I have played the Casino Heist in GTA 5 Online several times now and I can say: It was really necessary. What makes the heist so good?
What kind of heist is this? After the Casino opened in GTA Online in the summer of 2019, a suitable heist followed almost half a year later. For several months, players have been spending their virtual money on digital horse racing, blackjack, or roulette.
Now, in December, Rockstar Games released the Casino Heist. A heist for groups consisting of 2-4 players. Together, you break into the Diamond Casino & Resort, loot the vault, and ideally escape with a lot of money.
I, Patrick, have robbed the casino several times in the last few days and I must say: This variety was needed in GTA Online.
Finally away from the grind … at least for a while
The fact that no player is forced into a specific role to play the heist was well received by me and my friends. This way, everyone gets their share. Because let’s be honest: In almost every gaming squad, there is
the one guy who loves to shoot down everything in his way with a heavy machine gun
the stealth player, whose favorite tool is the silencer and who constantly whispers “shhh” into the voice chat
and the player who thinks of a brilliant plan in advance on how to trick the NPCs
You plan, shoot people, and also have to drive away with a getaway car. In the preparation missions, more features of GTA Online are utilized. This includes sniping targets within a given time, secretly photographing plans, or disposing of bodies for nice colleagues.
Punctured but happy – The wrecked police car brings us with a sack full of artworks to the buyer – A complete success!
Why was the variety necessary? After the first heists, I thought to myself: Finally, a worthwhile content that doesn’t involve grinding the same missions over and over.
Because that’s how you know it as a CEO in GTA Online. Acquire crates, fill your warehouse, sell the contents of your warehouse -> Repeat. Or as a motorcycle president: Acquire raw materials, wait until your NPC crew has processed them, sell the stuff -> Repeat.
This becomes really monotonous after a while. And this while takes a long time. It took 2 years for GTA Online to activate a new heist. I had been wishing for new content for GTA Online for a long time that provided good money and also brought fun.
Sure, you can race and play PvP modes in between. But in the long run, that doesn’t make me happy. The other heists have been in the game for so long, I wished for a fresh breeze.
Feels good to be back with the group and trick NPCs with clever disguises together
In the days around Christmas 2019, my friends returned to GTA Online. I told them about the new heist.
And there you go: Since then, the game has been the big topic among us. We are trying out different approaches to the heist, facing new challenges, and being distracted from the grind that one usually undergoes to make money.
If your crew is also taking a break from GTA Online and doesn’t know about the new heist, you should tell them about it.
Are you also going on the Casino Heist with your squad? Then assemble this NPC group:
The complete patch notes for WoW Patch 8.3 have been published in German. Read here to find out what new features and changes await you soon in Blizzard’s World of Warcraft!
In just a few days, the next content update for World of Warcraft will finally be here. Patch 8.3 Visions of N’Zoth is one of the larger updates and brings a lot of new content, changes to existing game systems, and some new mechanics. To allow players to prepare for the update in advance, Blizzard has already released the patch notes.
When is Patch 8.3 released? In Europe, Patch 8.3 will be released on January 15th, so already on Wednesday next week. In America, the patch goes live a few hours earlier due to different maintenance times, so it will be available on January 14th.
What are the highlights? Among the big highlights of the patch are:
the Corrupted Zones with their regular invasions by various races.
Patch notes for WoW Patch 8.3 Visions of N’Zoth in English
Corrupted Zones: Uldum and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms
The Old God N’Zoth has been freed from his prison built by the Titans and now spreads destruction and terror in Azeroth. N’Zoth’s forces have gathered and are ready to besiege the Titan facilities in Uldum and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. When these ancient defenses fall, N’Zoth’s nightmarish visions will become reality.
New raid: Ny’alotha, the Awakened City
Explore Ny’alotha, the Awakened City, where nightmares manifest. This raid with twelve bosses is located in the void-infused heart of the ancient Black Empire. There, you will face insane Heralds and unfathomable terrors before ultimately facing N’Zoth himself in a decisive battle for the survival of Azeroth.
New affix: Awakened
Season 4 has a new affix – Awakened. While it is active, players can discover obelisks in dungeons that will pull their characters through the veil into the shadow world of Ny’alotha. There, they will face a powerful servant of N’Zoth, whom they must defeat to prevent him from joining the final boss of the instance in battle. Once this servant is defeated, the group returns to the normal reality at the spot they were at. This gives players an interesting opportunity to bypass encounters that are not based on the rogue spell ‘Cloak of Shadows’ or invisibility.
Assaults: The Servants of N’zoth
Characters at level 120 will experience the overwhelming power of the Old Gods first-hand in the new assaults on the Titan facilities in Uldum and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Players must repel N’Zoth’s servants by fulfilling objectives in the area, such as defeating enemies and rare creatures, looting treasures, or participating in events.
Once you have made enough progress, you will have to face the lieutenant commanding the enemy forces. Defeating him grants you a powerful piece of equipment and a Vessel of Disturbing Visions – a key that grants you access to a new feature: Disturbing Visions.
The assaults will alternate between Uldum in Kalimdor and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms in Pandaria. So keep an eye on the bottom left corner of your map (shortcut: M) for N’Zoth’s burning eye to find out which enemies you will face today.
Assault of the Mantid (Vale of Eternal Blossoms)
The peaceful lands of Pandaria are once again being besieged by the Mantid swarm. Crush Shek’zaras insectoid servants and thwart the swarm’s plans.
Assault of the Mogu (Vale of Eternal Blossoms)
The warrior clans of the Mogu are rampaging through the Vale and leaving nothing but devastation in their wake. Beat back their forces and force this proud people to their knees.
Assault of the Black Empire (Vale of Eternal Blossoms)
The restored Vale of Eternal Blossoms is once again threatened by the Old Gods. Defeat the insanity of the Black Empire fleet and restore harmony.
Assault of the Amathet (Uldum)
The zealots of the Amathet are using their status as servants of the Titans as a weapon and have seized power in Uldum to solidify their position as the sole guardians of the Azerite. Drive this arrogant tribe back into the dusty graves from which they crawled.
Assault of the Aqir (Uldum)
The Aqir are haunting Uldum and threaten to destroy the Titan facilities of the region in the name of N’Zoth and the Black Empire. End their rebellion and put a stop to their senseless destruction.
Assault of the Black Empire (Uldum)
Now that the veil between worlds is fading, N’Zoth’s servants are infiltrating Uldum. Purge the desert sand of its ancient corruption.
Participating in assaults grants you additional reputation for two new factions: the Accord of Uldum and Rajani. New rewards can be obtained from each of these factions. Players can also venture into lower visions of N’Zoth during active assaults. These visions can be entered solo or with a group and present a distorted glimpse of the future that strains your mind and requires all your skill to survive. Always keep an eye on your mental health display and work with your team.
New Feature: Disturbing Visions
Disturbing Visions are instanced challenges for one to five players that grant you a glimpse of the horrors of the future that N’Zoth has planned for Orgrimmar and Stormwind. While experiencing a disturbing vision, your mental health is constantly under attack. This increases the difficulty of the instance – and forces you to leave the vision before madness consumes you.
Each time you are exposed to a disturbing vision, you collect more knowledge and fragments of N’Zoth’s corruption. Bring them to Silithus to Furorion and MOTHER to strengthen your defenses and unlock new means to delve deeper into N’Zoth’s disturbing visions and obtain better rewards.
To enter a vision, you need to bring a Vessel of Disturbing Visions to the Heart Chamber and enter the disturbing vision of Stormwind or Orgrimmar.
Titan Research Archive
When you turn in fragments of N’Zoth’s corruption, you gain access to abilities that allow you to delve deeper into future disturbing visions, overcome greater threats, and resist N’Zoth’s attacks on your mind. You can choose from a variety of passive abilities that reveal treasures or reduce the amount of mental health you lose within the instance.
Bring these fragments to Furorion and MOTHER in the Heart Chamber in Silithus.
Faceless Masks
Players looking for greater challenges and better rewards can venture into bonus areas of the disturbing visions to secure Faceless Masks. These masks increase the difficulty of the disturbing visions and unlock improved rewards.
New Legendary Cloak: Ashjra’kamas, Shroud of Resolve
To combat N’Zoth’s corruption, Furorion returns and creates, with the help of players, a legendary cloak – Ashjra’kamas, Shroud of Resolve. This legendary item can be upgraded and starts at rank 1 with an item level of 470. Each subsequent rank increases its power and unlocks unique effects. Players wearing this cloak can delve deeper into N’Zoth’s disturbing visions, receive better rewards, and uncover the secrets behind the Old God’s power. This cloak could also prove to be useful when you face N’Zoth himself in the upcoming raid.
Furorion helps us upgrade the cloak.
When you equip the cloak, the loss of your mental health is automatically reduced while you are in a disturbing vision. At rank 6, the cloak gains a usable effect that banishes all effects of N’Zoth’s corruption and makes the wearer immune to further corruption effects for 6 seconds (3-minute cooldown). At rank 12, the cloak adds the passive ability ‘Draconic Empowerment’, giving your spells and abilities a chance to greatly increase your primary stat.
Once Ashjra’kamas, Shroud of Resolve reaches rank 15, you can start collecting Malevolent Cores that increase your corruption resistance by 3, up to a maximum of 125. You can obtain only one Malevolent Core per week from all sources. These sources include defeating N’Zoth in Ny’alotha on Normal, Heroic, or Mythic difficulty, as well as completing all objectives within a disturbing vision.
Characters at max level who have unlocked the Heart Forge can take on the quest to obtain this new legendary cloak.
New Corrupted Items and Rewards
In Visions of N’Zoth, you can find equipment with Corruption. Corrupted items are tainted by N’Zoth. They grant incredible power – but this power comes at a cost. When you wear multiple corrupted equipment pieces, you will notice that your spells deal more damage or your healing spells are more effective – but at the same time, Corruption begins to affect you in increasingly dangerous ways. At low Corruption levels, you may be slowed intermittently when taking damage – while at high Corruption levels, dark powers from the Void might attack you at any moment.
The decision of how much Corruption you want to risk is a difficult balancing act, but you can mitigate the Corruption with your new legendary cloak and all new essences. By equipping these powerful artifacts, you can neutralize some of the Corruption and take advantage of N’Zoth’s power without feeling the full extent of the downsides.
You can also cleanse your items of Corruption through Titanforging. This process costs you some corrupted mementos – but your item also loses its positive effect.
Here are a few of the Corruption effects that you may encounter on your equipment:
Unspeakable Truth
Your spells and abilities have a chance to convey unto you the unspeakable truth, accelerating your cooldowns by 50% for 10 seconds.
Twilight Devastation
Your attacks have a chance to unleash a “Twilight Devastation” beam, dealing damage equal to 5% of your health to all enemies in front of you.
Revamp of Deepwind Gorge
With Visions of N’Zoth, we are also introducing a graphical and gameplay revamp of Deepwind Gorge. The new Deepwind Gorge, inspired by the Arathi Basin, features five objectives for teams to fight over control. The key to victory lies in controlling the market, the yard, the ruins, the shrine, and the mine, as the first faction to reach 1,500 points wins!
Players can sign up for the new Deepwind Gorge in the dungeon browser (standard shortcut: I) in the battlegrounds area.
Pet Battles
Along with seven new battle pets and eight new world quests for battle pets, your army of small but tough companions awaits a fiery new challenge in Visions of N’Zoth.
Pet Battle Dungeon: Blackrock Depths
It’s time to rally your furry companions, as a new pet battle dungeon awaits you in the lava labyrinth of Blackrock Depths on Normal and Challenge difficulty. You will receive an Ultimate Battle Training Stone after completing the dungeon on Normal difficulty.
Pet battlers who complete the Challenge difficulty will receive the achievement “Pet Battle Challenge: Blackrock Depths” and the Shadow Silhouette. This toy transforms you into a shadowy form for 15 seconds. Completing the Challenge difficulty will also grant you progress for a weekly quest that rewards you with Shadowy Gems. This account-bound currency can be exchanged for an unopened Blackrock Supply Box full of pet supplies or the three new pets Wailing Wailer, Experiment 13, and Tinyclaw. Talk to Burt Macklyn at the dungeon entrance to bolster your team with one of these powerful little fighters.
To get started, you need to have completed the four pet battle dungeon quests “Whelps of Wailing”, “The Death Mines Strike Back”, “Gnomeregan’s New Guardians”, and “Tiny Horrors of Stratholme”. Once you’ve completed all four questlines on Normal or Challenge difficulty, you can accept a new quest from Tizzy Cogsworthy in Boralus or Radek Wrenchfist in Dazar’alor and head to Blackrock Depths with your battle pets.
New Allied Races: Vulpera and Mechagnomes
With Visions of N’Zoth, the resourceful Vulpera join the Horde and the industrious Mechagnomes join the Alliance. As with the other allied races, you will receive a unique mount when unlocking these races. If you level a new character of Vulpera or Mechagnome from level 20 to level 110, you also unlock their heritage armor as a special transmogrification set.
Horde players can unlock the Vulpera by completing the Vol’dun storyline and reaching Exalted reputation with the Voldunai. Alliance players who reach Exalted reputation with the Rustbolt Resistance and complete the Mechagon storyline can begin a questline to create their own Mechagnome.
Death Knights for All
With the release of Visions of N’Zoth, players who pre-purchased World of Warcraft: Shadowlands can create Death Knights of Pandaren and all allied races – including the newly available Vulpera and Mechagnomes, once they are unlocked.
Auction House Overhaul
The auction house has been revamped to be smoother, faster, and more user-friendly. The revised functionality is based on how players most commonly use the auction house.
Trade goods (stackable items) will no longer be sold as stacks. Now you simply enter how much you want to buy, and the auction house will automatically select the cheapest auctions. Because the cheapest auctions are always displayed first, you’ll never have to sift through to find the best deal again. You can also create a favorites list for quickly searching for items you frequently need.
New Quests
Many new stories and adventures are now available throughout Azeroth.
The Black Prince Returns
Azeroth cries out for help! She needs you to defend against the relentless invasion of the Black Empire. Max-level players should follow the call of Furorion to begin liberating the world from N’Zoth’s forces.
Servants of N’Zoth
The whispering of N’Zoth corrupts the spirits of brave warriors around the world, awakening in them the desire to spill the blood of their own brothers and sisters. When a player gives in to this desire and takes this quest, they ally with N’Zoth and carry out his will by slaying members of their own faction. If you defeat 10 players without dying, you will receive the new title “Servant of N’Zoth”, an item that allows you to defect to N’Zoth at will, and the achievement “Servant of N’Zoth”.
New Heritage Armor: Goblins and Worgen
Celebrate your heritage with heritage armor sets for Goblins and Worgen.
Players with a Goblin or Worgen character at max level (120) who have achieved Exalted status with their faction (Bilgewater Cartel or Gilneas) can look forward to a new questline for each of the two races to learn more about their history. After completing your quest, you will receive a new transmogrification set – a unique heritage armor for your race.
New Heroic Warfront: The Darkshore
As with the heroic warfront Stromgarde, you must coordinate with an organized group of 10 to 20 players to stand against the relentless forces of the enemy. Interact as a raid group with the war map in Boralus or at the port of Zandalar to join the fight.
New Brawl: Teeming Islands
In this large-scale battle, two teams of ten players face off on an island teeming with powerful creatures. This brawl expands the beaches of the PvP island expeditions with an additional challenge by increasing the player count on the largest available islands (Tideswept and Jorundall) from six to twenty.
When the brawl is active, you can join the fight by opening the dungeon browser (standard shortcut: I), selecting the brawl under “Player vs. Player”, and queuing up.
Arcade of the Darkmoon Faire
Get your tokens ready. A new attraction is ready for you, built by the best gnomish engineers: the Arcade of the Darkmoon Faire! Here you will find games inspired by world quests, including HexSweeper, Barrel of Fun, Totemic Matrix, THREAD-X, Demolition Derby, and Rune Puzzle.
Look for this mechanical wonder by Lynnish Ultraskeleton just behind the roller coaster when the Darkmoon Faire returns to town.
Mounts
Roam the corrupted regions of Uldum and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms on the backs of various mounts inspired by shadow and void. Here we present six of them. But many more await to be discovered by you!
Allseer of Ny’alotha
The grotesque appearance of this tentacle-laden nightmare resembles that of the many-eyed Old God himself. Dropped by N’Zoth, the Corruptor on Mythic difficulty.
Ivory Cloud Serpent
When Ivory Cloud Serpents slither through the sky at breakneck speed, they are often mistaken for thunder. With a bit of luck, players may secure their own by defeating the Ivory Cloud Serpent in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.
N’zoth’s Black Serpent
N’Zoth’s black serpents are the harbingers of his ultimate vision becoming reality. Only servants or foes who can enter this realm have the chance to tame them. Reward for completing the achievement “Through the Depths of Visions”.
Claw of Ha-Li
Ha-Li’s brood is at home in the blue skies of Pandaria and hunts innocent prey there. Defeat Ha-Li in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms and with a bit of luck you can add this mount to your collection soon.
Shadowthorn Drone
Players can now raise their own Shadowthorn Drone as a mount. Keep an eye out in Uldum for void-touched eggs to begin your journey!
Springing Alpaca
Thanks to their friendly nature, alpacas make the perfect companions for bold adventurers. You can earn your alpaca by completing the quest “Let’s Alpaca It Up” in Uldum.
Holiday Updates
Moon Festival
Embark on an adventure in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms to complete the Rites of the Moon and help an ancient druid bless her staff of moonflowers. In return, she will enchant your flower crowns so they never wilt and you can transmogrify them year-round!
Achievements
Players who possess the Mighty Caravan Brutosaurus as a mount now receive the feat of strength “Brutosocial Product”.
Character Templates
The glowing effects of the eyes of Blood Elves, Night Elves, and Death Knights of all races have been updated.
Guardian Druids using the Legion Artifact Template Wrath of the Wailing from the Mage Tower now have a unique dance animation.
Classes
Death Knight
Blood
The talent ‘Blood Curse’ can no longer heal targets with very high maximum health for more than 5% of the maximum health of the casting Death Knight.
Unholy
The talent ‘Bursting Sores’ now increases the healing absorption granted by ‘Necrotic Strike’.
Summoned resurrected ghouls through the talent ‘Everyone Will Serve’ can now benefit from ‘Frosty Path’.
The cast time and damage of the ‘Ghoul Strike’ ability from resurrected ghouls have been increased by 25%.
Druid
Balance
The damage as well as the periodic damage of ‘Sunfire’ and ‘Moonfire’ have been reduced by 10%.
The damage of the Azerite bonus ‘Strike Twelve’ has been increased by 11%.
The damage of the Azerite bonus ‘Might of the Moon’ has been increased by 11%.
The abilities of Feral Druids now feature improved sound effects.
The sound effects of finishing moves now stand out better from those of other abilities.
Bonus damage caused against bleeding targets is now audible.
Restoration
The healing bonus of ‘Mastery: Harmony’ has been reduced by 9%.
The damage of the Azerite bonus ‘Strike Twelve’ has been reduced by 34%.
Wizard
Frost
The damage of ‘Ice Lance’ has been increased by 20%.
Monk
Brewmaster
The stamina bonus has been reduced to 30% (previously 35%).
The damage delayed by ‘Stealth’ has been reduced to 90% of Dexterity (previously 105%).
‘Giver Qualities’ now increases the effectiveness of ‘Stealth’ by 5% (previously 8%).
Windwalker
The damage of ‘Rising Sun Kick’ has been increased by 25%.
The damage of ‘Blackout Kick’ has been increased by 10%.
Paladin
Holy
The healing of the Azerite bonus ‘Light’s Reflection’ has been reduced by 12%. Only a maximum of 8 targets can now be affected by ‘Light’s Reflection’.
Priest
Discipline
The base healing of the talent ‘Repentance’ has been reduced by 25%.
The healing of ‘Repentance’ is now affected by mastery as intended.
The healing of ‘Atonement’ has been increased by 15%.
‘Schism’ now only increases the damage caused by Priest spells and abilities.
The damage of ‘Shadow Word: Pain’ has been reduced by 9%.
The damage of ‘Purification of Evil’ has been reduced by 10%.
The damage of the talent ‘Power Word: Comfort’ has been reduced by 10%.
The healing of ‘Penance’ has been reduced to 50% (previously 55%).
The effectiveness of ‘Mastery: Grace’ has been increased by 12%.
Shadow
The bonus to critical strike from ‘Refrain of Madness’ has been reduced by 25%.
The damage bonus from ‘Promising Spirits’ has been reduced to 25% (previously 50%).
The Azerite bonus ‘Malevolent Manifestations’ now deals the intended amount of damage when the Shadow Priest has selected the talent ‘Promising Spirits’.
The damage of ‘Vampiric Touch’ and ‘Shadow Word: Pain’ has been reduced by 8%.
Shaman
Elemental
The talent ‘Prime Elementalist’ now stores its own settings for summoned companions automatically deployed abilities.
Warlock
Affliction
The following summons are now displayed with a timer under the player portrait: Dreadstalker, Dark Fiend, and ‘Grimoire: Fel Guard’.
‘Death Bolt’ now deals 20% of the total remaining damage from the Warlock’s active damage-over-time effects on the target (previously 30%).
The chance for ‘Nightfall’ to trigger has been increased by 33%.
‘Nightfall’ now increases the damage of ‘Shadow Bolt’ by 50% (previously 25%).
The damage of ‘Soulsteal’ has been increased by 50%.
Dungeons & Raids
Operation: Mechagon
Operation: Mechagon has been divided into two new dungeons, Mechagon – Junkyard and Mechagon – Workshop.
Developer Comment: We introduced Operation: Mechagon with the content update Rise of Azshara as an epic and challenging mega-dungeon. Now we’re integrating it into the mythic keystone system and are making some changes to align its difficulty with other mythic keystone dungeons.
Mechagon – Workshop
The damage potential of some creatures in the dungeon is now less variable.
Developer Comment: The main purpose of these changes is to make the damage potential of the affected enemies more consistent by better aligning the timers of various spells.
The Platinum Pugilist
Now casts ‘K.4.M.P.F. Mine’ more frequently at all difficulty levels.
The visual effect of the missiles will now be displayed as intended at all difficulty levels, warning players of impending impact.
Gnominator G-800
Jet Blast
The Gnominator now turns to the target of ‘Fixate’ before casting.
Crusher
The damage of the circular saws has been reduced by 80%.
Developer Comment: Without the necessary adjustments, this fight would have been deadly at high keys with the Tyrannical affix. To keep the fight chaotically unchanged, we’ve reduced the damage of the circular saws while retaining their knockback effect.
Waste Processing Unit
The cast time of ‘Mega Drill’ has been increased to 3.5 seconds (previously 2 seconds).
Developer Comment: ‘Mega Drill’ is an extremely strong ability. By increasing its cast time, we are giving players a little more time to react to ‘Mega Drill’.
K.U.-J.0.
‘Release Flames’
The range within which player characters are protected behind a scrap cube from ‘Release Flames’ has been increased.
Defense Bot Mk. III
The damage of ‘Jumping Power Surge’ has been reduced by 12%.
The damage of ‘Short Circuit’ has been reduced by 20%.
Rumpatron X-80
The damage of ‘Capacitor Discharge’ has been increased by 40%.
King Mechagon
The damage of ‘Impulse Strike’ has been reduced by 37%.
‘Giga Shock’ (Phase 1)
The initial damage has been reduced by 44%.
‘Giga Shock’ (Phase 2)
The initial damage has been reduced by 50%.
The damage of ‘Recalibrate’ has been reduced by 15%.
Mechagon – Junkyard
Bone Scrapper
The damage of ‘Headbutt’ has been increased by 25%.
The damage of ‘Shockwave’ has been reduced by 9%.
Trash Thrower
The missile of ‘Throw Trash’ now moves a bit slower.
Chopper
The damage dealt by ‘Skullcracker’ has been reduced by 11%.
‘Rage’
The cast time has been increased to 2 seconds (previously 1.5 seconds).
The duration has been decreased to 10 seconds (previously 12 seconds).
King Gobbamak
The damage dealt by ‘Crumble’ has been reduced by 37%.
Mechanic of the Junkyard (Junkyard) and Mechanic of Mechagon (Workshop)
‘Overclocked’ is now a dispellable magic effect for both opponents (previously it was a magic effect for one and a rage effect for the other).
Knocker
The ground effect of ‘Scrap Grenade’ has been slightly reduced.
The damage from ‘Boltbreaker’ has been reduced by 25%.
The damage from ‘Tazer’ has been reduced by 20%.
Slime Elemental
The damage from ‘Slime Wave’ has been reduced by 28%.
Greasy
The damage from ‘Toxic Fumes’ has been reduced by 25%.
‘Demolish’
The damage has been reduced to 100% weapon damage per hit (previously 150%).
The stackable vulnerability has been increased to 100% (previously 75%).
Developer Comment: Overall, these changes reduce the damage potential of ‘Demolish’ by about 25% and shift the focus more to ensuring tanks recognize this ability in time and mitigate it before the last major damage spike.
The periodic damage of ‘Bursting Shock’ has been reduced by 20%.
Weaponized Scrabbler
‘Scrap Cannon’
Will no longer be cast while ‘Shock Coil’ is active.
Bone Scrapper
‘Rage’
The cast time has been increased to 2 seconds (previously 1.5 seconds).
The duration has been decreased to 10 seconds (previously 12 seconds).
The King’s Rest
General
The damage potential of some creatures in the dungeon is now less variable.
Shadowborn Warrior
The duration of periodic damage from ‘Wind Slash’ has been reduced to 8 seconds (previously 10 seconds).
Shadowborn Hex Doctor
The damage of ‘Frost Breath’ has been reduced by 15%.
King Rahu’ai
The damage of ‘Channeling Lightning’ has been reduced by 12.5%.
Queen Patlaa
The damage of ‘Shoot’ has been reduced by 11%.
King Timalji
The damage of ‘Blade Storm’ has been reduced by 15%.
Bloodsworn Assassin
The damage of ‘Shadow Whirl’ has been reduced by 7.5%.
Spectral Hex Doctor
The damage of ‘Frost Shock’ has been reduced by 21%.
Spectral Berserker
The damage of ‘Separating Blade’ has been reduced by 13%.
Spectral Striker
The damage of ‘Ground Smash’ has been reduced by 25%.
Spectral Beastmaster
‘Toxic Barrage’
The damage has been reduced by 11%.
The duration has been decreased to 10 seconds (previously 20 seconds).
Developer Comment: With the long duration of the effect, groups without a way to remove poison effects had a hard time healing. This change should make it easier for you to counter this ability.
Kula the Butcher
The damage of ‘Bladespike’ has been reduced by 9%.
Zul’s Shadow
Health has been reduced by 6%.
Players can no longer enter King Dazar’s room until Zul’s Shadow has been defeated.
Items and Rewards
Corrupted Mementos
Defeating powerful foes in disturbing visions grants you corrupted mementos, which you can use to purchase various new items, such as the Extracted Eye of N’Zoth, which allows you to add a prismatic socket to a suitable piece of equipment.
Manifested Visions
You can use manifested visions to acquire various items from Furorion in the Heart Chamber, such as new gear, vessels of disturbing visions, and a mount. You receive these manifested visions from powerful opponents, as quest rewards, and from other sources.
Equipment of the Black Empire
With the Azerite armor and other equipment from N’Zoth’s infantry, heroes can prepare for the coming horrors. When you repel N’Zoth’s forces in assaults on Uldum and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms or complete disturbing visions, you receive account-bound tokens. With these tokens, you can craft equipment to gain power yourself or send them by mail to your other characters.
Many legendary weapons are now transmogifiable.
Developer Comment: The Twin Blades of Azzinoth, dropped by Illidan in the Black Temple, are the only exception. With the Timewalking: The Black Temple, there is already a way for Demon Hunters to obtain this transmog template, and we do not want to devalue this unique reward.
New weapon illusions are now available.
The Rustbolt Resistance Insignia now only grants reputation until Exalted rank.
The reputation requirements for essences sold in Nazjatar and Mechagon by vendors have been reduced from Friendly, Honored, and Exalted for ranks 1, 2, and 3 to Honored, Friendly, and Honored.
Rank 1 now costs 2 boxes of E.R.S.A.T.Z. parts and 1 galvanic oscillator (previously 2 boxes of E.R.S.A.T.Z. parts and 2 galvanic oscillators).
Rank 2 now costs 8 boxes of E.R.S.A.T.Z. parts and 4 galvanic oscillators (previously 20 boxes of E.R.S.A.T.Z. parts and 10 galvanic oscillators).
Rank 3 now costs 20 boxes of E.R.S.A.T.Z. parts and 8 galvanic oscillators (previously 40 boxes of E.R.S.A.T.Z. parts and 15 galvanic oscillators).
The requirements for rank 4 of these essences remain unchanged.
The required follower experience for ranks 2 and 3 of ‘Memory of the Dreamweaver’ has been reduced from 3,000/6,000 to 2,400/4,800.
Player characters who have reached a Respectful reputation with their faction in Nazjatar can now exchange prismatic mana pearls for account-bound reputation tokens.
Developer Comment: We anticipate that the introduction of account-bound reputation tokens for Nazjatar will complement the already available reputation tokens for Mechagon. This will allow players who have already unlocked Rank 3 of essences with their main characters to speed up the process for their alts.
Bounty bags now always contain the same loot, regardless of which zone you received them in.
The Lightningforged Enhancement Rune can be used indefinitely to increase Agility, Intelligence, and Strength by 60 for 1 hour. This reusable rune can be purchased for 50,000 gold. The character must have the Exalted reputation with the Rajani faction for this.
Players can now purchase uncommon, rare, and epic salvage crates for Seafarer’s Doubloons. The crates contain at least 3 loot pieces from the rewards for completing island expeditions, including templates for transmogrifications, pets, and mounts.
All Titan Residuum is converted into Silver.
World quests, world bosses, and other events in Nazjatar now yield more prismatic mana pearls.
Reputation items obtained with Seafarer’s Doubloons and completed quests for island expeditions no longer grant reputation beyond Exalted rank. Instead, players who reach Exalted rank with a faction now receive account-bound reputation tokens that they can use until they reach Exalted rank.
Azerite Equipment
The Azerite bonus ‘Overwhelming Power’
A bug has been fixed, which caused the Azerite bonus ‘Overwhelming Power’ (Rank 2) to trigger more frequently based on your haste, thus being enhanced by that value more than intended.
Developer Comment: We discovered a bug related to ‘Overwhelming Power’ that caused the Azerite bonus to trigger more frequently with increasing haste, thus benefiting from haste twice. We are aware that ‘Overwhelming Power’ was especially popular with players due to this bug. We also do not want the Azerite bonus to become useless with our changes. However, the swiftly growing power seemed to render any gear without ‘Overwhelming Power’ inferior, and we had to resolve this issue. In any case, we will keep an eye on the Azerite bonus to ensure this change has the desired effect.
Heart of Azeroth
Players can now unlock a new minor slot when their Heart of Azeroth reaches level 75.
Regularly increases stamina to level 80.
The Heart of Azeroth no longer has a maximum level.
Above level 80, the Heart of Azeroth receives an increased item level and a minor increase in stats.
Upon completion of Magni’s questline to unlock the Heart Forge, the Heart of Azeroth now starts at level 50 (previously level 35).
The bonus threat for unlocking minor and major slots has been removed.
Tank specializations or Druids in bear form now receive a 50% bonus to threat generated when the Heart of Azeroth is equipped. If another specialization activates, shapeshifts, or the Heart of Azeroth is unequipped, this effect is canceled.
Essences
New essences can be found while assaulting Uldum and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, during disturbing visions, or in the raid Ny’alotha. Here is a list of new essences at rank 1 for healing, damage, and tank specialization. In addition to their active and passive abilities, these new essences also grant 10 Corruption resistance.
Spirit of Preservation (Rank 1)
Great Might: Channels an energy beam onto an ally, healing them over 3 seconds for a substantial amount.
Minor Might: You gain ‘Devoted Spirit’ every 5 seconds, causing your next use of ‘Flash Heal’, ‘Healing Light’, ‘Regrowth’, ‘Rebirth’, ‘Shadow Heal’, or ‘Healing Wave’ to heal for an additional minor amount. Can stack up to 3 times.
Breath of the Dying (Rank 1)
Great Might: Burns your target with an Azerite bolt, dealing a great amount of fire damage instantly. If the target is below 20% health, cooldown is reduced by 30 seconds (from 45 seconds).
Minor Might: Your spells and abilities have a chance to deal moderate fire damage to your target.
Touch of the Everlasting (Rank 1)
Great Might: Your next death will be prevented. Instead, you restore up to 20% of your maximum health and take 85% less damage for 3 seconds. This effect can only occur once every 10 minutes.
Minor Might: When your health falls below 35%, your avoidance is increased by a moderate amount for 15 seconds, and your next active mitigation lasts 30% longer.
Condensed Lifeforce
The weakening effect from Azerite Spikes of your Guardian that increases the damage taken has been reduced to 3% (previously 5%).
The cast time of the Guardian’s Azerite Spikes has been increased to 2.5 seconds (previously 2 seconds).
Developer Comment: Regarding ‘Condensed Lifeforce’, we resolve a bug by extending the cast time, causing the Guardian to have interrupted their own spells if a character had enough haste to bring them under the global cooldown. This particular essence, which is largely passive, was however the top choice for most specializations against both single and multiple targets. Therefore, we felt it necessary to reduce the damage increase that players receive from the essence as well.
Purification Protocol
Great Might (Rank 1): Damage has been increased by 15%.
Great Might (Rank 2): Can now also affect targets that are part of raids and dungeons.
The Unleashed Power
Great Might (Rank 1): Damage has been increased by 40%.
Minor Might (Rank 1): Duration has been increased to 4 seconds (previously 3 seconds).
Minor Might (Rank 3): Duration increase has been increased to 2 seconds (previously 1 second).
When the strengthening effect ‘Bold Power’ has triggered, the icon for ‘The Unleashed Power’ is now highlighted.
Vision of Perfection
The chance to trigger ‘Vision of Perfection’ has been increased by 12%.
Vitality Link
The effects of ‘Vitality Link’ are now displayed as intended in the combat log and in scrolling combat log text.
Resonance of the Worldline
When using the great power (Rank 1), you now receive an additional bonus of 300% to primary stats for 18 seconds through Lifebloom Fragments (great slot, previously 10 seconds long with 50% bonus).
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
No matter if it’s cheap excuses during wipes or skipping quest texts, there are things we have all done in MMORPGs. Here are 10 of them.
Just like in real life, there are a number of things we’ve all done in MMORPGs. Based on personal experience, we’ve compiled 10 of them for you. How many apply to you? Just 1 or 2 or all 10? Find out.
Hoarding
Let’s be honest: whoever hasn’t hoarded in an MMORPG hasn’t lived. How can you throw away that one enchanted brick with two useless sockets? What if I need it someday?
And then I’m sitting there without the brick and have to waste my time farming for it. Do you have any idea how low the drop rate is for that? I took a whole 20 minutes to get that one. No, I’m not doing that to myself again.
Even though the hoarded items waste space in the inventory 99% of the time, it still feels triumphant when you don’t have to farm materials for some obscure craft because they’ve been lying around collecting dust for years. Great feeling.
Do you remember the times before transmogs and glamour were invented? When many characters looked like the players had created their outfits after a shopping trip through Victoria’s Secret, Ikea, and their favorite BDSM shop?
Those who favored good looks had a hard time back then. Often, armor with good stats looked really ugly, or super stylish outfits were penalized with bad stats. So sometimes we lied: “This dungeon isn’t that hard… I can wear the prettier top!”
But in our time, where the transmog option is almost a must-have, anyone can dress their character in the bikini of their choice. Long live progress!
Spamming emotes in the city
Who wants to spend their time doing raids, crafting, or farming something to advance their character in the game, when you can just stand around aimlessly in an MMORPG?
It’s best to do this in one of the largest and busiest cities on the server, the main gathering point for all stand-around players and emote spammers. Even if no one from your friend list is online to chat with, you can still use the public chat and chat endlessly with others.
And at the end of the day, you log out with the words: “There’s really nothing to do in this stupid game.”
Spending too much time in the character creator
The classic, about which countless jokes have been made and memes created. How many hours of life have the character creators in MMORPGs consumed? How many of us sat at the PC into the wee hours of the night to get every last detail of our character just right?
And yet we do it again and again. Whether it’s a blonde and blue-eyed elf princess, the darkest dark knight, or nightmares materialized, like those you can create in Black Desert Online, we keep adjusting the sliders and settings until it’s just right.
And if you end up disliking the appearance someday, there’s always the usually paid option to change it.
Showing off the newest toy
Have you seen my new ultra-rare 0.1% drop chance mount yet? No? Don’t worry, we’ll change that right now. What have you been farming that stupid thing for weeks for if not to show it off to everyone at the first opportunity?
For this, you happily stand in the most active hub of the MMORPG, posing extensively for all who happen to be there at the same time. And do this until they turn green with envy.
Evil tongues will say that the show-offs do this to feel better than others. But let’s be honest, who hasn’t run directly to the guild meeting point to show off their latest outfit, mount, or minion? Exactly. Shared joy, and so on.
Never using expensive potions and food
It’s a contagious disease that has sneaked into MMORPGs from single-player RPGs. Imagine: You farm for hours to gather crafting materials so you can make really strong potions or food. The stuff costs an arm and a leg, it’s the best of the best currently available in the game.
And then you go into the raid… and don’t use it. Not yet. It’s not the right time yet. There are still too many wipes due to silly mistakes, so it’s not worth it to use the strong pots. It’s better to wait until the group reaches enrage. But not just once, but several times, so there is stable progress and people feel confident in the fight.
And then suddenly, the raid is completed during an unexpectedly good attempt… Who needs potions anyway?
Spending money on cosmetic items
If there is something MMORPG developers make a killing on, it’s cosmetic items. The cash shops are overflowing with outfits, mounts, and other cool stuff that can only be bought there. They lure us in with their beautiful, exclusive looks, their coolness, and their uniqueness, like sirens on the open sea with their sweet song.
And before you know it, your account is lighter by a few euros, and your character in-game is wearing the latest outfit or riding the newest mount available in the shop. Which provide you with no advantages in the game.
And what’s the harm? If you’ve already invested several hundred hours into a free-to-play MMORPG, you might as well treat yourself to an outfit for 20€, right? … Or not?
Dying from fall damage
One of the biggest enemies of players in MMORPGs is not the raid bosses, and it’s not the RNG. In both real life and the game, it’s the insidious and sneaky force of gravity. Countless players have fallen victim to it, even though we haven’t really done anything to it.
It was the scientist in us, our inner Isaac Newton, wanting to check how bad fall damage is in the MMORPG. We need to know how far we can fall and still survive with 4 HP.
Or it was the insatiable curiosity wanting to see what’s down at the bottom of the abyss. Theoretically, one could take the safe route. Along the edge of the abyss, around the castle ruins, over the bridge to the narrow path that finally leads down. Or one could just jump and see if they survive. What could go wrong?
“Dumb lag! Sorry, my internet connection is really bad today!” This excuse is as old as the world, but who hasn’t used it? Sometimes the self-inflicted raid wipes are just so embarrassing that you’d rather sink into the ground. I know this from experience.
But how can you explain to the raid lead that you were looking at funny animal pictures on the second screen? It’s better to quickly come up with an excuse or find a scapegoat: “It’s always this stupid technology!” or “Sorry, the cat knocked over my water!”
It’s not the proper English way, but whoever has never caused a raid wipe in an MMORPG can throw the first stone.
Skipping quest texts and getting annoyed
Who has the time to read the text for some random fetch quest? Most MMORPG players certainly don’t. That’s why we often skip the long and sad story of the poor grandmother who needs 20 lion hearts for some reason to get through the day.
Unfortunately, this quest text precisely explains that the grandmother doesn’t need just any lions roaming around outside her door. But special rare lions with black manes that can only be found in an area usually referred to as the “arse of the world”.
But who has time for these little details? Better to farm the normal lions first and be annoyed that the stupid buggy quest shows no progress!
Can you think of any more things that every MMORPG player has surely done? Tell us what you’ve done in-game in the comments!
In a community update, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (PS4, PC, Xbox One) provided a glimpse into the coming weeks. The developers revealed what they are currently working on and what will be included in the next patch.
Where does the information come from? Infinity Ward released a community update and correspondingly created a Trello board where they documented all the information.
The information revolves around upcoming features, as well as bugs currently affecting Modern Warfare. As players, you now have a good overview of the game’s future.
3 major new features are waiting for you
Newslots for your loadouts: It was mentioned a few days ago and now we have confirmation: Modern Warfare will soon get more space for your created classes.
Your weapon classes will soon have more space
How many new slots will be added is still unknown. However, the fact is that you will soon be able to create and carry more of your own classes.
New mode for Gunfight: The Gunfight mode is expanding. While previously you could face off in 1v1 and 2-player teams, there will soon also be a mode for 3-player teams.
Before that, however, they want to fix bugs and add new rewards. After that, the Gunfight tournaments should return.
A lot is happening in Gunfight soon
Infinity Ward aims to fix numerous bugs
In the community update, various bugs were also addressed that the developers now want to fix. Infinity Ward has not yet specified when exactly the fixes will come, but these bugs are being worked on:
Issues with unlocking platinum skins
Damascus and platinum skins flickering when aiming
When can we expect a new patch? The update is likely to be released next week. Just a few days ago, Joe Cecot, co-design director at Infinity Ward, announced that they are already working on the update. So it shouldn’t take long.
The new game Magic: Legends was announced in 2017 as a next-gen MMORPG. However, the gameplay now showed an action RPG in isometric perspective. This disappointed many MMORPG fans. The developers explain what led to the change in the plan.
This is how the game was announced: In June 2017, Cryptic Studios (Neverwinter, Star Trek Online) together with Perfect World announced an “MMORPG” set in the world of Magic: The Gathering. The online role-playing game was supposed to be released for PC and consoles.
The genre term MMORPG was emphasized, the announcement left no doubt: It was a “new free-to-play action MMORPG.” There was even talk of a “Next Generation MMORPG.”
Magic: Legends had a special status after the announcement
That’s why this is a big deal: The last “MMORPGs” published by established companies in the West came out in 2014: The Elder Scrolls Online and WildStar.
In the years that followed, the development of Everquest Next and Titan was canceled. They were actually intended as the next big MMORPGs from the West.
The game is now described not as an “action MMORPG,” but as an “online action RPG,” thus leaning more towards Diablo.
Decision between MMORPG and Action RPG went back and forth
How did this come about? The developers gave a long interview to the print magazine Game Informer.
It is said that Cryptic Studios had a lot of freedom in designing the game. The team sought a way to best implement the “Magic” experience in a playable form. They changed their minds multiple times between:
a classic, proven traditional MMO camera, the MMORPG design
and a traditional isometric action/RPG format
Ultimately, Cryptic Studios opted for the “action/RPG” format as it would connect players with Magic, allowing them to summon many creatures. Through the isometric perspective, players would have a better way to maintain overview when many creatures were running around.
The executive producer Stephen Ricossa Jr. is quoted:
Because you summon so many things, and especially large exciting monsters, you often looked at the backs of earth elementals and such while running around, looking for things to fight against.
Stephen Ricossa Jr., Executive Producer, to Game Informer
This is what’s behind it: The MMORPG term is inseparably linked among players in the West with the “3rd person” perspective. Virtually all successful MMORPGs have this perspective: WoW, Final Fantasy XIV, ESO, Black Desert, Guild Wars 2.
While some MMORPGs in isometric perspective (Project TL and Lost Ark) are expected from Asia, it will likely take a while before they are truly considered MMORPGs.
For the developers, the question of perspective may be just one of many decisions made for rational reasons, but for many MMORPG fans, the difference between “MMORPG” and “Action RPG” is felt to be much larger.
Through the decision, the status of Magic: Legends changed:
from the “first Western MMORPG in 5 years”
to another “action RPG”, especially since so many new ones are coming out
In Pokémon GO there is now a new way to evolve Pokémon. If you traded certain monsters beforehand, you can now evolve them for free.
What is new now? If you trade certain Pokémon before evolving, they will be free to evolve after the trade. You do not have to spend any candies to evolve your Pokémon.
However, only some Pokémon are affected. We will show you the overview and tell you which Pokémon you should definitely evolve.
These Pokémon can now be evolved for free
Here it works thanks to trading: 8 Pokémon from the 1st and 5th generation are affected:
Kadabra
Maschok
Georock
Alpollo
Sedimantur
Strepoli
Laukaps
Schnuthelm
Machomei can now be obtained for free through evolution
There may be more Pokémon affected, but currently, there are only reports of this. If you have other Pokémon that can be evolved for free after a trade, please let us know in the comments or in our Facebook group for Pokémon GO.
Is this feature worth it? This function is great! Especially the new Pokémon can be completed faster. For example, you only need 50 candies to evolve from Praktibalk to Meistagrif. Without this feature, it would be 250 candies.
You save an incredible amount of candies that you can then invest in strengthening the Pokémon.
Which Pokémon should you use the feature on? It is worth it for every Pokémon in principle. However, many players should have enough candies for monsters from Gen 1, such as Machollo or Abra.
Praktibalk is worth trading
So it is especially worthwhile with the new Pokémon from Gen 5. Particularly strong are Brockoloss and Meistagriff. They are among the best attackers in the game. You should trade every Praktibalk and Kiesling to later evolve them into their final forms for free.
Which field research tasks are particularly worthwhile right now, you can find out here:
Season 9 did not pick up on the mysterious ending of Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, but the story around the Darkness and the pyramid ships is by no means forgotten or concluded, as Bungie stated in a new interview. On the contrary, the players would only be scratching the surface.
How did the story of Shadowkeep end? In the context of the Shadowkeep expansion, the story focused on a mysterious pyramid ship on the Moon. But what does it mean?
Until the Season of Dawn, the so-called pyramid ships represented the greatest threat to Guardians, humanity, and the Traveler – namely the Darkness, the absolute evil.
And what was hinted at the end of the main story of the base game finally came to fruition with Shadowkeep: the Guardians encountered one of these mysterious ships beneath the surface of the Moon for the first time. The great danger was indeed present.
Many celebrated this, as many players had been waiting for it for a long time. Some hoped that this great mystery of the Destiny universe could finally be unveiled.
Some complained that the ship was just another one of many plot lines that Bungie starts in Destiny 2 but never concludes (at least not yet). And that would be a real shame, as the fight against the Darkness essentially embodies the primal conflict in the Destiny franchise.
In a new interview with Hollywood Reporter, Bungie further clarified this statement.
With Shadowkeep, the Guardians are only scratching the surface of the Darkness
The cliffhanger is not forgotten: In the interview, Bungie’s Creative Lead Robbie Stevens and Narrative Designer Nikko Stevens commented on the ending of Shadowkeep and how this story thread will continue.
In short: Bungie has not forgotten this cliffhanger. On the contrary. Shadowkeep essentially sets the stage for the future of this story.
Robbie Stevens spoke about how Destiny 2 has shifted to a seasonal model and that the focus is now on advancing the story month by month – like a TV show. He promised, however, that the experiences of the Guardians within Shadowkeep are just the beginning of a larger discovery surrounding the Darkness.
Bungie’s thoughts on the ending of Shadowkeep and the future of the story: Regarding the Darkness itself, it was stated: “This is a massive cosmic force. Something that the Guardians have never seen before. It has its own intrinsic power and abilities, of which we are only just scratching the surface. Also regarding what Darkness actually means. The way the player interacts with the ship (in Shadowkeep) is just slowly pulling back the curtain on what these cosmic beings actually are.”
When asked what they are now, it was said: “We don’t want to say that yet; it will unfold.” Stevens added: “What they are will be told from the perspective of characters. Even if someone speaks directly about it (the Darkness) – it is their own view of things. If you follow these things between the lines, major releases like Shadowkeep will unfold these stories.”
Whether Destiny 2 will receive further major expansions – possibly in the fall of 2020 – or whether it will possibly already continue in Destiny 3 is unfortunately still unknown.
In conclusion, the developers teased that the ending of Shadowkeep, where you as a Guardian encounter your doppelgänger, a kind of physical manifestation of the Darkness, is just the first step towards something larger:
“We are piecing together the future. The moments from Shadowkeep, where you see your doppelgänger and interact with the pyramid ships, and it (the Darkness) speaks with you – that is how we are setting the stage.”
What do you think? When will the story surrounding the Darkness be picked up again? Would you be happy about that? Or do you also enjoy the seasonal story that has been continued since Season 8?
Karadonis, Schallquap and Toxiped are just a part of the new Pokémon available to catch in Pokémon GO. We give you an overview of which monsters are part of the new wave and where you can catch the 17 new Pokémon from Gen 5.
Many of these monsters are incredibly strong or can be obtained in special ways.
All 17 new Pokémon at a glance
These monsters are found in the wild: A large portion of the new Pokémon can be found in the wild. This includes:
Kiesling
Schallquap
Lithomith
Unratütox
Laukaps
Wattzapf
Schnuthelm
Toxiped
Galapaflos
Flapteryx
Milza
Jiutesto (regional)
Karadonis (regional, but available in Germany)
Maracamba (regional)
Symvolara (regional)
Barschuft (regional with red and blue stripes)
Gen 5 is getting a significant increase.
Currently, it is unclear whether Praktibalk can also be found in the wild. So far, it has only been found in raids and eggs.
5 new regional Pokémon are now in the game. Only one of them can be found in Germany. The rest are only available in other corners of the world. A detailed overview of the catch locations will be published soon on MeinMMO.
These monsters are found in raids: The only new raid boss added is Praktibalk. You can find it in 1-star raids. All other Pokémon are not yet available in raids.
This is what the Praktibalk family looks like.
These monsters are found in eggs: The egg pools have seen a significant increase. Almost all new monsters can be found in eggs. So far, the following have been confirmed:
2-km-eggs:
Lithomith
Toxiped
5-km-eggs:
Kiesling
Schallquap
Unratütox
Laukaps
Wattzapf
Schnuthelm
10-km-eggs:
Praktibalk
Galapaflos
Flapteryx
Milza
The regional Pokémon have not yet been found in their respective regions in the eggs. It may still take a few days before we receive confirmation on that.
Many new Pokémon can also be found in eggs.
Are there new Shinys? So far, there have been no confirmed Shiny sightings. It seems that after Yorkleff, Nagelotz, and Klikk, there are no further Shinys from the 5th generation at this time.
For a stylish transmog set from WoW, you don’t have to pay extra. The standard version of Shadowlands is enough. Is this a bug or a feature?
A few days ago, players of World of Warcraft discovered that they can obtain the “Ensemble: Robes of the Eternal Traveler” set, even though they have not pre-ordered either the “Heroic” or the “Epic” edition of WoW: Shadowlands.
Instead, it is sufficient for WoW players to have pre-ordered the Base Edition. Then they can simply get the set from another player.
How does this work? If you have pre-ordered the Base Edition, you just need to find another player who owns the Heroic or Epic Edition and ask them to summon the mount Enchanted Everbloom to summon the quest giver Xolartios. From this character, you can accept the quest for the set of the Eternal Traveler, even without owning the mount yourself!
What does this mean? In simple terms, this is good news for everyone who wanted the transmog set but did not want to buy the Heroic or Epic Edition of Shadowlands. They can also obtain the transmog set if they have the Base Edition and therefore do not have to pre-order any of the other versions.
Blizzard says: This is intended
Bug or feature? In the official forum, Blizzard explained that this is a feature and not a bug. It is intended for players with the mount to provide the quest giver to other players.
However, there are many players who doubt Blizzard’s words here or even accuse the game developer of deliberate deception. Many believe that this is a bug and that Blizzard is now unable to reverse this since the damage is already too great.
Some have said they only bought the Heroic Edition because of the transmog set. Since this is only advertised from the Heroic Edition, they feel misled and want their money back.
What do you think about the fact that the Robes of the Eternal Traveler are now effectively “for free”? Is it a cool thing or do you feel cheated?
The shooter Days of War will leave Early Access at the end of January. It is praised for its visuals and gameplay on Steam, but also criticized. We reveal what lies behind the game.
What is Days of War? Days of War is a first-person shooter set in the setting of World War II. The developers describe it as very competitive. It is rated for ages 18 and up.
Days of War is expected to offer the following content at release on Steam:
Six playable classes and an arsenal with a total of 60 different weapons.
12 playable maps, including areas in Europe, Africa, and the Eastern Front.
Multiplayer battles with matchmaking and a dedicated server system.
A map editor with Steam Workshop support.
Bots for offline training.
The shooter already started Early Access on January 26, 2017, on Steam and is set to leave it on January 30, 2020, about three years later.
Praise for Graphics and Gameplay, Frustration in Player Search
How did Days of War perform in Early Access? The Early Access of Days of War ended without attracting much attention. In the 3 years, the game has only garnered 1,093 reviews, of which only 42% were positive.
However, players generally paint a fairly positive picture of the shooter in the reviews.
Many are reminded of Day of Defeat, a successful game by Valve, which was also mentioned by members of the MeinMMO community in our survey of the best multiplayer games.
Screenshot of a battle on a winter map
What do players praise? The following aspects are praised in Days of War:
The good gunplay
The graphics
The sound
The maps and weapons
The fair price
It hardly matters when you look at the reviews. User Christian Bale praised these points on January 26, 2017, shortly after the release, while psychopata described them similarly on January 8, 2020. However, both also criticize the same points.
What do players criticize? During Early Access, there were hardly any players who regularly used the shooter. Often, no matches were formed at all. This was compounded by the fact that the shooter had no bots throughout EA.
Additionally, some features that have now been confirmed for the release version were missing, including a ranking system and map editor.
These factors resulted in many negative reviews like this one:
Jack6673: “I find it unfortunate that I have to say this, but there are simply no players anymore, even though updates are delivered every month. It is, in itself, a very good game with a lot of potential. The developers just can’t manage to bring the players back. It could be because there is still no ranking system.”
Tactical Cheese Straws: “The game has no bots and no player base, and this is not communicated externally. [..] The gameplay is good, the graphics are nice, the player models are okay. I will try it again sometime in January 2020.”
Days of War at night
Developers Announce Missing Updates
What do the developers say about it? On the Steam page for Days of War, there is a reference that they plan to completely overhaul the game for the release in 2020.
As a result, the EA version was not updated for a long time and is not intended to be expanded before release.
Upswing from new publisher? Days of War is developed by Driven Arts, a small studio. Via Kickstarter, just under $70,000 was raised.
In August 2019, however, the studio announced that they had found a publisher in Graffitigames. Together, they released new trailers and announced the release date.
Shooting range to try out your weapons
What is the conclusion about Days of War? The fact that the finished game will likely differ significantly from Early Access makes it difficult to draw a conclusion about Days of War.
However, reviewers were already satisfied with graphics and gunplay. Both play an important role in shooters. It is therefore possible that Days of War will be a successful shooter when released in January.
Major competition in the shooter segment will again emerge with Doom Eternal in March.
A different shooter was released in Early Access on Steam in November:
Do you want to try the strongest light machine gun in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare? Then you are in the right place. We will show you all the important facts about the PKM and explain how to use the weapon correctly, which setups, builds, and loadouts are worth it, and what alternatives there are.
What kind of weapon is the PKM? The PKM is a light machine gun (LMG) and the strongest weapon of its kind. This type is particularly well suited for suppressing enemies and holding areas. With the right builds, the PKM is also usable for distance and fast playstyles.
How powerful is the PKM? Here are the basic stats for the PKM in standard configuration:
Rate of fire: 759 rounds per minute
Damage (to the upper torso): 34 (up to about 37.5 meters), 30 (from 37.5m)
Required bullets for a kill (to the torso): 3-4, depending on distance
TTK (for torso hits): 158ms (up to about 37.5 meters), 237ms (from 37.5m)
Reload time: 6.77 seconds (4.61 seconds with dexterity)
How do I best modify the PKM? With the Gunsmith feature of Modern Warfare, you can attach many different mods (attachments) to the weapon and change its characteristics. There are even some blueprints that allow you to use pre-made setups and unique skins.
Depending on which mods you equip the PKM with, you favor different playstyles. We have compiled three different setups for you here.
Setup 1: Fast fighter/attacker
Barrel: Compact 18.2″ barrel
Laser: 1mW laser
Stock: No stock
Ammunition: 150-round belt
Grip: Patterned grip tape
This setup compensates for some of the general disadvantages of machine guns and allows you to play the PKM more like in a strong run&gun build. You sacrifice accuracy and damage for speed. The PKM behaves more like assault rifles or SMGs.
The setup is particularly well-suited for fast-paced and action-packed modes such as Kill Confirmed, Deathmatch, or Free-for-All. If you have trouble aiming well, you can find some tips on recoil and better aiming here.
Setup 2: The supporter
Barrel: Extended 26.9″ barrel
Sight: Any small sight, like G.I. Mini Red Dot
Stock: FORGE TAC ultralight or Grip: Patterned grip tape
Underbarrel: Merc Foregrip, Angled Grip, or Ranger Foregrip
Ammunition: 150-round belt or Extra: Dexterity (with Blue Extra: Looting)
With this setup, you are more there to support a small fireteam. You are still mobile enough to move in a team, but you don’t stand at the front, instead, you provide fire cover.
To play this setup best, focus on capturing and defending key points. It is suitable for all multiplayer modes with important objectives to hold. This setup is especially useful in the large mode Ground War.
Setup 3: The camper
Barrel: Heavy 25.9″ barrel
Stock: FORGE TAC Stalker or Muzzle: Silencer (Monolith)
Underbarrel: Bipod
Ammunition: 200-round belt
Grip: Rubberized grip tape or Sight: any medium-range sight, such as Cronen C480 Pro Sight
The third setup is intended for you to cover a whole area with bullets from medium to long range, thus preventing enemies from crossing a certain area. You protect an area, even if alone, if necessary.
With the optional silencer, you have even more range and are harder to detect. While this may prevent you from deterring enemies, it might give you more kills. We explain how silencers work here.
Play this setup best on larger maps where you can effectively prevent enemies from reaching a specific point.
How to build the best loadouts for the PKM
These loadouts provide the best classes: With each setup of the PKM, you aim more for support than for reckless assault on enemy positions. Accordingly, the builds are somewhat different from those of other weapons.
However, they all have in common that you try to accumulate as many killstreaks as possible. Which of the many different killstreaks you take is up to you. However, helicopter support and the VTOL Jet are particularly useful.
Build 1: Attacker
Secondary weapon: .50 GS or .357 as shotgun
Blue perk: KRD
Red perk: Hardline or Kill Chain
Yellow perk: Combat Stant
Equipment: C4 and Stim
Field upgrade: Ammo box and/or Dead Silence
Build 2: The supporter
Secondary weapon: any
Blue perk: KRD or Looting
Red perk: Hardline or Pointman
Yellow perk: Shrapnel
Equipment: Thermite and Flash Grenade
Field upgrade: Tactical Insertion
Here it should be noted that Shrapnel and Thermite are a necessary combo, as two Thermite grenades can already take out most vehicles in Ground War. Make the most of it.
Build 3: The camper
Secondary weapon: Pila or Combat Knife
Blue perk: Cold-blooded
Red perk: Ghost or Alert
Yellow perk: Amped, Scout or Eager (with Pila)
Equipment: Claymore or Proximity Mine and Gas Grenade
Field upgrade: Ammo box
Pros and cons of the PKM
Pros
One of the fastest TTKs in the game
Very easy to control, only vertical recoil
Kills in “Hardcore” at 37.5 meters with one shot
Cons
No advantage from headshots
Very slow reload time
Slow time from sprint to shot
PKM vs. M91 – What alternatives are there?
These LMGs are also worth it: The PKM is the strongest weapon in its category. However, there are two LMGs that could potentially outperform the PKM.
The first is the M91. While it has a slightly stronger drift to the left during sustained fire, it is generally a bit more accurate at longer distances. Otherwise, it is only slightly worse than the PKM.
The second is the new Holger-26. In its standard variant, it is not particularly strong. However, it can be converted into the secret assault rifle G36. The G36 is very strong and even comparable to the M4A1 as the strongest assault rifle.
The big advantage is that the G36 plays like an assault rifle but still counts as an LMG. So if you have difficulty with LMG kills in some challenges, use the G36. It also counts for these challenges and is particularly strong in close-quarters combat.
If you also want to specialize in other weapons, check out our other weapon guides:
Today, on January 10, 2020, it is Xur Day in Destiny 2 once again. But what does the exotic dealer offer the Guardians for purchase and where can you find him? Find out everything about Xur’s location and inventory this weekend.
What is happening currently in Destiny 2? This Destiny week revolves around the quest for the new exotic pistol “The Devil’s Ruin”. How you can get the new weapon, we will tell you here:
But first, let us see what Xur has brought for the Guardians today.
All information about Xur on January 10, 2019 – PS4, PC, Xbox One
What does Xur offer the Guardians? Does Xur bring an Exotic that you are still missing? Or does he perhaps have gear pieces with high overall stats?
We will take a look at his inventory together and let you know what he has on offer.
When does Xur appear?
This is Xur’s time: At 6:00 PM, Xur will appear today on a planet of his choice. There he will offer his exotic goods until the next Weekly Reset on January 14.
Where is Xur? This is his location this weekend
Xur’s position: You will find the exotic dealer this time on Titan in the area “The Rig”.
Xur’s location on Titan
Xur’s inventory from January 10 to January 14 – All Exotics at a glance
Weapon:Black Spindle – Sword for 29 Legendary Shards
The hardcore playground Escape from Tarkov demands everything from players right from the start. If you have already played a few rounds and want to know which good and cheap weapons you can try out, you are in the right place. Players looking for weapons for budget builds will also find something useful.
The tactical hardcore shooter Escape from Tarkov can be quite overwhelming at the beginning. There are a bunch of weapons, scopes, and even different types of ammunition within the caliber classes. It’s easy to lose track.
To help you out during your first real raids, here are a few loadouts and tips for the right weapons and ammunition to get started.
When should I start raiding seriously? You can go all out right in the first hours of gameplay and have the chance to find the good stuff.
However, until level 5 and the unlocking of the flea market, you should familiarize yourself with the maps and gameplay mechanics. Once you have access to the flea market, you can sell weapon parts and items at your own prices and finally earn a decent amount of Rubles.
In our tips for beginners, we recommend initially getting to know the maps as a SCAV to gradually get drawn deeper into the hardcore whirlpool.
With little experience, you shouldn’t go into raids fully equipped.
3 strong weapons for beginners and budget builds
Which weapons are recommended? In a video by EFT veteran “DeadlySlob”, the YouTuber presents 3 weapons that he especially recommends for beginners, but they also offer a good and cheap alternative for experienced players.
The prices are estimates from “DeadlySlob” and may vary significantly from the current flea market prices. If the weapons are currently too expensive for you, choose another weapon from the list or check back later.
These are the weapons:
ADAR 2-15
Single-shot assault rifle with stable values at medium to long range
can be upgraded to M4
AK-74 / AK-74M / AK-74N
Iconic Russian assault rifle with many applications
needs some mods, but then has very smooth automatic fire
Vepr Hunter
Very strong and cheap carbine with single shot
Based on the AKM model and can use the strong M80 ammunition
The ADAR is a good starter weapon and can be upgraded to fully automatic M4.
The ADAR delivers good performance for little money
What does the ADAR look like? The rifle is a single-shot variant of the more well-known M4A1 and performs solidly at medium to long ranges.
The weapon is so good for a budget build because you hardly need to modify it to achieve good results. According to “DeadlySlob”, a decent scope is enough to have a really good weapon at hand.
As a scope, the “Primary Arms Compact Prism Scope” with 2.5x magnification is recommended.
What ammunition should I take? As ammunition, you can take the M855A1. The rounds are cheap and still deliver decent damage. With 3 full magazines, you should be good to go, which corresponds to 90 rounds.
ADAR Rounds: M1855A1 / 5.56 x 45 mm NATO caliber
Damage: 44
Piercing power: 40
Cost: 200 – 300 Rubles each.
How much does the fun cost? You can get the ADAR really cheap, but the scope drives up the price. You can also try out another one if you find something suitable in your box.
Weapon: ADAR
approx. 25,000 Rubles
Scope: Primary Arms Compact Prism Scope 2.5
approx. 18,000 Rubles
Ammunition: approx. 20,000 Rubles
Total cost: approx. 63,000 Rubles
There are several versions of the AK-74.
The AK-74 needs attachments but can be really good
What can the AK’s do? Here you have several options, as there are some variants of the AK-74, and they all do a good job. Just make sure you don’t use the more compact AKS-74.
The Kalashnikovs are versatile, cheap, and can deal a lot of damage in a short time. However, you need some mods to slightly compensate for the strong recoil of the weapons.
For the scope, “DeadlySlob” recommends a simple red dot without too many bells and whistles. This way, you have a really stable automatic rifle and can deal heavy hits at short to medium range.
How about the bullets? Depending on your budget, there are 2 options here. Either you take the slightly cheaper BT rounds, which offer relatively low piercing power, or you spend a little more and treat yourself to the BS rounds.
Since you are armed with a fully automatic weapon, you should have about 150 rounds, i.e., 5 magazines, with you.
AK-74 Rounds: BT / 5.45 x 39 mm caliber
Damage: 44
Piercing power: 33
Cost: 300 – 350 Rubles each.
AK-74 Rounds: BS / 5.45 x 39 mm caliber
Damage: 40
Piercing power: 50
Cost: 550 – 600 Rubles each.
What do I need to pay for the AKs? Although the weapons themselves are quite cheap, the costs for attachments and ammunition drive the total expenses up.
Weapon: AK-74 and variants
approx. 20,000 Rubles
Scope: Belomo PK-06 reflex sight
approx. 15,000 Rubles
Muzzle brake: PWS CQB 74 5.45 x 39 muzzle brake
approx. 10,000 Rubles (dealer, cheaper on the flea market)
Pistol grip: Izhmash AK-74 pistol grip from textolite (6P4 Sb.9)
less than 1,000 Rubles at the dealer
Ammunition BT: approx. 50,000 Rubles
Total cost: approx. 100,000 Rubles
The Vepr may cost a bit more, but fires strong, cheap rounds.
Vepr Hunter shoots nasty M80 rounds
Why the Vepr Hunter? The semi-automatic hunting carbine does a really good job, but it’s a bit pricier. The Hunter fires large caliber rounds and can deal a lot of damage while still remaining fairly affordable.
The rifle needs few attachments to be really powerful. A decent scope and 10-round magazines are enough to turn the carbine into a dangerous killer – at medium and long distances.
What do I fill the Vepr Hunter with? The rounds are a real bargain compared to the other weapons and hit hard. However, the magazines only hold 10 rounds. With 4 magazines, you should be good for the round.
Rounds: M80 / 7.62 x 51 mm caliber
Damage: 80
Piercing power: 45
Cost: 220 – 250 Rubles each.
How much does the Hunter cost me? “DeadlySlob” states that since the rounds here are a bit cheaper, the investment for the Vepr Hunter is below average. However, the weapon itself is the most expensive on our list. But you only need a good scope, and you get a weapon with real punch.
Weapon: Vepr Hunter
approx. 35,000
Scope: Belomo PK-06 reflex sight
approx. 15,000 Rubles
Ammunition: approx. 10,000 Rubles
Total cost: approx. 60,000 Rubles
In your hideout, you can build weapons and ammunition.
Use the insurance, budget weapons often get left behind
Any further tips in this regard? With these weapons, you are well equipped, but you haven’t risen far up the food chain yet. So use the insurance, as it’s likely that your weapons will be left behind by better-equipped players.
The insurance will return your weapons if no other player has looted them. Especially at the beginning, it makes sense to insure, as not too many survivors are interested in your weak stuff.
Twitch star Turner “Tfue” Tenney is considered one of the best Fortnite players in the world. What tips does he have for players who want to improve in Fortnite? It’s about ping, controls, and the right controller settings between “linear” and “legacy.”
Unlike most “big Fortnite streamers” who are pure entertainers, Tfue is quite a serious player. He was able to qualify for the World Championship in 2019, although he didn’t play a major role there.
Tfue is considered an ambitious and aggressive player who entertains his fans with Fortnite and makes it clear to everyone how “dogshit” his opponents were.
Fortnite – not a game for old men
These are Tfue’s tips for Fortnite: In a recent Twitch stream, Tfue was asked by a fan with a $20 donation how to improve in Fortnite and reach the next level.
Tfue gave the following tips:
if you don’t have a low ping, you should move
if you play with mouse and keyboard, you should switch to controller
practice a lot
if you play with the “linear” controller setting and can’t jump into the opponents’ boxes, you should switch to “legacy”
Here’s the deal: Tfue is his usual cheeky and ironic self, but these are topics that constantly occupy him in Fortnite: “ping” and “aim assist on controllers” are the two issues that Tfue as a PC player in Florida has always been upset about.
Professionals believe that the ping in Fortnite is crucial for the maneuver “taking over the wall”. In this maneuver, you break down an outer wall of the opponent and quickly replace it with your own. Then you can edit a window into this wall to fire at the opponent and close the wall again. This is important because players at a high level often wall themselves in a “box” made of 4 walls and a roof that must be cracked.
“Taking over the wall” is among the high-level maneuvers of professionals – it’s about who raises a wall first after the old wall has been broken down. The ping can be crucial here. Tfue was so obsessed with his “high” ping in Florida and the disadvantages he seemingly had that he even moved to New Jersey. However, it didn’t help much.
The then 13-year-old King was one of the stars of the Fortnite World Championship.
The debate about the aim assist, which gives controller players such an advantage on PC, is a never-ending topic in Fortnite. A nerf is expected. The combination of aim assist and high FPS is the problem, says Ninja:
The LoL pro Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang (19) became the world champion in 2019 and was the most valuable player in the finals as a jungler. He tells how his career in League of Legends began: with a dream when he was 15 and with Age of Empires.
Who is that? Just a year ago, even hardcore experts did not know Tian. He was the substitute jungler for Suning, a team in the 2nd Chinese league. After all, Tian is only 19, so he had hardly any time to make a name for himself in LoL.
In December 2018, Tian joined FunPlus Phoenix. They were only fifth in China in 2018 and were just reinventing themselves. With a roster of players who had actually already failed or were quite unknown, FunPlus Phoenix suddenly dominated the Chinese professional league and ultimately won the Worlds 2019.
Here Tian receives the award as Finals MVP. Image source: Inven
In doing so, the 19-year-old Tian shone with consistently world-class performances in the jungle of LoL. He dismantled the world elite in the jungle position one after another, including Broxah from Fnatic and Jankos from G2 Esports. Tian led his team to victory. He was even crowned Finals MVP.
Career started with a dream
This is the story of Tian: Tian tells on “ThePlayerstribune” the story of how he became a professional eSports player. His passion for gaming was ignited early by his father, who was himself a gamer. Tian watched his father play Age of Empires when he was only 6 years old. Gradually, Tian got to play himself.
Lee Sin was the champion that Tian played three times in the finals against G2 Esports.
But the idea of becoming a LoL pro was actually far away. Tian says: Like all Chinese children, he was intensely focused on his education; everything revolved around school. Many in his family were doctors, and it was also expected that he would become a doctor – an idea that Tian did not like at all.
The turning point came in the spring of 2015. Tian was 15 years old and played League of Legends all the time. He was good, even very good, but the idea of becoming a pro was still far away.
At that time, the Chinese jungler Ming “Clearlove” Kai from EDward Gaming was Tian’s great role model. He oriented his own game by that.
Ming “Clearlove” Kai, a world-class jungler for EDward Gaming for years – now head coach there.
Clearlove could:
Carry a game when he had to – take control of the game with strong plays
But he could also be a team player and support others with good communication when it was needed
EDward Gaming with Clearlove in the jungle played the “Mid-Season Invitational” in May 2015 in Tallahassee, Florida, and Tian watched every match of “his” team. They even won almost every game, except for one match in the group stage against SKT1, the Korean top team around superstar Faker. That was regarded as nearly unbeatable at the time.
Faker was already the “unkillable Demon King” in 2015.
In the finals, EDward Gaming and SKT1 faced each other again. Tian says he was so excited the night before the finals that he dreamed about it. This was not really unusual for him; he played so much LoL late at night that he often dreamed about League of Legends.
Tian dreamed the MSI finals would go to game 5. During the draft, Clearlove picked Evelynn and ultimately won.
When the series actually took place the next day, it went to match 5, and indeed, Clearlove chose the champion Evelynn, and EDward Gaming won the MSI tournament.
Tian says: From that day on, he knew he would become a LoL pro. His mother and relatives did not like the idea, but he found an ally in his father who supported him and was able to convince his mother that their son would become a professional LoL player.
I don’t know how he managed it… but he did.
Tian
And if the LoL career wouldn’t work out, Tian could still study and become a doctor.
Evelynn – Tian dreamed of her.
Setback at 18
How did it go then? Tian ended up in the “LDL,” the 2nd Chinese LoL league with Young Miracles, which is considered a talent factory. Some excellent players come from there. Tian says:
My career started well, I shuffled through a few teams and had decent success.
Tian
In 2018, Tian played for Suning in the 2nd league, but had a difficult time here. They lost 3 games in a row with Tian as jungler, so he rotated out of the lineup while mid laner Knight became the star of the team.
Knight was the same age as Tian, and the two were friends. Tian says he was happy for his friend’s success, but he was also jealous, as things were not going well for him at all. He was sitting on the bench while another jungler started for him.
Tian’s career seemed to be over before it even began. Tian says he became depressed, couldn’t sleep anymore, and was plagued by fears. He saw no future for himself in League of Legends. After a disappointing end of the season at Suning, Tian was at rock bottom, but then came the offer to participate in a trial for FunPlus Phoenix.
The team was not particularly good at the time, but it was a new start, a chance.
The roster of FunPlus Phoenix. With DoinB (mid left) and Tian (mid right) at the center.
Tian says:
“I would have played for FPX even without a salary. I would have done whatever it took. All I ever wanted was to show the world what kind of player I could be.”
The time at FunPlus Phoenix then went much better than expected. Tian says:
Slowly I realized, man, we’re good. I mean, really, really good.
Tian
Tian believes that what connects the players at FunPlus Phoenix is that they were all somehow cut, deemed failures, and had to hope for a new opportunity.
Ultimately, FunPlus Phoenix won the Worlds and Tian could hardly believe that he was now sitting in Paris and was a world champion while he had sat on the bench at Sunning a year earlier.
What’s behind it: The 2019 World Championship of FunPlus Phoenix is unusual. Normally, teams that consistently compete at the top and gradually improve win.
FunPlus Phoenix was only founded at the end of 2017 and hardly played a role in professional LoL in 2018.
In 2019, they put everything on the Korean mid laner “Doinb”. He has an unconventional style. He doesn’t stay in his lane but is found everywhere. He roams a lot. The until then unknown Tian was brought in as a jungler who could handle this unusual playstyle.
Somehow FunPlus Phoenix struck gold with these 2 recruitments: The two joined the team in 2019, which had achieved nothing in 2018. But suddenly they had an explosive cocktail and the best team in the world. Maybe there was indeed some fate at play.
For 2020, FunPlus Phoenix remains together in this form and adds another world-class player:
They include strong Pokémon, rare Shinies, or useful items. This way, you know exactly which quests to keep an eye out for.
The best quests in January 2020
Land 5 great curveball throws: The quest may put some to the test, but the reward is even better. Here you can get Pandir, which you can’t obtain through any other means.
Shiny Pandir #7 is currently available in the quests
Pandir can be Shiny and is likely one of the rarest Shinies in the game. After all, you can only get it through this quest, which is also quite rare.
Land 3 great throws: The task has been available for ages, but the reward is still strong. Nebulak, Anorith, or Liliep can be obtained if you manage to land 3 great throws. All 3 Pokémon can also be Shiny.
The quest is easy to solve and should therefore always be taken. Most of the time, the reward is a Nebulak, which can also be useful regardless of its Shiny form. The final evolution Gengar is among the best Ghost attackers in the game.
Land 3 fabulous throws in a row: This is probably the hardest quest in the game. The reward, Larvitar, is extremely useful. It can be Shiny, and its final evolution Despotar is among the best attackers of the Rock and Dark types.
Larvitar is also available as Shiny from the quests
Catch 3 different Ice-type Pokémon: This is probably the best quest in the game right now. As a reward, 3 special candies await you here.
At first glance, the quest seems difficult since Ice Pokémon are currently rare. However, this is misleading, as a Quiekel, Shnebedeck, or Seemops appears quite often in the wild. Additionally, you can combine the quest well with other tasks that also offer Ice Pokémon as rewards:
Catch 3 Normal, Water, or Ice-type Pokémon
Reward: Encounter with a Jugong
Catch 5 Fire-type Pokémon
Reward: Encounter with a Schneppke
Defeat a Team GO Rocket Grunt
Reward: Encounter with a Sniebel
Participate in a raid
Reward: Encounter with a Quiekel
Trade a Pokémon
Reward: Encounter with a Firnontor
Evolve a Pokémon
Reward: Encounter with an Evoli or Petznief
Land a snapshot of your buddy
Reward: Encounter with a Shnebedeck
There are many opportunities to get Ice Pokémon. Just combine the quests wisely, and the 3 special candies will be yours.
Defeat a Team GO Rocket Grunt: This quest is not only interesting for Ice Pokémon. The reward Sniebel is useful, as its evolution Snibunna is among the best Ice and Dark attackers.
Moreover, Sniebel can be Shiny. So if you don’t have one yet, you can hope for one with good IV here. This would also be a good candidate for a lucky trade.
Send 3 Pokémon: This quest is included here because it is so easy to solve. The reward is Loturzel, which can be Shiny. Whoever missed the limited research with the Pokémon can still hope for a Shiny here.
Land a snapshot of your buddy: Here, a Shnebedeck awaits as a reward for you. If you didn’t have any luck with the Shiny during the Christmas event, you can secure another chance here.
The quest is quick to solve and is therefore also included in our list. You shouldn’t miss the Shiny chance.
Earn 5 hearts with your buddy: This task is brand new and is related to the new buddy system. If you have already earned a few hearts during the day, you will have to wait longer for this one, but as a reward, Damhirplex awaits you here.
Since the Christmas event, Damhirplex can be Shiny. If you don’t have a nest of it in the city, you will have to search for a Damhirplex for a long time. Therefore, the quest gives you a good chance for the Shiny.
Spin 10 PokéStops or Gyms: Here you will receive 5 silver Pinap Berries as a reward. This item is otherwise only available in a few ways, and you can’t simply spin it out of the stop.
The rarer the item, the more useful the quest becomes. The task is easy to solve, and you can then save the berries for a useful raid boss.
2019 was an incredibly strong year for Pokémon GO. We explain the reasons for this:
At this year’s GDQ 2020, a speedrun event for charity, a raid from Destiny 2 was played for the first time. In the end, many viewers celebrated the speedrunners – but not just for their performance.
What is GDQ 2020 all about?GDQ stands for Games Done Quick. It is a charity organization that raises funds for charitable causes through speedrunning in games.
During the corresponding GDQ events, games from various genres and generations of video game history are played. The whole event is streamed live. The participants also explain many tricks during their runs, how they achieve the fastest times and give tips to the viewers.
What does Destiny 2 have to do with it? This year at GDQ 2020, Destiny 2 was also included for the first time – with a speedrun in the Forsaken raid Last Wish.
This was completed in just under 30 minutes by the raid team, but that was not the actual highlight of this run.
That was the big highlight at the end: The speedrunners had their show stolen at the end of their run – and it was by RNG-sus himself.
As the raid was basically completed, it came to the 25 infamous chests, from which you can draw raid loot with Aether Keys – all live in the stream. In parallel, the commentator in the stream explained that one of these boxes can contain the coveted raid weapon exotic – the fusion rifle One Thousand Voices.
Just at that moment, a member of the raid team opened the box, and lo and behold – as if on cue, this rare weapon jumped out. The audience celebrated.
Seconds later, as the commentator continued and began to say that in extremely rare cases, One Thousand Voices can drop twice, the raider opened a second box and a second copy of the popular raid exotic jumped out for him. Now the joy could not be contained – neither in the team nor in the audience.
You can watch the scene here:
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What is so special about the drop? The chance of One Thousand Voices was very low. Several raid players have not seen the weapon even after over 100 raid completions – just like the exotic grenade launcher Anarchy. Although Bungie has increased the drop chance of One Thousand Voices, the coveted raid weapon is still a quite rare drop.
That almost an entire 2 copies drop for one player was already seen several times, but is extremely lucky. To experience the whole thing with a fitting announcement live in a speedrun event is almost a miracle.
Have you ever been so lucky? What was your greatest moment of luck when it comes to loot in Destiny 2?
In Fortnite: Battle Royale you should visit 3 bus stops in a match. We show you here 16 stops and the fastest route to complete this task for healing vs. toxin.
What is this task? In Fortnite, the extension tasks healing vs. toxin are now active. One of the tasks requires you to visit 3 bus stops on the Fortnite map in a single match.
On our overview map, we want to show you as many bus stops as possible so you can easily complete this task. Here you can see 16 stops on the map.
What should you do? Simply run to three of these locations within a match. You will find the bus stops there. Which three places you visit is up to you. Move close to the stops so that the visit counts for you.
The fastest route: The three stops are located close together to the east and south of Craggy Cliffs. If you land there and visit them one after the other, you will complete the task in just a few moments.
If you land more in the southern part of the map, we recommend Misty Meadows as your landing spot. Around this location, there are three stops that you can easily reach.
With these many stops, you should generally have no problem completing this task quickly. It’s best to do it right at the start of a match, as the map will not yet be limited by the deadly storm.
Beware, bug! As MeinMMO user Wolve in the Wall writes, some of the stops are bugged and don’t count for the challenge. If you have problems, he recommends: “The ones at the yellow bridge by Misty, the one directly in Misty, and the one directly in Slumpy. The ones in Sweaty and Pleasant also count.”
Often, builds in Borderlands 3 primarily aim to deal a lot of damage. However, this Zane player opts for a somewhat unusual variant to defeat his enemies – and it looks like a lot of fun.
This is what makes the build special: The YouTuber ThiccFilA has created a build for the agent Zane that he calls “The Extreme Yeet Machine.” You can already tell by the name: This is probably not a typical build.
The first few minutes of his video show that the build works somewhat differently than, for example, the Maliwan build or solo build for Zane. Instead of constantly dealing a lot of damage, ThiccFilA simply throws his enemies off the map in critical situations.
This is not only effective but also looks extremely funny. However, the build can also be convincing when there are no chasms to throw enemies into – as the YouTuber impressively demonstrates during a successful run through Maliwan Takedown:
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If you can’t defeat them, throw them off the map – here’s how
This is how the build works: First of all, it is noticeable that ThiccFilA plays an unusual variant of Zane. The agent is actually characterized by being able to equip two action skills simultaneously when he forgoes throwing grenades. However, ThiccFilA does not utilize this option.
The clone helps in all situations
Instead, he only uses the Digi-Clone skill and retains the ability to throw grenades. This is also urgently needed, as the “Quasar” grenade is crucial for causing your enemies to say goodbye to the map.
But it not only allows the throwing of enemies: It can also help to gather them in one location and prevent them from shooting. After all, those flying through the air cannot aim.
These are the weapons used by the build: The YouTuber utilizes various legendary weapons that benefit from this build. These include:
The Vigorous Scoville, which covers a large area with damage
The Hive – this rocket launcher deals a lot of damage and allows for health regeneration through Zane’s kill skills
A Cutsman for corrosion damage
A Brainstormer for electric damage
All weapons work perfectly when enemies are grouped in one place. An effect caused by the Quasar grenade.
This shield, artifact, and class mod you need: In the build, ThiccFilA uses the “Big Boom Blaster,” which helps regenerate ammo. Additionally, there is the Snowdrift artifact that also provides ammo, makes you faster, and favors damage while sliding.
As a class mod, he uses “Seein Dead” from the Handsome Jackpot DLC. This allows Zane to use his kill skills extremely often – also favored by throwing grenades.
This is what the skills look like
Which skills are used? As already mentioned, the build only uses the Digi-Clone action skill. ThiccFilA distributes the remaining skill points mainly so that Zane receives many upgrades from kill skills that are triggered extremely often with the equipment. His distribution of points looks as follows.
From the Doppelagent skill tree, he uses the following skills:
Digi-Clone
Synchronization
Preamunitius
Uproar
Fractal Grenades
Breather
Bag Full of Grenades
Old-U
Supersonic Man
Bang and Better
Schadenfreude
Double Sprinter
This distribution makes the Doppelgänger a useful teammate who also reveals enemies with Quasar grenades. Additionally, it offers the possibility of saving oneself using Old-U when things get critical.
From the Hitman skill tree, he uses the following skills:
Tempo over corpses
Brutal swing
Cool hand
Rescue
Death lurks everywhere
Raw violence
Dirty trick
Good misfortune
Here, there are many kill skills that make Zane faster and stronger. There is also health regeneration involved as well as several bonuses to action skill duration. The Undercover skill tree, on the other hand, is not used.
This build is definitely worth replicating – after all, it’s not only fun but also really strong. If you’re looking for another exciting build for Zane, you can find it here:
A team from the Overwatch League has been forced out of their training house – and that, before the training has even started. The neighbors apparently had concerns. Annoying, as the season starts soon.
Which team is it about? It is about the Houston Outlaws, one of the teams from the Overwatch League, who have been involved since the league’s inception. They rented a training house in The Woodlands, Houston, Texas – a place with quite expensive properties and houses.
Why were the Outlaws forced out? According to the US site click2houston, the residents of the area raised several concerns:
Traffic
Noise
Depreciation
Some of the
homes there are worth more than $1.5 million and the
owners apparently fear that this value will decrease because of the gamers. In an official statement it was said that parking particularly raises major concerns:
The Residential Design Review Committee noted that if the Development Standards Committee considers granting a permit, it strongly suggests that the committee focuses on parking issues and agrees that vehicles will be towed in case of violation.
Team needs a new house just before the season
This is how the team views the decision: The team itself finds the decision frustrating, but is already looking for a new place for training. This was communicated by General Manager Matt Rodriguez on Twitter:
However, it seems that no one really understands where these concerns of the residents are coming from. For the team and also for the fans, they sound like made-up excuses.
Analynn Dang asks on Twitter if “traffic” might refer to the delivery services used by the players, such as for Chipotle. Rodriguez responds: “I think that is just made-up stuff. We haven’t even used the house for training yet.”
Why is the timing so unfortunate? For the Outlaws, it is very inconvenient to have to search for a new training house right now. Season 3 of the Overwatch League begins on February 8, 2020. Therefore, the team currently lacks opportunities to train for the league.
A new insider report about Activision Blizzard also casts a rather negative light on the company and the league. It remains to be seen how well Season 3 will perform and how the Outlaws will fare. At least the league might provide hints about Overwatch 2:
