Epic has launched the Early Access version of their third person MOBA Paragon today.
Gamers who purchase any of the Founder’s Packs can now jump into the action to find out if this can take on the big MOBAs. For the past moth or so the game has been in alpha testing and players who took part that will find all progress has been wiped when they login today.
Players are now required to state their MOBA experience prior to taking part with real players. Novices are now ushered into test matches against bots to learn the basics.
“As a result of the fresh player wipe, players need to select their MOBA experience prior to starting a game. Selecting anything other than “Veteran” will result in playing several bot matches before being able to play in a PvP game. If you’ve played quite a bit and feel confident playing PvP matches up to level 5 using nothing but Starter Decks, pick Veteran to do so. Otherwise picking a lower option will let you access PvP matches once you’ve played a certain number of bot matches and are closer to unlocking the ability to make your own deck.”
Having played Paragon for a few weeks now, and the fact that I am not brilliant at MOBAs, this change should ensure that matches with players are a little more balanced that we have seen during the testing.
Anyone wanting to take part in this stage of Paragon testing can do so via the Founder’s Packs which cost $19.99, and include access to the game, skins, boosts, and other cosmetic items you can unlock by playing. Challenger Packs ($59.99) and Master Packs ($99.99) include skins, unlockable items, boosts, a unique skin, and a Founder’s Pack to give to a friend.
A few players managed to get in by accident yesterday which was Epic’s mistake but the game is now live for everyone.
Below are a few details Paragon players should be aware of and watch this video below to learn the basics.
Recommended spec:
- Nvidia GTX 660 or AMD Radeon HD 7870 equivalent DX11 GPU
- 2 GByte VRAM
- Core i5 2.8 Ghz
- 8 GByte RAM
- Windows 7/8/10 64-bit
Minimum spec:
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 or AMD Radeon HD 6870 equivalent DX11 GPU
- 1 GByte VRAM
- Core i5 2.5 Ghz
- 4 GByte RAM
- Windows 7/8/10 64-bit
Paragon Early Access updates
Player Account and Hero Account Progression Features
- Hero Master challenges can be initiated through the “Hero” page on the Profile tab.
- Earn levels and unlock skins by playing specific Heroes and following the Master Challenge.
- Purchasing a Master Challenge will unlock the rewards that you’ve earned (you can progress up to level 10).
- Feng Mao, Grux and Kallari are unlocked at Level 7.
- Deck Builder must be unlocked at Level 5.
- Custom Deck Slots can be unlocked by leveling your account, through Daily Rewards, unlocked with Reputation/Time currency and Coins/real money currency. Players playing today and tomorrow will start with 10 Custom Deck slots. It will default to 5 starting on Wednesday.
- Daily rewards can now be earned by winning one match each day.
- Founder’s Packs are now available in the store. Check out Founders Pack details here.
UPDATE: Twinblast received a fix to his ultimate ability (Barrage) which corrected an issue causing the ability to deal twice the damage intended.
GENERAL CHANGES
- Improved the 3D resolution slider in the Video settings screen to indicate the automatically determined “sweet spot” for your specific machine.
- Added display of Hero passive abilities in the abilities tab of the inspect Hero screen.
- Death Recap Panel: Added support for displaying direct damage in white (direct damage such as tower strikes ignore armor).
- Updated the Core Alarm sound to be less frequent when in a critical state.
AI
- Fixed bots getting stuck on harvesters.
- Fixed bots occasionally getting stuck just outside of navmesh (usually close to ledges).
- Fixed Bots wasting movement abilities while going after minions.
- Updated bot targeting when targeting cores.
REPLAY
- Greatly increased quality of replay playback.
- Clicking the minimap while viewing a replay will now correctly teleport the camera to that location.
CARDS
- Added 30 new Uncommon Equipment cards to the card list. These cards are now available via the Booster Packs.
- Default Prime Helix cards will no longer be included in Card Packs.
- Fixed an issue with some Uncommon cards being marked as Common.
ALL HEROES
- Added FX to hero select screen animations.
KALLARI
Adjusted base camera to avoid character penetration when looking straight up.
MURDOCK
- Reduced damage reduction from Shielding Shot from 50% to (10%, 12%, 14%)
- Hot Pursuit passive ability reworked to no longer grant a stacking move speed bonus. Now grants base move speed.
- Increased cooldown of Shielding Shot from (13s, 12s, 11s) to (15s, 14s, 13s).
SPARROW
- Reduced card scaling of Draw A Bead ability.
- Dead Eye passive ability now capped at 5 stacks.
- Removed damage bonus from middle arrow during Inner Fire ultimate ability.
- Invigorate ability has been reworked to now grant increased attack speed for her next 3 arrows.
STEEL
- No longer can confirm Steel’s Charge ability while in the air.
TWINBLAST
- Reduced effectiveness of Nitro ability.
- “On a Roll” passive ability has been changed to increase attack speed. No longer grants bonus damage on marked targets.
BUG FIXES
- Fixed a bug that forced Parties to break when entering matchmaking.
- Fixed an issue that prevented selecting some specific resolution scales.
- Fixed an issue with the Surrender HUD which affected surrender when rejoining a match.
- Corrected issue where Howitzer’s projectile was spawning before muzzle flash.
- Corrected misdirected material which could leave Feng Mao and Steel with default materials in decals.
- Fix crash that occasionally occurs when kicking a party member.
- Fix display names being run through profanity filter when the account does not require it.
- Fixed a rare crash if player quits out of the game while logging in.
- Fixed an issue with Muriel’s Reversal of Fortune causing her to go underneath the world.
