About

Paladins: Champions of the Realm, often referred to simply as Paladins, is a free-to-play multiplayer first-person shooter video game created by Hi-Rez Studios, in which players assume the role of a variety of classes to complete team objectives. Although the game still in open beta, it has already gained a significant following online, with many comparing it to the Blizzard Entertainment multiplayer shooter Overwatch.

History

On September 23rd, 2015, the first trailer for Paladins was uploaded to the game's official YouTube channel (shown below, left). On October 29th, the HiRezStew Twitter feed announced a closed beta test would launch on November 17th. On September 16th, 2016, the game entered its open beta test period on Steam (shown below, right).^[1]

Gameplay

Paladins pitches two 5 man teams against each other in a variety of game modes to accomplish certain objectives. Game modes include:

• Siege: The most popular mode, both teams must fight to capture a control point in the center of the map that would spawn a payload for the successful team to push to the enemy base. Points are rewarded for capturing a point, succeeding a push, or succeeding a defense. The team that reaches 4 points wins the match, however the final point cannot be won by a successful defense. This game mode is the only game mode used in their competitive ranked mode.
• Deathmatch: A simple gamemode were two teams fight to get a fixed number of kills within the allotted time. The first team to 40 kills wins.
• Onslaught: A newly added game mode, both teams must eliminate each other and earn tickets to win the match. 5 tickets are reward per kill and one point a second is earned for a team for controlling the center point. The first team to 400 Tickets wins.

The game features a card deck loadout system that allows pre-designed loadouts that provide augments and stat changes unique to each champion, allowing players to fine tune a champion to their own preferred playstyles or to best adapt to a matchup. An in-game item shop is also featured in Paladins in the same manner as Moba's, allowing players to spend the points earned during a match as currency to purchase a variety of perks that provide stat benefits that can be further upgraded.

Champions

Paladins currently features 25 champions in their roster that are split up into four class types: Front Liners, Supports, Damage Dealers, and Flankers. Some champions in the roster include:

• Fernando: A Spaniard knight who wields an energy shield to protect his allies, a flame throwing lance, and can provide immortality to himself and nearby allies for a short duration.
• Ying: A spellcaster who uses her illusory mirror to summon illusions of herself that can heal allies, or can be fractured to go towards enemies and detonate for large burst damage.
• Viktor: A lone soldier armed with an assault rifle, frag grenades, and a pair of binoculars to call down an artillery barrage on enemies.
• Evie: An ice witch who can teleport or soar around the map on her mechanical broomstick, shoot powerful ice blasts, and summon a blizzard to cripple her enemies.
• Bomb King: A majestic robotic king who can throw sticky bombs that can stick onto enemies, as well as bombs that can stun or propel himself or enemies into the air, or transform into a king bomb that rolls into his enemies and explodes for massive damage and stun.
• Skye: An assassin who can turn stealth and surprise her enemies with her wrist mounted weapon that shoots crystal needles, poison darts, or she can throw time bomb that detonates for massive area damage.
• Makoa: An Ancient sea turtle that wields a cannon and an anchor to catch and reel in enemies who dare try and challenge his ancient powers.
• Mal'Damba: A Snake charming Shaman who can heal his allies with the aid of his spirits and medicines, or can use them to bring dread and suffering to his enemies.

Online Presence

On August 3rd, 2015, the Paladins Wiki was launched on Gamepedia.^[3] In June, the @PaladinsGame^[5] Twitter feed was launched, garnering more than 290,000 followers over the next two years. On December 19th, 2016, a Paladins Facebook^[4] page was created. As of April 2017, the /r/Paladins^[2] subreddit has accumulated upwards of 32,200 subscribers.

Reception

Paladins remains are one of the top free to play games on steam since its open beta release, being underneath Valves Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2. On March 14th, 2017, Paladins was also launched into closed beta for console players on Both the Xbox One and Playstation 4 marketplace. On May 3rd 2017, paladins went open beta on both console platforms, further expanding the games audience to over 8.5 million players.

Paladins Strike Mobile Game beta and Launch

On August 24, 2017, The Paladins youtube channel uploaded a video (shown below) to reveal a mobile version of the game for Android and iOS devices which was in closed alpha and beta. This mobile version of the game plays more to a traditional MOBA gameplay featuring a game mode which two teams fight to control 3 points on the map to summon a juggernaut creep to push the enemies tower and destroy it in order to win. The game. On May 2, 2018, Paladins youtube page announced that the mobile game launching out of beta. (shown bottom right)

Similarity to Overwatch

On September 17th, 2016, YouTuber Videogamedunkley released a video about Paladins, which mocked many of the similarities it holds with the Blizzard Entertainment multiplayer shooter Overwatch (shown below)

Since the release of the video, Paladins and Hi-Rez Studios have been accused of copying Overwatch by many online, leading many YouTubers to create other videos commenting on the game's similarities.

In September 21, 2016, Co-founder & COO of Hi-Rez Studios Todd Harris made a response to the allegations in the Official Paladins Reddit going over the history of Paladins development before and after Overwatch. The thread post caused further discussion and debates as it was covered by online media sites such as IGN, The Know., and Youtube as more Youtubers upload their own responses to the Reddit post.

Paladins Launches out of Beta

On march 8 2018, paladins was launched after a year and a half long open beta after it's announcement on march 1 by Paladins Executive Producer HirRezChris. On may 8, the Paladins official youtube page uploaded an official launch trailer (bottom left) and a video (bottom right) of Various paladins developers at Hi-Rez studios looking back and sharing their thoughts and experiences throughout the games development. In addition to Paladins launching, all players were rewarded an exclusive player portrait and 200 Crystals as a thank you for participating in the Beta.

External References