As an avid MOBA player I've tried just about every MOBA game I can get my hands on, literally I don't think there is a MOBA current in beta I haven't played. But honestly, the majority of them just aren't fun, the controls and gameplay just don't feel tactile, Dawngate is different.
When I first heard that Dawngate was being developed by a small EA team my initial thoughts were "Oh great they're going to milk it", but much to my surprise one of the developers of the small passion project passed me a beta key so I could try it and then tell him what I thought, so I did. The game is a ton of fun to play, it plays much the same as other MOBA games, but the four gold shrines on the map bring back a bit more of Warcraft and add another objective to the map.
What it always comes down to for me is the attitude of the developer towards the game and its community, and I'm happy to report that Waystone games are very passionate about this. The developers do a livestream on TwitchTV (which was an instant success) and give away beta keys en mass to viewers. They even hired an ex-League of Legends pro-player to help them with game balance.
The Free Agent: Episode 10 - PAX Prime Edition
The Free Agent returns from PAX Prime with his top 3 F2P picks from the show floor
Some Honorable Mentions
For the record, it wasn't an easy decision to come up with my top3 most anticipated free-to-play games at PAX Prime this year. There were plenty of games that caught my eye and they'll almost certainly be featured on an episode of the Free Agent at some point.
From Ubisoft, there's the Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, a light hearted game who's genre I can't quiet pin point. Not only do I love the idea of building a castle full of death traps to invite my friends over to, I'm also excited to break into their own pathetic castles and steal all their stuff. GG noobs.
While I've learned I'm terrible at piloting a tank, I think I'll fare better hopping into the cockpit of a World War 2 fighter plane in Wargaming.net's upcoming World of Warplanes. As a standalone game I was impressed with the game play and the general excitement of dog fighting in the skies over Europe with fellow PAX goers. Add to that the potential for future cross overs between all of Wargaming's titles and you have a free-to-play cornucopia of awesome on land, sea and sky.
The last honorable mention goes to SMITE. Yes I'm aware that the Free Agent has already covered this 3rd person MOBA in Episode 2, but that was before I bumped into Hi-Rez COO Todd Harris who told me about the 10v10 map they are currently working on. Nothing about that sounds amazing... EXCEPT EVERYTHING! We might just have to do a repeat episode for that one.
I really could keep going on about all the exciting prospects I saw at PAX Prime this year, but suffice it to say, it should be a great year for free-to-play.
There is simply not enough time in the day to cover every free-to-play game out there, so if you have one that you're just dying to see on the Free Agent why not post in the comments below. Or maybe you were at PAX too and want to share your experiences, by all means, please do.
Also, follow me on twitter to find out what new free-to-play game the Free Agent will be covering in two weeks time, when we return to business as usual.
I hope you enjoyed this special PAX Edition of the Free Agent, and a special thanks to all the devs that took time out to chat with me.
See you next time on the Free Agent.
Robert "Caergan" Gray
Follow me on Twitter @Caergan