Dropzone

I so wanted to believe in this game I shelled out $30 DLC to help out the dev team. This game had potential but ended up just another boring and unoriginal moba. I managed to get into the top 40 briefly. Then the cheesy grind was just too much. So I uninstalled.

A great idea, I love it...but lack of a player base made it pretty irellevant in no time at all and now it seems the devs have jumped ship. They promised they'd be launching at some point and doing a new marketing campaign to drive up players but it's been months since any word came out and I think it's safe to say this isn't going anywhere.


Edit: It seems they received the contract to develop Elderscrolls Legend's for Bethesda and presumably as a result have entirely abandoned Dropzone, it's been months since they said anything on this front and it seems like they've taken the money and gone on to other content.

Definitely good. The devs are committed and there is a good size community already with events and tournaments.

You can join their discord nation and chat with the devs, submit bugs and feedback, etc..

This comes from someone who has little experience with MOBAs, is terrible at RTSes, and is still very, very new to this.

I really like it!

What I've enjoyed about Dropzone so far is its commitment to bringing more RTS into the MOBA genre. Managing a small team of 3 rigs (heroes) at once, and as the sole player for your side, the pace of a match becomes far more reliant on your ability to micro and macro-manage on the fly. I love this idea in concept, even if in practice I'm really poor at it!

Yet that's the compelling part to Dropzone. Where I'd quit a normal RTS for being far too overwhelming, this strikes a kind of positive-frustration in my brain. I feel like if I just play a match every other night, I get a little better. Not like, MLG Pro status, but better than I was a week ago.

While I can't comment too much on the lineup (still working on the first 3 people I picked), I do like that individual characters only seem to influence ults. Other abilities are based on that character's class, and are interchangable with a wide array of class-specific unlockables. This means you can taylor a team to your liking and, even if you have the same characters as your opponent, may still end up playing differently from each other.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who likes competitive games, moreso to those who are deeply familiar with either RTSes or MOBAs. And bonus, I've seen that it's going free to play soon! If you're unsure, you could always wait until 4/12 to give it a shot!

I'm personally a big fan of micro-managing, so this game is right up my alley. If you don't like micro-managing though, there's a mode to play a normal 3v3 where everyone controls one character, just like with another MOBA.

The "customize your characters" part of the game is pretty lackluster. Every class currently has 3 pilots each, and each pilot can pick between a set of skills for their class; 2 different tank pilots can pick between the same active abilities, but a mechanic can't pick the same active abilities as a tank.

4/5 for an Early Access - I am looking forward to when this game becomes F2P, increasing the playerbase and level of competition.

If you are a League, DOTA, any top down MOBA player, who rages at their team because they are shit, and you wish you could play your role, and their role, then you will enjoy this game. Because that is essentially what it is.

Gameplay footage can be found here

Great match showing high level play. Anxiety is top 10, Zuck3r I believe is top 20.

Game currently has a "replay" feature, allowing you to watch live and played games by other players.
Game allows you to play AI/test rigs whilst matchmaking.
In game leaderboard.

My experience

I have put 29 hours into this game so far, and still going strong. I personally love this game, and it has scratched the RTS itch I have been stuck with for sometime now. It combines my two favourite genre's and creates a replayable competitive experience.
The playerbase is currently quite small, but I do not have any issues getting a game (EU) during peak hours.



What is this game?

Simply, it's a top down moba, with RTS elements. You control 3 rigs (all with abilities you choose and unique passive/"ultimate" ability.
You try and put 3 Rigs together, that will give you the best synergy and then you farm nests for core, and dunk them in the middle, whilst putting pressure on your opponent to slow them down. There are also 3 "optional" objectives that give you points, if you are the first to complete them.
I.e capture all vision points.


I would like to note, this is a multiplayer, competitive game. This does not contain a campaign mode.

Games are either:

1v1 or 2v2.

There is an infestation mode, which is basically survival mode. Survive against waves of enemies.

Is it complex?

To begin with, the game offers you a lot of options.
You have up to 4 classes:

Mechanic (Support)
Gunner (DPS)
Tank
Summoner (Utility)

Each class has 3 rigs with a unique ultimate and passive ability.
Each class also has a "bank" of abilities and passives, which you can fit to any rig within that class. Just to make it clear, you can run 2 mechanics and they can be outfitted exactly the same, only difference being their ultimate and main passive abilities.

The game feels overwhelming in the first couple of hours, but after a few rounds (15 minutes each) and a good read through the different abilities, you very quickly learn what works and what doesn't.


Does the game have strategic depth?

The Gameplay itself has depth, specifically around your decisions in game.

It's very Micro intensive.

Setting up your "Rigs" or "Squad" however is lacking a bit of depth. There is a very clear meta at high level play at the moment, but the developers will be adding more gear/abilities and a new class over the course of the Early Access, along with balance changes so I do expect this to change.

Played the tutorial.. took less then an hour. spent 10-15mins alone looking at one pilot, and the different abilities you can switch out. your q, e and w attacks can be swaped out with different abilities, each has multiple peices of gear to switch out, q for instance is the weapon, youll get 5-6 attacks, one could be level one, or you can go up to level five, meaning youll have to upgrade that one pilot 5 times in a match to use that ability

You could choose level 5 for everything if you wanted...6-things 3 abilities, 3 passives, plus one r (ultimite) power that couldnt be switched out making this the only thing that seemed to make the pilots different from each other..other then there name and avatar skin, and there mech/ship design.

From my guess all 3 summoners for example could all have the same moves, but their (r) power/ult is different. They all have a default set-up. but you can choose the others and swap..plus you get rewarded / or can also buy loot crates to unlock other abilities... but they put the pilots name under the default ability, with a copy of that ability for the other pilots,(minus said pilots name.)...but they are the samething...maybe if iam one pilot choosing another pilots default there should be a nerf/making that pilot more different other then their (r) power/ult...I NEED TO CLARIFY if there are any other abilities that are pilot specific...SOMEONE PLEASE INFORM ME(no other pilot can get)

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THE GAME IS GOING TO BE FREE TO PLAY, but the players will start with fewer pilots, and items, then those that pay to get into early access, having to unlock as you go..there is a micro-transaction, you can use real money to buy loot crates, if you want everything now and in the future plus bonus items that wont be released after early access you are gunna need to buy the COMMANDERs edition, which sounds nice to me..but i feel the game wont last long if loot crates can be purchased with real money..got to add in other crates that have different mech/ship skins in game, add in some sweet avatar skins that everyone sees before matches..pilot voice taunts, emotes, victory chants, respawn animations, kill animations, there lots to do that doesnt affect the ability/skill of players...

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You can also from what i seen? can also unlock the blueprints for specific pilots by leveling them up..or just buy the commander edition and get everything plus the future stuff...PLUS BONUS ITEMS THAT WONT BE RELEASED thro any other way, which i think i seen IS TIME LIMITED to the early access. had fun like the concept...seems like a good challange, and great TWIST TO MOBAs/RTS but other pilots shouldnt get to choose the other pilots deafult abilites, and if they do there should be a nerf / the pilots default should get a buff, or bonus passive...something..otherwise its almost all the same.

Amazing game, Fast paced, customizable with interesting units/mechanics/combos. All it really needs is a bigger community right now.

dec´2017 edit:
they put the game on f2p already, even before its official release, caused by the shrinking playerbase. thats the big issue here these days. zero matches occur in matchmaking, and even the live replays are from months ago (..august etc). so its dead.

but as they said they plan to promote it with release better. I rly hope the players will return, cause its my favorite rts game, and Im not even a fan of rts/moba games.

also some changes were made with 2on2 and 3on3 modes. you now not play 3 rigs for each player ( means 6 or more overall ), instead u can choose to control 1 or 2 rigs in a 3on3 or play with 1 righ in a 2on2. sounds cool and should be fun.

another class was added , the sniper that can fly and shoot from far distances (skillshots) but is hell squishy.

and the pve thing (campaign) was improved. you now unlock masteries and levels by completing missions / tasks.

overall its a very nice game, if it would have more players.

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In this moba/rts mixture you have the control over three pilots, each of them has their personal rig (mechwarrior) with unique skills based upon their class.
At the moment there are four different classes (tanks, summoners, mechanics, gunners) and one more is coming soon. Each class has different pilots with their own rigs that differ visually from one another. Classes differ in shape, pilots/rigs in color and textures and changing gearparts will make them look different aswell. So visually its very well made and interesting to watch.

You play in a 15 minutes timeframe in 1vs1 and 2vs2 modes. each player has 3 rigs so in a 2v2 its gonna be 6 vs 6 rigs.
Maps ain't got no lanes. All you gotta do is farming hives and the monsters that spawn out of them (pretty much similar to zergs from starcraft) and collect cores that will appear when they're destroyed. These cores need to be uploaded in the center of the map by both sides, so here's where the combat is happening most of the time. Fighting and interrupting each other during uploads.
Each game has three more options to collect points. Besides 1 core out of a hive gives you 1 point, you can take control over all 4 vision points, kill 100 kavash (the units that spawn out of hives) as first, kill 9 alpha kavash or 3 bosses. So there's a lot to control and a lot to think about when it comes to strategy and gameplay.

Each map has 2 bosses, each of them is on top and bottom of the map that wil grant the player a damage buff by killing it for a short time. Every time you destroy a hive, the next time it will be spawning as a tier 2 hive and 3 and so on. then it comes to the alpha kavash spawn that are minibosses coming out of hives, so it gets difficult with every minute of the game.

The similarity to league of legends or heroes of the storm is noticable, especially with the levelsystem. By killing hives you gain experience and level up. everytime y ou level up you can decide which pilot gets to the next level, so depending on the abilities/gearparts you chose before the match that are reliable on a specific level you have to think about which one to level up first or what level u need on which pilot to be efficient enough to win the game.
So its not about leveling up your abilities to make them stronger, you unlock your abilities by gaining the level it needs to use them, and then they're scaling in dps most of the time.

There's already a leaderboard up in this game with hidden points. So the more u win you raise in your personal rank. Ranked queue is currently still in working progress, which will be the new matchmaking. Until then you have to use "quick play".

A third mode is "infestation" where you defend the center of a map against spawning kavash that are coming at you. So get together with 3 friends or fill up with some AI bots and kill.
More gamemodes are in developement.



Positive:
+ No 45ish minutes to spend in a single match like it is in league of legends
+ no need to carry in a team since its 1v1 with 3 mechwarriors / Rigs at a time
+ a huge variety of gear, classes and pilots/rigs where everything but the passives are visually recognizeable
+ a lot of different setups to tryout and currently nothings really that OP, matches are very close if each player got skill

Negative:
- the fact that you got to control 3 pilots at once will make the learning curve very long
- sometimes you have to wait a few more minutes before finding an opponent which could be the same over and over again (solution: switch regions between north america, europe and oceania in options / takes about 5seconds)
- losing in this game can be very frustrating


So this game costs 20€ and will be free to play after early access. I'd say its absolutely worth it and maybe think about getting the commander edition that gives you all pilots and gearparts that exist and will ever be released. Because ingame you level up your pilots to unlock abilities and receive coins to purchase new pilots in an ingame shop.

Easy to learn, hard to master. Great combat, design, art, and gameplay! It's definitely buggy but it's in Early Access so that's understandable. The game is stable and only has a few technical issues that halt the experience or freeze the game temporarily. Updates are released very frequently so any issue you run into will most likely be fixed in the near future. Definitely recommended!

Very fun multiplayer strategy game, if you like League of Legends then your gonna love this, its much easier to wrap your head around but is still very strategic, customizing your rigs (The things you control) is so fun and in-depth, all in all it's a great game!

After playing a lot of Starcraft 2 and then switching to Dota, I am having a lot of fun with this game. It's fast, micro-intensive and feels like it has a lot of potential. I am having a lot of fun trying out the different rigs and all the different skills and playstyles that come with it.
I am not having any trouble with matchmaking, and always find games (1v1) very fast. The game looks great and feels very polished already. I am also liking the music and the voice acting a lot.
Definitely one of the better Early Access games I have played so far. I am looking forward to all the new content from a developer team that seems very involved with the community.

Now I love this game. I have played the Closed Beta and when I heard it was coming to Steam, I was estactic. What Im not happy about is the fact that I can't even get the dang game to launch. I have tried uninstalling it and reinstalling it. Nothing. I tried removing Steam altogether and playing it, nothing. I had this issues before and could probably play it like every once in a month or so. I like this game a lot but Im giving it a thumbs down until this issue is sorted.

EDIT on 2/23/2017 - The game works now! The changing of the JSON file worked. If there was a MVD (Most Valuable Developers) Award, I would give it to these guys. Never have I seen such devotion to helping me get this game to work on my computer. Thanks again you guys! I appreciate the time and effort you put in to helping me! God Bless You all!

Time to tear up some Rigs!

A sleak and gorgeous RTS that is everything I've ever wanted out of th genre. Intense matches, awesome heroes pair with uniquely designed mechs, all with rad and diverse abilites. With the types of content the developers intend to add I could see this game eating up a lot of your time.

I really like Dropzone a lot. I haven't played many MOBAs before but I have played lots of RTS. This is a nice hybrid of the two. It's a little slower paced than a pure MOBA, which I like cuz it gives more time for deeper strategy. Also I love that there is a 1 V 1 option. Playing MOBAs with randoms equals yuck for me. I love all the different pilots and loadouts you can chose from. Also it's great to be able to play a quick game.

I've been a massive fan of RTS for years now, starting back in the day with SC Broodwar and later SC II. In recent times I have also jumped onto the moba band wagon and have played many hours of League as well as Heros. I do love mobas for their simplicity and focus on multiplayer strategy and skill but do find myself sometimes wishing there was more to it than controlling one hero in a team. When I heard of the concept of Dropzone I was very intrigued because it promises the fast pace no fuss multiplayer battle elements of a moba but the more intricate micro and map positioning elements of an RTS without the need to worry about macro elements of an rts. So far I have been loving this and finding the battles very fun and varied with already a good amount of mechs and lots of potential for weapon and build variations as well as map strategies! I definitely recommend this to anyone who loves RTS and moba games.

I like it, its hard, like controlling three champs in league at once. 20 dollars id say is a fair price one thing id like to see is for custom matches to actually have some customization cant really do much but add a bot. more game modes would be cool be cool if you had a 1 mech mode pvp.
see i know i suck at rts games or really just dont have the patience to get good at them so i dont know if me sucking at controlling all three mechs is just cuz i suck at rts games but i think the game would be alot better if you could do 3v3 while controlling 1 mech same game mechanics just let me control one.

Upon launching the game, I was met with a sick CGI intro. I was already impressed. Compared to most Early Access games, it is well worth the purchase. $20 is a very fair price for this game. It is one of the few Early Access games that actually feels complete --which is surprising since it has only been in beta for like 6 months (I think I read somewhere).

The game provides a very well designed tutorial with plenty of time to read the skills/abilities and learn as you go along. There is a clear, scaffolded progression between the units and their capabilities.

The premise of the game is simple: you play a 15 minute game to score the most points. Winning, on the other hand can be quite difficult. The objectives seem pretty clear and the map is not too big, so there are plenty of opportunties for players to contest objectives. I could definitely see this game getting competitive real quick. (Also, the 15 minute timer is so appealing. I know exactly how much time my game will take, so I don't have to adjust my schedule according to how the game is going.)

The keyboard controls are also very intuitive and logical. If you have ever played a MOBA or RTS in the past, you will pick the game up very quickly. As a player new to this genre of games, the controls are pretty clear so the only REAL struggle might be controlling multiple units at a time.

However, this struggle seems to be what makes Dropzone such a promising game. As I played the game, I realized that within the first few minutes past the tutorial, I was already beginning to form strategies. (I would have one unit scout out and distract my enemies for the most part, while the other two collect points.) With a team of three customizable "rigs" (units) at your disposal, it gives you a lot of control over the map. And by customizable, I mean that you can choose what rigs you want on your team and what skills they should have, etc. This, I think, is super cool because it allows for theorycrafting and rewards innovative players to come up with new strategies and pioneer the meta of the game.

There can be simultaneous fights occuring at different parts of the map. I was going crazy at first, and I noticed at times that I would forget a unit lingering at some distant part of the map for a while. I assume that more experienced players would always have units that are active and contributing to the overall victory of the match. My advice to new players: always make sure your rigs are doing something.

I am going to play some more and update my finds on this game~

Oh boy. This is one of those special little hidden gems of a game you don't find too often now on steam. This is a game that combines some of my favorite genres of RTS/MOBA/ and even deep layers of squad building and customization, into a competitive battle arena. In short, if you you liked any one of those genres, and especially if you like more than one of them, make sure to get this game ASAP. You will not be disappointed. Below I will post some Pro's, Con's, and neutral points in a tl;dr fashion that are more highlights than a complete list, and I will follow it with more indepth descriptions below.

Pro's:
-A competitive RTS style game that feels like the high points of a good game of starcraft or Company of heroes
-A competitive MOBA that has captures the highlights of the genre such as forming a balanced team, capturing a map objective, and a little bit of farming
-Squad customization! I have spent almost as much time crafting different teams as I have playing the actual game. There are tons of different setups and combinations that it is a crafters paradise. It brings me back to building mechs in mechwarrior 4
-Pve Co-op modes for those that would rather do swarm missions than compete against other players
Con's
-Some of the MOBA like abilities are not quite so flashy as a person coming right from league or DOTA might expect. I wish a few of them had a bit more style to them as a few are slightly boring to look at, or might not give you enough visual feedback to whats going on.
-The maps might need a bit more push to more aggressive. the maps are a bit large for 1v1 games and its easy enough to say on your side of the map and farm without pushing into the other side. This could change as I get more experience but I would like to see more neutral hives over friendly territory ones.
Neutral
-Some MOBA abilities have a bit of a long cooldown. around 30 seconds to a minute. Now for clarity you will be using 3 different characters at once so you will be using more abilities than normal in a moba, but for some newer players coming from league or HOTS, this might seem like a bit of a negative or turn off, but if you effectively switch between the 3 characters then you will have more than enough to keep you busy
-Some of the character models for classes look a bit goofy. I personally love the weird unique designs, but if someone is only into serious models this might be a bit of a turn off. Again, I find they're quite endearing, but they stray pretty far from the edgelord type designs you might see in another mech game.
-No all chat in matches. I might be in the minority, but I quite enjoy the salt and toxic comments that come with these types of games. Personally, I feel that more toxic moments come from your own team, than really from the enemy so I find the choice of muting all chat in a 1v1 or 2v2 game perplexing and unappealing. I understand that they are doing this to keep the community cleaner, but like I said, more scummy things are from your own team most of the time, so this is a change I would like.

Gameplay

(For clarity, I have only really been involved into 1v1 games and not too many Co-op or 2v2 games, so I will update this review with more information when I get more experience.)

Pre-game stuff

You begin the game by creating a 3 man squad. You can choose any combination of the 4 classes (soon to be 5) of tank, Gunner, Engineer(support), and Summoner(obscure, but think of a caster in Starcraft, or a specialist in Heroes of the storm and you get a good idea). You then follow that up with picking a pilot which affects their ultimate ability, and what kind of passives they can get, along with a unique passive. A good idea of this latter part would be to compare two gunner pilots. One might be a more traditional ranged dps that has better defensive passives, such as a line of sight bonus tree, and a speed bonus for either running away or chasing down enemies and a long ranged high damage ult. compare this with another gunner pilot that has bonuses for offense and defense that focuses more on getting in on the enemy and playing more of a brawler type ranged dps with passives in an offense tree for damage, passives in the defense tree to be resistant to damage, and an ult that lets her dash in and stun enemies. On top this choice, there are about 10 different weapon types, body types, and utility items that are all different per class. This can be like giving a tank flamethrowers to deal aoe close ranged damage, with a body that leaves oil behind to slow enemies, to that same tank having giant fist type pounders for melee damage and a body that lets it jump around the map. As you can see, there is quite a lot of variance.

Another part of the squad building that I quite like is that there are more types of classes than there are number of spots on a squad. That means you will not be able to have a completely balanced team and choices will have to be made, such as leaving out a healer for a dps, but compensating for that loss by putting HP regen on your units. It is quite a unique design choice that will keep matches from feeling samey, and gives each squad their own unique feeling in how they operate.

Post Game

So now that you've made a squad and are about to face your first enemy, you might wonder how does the actual game play out, and so I'll explain. You start with all your units at level 1 on your side of the map, mirriored to your enemy. Around the map you'll see hives, which are basically NPC spawner camps. By killing these, you gain both global experience to level up your units, and they will drop cores. Cores are what you will be fighting over in this game. In the middle of the map there will be a drop zone for the cores which by delevering them there is how you score points and ultimately win the match. The problem is, when you try to upload a core, the enemy can hear that occuring, and your units wont be able to act while it is uploading, and if your unit dies, it will drop the core it was holding. You can see where this goes, but things can get quite visceral. You will need to simultaniously farm camps for cores and experience, while defending against the enemy and making sure that they cant upload their cores.

This might sound simple, but if you thought a team fight was difficult in a MOBA, try doing it while controlling 3 different characters, possibly all at different points on the map. It scratches that oh so rare feeling of a good match of starcraft where you're constantly shifting your viewpoint, all while being a fun moba. It is quite brilliant.

Final Thoughts
This is a truely a unique gem of a game that captures the reasons why RTS/MOBA games are so fun, and boils it down to how you want to play. It will go F2P when it is released and god, do I hope it is popular. It is fresh and appealing, with a unique design that I haven't seen anywhere else. It is worth $20 right now even if it goes f2p, and hell I would most likely pay three times that amount for this game with the same content. When the current generation of games all feel like copies of other games, or bland attempts to please everyone, this game truely stands tall in its uniqueness. Yes I recommend this game, and I think that if even a tiny bit of this review peaked your interest, then you should give this game a chance.

Listen, I'm an RTS gamer, through and through. Total Annihilation was my game way back when (and now of course Spring and Supreme Commander, etc.) So don't get me wrong, this game isn't, per se, an RTS, but rather a hybrid MOBA with RTS elements. Now, I've always liked the *idea* of a MOBA - all the excitement and micromanagement of an RTS, without the scattered focus, complexity, and resource management. Just for a change, you know? But every time I've tried one, it's been awful. Tons of grinding or $$$ required to compete, irrational last hitting nonsense, weird social games with your teammates, blah blah blah. So I'd written them off entirely. But this game? This game is THE MOBAish RTSish for RTS gamers (and probably for MOBA fans too, but I wouldn't know). It's got:

- Cool characters (and quite diverse to boot! You go developers!) who are all fun to play
- Contol three characters at once, so you still get that map-controlling element and the multitasking
- No computer-controlled critters on your team to herd (but tons of neutral ones!)
- Properly sized map for the characters (you can tell this game was made by RTS nuts)
- Enough abilities/synergy to lend a very good strategic complexity (I'm coming for you, flamethrower cheesers!)
- Fast games (exactly 15 minutes) that are super-tense and don't drag.
- In-battle research tree that's just the right size for the game length.
- Pretty cool out-of-battle upgrade/leveling system that, fingers crossed, so far seems fair and not aimed at huge $$$ spends.

So if you like RTSes, but always wanted to give MOBAs a shot, you can't, in my opinion, do any better than Dropzone. Great game so far!

I went ahead an purchased the game was looking forward to playing it. There was an error upon loading the game to which the Developers was very fast at replying and found the solution to the problem. All is fixed and I look forward to testing out the game and all its cool features.