Destiny 2: Weekly Reset on 15.08. – It is time to clean up

Britta ♤ BeAngel Britta ♤ BeAngel Reading time 4 minutes

The last week of Season 21 in Destiny 2 is upon us, and it’s time to take off the diving suits. Still, there are a few things you can do in this last week. And one of those things might not please you.

This week’s events: As always, the activities in Destiny 2 are rotating in this last week of Season 21.

  • For the last time, you can dive into the Strike Nightfall for your Conqueror.
  • Secure weapons that will leave the game with the start of Season 22 on August 22, such as the Solar Machine Gun “Unyielding Duty” or the Season Exo “Malicious Tool”.
  • Or explore another story activity in the “Veil Containment” on Neomuna, which continues the story of Maja Sundaresh and the Veil.

But for some Guardians, there is also another unpleasant task that many find difficult: cleaning out the vault.

More on the topic
Is your vault in Destiny 2 too full? – 7 tips to help you organize properly
von Britta ♤ BeAngel

With the new season, Guardians will have to part with old treasures again to make room for the new armor and weapons of the upcoming Season 22. However, that also means having to let go of old treasures.

A particular pain for some Guardians with a full vault, as this meme shows.

For many weapons and armors, clicking “Delete” is a special Guardian pain.

Key information about activities from August 15 to 22.

[toc]

Nightfall

  • The Devil’s Cave, in the Cosmodrome
    • The Fallen are rampaging again and bringing their mega-mechs with them. Load your shotguns, pack your Gjallarhorn, and put an end to the Fallen god “Sepiks Primus.”
This week earn this Nightfall weapon: The Hand Cannon “Hawk”

Crucible – This is the rotating PvP activity

  • The two modes Rift and Control are running this week in PvP.

This week there’s a bonus

  • All three playlists are going wild this week and give you a bonus – so get it!

Endgame: Raid Challenges and Dungeon Rotation

Farmable Endgame on a weekly rotation: In the further progression of the endgame, the Legacy rotations await.

Both the rotating raid and the rotating dungeon are farmable. This means you can complete the individual encounters repeatedly to obtain various items and complete your collection, including potential Exotics that are available in these contents.

  • The weekly Legacy raid is “Last Wish” with the weapon Exotic “1000 Voices”
  • In addition, there is Extra top loot in the Dungeon “Duality” and the sword “Heartshadow”.
The new Exo-Rotator will be available from Season 22. Players will then be able to play not only raids and dungeons as “Legacy”, but also old Exotic missions. In this context, the Scout Rifle “Tale of a Dead Man” or “The Dead Messenger” will be craftable in weapon crafting.

All additional information can be found here: 12 updates that players can expect in Season 22 of Destiny 2

Weekly Activities

The last week for Season 21 activities is upon us, which also means the last opportunity to complete your challenges.

  • In Season 21, Guardians must dive to the seabed of Titan, as it is infested with Taken and the Hive to become the “Aquanaut”. The title has a total of

Lightfall – Weekly Campaign Mission

  • “Desperate Measures”
    • Guardians must go deep underground in Lightfall to advance to the “Veil”. They will be supported by Caiatl’s troops in an epic battle at the gates of the Ishtar facility.

Ascendant Challenge – Dreaming City

If you still need Triumphs from the Dreaming City, pay attention: The corruption reveals new access points with a sip of “Queen’s Leaf Tincture”.

  • Petra Venj can now be found in the Dreaming City right at Rheasilvia – as always during the 3rd curse week. At the same time, the 1st Ascendant Challenge is active.
Start video
Destiny 2: Guardian tells how a gaming friendship changed his life

All Sources for Top Loot in Season 21 of Destiny 2

More power level comes automatically: In the past season, Bungie experimented with a new system that kept the hard power level cap in Destiny 2 unchanged for Season 21. The community welcomed this change, so it will also be maintained in the upcoming Season 22.

  • Players simply do not want to be forced to perform at their best every week.
  • Hard challenges and the need to advance your artifact level also exist without an increase in power level, for example in Grandmaster Raids, Pinnacle Nightfalls, Grandmaster Lost Sectors, or the Trials of Osiris.

If you are currently not at the hard cap of 1,810, we have listed the best sources for top loot for you.

This top loot brings your power level up to 1,810:

  • Top Raid “Root of Nightmares” (+2)
  • Top Dungeon “Ghosts of the Depths” (+2)
  • Legacy Raid Rotation this week: “Last Wish” (+2) – farmable
  • Legacy Dungeon Rotation “Duality” (+2) – farmable
  • Earn 200,000 points by completing Nightfalls (+2)
  • “Eternity Trials”: Reach at least 250,000 points or more (+2)
  • Complete the Exo mission //knoten.ovrd.AVALON// in the ETZ (+2)
  • Weekly Lightfall campaign mission on Legendary (+2)
  • Hawthorne’s Clan quest: Award 5 appreciation cards to other Guardians (+2 and 7 enhancement cores)
  • Trials of Osiris (+2)

Glittering Highlights in the Eververse

Last week, Bungie offered an exclusive season shader for Glimmer. A small gesture that not everything in the Eververse is just commerce, and patient Guardians can receive many emotes, ornaments, or Exo companions without spending extra Silver sooner or later.

What special things are available in the Eververse this week, we will list here:

This LED ornament “Fortläufer” is available for Arbalest for 1250 Glimmer
  • Exotic emote “Encircling Sharks”
  • Exotic emote “Peacefully by the Water”
  • Exotic Sparrow “JJ-2 Research Rover”
  • Exotic ship “Quick Reaction”
  • Exotic ship “Skipper of the Scribe”
  • Exotic Ghost Shell “Digital Doorbell Shell”
  • Exotic weapon ornament “Fortläufer” for “Arbalest”
  • Exotic armor ornaments:
    • For the Warlock: “Ionic Fringes” for the Exotic “Fallen Sunstar”
    • For the Titan: “Cold of Chivalry” for the Exotic “Cadmus Ridge Lance Helm”
    • For the Hunter: “Olmstead’s Doom” for the Exotic “Blight Ranger”
  • Ghost Projection Bombastic “SideEye Projection”
  • Shaders:
    • “Atmospheric Glimmer”
    • “Butter Bark”
    • “Silver Taran”
    • “Lagoon Cruiser”
    • “44er Steel”
  • Teleport Effects:
    • “Revived Shadow”
    • “Cabal Appearance”
    • “Cannon Fodder”
    • “Cabal Appearance”

Those who always have too little Glimmer in Destiny 2 should know these tips here:

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Have you completed all your goals this Season 21? And how much space is left in your vault? Let us know in the comments.

For a preview of next week in Destiny 2, when Season 22 starts, you can find it here:

12 updates that players can expect in Season 22 of Destiny 2

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Diablo 4: New Patch 1.1.2 is here – Patch Notes in German

Nicole Wakulczyk Nicole Wakulczyk Reading time 4 minutes

Patch 1.1.2 brings a few important changes for Diablo 4. Among other things, bugs in quests and faulty objectives in the seasonal journey are eliminated. What to expect in the patch notes, you can find out in our overview.

What will Patch 1.1.2 adjust? The patch primarily addresses the buggy quests and the seasonal journey, as well as the user interface and the nightmare dungeons. It also eliminates a few bugs related to the Druid’s abilities.

Patch 1.1.2 is set to arrive on August 15 and already reveals its changes in the patch notes.

These are the most important changes for Patch 1.1.2:

  • Some bugs in the quest “Wrath Against Fate” prevented it from being completed. This should now be fixed.
  • The wait time for a malicious monster to appear after activating a Malicious Heart in the world is reduced from 5 to 2 seconds.
  • Nightmare dungeons could be repeated when another group member was promoted to leader. This should no longer work. In the previous patch, adjustments were made to the difficulty of nightmare dungeons.
  • Regarding the seasonal journey, bugs have been fixed that caused the seasonal journey menu to not function properly. The seasonal journey objective “A Blessing in the Flood” should also now be completed as expected.
  • Adjustments will be made to the user interface. The description in the tooltip for the “Locked Heart of Tenacity” will be rephrased.
  • A bug will also be fixed where the notification that the world boss has appeared was incorrect when the player had not yet unlocked the Tree of Whispers.
  • Interactions with certain objects, particularly corpses, did not function properly. This will be fixed.
  • It will also be fixed that after leaving a town, the mount function was sometimes unavailable.

In total, 28 bugs were fixed. Below we list the patch notes in detail in English.

Start video
Diablo 4: The Official Announcement Trailer for Season 1

Patch Notes 1.1.2 Overview

Gameplay Updates

  • After activating a Malicious Heart in the world, the wait time for a Malicious Monster to appear is now not 5, but 2 seconds.
  • Players are now defaulted to the trading channel. This can be turned off in the game settings.

Fixed Bugs

Dungeons and Events

  • A bug was fixed that allowed nightmare dungeons to be repeated by promoting another group member to leader.
  • A bug was fixed that prevented the event “The Gathered Legions” from progressing, despite all nearby enemies being defeated.

Druid

  • A bug was fixed where boulders cast with the Aspect of the Metamorphic Stone only caused up to 100% damage.
  • A bug was fixed where the Malicious Power “Raging Winds” was triggered when destroying destructible objects.
  • A bug was fixed where the “Aspect of the Alpha” werewolf companion was floating above the ground.

Quests

  • A bug was fixed that prevented the quest “Wrath Against Fate” from being completed.
  • A bug was fixed that allowed Elixirs of Iron Skin to be obtained infinitely by accepting and abandoning the quest “Cure of Despair”.
  • A bug was fixed that prevented the quest “Calling of the Ancients” from progressing if the group leader was dead when the boss was defeated.
  • A bug was fixed that prevented the quest “Calling of the Ancients” from progressing if Gharl was killed before his dialogue was triggered.
  • A bug was fixed that caused players to be directed to the wrong NPCs in side quests for crafting items.

User Interface and User Experience

  • A bug was fixed that displayed white lines on the world map.
  • A bug was fixed that caused the seasonal journey menu to not function properly when completing a stage.
  • A bug was fixed where the notification that the world boss has appeared was not functioning properly if the player had not yet unlocked the Whispering Dead.
  • A bug was fixed where linking an item in chat did not display properly in the Battle.net app.
  • A bug was fixed where the marker for the quest “Holding Back the Flood” was displayed at dungeon exits, but not on the world map.
  • In the tooltips for the Locked Heart of Tal’Rasha and the Locked Heart of the Great Feast, it now correctly states that their bonuses are additive instead of multiplicative.
  • The description in the tooltip for the Locked Heart of Tenacity has been rephrased to clarify that it reduces resource drain effects from enemies.

Miscellaneous

  • A bug was fixed that prevented the seasonal journey objective “A Blessing in the Flood” from being completed as expected.
  • A bug was fixed that allowed teleporting to a dungeon entrance while using skills that grant invulnerability (e.g., Blood Mist).
  • A bug was fixed where no interaction was possible with some objects, especially corpses.
  • A bug was fixed that caused mount skills to sometimes be unavailable after leaving a town.
  • A bug was fixed where the Malicious Power “Calculating” consumed the stun effect of skills that do not deal damage.
  • A bug was fixed where gambling for helmets at the vendor of the Unsightly Curiosities in the cities was impossible for Druids, Necromancers, and Hunters.
  • A bug was fixed where an equipped Rage-Infused Heart could not be replaced by another.
  • A bug was fixed where the freeze effect of the Leggings of Regret was not displayed correctly in the boss arena of the final boss.
  • A bug was fixed where quest items appeared spontaneously in town.
  • Several stability and performance improvements.
  • Several other bug fixes for accessories in the shop.
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Diablo 4 Season 13 – Start, Release Date and PTR
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Are you satisfied with the changes? Or is there something missing? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments.

Perhaps Patch 1.1.2 brings secret changes, as one of the previous patches did. However, players were quite upset about the lack of transparency from Blizzard. One player was very pleased with a change that was not communicated in the patch notes:

Diablo 4: Blizzard hides secret changes in Patch 1.1.1, angering fans but pleasing an expert

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Source(s):
  1. blizzard.com

Baldur’s Gate 3 is now so good because the devs did something that many find terrible

Schuhmann Schuhmann Reading time 3 minutes

The role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3 is now a complete success and even sparks a discussion that it might set the bar for new role-playing games so high that studios could break under it. But why is the game already so perfectly polished at release?

What is this discussion about?

  • An indie developer stated on Twitter that Baldur’s Gate 3 is so good because it enjoys a number of advantages that no other game can easily imitate. Attempting to reach this level of quality could lead studios to fail.
  • Subsequently, the site IGN released a video claiming: Baldur’s Gate 3 is so good that game developers panic. The question is raised: Why don’t more games release as perfectly polished as Baldur’s Gate 3? Developers should not resist the new standards but accept them.
  • A blog post by Brandon Sheffield criticized this video: Baldur’s Gate 3 was sold as an unfinished game at full price for three years. This is the only reason the developers can now afford this “perfectly polished” launch.
Start video
5 Tips to Level Up Your Characters Properly in Baldur’s Gate 3

Baldur’s Gate 3 sets new standards because the team utilizes unique advantages

Why is Baldur’s Gate 3 so good? The indie developer Xalavier Nelson Jr. explains on Twitter that Baldur’s Gate 3 enjoyed several advantages during its development that put it in a special situation (via Twitter):

Baldur’s Gate 3 is not a new standard for role-playing games – it is an anomaly. Attempting to replicate this “mega-game” could lead many studios to ruin, especially if they do not enjoy the same advantages as Larian with Baldur’s Gate 3.

This point is raised in the IGN video: In the 9-minute video from IGN, the question is raised, why doesn’t every new game launch as polished and well as Baldur’s Gate 3.

The IGN journalist demands that studios should not resist that Baldur’s Gate 3 sets a new standard but accept it and raise their own standard.

As an example of the currently low standards of studios, Destiny 2 and Diablo 4 are mentioned, which are accused of selling too much loot that should actually be found in the game via the cash shop.

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Studios must sell their game to finish their game

What does the blog post say? The blog post by Sheffield clarifies the reasons why games with bugs make it to release: Developers are under financial and time pressure due to external circumstances and have to bring the game out to be able to fund its completion. In most cases, they have no control over their budget.

The completion of the game is achieved through DLCs, patches, early access, and even microtransactions, as studios have to adhere to financial plans and adjust to the expectations of their investors. Sheffield says: Developers would burn through their livelihood to manage this.

Sheffield explains that Baldur’s Gate 3 started an early access release 3 years ago, and the developers sold an “unfinished game” at full price for 3 years:

Baldur’s Gate 3, which he [the IGN video] says appeared in a polished state, was actually released in early access, which he notes but does not question at all. The game was in early access for 3 years, received polish and bug fixes. Three years! Now, as someone who spends most of the time in the video complaining that people sell unfinished products: Why doesn’t that bother him? They sold a game for 3 years for $60, while it was unpolished and unfinished. Anyone could buy it.

The company was able to sell the final, non-early-access game in a polished state because they sold the game for 3 years at full price, and that in an unfinished state. Therefore, the whole premise of the video that Baldur’s Gate 3 appeared perfectly polished is not even correct.

Sheffield also explains that other “showcase games” have only been able to appear so perfectly polished due to unique situations:

  • Behind Tears of The Kingdom stands Nintendo, which has so many billions of US dollars in reserve that it can take as much time as it wants to finish a game
  • Elden Ring has a blank check due to the previous successes of FromSoftware for an “It’s done when it’s done” attitude. Most studios do not have such blank checks; that comes only after several massive successes.

Sheffield’s argument aligns with the explanation of MMO developer Stephan Frost, who explained years after the failure of WildStar why the online role-playing game was released unfinished in 2014.

Frost also explained that the economic pressures increase the longer a game stays in development and does not earn money. Therefore, every game in the world practically releases “too early,” but the developers have no other choice.

Apparently, Larian was able to mitigate these pressures by breaking a taboo and selling the game unfinished at full price:

Expert provides fascinating insight into how MMORPG development really works

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

New World finally shows a change in the equipment that players have been waiting for since release

Alexander Leitsch Alexander Leitsch Reading time 2 minutes

New World will introduce a transmog system this summer, allowing players to change the skins of their armor and weapons. Since stats play a significant role, but not every skin in the game is appealing, players have been waiting for this feature since the release. At the same time, you will be able to dye your gear in the future.

What has New World shown? In a new video, the developers explain how the new transmog system works. You can unlock any armor or weapon skin that you have equipped, in your inventory, or in your bank for the system. You will need one transmog token for each.

Once unlocked, you can change the appearance of your gear at any time with an outfit NPC. This NPC is available in every major settlement. Changing it doesn’t cost anything, but you can only apply skins of the respective weapon and armor type (light, medium, heavy) over your actual gear.

Where do you get the tokens? You can obtain them from elite chests in all game content. Additionally, there will be tokens available in the free and paid reward track of the season passes and in the shop. However, you should not rely on purchasing these.

You can check out the exact details and menus in this video:

Start video
New World: Forged in Aeternum – Transmog

Fashion finally becomes an endgame content in New World

What else does the mid-season update bring? Along with the transmog system, dyeing will also be introduced in the game. This allows you to freely dye your armor according to your wishes. However, this will not be possible for weapons.

Thus, New World finally offers the essential features to look stylish even in the endgame. Fashion plays an important role in other MMORPGs like Guild Wars 2, Palia, or Final Fantasy XIV.

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When will the patch be released? There is no official release date yet. Since the current season runs until October 3rd, the middle will be sometime at the end of August. The update might come as early as next week.

What do you think about the transmog topic? Is such a system a must in today’s MMORPGs, or have you been able to do without it so far?

Incidentally, with the start of the latest season, a big update came: New World has released a huge patch today – introducing the first raid and 5 important changes

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

The hype man Geoff Keighley is putting a damper on gamescom 2023

Dariusz Müller Dariusz Müller Reading time 2 minutes

The grand opening show of the gamescom ‘Opening Night Live’ is not supposed to focus on announcing new players in 2023, says the event’s host.

What is the ONL? The “Opening Night Live” (ONL) of gamescom is the grand opening show of the gaming event and is considered one of the most important events in the industry each year.

Many development studios and publishers use the prestigious event to announce their latest projects or unveil new details and enhance it all with impressive trailers.

The Opening Night Live 2022 showed us over 30 trailers. For example, we saw a preview of the zombie-slasher Dead Island 2, the upcoming shooter The Finals, as well as the highly debated “Harry Potter” game Hogwarts Legacy.

Start video
Hogwarts Legacy presents the officially best trailer of gamescom – Has over 600,000 views on YouTube
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New information on upcoming games

What does Keighley say? In an interview with the English online magazine VideoGamesChronicle, Keighley recently spoke about the ONL of gamescom 2023 and what fans can expect from the show.

According to Keighley, the ONL 2023 will be less about announcing new games. Instead, viewers will get new insights into upcoming games:

It will be an exciting show with new insights into many announced games like Alan Wake 2 and Black Myth Wukong. This year’s ONL is less about announcing brand new projects, but rather about giving fans updates on some of the biggest games that will be released next year.

Geoff Keigley via VideoGamesChronicle

When is the ONL 2023? The opening Night Live of gamescom is on August 22, 2023. The show starts at 8:00 PM German time and runs until 10:00 PM.

You can experience the event live on the grounds of Koelnmesse and also follow the stream on Twitch and YouTube.

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Who is Keighley anyway? Geoff Keighley is a Canadian video game journalist best known as the host of numerous gaming events.

He regularly hosts large shows where numerous trailers for various games are shown and acts as the face of the annual Game Awards and the Opening Night Live.

In addition, Keighley launched the “Summer Game Fest” in 2020, which in a way took the place of E3, which was also canceled in 2023.

E3 2023 canceled: The biggest gaming event of the year will not take place

Disclaimer: Webedia Gaming (GameStar, GamePro, MeinMMO) accompanies the grand gaming event as the official media partner of gamescom 2023.

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Source(s):
  1. videogameschronicle.com
  2. dotesports.com

New update allows 2 controllers on a PS5: Helps with joint play, for example with a child

Martin Vollert Martin Vollert Reading time < 1 minutes

With the new update for PS5, Sony allows you to operate your PlayStation 5 with two controllers simultaneously.

With the upcoming update 8.0 for PS5, Sony brings some special new features. The known features include:

  • 3D audio for “Dolby Atmos” compatible audio devices
  • Support for M.2 SSDs with larger storage capacity
  • Mute the PS5 beep
  • New search function for games in your library/collection
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Netflix could already be watched on the PS2 – 7 quirky facts about the PlayStation

More accessibility and fun in co-op

Which new feature stands out particularly? Thanks to the update, you have the option to assign a second DualSense as an so-called assist controller to a logged-in user account, thus using two controllers simultaneously. The PS5 processes the inputs from both controllers in parallel, as if only one controller was being used.

This brings many new possibilities for playing together.

If the controller is too unwieldy, another player can assist in challenging game segments.

Parents now have the option to support their children in difficult in-game situations (and vice versa, of course). Games can be enjoyed much more relaxed this way.

Of course, the feature also opens up entirely new avenues for party co-op.

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Update: Size and release date

How large will the download for the update be? Generally, the updates for PS5 range from several hundred megabytes to 3 gigabytes. The last beta patch was 1.1 gigabytes in size.

When will the update be released? The update has been available as a beta for a few weeks now. An official date is not yet known. If Sony adheres to its update routine, the update should be available for everyone at the latest by the end of September.

What do you think of the upcoming update? Which feature is your favorite?

Here you can find the 5 best MMORPGs on PS4, PS5, and Xbox that you can play in 2023.

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Baldur’s Gate 3: 8 items that are much more useful than you think

Benedict Grothaus Benedict Grothaus Reading time 3 minutes

Many items end up at the Baldur’s Gate 3 merchant or are just left behind. However, some players have discovered that items like water bottles are not just dead weight but can actually be helpful.

If you don’t have a barbarian and a warrior with you, your inventory is likely to be bursting at the seams. While there are helpful tips to save inventory space, there is simply too much loot.

Even if most items have no further use, there are some items you should keep – if only in small quantities. Often, you can use such items to find creative solutions in Baldur’s Gate 3.

A player on Reddit has compiled a list of “trash” items that are actually quite useful. Many other users are now sharing their best gadget items, leaving some faces stunned.

MeinMMO has picked the best items from the collection and added some personal experiences.

Start video
3 Tips to Reduce Your Carrying Weight in Baldur’s Gate 3

8 useful items and how to use them correctly

Water bottles: If you throw water on fire or acid, it will extinguish or wash away the spot. This way, you can save allies. Additionally, water washes the blood off characters so they don’t look like they’ve just stepped out of a butcher shop in cutscenes. Wizards can also electrify water, adding extra damage.

Disguise sets: With makeup, disguises, or the spell “Disguise Self,” you can deceive certain NPCs. For example, you can’t question a person you killed yourself using “Talk to the Dead” because they hate you. This can be done in disguised form.

Candles: If you place a candle on the ground, you can add fire damage to a weapon with the bonus action “Dipping” for free. This is especially useful in a melee group against opponents with physical resistance.

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Oil flasks: When thrown, oil creates an area where opponents can slip. Additionally, you can ignite oil to hit multiple opponents or lubricate gears – no joke. If your strength isn’t sufficient to move something, just throw oil on it.

Shovel: Pretty self-explanatory, as you find mounds of earth early in the game that you can dig up. What many might not know is that you can also dig “blindly” with the shovel. If your entire group fails a perception or survival roll, just dig where the check didn’t succeed. With a bit of luck, you might hit the right spot.

Bags: Bags not only help you organize your inventory, but you can also fill them with explosives like alchemist’s fire. If you throw the bag and ignite it, it will explode. Very useful against many opponents.

Metal bars (or anything heavy): Heavy items can be quite annoying to carry, but you can drop or throw them on someone. This way, you can deal massive damage with minimal effort. Some druids even use their own weight to literally crush opponents. Tip: with more strength, you can throw further and deal more damage.

Raspberries: Normally, storage supplies can only be consumed for a long rest. However, you can eat raspberries directly to heal. This saves the relatively rare healing potions. So always keep an eye out for bushes.

Start video
5 helpful tips for Baldur’s Gate 3

Another tip: always take a look around your camp. Depending on where you camp, there may be a new spot where random items could be lying around. Check in crates or near bushes. At Shadowheart’s camp, there’s almost always a bundle of wormwood.

Do you know of any other items that absolutely should make it to this list? Leave us a comment!

You can find the best classes (and pack mules) in Baldur’s Gate 3 in our tier list:

Baldur’s Gate 3 classes tier list: the best classes & sub-classes 2023

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Fan asks if Starfield is ready now, boss replies: “Take a deep breath”

Dariusz Müller Dariusz Müller Reading time 2 minutes

The release of Starfield is drawing closer and the first fans are slowly getting impatient. Now the Vice President of Bethesda has spoken.

On August 11, Pete Hines, Vice President and Sales Director of Bethesda Softworks, was asked by a user on Twitter about the status of the Next-Gen update for Fallout 4. Hines then replied that Starfield currently takes priority.

In the following conversation, a Starfield fan wanted to know when the role-playing game would be finished and when it would reach “Gold status”.

What did Hines respond? Hines responded briefly and succinctly and told the fan to take a deep breath: “Breathe deeply. I have a great team. We know what we are doing (via Twitter).”

If you haven’t seen the gameplay trailer for Starfield yet, you can catch up here:

Start video
Starfield – Official Gameplay Trailer

Only a few weeks until the release

What is the status of Starfield? The upcoming sci-fi role-playing game from Bethesda is about to be released on PC and Xbox Series X|S – the title will not be released for PS5.

The official release of Starfield is just a few weeks away, on September 06, 2023. Buyers of the Premium and Constellation Editions of Starfield can play as early as September 01.

On August 04, the preload of Starfield started on Steam and Xbox, but currently you can only download a few MB and not the full game. It is not known when exactly the actual preload starts and what detailed developmental status the game is currently in.

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Starfield Q&A in August

What’s next? After the extensive Starfield showcase in June, a Q&A with the developers will take place on August 16, 2023, at 7:00 PM German time. There, questions about the game that fans could submit until August 11 will be answered.

If there are new exciting updates about the role-playing game, its development status, or the release during the Q&A, you will learn about it on MeinMMO.

If you want to read more about Starfield in the meantime, we have compiled a list of 10 interesting details:

10 interesting details you probably didn’t know about Starfield

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Captcha tests are supposed to expose bots: But bots solve them faster and better than we humans

Martin Vollert Martin Vollert Reading time 2 minutes

UCLA professors (University of California) in Irvine have published research findings from a study that show bots can solve the annoying captcha tests on websites faster and better than we humans.

“I am not a robot.”

What is a captcha test? Captcha tests, the scourge of the internet, are known to anyone who regularly uses the internet and has to solve randomly generated image or character tasks before entering text in online forms. Ideally, the requirements posed are easy for us humans to solve and at the same time serve as a technical barrier against malicious bots trying to flood online services like forums, guestbooks, and email registration with their automated requests.

Start video
Starfield shows the Chronomark watch of the Constellation Edition

The study: Human vs. Machine

How was it conducted? Gene Tsudik and his colleagues from UCLA conducted a study to find out how humans compare to bots when it comes to solving captcha tests as quickly and accurately as possible. They first analyzed the 200 most popular websites in the world, of which 120 use captcha tests.
Then, 1,000 people from their candidate pool of various ages, genders, locations, and education levels had to solve 10 captcha tasks each.

What results were achieved? In comparison with the bots, humans consistently achieved poorer results. While human participants could demonstrate an accuracy between 50 and 84 percent in a test with distorted text and took between 9 and 15 seconds to solve the tasks, the bots were 99.8% error-free and completed the tasks in less than a second.

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A race between website operators and bot developers

These results partially question the usefulness of captcha tests and thus also put the programming effort behind it for website developers to the test.

In this cat-and-mouse game, the technical requirements are becoming increasingly sophisticated to keep bots away from online forms while simultaneously attempting to circumvent the protection. Algorithms are already being developed that try to identify and block the interactions of bots on websites in the background instead of continuing to rely on annoying tests that must be solved by humans.

What are your experiences with captcha tasks? Do you find them unnecessary or do you see them as a necessary means against spam from bots?

Bots are also a very big problem in games.

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Source(s):
  1. PC Gamer

Pokémon GO forces you to fight to level up – A trainer’s critique sparks discussion

Franzi Korittke Franzi Korittke Reading time 4 minutes

To level up to 44 in Pokémon GO, you need to complete various tasks. However, one trainer is not happy about one of them at all. We will show you what that requirement is and how the community reacted to his complaint.

Which levels are involved? In Pokémon GO, you can not only catch and level up monsters, but also increase your trainer level. However, until the end of 2020, this was only possible up to trainer level 40. To reach this, you only needed one thing: a lot of experience points.

In December, this system was finally expanded and 50 was set as the new maximum level in the game. To achieve this, experience points alone were no longer enough, which is why Niantic additionally set tasks for each level-up that had to be completed beforehand.

And some trainers are not happy about this at all. This includes the Reddit user 2020Hills, who complained in a post about a task for level 44. But in the community, he receives different reactions than he hoped for. We have summarized what they are below.

Start video
Pokémon GO shows the new season ‘Hidden Gems’ in the trailer

Trainer complains: In the GO Battle League, you play rock, paper, scissors

What task is involved? To reach level 44, you must not only gather 11,000,000 XP, but also win against trainers in the Great, Ultra, and Master Leagues 30 times each, as well as play in the GO Battle League 20 times. However, the user 2020Hills is not happy about this at all.

So he writes in his post on Reddit: Isn’t this fun… this is a fun game, right? Man, I love the Pokémon GO Battle League and pray that I have a type advantage to have a chance at victory… I love tapping on my screen and getting frustrated about the quirks of the Battle League… especially the Master League battles.

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What is so bad about the quests? The reason for his frustration is the numerous battles he has to complete and win against other trainers. He is particularly annoyed by the persistent bugs of the GO Battle League and the overall implementation of this battle format.

And he is not fundamentally alone in this.

Moreover, players can use almost any monster in the Master League, with few exceptions, as the WP limit is open-ended there. This makes it especially difficult for newcomers to assemble the right team and bring the appropriate types into battle.

This is also criticized by 2020Hills, who writes the following in a comment under his post (via reddit.com):

The point is that in the GO Battle League at Master level, it is extremely important to have a type advantage in the first match and to be able to respond accordingly. In all other Pokémon formats, you plan your team based on who and where you fight, but in the GO Battle League, you play rock, paper, scissors.

writes 2020Hills via reddit.com

You can find a selection of strong monsters for the various leagues here.

Player finds: Those who want to reach level 50 should win battles in the Master League

Support from individual trainers: However, other players also seem to have their problems with these tasks. In the comments, you can find individual trainers who have also been struggling with this task for some time or are stuck on one of the other quests (via reddit.com):

  • Darrian96: I am already 10 million XP above the requirements for level 44 and I am still level 43, because I absolutely despise PvP in this game, which is why I will probably remain level 43 forever.
  • PsychologicalSet7596: I am at level 44 and have over 17 million of the required XP for leveling up. However, for me it is the Rocket bosses. At this point, I saw no reason to be motivated enough to level beyond 44, so I haven’t tried.
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Trainers want to help him: Many players see the tasks for leveling up less rigidly. While they are also not fans of the GO Battle League, they have let friends help them complete the tasks. Some explain in the comments that they didn’t complete the battles in the GO Battle League at all, but played directly in the respective league against a friend.

He let them win every time after a mutual agreement so that they could complete the task. As a result, they did not need to choose a suitable team for the GO Battle League and thus bypassed the type advantage criticized by 2020Hills. For this reason, some also directly offer their help and express their willingness to assist him in completing the tasks in this manner.

Others, on the other hand, find collecting the required XP or future tasks no less demanding, as can be read in the comments (via reddit.com):

  • PuzzleheadedEffort94: Just find a friend to fight with, and ask him to use 10 CP Pokémon. You’ll have it done in no time.
  • slayzorbeam: It seems much faster to win 40 Master League battles than to get 11 million XP.
  • Fragrant_University7: Wait until you see the requirements for level 45.
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Trainer finds tasks just right: Trainer Rude-Reaction8213 even goes as far as to find it reasonable that someone who wants to reach level 50 should have played in the GO Battle League. He writes in the comments (via reddit.com): Those who want to reach level 50 should, in my opinion, have to win a few battles in the Master League. Do you disagree?

Are you also having difficulties completing the challenges for leveling up? If so, where are you currently stuck? And do you also believe that one must have done everything in the game on the way to level 50? Feel free to let us know here on MeinMMO in the comments and exchange ideas with other trainers.

In Pokémon GO, the global GO Fest will take place soon. We will show you 8 rare monsters that everyone can catch at the GO Fest 2023.

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Gronkh is accused of being right-wing because he criticized a female streamer: „Twitch, is this actually okay?“

Lydia Lydia Reading time 3 minutes

Erik “Gronkh” Range is considered somewhat like the “big brother” of German Twitch. Many find it absurd that the 46-year-old is supposed to be “right-wing.” But that’s exactly what he is being accused of, because he has expressed criticism towards Shurjoka.

What is this accusation about? In a stream of the Twitch streamer Dara, better known as “DerRadikaleDemokrat,” one of his moderators stated on August 14, 2023, that Gronkh is probably “quite right-wing.” This can be seen in how he would “incite” against the streamer Pia “Shurjoka” Scholz.

This statement was subsequently spread by Theo “Scurrows” Bottländer on Twitter, where it eventually reached Gronkh himself, who commented on it.

Start video
Gronkh, the man with the voice – Career and life of Germany’s most famous Let’s Player

Streamer reviews the boycott of Hogwarts Legacy

This is the background: On August 14, 2023, Twitch streamer Dara, better known as “DerRadikaleDemokrat,” spoke about the boycott of the “Harry Potter” game Hogwarts Legacy. The boycott was successful in the short term, as it created increased media attention.

In hindsight, according to the Twitch streamer, it could have been handled better.

He explains that the “woke, progressive, leftist internet bubble” would have attracted a lot of hatred in the long run. Instead of calling for a boycott, they could have used the hype around the game to raise awareness of issues like transphobia.

DerRadikaleDemokrat says his Twitch colleague Gronkh actually had a good proposal. Gronkh had indeed shown Hogwarts Legacy on his channel but wanted to collect donations for organizations that advocate for trans rights at the same time.

However, Gronkh completely abandoned the idea of showcasing the game after the question arose of whether J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, could simply not matter to him, which earned him a shitstorm on Twitter. This would likely result in “losing one of the biggest influencers on the platform forever,” says DerRadikaleDemokrat.

In this context, the moderator’s statement was made.

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Gronkh made a statement regarding his “shitstorm”

What is meant by “incitement”? The moderator’s statement probably refers to a statement Gronkh made in early August. The Twitch streamer explained that he “let go” of the topic surrounding Shurjoka, who has faced intense criticism for months.

Gronkh, who generally wants to stay out of such disputes, expressed himself cautiously: He followed the topic with interest, but had to “only tear his hair out” on one side. Certain individuals, the 46-year-old said, he simply did not want to give a platform.

However, the Twitch streamer also makes it clear: At the beginning of the debate, lies about him were spread, but these only came from one side – that of Shurjoka.

Gronkh was particularly bothered by the portrayal that he didn’t actually have a “real shitstorm.”

Despite all the criticism, his fans and other content creators defended him at that time.

In his first livestream after the shitstorm, he was welcomed by his fans with €37,000 in subscriptions and broke a personal viewer record. Shurjoka herself expressed that she would also like to have such shitstorms in her own stream.

For Gronkh, it apparently came across as though the criticism directed at him was trivial since he was making money from it somehow. However, the criticism seemed to weigh heavily on him during this time; in his stream back then, he said he could hardly sleep.

An unedited version of the statement was posted by YouTuber Herr Newstime, which we have embedded here for you. It starts at 1:06.

https://youtu.be/5Q6Cflp6ZRE?t=66

How does Gronkh respond to the accusation? On Twitter, the 46-year-old shared a screenshot of the chat message “for amusement.” You just can’t make this up. He asks: “Twitch, is this actually okay?”

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Even now, Gronkh can count on the support of his fans and many of his colleagues from Twitch and YouTube. In the comments, they express their disbelief that he is supposed to be right-wing.

Others are upset on Gronkh’s behalf. The streamer Gnu writes: This makes her really angry (via Twitter). Shurjoka herself seems unhappy about being dragged into this way: she responded with a “facepalm” meme.

And indeed, the impact of the statement is already visible: “Gronkh” and “Shurjoka” are currently trending on Twitter. The week had started so nicely for the Twitch streamer:

Gronkh receives 7,000 subscriptions on Twitch in a few minutes, destroying all functions with it

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has a cool weapon that is only useful when you are drunk

Alexander Leitsch Alexander Leitsch Reading time 2 minutes

In Baldur’s Gate 3 there are hundreds of weapons. Some are very strong on their own, while others only come into play under special circumstances. One such weapon is the Punch-Drunk Bastard. It only becomes really fun when you are drunk.

What kind of weapon is this? This weapon is a large club that you can find in one of the side areas of Act 2. It has a rather weak base damage of 1d8. However, it scores points with a unique property called Tippler’s Rage.

  • This effect grants you an advantage on attack rolls when you are drunk.
  • Additionally, each attack creates an explosion that causes 1-4 lightning damage at a distance of 3 meters.

To get drunk, any alcohol you consume shortly before the fight begins works. The state lasts for two turns. You can also drink another bottle as a bonus action.

How strong is the weapon? Even in a drunken state, it doesn’t match the strong Ever-Glowing Blade from Act 1, but it is still quite usable overall.

Start video
5 helpful tips for Baldur’s Gate 3

How to get the Punch-Drunk Bastard

Where can you find the weapon? You can find the weapon in Act 2 in The Waning Moon. This is a tavern in the city center near Moonrise Towers. However, to obtain it, you must win a drinking contest – a very fun and fitting endeavor.

The weapon is located in a back room, and when you approach it, you will be challenged by a monster. Although you can talk your way out of it with very good Charisma skills, you will very likely still have to fight.

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It is advisable to wait a few rounds before attacking him and to carefully examine his properties.

Once you have won the fight, you can enter the back room by either searching the enemy’s pockets for the key or picking the lock. Besides the weapon, you will also find some useful alchemy components there.

If you are not only interested in curious weapons but builds in general, you should try out this assassin rogue. It shouldn’t actually work, but thanks to the special party compositions, it does:

My assassin rogue build is super strong, even though it should be useless

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Source(s):
  1. PCGamer

One of the last German fan sites about WoW is closing: “You can’t live off these numbers”

Alexander Leitsch Alexander Leitsch Reading time 3 minutes

Manacrew was originally intended to be a general website for MMORPGs, but soon after its official release, it focused almost exclusively on WoW. Now, the founder Andi has announced the end.

What kind of website was that? Manacrew was initially announced as a big MMORPG project without bullshit and with a lot of love. The centerpiece was supposed to be the website with all the important news and guides, which resembled more of a fansite than a news portal. It was meant to be complemented by a YouTube channel, livestreams, and a podcast.

The focus was on new titles like Ashes of Creation or Corepunk, which showed new gameplay at the beginning of the year, but also established games like WoW or New World were to be covered.

Behind the project was Andi, who previously ran Vanion.eu and now wanted to create something new. As early as 2021, he felt uncomfortable relying solely on WoW and wanted to be able to express his love for other MMORPGs as well. Overall, his passion for WoW had faded.

What has happened now? In a video, Andi announced the discontinuation of Manacrew. From now on, no articles will be published there, but it remains online for the time being with the current state. On the associated YouTube channel, all videos – except for the latest – have been set to Unlisted.

Here you can listen to what Andi has to say. We will also address the most important points in the article:

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Manacrew started off bumpy and remained erratic

How did the development go? Rather bumpy. The portal went online much later and with far fewer features than originally planned. The release was intended for early/mid 2022, but in the end, Andi could only release the website just before Dragonflight in November.

After that, Manacrew also primarily focused on WoW. There were daily news and all kinds of guides. Some MMORPGs like Ashes of Creation were still supplemented with news, but many other games were left out. Side projects like the podcast (latest episode on the Dragonflight release in December 2022) or the livestreams were discontinued.

In several video blogs, he explained over months the circumstances and hurdles he encountered over time.

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Why is he stopping now? In the end, Manacrew had almost become a WoW site again, like Vanion.eu, from which Andi actually wanted to separate. In the video, he shows the numbers from his old site, which he had taken over after the death of Patrick Vanion Michalczak and Manacrew:

  • Around the release of Shadowlands, Vanion.eu peaked at over 200,000 page views in one day and remained very consistent above 50,000.
  • The successor site Manacrew peaked at just under 50,000 page views, but was much more erratic. On bad days, it even went below 18,000.
  • Additionally, Andi explains that the numbers on YouTube have also dropped significantly. Instead of over 100,000 views on raid guides, he now usually only generates between 10,000 and 40,000.

These numbers, however, are not enough to finance a full-time person. Thus, there is also no money to pay additional employees who would then provide articles on other MMORPGs. He also assumes that the numbers will not improve in the future.

Additionally, it is made worse by the fact that he himself hardly plays WoW anymore. In the video, it is said: “I’ll be honest, I haven’t logged in for two or two and a half months.”

What happens now? Andi wants to completely distance himself from WoW. He wants to play games again for fun. The YouTube channel will soon be filled with new videos that show his personal journey into the future. And cooking will play a role.

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Baldur’s Gate 3 promises “first serious patch”, has already revealed 1 new feature

Benedict Grothaus Benedict Grothaus Reading time 2 minutes

Baldur’s Gate 3 was released on August 3 for PC (Steam, GOG). Since then, the developers have been rolling out numerous hotfixes to address bugs but are also working on the first major patch. Now, the Director of Publishing has already spoiled an upcoming feature.

When is the patch coming?

  • So far, there is no specific date for the first “serious patch,” as Larian refers to the upcoming update. Recently, the capacity for save files was increased.
  • In the community update from August 11, the developers promised that they are working on it. At the same time, there were a few interesting facts about the wizard Gale.
  • The exact contents are still unknown, but the Director of Publishing, Michael Douse, has already revealed what the team is currently working on.

What is this new feature? Douse spoke on Twitter with a fan about the possibility of visually customizing their character after it has already been created. This concerns custom characters, but also the “Dark Urge,” one of the origins.

So far, it is not possible to change a character’s appearance after the game has started. Players wish for an option like a mirror to adjust face and so on again. Something like this was also available in Divinity: Original Sin 2.

Since Baldur’s Gate 3 offers very extensive customization options, players spend a lot of time creating their character. Whether the customization feature will come with the first patch, however, is still unknown.

Start video
Launch Trailer for the Role-playing Game Baldur’s Gate 3

“Let me browse through all inventories”

On Reddit, users are sharing what features they would like to see in the first major patch. At the top of the list: seeing the inventory of all characters as long as one is in the camp.

At the moment, it is only possible to select items from characters in your own party. However, if you want something from a currently inactive character, you have to swap first. This is unnecessarily cumbersome. Other wishes include:

  • an improvement of “non-lethal” damage – currently, it is weighted the same as murder
  • the spell “Mage Hand” as a real spell, not just as a one-time spell per short rest
  • improvements to the inventory, such as assigning bags for specific item types
  • more customization options, such as hats and boots as cosmetic items
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Additionally, there are requests to improve the multiplayer mode. Currently, you can permanently destroy your friends’ save files when you join them. Here, players would like to have “hop-on-hop-off” features.

Towards the end of the game, in Act 3, some bugs should also be present that urgently need fixing and diminish the fun of the game right at the end. However, at the moment, relatively few players are affected by this. Some simply finish the game earlier:

Player finds secret ending in Baldur’s Gate 3, has to sacrifice the most popular character, but at least it’s fast

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

ZDF reports on CS:GO tournament in Cologne, annoys gamers: “A ridiculous coverage”

Jasmin Beverungen Jasmin Beverungen Reading time 2 minutes

The ZDF has not exactly distinguished itself with a new contribution to the “IEM Cologne 2023” tournament of CS:GO. The contribution seemed to many viewers like a mockery of the event and fans are responding with confusion.

What is presented in the report? The ZDF reports on what it is like to play the gaming classic “Counter-Strike” for a prize pool over four days. In doing so, the ZDF reporter portrays the e-sports athletes from the shooter as heroes of a “new digital world”, “which is still foreign to many.”

Some viewers have also noticed that the reporter uses a sarcastic tone at times and asks whether slaughtering, bombing, and dying would be fun.

  • You can watch the segment, which lasts about two and a half minutes, in full length in the ZDF media library.

In response to a fan’s comment that CS:GO has a lot to do with communication and team sports, the reporter does not delve further. Instead, he shifts to the topic of “merchandise” and explained that jerseys cost over 75 euros.

Furthermore, he highlights the following points, which are perceived as mocking by viewers:

  • Fans wait several hours to enter the arena to “watch others play computer games”
  • The avatars remain dead after the round; the players have nothing to fear except for a painful wrist.

At the tournament, there was also Counter-Strike 2 to play in advance. What it is about, you can see in the following video:

Start video
Counter-Strike 2 heralds a new era – The most important changes in the video

What are the reactions to the contribution? In social media, predominantly negative comments can be found regarding the ZDF contribution. Many players find the reporting “ridiculous” and express that they feel sad and angry about this contribution.

Some suspect the age of the reporter as the cause for the “negative mood” in the report. The reporter is 60 years old (via gameswirtschaft.de) and accordingly does not belong to the target audience of the event. A younger reporter might not have referred to CS:GO as a “foreign world for many.”

A user even offers himself to the ZDF as a reporter. He claims to know more about e-sports and would therefore like to create such reports himself.

To give you an impression of the mood on social media, we have selected some quotes:

  • mardy505: “How negative, condescending, and biased does ZDF report on e-sports?! That makes one so angry and sad.”
  • dat_olen: “There’s slaughtering, bombing, dying… Sorry ZDF, but that’s just a ridiculous report.”
  • Maggse: “It’s 2023 and the public broadcaster still can’t report reasonably about e-sports, a disgrace. The whole contribution serves only one purpose, to create as much negative sentiment against something that they don’t understand.”

Some users also feel reminded of the killer video game debate. The discussion revolved around whether video games would promote the willingness to use violence among children and youth. A study found that video games neither make children stupid nor violent but the opposite.

Moreover, many fans notice that the mentioned aspects also apply to football (via twitter.com). In football, for example, there are also jerseys to buy and the sport fills entire stadiums with athletes chasing a ball.

And yet, football is not reported on as if it were something strange. And CS:GO has been around since 2012. It has thus established itself.

CS:GO indeed still encounters misunderstanding among some due to its affiliation with the shooter genre. Already at the beginning of the year, a journalist reignited the killer video game debate: Journalist resurrects the killer video game debate in 2023: “Young men sit in front of these games and hunt others.”

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Player finds secret ending in Baldur’s Gate 3, has to sacrifice the most popular character, but at least it’s fast

Benedict Grothaus Benedict Grothaus Reading time 2 minutes

Baldur’s Gate 3 has only recently been playable on PC, but the first players have already discovered speedrun techniques. They finish the game in 10 minutes using certain game mechanics – as well as a secret and rather tragic ending.

What kind of ending is it?

Spoiler Alert! Since this is about the ending of Baldur’s Gate 3, spoilers are obviously unavoidable. Nonetheless, we will try to reveal as little about the story as possible and focus on what’s important.

This is how the secret ending works: Gale is the key character for the ending. This is due to his special circumstance: there is a magical bomb implanted in his chest, which is the reason for his hunger for magical items.

At the beginning of Act 2, Gale has the option to talk to the “Maker” of the bomb and plan its use. When he first encounters the 3 adversaries and “the Absolute”, he can detonate it.

If he does that, Gale sacrifices himself but also takes out all the villains at once. The power of the bomb is enough to completely eradicate the power of the adversaries.

Start video
5 helpful tips for Baldur’s Gate 3

With jumps and a strong mage to the speedrun

This secret ending is now being used by speedrunners to create the fastest runs possible. This might be one of the reasons why Gale is the most popular origin character.

YouTuber Mae holds the current record with his run of 10:03 minutes. He not only uses the secret ending but also makes full use of some game mechanics. You can see the entire run here:

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For instance, Mae builds Gale as much as possible to increase his jump range. With the “Jump” spell, he triples the distance for jumps and hops through the world.

In the end, he uses a protective spell from Shadowheart that allows him to move faster through Act 2 to the Moonlight Towers, where he jumps directly to the end through a hole in the wall. Half-naked and with the bomb in his chest, he then faces the enemies.

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Baldur’s Gate 3: Decipher the ancient book – How to find and open the necromancy of Thay
von Fabienne Kissel

This is not actually a “good” ending. The parasites that are implanted in you at the beginning are kept in check by the Absolute – or more precisely, by the control of the Three.

If this control is gone, either all deployed larvae hatch or their hosts die in other ways. Strictly speaking, that would probably be the lesser evil, since the return of the Illithid Empire is temporarily prevented.

It is to be expected that in the coming time, more speedrunners will refine the technique or even find better, faster ways to the end. Perhaps with a bit less cruelty.

Jumping is by the way not the only helpful ability that everyone masters:

Baldur’s Gate 3: 2 abilities that everyone can master and they can take out enemies instantly – That’s what makes them so good and how you use them

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

No player was worse in FIFA: This is the card with the lowest rating in the history of Ultimate Team

Thomas Dummer Thomas Dummer Reading time 2 minutes

In the history of FIFA Ultimate Team, there have been countless different cards with a variety of ratings. The players with an incredibly high overall rating are the ones that are most memorable.

At the end of the FIFA series and before the launch of EA Sports FC 24, we are turning the tables today and looking at the card with the lowest rating ever. For this, we need to go back a few years, to the early days of Ultimate Team.

In FIFA 10, when the Ultimate Team mode was just getting started, a card was released that set new standards. No one should ever be that bad again.

FIFA 10: The worst card in FIFA Ultimate Team goes to …

… Ian Baraclough: Remember this name, because this player will go down in the history of FIFA Ultimate Team. The former professional and later manager received a striker card in FIFA 10 with an astonishing rating of “25”! The recipient of the worst card played for several English clubs during his career, his last position as a player at Scunthorpe United was also his first coaching job.

In the following YouTube thumbnail, you can see the card in all its glory. Additionally, you can watch a work sample of the Northern Irishman in the video.

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Remarkably: Despite a shooting stat of 88, Baraclough managed to achieve an overall rating of only 25. This made the card even more bizarre.

Why was the card so bad? The Northern Irish striker, with his strong shot, only received a miserable “11” in all other stats according to EA. If you wanted to play with this iconic card, the only tactic was to pass the ball to Baraclough so that he only had to shoot at the goal.

How did Baraclough get his card? Various myths surround the origin of the cards. One story suggests that while acting as a coach at Scunthorpe United, he spectacularly volleyed a ball from the coach’s bench at midfield into the goal.

However, there is no video footage of his sensational goal.

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What could really be behind the rating of the card?

It’s possible that EA played a prank with Ian Baraclough’s card.

This also went the other way: Some players have their fun with EA Sports, as we reported in our article from 2020.

A similar incident happened in German football. For example, the equipment manager of Erzgebirge Aue received a bronze player card in FIFA 18 that was rated better than some professionals at Erzgebirge Aue (via derwesten.de).

Ian Baraclough’s career was certainly not harmed by the whole affair. In the meantime, the Northern Irishman even had the chance to coach his own national team. However, all FIFA players will remember him more for his dubious card.

We are curious if the FIFA successor FC 24 will also provide us with some stories of this kind. Some changes in Ultimate Team have already sparked plenty of discussion ahead of FC 24.

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Diablo 4: Patch 1.1.2 is coming today – At what time and what does it contain?

Patrick Freese Patrick Freese Reading time 2 minutes

Today Patch 1.1.2 of Diablo 4 is available for download. We will show you what we know so far and what content and changes await you.

What does Patch 1.1.2 bring? The update focuses on fixing bugs that occur in quests, events, and classes. There are also gameplay updates for you.

Here we present the highlights of the patch notes.

Contents of Patch 1.1.2 and Release Time

What time does the update come out? There is currently no fixed release time for the update. Historically, patch downloads start around 7:00 PM German time. We also expect this today. Today’s date has been confirmed for the patch.

Patch 1.1.1 with hidden changes was released just a few days ago.

Will there be a server downtime? This is currently unclear and has not yet been confirmed by Blizzard. It is possible that the game will be unavailable for a few hours. As soon as we know more, we will update the article.

What’s inside? There are two gameplay updates for you.

  • If you activate Evil Hearts in the world, you will no longer have to wait 5 seconds for an Evil Monster to appear, but only 2 seconds.
  • You are now in the trading channel by default. If you do not want this, you can disable it in the game settings.

There are also bug fixes for dungeons and events. After the patch, it should no longer be possible to replay Nightmare Dungeons by making another group member the leader. Additionally, the event “the gathered legions” should now progress correctly when defeating enemies nearby.

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For the Druid, some broken abilities have been fixed. For example, boulders cast with the aspect of the metamorphic stone should also deal more than 100% damage.

The quest “Wrath against Fate” should now also run correctly.

For players who have experienced stuttering in the game, the patch may also provide assistance. The team states that “multiple stability and performance improvements” have been made.

You can find the complete patch notes for Update 1.1.2 of Diablo 4 here

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Pokémon GO starts Saturday “Toxic Swamp” with new Shiny and free research

Patrick Freese Patrick Freese Reading time 2 minutes

The next event for Pokémon GO has now been officially revealed. While the GO Fest is taking place in New York City, trainers around the world will also have an event. We will show you the details about “Toxic Swamp”.

What kind of event is this? The GO Fest in New York City runs from August 18 to August 20 in the USA. The event “Toxic Swamp” brings a part of the New York event to the whole world.

When does it take place? The event featuring dragon and poison Pokémon runs from August 19 at 10:00 AM to August 22 at 8:00 PM local time.

Toxic Swamp: Wild Pokémon, bonuses, raids, and research

What bonuses are there?

  • Double candies for catching Pokémon
  • Balloons with Team GO Rocket appear more often
  • One additional free raid pass per day for spinning gyms
  • New shiny: Algitt

Wild Pokémon: Zubat*, Bluzuk*, Tentacha*, Dratini*, Gehweiher*, Schluppuck*, Pionskora*, Milza*, Algitt*, Balgoras* and eF-eM* (Pokémon marked with an asterisk* can be caught as shiny).

Pokémon GO Toxic Swamp Wilderness Spawns

Raids: In level-1 raids you will encounter Sleima*, Alola-Sleima*, Hisui-Baldorfish and Hisui-Sniebel. In level-3 raids, you can expect Galar-Smogmog*, Shardrago* and Tortunator*.

Crypto raids are also part of the event. In level-1 crypto raids, you will find Crypto-Zubat, -Hunduster and -Dusselgurr. In level-3 crypto raids, you can find Crypto-Nidoran♀*, -Onix and -Sniebel*.

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Field research: If you complete field research tasks obtained during the event, you can encounter Sleima*, Dratini*, Knacklion*, Algitt*, eF-eM* and Garstella.

Timed research: A free timed research will be available to all players at the start of the event. The tasks will revolve around raid battles. If you complete the tasks, you will receive encounters with poison and dragon Pokémon (including Miniras). The time for completing the research ends with the end of the event.

We will show you all further events in August 2023 for Pokémon GO in the overview.

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Blizzard disables trading in Diablo 4 due to something that already destroyed Diablo 2

Benedict Grothaus Benedict Grothaus Reading time 2 minutes

You cannot trade with other players in Diablo 4 right now while Blizzard fixes a dupe exploit. The problem of too much gold has already led to a completely destroyed economy in previous versions.

How long is trading disabled?

What’s the problem? It’s about duplicating gold. Some players have discovered an exploit that allows them to multiply their gold without much effort. This has led to items being traded for several billion.

“Normal” players generally cannot afford such sums or only with a lot of grinding. The best items on the market are therefore not realistically accessible to them. Trading is more limited than in Diablo 2, but it is still a part of the game.

Problems with gold dupes have existed before. In Diablo 2, the exploits were so severe that players eventually established rare items as new currency. Blizzard reacted too late back then, which now seems to be avoided.

The studio reminds that any account that uses such exploits will be punished.

Gold is also quite important to buy strong items from merchants:

Start video
Diablo 4: Merchants are more useful than you think

“Can you fix the exploit from the occultist now?”

While there is at least some approval on Reddit, many users there respond rather cynically. They recall the absurd prices of the occultist and ask: please fix the exploit where I pay huge amounts and get nothing in return.

Other players wonder where trading in Diablo 4 is even relevant. They joke that certain combinations of the over 200 affixes on items must surely be strong enough to justify a few billion gold.

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Diablo 4: Farming gold in Season 4 – This is the best way to do it
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Diablo 4: How much does a reset to level 100 cost? Player spends millions, “so you don’t have to”
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In Discord, trading is actually thriving. There, the gold exploit has apparently spread quickly, which is why Blizzard is now reacting a few days later. Even that is still too slow for some users.

Blizzard is currently having a tough time with the fans in Diablo 4 anyway. Even though the developers are making genuine efforts to rectify problems and improve the game, there are always setbacks that no one really understands:

Developers themselves play Diablo 4, face problems on the lowest difficulty: ‘That explains a lot’

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.