In the Christmas season of 2017, there was a tragic incident in Wichita, Kansas. Two players of Call of Duty: WWII got into an argument over a $2 bet. One decided to “swat” the other. In the ensuing police operation, 28-year-old Andrew Finch, who was completely uninvolved, was killed. The family of the deceased sued the city in 2018. Five years later, the tragic incident has now been settled.
How did the swatting happen back then?
It was about a $2 bet in Call of Duty: WW2. Two players, then 19 and 20 years old, argued over the bet to the extent that one decided to send a police command to the other.
To initiate the swatting, he recruited the then 25-year-old Tyler Barris, known to engage in such actions. Barris called the Wichita police on December 27, pretending there was a hostage situation: Someone was holding brother, sister, and mother hostage, threatening to kill the family and set the house on fire.
Barris sent the police to the address given to him by one of the players. But the address was wrong. The hated gaming rival did not live there, but rather the completely uninvolved Andrew Finch. He came out of the house, pulled up his pants multiple times according to witnesses, a police officer thought he was drawing a weapon and shot him. Andrew Finch died.
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Family fights in court for 5 years for their rights
This was decided now: What followed was a years-long legal battle. The family of Andrew Finch sued Wichita in 2018 and then fought for their rights for 5 years.
As PC Gamer reports, Wichita was ultimately removed from the lawsuit and only the police officer, Justin Rapp, who shot, was sued – but the city covers his costs.
They have now agreed that the family will receive $5 million, of which the city will pay $2 million, the rest will be covered by insurance.
A spokesperson for the family says:
It was very difficult, to put it politely. I saw the family experience disappointment after disappointment, but today we finally came together as a community. We did it.
The mayor of Wichita says he is just glad that the community has finally been able to find closure, also for the family. It is just a terrible situation.
What happens to the perpetrators? The caller Tyler Barris is serving 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to 51 counts of making false phone calls and issuing threats.
The case of Andrew Finch led to a change in law in Kansas that imposes harsher penalties for swatting.
Whenever it is warned since then that “swatting” is not a dumb prank but a highly dangerous matter in which people can be seriously harmed or even killed, they are referring specifically to the 2017 case.
Swatting remains a significant issue and very stressful for many Twitch streamers today:
When players cannot behave in online games, they are locked out by the developers with an account ban. Has this ever happened to you?
Here you can vote: Tell us in the survey tool below if you have ever received a ban (or multiple bans) in any online game. If you don’t remember the exact number, you can provide an approximate value.
These are the reasons for bans: In order to maintain (more or less) order in their online games, developers establish rules that all players should follow (ideally).
On one hand, they are necessary to ensure that the game’s rules are adhered to and all participants play fairly. On the other hand, they should ensure that there is a reasonable tone between players (whether both work out is, of course, another matter). Prohibited activities in most online games usually include:
Cheating
Exploiting exploits
Botting
Toxicity, flaming, and harassment towards other players
The rules differ depending on the game genre, but the final punishment is always the same: ban. Some are temporary, while others are permanent. Permanent bans always mean losing the earned content that is on your account.
In recent years, various types of bans have emerged. For example, there are shadow bans where cheaters can no longer find matches or get matched only with other cheaters.
In this survey, however, we only want to hear about the “actual” bans that have happened to you (or not).
So go ahead: Have you ever received a ban? How did it happen? Was it only temporary, or did you lose all your belongings on the account? Let us know in the comments.
The highly anticipated MMORPG for League of Legends recently lost its director. A user on Reddit is now speculating whether the entire game is being put on ice by Riot and presents his “evidence” found in a post.
Regarding the Riot MMORPG, he said: “The most important of my tasks that I was allowed to complete as part of it was to build the wonderful team […] The MMO is in good hands and will soon enter the next phase.”
Reddit user speculates about a possible end for the Riot MMO
Despite Ghostcrawler’s statements that everything is going positively with the MMORPG, a Reddit user named SiriDeCabeca seems worried. This person researched all possible LinkedIn and Twitter profiles of the team and points out issues that make them suspicious:
The MMORPG currently has no Senior Director
The rest of the team removed the Riot MMO from their profiles
On the “Work With Us” page of Riot, the MMO team is greyed out
Yekaterina Bourykina, Lead Character Artist, changed her job title on LinkedIn to “R&D”. Previously it was “MMO”.
Chaemirix, also a designer for the MMO, announced on Twitter that he will be working again on TFT
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While some fans are catching the worry of the user, many say he or she is reading too much into the issue.
The fact that the MMO is greyed out at “Work With Us” merely means that Riot is currently not hiring new employees for it. Regarding all the processes, it is normal, internal procedures, writes another user.
We summarize a few of the voices here for you:
DatFrostyBoy: “I say: ‘Probably not.’ The Riot MMO is not something you quietly put on ice.”
fkyn0: “You’re reading too much into it. When Ghostcrawler left Riot, he said the MMO would soon enter the next phase. That is probably just part of it.”
New_Towel_7680: “Pure fiction.”
Uptopdownlowguy: “If Blizzard can scrap the sci-fi MMO and integrate it into Overwatch, Riot can probably do something similar.”
firey21: “It would be terrible if this were true. I was looking forward to the game.”
Officially, it is stated that the game is still in development. There is no statement as to why employees are adjusting their profiles.
Recent remarks from Marc Merrill, co-founder of Riot, still apply. In a tweet from March 7, he writes shortly after Ghostcrawler announced his resignation:
“We believe in this game and the team working on it. If we view development as a race, Greg has completed the first leg wonderfully. And I know exactly who will take the baton next will continue to propel success forward.”
What do you think about the topic? Do you believe the user could be right with his speculations? Or is it merely a misunderstanding of information? Feel free to let us know in the comments here on MeinMMO!
The 35-year-old Marcel Eris, known as “MontanaBlack,” is one of the largest streamers on German Twitch. It all started with videos he posted from his grandparents’ attic on YouTube. Now, he is returning to his roots and taking his fans on a nostalgia trip.
What is the story behind MontanaBlack’s past? The now 35-year-old has never hidden his past, openly discussing drugs and crime. His honesty set him apart from the rather prudish YouTube landscape of the time, as he himself says.
Now MontanaBlack is bringing back one of his oldest formats: The “Reallife Stories,” where he shares personal anecdotes. His viewers are excited and feel transported back in time.
What kind of format is this? Reallife Stories were a format on MontanaBlack’s original YouTube channel. However, there have been no new videos on that channel for several years. Instead, the 35-year-old uses his former secondary channel, SpontanaBlack.
However, on SpontanaBlack, mostly compilations of his streams were posted, meaning no videos specifically made for YouTube.
Now there are two new Reallife Stories, and they are really wonderfully old-school: The facecam is off, there is gameplay from Black Ops or Modern Warfare, and MontanaBlack chats away.
What are these stories about? The first new Reallife Story premiered on March 11 and is titled “The False Friend.” The video received nearly 70,000 likes and overwhelmingly positive reactions from the community: In the comments, there is talk of nostalgia and even tears (via YouTube).
Confirmed by the positive feedback, MontanaBlack followed up on March 22 with the next Reallife Story. You can also watch the real-life of MontanaBlack in our video:
Start video
Career and Life of MontanaBlack in 2 Minutes: What Makes Him Unique?
Alleged car chase ends in mud
What is the story about? MontanaBlack recounts a nighttime tagging session with an old friend with whom he had little contact for several years. Together with other buddies, they arranged to meet one night for “painting bikes” – code for graffiti.
Spraying without permission is prohibited in Germany and can be quite expensive. Accordingly, the group reacted in panic when a car approached their secluded spot – they fled.
In the process, the streamer was careless and landed “waist-high” in the mud – closely followed by his old friend. It was doubly annoying because upon their return, they realized that the car that had been on their tail was not a police civilian vehicle.
Rather, the occupant had also intended to take advantage of the seclusion of the location, albeit for a nighttime rendezvous. You can check out the whole story here:
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How is the story being received? Just like with the previous Reallife Story, fans are excited. They feel transported back to their own youth that they experienced with the streamer, demanding more “old-school content” (via YouTube).
Why the sudden nostalgia content? Only MontanaBlack knows for sure. However, it has been observed on Twitter for some time that the streamer is reminiscing. He posts pictures from the past and captions them with things like “Good times” or “Take me back” (via Twitter).
It may not be surprising that MontanaBlack is reflecting on the good old days, as the 35-year-old has now been active as a content creator for about 10 years. During this time, he has watched the changes in the German streaming landscape – and some of it does not sit well with him:
In summer, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will receive an upgrade and become Counter-Strike 2. Fresh graphics, a new netcode, gameplay adjustments – many dials are being turned. The most important known changes are collected on MeinMMO.
The known maps will remain in the game, you can keep your cosmetics, and they don’t want to change too much about the gameplay feeling. It is supposed to remain the popular and successful tactical shooter, but better.
Here you can find details about the planned changes so far. Should the developers announce further changes, we will update the article accordingly.
Counter-Strike 2: Known Innovations
At the heart of the upgrade from CS:GO to Counter-Strike 2 is the revised Source Engine 2. The new engine provides modern development tools and new performance capabilities.
This could cause the game to run worse on older PCs, but the overall quality is improving:
Better graphics
More gameplay possibilities
New netcode
Precision sound
Regarding the details of the new engine, the developers are still tight-lipped. However, they have already released some information on how the upgrade will affect CS:GO. We will go into the individual points in more detail below.
Until the release in summer, the developers want to publish more information about the upgrade. So the list only provides an initial insight.
Visually, the well-known style of Counter-Strike is retained, but the new possibilities of the engine are also being used for fresh gameplay elements.
They want to adjust the behaviors of several elements in the game with high-resolution effects:
Water
Explosions
Fire
Smoke
Muzzle flash
Projectile trails
Impact effects
and more
Especially the smoke is drastically changing, responding much more to other influences. More about that further down. Oh, and by the way, you can see your feet in CS2!
Game graphics, environmental effects, and the user interface will be comprehensively revised and improved.
This also includes your skins from CS:GO, which you should be able to keep in Counter-Strike 2. The skins and also the normal weapons will receive new, high-resolution models.
You can keep your skins, but they are supposed to look better.
Counter-Strike 2: Redesigned Maps
Familiar maps will get a new coat of paint with CS2. The developers currently classify them into three different types of redesigns:
Completely overhauled
Built from the ground up
Redesigned
New lighting and rendering system
Freshened up
Improvement of lighting and readability
The refreshed maps are currently designed for players to pay more attention to gameplay adjustments while testing and to be less influenced by the visual innovations.
We have created a small gallery with example images:
Completely overhauled: Overpass – OldCompletely overhauled: Overpass – New Redesigned: Nuke – OldRedesigned: Nuke – NewFreshened up: Dust II – OldFreshened up: Dust II – NewMore pictures of the maps can be found at counter-strike.net
The map builders in the community also benefit from the new tools of the Source 2 engine.
If you would like to learn more about the topic, watch the developers’ English video on the visual upgrades of the Counter-Strike world:
Start video
Counter-Strike 2: Trailer – Revised Maps
Counter-Strike 2: The New Tick Rate
A rather technical topic, but particularly exciting for players with competitive claims. The netcode is getting a significant upgrade and the developers explain it as follows:
In CS:GO, only the ticks counted, and there were 64 ticks per second. The server ignored the time between the ticks – the tick rate was not ‘real-time’, but the server only saw those 64 ticks per second.
With CS2, there will be a real-time tick. The server then knows exactly when each action was executed.
Example grenade throw: In CS:GO, the server recognized the throw in one tick, and exactly at the time of the tick, the throw occurred. In CS2, the server recognizes that the throw actually happens between the ticks and adjusts the throw moment accordingly.
This results in much more consistent results for the same actions. Movements, gunfire, throws – the server recognizes much more accurately who, when, executed which input and regulates the process accordingly.
More information on the topic can also be found here in the developers’ English video:
Start video
Counter-Strike 2: Trailer – The New Tick Rate
Counter-Strike 2: The New Smoke
The highlight also includes the new smoke of CS2. It no longer just puffs out of the grenade and creates its usual cloud. In CS2, the smoke reacts to the environment and even to other gameplay elements:
Gameplay interactions
Natural dispersion
Reactions to light
Objects stop the dispersion, light/shadow can be seen on the dense smoke clouds. With gunfire, you can even shoot holes in the smoke to create a line of sight:
The developers have also published an English video on the topic that you can check out here:
Not all details of the big CS:GO upgrade are known yet, we are keeping a close eye on the situation on MeinMMO. If there is new information, the article will be updated.
If you have any questions or would like to share your opinion on CS2, the comments are open for you. If you would rather read more about shooters, check this out: The 10 best free-to-play shooters
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The German MMORPG Albion Online launches its Asian servers with “Albion East”. These are globally accessible and highly sought after: Player numbers are rapidly increasing on Steam.
According to the site SteamDB, Albion Online is currently seeing higher player numbers on Steam than ever before. The all-time peak now stands at 22,800 players – this player count record was set by the MMORPG two days ago.
In the last 24 hours, the number of active players was just slightly below that. Before the launch of Albion East, the daily player count was only around 6,000.
Since the MMORPG offers its own client outside of Steam and is also available for mobile devices, the actual player count is likely higher.
Launch in Asia is simultaneously a fresh start server for everyone
What is Albion East? With Albion East, servers established in Singapore are opening their doors. However, this does not apply only to players from Asia but globally. It is therefore a new, fresh version of Albion.
Players can start anew there, like during the Fresh Starts of the MMORPG New World in November. Economically, everything in Albion is regulated by players, which is why everything in the economy is also reset – exciting times in the MMORPG.
Albion East begins with a reduced world size. This is intended to keep “the competition between players and the overall player density at an optimal level,” as they state in their announcement. They plan to provide more regions later.
Additionally, from March 15 to 29, Twitch Drops will be available. Those who watch for several hours will receive rewards – exclusive chests containing brand new items.
Start video
The German MMORPG Albion Online shows upcoming content – players say: „Great news for solo players“
High demand for the MMORPG leads to problems
Under the post on Steam, many players complain about issues. Especially a high ping is a problem when trying to launch Albion East from Europe or America. Even people from Australia are complaining about high pings.
Moreover, there are queues when logging in, as so many players are interested in the fresh start of Albion. Some have over 5,000 people ahead of them before they can finally play (via MMORPG.org).
With a premium subscription, players can enter the MMORPG much faster. Fans are also angry about the high prices of the founder packs that could be purchased at the launch of Albion East (via Reddit). This provided clear advantages at the fresh start of the MMORPG.
What do you think of Albion East? Have you already played on the Asian servers and encountered issues with your ping or long queues? Or did everything go smoothly for you? Are you in possession of a premium subscription or founder pack? Please let us know in the comments here on MeinMMO!
What is shroud talking about?Valve officially announced Counter-Strike 2 on March 22, an update to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Naturally, shroud, as a former CS:GO pro, immediately reacted to the announcement in a Twitch stream and shared some first thoughts.
In doing so, the streamer initially discusses the video featuring the new smokes. These now react to gunfire, explosions, and objects on the map. Additionally, they fill rooms completely and are now “volumetric”.
If you haven’t seen the video of Counter-Strike 2 featuring the new smokes yet, we embed it here:
Start video
Counter-Strike 2: Responsive Smokes
“It was nice to meet you, Framerate”
What does shroud say about the new smokes? The streamer believes that your frames-per-second (FPS) could suffer under the new smokes. His first reaction was: “Volumetric, oh volumetric. Bye bye FPS, bye bye. It was nice to meet you, Framerate.”
However, even if shroud believes that FPS might suffer, he still finds that the new grenades look very good:
Okay, the smokes look damn cool, but still bye bye FPS, that will hurt. Luckily, Counter-Strike is already running great, so it’s not a big deal. It’s just that if you already have issues, you will have even more issues, and that is annoying.
If you’re now worried about your framerate, the streamer might still give you hope that it won’t be as bad as he initially suspected. After all, the “Counter-Strike 2” update could generally improve the framerate.
Moreover, shroud thinks it’s good that grenades now remove smoke with the explosion and can be used as counters against smokes. However, he doesn’t like that gunfire can also tear holes in the smoke.
You can also see the complete reaction of shroud to the new smoke grenades as well as the streamer’s opinion on Counter-Strike 2 in a YouTube video on his channel:
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What is shroud’s reaction after his first round? Of course, shroud is also among the selected individuals who can play Counter-Strike 2 before its release during an ongoing testing phase.
After the streamer finishes his first match in Counter-Strike 2, he informs his viewers on Twitch that the CS:GO update feels significantly “smoother” than he had thought.
By the way, you can also continue to use your expensive CS:GO skins in Counter-Strike 2. So it’s not a big deal if you’ve just invested the value of a sports car in the tactical shooter:
The new champion has been released in League of Legends. Milio, the protective flame, comes as a supporter into the Rift and takes the position of a enchanter. But what does the champion bring?
What can the supporter do? The champion supports his teammates with his abilities in many areas. He is the hope to replace the strong ADC supporters.
His passive ability enchants him or his teammates. The enchantment causes the next attack or spell that hits an enemy to burn. It acts like the summoner spell “Ignite”, but smaller.
The Q ability pushes the first enemy hit back a little bit. After that, the ball jumps behind and slows all enemies it hits in a small area.
His W ability places a field that is tied to an allied champion and follows it. The field grants the champion increased range, heals him, and gives the ally the effect of the passive ability a total of 3 times over its duration.
The E ability grants an ally a shield and additional movement speed. The ability has up to 2 stacks that can accumulate over time.
With his ultimate ability, he can heal all nearby teammates and remove crowd control effects from them.
If you want to learn more about Milio, we have a video for you here:
Start video
Milio, the protective flame – Champion Theme
The new supporter can only support
What does the champion look like in-game? The gameplay of Milio seems overall very defensive and supportive. For players who like to be carried by their team, the champion offers a lot. This counters the current trend that makes it difficult for supporters on the bot lane.
With certain champion combinations, such as Caitlyn or Jinx, Milio can utilize the increased range of his W ability to deal massive damage to enemies out of reach.
However, he himself does little to no damage. Milio’s only attack occurs through his Q ability. This should be used more defensively to block incoming damage for teammates.
The goal with this champion is to support teammates in their play style.
What do the big streamers say about it? The big streamers started to play the champion immediately after release. This includes the German expert in the LoL area, Frederik Hinteregger, or NoWay.
The possibilities the champion offers have been pushed to the limit by him in the stream (via Twitch). He particularly enjoyed the new mechanic of the Q ability. This plays a little differently than known skill shots. His opinion of the champion can be summarized in one word: “Super strong”.
Also, @i0ki_LoL shared his opinion on Twitter, suggesting that the champion is way too strong against other champions at level 1. For this, the E ability is played at the start.
However, the streamers and YouTubers largely agree that this champion needs adjustments to some of his abilities in regard to pro play.
What do you think about the new champion? Let us know in the comments.
Patch 10.0.7 is much more than most expected. At least WoW demon Cortyn is absolutely thrilled and sees it as the future of Azeroth.
It has only been one day since the release of Patch 10.0.7, but I believe I already have a pretty good impression of the content and want to boldly and directly praise the developers.
Because Patch 10.0.7 of World of Warcraft is clearly much more than one could hope for.
Patch 10.0.7 is actually just a small patch, yet in terms of content, it can easily compete with the major patches of previous expansions:
A newly accessible island, packed with treasures, rare spawns, story quests, and a weekly exploration adventure.
A new reputation faction of the furbolgs.
A new “ring” system with many interchangeable, interesting sockets.
Some new story quests involving Baine, humans, and orcs.
Some hidden novelties, like old armor sets from vanilla (Zul’Gurub) that haven’t been available for a long time.
Start video
New WoW Cinematic shows the power of the incarnations and quite dark figures
Especially the rare enemies on the island I want to highlight here. They do not feel like the typical “08/15” rare mobs that only have a single ability; rather, they are mostly small boss fights where, at least as a non-tank, you have to dodge their abilities if you don’t want to bite the dust quickly. A few examples:
A titan guardian occasionally summons protective drones that cast a spell. If this spell is not interrupted or the drone quickly stunned, the drone flings the selected player 100 meters away into the water. If this happens to all players, the fight ends and the mob resets.
A dragon tamer shows up with his dragon, which spins in circles and casts various effects. At the same time, you also have to dodge different attacks from the tamer and place areas well so that you don’t accidentally walk into the next fire breath.
A naga transforms all players into small, helpless crabs. The crabs deal almost no damage – but they can attack small totems that maintain the naga’s spell, thereby ending the transformation.
In direct comparison with Shadowlands, the difference is simply striking. Although there were also mobs with special abilities in Korthia, they were few and felt dreary and boring compared to the Forbidden Island. If you think back further and compare 10.0.7 with the legendary-bad “selfie patch” from Warlords of Draenor, it is clear that the development team and the plans for WoW have evolved significantly.
The second highlight is the Zskerage vaults. Although this is a weekly adventure where you have to open around 30 doors before waiting for the next week, I am quite impressed by it.
Because the vaults are full of little puzzles that are not incredibly difficult but reward attentive players. For instance, if a chamber is completely frozen, you need to grab an empty vial from a second room and fill it with “liquid fire” in a third room to thaw the frozen room.
These little combination puzzles are not overly complex, but they always provide a positive feeling when you open a new treasure and solve another puzzle. Rewards include toys, pets, crafting materials, gold, and of course stones for the onyx ring.
Since the layout of the vaults varies from character to character, it even takes a while to truly see everything.
At least my guild had a lot of fun in the vault, as it felt like new, untapped content that exists without pressure and is simply there when you feel like it.
More “Warcraft” than all of Shadowlands combined
As YouTuber Bellular describes: The whole patch feels like beautiful, classic Warcraft. Not only are there encounters with old characters that you haven’t seen since Warcraft III, but the quest lines are really interesting.
Whether you’re traveling with Baine Bloodhoof in Ohn’ahra, exploring the story of the dracthyr on the Forbidden Island, or trying to learn the language of the furbolgs in the Azure Mountains – all of this has a classic Warcraft charm that has been missed, especially in Shadowlands.
Sure, you still need to get used to the dracthyr, but the patch significantly helps to anchor them in the “familiar” sight of Azeroth.
The dialogues are coherent, the emotions fitting – the quest line is successful.
And the best part: None of this is mandatory. Don’t feel like farming rare mobs to grind keys for the chamber? Okay, then just don’t do it. You can also collect treasures that contain keys. Or do none of that. The ring is nice, but anyone with strong rings from the mythic raid or high M+ already has a solid alternative.
Story quests are not your thing and you find it boring? No problem, the whole thing serves only as a prequel and explanation of the motivation of some characters who will be important in the next update.
There is criticism, but it is minor
Of course, there is also criticism. After all, the Forbidden Island is “technically speaking” not really a new area, since it already served as the starting area for the dracthyr. Grumpy WoW fans might point out that this is simply “recycling”. However, a more sober look should make it clear that this “recycling” was planned from the beginning.
When the Forbidden Island was still purely a starting area, one couldn’t help but think: But this is already very large, considering that there’s so little to do here.
The starting area of the dracthyr was designed from the outset to be reusable and still have a solid size to offer enough room for the ability of dragon riding.
The second point of criticism is a handful of bugs that were primarily noticeable on launch day. If the necessary trigger at an event chest appears with a 5-minute delay or a rare mob turns all players into helpless crabs for 10 minutes without being able to cancel the effect as intended, that can be annoying, of course. But these are minor issues that can still be laughed about when it happens, and suddenly half the guild is doing a crab dance.
I am confident that these “patch day errors” will be resolved with the next hotfix.
Blizzard set a very tight schedule for the release of new content shortly after the launch of Dragonflight. 6 patches are planned for this year, with 4 being smaller and 2 larger, each bringing a new season. But if Blizzard maintains the current level even for the “smaller” patches, long-term WoW fans will hardly know where to look.
If everything continues like this, 2023 will likely be the first year in a long time when a content drought simply does not occur. Some will progress through the content faster, and others slower, but the long droughts of four, five, or even six months without new content seem to belong to the past.
Like many others, I was skeptical before the launch of Dragonflight whether Blizzard and World of Warcraft specifically still had “it”. Now I am sure: Yes. They can when they want to. And right now they clearly want to.
Currently, World of Warcraft simply delivers and does so at a very high level. The patch serves as the perfect prologue to the next update 10.1, highlighting the key characters more and starting the stories that take place after the “vault of the incarnations” raid.
If you want to give WoW another chance, now is a good entry point – also because in the next weeks thick loot is raining, with which you can quickly catch up to friends and guild.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Pokémon GO fighting in raids is one of the most important features for many trainers. Now the developers are testing a new feature that the game has needed for years. We at MeinMMO show you what it is and who can already try it out.
What are raids? In Pokémon GO you can not only encounter wild monsters but also fight against them in so-called raids. Particularly the legendary Pokémon from level 5 raids are in demand, however, one needs strong support from other trainers to defeat them.
Since the pandemic, players have also been able to invite others to remote raids in other regions of the world. But to find suitable teammates for this, trainers have often had to rely on external apps. Niantic wants to change this and is testing a new feature in the app Campfire. We explain what it is supposed to bring you.
Niantic tests host function for raids
What is Campfire? Campfire is Niantic’s own app that allows trainers to communicate with each other. This allows for chatting, forming groups, or sending smoke signals to show that they want to do a raid in Pokémon GO.
Which function is being tested? In the future, trainers will be able to indicate in Campfire not only when they want to participate on-site in a raid in Pokémon GO but it should also be possible for them to host this raid. Similar to how it already works in other apps like Poke Genie, trainers will then be able to invite others specifically. How this function looks in Campfire is shown in the image from Reddit user circe1:
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Who can test the function? The new function is not yet available to all players in Campfire. Niantic has selected a group of trainers who received a corresponding email from the developers and can try out the function from March 22 to March 29. The notification looks like this:
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In general, trainers are excited about the idea of the new function, as many believe it is long overdue and would significantly improve the game. However, Niantic is also criticized for the approach.
This is primarily because Campfire is still limited months after its release. Those wanting access to the app need an invitation. For this reason, trainers do not understand why Niantic has also restricted the test version of the new function. On Reddit you can read the following:
TowelMage: “A QoL feature as a limited-time bonus in an additional app with an entry barrier. What the hell is that kind of perspective?”
BoristheWatchmaker: “A desperately needed QoL update is hidden behind another desperately needed QoL update that is still unavailable for most of the player base.”
Individual_Breath_34: “If they publish a Poke Genie equivalent in their app, that would be one of the best decisions they have ever made.”
When access will come for all trainers and whether this function will find a permanent home in Campfire remains to be seen. As soon as there is new information on this, you will learn about it at MeinMMO.
What do you think of the new function in Campfire? Are you one of the lucky ones who can already try it out? Or are you still unable to use the app? Let us know here at MeinMMO in the comments and exchange ideas with other trainers.
Fortnite is known for building and challenges the creativity of players, who can now even create their own games in Fortnite.
Fortnite has long been known for mixing shooter gameplay with building structures. This gave the battle royale matches a unique twist that players either loved or hated. The motto was: Don’t find cover, build one.
But the change that Fortnite is experiencing is not over: Epic Games has now released a system that gives players unprecedented creative freedom and allows them to turn the colorful shooter into a completely new game.
Unreal Editor for Fortnite
What kind of system is this? Epic Games released the so-called “Unreal Editor for Fortnite” or “Creative 2.0” on March 22, 2023 (via epicgames.com).
Players can create their own worlds, modes, or games with the editor, which they can then publish within Fortnite.
Moreover, it should be possible to work together on a project with others using Creative 2.0.
There is already a first video of the Unreal Editor. You can see it here:
Start video
Unreal Editor for Fortnite Release Trailer
Fortnite as ‘Roblox Killer’
What are the first reactions? Many players are excited and highly appreciate the influence that the editor will have. Some already see it as the Roblox killer, while others believe the editor will even rival Epic Games’ Fortnite events.
Rctheking: “The Roblox Killer is here (via Twitter)!”
Mathiasxd148: “Now I’m going to create some custom maps like BO3 [probably CoD Black Ops 3] (via Twitter).”
Granbe: “Epic should improve its events before people start making better ones (via Twitter).”
On Twitter, there are already videos of creations where Fortnite no longer looks like Fortnite:
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Twitter user Jake Lucky shows a clip of Creative 2.0, in which Fortnite looks like an MMORPG
What creative players will create in Fortnite from now on will be revealed in the future. They now definitely have unprecedented possibilities. There are already discussions on Twitter about a first-person mode, boss fights against powerful monsters, and parkour maps.
Fortnite is currently in Chapter 4 Season 2. What to expect can be found on MeinMMO.
For over 6 years, players of Destiny 2 have been waiting to give their Guardian the ultimate, dark, and above all completely black look. Until now, always in vain. But Season 20 could fulfill this dark wish for you now – albeit with a small, quirky catch.
Still no “Superblack” for Destiny 2: When Guardians want to refresh their colors a bit, they scroll through their collection, in search of something really cool. But after what feels like 100 shaders later, it becomes apparent that not a single shader is truly perfect in all details.
And this, despite the fact that newer shaders have significantly evolved in their designs:
The shader evolution in Destiny 2 is unmistakable: More effects, more patterns
Even in 2023, almost all shaders in Destiny 2 have quirky color casts that one wouldn’t expect. Sure, there are black shaders in the game. But a 100% pure black, which Guardians have been craving for 6 years, does not exist. At least not in Destiny 2.
“Amethyst Veil” – a black shader with purple accents
“Metro Shift” – a black shader with blue accents
“Skele-Ghaul” – a black shader that looks rather washed out and gray
“Midnight Smith” – a black shader with silver and red accents
“New Era of the Black Armory” – a green-black shader with red accents
“Fog Stripe” – a black shader with zebra pattern
“Bad Feeling” – very dark but also with a strong blue component and thunderclaps
Now Season 20 has brought a new black hope to the game – the shader named “Erebos Glanz”. It is quite black and this week in the glimmer offer. But don’t get too excited, as this shader has a colorful secret, just like the shader “Jacarini”.
Start video
Destiny 2 shows new insights into Strand in its trailer – The focus in Lightfall
Again only “almost black” – but better than all before: At first glance, “Erebos Glanz” looks quite black. But its name Erebos, which means “darkness” in ancient Greek, is misleading.
Those only looking at the small preview of the shader do not suspect that it lies. But deep within its dark soul, this shader hides the color orange on armor and copper on weapons.
Bungie’s shader designers have hidden a quirky and invisible color component in “Erebos Glanz”. And of course, it almost always appears exactly on the armor that you want to shader completely black.
Depending on the armor, especially if it has many fabric textures, the effect is even extremely pronounced:
Which shader designer at Bungie is so mean?
Those who want the ultimate black look must therefore carefully select the items and armor used. After all, the selection of other nearly black shaders now offers enough options to compensate for this shortcoming.
The fact that players will have to experiment back and forth with “Erebos Glanz” to style their Guardian completely black is likely intentional.
Why doesn’t Bungie create a completely black shader?
One color always and for everything: Bungie currently only uses shaders that usually have four different color ranges. Base color, secondary color, detail color, and accent color.
The base color is the main color of the item and is applied to most surfaces
The secondary color is used for smaller areas or accents that complement the base color
The detail color is used for finer details and textures
The accent color is only there for very small details or highlights
With a second “Superblack shader” like in Destiny 1, the topic of “color diversity” would essentially be done for many Guardians in one fell swoop. Just splash black on everything – it fits everywhere and looks good in the end.
However, that is probably also the most likely reason why Bungie has not created a uniform 100% black or white shader in Destiny 2 so far.
The multilayered color system, along with the element of surprise, makes it necessary to always experiment with your own look with new armor and weapons. Shaders often have their quirks in Destiny 2. Just like currently “Erebos Glanz” and previously “Jacarini” or “Bad Feeling”. All top favorites among the black options have had a small catch so far.
Where do you get the shader “Erebos Glanz”: Currently, the shader “Erebos Glanz” is available in the Eververse. It costs 300 Glimmer, so it can be paid for with the in-game currency. However, note that you can only get it this week, until March 28, 2023 at 7:00 PM. After that, the color will rotate out of the offer for a while and make way for new shaders.
What do you think of “Erebos Glanz”? Dark enough? Have you achieved a look that rivals Batman? Or is that too boring for you and do you prefer to be flashy and colorful?
The coolest shader in Destiny 2 apparently has a Razer RGB look, just like a gaming PC, and it will also soon be back available:
Nvidia has introduced a new graphics card with the RTX 4000 SFF. It is a particularly small graphics card. Nevertheless, the GPU is likely to be of little interest to most gamers, not just because of the price.
The RTX 4000 SFF is very small compared to the other cards, such as the RTX 4090 or the RTX 4080 (via nvidia.com). The new graphics card was actually presented at the GPU Technology Conference (GTC).
The new graphics card is likely to please people who had hoped for a small model after the many gigantic GPUs from Nvidia. But especially for gamers, there is a catch.
Small graphics card costs 1,250 euros, available in April 2023
What does the graphics card offer? The basic details of the RTX 4000 SFF sound rather unremarkable:
The graphics card comes with 20 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is based on a 160-bit bus.
It uses 6,144 CUDA cores, 192 Tensor cores, and 48 ray tracing cores.
The technical specifications are quite close to those of the RTX 4070 Ti, and the graphics card is also based on the same architecture (Ada Lovelace) as the gaming models, but you should not expect the same performance. The power consumption is limited to 70 watts, and Nvidia did not design the graphics card for gaming.
What is the graphics card suitable for? Nvidia itself explains that the graphics card is intended for computer-aided design (CAD), graphic design, AI applications, and software development. Therefore, the model also relies on specific software, the Nvidia Enterprise driver.
For gamers, this small graphics card is therefore not really worthwhile. With a price of 1,250 US dollars, it is also not exactly cheap and significantly more expensive than an RTX 4070 Ti, which you can currently buy for around 900 euros (via geizhals.de). If you are looking for an Nvidia graphics card with a small form factor, you will probably have to wait a bit longer.
Because this is a point of criticism regarding Nvidia’s current RTX 4000 models: They are all bulky and large and require a lot of space in the gaming system. Small space-saving models have not yet been planned. At least among some fans, there is a desire for smaller models for small PCs to be presented.
If you are currently thinking about buying a graphics card, take a look here. In the following article on MeinMMO, we explain whether buying a GPU is worthwhile at this time:
The pre-order beta of Diablo 4 gave you the choice of three classes. You told us in a survey which one was the most fun for you.
You could play this in the beta:During the pre-order beta last weekend, many fans took their first steps in Diablo 4 and got a whiff of the moldy sweet air of Sanctuary.
You could choose to play as a Sorceress, Hunter, or Barbarian. The three classes provided a first glimpse of the action RPG’s gameplay in both melee and ranged combat. We wanted to know from you which one you enjoyed the most while trying out. Here’s what you told us.
This is how the voting went: A total of 2,548 MeinMMO readers participated in the survey at the time of evaluation. Everyone could only cast one vote.
Sorceress: 45.05 %
Hunter: 33.47 %
Barbarian: 21.47 %
Thus, almost half of you chose the Sorceress. Following her with a good margin was the Hunter with 33.47 %, who can deal damage in both melee and ranged combat as a hybrid class. The Barbarian received the fewest votes and thus landed in last place in your ranking.
Start video
Everything you need to know about the Open Beta in Diablo 4
“Feels a bit OP”
This is what you said: Even in the comments, the Sorceress was described as very fun. However, it was also pointed out that it is a comparatively strong class.
The Sorceress was described by the developers as a “glass cannon”, meaning a class that deals high single-target and area damage but cannot take much damage itself. However, this was not the case in the beta.
While the class could indeed deal damage, thanks to her strong crowd control skills and defensive abilities, she was also able to take quite a bit.
Sorcerer, without a doubt. Tank and DPS in one. […]
So I was most looking forward to the Barbarian. I had hoped that things would go differently this time. Feels great to play, but against bosses so much “harder” than my Sorceress. She was simply a tank with 2x shield compared to any other class.
Thus, the Sorceress was more versatile than she was supposed to be and was also suited for melee combat as she could withstand a lot of damage thanks to her shields. However, some of you found her to be a bit too strong.
MeinMMO reader Pandalorian also had fun with the class, but wrote:
Mage feels a bit OP; by the time you reach max level, a lot will surely change (also with the other classes). I like the flexibility in combinability.
Even in the community of our sister site GameStar, the Sorceress ranked at the top, albeit not with such a large margin as on MeinMMO. In the GameStar survey, she received 37 % of the votes.
The next beta round starts soon. From March 24, not only pre-order customers but all interested players will be able to participate in the beta, and it will also be possible to try out all 5 classes of Diablo 4.
A cheerful anime character guides you through the tax declaration – and that as a video game. A genius move or a messed-up art idea?
What is the worst, most boring, and most exhausting thing in the world for many people? Right, tax declarations. And what is the most pleasant thing in the world? Right, waifus.
Couldn’t we spice up the boredom of tax declarations with waifus? That’s exactly what the developers of “MSCHF Product Studios Inc” seem to have thought and are launching a visual novel called “Tax Heaven 3000”.
Start video
Tax Heaven 3000 Trailer
What kind of game is this? In the best tradition of a visual novel, you experience a sort of “dating game” with Iris. Iris is the red-haired lady you’ve already seen in the title image above. She has somehow taken a liking to you – and to your financial circumstances, which she wants to break down in detail.
In doing so, she asks you for your tax number, your income, and your expenses – and frequently bombards you with various questions, including personal ones about your hobbies.
Iris guides you through the “game” – and on dates. She really digs your social security number.
Do you find it hard to input? Then she also gently places her hand on yours and helps you click together. That makes it seem so much easier.
The catch: The game actually creates a finished tax declaration based on the entered data, which is then submitted to the tax office.
Does it work in Germany as well? Unfortunately not, the “game” is only compatible with US tax declarations as it transmits data to the IRS (Internal Revenue Service).
However, since the game will be released for free on Steam on April 4th, Europeans can probably take a look – even if it’s just to get to know Iris a little better.
But who knows if this isn’t the future? Apparently, doing annoying mandatory tasks alongside beloved waifus or husbandos can make even something as tedious as tax declarations more exciting.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The Twitch streamer xQc breaks his gaming PC and Linus Sebastian gets on a plane to help. After a long search, the error is eventually found.It’s fascinating to watch the unlikely duo at work, but for many, the secret star of the video is the cameraman.
xQc and Linus Sebastian should be known by most:
xQc is one of the biggest streamers on Twitch based on viewer hours. He was previously an Overwatch pro but was banned for inappropriate behavior.
Linus Sebastian runs the most famous tech channel Linus Tech Tips and is the head of Linus Media Group. He tests hardware and gadgets with his team and explains the world of technology to the viewers.
What connection do the two have? xQc awkwardly tried to build a new gaming PC and ultimately failed. Linus had watched the video and could only shake his head. In the same breath, he offered his Canadian colleague to fix his system.
Now xQc has probably seized the opportunity and asked Linus for help. He doesn’t need to be told twice and visits him to save his computer. Over 2 million people have already seen the video on YouTube, and thousands of viewers followed xQc’s stream as well.
Linus and xQc bet 100 Canadian dollars on where the error is
Linus and the Twitch streamer initially discuss where the error lies. The streamer had recently made a change in the system and switched from an Intel processor to an AMD CPU.
xQc explained that the motherboard must be responsible for the problems and is causing a short circuit. However, Linus didn’t believe that and suspected the RAM was behind the crashes. Because AMD is using DDR5 for the first time with the AM5 platform, there can be issues. The two ultimately settle a bet: 100 dollars for the person who is right about where the error really lies at the end.
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Where was the error in the end? Linus gradually disassembled the streamer’s PC to find the problem. And indeed, the issue was with the motherboard.
At 19:40 minutes, you can see that a specific connection on the motherboard is burnt and heavily damaged. This is the USB-C port on the motherboard. And this likely causes a short circuit.
In the end, Linus replaces the old motherboard with a new model and also installs a new graphics card. Twitch streamer xQc is happy with his new system, and Linus looks pretty worn out.
What are the reactions from the viewers? Many are amused by the unlikely duo seen in the video.
Some explain that the real star was the cameraman. Because he walked around for 4 hours filming the whole action. He can repeatedly be seen in xQc’s stream, having to reposition himself. Because not only Linus’s team is on site, but xQc is also running his stream simultaneously, where his viewers can also observe the event.
This especially brings a lot of praise for the editing team of Linus Tech Tips. Because in the end, they turn the 4-hour stream into a manageable 26-minute video for YouTube.
Diablo 4 starts soon with its open beta, but not all content from the hack and slay is ready to play. Therefore, we show you 6 things that you can only fully experience at release.
When does the open beta start?The open beta of Diablo 4 starts on Friday, March 24, at 5:00 PM and runs until Monday, March 27, at 9:00 PM. While players of the closed beta could only play with three classes, all available classes will be open for testing in the open beta.
However, the beta does not show you every aspect of Diablo 4, and thus we show you 6 things that you can only try out at the full release.
Horses and riding will play a big role in Diablo 4, as the map of the hack and slay can be explored without interruption. So that you don’t wear out your feet, personal horses are supposed to help you explore the surroundings faster. Unfortunately, these are locked in the beta. So you’ll still have to take care of your feet and legs.
Santuary and Other Areas
Diablo 4 will offer you a huge and open world to explore. Different levels with large dungeons and new items that can be collected. However, in the beta, you can only explore one area out of a total of five realms. However, you will also notice in the beta that Santuary is huge.
PvP
The PvP is not supposed to be the focus in Diablo 4, and so it is also not present in the beta. To compete against other players, you need to go to the Fields of Hatred. Only in these special areas can you attack other players to gain special loot.
Paragon
The Paragon board promises complexity for Diablo 4.
Diablo 4 offers a more complex Paragon system, which is similar to the skill system of Path of Exile. Paragon can only be unlocked from level 50, but the beta slows down your hero starting at level 25. Therefore, large and especially complex builds are only possible at release. We have still put together 5 builds that you can use in the beta.
Item Shop and Battle Pass
The shop with its skins
The most controversial topic in Diablo 4 is the shop and the battle pass. This is not present in the beta, but is supposed to reward players with only cosmetic items at release according to Blizzard. The monetization, as seen in Diablo Immortal, will not exist.
Endgame and Additional Difficulties
Diablo 4 is supposed to offer 4 difficulty levels that you can rotate through on your journeys depending on your mood, provided you meet the necessary conditions. Additionally, certain endgame content, such as the Nightmare dungeons, is tied to these difficulties.
In the beta, however, you can only try out the first two difficulty levels, and the endgame of Diablo 4 remains untouched. You would anyway perish, as you can only level up to level 25.
These were all the contents that you can only fully experience at the complete release and thoroughly test. Maybe you can think of a few things that we haven’t listed? Feel free to leave us a comment and let us know a feature you are most looking forward to at release.
The Icelandic developers behind EVE Online, CCP, were bought by the Korean studio Pearl Abyss 5 years ago. Since then, there have been some strange occurrences in Reykjavik. Now the studio announced a new AAA game with “Project Awakening,” which is supposed to utilize controversial blockchain technology. The community wants nothing to do with it and is firing up the propaganda machine.
What is the somewhat strange financial situation at EVE Online?
The Korean developer Pearl Abyss, on the other hand, has been developing the MMORPG Black Desert since 2014 and has brought the game to consoles, Europe, and mobile devices. The visually stunning and grind-heavy action MMORPG earns a lot of money through microtransactions (many call it pay-to-win).
In any case, CCP has been trying for years to develop more games alongside the 20-year-old EVE Online to somehow expand the company, as EVE Online is now aging and the studio is rather shrinking.
Start video
EVE Online: Uprising Expansion – Trailer
CCP announces AAA game with blockchain
This is the announcement now: Yesterday, CCP announced an AAA game set in the universe of EVE Online that will be developed using blockchain technology. For the project, they received an investment of $40 million from an investor.
CCP only provided a few details on what the game would be like. They mentioned that the 25 years of design experience combined with blockchain would surely result in something great. Players would thus be “empowered” and would “own things themselves.” This all has a lot of potential.
The CEO of CCP, Hilmar Veigar Pétursson.
EVE players fire up propaganda machine
How did the community react? It’s important to know that the players in EVE are skilled at setting up massive smear campaigns within hours to expose or discredit political enemies in the game.
The players of EVE are masters of propaganda, as in the game it’s about motivating their own soldiers and demotivating opponents when going into war.
So, just a few hours after the announcement of the new AAA game, there were already some nasty posts directed at CCP’s CEO, Hilmar Veigar Petursson. He’s accused of making the same mistake over and over. Now he’s trying to catch a trend that is generally regarded as “dead”:
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They accuse the CEO of trying to drive away the player base by riding a dead horse.
Meanwhile, the EVE Online reddit forum is full of memes and posts mocking developer CCP:
The CEO is compared to Iraqi politician Mohameed Saeed al-Sahhaf, known as “Baghdad Bob” or “Comical Ali,” for spreading bizarre propaganda messages and obvious lies during the Iraq War
The criticism here is that the CEO of CCP translated “NFT” as “Not for [the main server] Tranquility,” effectively excluding blockchain for EVE
Additionally, they show piles of money that have been burned for the many spin-off games in EVE
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Overall, the sentiment is: Instead of burning $40 million on a game that nobody wants, it would be better to invest the money in EVE.
NFTs are a red flag for many gamers. They see it as pure money-making without benefiting players. Additionally, there are some very strange statements from “NFT experts”:
The team “Fnatic” is the most popular and largest team in League of Legends in Europe, but it has been struggling for months. One of the hope bearers for the turnaround was the Dane Martin “Wunder” Hansen: the 24-year-old was 4-time champion with G2 and was regarded as the best top laner in Europe for 5 seasons. But it seems that Fnatic is now parting ways with him in a dispute.
Who is Wunder?
Wunder is one of the best European top laners ever. He was part of the strong G2 team that almost became world champion in 2019 and only lost in the finals. The 24-year-old was 4-time champion in the LEC and was voted into the “1st All-Pro Team” 5 times, being the “best top laner in Europe” in half of the seasons between 2016 and 2021.
Wunder is quite a cynic, often coming across as curt and snappy. In LoL, practically everyone knows how much he loves World of Warcraft, and it’s a running gag that he allegedly neglects LoL for WoW or “ends games early to still raid.” Once, G2 even had to pay a $1,000 fine for Wunder’s love for WoW.
Nevertheless, people who know him say that he is an absolute professional and simply has a quirky sense of humor.
Start video
LoL stages its biggest professionals in a trailer so perfectly that I still get goosebumps 4 years later
Wunder is sorted out at G2, lands at Fnatic
How did his career go recently? Wunder was at G2 for 4 years and was virtually indispensable to the team. He was one of the best players in Europe, even if fans teased that he did not look quite as good against Korean and Chinese superstars as he did against the local competition.
Wunder landed at Fnatic and was able to qualify for the Worlds with the team in a decent first year.
However, after unsuccessful world championships, Fnatic decided on another overhaul, swapping out the strong bot lane and bringing back the Swede Rekkles. Since then, things have been going disastrously.
Fnatic replaces star with 19-year-old – he has the worst KDA in the league
This is now the situation: Before the start of the new 2023 season, Fnatic actually swapped Wunder out and put him on the bench: The 5-time champion was replaced by a 19-year-old Spaniard, “Oscarinin.”
The Spaniard managed to die so often in his first 6 games that he reached the lowest KDA in the LEC:
With 31 deaths, 10 kills, and 27 assists, he has a KDA of 1.2. That is abysmal.
Fnatic currently stands at 2-4 together with 3 other teams in 7th and last place in the LEC.
The glimmer of hope is that the Spaniard may find his way into the league. Because after the first games, his KDA was even worse at 0.9. So 1.2 looks much friendlier now.
A KDA of 5-4-9 is not exactly “gold,” but at least not terrible anymore:.
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In the last games, things went a bit better for Oscarinin – the first games were a disaster.
Wunder refused to participate in tryouts against the 19-year-old
Why was Wunder replaced? In a Twitch stream, Wunder explains the situation:
The team wanted him and the young Spaniard to both participate in practice games before the season – apparently, Fnatic wanted to see who would get the starting spot.
However, Wunder refused to participate in these tryouts.
Therefore, Fnatic chose the young Spaniard.
After the disastrous winter, they wanted to hold tryouts. However, the team they put together, according to rumors, was not one I had much hope for, so I said: It doesn’t make sense for me to participate in tryouts for a team I don’t really want to play for.
Wunder laughs at fans’ demands for his strike to have consequences
Wunder laughs a little at Fnatic fans on Reddit during the Twitch stream. They would demand “consequences” if a player, who is still under contract, refuses to play for his team. The Fnatic fans seem to be “after him” – but he seems to find it all rather amusing.
“They also think they know everything – Haha, that’s really funny.”
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What’s behind this: Fnatic is in a difficult situation. These seem to be all consequences of the decision to replace Upset with Rekkles:
In 2021, they had a not outstanding but functional team assembled, with big names like Wunder, Hylissang, Humanoid, and Upset – all of whom had performed over the years.
Then they cut out the centerpiece of that part, the experienced bot lane, which many considered one of the best in Europe.
The new bot lane made up of a talent and the old star Rekkles, however, did not work at all.
In winter 2022, the performance of the entire team collapsed.
To repair Fnatic, they are now bringing in 2 rookies and replacing the top lane and support. An experienced player like Perkz, however, criticizes this maneuver from the outside. He says that rookies cannot be thrown into difficult situations; they would be burned out (via dotesports). If someone is already brought in, they need to be experienced professionals.
That someone like Wunder, a seasoned, success-prone professional, sees no hope in playing in such a team and apparently considers it an affront to have to compete against a 19-year-old rookie is somewhat understandable. However, the fact that he refuses to participate in tryouts is quite … difficult.
It is estimated that in January about 100,000 players in China lost access to their favorite MMORPG World of Warcraft when Blizzard’s agreement with the local partner NetEase expired. For many, this is a huge disruption in their lives.
This is the situation:
In 2008, World of Warcraft came to China. To market a product in China, Western companies need a local partner. That’s how the party that controls everything in China wants it. This practice is criticized by Western companies.
For 15 years, there was such a deal between Blizzard and NetEase. However, on January 23, 2023, the deal expired. Apparently, Activision Blizzard no longer wanted to be tied to NetEase for the long term, as they plan to sell the company to Microsoft. Therefore, all Blizzard games went offline in China – except Diablo Immortal.
A Chinese site estimates that WoW still had about 100,000 daily players in China.
The MMORPG lost many “casual players” since making a change in the payment model in 2018: Previously, Chinese players could play for 4,000 minutes for about €4 – since then they had to pay €10 for one month. For many Chinese, it was no longer worth it, and they quit.
Start video
We were in the middle of the chaos that represents the release of WoW Dragonflight: „I can’t accept anything here“
How are the players dealing with their loss? The site “The World of Chinese” spoke with a WoW player who had been playing WoW for 15 years and had to stop abruptly.
28-year-old office worker Hu from Beijing says: “When the servers were shut down and you couldn’t even log in with all your characters, at that moment I was a bit sad.”
The man didn’t even take screenshots of the last moments. He said he didn’t want to feel that sadness again when he looked at the pictures.
The player estimates that he spent about 10,000 hours playing WoW. It all started when his cousin became enthusiastic about WoW in 2008. But when his cousin quit in 2010, the now 28-year-old took over his account, and then it really took off.
What remains as a memory are rather the little things: He says that when he took a break from the game around 2008, a friend made him a pink T-shirt and sent it to him via in-game mail. The player says: He kept the shirt until the servers went down:
“Of course, there is the feeling of having lost something… so many memories and experiences.”
What do other players say? Another player, born after 2000, only started playing WoW 5 years ago. He says:
On the last night, I had already saved my character through the “Digital Urn” system and created a new character to say goodbye to the world and my friends. How sad, in that moment it felt like my youth, which I spent in the game, came to an end.
Many Chinese blame Blizzard
How do the Chinese see it? As the site “The World of Chinese” writes, people are mainly angry at Blizzard and not at the government. In particular, the fact that Diablo Immortal continues seems to upset people towards Blizzard.
People believe that Blizzard is intentionally neglecting the PC and is keen on the booming and lucrative mobile market in China.
Can’t they just continue playing elsewhere? Yes, they can. The site states that Chinese forums are full of tips on how to start anew with WoW on other servers, such as in Japan or Korea. You need to set up a PayPal account, get a phone number in Hong Kong, and purchase “boosters” for the internet connection.
Some Chinese take this on and then say they feel at home again on a new server.
Others, however, write: They cannot overcome the feeling of having lost everything in WoW. To start again at 0 on a foreign Asia server and find new friends, to do all the quests again – and to do it all alone. That is too much.
