Chaos Online was first launched in Korea and China last year, before the Japan server was confirmed a few weeks back. The first English server is also in the works, and I will touch on that later. Chaos Online is developed by the Korean team which made the “Chaos” mod for Warcraft 3, hence the lookalike in terms of visuals.
The team went on to form Neoact as a studio, and Chaos Online is now co-published in Korea by Nexon and in Japan (Chaos Heroes Online) by SEGA. Not bad for a former mod team huh?
With that said, Chaos Online is not just a mere “Warcraft 3 mod”. Upon closer look, the graphics and visuals are certainly way better, especially when it comes to skill animations. Below are a few features of the game I have came across thus far in the China server, which I actually started playing last year. Do note that there may be differences for others regions’ clients as I am playing the China server.
1. There is no mass hero rotation here like League of Legends. Each day, players are given 3 free red points, and 1 red point will be used for each unowned heroes used. These red points cannot be accumulated as its cap is at 3. However, players can buy yellow points, which has the same use as red points. There are just a few free heroes, I am not sure if they are rotated weekly.
2. There are currently a few modes: 5 Vs 5, 5 Vs AI, 1 Vs 1, single-player mode (1 human 9 AI), tutorial and custom (room owner can customize number of AI and human players). The is supposedly a PvE mode and a Free-for-All Arena mode (locked picture), but the China server has yet to receive them.
3. Heroes can be upgraded via buying a special “stats package” from the cash shop. There are 3 types, Agility, Strength, and Intelligence. As you can see, heroes are divided into these 3 categories. The passive increments given are mild, but I expect some players to cry foul over this. It might be taken off for other regions’ version, so who know? There are hero skins as well, but not that many at the moment.
Update: Only 1 stats package, in the form of a card, can be attached to each hero at any time. There is no unlimited increment if players spend money.
4. Heroes are also divided into 2 factions, and I will be naming them simply as the Light and Dark. There are no repeating heroes from either faction, but a handful of the designs and skills animations will be familiar for Dota players.
5. Camps are located at the top left and bottom right, which is different from Dota, Dota 2 and League of Legends. The overall map is much bigger as well. There are 2 portals to ease travel at the top and bottom lanes, but each hero can only use the function twice in each game.
6. While there are wild mobs, there isn’t any big boss such as Roshan or Baron. These are converted into faction Guardians, a dragon for the Dark and Phoenix for the Light. They roam around in the respective camps and attack any invaders in sight.
7. The tower placement is different as well for the ones nearer to each camp. I wouldn’t go into details, but 1 of the towers right before the camp entrances are changed into mini-Guardians, and there are more towers guarding the final stronghold.
8. Heroes get up to level 25, and it is possible to add the points to the overall stats, just like Dota. However, features such as deny is not in the game. Heroes will get insanely powerful with abundance of gold at late game, so expect excess gold in the region of over 10,000.
9. Items can be bought from anywhere on the map, as long as there is enough gold (and empty slots). There is no storage feature here. Consumables are permanent in the slots at the bottom panel, meaning players can click them infinitely as long as there is gold and no cooldown. The 5 of them include some healing ones, as well as buffing ones.
10. There is no “B” to return to camp. Players will need to press Z and select a building in their camps to teleport to. During casting, players are invincible, so it is used as a good escape tool during ganks. However, the cooldown is pretty long as well.
Apologies if I missed out any stuff, but that is what I can remember for now. Like I mentioned earlier, the first English server is coming soon, and it will be hosted by Southeast Asia publisher, Asiasoft. For those of you who are still attached to Dota 1 and can’t get accustomed to the sequel or the more colorful League of Legends, Chaos Online will be the perfect fit.
