September 28, 2007
FURY Challenge Pushes Critical Mass with its
First Competition Weekend September 28-30
This weekend FURY will reach the pinnacle of its
testing with the first competition weekend of its Open Beta event – the FURY
Challenge. The event kicks off with a bang – full-on competitions spanning seven
ladders have players competing for over $2 Million in prizes. To allow for two
full weekends of competition and mid-week practice sessions, the release date is
now scheduled for October 16, 2007. Auran is opening up the field to everyone
before the game even hits the shelves by inviting all players, from veteran FURY
testers to one-timers to FURY virgins, to get out there and show their stuff!
The FURY Challenge gives players their first real chance to experience the game
the way it was designed to be played (and to win some cool loot as well).
There’s no doubt that learning a new game can be
frustrating especially when you’re faced with higher ranking opponents or
someone who has been playing the game for months, but that’s about to change.
Since FURY is meant to be all about FUN, Auran has been working hard on
addressing these issues to ensure that every player, of every rank, gets the
chance to mix it up in a well balanced match. More fun brings more players, more
players improve the whole matchmaking process, and thus we start a snowball
effect which will help push FURY to critical mass this weekend. In short, the
FURY Challenge is a chance to sample the sweet, sweet taste of victory.
Here’s a list of some recent improvements that
will smooth the learning curve and help players experience FURY as it’s meant to
be played:
- Test out multiple Incarnations prior to
battling against human opponents. Players can roll a new character and test
drive all the Incarnations by picking up a FURY Challenge Authentication Code
here:
http://furychallenge.com/accounts - Equip Points for Reborns, Initiates and
Disciples have been increased so you can immediately buy additional starter
abilities and customize your incarnation. - It is easier and faster to go through the
Ranks so that even after just a few hours, you have reached a competitive
level (and for FURY Challenge we have capped Ranks to make things a little
more balanced) - Bloodbath and Vortex matches are smaller (16
man FFA BB and 8 v 8 VTX teams). This ensures a tighter grouping of player
Skill Ratings for the match and thus more even matches. - Player Skill Rating calculations (used by the
Matchmaker) have been amended to ensure a wider spread from newbie to expert.
This makes it easier for the matchmaker to find similar skilled players. - Numerous balance changes have been made in
response to player feedback which should enable a variety of effective tactics
to be employed to counter “flavor of the week” builds. - A “Newbie Offense and Defense” bonus has been
added to help players who die frequently build up their offensive and
defensive ratings to help make them more competitive. This works off Avatar
Rank not Incarnation Rank so will only affect new avatars.
Of course the other big motivation for getting
into FURY Challenge is the prize pool which has grown to over $2 Million. Check
out a sample of the Prizes being offered:
- Dell XPS computers – Desktop 720 and M2010
Notebook - NVIDIA GeForce 8600 Graphics Cards
- Logitech Peripherals – G15 Keyboards and G5
Mice - Ideazon Gaming Keyboards
- Gamestop Vouchers ranging from $10 to $500
dollars - Thousands of CybershotsZ 12 packs
- 100,000 GameRail subscriptions
- IGN/Fileplanet subscriptions
And more…
FURY Challenge prizes will be rewarded for
player-skill rather than time spent playing. Players may participate in any
particular Battle Type as many times as they like, but only their 10 Best
Performances are used to determine the position on a relevant ladder. Using this
method, each of these ladders will evaluate the best player/best clan whom will
each receive the appropriate prize package. The full prize list can be seen
here:
http://furychallenge.com/prizes/
There are 7 different ladders to compete in:
- Individual ladders for each of the three
Battle Types: Elimination, Vortex and Bloodbath. - Clan ladder for each of the two team based
Battle Types: Elimination and Vortex. - An individual “All Battle Types” ladder
- A Clan “All Battle Types” ladder
FURY Challenge Events:
- First Competition Weekend – Sept 28-30th
- Mid-Week Practice Period – Sept 31st – Oct 4th
- Second Competition Weekend – Oct 5-7th
*Mid Week Practice sessions available only to
players who have pre-ordered FURY from an authorized retailer.
For all information regarding the FURY Challenge,
from registering and downloading the client to a complete prize listing and
tournament details, please visit
www.FURYChallenge.com.