defenders –- high survivability but low damage.
  • Warriors –- the most balanced class and the most versatile as a result. They take a fair amount of damage and deal a fair amount in return.
  • Strikers –- the physical damage equivalent of Enchanters, meaning lots of damage but very low survivability.
  • Tacticians –- slightly more survivability than average but focus on AOE disruption and controlling the flow of movement across a lane.

In most PC MOBA games, players shop at an item store for items to upgrade their characters as the game progresses. Guardians mixes things up by introducing a less UI-intensive series of systems that should help make the console experience go more smoothly. Players can set loadouts similar to League of Legends rune and mastery systems  before a game begins, except that the loadout options in Guardians are even more extensive. There are three loadout systems in place for players to manage and utilize throughout a game — Potions, Commands and Guardian Belts.

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Guardians of Middle-earth profiles more characters; MOBA Mastery continues

By  •  November 12, 2012

The Guardians of Middle-earth promotional train keeps on rolling as Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions reveal two new characters en route to a December 5 release. Guardians of Middle-earth is a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) title that pits legendary characters from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey against each other in team-based combat. The newest additions to the already hefty roster include Thrain, the exiled Dwarven warrior, and Gothmog, the master strategist.

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Guardians of Middle-earth journey to XBLA December 5

By  •  November 10, 2012

Upcoming Lord of the Rings themed MOBA, Guardians of Middle-earth, finally got firm release date for XBLA this week when Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions announced that …
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“MOBA Mastery” aims to get you ready for Guardians of Middle-earth

By  •  November 6, 2012

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions have released the second installment of their video series designed to get you into fighting shape for Guardians of Middle-earth. Dubbed “MOBA Mastery,” the series takes a look at the multiplayer online battle arena genre, from a basic overview on match structure and map layout, to the progressively more complex elements of play.

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Guardians of Middle-earth character reveal: Ori and Agandaûr

By  •  November 2, 2012

Two more heroes were recently revealed for the upcoming Guardians of Middle-earth.

This time around, the new hero fighting on the side of good is Ori, dwarven scholar and brother to Nori and Dori, giving him a tie to the upcoming Hobbit film. As an Enchanter, Ori functions in the role of a mage, and looks designed to deal out lots of damage utilizing combinations of magical spells. One of his abilities, “As it is Written,” marks enemies, making followup spells deal even more damage. He looks to be a fun combo-based mage.

Agandaûr, Sauron’s lieutenant, fights on the side of Mordor in a similar role, despite his knight-like appearance. Agandaûr’s Overcharge ability powers up the remaining skills at his disposal, making his Shockwave a formidable strike. It is worth noting is that Agandaûr possesses a teleport — usually extremely powerful in MOBA games, since the teleport can be used for both offense and defense. He will be a hero to watch once the game releases in December. Check out the video below for the full rundown on each champion:

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Character reveals for Guardians of Middle-earth

By  •  October 30, 2012
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Monolith and Warner Bros. recently released a bunch of new information on Guardians of Middle-earth, an upcoming multiplayer online battle-arena game for XBLA. The game is set to release in December, which will also see the release of the highly anticipated film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, marking Peter Jackson’s return to the fantasy world of J.R.R. Tolkien.

First, two new characters were revealed, one from the forces of good and the other from Mordor. The first of these new characters is Eowyn, shieldbearer of Rohan. Her skill set should position her well to be a supportive hero capable of standing in the front lines during engagements, helping make the Defender class an active participant in combat. She focuses on healing and shielding others, with her ability to stun nearby enemies if they approach keeping her safe while she provides support for champions more focused on dishing out damage.

Dishing out the damage is the specialty of the other hero just revealed, Mozgog the orc. A Warrior designed to go toe-to-toe with others in melee range, Mozgog’s abilities increase his damage and mobility, sometimes at the expense of his health. Mozgog’s ultimate ability included a fear effect, nicely referencing the emotional effect the orcs had in the films. The above video highlights both of these new heroes in a bit more detail — for those readers new to the genre, Monolith has released a series of introductory clips discussed after the jump.

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Two new Guardians of Middle-earth characters revealed

By  •  October 11, 2012

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has unveiled two new playable characters for its upcoming Lord of the Rings: Guardians of Middle-earth. Beregond and Felgrom have been announced in the latest …
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Guardians of Middle-earth details reveal price and DLC support but no XBLA release date

By  •  October 8, 2012

A slew of Guardians of Middle-earth information was released today, confirming pricing details, DLC support models and box art. Unfortunately, that information didn’t include a release date for the Xbox …
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