For Arena of Valor has announced a Battle Royale mode. The MOBA in the style of League of Legends from Tencent is a huge hit in China, but also popular in the West. It can be played on smartphone or tablet.
Battle Royale will work differently in Arena of Valor than in other games.
Battle Royale in Arena of Valor: Here, 100 players will fight to kill a big boss monster at the end of a round. In the meantime, they will be busy killing each other until the monster appears. It will be a race for the monster kill.
Battle Royale in shooters like Fortnite or PUBG: In these games, we are used to 100 players jumping onto an island with a parachute. After that, they search for weapons, items, and armor. The players fight against each other until only one remains at the end.
There is a huge desert map with a deadly sandstorm
Although Arena of Valor differs from most Battle Royale games, there are also mechanics that are quite typical.
The first known details about the Battle Royale mode:
- Up to 100 players are possible
- The map is a desert with small towns scattered everywhere
- At the beginning of the round, players spawn in random locations
- The map is supposed to be about 150 times larger than the usual MOBA map
- A deadly sandstorm sweeps across the map and reduces the radius
- It can be played solo or in a group of two to five players
- Treasures are scattered across the map that provide advantages
- Typical of MOBA, there are AI enemies on the map that give experience points.
First critics say: No Battle Royale feeling emerges
Already after the announcement, the first critical voices spread.
MOBAs are team-based: Battle arena games like LoL, Dota, and Arena of Valor are based on teamwork. In these games, it is not about coming out as the big and only winner. A team must harmonize and cooperate, because …
… MOBAs have skill-based heroes, who are coordinated with each other. Each champ has its strengths and weaknesses. In Battle Royale, usually everyone starts with a generic character and nothing. This provides equality of opportunity and brings excitement, because one must quickly find good loot.
There are hardly any champions in MOBAs that work solo “one-on-one” and are balanced. Thus, a meta quickly emerges with only certain heroes.
There is no release date for the Battle Royale mode in Arena of Valor yet. However, Tencent has already shown an initial playable demo.
In Paladins: Battlegrounds, it did not quite work out with the skill-based heroes, and the Battle Royale mode was revamped. Will Tencent succeed better?
