 What's up everybody, I'm the Mangus, you are awesome and today I'm going to be talking about Ethereal, a third person MOBA from Undying Games. Specifically I want to talk about Ethereal's map structure and why I think it's the next logical step in the evolution of the MOBA genre. But I'll also talk a bit about the future of the game, address some common complaints people have, including an issue I've had from the start, and rehash some general knowledge about Ethereal. If you don't already know, Ethereal's map called Oblivion features the standard three lanes extending from a central core that most other MOBAs have. However, instead of running side by side, the lanes are stacked on top of each other. Top lane is literally on top of mid lane, which is on top of bottom lane. On the surface, this seems like no more than a gimmick, but when you add in the other features promised by Undying, you see that this tiered map structure will change the way you play MOBAs and offer something refreshingly different to a stagnating genre. As new and exciting as the map structure is, it's really just the next step for MOBAs. For a long time, MOBAs all followed the standard isometric top-down view of the game. These isometric top-downs are fun, but there's only so much you could do with this basically two-dimensional format. SMITE came along and shook things up by creating the third person MOBA. This allowed you to control your character without having to click around on the map to move. This was a huge step forward because it allowed for the use of a controller which in turn opened up the console market. However, SMITE is still somewhat two-dimensional. You can only fire along a flat plane, and while the lanes look different from your perspective, it's still the same basic entry points and walls that all MOBAs have. Enter Paragon. Paragon took what SMITE had done and evolved a step further by introducing true three-dimensional control and map geometry. Along with the inclusion of the Z-axis came multiple ways of entering a lane. Not only could you go around a wall, you could go over it, wait, atop it, or even come from below the lane. It's one of the many things that made Paragon great. Ethereum will take this concept even further by stacking the lanes on top of each other. Now not only do you have to worry about enemies coming over rocks or out of riverbeds, but you also need to be aware of rotations from lanes that are above you, below you, or both. This will be more than a gimmick. It will shape the way you draft, play, and win. While the lane structure is arguably the most significant evolution, it's not the only innovation coming to Ethereum. Also, shaking things up and making you keep your head on a swivel are these Sky Slayers, an entry-level class that can fly and take advantage of an airborne jungle. They will also have Berserkers that can smash parts of the environment. Think you're safe hugging that rock? Nope. The Assassin class called Reapers will have the passive ability to wallwalk, adding another layer of strategy to ganking. When you combine all of this with a vertically tiered lanes, you get one hell of a change to MOBAs in general. Now let's talk about some of the criticisms about the game. First and foremost is the art style. This mainly pertains to the early art direction of the game. As you can see, Malaya has undergone many changes since she was first introduced. While they still don't go for the same amount of realism the Paragon had, they have certainly gone with a more realistic approach than originally planned. This leads to the second criticism about the game. It's taking a long time to make. In fact, the first tentative date for the alpha was all the way back in November. We do need to remember, though, that Undying is creating Ethereum from scratch. They don't have the character assets to work with like Omega and Metabuff do with their games. Also, the reason the alpha date has been pushed back is due to the critiques provided by the fanbase. The original map had the tiered map structure, but the lanes themselves were fairly flat like Smite's map. Undying listened to the community and introduced more verticality to the lanes. The same with the myth models. People didn't like the anime appearance of the original models, so Undying went back to the drawing board to improve and meet the demands of the public. All of this takes time and extends the potential alpha release. I've had several meetings with representatives of Undying. Most of them were directly with or included Owen, one of the founders of Undying. Owen is an absolute perfectionist and refuses to release the game until everything lives up to his expectations. While there has never been a set in stone date for the release of the game, the expected release has been pushed back a few times now, but I assure you that there is good reason for it and will benefit from it in the end. Now the issue I've had since first hearing of Aetherial, Undying plans to make the main mode of the game 6v6. I don't see any issue with this gameplay wise, in fact I think it'll make for a fun meta. The problems I foresee is matchmaking and queue times. Queue times for many traditional 5v5 mobas are already long enough. Adding two more people into the mix will either extend those times further or cause a wider range of skill levels to be selected during matchmaking. I never like to bring up a problem unless I can also provide a possible solution. However, I don't really see how to get around this. The only possible solution I can think of is to have a robust player base. It's kind of on us to make sure there's enough people playing to always have short, well matched queues. Now for some basic information about the game starting with the alpha. As I said before, there is no set in stone date for the alpha release of the game. They are constantly working and making improvements based on community feedback. We do know that they plan to have 2000 available slots when the alpha does release. We also know that the keys will be available for purchase with an expected but not promised cost of around $20. I think that's perfectly reasonable and shows that they have confidence in their product and plans to keep the game sustainable. This isn't to say that the final game will cost money. It may be free to play, I don't know, but to access the alpha you will need to pay. Even though I'll probably get a free creator key because, you know, I'm the motherfucking man goose, I still plan to send some money that they're away one way or another even if I have to physically mail some bills to them. Now let's talk myths. They plan to have 14 heroes available for the alpha. These include, and bear with me as I murder these names, Iran, Grognarch, Zero, Leia, Malaya, Exile, Malware, Dante, Noxus, Chief Achaika, Nikolai, Marina, sorry this is the only image I have for Marina, Asheron, and Talos. This lineup is subject to change, but at least we know we'll have a nice pool of myths to start up with. This includes all the classes with the exception of the Overseer class. Undying has kept this mysterious class under wraps and they do not foresee any myths from that class being ready in time for alpha launch. Now the big question most people have is, will it be on PS4? Undying has indicated that they would like to include the game on the PlayStation Network, however they acknowledge that they have a long way to go before that goal will be feasible. As such they have not applied for a PlayStation dev kit yet, and will instead focus on creating a playable, sustainable game on PC before beginning work on a console port. So they do have plans and have expressed interest in bringing the game to a variety of platforms, however it's going to be PC only for a while. I cover many games on my channel that are thought of as Paragon Successors, but Undying's attention to detail, innovation, art style, and willingness to adapt to the needs of the community has cemented ethereal as the one I'm personally looking forward to the most. If you guys want to learn more about the project, feel free to visit their Discord, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube channel linked in the video description below. I hope I was able to answer any questions and provide a somewhat comprehensive source of information about the game, but there's nothing like going straight to the source. For now, this is the Mangoos signing off, you guys have a good one.