When Hi-Rez Studios first revealed its upcoming online shooter Paladins, people immediately started comparing it to Overwatch and the slew of MOBAs on the market today. Paladins definitely seems to derive many of its core ideas from MOBAs, with team-based objectives and iconic characters with abilities that unlock and improve over the course of a match. The main difference is that players in Paladins put together decks of power-up cards that unlock throughout each match rather than just levelling up their character’s core abilities.
In a new interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, developers revealed that the original design of the game was actually more like Team Fortress 2 or Global Agenda, with relatively few character classes but plenty of customisation via the card system. Feedback from testers has since shown that gamers much prefer a MOBA-style system with a larger number of characters that each has its own iconic identity and fills a particular role and gameplay style.
Developers now plan to limit the amount of customisation that’s possible using the card system so that each character’s playstyle is more consistent and predictable and wacky builds are less feasible. “The element of understanding the enemy and their capabilities is important to flag up here,” CEO Erez Goren told RPS, later adding that “People don’t seem to appreciate the variation on a character as much as they do having a new character that does things that particular way.” Paladins is currently in closed beta and is scheduled for release at some point during this year.
