Bloodline Champions
Encyclopedia
Bloodline Champions is an arena-based free to play PvP game developed by the Swedish company Stunlock Studios and distributed by Funcom
using Microsoft XNA
. Bloodline Champions won both "Game of the Year" and "Winner XNA" in the Swedish Game Awards
2009. The game officially launched in the United States on January 13, 2011.
The players in this game are split up into two teams (Warm and Cold) with up to five players per team. The objective is different depending on the game mode, ranging from team deathmatch and capture-the-flag to map point control.
There are four categories of bloodlines (character archetypes): melee attack, ranged attack, healer, and tank. There are currently 22 bloodlines, with five in each category, except for melee attack which has six. Stunlock Studios have announced that they are working on a new bloodline. Each bloodline has seven abilities, two of which have an EX version, an enhanced version of the ability. Each has its own cooldown, as well as triggering short global cooldowns. The seventh ability is an "ultimate" ability that may only be used after gaining sufficient energy through executing other abilities successfully, such as healing allies, damaging enemies, and otherwise helping your team.
Champions also have HP (Health Points) - when the champion runs out of HP, the champion dies, removing it from combat until the end of the round. Each champion also has two items that grant additional abilities. The Bloodline Medallion allows a champion to recover an increasing amount of HP over a period of time and Resurrect revives nearby fallen teammates. Both items require a significant amount of uninterrupted time to prepare, which makes them impractical in immediate combat. In Conquest and Capture The Artifact modes resurrection skill has been replaced with warp skill that allows you to warp a short distance every 20 seconds.
The controls in Bloodline Champions are similar to a first-person shooter
, as the bloodline's movement is controlled using the W, A, S, and D keys. The primary two abilities are mapped to the left and right mouse buttons, and the rest of the abilities are used with the Q, E, R, F, and space keys. Almost all the abilities are aimed, where the direction of the ability is determined by the position of the cursor on the screen relative to the champion's position. There are two different camera modes; Free Look and Static. The static camera stays over the characters head at all times regardless of the location of the players cursor. The Free Look camera allows the player to control their camera with the cursor. A few defensive abilities are directed by hovering the cursor on the desired recipient, and some abilities target a specific location on the playing field.
Bloodline Champions also features fog of war which represents the areas of the map which cannot be seen due to visual obstruction or distance. There are obstacles on the map which create fog of war and inhibit movement. Champions have their own collision, which can be used to inhibit movement and protect allies (for example a tank bloodline will have a larger collision size, making it easier to defend teammates by blocking fire, but also being more susceptible to focus fire).
Gluttons focus on dismantling a single enemy with their madness mechanic and heal themselves by eating.
Thorns use plant-based abilities to immobilize enemies and heal themselves.
Inhibitors use damage amplification and incapacitating effects to disrupt the enemy.
Vanguards reflect enemy spells and have a variety of disabling abilities.
Guardians have modest healing and damage that is based on the current health of the target.
Igniters use fire magic to deal sustained damage over time.
Engineers employ various technological devices to shrink, enlarge, slow, incinerate, and incapacitate.
Seekers are archers who infuse elemental attacks into their arrows and specialize in direct damage.
Gunners are stealthy sharpshooters who can deal massive damage from afar with their arsenal of ammunition but are fragile when focused.
Nomads throw boomerangs that can pierce and stun enemies or totally remove them from battle.
Ranid Assassins use stealth and poison attacks to quickly bring down lone enemies.
Harbingers employ dark magic to amplify their damage and leech health from their targets.
Raveners specialize in avoiding damage and punishing enemies who waste their escape opportunities.
Stalkers are highly-mobile and use several abilities that greatly amplify their damage against single targets.
Spear Masters specialize in dismantling ranged bloodlines with very high mobility and damage avoidance.
Reavers are the fearsome masters of melee combat, employing an oversized sword together with intoxicated martial arts that enables them to stay within melee range and control the fight in his favor provided he plays his cards right.
Astronomers have powerful melee attacks, a very powerful petrification spell, and modest defense.
Psychopomps are more offensive healers which utilize spiritual energy to disrupt and control the battlefield, removing allies from harm or increasing damage done to opponents.
Alchemists can use poison to deal significant damage over time, but many of their abilities prevent enemies from dealing damage.
Blood Priests lose health when they heal allies, but they can greatly disrupt the enemy team with fear, possession, and blinding insect swarms.
Heralds of Insight are immobile and almost exclusively defensive, but they can indirectly crush enemy teams with reflective shields and massive damage amplification.
Grimrogs are melee/healer hybrids capable of protecting their allies with both blessings and healing wards while at the same time posing a huge threat to enemy champions with the use of crippling curses and frenzied melee attacks.
There are also Champion and Titan editions which can be bought for 29.99 USD/Euro and 89.99 USD/Euro, respectively. Each purchasable edition of the game offer different perks: The Champion edition unlock 16 bloodlines. The Titan edition also offer additional perks, these are listed below:
The Titan Edition also includes 20 outfits (one for each Bloodline) and a 10% discount when using Funcom Points in the Store.
As of right now, Bloodline Champions has a small player base. As of April 23, 2011, the playerbase peaks at 3,000 simultaneous players online. Funcom has indicated plans for larger advertising campaigns to attract more players.
At release Bloodline Champions announced their participation in DreamHack
Summer a LAN tournament with BLC having a $10,000 US prize pool. This helped contribute to the games initial success as a competitive arena game. Since release BLC has had multiple cash prize tournaments hosted by DreamHack and GLHF.gg for a total of $11,600 prize money as of July 11, 2011.
Funcom
Funcom Productions A/S is a Norwegian video game developer specializing in online games. It is best known for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game titles Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, and its The Longest Journey series of adventure games...
using Microsoft XNA
Microsoft XNA
Microsoft XNA is a set of tools with a managed runtime environment provided by Microsoft that facilitates video game development and management. XNA attempts to free game developers from writing "repetitive boilerplate code" and to bring different aspects of game production into a single system...
. Bloodline Champions won both "Game of the Year" and "Winner XNA" in the Swedish Game Awards
Swedish Game Awards
Swedish Game Awards is Sweden's largest video game development competition. It has been held annually since 2002 and is organized by the student-driven, non-profit entrepreneurship association at the Royal Institute of Technology, Excitera. The competition's audience is students at Swedish...
2009. The game officially launched in the United States on January 13, 2011.
The players in this game are split up into two teams (Warm and Cold) with up to five players per team. The objective is different depending on the game mode, ranging from team deathmatch and capture-the-flag to map point control.
Gameplay
Main features:- 100% skill based game play, no random elements. You can see the match statistics to see exactly what skills were used and what damage it did
- Team-based arena-style player vs. player (PvP) gameplay
- Three different game modes: Arena (known as team deathmatch in other games), Capture The Artifact (aka Capture The Flag) and Conquest (map control point game mode)
- Solo and Team Matchmaking, supporting 2v2 and 3v3 brackets
- Also supports game creating and joining, using a "lobby" system
- Rounds are fast-paced, last 2 minutes in matchmaking games and they are best of 5 to determine the overall winner and undetermined amount on custom games
- Purely skill-based: there is no targeting, no random damage and no "critical" hits; every ability requires aiming
- Instead of using mana as in other similar games, Bloodline Champions uses cooldowns which have to be managed effectively
- Top-down view of the arena, mouse and keyboard controls, VOIP chat, Observer view when dead or observing
There are four categories of bloodlines (character archetypes): melee attack, ranged attack, healer, and tank. There are currently 22 bloodlines, with five in each category, except for melee attack which has six. Stunlock Studios have announced that they are working on a new bloodline. Each bloodline has seven abilities, two of which have an EX version, an enhanced version of the ability. Each has its own cooldown, as well as triggering short global cooldowns. The seventh ability is an "ultimate" ability that may only be used after gaining sufficient energy through executing other abilities successfully, such as healing allies, damaging enemies, and otherwise helping your team.
Champions also have HP (Health Points) - when the champion runs out of HP, the champion dies, removing it from combat until the end of the round. Each champion also has two items that grant additional abilities. The Bloodline Medallion allows a champion to recover an increasing amount of HP over a period of time and Resurrect revives nearby fallen teammates. Both items require a significant amount of uninterrupted time to prepare, which makes them impractical in immediate combat. In Conquest and Capture The Artifact modes resurrection skill has been replaced with warp skill that allows you to warp a short distance every 20 seconds.
The controls in Bloodline Champions are similar to a first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
, as the bloodline's movement is controlled using the W, A, S, and D keys. The primary two abilities are mapped to the left and right mouse buttons, and the rest of the abilities are used with the Q, E, R, F, and space keys. Almost all the abilities are aimed, where the direction of the ability is determined by the position of the cursor on the screen relative to the champion's position. There are two different camera modes; Free Look and Static. The static camera stays over the characters head at all times regardless of the location of the players cursor. The Free Look camera allows the player to control their camera with the cursor. A few defensive abilities are directed by hovering the cursor on the desired recipient, and some abilities target a specific location on the playing field.
Bloodline Champions also features fog of war which represents the areas of the map which cannot be seen due to visual obstruction or distance. There are obstacles on the map which create fog of war and inhibit movement. Champions have their own collision, which can be used to inhibit movement and protect allies (for example a tank bloodline will have a larger collision size, making it easier to defend teammates by blocking fire, but also being more susceptible to focus fire).
Bloodlines
Bloodline Champions has 22 bloodlines split into 4 archetypes: tank, ranged damage, melee damage, and healer.Tank
Tanks are close-quarters fighters and specialize in defense and peeling—removing pressure from allies by putting equal pressure on enemies.Gluttons focus on dismantling a single enemy with their madness mechanic and heal themselves by eating.
Thorns use plant-based abilities to immobilize enemies and heal themselves.
Inhibitors use damage amplification and incapacitating effects to disrupt the enemy.
Vanguards reflect enemy spells and have a variety of disabling abilities.
Guardians have modest healing and damage that is based on the current health of the target.
Ranged Damage
Ranged damage have very low health and deal high damage from a safe distance. They generally have many ways to escape melee combat but are taken down quickly if out-maneuvered.Igniters use fire magic to deal sustained damage over time.
Engineers employ various technological devices to shrink, enlarge, slow, incinerate, and incapacitate.
Seekers are archers who infuse elemental attacks into their arrows and specialize in direct damage.
Gunners are stealthy sharpshooters who can deal massive damage from afar with their arsenal of ammunition but are fragile when focused.
Nomads throw boomerangs that can pierce and stun enemies or totally remove them from battle.
Melee Damage
These bloodlines generally deal the most damage but must be in close range and have slightly higher health than ranged damage bloodlines. They tend to have very limited ways to control fights aside from their high damage output.Ranid Assassins use stealth and poison attacks to quickly bring down lone enemies.
Harbingers employ dark magic to amplify their damage and leech health from their targets.
Raveners specialize in avoiding damage and punishing enemies who waste their escape opportunities.
Stalkers are highly-mobile and use several abilities that greatly amplify their damage against single targets.
Spear Masters specialize in dismantling ranged bloodlines with very high mobility and damage avoidance.
Reavers are the fearsome masters of melee combat, employing an oversized sword together with intoxicated martial arts that enables them to stay within melee range and control the fight in his favor provided he plays his cards right.
Healer
Healers mix defensive control abilities with respectable damage, but have very limited mobility and low health.Astronomers have powerful melee attacks, a very powerful petrification spell, and modest defense.
Psychopomps are more offensive healers which utilize spiritual energy to disrupt and control the battlefield, removing allies from harm or increasing damage done to opponents.
Alchemists can use poison to deal significant damage over time, but many of their abilities prevent enemies from dealing damage.
Blood Priests lose health when they heal allies, but they can greatly disrupt the enemy team with fear, possession, and blinding insect swarms.
Heralds of Insight are immobile and almost exclusively defensive, but they can indirectly crush enemy teams with reflective shields and massive damage amplification.
Grimrogs are melee/healer hybrids capable of protecting their allies with both blessings and healing wards while at the same time posing a huge threat to enemy champions with the use of crippling curses and frenzied melee attacks.
Game modes
Bloodline Champions has several game modes that provide different types of gameplay. The central game mode is Arena, as it is the only one available through matchmaking.Arena
The teams are placed on opposite sides of an arena, and the last team standing wins the round. Each player has only one life per round, but in case of death your team mates still have a chance to resurrect you. The first team to win a fixed number of rounds wins the match.Capture the Artifact
The objective is to capture both artifacts and bring them back to your own base. Each team begins with one artifact in their base, and the first team to hold both artifacts for a period of time wins the round. The artifacts can be carried and thrown, but lifting one from its starting position takes time and can be interrupted by attacks. The carrier may drop the artifact by using certain abilities as well as receiving attacks by specific enemy abilities. When dropped, the artifact can be instantly picked up after it has sat for a short delay.Conquest
In Conquest, the players have an infinite amount of respawns but the delay before respawning can increase with time. The teams battle for a number of capture points, and if one team holds all of them, the other team cannot respawn until they capture one of the capture points. To capture a point, the player must stay at that point for a period of time without taking damage or using abilities. The starting point provides a healing aura to the team that started there, and power rune pickups are distributed across the map, allowing champions to temporarily boost their capabilities. A team wins by either killing all the enemy champions while they cannot respawn, or holding the capture points for a set amount of time.Pricing details
Bloodline Champions is Free-to-Play (F2P). A player can download the game and play for free. Bloodlines rotate every week, so there are always four available Bloodlines, one of each archetype. Players earn Blood Coins and spend them on additional Bloodlines, titles, avatars and other visual perks. None of the purchasable items give an edge in gameplay since there are no weapons with higher damage, for example, but they create more variety and choices in gameplay and appearance. Players can also choose to buy Funcom Points by using real money. Funcom Points serve the same purpose as Blood Coins, but they are bought using real currency instead of earned through in-game accomplishments. All marketplace items cost significantly less Funcom Points than Blood Coins.There are also Champion and Titan editions which can be bought for 29.99 USD/Euro and 89.99 USD/Euro, respectively. Each purchasable edition of the game offer different perks: The Champion edition unlock 16 bloodlines. The Titan edition also offer additional perks, these are listed below:
| Feature Comparison | Free | Champions Edition | Titan Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited Playtime | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Four Free Rotating Bloodlines | Yes | Yes | No (unlocked) |
| Access to Tournaments | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Access to Stats Tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| In-Game VoIP | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Earn Bloodcoins | Yes (capped) | Yes | Yes |
| 16 Bloodlines | No | Yes | Yes |
| 4 Bloodlust BloodlinesThe Bloodlust Bloodlines are: Guardian, Blood Priest, Seeker and Stalker. | No | No | Yes |
| Ad Free VoIP | No | No | Yes |
| Extras | |||
| Access to Medium & Hard bots | No | Yes | Yes |
| 10% Discount in store (Funcom Points) | No | No | Yes |
| 10% Extra Bloodcoin Gain | No | No | Yes |
| Free Access to All Future Bloodlines | No | No | Yes |
| Special Chat Icon | No | Yes(Champion Icon) | Yes(Titan Icon) |
| Team SlotsAdditional team slots can be bought using both Funcom Points or Blood Coins, but are capped at 8. | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Avatars | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Titles | 1 | 4 | 5 |
The Titan Edition also includes 20 outfits (one for each Bloodline) and a 10% discount when using Funcom Points in the Store.
Reception
Strategy Informer gave BLC a score of 85% in their review, while PC Gamer gave 75%. Servers are located in Europe and USA; at this time there are no servers in Australia, South America, Africa, or Asia, but there is no area restriction whatsoever, so players in these regions are also able to play.As of right now, Bloodline Champions has a small player base. As of April 23, 2011, the playerbase peaks at 3,000 simultaneous players online. Funcom has indicated plans for larger advertising campaigns to attract more players.
At release Bloodline Champions announced their participation in DreamHack
DreamHack
DreamHack is a digital festival, a local area network gathering with demo competitions, gaming competitions and more. It's arranged twice annually at the Elmia exhibition centre in Jönköping, Sweden and also twice a year at Expolaris Congresscenter, Skellefteå, Sweden and holds the world record ...
Summer a LAN tournament with BLC having a $10,000 US prize pool. This helped contribute to the games initial success as a competitive arena game. Since release BLC has had multiple cash prize tournaments hosted by DreamHack and GLHF.gg for a total of $11,600 prize money as of July 11, 2011.