Does Elden Ring need an Easy Mode? You have a clear opinion

A heated discussion is taking place about the difficulty of Elden Ring. Does the game need an Easy Mode or not? We asked for your opinion, and you responded in large numbers.

This was the discussion: Since the release of Demon’s Souls, FromSoftware games have gained a reputation for being extremely hard and merciless. They do not provide players with the help that other games offer, and players often have to fight against many bosses for hours.

Accordingly, the release of the latest SoulsBorne game, Elden Ring sparked a discussion about the difficulty of the games.

  • Some players feel excluded because they cannot meet the challenges of the SoulsBorne games. Accordingly, they desire an Easy Mode so they can still participate in the experience and explore the vast world of Elden Ring.
  • Another part of the players, however, is against an Easy Mode. The SoulsBorne games offer enough ways to make the challenges much easier. Additionally, an Easy Mode would destroy part of the identity of the games, according to this part of the community.

Opinions on this issue vary widely, which is why we asked you on MeinMMO what you think of the difficulty in Elden Ring.

This was the distribution of votes: In total, 1,557 readers participated in the poll at the time of evaluation. Each had only one vote, and the choice could not be undone.

In total, about 72.32% were against an Easy Mode in Elden Ring:

  • I think the difficulty level is good, so I am against an Easy Mode: 54.72%
  • I think the difficulty level is too easy, so I am against an Easy Mode: 8.67%
  • I find it too hard, but I am still against an Easy Mode: 8.93%

The supporters of an Easy Mode accounted for about 28.32%:

  • I think the difficulty level is good, but I am still for an Easy Mode: 13.74%
  • I find it too hard, so I am for an Easy Mode: 13.36%
  • I find the difficulty level too easy, but I am still for an Easy Mode: 1.22%

The vast majority of over 50% found that the difficulty of Elden Ring is just right and should not be changed.

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These were the comments

This is what the opponents of the Easy Mode say: In the comments, there were numerous opponents of the Easy Mode in Elden Ring. Many of you wrote that the difficulty level is just as good as it is. You just have to immerse yourself in the game.

Moreover, the difficulty is essential for the sense of achievement that defines the SoulsBorne games. If everything were too easy, there would be no special feeling of victory when overcoming the challenges of the game.

The entire game is designed around this level of difficulty; that’s what defines the genre. Therefore, I absolutely cannot understand why everyone wants to play everything just to experience it for themselves? I find it outrageous that it started with that in WoW […]

MeinMMO reader Nico

The difficulty, the danger that lurks around every corner, makes up 50% of the game. That would be lost. If the jumpscare skeleton doesn’t one-shot you, it has no danger potential, and that leads to it becoming boring. FromSoftware wants everyone to have the same basic conditions. The concept is essentially a large part of game design.

MeinMMO reader Alex

Moreover, the difficulty is part of the identity of Elden Ring and other SoulsBorne games. The developers created these games with a specific vision, which is why they gained such great popularity.

Introducing an Easy Mode would therefore go against the DNA of the games and change the entire genre.

Don’t think that an Easy Mode is needed. The developers had something in mind, and they created their vision of the game, which should be respected, even if it means that you might not play the game yourself.

MeinMMO reader Neowikinger

Others argue that Elden Ring is not as hard as the game’s reputation suggests. The game offers many more “cheese opportunities” compared to previous SoulsBorne games, meaning ways to bypass difficult parts or make them significantly easier.

This includes, for example, the use of magic, which some players consider too strong. This way, players can essentially choose their difficulty level:

Actually, I don’t find the game too hard, and I’m really not a good player. The game offers enough options to not make it all too stressful (grinding, coop, strength/block build with heavy armor and just facetank all bosses). You just shouldn’t let the elitist community convince you that you’re playing the game wrong.

MeinMMO reader Visterface
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This is what the supporters of the Easy Mode say: However, there were also some supporters of the Easy Mode in the comments. These users advocated for as many players as possible to experience games like Elden Ring, which is only possible through an Easy Mode.

The mode would not change the gaming experience and “take anything away from anyone.” Players looking for a challenge and enjoying tough battles can still do so because nothing will be changed in the “normal” mode.

I am clearly for an (!)optional(!) easy mode, even if I wouldn’t use it. The magic of the game world would not be diminished by this. What many don’t understand (as usual)… They could play the normal mode, NG+ etc. as usual without any gear (just the character) with a torch and still praise themselves for it. It would simply not affect them, but could bring others into this beautiful experience.

MeinMMO reader Threepwood

Other supporters argue that every player should have the option to decide how difficult the game should be. Many gamers with families and jobs do not have time to grind for long or immerse themselves in a game. Or the stress factor of the games is too overwhelming for them.

However, these players still want to experience the world of Elden Ring. An Easy Mode would make that possible for them.

Let the customers decide how easy or difficult they want to play. The developer should also ensure that it can be played very easily. Again, I am the customer, and no one has to play the Easy Mode if they don’t want to. But the players who want it cannot.

I played a lot of Dark Souls and will not play Elden Ring. Dark Souls was/is extremely challenging, but with age, I only want to play such games comfortably. That is not possible in Dark Souls and probably not in Elden Ring either.

MeinMMO reader Landskron

“It is our identity.”

This is what the developers say: The heated debate also reached the developer FromSoftware in Japan. The game studio is known for its SoulsBorne games, which have become a genre of their own over the years.

Accordingly, President Hidetaka Miyazaki also commented on this. In an interview on the PlayStation Blog, he stated that the discussion is legitimate, but the studio will not change its approach to development.

We are always trying to improve, but in our games, difficulty is what gives the experience its meaning. Therefore, we are currently not ready to eliminate it. It is our identity.
[…]
We do not want to force difficulty or make it hard just for the sake of being hard. We want players to use their skill, learn the game, memorize what happens, and learn from their mistakes. We do not want players to feel as if the game is unfairly punishing them. […]

FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki

According to Miyazaki, the developers did not intentionally try to lower the difficulty in Elden Ring. However, he believes that the freedom of an open world and the more accessible multiplayer will provide players with an easier entry compared to previous SoulsBorne games.

What do you think about the results? Did you expect it, or were you surprised by the distribution of votes? Let us know in the comments.

Elden Ring: What is a tarnished, and why does nobody like me because of it?

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

One of the largest Twitch streamers for World of Tanks collects 70,000 € for Ukraine – We spoke with him

The war in Eastern Europe is also concerning people in Germany. Many influencers, streamers, and others are using their reach to support the people in Ukraine. One of the biggest streamers of World of Tanks is German, and he raised 70,000 euros in donations with his community alone. MeinMMO conducted the first interview about it.

Who is the streamer? mouzAkrobat is a well-known name in the German community of World of Tanks. He is considered the go-to person for new players regarding guides, strategies, and getting started in the game.

On Twitch, mouzAkrobat has achieved great success with the game: in viewer hours, he ranks 6th among the world’s largest streamers on Twitch (via sullygnome). In Germany, he even shares 1st place with Mailand, with the two taking turns at the top.

After we reported on MeinMMO that Twitch star Knossi had raised “more than €100,000” in donations together with German rappers, we were made aware of mouzAkrobat’s initiative.

Through the platform betterplace.org, over €70,000 were raised during a donation stream.

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We have embedded the video of the donation stream for you.

Twitch streamer wants to promote “unity and positive signs”

MeinMMO: Would you introduce yourself briefly for those who don’t know you yet?

mouzAkrobat: Hi! I’m Andreas, 37 years old, and I’m from Hamburg. On Twitch and YouTube, I’m known by the name “mouzAkrobat.” I was a paratrooper officer in the Bundeswehr for 12 years and after my service, I studied business administration with a focus on marketing.

After successfully completing my studies, I became self-employed creating content on Twitch and YouTube with currently slightly over 100,000 subscribers on both platforms.

MeinMMO: Since when have you been streaming on Twitch and how did it come about?

mouzAkrobat: I have been streaming on Twitch since the beginning of 2016, and since 2019, I have been making a living from it. How long that will last depends on viewer interest, but I am aware that it is a dream for every gamer to be able to live off “gaming” at least for some time.

However, I believe many underestimate the effort behind it. One must invest at least 60-80 hours a week to supply both platforms, YouTube and Twitch, with content. Accounting, communication with partners, projects like fundraising, and other activities add to that.

MeinMMO: How did you come up with the idea to raise money for Ukraine?

mouzAkrobat: We have been raising money with large campaigns for various projects for years. Just in November, we were able to raise over €150,000 for the flood victims of the Ahr Valley. Normally, I can prepare, document, and present the recipients of donations more thoroughly ahead of time.

In the case of Ukraine, it was a very spontaneous initiative with less than 24 hours of notice. Many in the community felt the same way I did. The terrible images on television and social media created a feeling of powerlessness and helplessness in us.

Through this initiative, people in the community could show each other that we can stand together and set positive signs!

Donations for a good cause: €500,000 in 3 years

MeinMMO: Your initiative raised €70,000. Did all of that come from your community?

mouzAkrobat: Yes, the money came entirely from our community. There were a total of 1,123 individual donations. This means that on average, €63 was donated per person. The Ahr Valley campaign had a similar picture. For a relatively small community, incredible sums have been raised.

In 3 years, we have been able to raise about €500,000 for charity. This included donations for the mentioned Ahr Valley, well over €100,000 for the children’s hospice Sternenbrücke in Hamburg, and a variety of smaller projects like Off Road Kids Deutschland or the German Cancer Charity.

MeinMMO: Who exactly are the donations going to?

mouzAkrobat: The money went to the “Aktion Deutschland Hilft” from Bonn. This is an alliance of many aid organizations from Germany, who primarily help refugees at border crossings with supplies, accommodation, and cash assistance, but they are also present in many parts of Ukraine to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.

MeinMMO: Do you think every Twitch streamer should use their reach like you do?

mouzAkrobat: No, it doesn’t help if it arises from expectations or external pressure. One must also not underestimate how much work a careful preparation and follow-up of such fundraising campaigns entails if one wants to do it properly and transparently.

Unfortunately, one often has the feeling that female and male streamers do it half-heartedly because they feel that it is expected of them, and at times, there are also campaigns that have a strange aftertaste because it seems as if the goal is simply to gain more reach. So the opposite of how the question was formulated.

I have never really cared for attention from the outside, and this is the first interview I have ever given regarding the donation initiatives. The conviction and the cause should always come first.

“Gamers are probably the most peaceful people in our society”

MeinMMO: You stream a war game with World of Tanks. Does it feel strange after the attack on Ukraine?

mouzAkrobat: Of course, the situation in Ukraine does not pass me by, nor the people from the World of Tanks community, which also includes many players from Ukraine and even more from the Russian area. However, we have also made it clear long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine that we do not let ourselves be politicized or stigmatized.

We are normal people from the middle of society playing a tactical shooter. Gamers are probably the most peaceful people in our society because geopolitical boundaries do not matter to us. We all play together and against each other in a sporting competition and, of course, to escape everyday life for a moment.

I can say from my own time in Afghanistan that there are no winners in a “real war.” All parties lose! I am sure that gaming will clearly help in the communication between nations and the understanding of each other, and in the future, it will also lead to bridging the gaps of political ideology. So we should not stop playing, but rather play even more together!

MeinMMO: Thank you for the interview!

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Our expertise on MeinMMO relates to gaming. For those who want to learn more about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, we recommend consulting official sites or news magazines:

– Ukraine Live Blog (via Zeit)
– War in Ukraine (via nzz)
– Solidarity with Ukraine (via Auswärtiges Amt)

Important Note: If you are struggling with dark thoughts due to the current situation: You are not alone. Please seek help. For example, contact the phone counseling service at 0800/111 0 111 or the online counseling, where you can also use a chat. It is free and available nationwide.

War in Ukraine influences gaming

Developers and publishers are taking a stand on the war and showing solidarity with Ukraine.

Russian and Ukrainian studios must ensure the safety of their employees and postpone releases. Streamers from these countries must flee or lose their livelihood.

Even in Germany, the topic is omnipresent and concerns well-known names on YouTube, Twitch, and social networks. Many gaming influencers express their concerns about the war and deal with the situation in Ukraine in different ways:

Provide distraction or not? How German gaming streamers are reacting to the invasion of Ukraine

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

Who was the first great German shooter YouTuber that is hardly spoken of today?

“Now first take your penis in your hand, because then everything is fine,” said the first major shooter YouTuber to greet viewers in his videos. We are talking about Carsten “ELoTRiX” (30). He was hyper and loud in his YouTube videos back then. Nowadays, hardly anyone talks about the 30-year-old who was once famous.

Who is ELoTRiX?

  • The name ELoTRiX means friendship for the content creator, as it originated with his former best friend, who took his life at some point. He loved the name above all. Another “homie” of his is the well-known German streamer MontanaBlack, and they have known each other since the beginning of their careers.
  • On February 18, 2011, ELoTRiX founded his first YouTube channel “ELoTRiX Playz” and showcased commented shooter gameplay there. However, he had to delete the first videos due to copyright violations.
  • In the following years, he created 4 more YouTube channels that showcased shooter gameplay, stream highlights, clips, and other gameplay.
  • He is currently only actively running the channels that represent his stream highlights and other gameplay. On his main account “ELoTRiX,” he promised a comeback 7 months ago, but he hasn’t uploaded any new videos there since.

This is what the numbers say about ELoTRiX’s YouTube channels

What is the status of ELoTRiX’s YouTube channels?

  • Main channel: ELoTRiX – 1.27 million subscribers.
    • Due to inactivity, it only gets about 35,000 video views a month.
  • 2nd channel: ELoTRiX – Stream Highlights – 540,000 subscribers.
    • February 2021: 9,096,516 video views.
    • February 2022: 3,260,105 video views.
  • 3rd channel: ELoTRiX – Story Games – 25,100 subscribers
    • Has been actively produced for 2 weeks and has brought in 602,517 video views so far.
  • 4th channel: ELoTRiX – Clips & Talks – 42,000 subscribers
    • No new videos have been uploaded for 3 months.
    • February 2022: 20,337 video views.
    • At its peak, it achieved over 1 million video views.

According to the numbers, the success of ELoTRiX’s YouTube channels is declining continuously, but nowadays he is particularly active on Twitch.

What is ELoTRiX doing today? Is he still known?

In fact, ELoTRiX is still quite successful on Twitch. He is among the “Top 20” channels in Germany and currently entertains an average of over 6,300 viewers with his streams (as of March 9, 12:57 PM). He also has 1.4 million followers and over 11,400 subscribers there.

Although these are not his all-time highs, which averaged 18,141 subscribers and 10,246 viewers, the numbers are still impressive.

While 3 of his 5 YouTube channels are inactive, he streams relatively regularly on Twitch: In the last 30 days, he went live 18 times.

You can gain insight into his streams and typical reactions in this Twitch clip:

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What has changed? Back then, he regularly played shooters like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Black Ops 3, or Battlefield 3. However, he now plays not only shooters but also games like the currently popular Elden Ring or Dying Light 2.

Nowadays, he is no longer considered just the shooter YouTuber, but rather a variety streamer. Although he no longer greets his viewers with penis jokes, he has remained true to himself: sometimes loud, aggressive, and funny, and sometimes highly concentrated, whether in reactions or in-game.

More information about ELoTRiX’s homie: Career and life of MontanaBlack in 2 minutes: What makes him special?

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

LoL: German Pro is the Man Who Does Not Die – Outshines All Other Players Worldwide

The German professional player Elias “Upset” Lipp (22) has set a record in League of Legends. He dies the least in the European league LEC – even historically speaking. This is also unusual because he plays a fragile role as ADC. But it has led his team Fnatic to perform well and statistically, he outshines all other professionals in the world.

What kind of record is that? It is the record for the fewest deaths in the Spring Split 2022 of the LEC and at the same time of all time:

  • Upset has the lowest death rate in the history of the LEC – he has died only 11 times in 8 weeks and 18 games. The next best player in Europe is the top laner of top team Rogue, Odoamne, who has already 24 deaths, so double as many as Upset.
  • This extremely low death rate has led to Upset having the highest “KDA” in the league with 16.5 – he has achieved 87 kills and 106 assists. The KDA is the highest of all professional players in all 4 major LoL leagues, as dotesports knows.
  • Upset’s performance is also benefiting his team: Fnatic is in a strong second place with 13-5.
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German pro follows in the footsteps of the legend Rekkles

What is special about it? In the statistics, two things can be seen:

On the one hand, Upset plays incredibly controlled and takes relatively few risks – ADCs are often labeled as hotheads who die because they become too greedy and miss a gank. In LoL, it is enough for an ADC to position themselves slightly incorrectly and they become fodder for the excessive damage that is currently going out. But that simply doesn’t happen to Upset.

On the other hand, half of the record surely belongs to his bot lane partner Hylissang, who has formed the core of Fnatic with Rekkles for years. However, Upset seems not to have been deterred by these huge footsteps but rather motivated.

Fnatic has completely built its team around Upset and his supporter in 2022, with all 3 other positions being newly filled.

Ironically, Upset is indirectly responsible for this: he had to leave his team at Worlds for family reasons, which led to a public breakup with top lane talent Adam, who then left Fnatic. Without Upset, Fnatic stood no chance at Worlds.

kda-upset
Upset’s KDA is outstanding. No other player in Europe has even half as strong a statistic (via oracleselixir).

What are Upset’s chances in the playoffs? This year in the LEC, much is open because almost all teams have been restructured and are playing very inconsistently, with many new players and rookies in the lineup.

Fnatic will face G2 right away in the first round of the playoffs, and in the medium term, it will likely be important whether they can eliminate Rogue and whether Upset continues to die so rarely.

A team that has made it to the playoffs is Vitality, who, like Fnatic, bought 3 new players, but in a different price range:

LoL: Money actually gets kills – Bought super team throws out the champion

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

Lost Ark: The big update with new story and raid is here – All about patch notes and server down

On March 10, Lost Ark will receive the first major content update in the West. The focus is on new story content and a completely new raid experience. We have gathered the most important information about the update and the associated maintenance work for you.

Update 15:30: The servers are offline again. Here we reveal what’s going on: Lost Ark: New update causes issues – developers take servers down.

Update 12:41: The servers are back online. In this article, we tell you what exactly awaits you in the new raid: Lost Ark brings the first raid for 8 players, but they cannot play together.

What does the new patch bring? The focus of the major March update is primarily on three innovations:

  • There is a new story quest line around the character Kadan, the first butcher of the guardians. There you will explore a new island and meet new, as well as recurring characters.
  • The first Abyss raid will be released. In it, you will face the boss Argos, which you must defeat with a total of 8 players.
  • A time-limited race is introduced: the Great Prize of Arkesia. In this, players will compete in a 7v7 match and must complete a course as quickly as possible. However, the opposing team can hinder you. To enter, you must have reached level 50.

In addition to the major innovations, there are also many small adjustments, including the groundwork for the first PvP season, new login bonuses, and new skins in the shop. There were also some bug fixes.

How long will the server maintenance last? The new update will be implemented on March 10 at 9:00 AM. Subsequently, there should be server downtime lasting about 4 hours. According to plan, the servers will be back online with the new update at 1:00 PM.

We will keep you updated in this post in case of delays or an early start of the servers.

Official patch notes for the major March update

Kadan quest line

Experience a new storyline with unique quests, new islands, and cinematic moments. While you learn more about the star messengers in these quests and search for the legendary Kadan, the first butcher of the guardians, on your journey to the last ark, you will encounter a series of new and recurring characters.

Players must have completed both Feiton and the following quests: ‘Yorn – Let there be light’, ‘Whisperholm – The beginning of our story’, and ‘Illusion Bamboo Island – End of the Trials’ as a prerequisite to tackle the new endgame quests. The Isteri & Illusion Bamboo Islands are recommended for players of item level 1100.

Abyss raid: Argos

Much like the guardian raids that players had to face during their adventures in Arkesia, participants must work together to defeat the guardian Argos before time runs out, while the group has only a limited number of revives available. Argos is a relentless opponent, which is why eight players are needed to engage him.

Players must go through three different phases and cooperate to conquer this mighty guardian. In the three phases, Argos becomes more powerful through different mechanics and attack patterns. Each phase has its own rewards (which can be collected once a week) and a different item level requirement that players must meet.

  • Section 1 – Item level 1370
  • Section 2 – Item level 1385
  • Section 3 – Item level 1400

To face Argos, you must first complete the guide quest ‘Abyss raid unlocked!’. Those who meet the requirements can join the fight via the Abyss raid statue in the major cities. There they can search for battle companions through match search, or by looking for a specific group. Players can also search for a group via the ‘Find Group’ button below the minimap, and join the encounter.

General updates

Great Prize of Arkesia

Are you looking for a change after all those intense abyss raids and competitions in the trial arena? Then the limited-time race of the Great Prize of Arkesia, available next month, is just the thing. In this mode, two teams of seven players (7v7) compete against each other. They race through an obstacle course and try to reach their goal while hindering the other team from progressing. Progress can be achieved by reaching the goal and eating cake! The Great Prize of Arkesia will be live for about a month after the March update until the release of the April update.

In every major city (except Prideholme), an NPC named ‘Administrator of the Great Prize of Arkesia’ will appear to assist you in joining the event and grant you access to the quest ‘[Event][Daily] Go to the Arena!’. Players must be level 50 to participate in the event. Please note that there is a known issue where messages for this requirement in-game are only available in English.

Competitive Trial Arena Season 1

Unlike the other content of the March update, the first March update will lay the groundwork for the competitive trial arena of Season 1, which will begin at the end of the month. We will keep you updated on the exact timing of the season’s start.

It’s time to hone your skills in combat against other players – the first season of the competitive trial arena is approaching, where players can compete against each other for prestige and rewards. Players can only queue for the ‘Team Deathmatch’ mode. You can track your wins and losses during the season in your ‘Average Competitive Game Rating’. Your rank will be determined based on your score, just like the rewards you receive at the end of the season. To participate, players must compete in the trial arena and reach rank 1. So, make sure to have a few fights before Season 1 begins!

New skins

The Omen skin has been added to the in-game shop. These cosmetic items can be purchased for royal crystals until the release of the April update.

New login bonuses

The March update includes a new feature where players receive daily rewards for logging in daily and claiming them. The rewards include many helpful materials such as enhancement materials, relationship selection chests, card packs, and much more! You can receive 25 daily bonuses as well as additional rewards for reaching the 10, 15, and 20-day milestones. These rewards will be available until our April update.

Western Europe will receive adjusted login bonuses to help players who have changed regions catch up on their game progress. We will announce more information for players in Western Europe on our official forums.

Important bug fixes

  • A problem related to Direct X 11 has been resolved, which caused the game client to become unresponsive when switching from windowed mode to fullscreen mode while using Alt+Tab.
  • A problem with the graphics settings has been fixed, where using the ‘Restore Default Settings’ button sometimes set the graphics settings to a higher than intended default setting.
  • Some controller support issues for tutorials and other guides have been resolved.
  • A problem has been fixed where it was impossible to drop gems when using a controller.
  • A character creation/customization issue has been fixed where the ‘Hello’ tattoo was displayed backwards.
  • A problem in the UI of the estate management of fortresses has been fixed where AZERTY keyboard input was not properly supported.
  • A problem has been fixed where the wrong tutorial video for the abyss dungeon was played.
  • Issues have been resolved that occasionally prevented players from hearing, speaking, or moving while in raid group chat.
  • A problem has been fixed that caused the hotkey function for the global chat to not work properly.
  • A bug has been fixed where the weekly combat item package displayed that it could be claimed 10 times. This was changed to indicate a purchase limit of 1 per week. Although we already reported this issue as resolved in our last update, we continued to work on the solution and apologize for any confusion between updates.
  • A problem in the training room has been fixed where the tutorial text for the movement ‘Stand Up’ disappeared too quickly.
  • A problem in the quest ‘Honest Liar’ has been fixed that prevented players from progressing through quest interactions and NPC dialogues with a mouse click.
  • A problem was fixed that limited the ship skin selection chest: Notos Orka to only one purchase instead of three purchases.
  • A problem in the UI of the fortress laboratory was resolved, which caused additional unlocked research labs to not be displayed.
  • Additional minor and backend issues have been fixed.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Source(s):
  1. Lost Ark

In 2022 a new cooperative game with DC superheroes comes – focuses on an action-packed duo experience

Gotham Knights has a release date: On October 25, 2022, the action starts with Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, and Red Hood. The focus is on a smooth co-op experience for 2 players. MeinMMO introduces you to the title briefly.

With the “Arkhamverse,” Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment created a popular video game series centered around Gotham’s Dark Knight: Batman.

In the titles Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Knight, we take on well-known villains from the Batman universe and maintain law and order in the city. However, this usually lasts only a few days in Gotham.

However, these adventures were all designed for a solo experience, but now they serve as the foundation for a new co-op game that has a release date: Gotham Knights will be released on October 25.

Different Universe, Same Approach – But in Co-op

Batman is dead, Gotham is defenseless. 4 superheroes set out to control the arch-enemies of the city’s former protector and prevent the collapse of public order.

In Gotham Knights, you play with the trained successors of the Dark Knight: Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, and Red Hood.

The title is inspired by the successful Arkham series, giving you 4 completely different fighters and allowing you to experience it all alone or for the first time as a duo.

You solve crimes, hunt down nasty gangsters, and take down opponents with punches and elegant tools that also help you leverage the combat area to your advantage.

For a brief first impression, we are embedding a gameplay trailer here. In the end, there’s a fight against the notorious Mr. Freeze:

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Through the 4 playable heroes, each bringing their own combat techniques to the game, the developers aim to elevate the outdated gameplay of the Arkham series to a new level.

Additionally, extensive co-op features ensure a seamless gaming experience. You can essentially join a running game at any time, level all characters together, and the combat system has been altered to meet the needs of co-op elements.

Executive Producer Fleur Marty stated (via gameinformer.com):

We have completely overhauled the combat system so that it works well in co-op. Because this part of the experience is really exciting for us.

At the same time, you miss nothing if you only hunt solo. Currently, the co-op feature only works online – there have been no hints about split-screen.

The release date came along with a new English story trailer. You can watch it at IGN (via ign.com).

With Gotham Knights, the Arkham series takes the step into multiplayer. It will be exciting to see how the solo adventure holds up when 2 people beat a foe.

What do you think about the new brawler title with Batman flair? Feel free to share your thoughts with us and discuss in the comments.

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

New MMORPG on Steam will remind of old classics like RuneScape – Starts open beta in 2022

Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore is the new MMORPG from the indie developer Gellyberry Studios. It is meant to recall old classics like RuneScape or Tibia and is played in isometric perspective. The focus is on exploration, crafting, building your own home, and high risks in dungeons.

What kind of game is this? Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore aims to revive the old classics in a modern engine. You create a character that is not bound to any class but is defined by skills and equipment. With this, you explore the world of Irumesa.

  • The focus is on a world filled with much to explore and discover.
  • Similar to RuneScape, there should be various and unique opportunities for character development. However, you can only create one character per server.
  • Gathering and crafting play an important role and are meant to be one of the reasons why returning to low-level areas is worthwhile. You should also be able to gather endgame materials directly from level 1, but the chance of successful gathering should be close to 0. The higher your skill and the better your tools, the higher the chance of success.
  • Another reason for playing in beginner areas should be hidden puzzles or quests that need to be found. There is also a journal where you must find all monster types in the open world.
  • There is housing in the open world that is visible to everyone. Guilds can also jointly establish a home on larger building sites.
  • Instances and boss arenas are planned for PvE.
  • In the endgame, there will also be open PvP, with a karma system preventing players from simply attacking others.

The game was initially known as “Blocky Ages”.

When will the MMORPG be released? It is set to start early access on Steam in 2023. So far, there have only been closed beta tests and “in a few months” there should be an open beta on Steam (via Steam).

A first look at Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore is provided by this trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsrjOq66MRo

High risk for better loot, but there are penalties

What is special about the MMORPG? The developers emphasize that their game is based on the premise of “Risk versus Reward.” The higher the risk, the higher the chance for good loot. However, deaths can also be very dangerous.

In PvE, dungeons and boss arenas are meant to offer various difficulty levels, so everyone can find a challenge that suits them. However, the higher the difficulty levels become, the more there is to lose:

Generally, every piece of equipment has the chance to drop upon death, both in PvE and PvP. However, the Mage Guild is said to be able to prevent drops with enchantments. It is unclear whether this applies permanently or only once per enchantment.

  • If you die at the highest difficulty levels, you lose experience points.
  • Especially severe is that group members also lose experience points if one from the party dies. There is, therefore, a collective penalty.

Monthly subscription with a shop without Pay2Win and Pay2Progress

What does the payment model look like? The MMORPG is based on a subscription model, so you will need to pay monthly to participate in the game. There is not yet a specific price for this subscription.

However, the developers have already revealed that they will also have a shop. This should be neither Pay2Win nor contain XP boosts or additional inventory slots. The focus is purely on cosmetic items.

These cosmetics should also only be found in the shop and not in the game. This is to prevent prestige items from simply being bought in the shop.

Can you already test the game? You can apply for the ongoing alpha and, with some luck, be selected for it (via Ethyrial). Otherwise, open beta tests will start sometime in 2022.

How long has the game been in development? According to a post on reddit, the studio has been working on Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore for “several years.” There were first developer videos of the game in 2019. Since April 2021, there has been a Discord and first tests with outside players.

What do you think of the new MMORPG? Do the ideas appeal to you, or does the open PvP rather scare you off? Feel free to write it in the comments.

If you like the isometric perspective and enjoyed Lost Ark, you should keep an eye on this game from the publisher of Guild Wars 2:

New MMORPG coming in 2022 for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox – Looks like Lost Ark in gameplay video

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

Lost Ark gives you Crystalline Aura and Amethyst Shards via Prime Gaming

Since March 9th, there is new loot for Lost Ark at Prime Gaming. Included are the premium buff Crystalline Aura and the rare Amethyst Shards, which you primarily receive through Amazon Prime and Twitch Drops. We reveal what’s included in the new package and how you can redeem it.

What is currently available at Prime Gaming? You receive a package of three different items:

  • Crystalline Aura – Duration 5 days
  • Amethyst Shards – 500 pieces
  • Companion Selection Chest: Blessed Egg – Contains one of three different pets

You can collect the items by visiting Amazon Prime Gaming (via Amazon).

We will explain below what these items are and how you can connect your Lost Ark and Amazon accounts.

Useful Buff and Exclusive Currencies

What does the Crystalline Aura do? The Aura gives you some useful bonuses for 5 days, including:

  • Fast travel becomes free
  • Fee for overseas ships is reduced by 50%
  • An additional attempt for daily relationship actions
  • Health regeneration is increased by 10%
  • Two additional Bifrost slots
  • Cooldown for the song of return is reduced by 50%
  • Various waiting times at your fortress are reduced, and the XP in the training grounds is increased
  • You temporarily receive the title Crystal Benefactor

30 days of this Aura would otherwise cost you 450 crystals in the shop. This costs approximately 5,000 gold in-game currency or about 11 euros in real money.

What are Amethyst Shards? Amethyst Shards are a currency that you can only acquire through achievements, Twitch Drops, or Prime Gaming. You can exchange them for Crystalline Aura, emotes, mounts, or companions.

We have prepared a separate guide for you:

More on the topic
Lost Ark: What can you buy with Amethyst fragments and where can you find them?
von Alexander Leitsch

What kind of companion is this? For companions, you can choose from:

  • Hoppsi
  • Tschopp Tschopp
  • Bong-Bong

Companions ensure that your loot is automatically collected and each has a special effect. They provide you with more stats such as health or attack power. However, those who own the pet from the pre-order packages already have a stronger companion.

Redeeming Lost Ark Prime Rewards – Here’s how it works

Here’s how it works: You only need to connect your Lost Ark and Amazon accounts to claim the rewards. To do this, go to the official Prime Gaming website.

  • First, you need to log in with your Prime account (two-factor authentication is required).
  • Then, you link your Prime account with your Steam account that you use to play Lost Ark.
  • Now you should be able to redeem the contents on the website.

What do you think about the new rewards? Do you prefer the pet over the treasure chests last time? Feel free to leave your comments.

The developers have now revealed how they plan to address the gender lock long-term:

Lost Ark tackles a major criticism – Aims to offer more diversity in classes

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

FIFA 22: TOTW 25 is live – With upgrades for De Bruyne and Martínez

In FIFA 22 the new TOTW 25 is now available. Find out here which players made it into the Team of the Week this time.

What is the TOTW actually? Every week, the best players from real football are given improved Inform cards in FUT 22 in the ‘Team of the Week’. These special cards have better stats and usually earn a few more coins on the transfer market.

Additionally, special cards, such as the OTW cards, can receive further upgrades with the TOTW.

How can you get TOTW cards? You can pull TOTW cards from packs, but it takes a lot of luck to do so. Alternatively, you can find the Inform cards on the FUT transfer market, but they will cost you a lot of coins.

How to get the necessary coins is shown in our trading tips.

The TOTW 25 in FIFA 22 – All Inform Players

This is the TOTW 25: The new Team of the Week 25 features some strong cards, but especially Kevin De Bruyne’s new card stands out. The Belgian receives a solid upgrade to an overall rating of 93. The new Inform cards of Hernandez (88), Iago Aspas (88), Martinez (87), and Toney (86) are also strong.

The featured player this week is Evanilson from FC Porto, who receives a significant upgrade from 79 to 84.

TOTW 25 starting XI:

  • GK: Bizot (84)
  • LB: Hernandez (88)
  • RB: James (86)
  • LM: Raum (84)
  • CM: De Bruyne (93)
  • RM: Saka (87)
  • CM: Carlos Soler (84)
  • RM: Faivre (84)
  • ST: Iago Aspas (88)
  • ST: Martinez (87)
  • ST: Toney (86)

TOTW 25 bench:

  • GK: Pacheco (83)
  • CB: Hinteregger (83)
  • CB: Cabrera (81)
  • CAM: Zelarayan (84)
  • LM: Gelson Martins (82)
  • CM: Endo (82)
  • ST: Evanilson (84)
  • CB: Lees (77)
  • LM: Morgan (79)
  • CDM: Bodinger (78)
  • ST: Debeljuh (76)
  • ST: Airam Carbrera (71)

The Bundesliga in TOTW 25

The Bundesliga in TOTW 25
  • Hoffenheim’s Raum (84) receives his already third Inform card in FUT 22 this week, which is a strong option for the LB position. He is lightning fast and has good physical and defensive stats.
  • For Hinteregger (83) from Eintracht Frankfurt, this is the first Inform card in FUT 22. He has stable defensive stats but can’t keep up with current CB cards.
  • Unfortunately, the new Inform card of Endo (82) lacks convincing stats. It is more suitable for Stuttgart fans and FUT beginners.

If you want to know what great feature might wait for you in FIFA 23, then check this out:

Early leaks about FIFA 23 indicate a long-awaited feature – Is crossplay finally coming?

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

Metacritic creates ranking of the best publishers worldwide – indie studio beats industry giants

Metacritic is mainly known for assigning ratings to games, movies, and music through aggregated reviews. However, once a year, game publishers are also featured, and we show you the latest list on MeinMMO.

What is this list about:

  • Once a year, the website “Metacritic” publishes a ranking of game publishers
  • The site takes all published games from a publisher in one year and allocates points based on the achieved meta score
  • For 2021, Microsoft is in 1st place and the indie publisher “Humble Games” is in 3rd place

Publisher Ranking – Humble Games overtakes the “big ones”

What kind of list is this? Metacritic creates aggregated ratings from reviews and can often provide a differentiated first impression of a game.

From these game ratings, the website has now created a ranking of the publishers responsible for the respective titles. A total of 43 publishers are represented.

What do the top 10 look like? The best 10 read like a “Who’s Who” of gaming publishers.

But in between, there is a small surprise that jumped from 18th to 3rd place and puts industry giants like Activision Blizzard or Bethesda in their place: Humble Games.

Top 10 Publisher Ranking Metacritic 2022

  • Microsoft / Xbox Game Studios – 87.4
  • Sony – 81.3
  • Humble Games – 80.9
  • Activision Blizzard – 80.6
  • Bethesda Softworks – 80.2
  • Capcom – 80.6
  • Bandai Namco – 78.5
  • Sega – 77.6
  • Electronic Arts – 78.3
  • 505 Games – 75.7

In 1st place is Microsoft and Xbox Game Studios, who, with a good margin, became the first publisher to reach over 85 points. Last year, Microsoft was in 6th place.

In 2nd place is competitor Sony. The PlayStation makers are falling behind Microsoft – last year they were in 4th place ahead of Microsoft.

In 3rd place is the indie publisher Humble Games. This is the publishing arm of the gaming company “Humble Bundle”, which sells the titular game bundles. The games usually start with a low budget.

A large slideshow of the 43 publishers with a brief overview of the successes in 2021 can be found on the English website of Metacritic (via metacritic.com).

How was the list created? To create the ranking, the Metacritic points of the individual games were not simply taken but were incorporated into a point system:

  • Average metacritic score x 1.5
    • Maximum of 150 points possible
  • %-value of games that had a minimum of 75 metacritic score
    • e.g. 80 % = + 80 points / 100 points possible
  • 100 minus the %-value of games that had a score below 49
    • e.g. 20 % = 100 – 20 = 80 points / 100 points possible
  • 5 bonus points for games over 90 metacritic score (minimum 7 reviews)

Furthermore, only publishers with at least 5 games released in 2021 that were considered in the Metacritic rankings were included in the list.

An interesting ranking that shows that good games do not necessarily need a large budget to convince players and press.

On MeinMMO we have a big indie fan in the editorial team: our author Marko Jevtic. If you want to check out some indie gems that he guarantees are worth playing, take a look here: The 10 best single-player shooters under 20 € that you can play in 2022.

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

New World is struggling to manage PvP issues – Now simply reducing the number of participants

The wars for territories in New World have been facing issues since the release. Especially lags and connection problems are causing frustration among players. Amazon is now addressing the problem, but many players are not happy with the solution.

What is Amazon doing about the issues? In March, a new update will be released that brings a new dungeon and a new weapon. The patch is currently on the test server and is receiving regular updates there.

The latest update has reduced the number of participants in the wars:

  • Previously, battles for a territory were fought in 50v50 matches
  • In the future, the wars will be conducted in 40v40 matches

While Amazon is addressing the server issues and lags this way, many players consider this solution to be wrong. They felt that the player count of 50v50 was already too small, especially considering that a company can have up to 100 players.

Start video
Everything you need to know about the New World endgame – in 2 minutes

Matchmaking from anywhere and more rewards for dailies

What else is in the new PTR update? The new PTR patch brought over 20 changes, including:

  • Registration for the Outpost Rush is now possible from anywhere in the world. You no longer have to run to the faction NPC in settlements.
  • You now slowly regenerate health and mana points outside of combat automatically.
  • Daily faction missions now give 5x more faction tokens.
  • The recipe for the sword “Balance of Time” has been adjusted so that the crafting resources are at the same level as comparable T3 weapons.

You can find the complete patch notes in the New World forum.

What else does the update bring? The patch focuses mainly on the new dungeon and the new weapon. However, there are over 100 other adjustments being made with the March patch.

Especially 5 small changes are very well received by the players:

New World introduces 5 small changes in March that players have been eagerly waiting for months

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

In 59 terrible seconds, a CEO destroys everything on Twitch – Gaming PC company has to close now

The CEO of a company that manufactures custom gaming PCs, Noah Katz, made a catastrophic appearance on Twitch and everything went downhill afterwards. Sponsors pulled out, the reputation was ruined, and now the end of the company is being announced. Apparently, there is no more money to keep the business running.

What were those terrible 59 seconds on Twitch? The company “Artesian Builds” had organized a giveaway to raffle off a gaming PC to “brand ambassadors.” The PC was won by a Twitch streamer, who the CEO of the company considered too small.

Noah Katz stated live on air that the streamer had very few followers on Twitch and social media anyway. The deciding factor, however, was that nobody had purchased a PC through her link.

The CEO acted as if he had caught a scammer in the act trying to cheat her way into a prize, and he let the prize roll over. He hinted that this was not a real giveaway that is open to everyone, but rather a “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” scenario. Only those who could offer something to the company would be able to win a gaming PC worth several thousand euros.

In doing so, the CEO appeared smug and as if he were looking down on the Twitch streamer who had won the prize. His phrase “And there is the reroll” sounded almost triumphant. He referred to a “Purge,” a cleansing.

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Unprecedented backlash against the PC company

This was the consequence: The streamer wrote afterwards that she felt “small” and “defamed” and that she had won honestly and felt cheated out of her prize.

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The streamer felt “small” and “defamed” by the CEO.

This led to a huge wave:

  • There was much sympathy for the streamer. A major PC builder, JayzTwoCents, even offered to get her an even better PC and took pleasure in criticizing the competition, which he already saw as inferior.
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A major PC builder with 1 million followers on Twitter became aware of the case.
  • There was a huge amount of criticism for Noah Katz and his company Artesian Builds, and they became “Public Enemy Number 1” on Twitter and Twitch.
  • Major partners and sponsors of the company subsequently withdrew and distanced themselves from the PC building company. Twitch streamer Nickmercs called the behavior “very strange,” while Tarkov expert Pestily wanted nothing to do with Artesian Builds.
Twitch-Alinity-Dog-e1575624719191-1140x445
Alinity stated that the company only offered her $300 and set high demands.

Additionally, many other content creators highlighted what was wrong with the company:

  • The streamer Alinity stated that she received a totally audacious and brazen offer from the company (via dexerto).
  • Others uncovered that the company had been arrogant to small streamers beforehand.
  • Others said that there was also tax evasion going on (via youtube).

This is now the consequence: As the company announced on March 9, they will cease operations. They are now looking for outside help to restructure so that customers, employees, and creditors are treated fairly.

They are open to help and investments.

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The company announces its provisional end.

In another tweet, it was stated that they are considering whether the employees can buy the company and continue it. Apparently, the CEO has generally been identified as the main culprit of the action.

We reported extensively on the actual incident on MeinMMO on March 3:

CEO of a PC building company is mean to a small streamer on Twitch – regrets it immediately

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

A nasty item in Elden Ring invites players to recklessly plunge to their death

In Elden Ring there is an item that promises a lot: A talisman is said to make you completely immune to fall damage. It does, but not in the way you might think. Therefore, many players are currently happily jumping off high buildings and cliffs, landing painfully on the ground of reality.

Talismans give players in Elden Ring passive abilities that can help with their build. Some increase your carrying capacity, others grant you more damage under certain circumstances, a powerful talisman heals you slowly in the background.

However, a talisman in Elden Ring promises something very special in its item description. The item with the long name Longtail Cat Talisman promises to make the user immune to fall damage.

Repeatedly, stories emerge in the Elden Ring community from players who find this talisman and joyfully celebrate it. They jump off cliffs and high walls believing they are immortal gods. But the developers at FromSoftware are very precise with their wording.

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In the MeinMMO podcast, we discuss whether you can play Elden Ring wrong

Players Leap to Their Deaths Like Lemmings

What does the talisman promise? You can find the Longtail Cat Talisman by taking a gigantic round lift all the way down near the classroom in Raya Lucaria.

This is the object effect of the talisman according to the item description: “Makes the bearer immune to fall damage.”

Elden Ring Longtail Cat Talisman
The item description of the talisman

Players assume from the description that they will survive falls from any height without a scratch. However, when they jump off a cliff, they land very painfully on the ground of reality and respawn shortly after at the last Site of Grace.

There are often threads on reddit from players who initially celebrate the talisman and then have this unpleasant experience. In the Elden Ring subreddit, one writes with a picture of the talisman: “Never again these problems! What a find.” Shortly afterward, he posts a comment under his own post: “Omg I just found out the hard way that this doesn’t work, guys.” (via reddit)

This YouTube video captures this emotional roller coaster very well.

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Why do players still die? Accordingly, players wonder: How is this possible? Is the description wrong, or is the item bugged?

While there is no official statement on this, the community believes it has found the solution. The item is neither bugged nor is the description wrong – on the contrary. The item does exactly what it promises, but no more.

Talisman Does Not Promise Too Much, But is Artfully Worded

The community is firmly convinced that FromSoftware has played a very nasty trick with this short description of the talisman. Because the talisman promises to protect from fall damage – but not from falling to your death.

When players fall from heights where they would only incur little damage, the talisman works as promised. However, in falls that are inevitably fatal, the effect of the talisman does not take hold.

That this exception exists becomes clear when reading the detailed description of the talisman. However, clearly most players check the description for the supposed effect only when they have painfully fallen on their face at least once.

Whether a fall would be fatal or not, you can test for yourself with a clever trick:

More on the topic
Elden Ring: How you can avoid dying from falls with a trick
von Tarek Zehrer

What do players think of the talisman? Players see little value in the talisman. The moments when you only take little fall damage are too rare. A meme on reddit illustrates how binary the zones for fall damage feel, and that simple fall damage is very unlikely:

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Even though the talisman is quite useless: The community can laugh about the fact that FromSoftware seemingly played a nasty trick on them with a description. Because they know this kind of joke too well.

Trolls have long used the messaging system in the game, which the community should actually use to leave helpful information in the game world, for malicious trolling attempts. Even Patches, an NPC that appears in almost every FromSoftware game, lures players into the same trap every time.

While some players deal with the nuances of fall damage and the exact details of item descriptions, others race through the game world at high speed. Just a few days after the release of Elden Ring, one player manages to complete the extensive game in only 2.5 hours:

While you are still struggling with the first boss, one player completes Elden Ring in 2.5 hours – without dying

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

Lost Ark addresses a major criticism – Aims to offer more diversity in classes

Amazon Games has addressed the topic of outfits for women and gender lock in Lost Ark. In particular, the gender lock is expected to be gradually removed in upcoming updates. New classes are planned that represent a kind of counterpart to their previous versions. Next, a female Berserker is planned.

What is the gender lock about? In Lost Ark, each class has a fixed gender. For example, the Death Shooter can only be played as a male character. However, this does not resonate well with every player.

Especially in the West, the gender lock is not well received. However, the developer Smilegate is already working on softening it.

  • For instance, the Art Shooter has already been released in the West. She is somewhat like the counterpart to the Death Shooter. Although the two classes differ in their precise abilities, they are very similar in playstyle and range.
  • The War Dancer and Battle Monk are also similar in their basic structure and resources in combat.

Black Desert also does something similar, where the Shooter and the Ranger are very alike.

What has Amazon said about this? In a statement to Eurogamer, Soomin Park, the Franchise Lead at Amazon, stated that the existing classes are very much tied to the character model in their animations. That’s why it’s not so easy to give the classes a different gender.

However, Smilegate continues to work on bringing new classes that are very similar to their counterparts (via Eurogamer).

Start video
Lost Ark delivers intense action with 15 classes – See here in the video what they look like

Korea will next get the female Berserker

Which classes will get their counterparts next? In Korea, the female version of the Berserker is expected soon. However, the adaptations do not stop there.

Park states:

In the future, Smilegate RPG will create additional counterparts for classes that are still gender-bound, and we will bring them to Arkesia in due time.

What else did Park reveal? Another point of criticism from players in the West is the outfits of the female classes. Some find these too sexy and hope for adjustments. A major wish is not necessarily the abolition of these outfits, but rather the offering of alternatives.

For these players, Soomin Park has good news. Changes will be made to the presentation of female characters and the outfits. More about this here:

Lost Ark responds to criticism of sexy outfits for women – bringing new clothing

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

Bundle with games is worth about €5,900, costs a minimum of €9 – plays €2.2 million for Ukraine

A game collection with nearly 600 video games for PC and 317 physical games is currently raising a strong revenue in donations for Ukraine. The bundle includes products worth about €5,900, but a donation of just €9 is enough to receive it. Hundreds of thousands are taking advantage of the offer and are happy to give a bit more.

What is this bundle? The package is called “Bundle for Ukraine” and is hosted on the Indie platform itch.io.

The package includes almost 1000 games, including 573 digital video games and 317 physical games, such as analog tabletop games. There are also numerous other products in the set like books, comics, tools, or soundtracks.

Here is the bundle.

Some developers have signed up just for the bundle on itch.io

What is special about this bundle: The organizers say:

  • The bundle has more than 600 products that have never been in a major bundle before
  • Some prominent developers signed up just on itch.io to be represented in this bundle
  • Additionally, only paid products were allowed
More on the topic
German streamers and rappers use Twitch to raise “more than 100,000 €” against war
von Benedict Grothaus

What game highlights are included?

The games include something

Funds benefit medical aid and traumatized children

What purpose does the bundle serve? They want to help in Ukraine:

  • Half of the money goes to “International Medical Corp”, which provides medical assistance in the region. The organizers of the bundle emphasize that a particularly high proportion of the donation money goes directly to medical aid in this organization, with only a few percent covering administrative costs.
  • The other half of the money flows to “Voices of Children”, an organization that helps children cope with the horrors of war. They take care of children with post-traumatic stress disorder and aim to help children return to everyday life and go back to school.
Our expertise at MeinMMO focuses on gaming. If you want to learn more about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, we recommend getting informed on official sites or news magazines:

– Ukraine live blog (via Zeit)
– War in Ukraine (via NZZ)
– Solidarity with Ukraine (via Foreign Office)

Important note: If you are troubled by dark thoughts due to the current situation: You are not alone. Please seek help. For example, at the telephone counseling service at 0800/111 0 111 or the online counseling, where you can also use a chat. It is free and available nationwide.

Raised $2.5 million in just one day – huge success

How successful is the bundle? The bundle raised nearly $2.5 million in one day with 170,693 buyers.

This means that some donated more than the minimum requirement of $10 to receive the bundle.

Therefore, the organizers also urgently ask for more donations.

The campaign runs until March 17, 2022.

Here is the bundle on itch.io.

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

AMD vs Nvidia: Which is the currently most popular graphics card on Steam?

Anyone looking to buy a graphics card must currently invest a lot of money. But what are most gamers currently playing on Steam?

What is the current situation? Those who want to buy a graphics card today either have to be very lucky or invest a considerable amount of money. However, most users have little chance of buying a graphics card. Meanwhile, at least some users are playing on the new graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia, as they are willing to pay more for a graphics card.

But which graphics card is currently the most popular on Steam, and what are people actually playing with?

The GTX 1060 is at the top of the graphics cards on Steam

Steam releases statistics every month showing which hardware users are using to game on Steam (via steampowered.com). Now, Steam has published data for February 2022, and a Nvidia graphics card is at the top.

What kind of graphics card is this? Nvidia released the GTX 1060 in 2016. The GTX 1060 is a mid-range graphics card. With a price of 300 euros, Nvidia primarily aimed to attract users who found 700 euros for the GTX 1080 or nearly 500 euros for the GTX 1070 too expensive.

With 6 GB of video memory, it offered less memory than the GTX 1080 but was able to outperform the RX 480 with its 4 GB and provided more performance than the competition. AMD later countered this with an 8 GB version of the RX 480.

How much performance does the graphics card offer in 2022? Even today, the GTX 1060 can still play modern and demanding titles at medium settings. This is also due to the 6 GB of video memory, which is still sufficient for modern titles.

In the following video, you can see how Battlefield 2042 looks at medium settings on a GTX 1060 (6 GB). The framerate remains consistently around 60 FPS in the video, which is more than sufficient for a fast shooter like Battlefield 2042.

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This is how Battlefield 2042 plays with the GTX 1060 (6 GB).

The colleagues at GameStar have also tested the GTX 1060 in the technical check for Battlefield 2042 and the graphics card still achieves nearly 30 FPS in Full HD on the Ultra preset. The 6 GB of video memory is definitely too limited for 4K, but still more than sufficient for Full HD.

Even today, the GTX 1060 is a classic when it comes to good efficiency in power consumption. Our colleagues at GameStar report this in their graphics card test for the GTX 1060. The biggest disadvantage from today’s perspective with the GTX 1060 is the lack of features. You will have to forego ray tracing or DLSS with this graphics card; for that, you need an RTX graphics card.

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The direct competition of the GTX 1060 is still popular

Nvidia positioned its GTX 1060 in the mid-range against the Radeon RX 480 with 8 GB of video memory. The RX 480 and RX 580 are still represented on Steam. The Radeon RX 580 was even on par with the GTX 1060 in the test by ComputerBase.

The AMD Radeon RX 580 accounts for about 1.66% and the RX 570 nearly 1.3% in the Steam survey.

Due to high graphics card prices, even the old classics among GPUs are rising in value again. If someone sells their old Radeon RX 580 now, they receive more money than they spent on the graphics card 5 years ago. This is the case for many graphics cards, as old graphics cards are also in high demand:

Your old graphics card might be worth more now than you think

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

Elden Ring: What is a Blemished, and why does no one like me?

In Elden Ring, characters often talk about the Tarnished. Your player character is apparently also a Tarnished. But what does that actually mean, and why are these figures at the same time so unpopular and so important? MeinMMO tells you everything we know so far.

The story and lore in Elden Ring are rarely told directly and understandably. Thus, it follows the tradition of the Souls games. You learn more about the world through item descriptions. However, following the rare dialogues can be challenging.

Characters often mention the names of other figures you have never seen. They use terms like Shattering, Greater Will, or Tarnished quite naturally and without explanation. 

Your player character seems to be a Tarnished. However, the game does not really explain what that means. It also does not explain why you are a Tarnished. Therefore, we summarize what the community understands so far.

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Check out the epic release trailer for Elden Ring here and what you can expect in the story

Who or what are the Tarnished in Elden Ring?

Tarnished are individuals in the world of Elden Ring who have lost the grace of the Erdtree.

This grace from the Erdtree is like a kind of blessing. Individuals who possess this grace have golden glowing eyes. However, certain individuals have lost this grace for various reasons, and with it their status in this originally almost paradisiacal world.

The individuals who have lost grace have not only lost the gold in their eyes. Without the grace from the Erdtree, these individuals are undead beings: “Dead, yet full of life,” as stated in the intro cutscene.

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The intro sequence with German subtitles

They were thus seen as monsters in the game world. They were despised, feared, hunted, and ultimately banished in the Lands Between.

Banish to an exile outside of the Lands Between, these individuals became known as the Tarnished. They apparently live there in some kind of mausoleum, lying close together. It is unclear whether they are ‘alive’ in this exile or merely vegetating.

In the game’s intro, some of these Tarnished are mentioned:

  • Hoarah Loux, Ruler of the Wastes
  • Goldmask
  • Fia, Deathbed Companion
  • Dung Eater
  • Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing
  • Your Player Character
Elden Ring Exile of the Tarnished
The intro hints that this image shows the Tarnished in exile

All of you remain in exile, actually for all eternity. But then something happens with the Elden Ring that changes the plan.

Spoiler Warning: From here we mention details that you will only learn later in the game. While we omit the most important information, those who want to be completely surprised should stop reading here.

Why are the Tarnished back in the Lands Between?

Anyone who loses the grace of the Erdtree also loses their reputation in the Lands Between and the right to stay there. This fate has befallen all the Tarnished.

The Erdtree has grown thanks to the Elden Ring. It is a magical manifestation of the incredible power of the Elden Ring. The golden leaves of the Erdtree gave people grace. Through the Erdtree, certain inhabitants of the Lands Between were also able to use the sacred summons that you also see in the game.

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This incredible power of the Elden Ring has awakened indescribable greed, particularly among the children of Queen Marika the Eternal. Marika is a goddess and belongs to the Empyrean race.

One day, the Elden Ring shattered, and Queen Marika disappeared without a trace. Because of this shattering, the children of Marika, all demigods, went mad. They wanted the fragments and the power of the Elden Ring for themselves at any cost.

In this power vacuum, the children of the Queen instigated a brutal war among themselves, known as the Shattering. You can see the consequences of the Shattering most clearly in Caelid, the rotten region in the east of the Lands Between.

In the Shattering, some of the maddened demigods tore off one of the fragments of the Elden Ring. However, none of them became the new Elden Lord – the person who can wield the power of the Elden Ring and rule over the Lands Between. Thus, the war ended without a new lord, with the ring still in fragments.

Elden Ring Malenia Radahn
The fateful confrontation between Malenia and Radahn in the Shattering

As a consequence, the Erdtree also lost its power. In an act that may initially seem desperate, the Erdtree then returned the grace to the Tarnished, at least partially – including your player character.

Now that you have regained the lost grace, you are called upon to defeat the demigods, seize their fragments of the Elden Ring, and restore the Elden Ring. Thus, you are to become the new Elden Lord, reuniting the world and the ring.

This is, roughly speaking, the story behind the Tarnished, their unpopularity, and the reason for their return to the Lands Between.

Have you discovered any further details in the item descriptions that you would like to share with the community? And do you like the way Elden Ring tells its story? Let us know in the comments.

If you also need help with gameplay, we have here a growing overview of all guides, tips, and recommendations for Elden Ring from the MeinMMO editorial team:

Elden Ring: All our guides, beginner tips, and builds at a glance

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

In Destiny 2 you can unlock a secret Rhulk raid chest – That’s why it’s worth it

In the new Raid of Destiny 2 there are secret loot chests that players can pick up. Specifically, there are two hidden chests. MeinMMO explains the conditions tied to opening these two chests and, most importantly, how you can solo at least one secret raid chest.

What’s the deal with the raid chests? When the new raid “Oath of the Student” launched in Destiny 2 on March 5, it did not only bring an epic location and fresh content. The exclusive raid armors and raid weapons are now the most interesting loot for many players, and they can only be obtained from the raid chests.

To snag the secret loot from the various raid chests, you must fulfill certain conditions in the “Witch Queen” raid, as you also do in the Deep Stone Crypt. Especially if you want to obtain not only raid mods and conquest loot but also weapons and armors from the chests.

We will reveal where a secret raid chest is hidden that you can open solo and how to activate the additional loot chest from the final boss “Rhulk”.

destiny2-rhulk-raidboss-witchqueen-schwurdesschülers
Those who complete symbolic tasks will be rewarded with an extra loot chest from Rhulk.

That’s why it’s worth getting the raid chests every week: If you open the secret chest each week, you can expect extra loot per week and per character.

  • 10x conquest loot is guaranteed. This is a special resource for the kiosk in the tower, from which you can obtain old exotics or special weapons. An exotic weapon from the kiosk currently costs 240x conquest loot.
  • The chance for special “Oath of the Student” raid mods
  • The special Rhulk raid chest will surely drop you a resonance weapon with a red frame.
  • The chance for raid weapons and armor pieces.

However, you must note that you only get the equipment and weapons that have already dropped for you in the raid. So, if you have not yet completed a raid encounter and received any raid loot, there is no chance for that through the secret chests.

Players who love raiding but do not regularly visit the “Oath of the Student” raid are able to farm raid mods, previously obtained weapons and armors, as well as the resource conquest loot along the way.

How to get raid chests solo – here’s how

These requirements should be met: For the secret chests to appear in the “Oath of the Student,” you must complete various tasks and meet a few prerequisites.

  • You are required to have the Witch expansion. Without it, you cannot enter the raid at all.
  • Additionally, you should reach at least power level 1,520 (with artifact), as you will encounter enemies solo later on.
  • You can also pick up a raid chest solo.
  • For the special Rhulk raid chest, which promises you resonance weapons, you must play the raid up to the final boss and complete various symbolic tasks along the way.

Where do I find the raid? The raid “Oath of the Student” is located in the submerged pyramid in Savathun’s Throne World. We have marked the location on the map for you.

Here you can find the entrance to the raid on the map.

Here’s how you get a secret raid chest solo

After you spawn, you must first clean up in the entrance area of the raid and eliminate all enemies. Only then will the large door open, granting you access to the swamp where the submerged pyramid lies.

After that, it’s best to follow the video from Ilias Gaming, which shows you the way to the chest and what else you need to do.

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How to get the additional final boss raid chest from Rhulk

While the first chest is no problem to get solo, you need to put in a bit more effort for the secret raid chest from the final boss. However, this chest will also guarantee you a resonance weapon with a red frame, allowing you to unlock plans for raid weapons, and earn rare weapon crafting material.

However, the additional chest from the final boss Rhulk will only appear if you complete extra tasks during the raid and activate symbols in hidden rooms.

  • Step 1: After moving the payload, when you first enter the pyramid, an object with three of the special symbols from the raid will appear in the main room. You must memorize these.
  • Step 2: Now find the hidden rooms to activate the right symbols that you memorized in step 1.
This is what the symbols look like in the Witch Queen raid.

How do you activate a symbol? In the rooms you need to find, you will see a black plaque. Shoot it and a symbol will be displayed. If it’s not the right one, shoot it again to turn it off. However, if it’s one of the symbols shown to you at the beginning, keep it activated. In the end, only the correct symbols should be active.

Once you have activated all three symbols, you will receive a message at the bottom left of the screen: “The Student acknowledges your offering” and you don’t need to do anything else. Ideally, you will only need to enter three rooms at best, and at worst, all nine rooms to see which symbols are displayed there.

  • The first room (pyramid) is right after you fall down. Once you’re landed, just turn around.
    • The second room (give) is located in the room with the blocks that you normally walk through for the encounter. Look for it in the opposite corner of the path.
    • The third room (darkness) can be found if you look up during the first encounter. There, you can open an elevated door to your left.
    • For the fourth room (traveler), you must shoot a fragment of darkness before the second encounter to open a door.
    • The fifth room (worship) can be found with the “Caretaker”. Here too, you will again open a door by shooting the fragment of darkness. The entrance is then through the room behind you.
    • In the sixth room (light), right after the caretaker, you must orient yourself during the jumping puzzle to the left.
    • Look in the seventh room during the third encounter. There is another door here as well.
    • In the eighth room (guardian), go to the left staircase, past the statues, and the crystal of darkness will float right there in the air.
    • The last and ninth room (kill) is located just before the boss encounter. At the top floor, the fragment of darkness is floating. Directly opposite the boss area. The door is then on the right.
  • Step 3: Once that’s done, you just need to grab the chest. To access it, you need to kill the final boss Rhulk. Once he falls, this special extra chest will also appear and drop you a random resonance weapon with a red frame.

To make it easier to find the secret rooms, we link you to a video by Skarrow9.

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Here’s how to activate the secret and additional Rhulk raid chest.

By the way, this is also worth knowing: As players report, the first weapon that you can buy each week with conquest loot is also a resonance weapon with a red frame. This means you can choose which weapon you specifically want, in addition to the random loot drop.

Currently, you can earn these 7 new weapons in the raid:

Destiny 2: All 7 Weapons from the new raid “Oath of the Student” – Here’s how strong they are

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

Lost Ark: Here you can find free items to improve your relationships

In Lost Ark, you can improve your relationships with NPCs using Rapport items. Players have now found some places where you can obtain such items for free – if you are faster than the competition.

What are Rapport items? One of the features of Lost Ark is maintaining relationships with NPCs. You can talk, flirt, or complete tasks for various characters, establishing a basis of trust.

Throughout several familiarity levels, you can then enjoy rewards such as nice stories, gold and silver, or items as you intensify the relationship.

Another way to gain favor with NPCs is through gifts – the “Rapport items”. They are usually obtained with some effort through quests or for money. However, players have now found another way.

Lost Ark players collect locations with free items

What players found: In the Lost Ark subreddit, user “Gold-Meet-8773” shared a post that includes a whole bunch of locations where you can find free Rapport items (you can find the post here via reddit).

We have compiled the map snippets with the item locations in the following gallery. The screenshots were created using the map “Papunika“. The crosses mark the locations.

The items are gifts of the “Epic” level, which is the lowest level of Rapport items after Legendary and Relic. However, the search can still be worth it.

According to the post, you can simply collect the items directly on the spot and you can get them on any channel. We show you how to switch channels in New World here.

An example of such a search was also shown by YouTube user NexxTV in a video that we embed here as well:

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The items spawn at irregular, multi-hour intervals. Here comes the kicker: If someone else picks up the item, it’s gone for you and you have to wait for the next spawn. However, each channel has its own spawns – so if the item isn’t present, you might have luck on another channel.

If you’re in the area anyway, it might be worth checking to see if a corresponding gift is currently available.

Are you still playing Lost Ark at the moment? Or are you spending your time on another game? You can learn here how Lost Ark stands about a month after release.

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

If you want to buy a PS5 controller now, you should definitely pay attention to the colors

Sony recently released 3 new controller colors for the PS5 and introduced a new model series at the same time. The tech YouTuber ‘TronicsFix’ took a look inside and discovered that the new controller models are indeed better.

If you want to buy a PS5 controller now, make sure to pay attention to the colors.

Controllers are precision tools that must withstand a high load. If you handle them too roughly or play with them a lot, wear and tear will eventually set in: stick drift, broken triggers, sticking buttons.

So, you quickly need a new controller, and often the choice falls on the official products: for the PS5, that’s the DualSense, which now comes in fresh colors: Starlight Blue, Nova Pink, and Galactic Purple.

The tech YouTuber ‘TronicsFix’ disassembled the new parts and found that the controllers are better than the first models released after the PS5. MeinMMO shows you his results and explains why you should currently only opt for the new colors.

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playstation controller 3 new colors
The 3 new colors for the DualSense controller

New PS5 controllers offer better trigger quality

What is better about the new models? The tech YouTuber has previously opened other PS5 controller models and can therefore compare well what changes have been made.

He is surprised to find that there has indeed been an improvement: The springs of the triggers are thicker than before. The thickness increased from 0.25 mm to 0.3 mm.

Why is this important? The R2 and L2 triggers are among the most vulnerable parts of a PlayStation controller. The springs must withstand thousands of presses, and if the small metal part breaks, the controller is basically useless.

A repair is possible, but it can be very complicated for inexperienced fixers.

With the thicker spring, one of the most vulnerable functions of the PS5 controller is better equipped. A clear plus for the new colors and models.

playstation controller new model thicker spring
Left the old spring, right the new – Source: YouTube

So what should I buy now? If you are currently considering getting a new PS5 controller, then opt for the new colors Starlight Blue, Nova Pink, and Galactic Purple.

This way, you can ensure that you get one of the new models. You can recognize the new model by the ‘FCC ID’ on the back of the controller. If there is an ‘A’ at the end, you have a new model.

Although there are also white, black, and red models that are already carrying the ‘A’. But if you want to ensure that you get a new model, then buy the new colors.

With the other colors, there is a chance that you will be served from a remaining stock that still uses the old spring.

If you want to see the screw action yourself, we will embed the English video by ‘TronicsFix’ here:

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Controller colors, shapes, and brands also strongly depend on personal preferences. Some don’t even get an expensive controller because they’ll just break anyway.

Others opt for high-end products and lay down more than €250 for their new tool.

If you’re looking for a selection of both, take a look at our buying guide for PS4 and PS5 controllers: These are the best PS4 and PS5 controllers you can buy in 2022

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