Some news for both the North American and EU communities currently enrolled in the Orcs Must Die! Unchained closed beta, there are some changes coming surrounding the times that the severs will be available for playing. Currently the OMDU servers have been available pretty much 24×7 except for patch days and scheduled maintenance. From November 10th (NA) / November 11th (EU) this will be changing and the servers will only be available during certain time windows.

For North America this means:

OMDU Closed Beta servers will only be available during specific times. This testing window will be between the hours of 6:00pm – 10pm Central (that’s 7pm – 11pm Eastern and 4pm – 8pm Pacific) on Thursday through Sunday. This means that when the servers go down on November 10, 2015, they will not return until November 12 at 6pm Central.

And in the EU:

The servers will be available 7pm – Midnight CET from Thursday through Sunday. So after the game goes down, the first time you will be able to play is on Thursday November 12th which we will open with the usual Thursday stream from FaTeReLLa

Why the change?

One of the challenges of having a closed beta test is that the pool of players is very small. This can make it tricky to matchmake for games (especially siege) as it can be difficult to find a group of players online at the same time in amongst a small player-base. By keeping the play-testing set to certain windows players will know when to log-in and should find it easier to matchmake.

There are other reasons for this change too as described on the OMDU website. Robot advise that they are looking to give testers more of a steer on what components the studio is most looking for feedback on at a given time and gather more specific feedback around that. According to the website:

• We want to test specific aspects of OMDU as we polish them. We will provide information in the dashboard about what you should be testing each weekend as we close in on those time periods.
• We want to gather your focused feedback. To help make that possible, we want to make getting matches more reliable. An added benefit to this change is that you will be able to matchmake with like-minded Orc slayers more easily.

So remember from next week OMDU will be transitioning into the above closed beta testing windows. See you in-game!

Have you been keeping an eye on the Orcs Must Die! Unchained Trello? The Trello is where Robot keeps us up-to date with what is coming up in future patches. We’re on 2.5 right now and the details for things we might expect in patch 2.6 are online and ready to view. The Trello board also allows players to up-vote things they most like to see.

One of the things most upvoted for patch 2.6 and is sure to please alot of people is that there is a new PvE only map on the horizon! Remembering that Orcs Must Die! Unchained us to be the “platform” of all OMD content going forward, its important to remember that Unchained is not just a PvP show, there is more content coming, especially for the PvE front and this new map is one example of working towards that.

Speaking of PvE also on the menu is a difficulty level selector for Endless will also be coming next patch along with random door openings and random waves should make things even more interesting. Environmental traps are also expected to make a return (remember the rolling log in OMD1?)

For the dashboard the new crafting and quest system is due to make an appearance along with the heroic dyes. A differential patcher is coming too which should make those with slower connections alot happier. 🙂

There is lots more coming so be sure to keep yourself in the know by keeping an eye on the Trello board. https://trello.com/b/MdjpvJn9/orcs-must-die-unchained-release-roadmap

New Website!

Also coming around the time if patch 2.6 will be a brand new website for orcsmustdie.com for North America. This was first previewed in Insider Access #46 when Justin (SixOkay) sat down with Robot’s new web designer Lionel Cornelius. For a reminder of that and what’s coming check out the VOD below.

The latest patch for Orcs Must Die! Unchained closed beta is now live in North America! Go forth and open your game client to begin downloading the latest patch. You can try out the new hero, Zoey the Apprentice, Radial Communications, sweet new post game screen and more!

Be sure to be in the know by checking out the patch notes.

EU News

Patch 2.5 isn’t quite ready yet, but it is expected to land very soon. Keep your eyes peeled on social media @OrcsMustDieEU on Twitter and Facebook.

The patch notes for the next Orcs Must Die! Unchained closed beta update are now available online. Titled “Chaos Theory” as a nod to Zoey, the chaotic Apprentice who makes her return in patch 2.5. Details about Zoey’s return have already been detailed so be sure to catch up on the redesign blog post.

As we venture into the spooky month of October Robot has revealed one of Zoey’s alternative Halloween themed skins:

In the usual Robot Entertainment style, these patch notes are quite considerable, so be sure to get comfortable before diving in! You can catch up on the full patch notes on the link below:

https://forums.orcsmustdie.com/discussion/4512/chaos-theory-patch-2-5-notes

One thing to note though, this patch will require another account wipe, as will all patches leading up to Open Beta. Any gold purchased (or awarded through Founders programs etc) will be re-funded, as will any promotional skins.

The next hero to return back to OMDU from phase 1 has been revealed to be the Apprentice. She will be returning as Zoey, the student that Max has under his wing. Zoey retains her uniqueness from phase 1, her ability to cast magic from the various schools of magic (Arcane, Lightning, Fire, and Frost) and she will once again be bringing her friend baby firebat “Feebee” to the battlefield to help out.

Details of her return can be found at the official website where Lead Designer Paul Hellquist has penned a blog explaining her abilities (including her new shift ability) which have been re-worked since phase 1. You can read all about her by following the link below:

https://na.orcsmustdie.com/#!/en/news/redesigning_zoey

Rimmon has uploaded a new YouTube video to his channel and this week the focus is on support traps that offensive heroes can use. There are a number of support traps that offensive heroes can use and they can be particularly effective for helping to capture the objectives. A speed pad, attack and defensive buff can sure make you a substantial threat for the enemy team on the objective.

Check out Rimmon’s latest video below for the low down and how you can make use of the the support traps to help capture those objectives!

Rimmon is back on his YouTube channel with another useful how to video for Orcs Must Die! Unchained closed beta players. Following up on his trap placement and kill box design guide, Rimmon takes things a bit further and details how you can use your kill box to score the bigger combo points. The trick is largely to use a variety of traps, but there are some tricks of the trade on what trap set ups can deliver the best combo results.

Check out Rimmon’s video below to learn more!