In Where Winds Meet, you have countless combinations of weapons and martial arts skills at your disposal. MeinMMO introduces you to the best build for getting started, with which you can rock any fight solo, in co-op, or multiplayer.
When you create a character in Where Winds Meet, you quickly receive your first weapons: the nameless sword and the nameless spear. However, your playstyle is by no means set in stone.
Throughout your adventure, you will find a variety of peacemakers with which you can assume the roles of tank, healer, melee fighter, or ranged fighter. Additionally, you will learn a variety of martial arts and find armor sets that provide you with different bonuses.
In this guide, we recommend a build (a composition of weapons, skills, and equipment) that allows every beginner to handle solo, co-op, or multiplayer effectively.
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Where Winds Meet zeigt im neuen Gameplay-Trailer die Aktivitäten in der Open World und … Hunde, die Mahjong spielen?
The Best Weapons for Beginners
The nameless sword not only has the advantage of being available from the start, but it also comes with two useful skills that offer both high damage and mobility: Fearless Lunge (a charge) and Shadowstep (you evade with a movement, only to attack again).
Additionally, very early in the game, you can earn one of four alternative weapons from the curiosity dealer Qi Sheng in the starting area of the Green Wilderness – you can learn more about this in our beginner’s guide for Where Winds Meet. Here, we recommend the healing item Universal Fan.
The reason for this choice: the medicine you can use to heal yourself in combat is severely limited. Being able to switch to the fan at any time with the press of a button and give yourself a few heals can be a significant advantage in many fights.
Moreover, every co-op partner and the groups for dungeons or raids will appreciate having a Universal Fan in your inventory.
Where Winds Meet also provides its own build recommendations that primarily focus on the various roles: tank, healer, and damage dealer.
Inner Arts and Mystical Arts
Your playstyle, or the skills of your weapons, can be refined with the passive enhancements of the inner arts, of which you can unlock many throughout your adventure and activate up to four.
We recommend these 4 Inner Arts for fighting with the Nameless Sword and the Universal Fan:
Sword Transformation for additional sword attacks with the Nameless Sword
Water Totem provides an upgrade to the fan skill Healing Cloudburst
Moral Song increases damage dealt and HP regeneration after attacks or heals
Entrapped Beast activates a useful protection for beginners when health falls below 30 percent
For bosses that you already know by heart, you can replace the last art with Battle Song, which increases the damage of charged abilities against bosses.
What about the mythical arts? These are active martial arts skills that you can take up to 8.
However, since only a maximum of 4 can be placed on the easily accessible shortcut selection, we recommend positioning arts there that can significantly facilitate fights. The more so because sometimes you only have a brief moment to activate the corresponding skill.
The following 4 mythical arts have proven effective in many fights, in our experience.
Tai Chi for fights against shielded opponents
Meridian Touch as a counter against certain boss skills
Cloud Steps to unhorse mounted opponents
Heavenly Grip to disarm opponents and beat them with their own blade
The Best Attributes, the Best Equipment
Focus on attributes that increase your damage. The faster your opponents die, the less frequently you need to switch to the fan and heal yourself. Thus, increase:
Minimum Physical Attack
Maximum Physical Attack
Affinity Rate
The Jadeware weapon and accessory set supports this prioritization. The same goes for the Formbend equipment set, which also provides you with an immunity shield when you wear 4 pieces of the set.
Which build have you had good experiences with? Share it in the comments! Where Winds Meet is so complex that you can miss a lot of things. If you want to make your life as a Wuxia hero as easy as possible, check out our starter guide: 15 tips to noticeably ease your entry into Where Winds Meet
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Not all mounts in WoW Legion Remix are available immediately at the vendor. One of them must be unlocked by solving a riddle.
In World of Warcraft Legion Remix, countless rewards can be purchased from various vendors. While some rewards are unlocked over time, others must be earned through effort. Because a mount is not simply sold by the vendor. You must solve a long, hidden riddle that has been around since the days of Legion.
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WoW Legion Remix: This insane time travel works
What secret mount is this about? The mount in question is the Fathom Dweller. You can buy this mount for 20,000 bronze from Hemet Nesingwary XVII in Legion Remix – but only if you have met the requirements. Otherwise, you won’t be able to see the mount at this vendor.
The Fathom Dweller is a large, dark blue jellyfish with golden decorations. It resembles the Faceless ones, the servants of the Old Gods. This fits well with the riddle that unlocks it.
Old riddle for an old mount
What do you have to do for the mount? In order to buy the mount directly, you must solve the riddle surrounding Kosumoth. For this, you need to speak with a special orc at the Broken Isles and then find 10 mysterious spheres that are hidden all over the Broken Isles.
If you followed the steps in the guide, you can buy the Fathom Dweller directly. It’s sufficient if any character on your account has completed these steps – it doesn’t have to be a Remix character.
The fancy jellyfish requires some work.
How do you actually get the mount? To unlock the mount in the regular version of WoW, you must solve the riddle and then defeat the boss Kosumoth, who appears on the island “Eye of Azshara.” The boss has a world quest associated with him each week – however, the mount is only the reward during a few weeks of the year; otherwise, you’ll only get “just” a pet.
The riddle surrounding Kosumoth was one of the first in World of Warcraft and one of the easier ones in retrospect. It only takes a few hours of time, and all necessary steps can be completed relatively quickly in one go. The situation is different for many of the later riddles in WoW – we have introduced the biggest mysteries of WoW and their solutions here.
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ARC Raiders has a lot of materials that you need for upgrades and building various weapons, but some of them seem to be unfindable. A player has therefore compiled a list after 100 hours so that you have all the locations ready.
What are these materials? There are many materials on the surface that can be found and disassembled, but some of them are essential for quests and upgrades. These are usually rare and tied to specific locations that are often overlooked. Primarily, it was about:
Rusty Gears
Humidifiers
Laboratory Reagents
Engines
Rusty Medical Emergency Equipment
Industrial Batteries
Burnt Motherboards
Survey Safes
Sentinel Fire Cores
Cooling Fans
Very Comfortable Cushions
The Reddit user Late-Tap-6284 recognized after 100 hours of playtime the difficulty of getting such items, and therefore he collected the best locations for all listed items for you, so you don’t have to search for long.
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ARC Raiders soll laut der Community die chilligsten Lobbys haben
Detailed Overviews of Each Location
Where can I find the overview? For each item, Late-Tap-6284 has created a new thread on Reddit where he visually represents locations and explains where and when you can get these items.
Not only is the location marked on the map, but it also indicates whether you need to break vehicles or cabinets for the item or search buildings. You can find the complete overview of all linked locations in his great overview at this Reddit link.
What do fans say about the overview? They are excited about it because with these locations they can finally fully upgrade their workbenches. Some even suggest adding more items to the list that are needed, such as light bulbs.
Many also report about their locations and observations while looting and thus try to expand the list to help other players.
However, there are also users who wished they had found such a substantiated list much earlier, as their grind is over and now they don’t need most of it anymore.
Please check out Late-Tap-6284’s list if you still need any items for your workbench. This is continuously updated, so it’s worth checking back often. Besides mechanical parts, there are also fruits you need to look for your useful chicken. You can find more about this here: ARC Raiders: Finding Lemons and Apricots – Here’s how to catch the fruits
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In ARC Raiders there are far too many materials to pack them all into storage. A recycling cheat sheet is needed to better weigh which items to keep and which to dismantle. We will show you such a sheet here.
Update, November 25, 2025: The list has been updated and equipped with the old view that provides information about the upgrades of your workbenches.
What is a recycling cheat sheet? A recycling cheat sheet displays all currently available materials from the world of ARC Raiders and categorizes them into certain groups.
Depending on the assigned group, you will know whether your item is something for future projects or whether you should decide to dismantle it. This will save you space and, above all, stress. For this reason, we present you with a current recycling cheat sheet that allows you to calmly clear out your storage.
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ARC Raiders soll laut der Community die chilligsten Lobbys haben
Never again a cluttered storage
How is the recycling cheat sheet divided? The Reddit user pRoDeeD has compiled a recycling cheat sheet for you, with the most current items that you can find on the surface right now. There are four areas in total where items are categorized:
Keep for quests
Keep for projects
Can be recycled
Workbench upgrades
Everything you need for your workbenchesA recycling cheat sheet by Reddit user pRoDeeD (Source: reddit.com)
The list also shows you the exact required amounts of the respective items regarding the upgrades of your workbenches or the completion of your quests. This way, you can stack the items and simply dismantle or sell excess materials.
Often, you find yourself in front of rare items, unsure whether to keep them or to free up space in your inventory for other materials. However, with this list, your decision will be made easier, and you can turn the surface upside down even more efficiently.
Apple has drawn inspiration from the concept “A Piece of Cloth” and taken it literally. They have now released a carrying sock for their mobile phones, at a hefty price.
What kind of sock is this? With the so-called “iPhone Pocket”, Apple aims to provide users of their iPhones with an “elegant way to carry and always have the iPhone with them” (via Apple). In collaboration with ISSEY MIYAKE, Apple has released a sock made of 3D knitted fabric, which will be available in selected Apple Stores starting November 14th – all for a mere 200 Euros (229.25 US Dollars).
Those who might worry that this price is perhaps a bit too high for their budget need not be concerned any further; Apple has also catered to these customers. In this case, another model with a shorter strap can be purchased, which costs “only” 129 Euros (149.95 US Dollars).
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Why do tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg keep wearing the same clothes?
The designer sock is making its rounds on social media
What makes the iPhone Pocket so special? Apple explains that in creating the iPhone Pocket, they were guided by the concept “a piece of cloth”. It is intended to serve as a simple accessory but can also hold other everyday items alongside the iPhone due to its stretchable material.
According to Design Director Yoshiyuki Miyamae from MIYAKE DESIGN, the design reflects the “special connection between the iPhone and its user” while still being versatile enough for multiple uses without neglecting aesthetics.
However, judging by the feedback from the community, many people seem to place less value on this so-called connection between the iPhone and the user.
How are people reacting to Apple’s new product? On X, the phone sock has already caused a stir. Especially the price made people smile, or directly led them to despair:
“230 dollars for a cut-up sock. Apple fans pay any price for everything as long as it’s from Apple,” writes @bentlyhasfallen, and @alecsbutt also points out a significantly cheaper alternative to carry their iPhone in an “elegant way”: “The one friend who can knit can make that for you for 15 dollars, lol.”
Another user has found an alternative for the iPhone Pocket, which you can check out here on X.
So far, the iPhone Pocket will only be available for purchase in certain countries. In Europe, it can only be purchased in France, Great Britain, and Italy, while potential customers in Germany are currently empty-handed. Those who are fond of products like the expensive iPhone Pocket might be particularly envious of the employees of this employer: A company rewards top employees with buttons made of real gold worth a small car for doing such a good job
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The Twitch streamer Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp is a pro in the game League of Legends. Now he is attempting a difficult challenge in the game Minecraft and the community is celebrating it.
Who is it about? The Twitch streamer Tyler1 is mainly known for his skills in the game League of Legends. His outbursts often lead to viral clips from his streams. However, it seems that the content creator has become calmer and is now trying his hand at other games.
Currently, Tyler1 is trying out the game Minecraft. He has directly taken on the hardest challenge: Minecraft Hardcore. This means Tyler1 has only one attempt in the world. If he dies, he must start a new game and has no second chance.
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These are the 5 most relevant German streamers on Twitch in 2024, according to Google
Tyler1 keeps finding new ways to die in Minecraft
What rule does Tyler1 need to learn in Minecraft? Minecraft offers players many opportunities to express their creativity in the world. There is a sort of “rule” that most experienced players follow: not to dig straight down.
If one continuously breaks the blocks they are standing on, it is almost inevitable to die. A cave can open up underneath at any time, causing one to fall.
Tyler1 painfully learned the importance of this rule when it happened to him:
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This is, however, not the only time and the only way Tyler1 dies in Minecraft. In another clip on Reddit, you can see, for example, how he drowns in a cave.
In another scenario, Tyler1 wants to hide from the many monsters in the Nether and builds himself in, only to dig a way out. However, lava comes out of the dug opening, killing him.
How does the community react? The community is thrilled by Tyler1’s adventures in Minecraft, as he steadily learns the game and finds new ways to die. In the subreddit r/LivestreamFails, viewers keep posting clips from the gameplay and discussing them.
CasuallyOrangeCat writes on Reddit: “I’m not a regular viewer of T1, but watching him play Minecraft at this rather ‘beginner’ level is quite relaxing and brings back many nice memories.”
Shortly after the newly announced Steam Machine, the potential alternative to the regular gaming PC, another project seems to be giving the community possible excitement. This is because they have been intensely searching for clues to a long-awaited game, which they have now found through the self-proclaimed “Gabe Cube”.
What does the community suspect? After the Steam Machine was announced, the gaming community is already overshadowing this news with a completely different topic. The new type of home console raises hopes for a completely different announcement that fans have been waiting for two decades.
It concerns a potential announcement of Half-Life 3, a long-awaited sequel to the first two Half-Life games, whose anticipation, even without solid evidence, captivates the entire community. However, solid evidence seems to no longer be necessary, if one is to believe some fan theories.
Here you can see the trailer for the second part of the Half-Life series:
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Half Life 2 – Trailer
The conspiracy theories keep hopeful fans cheerful
Why do fans believe that Half-Life 3 is imminent? On various social media platforms, fans are exchanging found clues that might more or less serve as evidence for the upcoming announcement of Half-Life 3.
Here, the Steam Machine itself is primarily used as evidence: “3 Valve hardware products have been announced … one week before the anniversary of Half-Life … every previous announcement of Valve hardware has preceded a game announcement,” writes ChiefLeef22, who received over 20,000 upvotes from excited fans with his post on Reddit.
In addition to the Steam Machine itself, an updated Steam Controller and a VR headset have been announced, which the user is right about, and the release of the first Half-Life took place on November 19, 1998 – but is that enough of an indication?
Also on X, @TheJeremy explains that he has found his own clues for an announcement: “I don’t want to give anyone false hope, but in the Steam hardware video, there is a ‘SOON™‘ and a sticker with an orange ‘H’ that is covered by a censorship bar. Later in the video, the Lambda logo appears on a keyboard.”
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What does the community say about these speculations? The decades-long thirst for a third Half-Life game seems to have become so strong based on reactions that fans are holding onto every small clue that exists right now. And who can blame them? Instead of becoming suspicious, they are carried away by this excitement:
“Under the sushi, there is also a sticker that says ‘Running in the 90s’. I googled it and found out that it is a song that was released in 1998 – just like Half Life!” (@VirtuosoCEO on X)
“If they announce Half Life 3 on November 18, I will sell my kidney, my current PC, and maybe a toe or so” (@FunkierTransfem on X)
“It would be absolutely wild if we got Half-Life 3 before GTA 6” (Sabetha1183 on Reddit)
If only one of the two games could exist, which one would you choose?
Even if the theories and found clues do not yet constitute an official confirmation of Half-Life 3, we do not want to take away the current mood from the fans. Many expect that the possible announcement of Half-Life 3 would appear soon, and we will keep you updated accordingly. If you want to learn more about the Steam Machine that triggered all these theories, you can do so here on MeinMMO: The Steam Machine could be the best choice for many players and a real problem for AMD and Nvidia
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Dune: Awakening has been struggling with significantly declining player numbers since release. To prevent players from completely losing touch after a break, the developers are now introducing a tool in the survival MMO that could alleviate much of the frustration.
What is the status of Dune: Awakening?Since the release, player numbers have been plummeting. Currently, according to SteamDB, only around 5,200 players are left on Arrakis. At launch on June 10, 2025, there were still about 142,000, and five days later, almost 190,000 simultaneously active players.
The community split early into PvP players who were keen on the endgame in the Deep Desert, and PvE players who just wanted to build, farm, and craft leisurely. Criticism of the endgame came from both camps.
However, the rule that bases decay if players do not log in regularly hit many players particularly hard. This is precisely where the developers are now focusing and delivering a tool that should facilitate the return.
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Dune: Awakening rutscht auf Steam auf 53 % positive Bewertungen ab, will es aber mit neuer Roadmap retten
New tool should ease the return to Arrakis
This is how the developers address the biggest criticism: The biggest criticism is that players must log in approximately every two weeks in Dune: Awakening to refill the power in their bases and pay taxes. Those who want to take a break risk having their bases fall victim to storms or enemies, up to complete destruction.
With patch 1.2.20.0, which according to announcements on Steam is expected to appear next week, the developers are introducing the base reconstruction tool in Dune: Awakening.
The team specifically wrote:
We do not want you to have to log in to keep your base running and maintain your progress. Bases decay because it is not economically viable for unused bases to remain forever since they take up space and prevent other players from building in the respective location.
The base reconstruction tool should significantly ease your return to Arrakis and secure your progress.
How the base-saving tool works
How does the tool work? You create the base reconstruction tool in Dune: Awakening and click it on your base to save it. The base will then immediately disappear from the map.
Your entire base is saved, including:
Subloan console
all decorations
storage containers like water cisterns and blood cleaners along with their contents
workbenches
When you later return to Arrakis, you can place your base back using the tool. Where you can set it up depends on the extent and complexity of the base. For example, bases that you built on or in cliffs may not be able to be placed on flat ground.
With the new tool, you can place your saved base after a return to Dune: Awakening. Source: Steam
This will not be saved in the tool: Decorations that stand outside your base, such as lamps on nearby rocks, will not be saved. Before saving, the game will also inform you how many placeable objects will be lost.
What else does the update bring to the game? In addition to the new base tool, there will be a new radio station and transport Ornithopters will be able to travel between maps with a vehicle. All test stations in the northern part of the Deep Desert will then be PvP areas, while test stations in the south will become PvE zones. After patch 1.2.20, the team will also introduce character server transfers so that you can move your player characters to a new world.
The series based on Fallout has already celebrated a successful first season. Now the first official trailer for season 2 has been released, confirming once again that a popular monster will finally appear in the series.
What kind of monster is that? The Deathclaw is one of the most dangerous monsters in the Fallout universe. It looks like a giant lizard, has two horns, powerful claws – hence the name – and walks on two legs, similar to a raptor. They are not inherently evil, but they are still dangerous. If you encounter them in the games, you should be prepared for a fight – or look for a way to escape. In Fallout 76, you can visit the Deathclaw on its own island.
Already in the first season of the Fallout series, the existence of the monster was teased: In episode 8, a skull of a Deathclaw was shown briefly, which made viewers hope to see a live specimen in action in the second season.
With the official trailer for season 2, more of the Deathclaw is now shown. In the trailer, it throws itself into a fight with Maximus.
You can watch the official trailer directly here:
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The official trailer for Fallout Season 2 takes us back to the apocalypse
“How many epic scenes do you want? Producer: Yes.”
What else can be seen in the trailer? In the trailer, we also see familiar faces from the first season, such as protagonist Lucy MacLean, the ghoul, and Maximus. The conflicts from the first season seem to be reaching a new peak, as the Steel Brotherhood appears to be sliding into a civil war. We will also see more of the city “New Vegas”.
What does the community say? The community seems to be looking forward to the upcoming season. The comments under the YouTube video are filled with positive vibes and anecdotes:
@Rasim9898 says: “Director: How many epic scenes do you want? Producer: Yes.”
@batostudios can barely contain his excitement: “THIS IS A SUPER MUTANT! IT MUST BE A SUPER MUTANT!!!”
@Cadaverisfine is already looking forward to a third season: “When you watch the trailers for the second season, you almost wish for a third season.”
In ARC Raiders the new map was introduced as part of a community event, including specific tasks that you must complete together. However, the developers had to intervene, as players were progressing through it at an astonishing rate.
What kind of live event is this? With the latest Update 1.2.0, the developers not only brought bug fixes and new enemies to ARC Raiders, but also a live event. In the community event “Breaking New Ground” you collect and donate materials. This will restore a tunnel leading to the fifth map “Stella Montis” and unlock the new area together.
Anyone who has played at least five rounds can participate. For donated materials, including basic materials like metal parts or fabric, you will receive merits. You can exchange this currency for rewards in the next phase. For every 5 donated materials, you get 20 merits, and you can farm up to a total of 900.
Here you can see the short trailer for the community event in ARC Raiders:
Select a MMO video…
Why did the developers have to intervene? The community was grinding so diligently that the event would have been completed much faster than planned. The amount of required materials was increased so that players who join the game later can also participate.
You are pushing the unlock event much faster than we expected. We had no idea that you would all stand so selflessly for the Stella Montis cause, and you are donating far more than we could imagine.
We want Raiders around the world to experience this event. Therefore, we are now increasing the required amount to unlock Stella Montis, hoping that you will surprise us again.
“Everyone gets the chance to earn the rewards”
This is how the community reacts: The decision to increase the necessary resources is well received by the community. Many players say that they probably would hardly have been able to participate due to work schedules or time zones.
For example, Pinstar writes under a Reddit post: “I logged in before work, donated my supplies at 1%. Played one mission. When I was done, it was at 11%. I can’t blame them for raising the limit.”
chicKENkanif also finds the adjustment reasonable and writes on Reddit: “Everyone gets the chance to earn the rewards. Respect.” And LauviteL adds: “It’s only fair. […] The amount jumped to 5% within minutes because everyone was donating. It should at least take a few days so that all players can participate.”
Overall, ARC Raiders is very well received by players. According to SteamDB, the extraction shooter with over 232,000 active players is among the most played games on Steam – even above Battlefield 6 and Rust. ARC Raiders is also enjoyed by many players as a PvE extraction shooter, without shooting at other player characters. Many of them just want to loot, level up, or complete quests: One fifth of players in ARC Raiders on Steam have not shot anyone yet, and almost half avoid PvP
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Finally, there is a gameplay trailer for the MMORPG Horizon Steel Frontiers from NCsoft. MeinMMO author Sophia Weiss loves the games with Aloy and is very much looking forward to the multiplayer adaptation. However, there is unfortunately a heavy downside.
Horizon: Zero Dawn was the second game I bought for my PS4 after The Witcher 3. And it is one of the few major open-world games that I actually completed. At the moment, I am facing the final quest and grinding through the side missions of the sequel Horizon: Forbidden West.
I love this universe. Aloy is one of my favorite protagonists. Accordingly, I am very excited about the upcoming MMORPG from NCsoft based on this game series. Clearing out hostile machines as a Carja trapper, fighting full-contact as a heavily armored Oseram, or going stealth as a Nora hunter.
The gameplay the trailer is already showing fun gameplay and I would love to get my hands on it immediately. But there is unfortunately also a downside.
What is Horizon? [Light Spoilers]
Horizon: Zero Dawn and Horizon: Forbidden West are action RPGs set in a post-apocalyptic future of Earth, thousands of years after the downfall of our civilization. Humanity lives in tribes with a stone-age level of technology. In contrast, high-tech machines roam the world. The story centers around Aloy, who lives ostracized from her tribe and wants to know who her mother is. In search of answers, she leaves her home and uncovers not only the secret of her birth, but also why humanity once fell.
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Horizon Steel Frontiers: Trailer zeigt endlich Gameplay aus dem MMORPG zur Welt von Aloy
Gameplay just like the original, but make it multiplayer
The first impression the trailer gives me fills me with hope for a very cool game: The gameplay looks very much like the action combat system from Horizon: Forbidden West, with adjustments in the right places. The character within the trailer uses a sword instead of Aloy’s spear (which belongs to her and only her) and moves through the world with the pullcaster, a grappling hook.
However, not just to edges and corners like in Forbidden West, but also directly onto the back of an Apex Ravager, one of the more powerful machines. There, the player character delivers a heavy hit to the beast with the melee weapon. While the Pullcaster already worked as a gap-closer to machines in Forbidden West, I have not discovered that yet, and I need to try it immediately. That looks like fun!
Apparently, Aloy is no longer the only one in her world who can override machines and make them work for her. It seems the player character in the MMORPG can do this as well – I’m curious about the lore explanation. And yes, I am aware of the select few within Forbidden west, who can do similarly as Aloy does.
This leads to a scene in the trailer where players jump off a tame Broadhead via Pullcaster, shoot an arrow between the components of a Bristleback, and pull themselves in again for close combat action with the grappling hook.
For me, as a tab-targeting veteran, this all looks like an incredible amount of fun. And the absolute potential for chaos.
The world seems to have been almost completely taken from Horizon: Forbidden West. At the beginning of the trailer, we walk through a village of the peaceful Utaru. Then we continue through the plains of the Forbidden West. Many of the machine designs known from the single-player games are also shown, whose components can be broken off and used in the MMORPG.
All in all, Horizon Steel Frontiers gives the impression in the trailer that it could be just the right game for all Horizon fans who have always wanted to fight their way through the post-apocalypse with friends. However, the character editor on the website has caught my eye. And it brings me little joy.
Not my Aloy
Horizon Steel Frontiers is being developed by NCsoft in South Korea. The world, machines, and battles have seemingly been taken almost 1:1 from the last part of the series. However, the character designs they are currently showing on the MMORPG’s website deviate significantly from the originals.
At the beginning, you see a man in a battle outfit of the wild Tenakth, so far, so good. Then the video progresses to a woman in a Carja outfit. But all subsequent characters look like many female characters in Asia MMORPGs: ultra-detailed hair and faces with button noses and big eyes, hourglass body shapes, and elegant model poses.
This is what your female character in Horizon Steel Frontiers could look like – at least according to the website.
Of course, the girls all look very cute and pretty. But this is not the Horizon universe as I know it. The women and girls in the games so far had bodies and faces that I could see in the supermarket around the corner. Exaggerated, hyper-cute models are nowhere to be found. They all always look somewhat weathered as if they were cave dwellers on the run from machines with laser cannons.
You might remember: At the release of Horizon: Forbidden West, there was a discussion on social media that Aloy as a protagonist was not female enough. A user subsequently posted a heavily edited screenshot of her with makeup and teeth like fresh from the orthodontist:
On the left, the somewhat grumpy original Aloy, on the right, the Photoshop version.
The female player characters, as presented here now, unfortunately remind me more of the Photoshop version than of Aloy and the other women from the original games. Thus, they stand out significantly from the otherwise consistently designed world and character design.
With Aloy, as she has been portrayed in the games so far, I feel much more comfortable as a woman than with the perfect ladies as shown now at Horizon Steel Frontiers. Aloy’s physique is not unreachable with enough training and discipline. And the rest of the female cast also reminds me more of the real people in my surroundings than the ladies from this new Horizon spin-off.
I am, of course, very much aware that Steel Frontiers’ character design is absolutely in line with the trend of Asia MMORPGs. Throne and Liberty, the announced Aion 2, or Sword of Destiny are just three examples that many MMORPGs produced in Asia use similar character designs. However, this makes the women in Steel Frontiers completely interchangeable as well.
In itself, that is not wrong. I find all the women to be very pretty. However, I am simply used to entirely different designs in the Horizon universe, and thus it frustrates me quite a bit. Especially in stark contrast with the otherwise perfectly adopted move sets, environments, and machines.
I also know that I probably won’t see my character often under the armor. So the gameplay itself won’t be ruined for me. Still, this downside remains: You have adapted everything as well as possible – partially 1:1. Why deviate when it comes to female characters, if you adapt everything else faithfully. Why not give us almost realistic stoneage women as well.
However, as already emphasized: Overall, the game makes a very good first impression on me, and I am very curious to see how it will progress. By the way, we have also gathered the community’s opinions on the new trailer for you. And they are as enthusiastic about the gameplay as I am: First gameplay of the Horizon MMORPG excites: “It looks like a Monster Hunter, I’m excited”
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
This year, you can purchase a ticket for the Nature Zone in Pokémon GO again. MeinMMO shows you what content differences this brings.
As you are used to from the big events in Pokémon GO, you can also purchase a ticket for the Nature Zone 2025, which takes place on November 15 and 16, 2025. This costs €12.99.
At the event, there will be a variety of content that you can enjoy both with and without a ticket. We have compiled the differences for you.
Start video
Pokémon GO: The Season “Stories of Transformation” in the Trailer
All content without a ticket
New Shiny monsters: The Nature Zone brings several Shiny debuts. You can obtain both Bimova and Bähmon as Shiny for the first time. Crypto-Darkrai celebrates its regular debut in the game as well as its Shiny debut.
Monsters in the wild: You can find the new monster Bähmon in the wild during the event, as well as in 5 km eggs. You can evolve Bähmon into Pelzebub for 25 candies and then into Olangaar for 100 candies.
Within the Nature Zone, there will be 2 habitats that change every hour. In the habitats, you will find the following Pokémon:
Habitat Lurking-Dark-Hour
Habitat Imaginative-Fairy-Hour
Alolan Meowth*
Clefairy*
Alolan Grimer*
Alolan Vulpix*
Shuppet*
Jigglypuff*
Hoothoot*
Galarian Ponyta*
Kramurx*
Chansey*
Snebel*
Togetic*
Herdier*
Marill*
Purrloin*
Snubbull*
Galarian Zigzagoon*
Trasla*
Gossifleur*
Eneco*
Nincada*
Swablu*
Zirpurze*
Barschwa*
Skuntank*
Kikugi*
Pionskora*
Ohrdoch*
Zurrokex*
Waumboll*
Zorua*
Psiau*
Tarnpignon*
Dedenne*
Kapuno*
Clavion
Iscalar*
Robball*
Paragoni*
Wommel*
Bähmon*
Brimova*
Grolldra
Bähmon*
Olini*
Also the powerful Pokémon, which debuted in the Nature Zone last year, are returning this year. The following table shows which powerful monsters you can find on the respective days:
Saturday
Sunday
Snorlax*
Alolan Ninetales*
Galarian Rapidash*
Galarian Weezing*
Tyranitar*
Granbull*
Flunkifer*
Herdier*
Absol*
Gardevoir*
Golgantes*
Kramshef*
Silembrim*
Krookodile*
Barrikadax*
Piondragi*
Maskagato*
Snibunna*
Some of the powerful monsters also have an exclusive move. You can also obtain this move if you evolve the corresponding Pokémon during the event.
Galarian Rapidash: Thunder Shock
Gardevoir: Synchronoise
Absol: Swirl
Krookodile: Earth Powers
Ursaring with Desert Outfit: Grip
Barrikadax: Blocker
Maskagato: Flora Statue
Monsters through incense: If you use incense during the event, you can attract some of the powerful monsters with it. The daily adventure incense is excluded from this. The following Pokémon can be attracted with incense during the event:
Alolan Ninetales*
Galarian Rapidash*
Tyranitar*
Flunkifer*
Absol*
Krookodile*
Piondragi*
Snibunna*
Silembrim*
Maskagato*
Monsters in eggs: If you hatch 5 km eggs that you received within the Nature Zone during the event, you can obtain the following monsters:
Mime Jr.*
Ganovil*
Gladiantri*
Rocara*
Bähmon*
Forgita
Monsters in raids: Various raids are also part of the Nature Zone 2025. The following monsters are involved:
In 3-star raids:
Ursaring with Desert Outfit*
In Crypto raids:
Crypto-Cresselia* (Saturday)
Crypto-Darkrai* (Sunday)
In 6-star Dynamax battles:
Gigantamax-Olangaar
Event bonuses: All players, regardless of the ticket, will receive the following bonuses during the event from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM:
up to 3 free raid passes at the photo discs of gyms
the collection limit for Dynamax particles is increased to 1,600
3 snapshot surprises per day
field research where you can receive event Pokémon as a reward
more Pokémon appear on routes, and you can receive additional buddy candies (all day long)
New Shiny Pokémon: In addition to the monsters that you can also obtain as Shiny without a ticket, you have the opportunity to obtain Icognito W for the first time as Shiny. You can attract the monster using incense.
Monsters through incense: There are also additional monsters that you can attract with incense. These, in addition to the powerful monsters you can also get without a ticket, are as follows:
Icognito D*
Icognito I*
Icognito L*
Icognito W*
Selfe* (rare)
Vesprit* (rare)
Tobutz* (rare)
Event bonuses: Ticket holders benefit from more bonuses at the event. These are:
increased chance of Shiny Pokémon
the collection limit for Dynamax particles is increased to 3,200
you receive more Dynamax particles from power sources and through walking
unlocking and leveling up Dynamax attacks costs 25% less
up to 6 raid passes at gyms
double the amount of catch candies
higher chance to receive 5 km eggs at PokéStops and gyms
halved distance for hatching eggs
lures have a duration of 2 hours
6 snapshot surprises per day
6 special trades per day and additionally halved costs when trading (all day long)
Special research: If you have purchased the ticket, you will receive special research. You will have to choose between the Dark or Fairy path. Among other things, you will receive a Gigantamax-Olangaar as a reward.
The Safari Balls are also once again part of this year’s Nature Zone. Without them, you will find it difficult to catch the powerful monsters of the event. What this special ball is all about, you can find out here: Pokémon GO Safari Ball: What can the new ball do and how to get it?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
On November 14, 2025, Where Winds Meet will also be released in the West. To be ready right away, you can pre-download the new open-world RPG – but not on all platforms at once.
Update from November 13, 2025, 2:40 PM: We have received feedback from the developers and have added the acquired knowledge about the preload on PS5 and mobile. Additionally, we have included information about the game’s availability in Austria.
What are the differences? While you can easily download the game on PC via Steam, Epic Games, and the official launcher, the situation is a bit different on PS5 right now.
You can preload Where Winds Meet on PS5, but currently, there is only the optional pre-order package available for around €17.99. So, if you want to preload the game currently, you can only do so if you purchase the package or if you have previously participated in the beta and the game has already been added to your library.
When inquiring with the developers, we were confirmed that a preload on PS5 is only possible if you purchase the preorder bundle; otherwise, you will have to wait for the full release on November 14, 2025, at 11:00 PM CET before you can start playing. Steam shows 5:00 PM as availability, but it is likely that you will not be able to enter the game then, as the official information states 11:00 PM.
The mobile versions for Android and iOS will start at this time with pre-registration options and will be released on December 12.
WARNING: We have received reports from the community that the game is not available in Austria. Unfortunately, according to developers, that is currently the case, and it is not a bug. It is currently unknown if and when the game will be available there. If the game is also not available in your region, please leave us a comment.
What else you should know about the preload will be covered in the next section.
Start video
Where Winds Meet zeigt im neuen Gameplay-Trailer die Aktivitäten in der Open World und … Hunde, die Mahjong spielen?
All Important Information about the Preload and Launch of Where Winds Meet
How large is the preload? The size of the download on PC depends on the version you choose. There are theoretically three variants that you can choose in the client:
Lite – 68 GB
Standard – 100 GB
Ultimate – 120 GB (not available at launch)
Additionally, an SSD hard drive is recommended to ensure optimal performance.
On PS5, the preload is approximately 108 GB.
What system requirements must the PC meet? To run Where Winds Meet on your PC, you should meet the following requirements:
Minimum requirements:
Operating System: Windows 10/11 (64 Bit)
Processor: Intel Core i7-7700K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600
Games Workshop continues the story of Warhammer 40,000 and ushers in a new, major chapter in the lore. However, there must be some sacrifices – including two well-known characters from Space Marine 2. Their end is rather inglorious and leaves fans confused.
However, there was some confusion among fans during the announcement, as: Captain Sevastus Acheran is actually the head of the company. And normally, a Space Marine only relinquishes his post when he dies (and is not locked in a metal sarcophagus that keeps him alive).
Many have been wondering what happened to Acheran – and to Meduras Chairon. Because colleague Gadriel has received his own mini. However, the companion Chairon did not, instead Metaurus stands at the front, the mentor of Titus.
Games Workshop has promised an explanation “later this week” and now it’s here (on Warhammer Community). The fate of the two heroes is, however… questionable.
Start video
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 receives Siege mode, shows massive hordes of Tyranids and Chaos in the teaser
Acheran goes together with Chairon and a few other Space Marines to Trygg, a Macropol world (or “Hive”) with billions of people, which serves as an important stronghold for the Imperium and protects the system against attacking Tyranids.
The squad finds themselves overwhelmed and Acheran decides to seal off the entire Hive and trap the Genestealers with himself and his men. The result is summed up in a single sentence:
“When imperial reinforcements arrived to eliminate the remnants of the cult, they discovered that Acheran, Chairon, and the rest of their brothers had sold their lives to mow down unspeakable numbers of Xenos hybrids.”
“The Genestealer cult has achieved what everyone thought impossible…”
The decision not to dedicate a story to the deaths of two such important characters has not been received well in the community. Instead of a real outcry, there’s more bewilderment and countless memes.
Thus, the Tyranids are now attributed with a secret superpower, the “Offscreen Haki” – a reference to One Piece, where Blackbeard experiences his biggest moments without them ever being seen:
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Many attribute the death of these two Space Marines to the Tyranids – even though they probably lost hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions or billions of individuals to eliminate a handful of Space Marines.
This only shows how much Astartes are actually mystified: “The Genestealer cult has achieved what everyone thought impossible. They killed two named Ultramarines without helmets.” (Pentamachina3 on Reddit)
Even though the fate of Acheran and Chairon may not seem particularly glorious, its outcome is extremely important for the story of Warhammer 40,000. Because Titus as captain has a special mission: to reunite the 500 Worlds of Ultramar.
Ultramar is the system under the control of the Ultramarines and is like a small empire itself. Tasked by Primarch Roboute Guilliman himself, Titus must now, with the 2nd Company, free the system from foreign influences and bring it back under imperial flag.
Guilliman himself is the current head of the Imperium as the representative of the Emperor himself. Thus, the order comes not just from the top, but from very very top. The “500 Worlds” campaign is the next step in the story and comes directly with its own campaign battles – and new miniatures – for the tabletop.
In Pokémon GO the GO Nature Zone 2025 kicks off this weekend. We have some tips for you.
When does the GO Nature Zone run? The GO Nature Zone runs on November 15th and 16th from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM each day.
This is a major event that brings various bonuses. There are both paid and free content for players.
We take a look at the event and have some preparation tips for you.
Start video
Pokémon GO: The Season “Stories of Transformation” in the Trailer
Check out powerful Pokémon and Safari Balls
The powerful Pokémon are the highlight of the Nature Zone. These are usually larger, especially strong specimens of wild Pokémon at a high level. You can find the complete list of powerful Pokémon here.
The problem: They are very difficult to catch and flee quickly. The best way is with the Safari Balls that can be collected over the weekend. If you don’t purchase a ticket, you will need a lot of luck to get some.
So save your Safari Balls for the powerful Pokémon that you really want. Good monsters include, for example, Tyranitar, Garchomp, and Gardevoir. You can also try to catch the hard-to-catch Galar birds with the ball.
And if you are not using a Safari Ball:
Use Ultra Balls
Use a golden Razz Berry
Try to hit excellent throws
Use a buddy Pokémon that can bounce back baited balls at the wild Pokémon
Use Kyurem’s adventure effect to increase your catch chance if you have one
Also, note that you are unlikely to succeed with autocatchers, as they usually only throw Poké Balls.
Use the Raid Passes on both days
You will receive three additional Raid Passes per day on both event days when spinning gyms – always when the previous one is used up.
The interesting targets are Shadow Cresselia on Saturday, Shadow Darkrai on Sunday, and the costumed Snorlax.
Of these three, Darkrai is the most useful Pokémon. However, the others are also worth catching. Be sure to use your new free passes.
Use Campfire for Gigantamax
This weekend, Olangaar will appear as a Gigantamax Pokémon. This Pokémon will not be easy in battle. You can find a detailed guide on counters here shortly.
Most importantly, you should team up with other trainers to defeat it. As a Gigantamax Pokémon, it cannot be beaten by small groups. Check Campfire for a trainer group nearby that wants to battle Olangaar.
Alternatively, it is also possible to join relevant battles using a Remote Raid Pass.
Use Incense for powerful Pokémon
The incense item has the potential to attract powerful Pokémon this weekend. If you have a ticket, Selfe, Vesprit, and Tobutz as well as various Unown variants will also join the possible incense pool.
But even without a ticket, incense is a good option to encounter more powerful Pokémon.
Take snapshots
Don’t miss the chance to take a photo of your buddy Pokémon from time to time. There are rumored to be snapshot surprises that you can get through this small feature.
Unlearn Frustration, especially with Darkrai and Cresselia
During the GO Nature Zone, you can use regular TMs to get rid of the useless Shadow move “Frustration”. This can only be done during specific event periods like now, or by purifying Shadows. However, purification also deletes the attack bonus that Shadows have. So: Use a TM to get rid of Frustration first – especially with Darkrai and Cresselia if you catch them this weekend.
Otherwise, make sure you have enough balls and berries for the weekend! What tips do you have for the upcoming weekend? Share them with us in the comments! Otherwise, we wish you good luck during the Nature Zone. And to find out what else is upcoming in November, read here: All events in November 2025 for Pokémon GO.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In World of Warcraft: Midnight, visiting dungeons is conditional. However, these conditions are not as bad as some might fear.
If you want to level up quickly at the start of a new expansion of World of Warcraft, there are several ways. While some rush through the quests, others dive into dungeons and “spam” them non-stop. But in the upcoming expansion Midnight, it’s not that easy. Dungeons must first be unlocked through achievements.
Start video
WoW Midnight shows gameplay – All new features
What kind of achievements are those? Each dungeon in Midnight can only be entered after the corresponding “Unlock” achievement has been reached. There are two different methods to complete the respective success:
Reach a necessary level with a character.
Complete the quest that sends you to the respective dungeon.
Note that this information is still from the beta of Midnight, and details may change before the release.
Minimum level for dungeons or completing story campaign
What are the requirements? If you want to unlock the dungeons through a corresponding character level, the following limits apply:
Windrunner’s Tower: Level 81
Death’s Alley: Level 83
Nalorakk’s Den: Level 88
Maizar Caverns: Level 88
Blinding Vale: Level 88
Magister’s Terrace: Level 90
Nexus Point Xenas: Level 90
Arena of the Voidscar: Level 90
Alternatively, you need to complete the corresponding quests that unlock the dungeons. This happens more or less automatically during the campaign.
Is it significantly different from before? No, not really. Dungeons previously had level restrictions that prevented early access. In Midnight, this unlocking just happens in a new way – not only through level but also by completing a specific quest. Whichever of these goals is achieved first will unlock the corresponding dungeons in the future.
Ultimately, this will likely allow most players to enter the dungeons a bit earlier if they follow the campaign and don’t only level through instances. In the end, this won’t make much difference after the second character anyway – because the achievements are account-wide and only need to be reached on the first character. If you want to see how this plays out in-game, you can now participate in the WoW Midnight beta.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The video platform YouTube was founded in 2005, and in 2006, the first people began regularly uploading videos to the platform, thus shaping an industry. One of them was Phil Laude, who, along with his two friends, founded the YouTube trio Y-Titty. In a podcast, he talks about his experiences back then and how the industry now seems to him.
Who is it about? Former YouTuber Philip “Phil” Laude was a guest on the podcast Henke’s Corner. Together with his friend Matthias “TC” Roll, he founded the YouTube channel Y-Titty, where they regularly uploaded comedy videos starting in 2006. In 2009, Oğuz “OG” Yılmaz joined them.
In their sketches, they addressed all kinds of topics, mostly parodying pop culture themes. The trio also released songs, which always had a comedic touch.
In the YouTube industry, Y-Titty belongs to the pioneers of that time. In 2015, the trio disbanded, and the three pursued their own careers.
Phil Laude continued to upload sketches and parodies in the style of Y-Titty, but did so alone on his own channel. By now, he has over 1.23 million subscribers on his YouTube channel (source: YouTube). He has also had several acting roles, including in his own series Almania.
Gronkh also started his career around the same time with Let’s Plays and inspired many:
Start video
Gronkh, the man with the voice – Career and life of Germany’s most famous Let’s Player
YouTube back then
What was YouTube like for Phil Laude back then? Phil Laude talks in the podcast Henke’s Corner about how the early days of YouTube were for him. He says he is grateful to have been part of the creation of an industry and that the platform has gone through many different phases since then.
When he and his friend TC started the Y-Titty channel, there were only a few videos on the platform. Most of them were animal videos. YouTube was only available in English at that time, had no partner system – so no money could be made – and YouTube did not yet belong to Google.
Phil Laude says that TC and he made videos just out of boredom and were mainly inspired by the satire videos of the former content creator “der echte Gangster” – or as he is better known to many: Angry German Kid or Unreal Tournament Kid.
Even before their beginnings in 2006, Y-Titty filmed sketch videos. They couldn’t upload them to YouTube yet – the platform was only founded in 2005 – and instead uploaded them to platforms like Rapidshare or local social networks.
This, however, is also the case with other media, such as series, Phil Laude continues. One can no longer perceive much, which would complicate communication between each other.
The YouTuber further explains that if one had “taken YouTube somewhat seriously,” one became well-known. For the first YouTubers, the content was still relatively insignificant, as they were “sending into the void,” he says.
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How does Phil Laude view YouTube today? Phil Laude thinks the biggest difference from earlier YouTube is that one wouldn’t notice anything anymore: “So much is happening. It has become so huge. Everyone lives in their bubble.” (source: YouTube from minute 12:15).
Back then, there was a YouTube world, the YouTuber believes, where theoretically one could have known all the content creators. The offer was much smaller.
This, however, is also the case with other media, such as series, Phil Laude continues. One can no longer perceive much, which would complicate communication between each other.
In ARC Raiders, many players are not interested in PvP and signal during encounters with other players that they are peaceful and that their counterpart should not shoot. A statistic from Steam now shows how many peaceful Raiders there really are in the shooter.
Where do the numbers come from? From Steam, specifically the achievements that you receive on the gaming platform for completing certain challenges or reaching special milestones in the respective games.
As colleagues from the English-speaking magazine PCGamer noted, only 42.7% of all ARC Raiders players on Steam have received an achievement called “Unyielding”, which you get for taking down 10 Raiders. This means: Almost half of the Steam players of the shooter are avoiding PvP and have hardly participated in fights with other players so far.
Start video
ARC Raiders soll laut der Community die chilligsten Lobbys haben
The peaceful approach of many Raiders is made even clearer by another achievement: The achievement “Crossed the Line” is awarded to players who have taken down a single Raider. However, only 81.3% of all Raiders on Steam have this.
According to this, nearly one-fifth of the players have never shot another player in ARC Raiders.
Looting and leveling peacefully instead of fighting each other
Why do players avoid PvP? ARC Raiders is also fun for many players as a PvE extraction shooter. Every player probably has their own reasons for this, but one thing is common to nearly every Raider: they all want to loot and level up.
Many players emphasize on social networks that they just want to complete their quests and farm materials or better gear. They are not interested in stressful PvP battles. Especially in solo lobbies, you will encounter many players who do not immediately open fire and instead signal a hopeful “Do not shoot” through the emote wheel.
Within the community, a grouping of players has formed who play ARC Raiders as a PvE shooter and even help foreign Raiders against particularly dangerous opponents.
One of the achievements that has been achieved quite rarely is called “Legend of Speranza” and requires players to reach the current max level of 75. So far, only 0.8% of players on Steam have succeeded in this.
At first, MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz was skeptical whether Where Winds Meet could actually live up to its ambitious plans. By now, he has completed the main missions and most side quests and is thrilled – despite the existing weaknesses.
There are games that are simply too big and good to be true. They shouldn’t actually exist due to the current market conditions. Baldur’s Gate 3 was such a thing in 2023 (and only possible because Larian had paved the way for it with Divinity Original Sin 1 + 2 over the years).
In my opinion, Where Winds Meet is also such a gem. There has never been a genre mix that is so extensive and packed with systems, features, and details … and on top of that, it’s really good AND Free2Play, so it’s free to play on PC, PS5, and Mobile. What do you allow, Everstone?
It’s almost as if you were to release the extensive sequel to a worldwide hit that fans have longed for for years for under 20 euros … or Team Cherry (and Hollow Knight: Silksong)?
Back to Where Winds Meet: since the open-world role-playing game is incredibly large and complex, my experience report should be clearly structured and to the point. Therefore, my article is divided into the following sections:
How does Where Winds Meet play in single-player mode?
What can you do alongside and after the story content?
What are the strengths of Where Winds Meet?
What are the weaknesses of Where Winds Meet?
What questions remain?
What are the developers planning after the launch?
You can jump to the areas that interest you the most via the table of contents.
[toc]
Start video
Where Winds Meet excites 15 million players in China, now a new gameplay trailer shows how it should work in the West
How does Where Winds Meet play in single-player mode?
Where Winds Meet reminds me of the setting and world design of Ghost of Tsushima or Ghost of Yōtei. However, you’re not playing a Japanese samurai revenge story in the style of Akira Kurosawa’s “The Seven Samurai,” but a Chinese Wuxia tale reminiscent of film classics like Crouching Tiger & Hidden Dragon or Hero.
You control your – created in the extensive editor – fighter from a third-person perspective through an open, beautiful world. You interact with residents, experience cinematic story segments, solve puzzles, try out mini-games, cook, hunt, fish, gather resources, find treasures … and of course, you also fight.
What exactly is the Wuxia genre? We answer exactly this question in this trivia article (still in progress).
Where Winds Meet takes you to a historical China with fantasy elements.
Fast-paced combat, but also for casual players
The combat system is action-packed and fast. By pressing a button, you switch between two weapons and have access to a range of combat maneuvers. You can complement these with mystical martial arts moves like a Tai Chi throw or a jumping attack inspired by frogs. Some of these skills are necessary to counter dangerous attacks or to unhorse riders.
The most important mechanic of combat is precisely parrying attacks. Unlike your block, a successful parry avoids all damage. Additionally, you efficiently reduce the opponent’s posture by parrying. If you manage to break the posture, you stun your opponent and can deal high damage. With perfect timing, your parry even unleashes a beautifully animated counter.
All of this reminds me of tough action RPGs like Sekiro from FromSoftware, yet it is also suitable for casual players thanks to multiple difficulty levels and aids.
If you wish, you can visually display possible parry windows as long as a certain combat resource is available, including a slow-motion effect, giving you enough time to press the right button. This helps immensely when you’re surrounded by multiple melee fighters while ranged archers are pestering you from a distance.
Throughout the quests, you meet fighters who become companions and can even support you in combat.
Complex character development
You have access to a variety of different weapons for combat, including several sword variants, spears, fans, and umbrellas. These provide you with access to exclusive skills, allowing you to take on the roles of tank, healer, ranged attacker, or offensive frontline soldier.
Each weapon can be leveled up. Just like your mythical arts, all equipment slots, and of course your character level. You also have access to the passive effects of so-called Inner Arts, of which you can activate 4 to refine your play style and, for example, strengthen healing or deal more damage to bosses with charged attacks.
On X, you can see some of the mystical arts in action:
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Of course, there’s also a talent tree, as well as additional ways to gain enhancements for your fighting alter ego – for example, via the Arsenal (a collection of retired clothes) or a curiosities dealer where you can exchange insects and other finds for permanent upgrades.
Only those who thoroughly explore the world will eventually unlock all weapons, arts, and potential improvements. In addition, you must collect a variety of resources to upgrade even the most critical components of your build to the maximum. Fortunately, the game tells you in the nested menus exactly where to find what and what you need for what.
Lastly, a few words about the leveling phase, which changes to a new section every 5 to 10 level-ups. However, to reach this section, you must initiate a breakthrough, for which you must fulfill certain prerequisites – usually a specific character level and mastering designated combat exercises.
In the first week, progress is also tied to the days. On Day 1, you can play up to Level X, on Day 2 up to Level Y, on Day 3 up to Level Z, and so on. On the sixth day, this artificial “time-gating” then disappears.
The level of enemies in the open world always corresponds to your character level. Thus, with every successful breakthrough into the next leveling phase, not only does your maximum level increase, but your enemies also become stronger.
All NPCs in Where Winds Meet have their own daily routines and agendas.
What can you do alongside and after the story content?
The world of Where Winds Meet is full of secrets, puzzles, mini-games, and combat challenges. Many of the content outside of the main missions can be experienced in single-player mode with up to 3 friends. However, friends really only appear in your world when you invite them.
Things look different when you switch to multiplayer mode, which you unlock during the leveling phase. This brings you into a persistent MMO version of the game world where you can meet countless other players and found guilds and tackle special multiplayer content with them. However, main missions and side quests cannot be played here.
Attention! In multiplayer mode and multiplayer content, aids such as parry support are disabled. Anyone who already knows that they want to frequently play PvP and raids should learn to master the combat without the support visuals and slow-motion effects as early as possible.
Here’s a selection of things you can do in Where Winds Meet alone, with friends, guild members, or acquaintances:
Dungeons, raids, outposts, and world bosses
Participate in PvP Arena, a battle royale mode, or guild wars
Join one of the sects and rise to become the sect leader.
Make a blood oath with up to 9 other players to establish a blood brotherhood.
Improve your relationship with a particular player, even leading up to marriage.
Those who misbehave will increase their criminal reputation until a bounty is placed on them, and they may eventually even end up in prison.
Pursue careers as a healer or scholar to master the corresponding mini-games where you heal the injured or win heated debates.
You can increase your reputation with countless NPCs to receive useful rewards or start secret quests. Thanks to AI, you can even chat freely with many of the residents about anything and everything.
There’s a building system where you can erect houses.
Participate in group activities such as meditation exercises, card games, knowledge quizzes, or dancing.
There are separate reward systems for many of these activities. Additionally, there are in-game quests that familiarise you with the building system or healing NPCs, animals, or other players.
Where Winds Meet manages to wonderfully bring together this incredible number of systems and content most of the time and offers a fascinating player experience that currently does not exist anywhere else.
Just exploring the beautiful game world and discovering something cool every few steps is a great joy. Especially since surprising things happen time and again. Sometimes you find yourself suddenly being beaten up by a family of geese, or you stumble upon an old dude sleeping on a donkey that’s sitting in a tree … only to introduce himself as a world boss who sleepily thinks you want to steal his supplies.
The story is repeatedly elaborately staged, and the many cutscenes may interfere with gameplay-focused players. However: dialogues can be fast-forwarded, and cutscenes can be skipped.
At a rather early point in the game, you receive the hint that it might be worth trying an air strike at broken floor tiles. Suddenly, you find yourself in an underground area that leads you for the next half-hour through traps strewn with enemies and treasures.
Moreover, the fast-paced combat system feels good and fun. A few inputs are enough to perform spectacularly staged martial arts maneuvers. All opponents bring their own strengths and weaknesses, which you should consider when using skills.
The highlight is the wonderfully staged boss fights that often span multiple, sometimes very different phases and can represent memorable milestones in the course of the main story. However, the story abruptly ends after Chapter 2, but Where Winds Meet offers such an incredible amount at launch that the Free2Play access is almost outrageously fair.
To emphasize this point again: Where Winds Meet was a lot of fun for us. The existing weaknesses, which will be discussed in the next section, could not change that. This is such a unique gaming experience (for free!) that every role-playing, open-world, Wuxia, or martial arts fan should take a look at it from our perspective.
Where Winds Meet offers a variety of memorable boss fights.
What are the weaknesses of Where Winds Meet?
The sheer number of options, systems, currencies, and mechanics, as well as the developers’ great ambition to dance at several weddings, come at a cost. As a beginner, one can easily feel overwhelmed. For many hours, one constantly learns new things. Additionally, it can take time before finding the best settings for oneself. You need to get into Where Winds Meet.
The extremely nested menus unfortunately make this more difficult. You need to click through them constantly because you have unlocked a reward for something somewhere. I often caught myself during my search through the interface asking the question: Where was that again? Unfortunately, Where Winds Meet behaves very typically for a Free2Play Asian MMO in this regard.
Although Where Winds Meet was released in China months ago, our review version caused quite a few issues. The developers had already warned us about the still unfinished localized German texts. This should improve significantly by the launch version.
The fact that I couldn’t complete a quest for an enemy that took no damage for one evening or that inputs over the controller or mouse and keyboard were sometimes not recognized or only recognized with a delay was annoying. Fortunately, the latter mainly relates to menu navigation. In combat, I had no problems with the controls.
What I noticed is that the number of bugs and annoying little issues increased with playing time. However, Where Winds Meet was never unplayable. The previously mentioned immune enemy, for example, could be easily defeated the next day. Additionally, it is currently unclear which problems the developers can fix for the release version on November 14.
How does the version for PlayStation 5 perform? Our tech expert Benedikt Schlotmann has mainly played Where Winds Meet on the console. Here’s his assessment:
The action RPG runs very smoothly on the standard PS5. The loading times are very short and are lower than on my gaming PC. The controls on the PS5 feel intuitive and can be completely remapped if desired. The world is beautiful, and the combat feels dynamic on the console, sometimes even better than on PC with mouse and keyboard.
However, the version is still not perfect. I’ve noticed textures loading in during cutscenes, and much more annoyingly, there are problems with the DualSense: sometimes buttons and inputs are suddenly not recognized, meaning I couldn’t heal or switch weapons. In a boss fight, this is deadly.
This controller problem also affects the PC version and is not an isolated incident according to colleagues. As long as I can’t be sure that the PS5 version runs flawlessly at release, I cannot recommend it without hesitation.
What I have not tested on the console: the multiplayer mode. I played solo the entire time on PS5. On PC, I experienced strong delays in multiplayer with a colleague, where button presses arrived seconds late.
On PS5, Where Winds Meet supports 4K, 3D audio, and the adaptive triggers as well as the haptic feedback of the controller.
What questions remain?
In our early access version, we could only take a limited or no detailed look at two areas:
The multiplayer mode was present but only a few other players were around. We could play group challenges like dungeons with NPCs, but for example, we haven’t seen a PvP instance from the inside or participated in a mass meditation.
All monetization content was disabled. It is thus unclear what impact the in-game shop, battle pass, or cosmetic gacha system will have on the gaming experience.
In an earlier beta, the monetization was activated, and we also know how the model looks in the Chinese version. There, a large part of the paid content revolves around cosmetic items. However, you can also invest money in certain resources to make the farming grind a bit easier.
Ultimately, the final launch will show how the model for the West looks in detail and how the multiplayer content works when countless interested parties storm the servers and the automated group search.
What are the developers planning after the launch?
Where Winds Meet is set to be supported long-term with a seasonal model. It is clear that the first season is called Blade Out and runs from November 14, 2025, to February 5, 2026. Each season should bring new content such as game modes or time-limited events. A challenging hardcore difficulty level is also planned.
Furthermore, the developers want to gradually expand the main story with new chapters. A player of the Chinese version recently stated that there are now 4 large regions there (compared to 2 in the launch version in the West) and he has spent almost 1,000 hours on the currently available PvE content.
For those who have become curious and want to try Where Winds Meet starting on November 14, 2025, on PC, PlayStation 5, or mobile, our overview contains everything important about the ambitious open-world role-playing game from Everstone: Where Winds Meet – All the info on release, preload, price, and gameplay
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
With a new form of magic, spellcasting characters in Dungeons & Dragons should combine their powers to enhance their effects even further. That it can escalate with the right planning is not only surprising for players; DMs must reckon with it as well.
What kind of magic is this? It is the so-called “Circle Magic”, introduced with the new expansion “Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn.” D&D Beyond describes it as “a ritual art that allows spellcasters to combine their powers and reshape the rules of magic”… and some players took this literally.
The player Vegetable_Variety_11 reports on Reddit that he and another player really wanted to find out how far they could go with Circle Magic and took one of the most popular spells in Dungeons & Dragons as an example, the beloved Fireball. More specifically, they looked at the “Delayed Blast Fireball,” a level 7 variant of the standard Fireball that becomes stronger with the duration of the delay and adds 1d6 per round to the regular damage of 12d6.
Normally, this duration cannot be extended beyond 10 rounds. Therefore, the maximum extra damage is 10d6, provided you can maintain your concentration for that long. However, Circle Magic offers a breakthrough through this limit, making the spell exponentially more dangerous.
Here you can see the trailer for the fourth campaign of Critical Role:
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The 4th Campaign of Critical Role starts now and is bigger than ever
A Fireball Becomes a Targeted Nuclear Weapon Through Circle Magic
How does the use of Circle Magic enhance the Fireball? Through Circle Magic, the potential duration of a spell can be extended, which escalates with the number of supporting spellcasters… and the helping hands only have to sacrifice one action per round and one spell slot.
With 1 -3 helpers, the duration extends to one hour; with 4 – 6, it extends to 8 hours, and with at least 7 helpers, it extends to a full 24 hours. A delayed Fireball can, therefore, inflict a total of 14,400d6 extra damage if it deals 10d6 extra damage every minute and a group of 8 spellcasters concentrates on it together.
With an average rolled number of 3.5, a delayed Fireball with one spellcaster and 7 supporters during a 24-hour concentration period inflicts about 50,400 fire damage. This should please motivated min-maxers.
What does the community say about this calculation? The Reddit post received over 17,400 upvotes within a day, with some absolutely overwhelmed or fascinated by this wild use of Circle Magic.
“Is this even legal?” asks myflesh, but other players – and even DMs – respect this idea:
“As a DM, I would endorse this way of thinking, but only for the following reason: If you have eight spellcasters, each of whom can cast a level 7 spell, performing what is essentially a ritual to charge a magical nuclear weapon, and somehow manage to maintain that spell in enemy territory long enough to build up that magical power without drawing attention from guards or others, then you have to grant them that opportunity somehow,” writes PyroTornado107 on Reddit.
“The nature of D&D is that ultimately in every version someone discovers a nuclear weapon,” writes KamikazeArchon on Reddit.
The player lavahot summarizes it on Reddit in an atmospheric description you would want from your own DM:
Your fireball ignites. Your entire world turns into a blinding white, hot light. The roar is deafening. Your flesh dissolves from your bones. Your friends don’t even have a chance to scream before they explode into light. Then there is only darkness. Cold, unfeeling darkness. Unfeeling, endless darkness.
Then you feel a kick in your side. You wake up lying on your back and staring into the blue sky. A face with long hair appears in your view. “Wake up, Samurai,” he says, “We need to burn down a city.”
However, it must be mentioned that such use of a fireball buffed by Circle Magic still has weaknesses: As a level 7 spell, it can still be stopped by dispel magic, the affected radius remains at the possible 6 meters, and the target must not have fire resistance… otherwise, all the lengthy preparation would be in vain.
The use of Circle Magic can do much more than just extend the duration of a spell. Other effects can also be summoned with the help of allied spellcasters, turning even seemingly inconspicuous spells into truly powerful weapons. If you want to find out what else can be done with Circle Magic, you can do that here on MeinMMO: A new form of magic in Dungeons & Dragons forces you into teamwork, but makes you that much more powerful
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
