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We were huge fans of the original Dungeon Defenders here at Fluffy Gaming, so when news reached us that Dungeon Defenders 2 is in the pipeline, complete with an all new MOBA style pvp mode, we were practically jumping for joy. The original Dungeon Defenders, from Trendy Entertainment, was an imaginative mix of Tower Defence and RPG loot gathering, tied together by fantastic cartoon visuals and a humorous story about kids protecting the castle while the grown up heroes are away saving the world. Players levelled up their heroes and gathered loot and pets, becoming more powerful and taking on bigger challenges. It was serious fun and we put in many hours of play as we geared up our heroes. The game was and still is supported by Trendy with updates and DLC, although the studio has said that this will slow down in the lead up to the release of the sequel.
Dungeon Defenders 2 is set to expand on the original game in a number of ways. There will be a 24 player over-world (we’re assuming this is just a grander replacement for the tavern), where players can gather and set up games. There will be 24 heroes available, with more being released later as purchasable DLC content. Not only this but Dungeon Defenders 2 will (in an arguably somewhat risky move) be free to play, meaning that players can pick up the game and start playing for free, with Trendy relying on the micro-transaction model, which has worked tremendously well for many games now, to make it’s money. This means that as new heroes and extra content are released players will be able to choose to buy those extras for a fee, but the game itself will be completely free.
Dungeon Defenders 2 is not just a sequel, though. Trendy have decided to develop an entire new mode of play into the sequel: a 5v5 competitive mode, based on the popular MOBA gameplay of titles like DOTA and League of Legends. This is somewhat unsurprising given the massive success and revenue generated by the e-sports driven MOBA machine, which literally has constant tournaments and hundreds of thousands of viewers watching streams around the clock. Trendy has stated that the MOBA pvp of Dungeon Defenders 2 will have some distinctive features that set it apart from all the other MOBA games out there currently, such as persistent character levels and loot, and other more RPG based elements. This seems to suggest that they are not necessarily making a big push for this game as a serious hardcore e-sport platform, and that the mode is simply there to provide a pvp environment inside an already great co-op game. Time will tell.
Like other MOBAs Dungeon Defenders 2 will have a free hero rotation, changing every week, with heroes able to be purchased by players. Items and loot acquired in the MOBA mode will be able to be used in the co-op mode.
Dungeon Defenders 2 is currently in a closed beta test of it’s pvp mode, which will be the first part of the game released (perhaps signifying that this will be the major component of this sequel). The co-op mode will release later. Players can sign up for beta access on the official website.