To add a bit of action to the PvP of WoW Classic, some players resort to sneaky tricks. The result is quite humorous!
PvP
is on the agenda in World of Warcraft. Even before there were battlegrounds or rewards in Vanilla (Classic), skirmishes between Horde and Alliance took place. However, not all enemies are marked for PvP, especially not on “normal” servers. Therefore, one has to use a little trick, as this small clip shows:
What is there to see? The Paladin positions himself in the “Tiragarde Keep” – this is a quest area for Horde characters, relatively early on. Trolls and Orcs “have to” complete quests here and kill plenty of humanoids from Kul Tiras.
The Paladin has even given himself the name “Kultiiras” so that at first glance, one might not see that he is a player and not an NPC named “Kul Tiras”.
Moreover, he wears very simple clothing, which suits NPCs at a low level and moves back and forth in small steps, just like patrolling enemies do in WoW.
Why is this so sneaky? Approaching Hordlers mistake the player “Kultiiras” for an NPC and attack him without thinking. This (logically) counts as an attack against a PvP player, causing the Hordlers to activate their PvP. At that very moment, Kultiiras can then strike back and beat up the Hordler, who has no idea what is actually happening to him.
PvP trolling in low-level areas is not new: Tiragarde Keep is a popular spot for low-level PvP, as Alliance players can ambush new Hordlers well there. This was quite normal in both Vanilla and on the many pirate servers, as this clip from the former “Nostalrius” project demonstrates:
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On September 16, the first European reached Level 65 in Black Desert Online. The MMORPG has no level cap, but challenges players with absurd XP requirements.
Who is the first European to reach 65? The player with the character name Khviftwqtz is officially the first from Europe to conquer the significant hurdle of Level 65.
Even though his name sounds a bit like a bot, he operates a Twitter account under the same name and has already been praised for previous accomplishments.
The developers also praised his achievement and published a post in the social media regarding this, from which the title image originates.
The player Khviftwqtz from the social media post
Is he the first player to reach 65? While Khviftwqtz may be the first European to reach this high level, a few players around the world have already reached Level 65:
Although there are already some characters at Level 65, they belong to a very elite circle of more than 18 million players in total. The time required for this milestone is simply too great.
What makes Level 65 so special? The experience required per level increases rapidly in Black Desert. This is illustrated by a chart from 2016 from the BDO forum.
So if someone found it tiring to master the regular levels up to 55, they can roughly imagine how long the high levels will take.
How long did Khviftwqtz take to reach Level 65? We know that Khviftwqtz reached Level 64 on January 1, 2019, also as the first European.
This means it took him about 9.5 months to reach the next level. However, we do not know how many hours per day he spent on Black Desert.
However, we do know that leveling up from Level 61 to 62 already took 2,000 hours. While a lot has changed in BDO since February 2017, many thousands of hours are still required today to reach the highest levels.
Those who might want to take another look at Black Desert or advance a character can look forward to many events soon:
In Destiny 2, a Guardian suggests simple changes on how to drastically improve 20 lackluster Exotics. Many players agree with him.
Where do the ideas come from? On Reddit, the Guardian ch4_meleon_ is currently receiving agreement in the form of many upvotes. He listed some ideas on how to “drastically improve” certain Exotics. He particularly focuses on exotic weapons and armor pieces that are currently quite unpopular and are gathering dust in Guardians’ vaults.
Since Bungie did not address so many lackluster Exotics, the Guardian decided to propose some changes on how to relatively easily upgrade the items. He knows that Bungie can no longer implement this by Shadowkeep, but he at least wants to spark a discussion about it.
5 Changes for Exotic Weapons
He has ideas for these weapons:
Hard Light is an exotic auto rifle, whose projectiles have no damage drop-off, penetrate targets, and bounce off surfaces. The damage type can also be switched between Solar, Arc, and Void.
The improvement idea: When the modifier “Prism” is active, alternately boosting Arc, Void, and Solar damage, Hard Light could synchronously change its damage type to always match Prism. Additionally, the screen should shake less when firing – which has been criticized in the past.
Borealis is an exotic sniper rifle that can also switch between Solar, Arc, and Void. Moreover, breaking an enemy’s shield transfers one round from reserves into the magazine, and the rest of the magazine grants bonus damage if the enemy’s shield matches the weapon’s energy type.
The improvement idea: Like with Hard Light, the damage type could sync with Prism.
Trinity Ghoul is an exotic bow whose arrows split after shooting, and precision kills grant chaining lightning abilities to the next shot.
The improvement idea: Chaining lightning abilities should trigger after every kill, even after chaining lightning kills.
Truth is an exotic rocket launcher that targets and detonates when near enemies.
The improvement idea: Truth should be removed from Gambit – as this rocket launcher “ruins” the mode, as has often been read in recent months. Guardian kills can be achieved too easily with it.
The Queenbreaker’s Bow is an exotic linear fusion rifle carried in the power slot. The weapon fires a long-range precision Arc shot that blinds enemies on impact.
The improvement idea: The power weapon should become an energy weapon (special weapon) to make room for another power weapon.
Improvement Ideas for Exotic Armor Pieces
With these additional bonuses, these armor pieces could be upgraded:
Ahamkara’s Spine (Hunter Gloves): Grants an additional Light-Sensor Mine Grenade
Khepri’s Sting (Hunter Gloves): True Sight reloads all weapons immediately
One-Eyed Mask (Hunter Gloves): Increased reload speed and improved weapon readiness speed for bows
Khepri’s Horn (Titan Helm): Solar damage kills recharge all abilities
Ursa Furiosa (Titan Helm): Activating all super attacks generates an overshield
Ashen Wake (Titan Gloves): Fusion grenades deal more damage the farther you throw them. In PvP, direct kills may be possible if thrown far enough.
Ursa Furiosa (Titan Gloves): In PvE, more Super energy is returned
Eye of Another World (Warlock Helm): Marks priority targets and deals more damage to them.
The exotic helm “Eye of Another World”
Brow of the Truth (Warlock Helm): Energy weapon kills boost grenade charge and damage for oneself and allies – stackable.
The Stag (Warlock Helm): The Rift animation is executed twice as fast.
Winter’s Guile (Warlock Gloves): 2 to 3 seconds could be added to the melee timer. Currently, increased melee damage is quite briefly active when defeating enemies with melee attacks.
Karnstein Armlets (Warlock Gloves): Melee range and melee speed are increased.
Sunbracers (Warlock Gloves): Solar grenade kills grant grenade energy.
Blood-Alchemy (Warlock Chest): Currently, sharpened senses are gained when standing in the Rift. The effect could also last an additional 3 seconds after leaving the Rift.
The Healing Rift (Titan Chest): Increased reserves for special ammo and power ammo.
In the comments, many are enthusiastic about various proposals and provide further ideas on how the Exotics could gain utility.
So the question is: What do you think about it? How would you improve some Exotics?
Another note: This article does not contain any planned changes from Bungie, but merely ideas from the community.
Niantic has now confirmed how high the chances are for a regional Pokémon to appear as a Shiny version. Players feared that the chances had decreased in Pokémon GO, but the developers deny this.
What has been confirmed? On Reddit, NianticIndigo from Pokémon GO customer service reached out to players. He confirms that the chances of encountering a shiny regional Pokémon have not changed.
This message was posted on Reddit, where it was claimed that the chances had worsened.
What did players suspect? After the start of the event week with shiny regional Pokémon, players felt that the chances of these special encounters had been reduced. In the thread, it says: Attention, the Shiny rates for Regional Pokémon have been reduced to about 1:150 (via Reddit). However, this has now been denied by Niantic.
Developers have checked this: The discussion about the Shiny rates was brought to the developers of Pokémon GO. They looked at all the changes that had been made in the 72 hours prior to the reports of supposedly reduced Shiny rates. They then examined further and concluded that the chances of shiny regional Pokémon match the desired settings.
“All these investigations confirm that there have been no changes to the rate at which shiny regional Pokémon appear,” writes NianticIndigo on Reddit.
This is what players want: In response to Niantic’s comment, players demand that the team should simply lay out the numbers on the table. They wish for more transparency to see what chances they have for what content in Pokémon GO.
The 7-km eggs containing shiny regional Pokémon can still be obtained from friends’ gifts until the evening of September 23rd. A change ensures that you will receive even more of them:
In The Division 2, the next big Title Update 6 is coming soon. Massive is already letting PC players try out many new content and changes from this update on the Public Test Servers (PTS). There, agents have now discovered a new exotic gear piece. What could it be?
What is the new Exotic in The Division 2 about? Currently, the developers at Massive are working hard on the next big Title Update 6. There is regularly new information about the planned changes, and on PC, it is possible to play some of the new content already on the test servers.
Although the developers have announced many changes through preliminary patch notes, it seems that one or two secrets in this testing phase are still waiting to be discovered.
Now, a resourceful agent has discovered a new Exotic gear piece on the test servers – the knee pads “Sawyer’s Kneepads”.
These are the new exotic “Sawyer’s Kneepads”
What can the new exotic gear piece do? The agent “-The_Soldier-” posted a short video on reddit about the functionality and his personal experiences with the talents of this new exotic. The talents on the gear piece are described as follows:
Short Circuit
+80% Jammer Pulse Charge Speed
Unique Talent – This talent
does not stack.
First Wave Tech
Disruption effects now destroy
hostile skill proxies. After staying in cover for 4 seconds you
gain the Lead by Example buff.
Unique Talent – This talent
does not stack.
Lead by Example
No description available yet
Unique Talent – This talent
does not stack.
The knee pads come with an armor value of 32,800 and are equipped on the test server with two blue armor mod slots and one yellow skill mod slot. The first talent increases the charge speed of the pulse skill “Disruptor” by 80%. Furthermore, this disruption effect now destroys enemy skill proxies thanks to the second talent.
“-The_Soldier-“ was also able to explain the current function of the buff “Lead by Example” a little, although the official description is still missing. The talent activates after 4 seconds in cover and then provides a strong armor bonus during cover-to-cover movements – that is, when you move from one cover point to another.
A skill target area appears at the point of the next cover. Once the movement is completed, the buff is consumed, there is an armor bonus, and within the target area, an effect is triggered that presumably works similarly to the pulse skill “Disruptor” – enemies are disturbed by the EMP and cannot use skills, and enemy skill proxies are also destroyed.
Here you can see the Exotic in the video:
Wasn’t there something before?
Data miners already knew about the item! A few months ago, there was information about this exact exotic piece – including the current name and the first two talents. However, it seems that Massive is still working on the exotic knee pads’ premiere in Division 2. Back then, the description of the third talent stated:
Lead by Example
While Cover Swapping, all bullets
that hit you are deflected towards their origin, dealing no damage
to you. Completing a cover-to-cover move with this buff active
consumes the buff, giving the player Bonus Armor and releasing a
disruption effect; the amount of Bonus Armor and radius of the
disruption is based on the distance traveled. Specialization
weapons are not reflected by this buff.
Here the cover-to-cover buff is even
more powerful and reflects bullets that hit the agent during the
cover swap. Additionally, the armor bonus is enhanced and the target circle increases, depending on how far the target cover is. “-The_Soldier-” noted that enemy bullets are ignored during the cover transition, but they were not reflected.
Whether and how the exotic gear piece will come into the game with the new update is still not exactly known.
New update from Division 2 will bring many changes soon!
The Title Update 6 has already been announced for October, and there is already a lot of information about the upcoming new content. If you want to know more about other aspects of the new update, feel free to check here:
Moze is a former soldier who comes with quite a bit of firepower in Borderlands 3. In this guide, we recommend a good solo build for the Gunslinger.
What class is Moze? Moze is a soldier who can be played well solo and in co-op. She likes big guns and robots. With her Mecha Iron Bear, which acts like a tank on two legs, she smashes everything to pieces.
What is this Moze build suitable for? This build is a good all-rounder if you want to shoot your way solo through the campaign. You have some improvements for your shield. Additionally, the build provides solid damage and good regeneration of your ammunition.
These are your necessary skill trees and talents
The soldier Moze is the class that deals the most damage in Borderlands 3. However, to ensure that you don’t get overwhelmed while leveling, this build also considers defensive abilities. You will need all three skill trees of Moze:
Revenge Shield – For improving shield and damage
Bottomless Magazines – Here you can reduce your ammunition consumption
Demolitionist – Focused on explosive damage
The most important talent tree for this solo build is Revenge Shield. This improves your shield and makes you take less damage. Additionally, you have the opportunity to increase your damage here.
These skills are a good choice:
Security Bear
Armored Infantry
Up to your neck in shells
Balancing Act
Vladof Ingenuity
With full force
Experimental Ammunition
Behind the Iron Curtain
Survivor
Phalanx Doctrine
Power Feedback
Tough Defense
You can customize the skills to your liking. If you want to go more on the offensive, you can replace the skill “With full force” with “Experimental Ammunition”.
If you want to push your shield a bit more, you should swap “Survivor” and “Behind the Iron Curtain”. Feel free to experiment, after all, in Borderlands there are some crazy weapons to discover for every playstyle.
The skill tree Bottomless Magazines. Next, it’s about reducing your ammunition consumption. Additionally, you will improve your critical hit damage and mobility.
These skills will assist you:
Lead Cloud
Redistribution
Combat Enthusiast
Hot Swaps
Assault
If you invest even more points in this tree, you will almost never run out of ammunition. However, you would have to do without your improved shield.
The talent tree of the Demolitionist. With the third skill tree, you further boost your Mecha in this build. The Iron Bear can give you a significant advantage at the beginning of the story. However, as the campaign progresses, you should focus more on Moze.
These abilities are advisable:
More and Less
Deadlines
These points are also necessary to reach an action-skill extension. How the action skills work will be explained now.
The suitable action skills: V-35 Grenade Launcher and Railgun
What are action skills? These are the abilities that you can exchange and actively use at will. They can be found at the top or the sides of your skill trees. You have action skills and action-skill extensions to choose from with Moze. The allocation of these skills does not require any points.
For the soldier Moze, you have the following slots available:
2 slots for action skills
2 slots for action-skill extensions
Which action skills are worth it for Moze? As the Gunslinger, you have two slots for action skills. You should take a closer look at the V-35 grenade launcher.
Here you can throw explosive fun around, regardless of your own grenade mod.
Additionally, the action skill Railgun is recommended. With it, you can cause shock damage in addition to regular projectiles.
Which action-skill extensions should you choose? There are extensions for the respective action skills. These enhance or modify your action skills.
Form Charge improves your V-35 grenade launcher. If you score direct hits with it, your damage is increased.
Your Railgun is enhanced with Capacitive Coupling. With this modification, the shot is redirected to enemies standing nearby. This reduces your incoming damage.
Can I change my talents? This build should take you through the story of Borderlands 3 without major issues. Of course, don’t forget the fun! Feel free to adjust the skill trees to suit your play style. For this, there are the quick-change stations where you can also customize your skins and emotes in Borderlands 3.
If you want to tackle the new challenge Maliwan Takedown solo, we have a few builds for you:
In Fortnite, you need to defuse Joker Gas Canisters in various named locations. We will show you the locations of the Joker Gas Canisters on the map. This challenge is part of the “Welcome to Gotham City Missions” for the Batman event in Season 10.
What is this task? In this challenge, you need to defuse various Joker Gas Canisters. To defuse them, you must visit them. When you are near a canister, you will hear a beeping sound. Now you need to defuse the gas canister quickly before it explodes.
We will show you the Joker Gas Canisters that you can visit to defuse them. In total, you need to defuse 3 canisters to secure the reward of 1000 experience points.
Finding Joker Gas Canisters in Fortnite
Where should you search? We will show you 8 locations on the map and then focus in detail on three locations. To complete the mission, you only need to defuse three Joker Gas Canisters.
The locations on the map:
Pleasant Park: In the middle, at the shelter, next to a grill you will find the canister.
Loot Lake: At the large broken building, next to a car, before you enter the zero gravity zone.
Gotham City: In the tallest building, on the lowest floor, behind the reception, you will find the Joker Gas Canister.
Salty Springs: In the middle of the town, between a car and a barrier, you will find the canister.
Fatal Fields: In the large red barn, in the middle, behind a hay stack.
Retail Row: In front of the taco shop, under a dining table, lies the gas canister.
We will show you three more locations, with a picture, where exactly the gas canister is located.
Dusty Depot – Location: In the first building of Dusty Depot, not where the scientist is building the rocket. In this building, you will find a Joker Gas Canister under a metal shelf.
Pressure Plants – Location: Land in the front area of the volcano. There, on the right side, are several wooden pallets. On the left side of the pallets, you will find the gas canister.
Shifty Shafts – Location: In Shifty Shafts, you go into the “mines”. Right in the middle, on a wall, next to a wooden crate, there is the gas canister.
If you still need to activate Bat Signals, here is a guide for that:
Angry fans often demand that failed AAA games be taken offline and rebooted – like the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV. Our author Irie believes: They are not broken enough for that.
This is happening in the community: Disappointing launches of new games are unfortunately not uncommon. Many developers and publishers have faced a great deal of criticism in recent years, and the shitstorms over poor releases have raged in many gaming subreddits.
And time and time again, players have demanded that seemingly failed projects like Destiny 2 or Fallout 76 simply be taken offline and rebooted.
Just like Final Fantasy XIV did six years ago. They managed to do it. Why shouldn’t Bethesda, Bungie, or EA be able to?
FFXIV 1.0 was so bad that Square Enix decided to take an extremely risky step: rebooting an MMORPG
However, these demands are usually made by people who have only heard about the 1.0 version of FFXIV. They have no personal experience of how fundamentally unplayable Final Fantasy XIV actually was at launch.
Reboots were demanded for these games: In recent years, threads have frequently appeared on Reddit calling for reboots of certain games. They also receive many upvotes and positive comments because the state of these games often leaves much to be desired.
The launches of these games were undoubtedly poor, and people had every right to complain. A reboot akin to FFXIV would not have sufficed for any of them. They simply are not broken enough.
Let’s take a look at what made 1.0 so bad.
Fallout 76 was heavily bugged and still had bugs from earlier titles, like here from Fallout 4
A game that lacks everything
These were the problems with Final Fantasy XIV: The flaws of 1.0 were as simple as they were numerous. In most cases, the most basic elements that were already considered a staple of game design in 2010 were simply missing. Combined with other issues, it resulted in a long list. To name a few examples:
No quest log in the game
No official forums for giving feedback, or community management in general. There were forums during the beta phases, but they were closed after launch
Jumping was not possible and you couldn’t fall from ledges
Enemies did not drop equipment or generally valuable loot
No option for optional key bindings
No shortcuts for important menu windows, like equipment, inventory, etc.
Constantly repeating map designs and assets
Even the minimap was only introduced shortly before release – it was not present in the betas
This is a section of the map of Thanalan. The marked assets were reused multiple times.
No dungeons or raids – or generally an endgame
No side quests
No sorting function for the inventory
No level display for enemies. You never knew how strong or weak a monster was
NO CHOCOBOS! Or any kind of mounts at all
Terribly confusing and slow menu navigation, which was actually optimized for controller control
Hot bars with abilities were reset and cleared when you changed your job, so you always had to reorganize them
Every interaction was registered by the server first and was thus delayed by several seconds
The basic handling of the game was also incredibly cumbersome in design.
Every action took significantly longer than it should have because players had to deal with countless menu windows. Simply selling useless junk sent people on a trip through 3-4 different windows and often took more than 20 minutes.
Map section of the area Black Shroud. You could only move within the green area.
Map section of the area Black Shroud. The areas were huge, and it took forever to cross them. Especially completely without mounts.
It felt as if the developers were 10 years behind and had not kept up with developments in the gaming field.
This is Crystal Tools: One of the biggest problems was also the fact that the 1.0 version was developed using Square Enix’s in-house graphics engine: Crystal Tools. This engine also powered the already released Final Fantasy XIII.
Crystal Tools could do many things, but representing a modern MMORPG was not one of them. Although Square adapted the engine for this purpose, it unfortunately wasn’t enough. Among the problems were:
Massive FPS drops
Graphics and compatibility issues
Many PCs were unable to even run the game
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The opening of one of the three city-states of FFXIV. By the time of the scene with the jumping water dragon, many computers were no longer interested in the game.
Additionally, there was the SE developers’ love for details, which became their downfall. Many environmental objects in the game had massive amounts of polygons and very elaborate lighting.
The developers wasted an immense amount of time creating these actually unimportant assets, and the richness of detail further contributed to FPS problems.
The shadows adjusted to the position of the sun in the game. Even if you were in a building (image from the video by Speakers Network)
Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 did not simply “not be fun” or have too little content, as is often the case with failed AAA titles today. It was nearly unplayable in its original state on almost all levels.
Broken by Design
These were the 3 worst “features” of FFXIV: Among all the “inconveniences”, there were 3 features that particularly stood out due to their poor design.
Keep in mind that these things were intentionally built into the game as they were, with the goal of functioning as described here.
The Fatigue System – No EXP for you!
This system will be familiar to some Destiny veterans, because it also existed briefly in Destiny 2. It revolves around reducing the amount of earned EXP over time, the longer someone levels continuously.
So, if a player in Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 accumulated EXP for more than 8 hours, the amount of EXP received would continue to decrease until it hit 0.
The more someone played and leveled, the less EXP they received. (Screenshot from Speakers Network)
This timer was reset weekly, meaning players were allowed, according to the logic, to spend just over an hour per day leveling. After 2 or more hours a day weekly, they received no EXP anymore.
In short: The system punished people for actively playing FFXIV.
There was a way to circumvent this penalty by playing another class. Because the received EXP was recorded by the system per class, but that was a weak consolation.
Leve Quests instead of Endgame
Square Enix made it clear from the start that Leve Quests should essentially be the core feature of Final Fantasy XIV. They appeared in the beautiful opening cinematic of the game and were also turned into merchandise.
This tablet represents a Leve Quest.
The problem with the Leves was that they were extremely limited. The system worked like this:
To start a Leve Quest, you needed an authorization
Each character could have a maximum of 8 authorizations
The authorizations were replenished every 36 hours
Most Leve Quests lasted no longer than about 20 minutes, when generously estimated. Thus, players were forced to grind regular monsters in the open world most of the time to gain levels.
There were 8 different types of battle Leves. They all boiled down to “kill monsters”. There were no mechanics or similar elements.
This wouldn’t be so tragic in itself if the Leve Quests weren’t the only type of quests in the game. There were no dungeons, no raids, no collecting and upgrading equipment, or other types of endgame.
In 1.0, there was only leveling, and even that was hindered by the Fatigue System. The 4 fortresses and different difficulty levels from Anthem, which are actually considered poorly balanced endgame content, sound like pure luxury in comparison.
A market where you find nothing
The feature that still gives me the worst flashbacks today was the assistant system, aka the FFXIV equivalent of the auction house. Here, too, the concept was very simple.
Players hired an NPC that acted as their “shop”
This NPC was placed in a “Market Ward” instance, where they stood physically
Other players could teleport into these instances and browse all NPCs for things they wanted to buy
It looked somewhat like this:
Most of the sales NPCs in this instance are not visible because the maximum allowed number of characters on a screen does not allow them to be represented.
In 1.0, there was no way to obtain equipment from enemies; everything was crafted by crafters. Thus, players were reliant on using these Market Wards.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to find what you were looking for in this horde of shops. There was also no option to compare prices, and some NPCs were often not even visible because the number of displayed characters on a screen was heavily restricted.
You could choose the Ward instance based on the theme, but most players did not pay attention to that or had mixed items in their shops.
Many NPCs also often just stood there with only a single item that carried the maximum price so they could keep their place in the Market Wards.
In short, the system was undoubtedly one of the worst features I’ve seen in a game.
Red numbers in financial reports
These were the consequences for Square Enix: The catastrophe of FFXIV 1.0 in 2010 hit Square hard financially, from which the company could not recover for years afterward, as can be seen from their financial reports to investors.
Yoichi Wada was the CEO of Square Enix during the time of the 1.0 catastrophe and stepped down in 2013.
The former CEO of Square Enix Yoichi Wada
He left Square Enix in a worse state than Square Soft had after the release of the failed film “Final Fantasy Spirits Within,” which was one of the reasons for the merger of the RPG studio with Enix.
This means that the Japanese RPG giant and publisher Square Enix was on the verge of selling its assets to cover the damage. This was never the case for companies like EA or Activision after their poor launches.
Naoki Yoshida took over the leadership of FFXIV and is revered by many as the savior of the MMORPG.
This was the damage to the brand: In addition to the financial losses, which peaked at 83 million pounds in 2013, there was also damage to the “Final Fantasy” brand. And this was, in Square’s eyes, considerably more severe, as it is cited by Naoki Yoshida as the main reason for the reboot.
At that time, the game series was over 20 years old and known and loved worldwide for its quality in graphics, gameplay, and stories. It was one of the company’s crown jewels, and for developers within SE, it was an honor to work on it.
Release: 23.09.2010 – Death: 30.09.2010. Such mocking images were common in the community at the time.
The failure of FFXIV was like a loss of face and has severely shaken fans’ trust in the brand. If they had simply given up on FFXIV and taken it offline, the damage to the name Final Fantasy would have been irreparable for a long time.
The reboot of 1.0 was therefore fraught with enormous risks for the entire company, as well as physical and mental strain for the entire development team.
High risk, hard work, and a bit of fairy dust
It is hard to put into words and pack into a limited article just how abysmal the state of FFXIV 1.0 was. There are video series on YouTube covering the topic that could fill an entire day. No wonder that a question about “Final Fantasy XIV Classic” was met with laughter by both the director and the community.
I really understand the frustration over a failed launch. But FFXIV 1.0 cannot be compared to either Destiny 2 or Fallout 76. For the simple reason that they function.
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Ladies and gentlemen: The dynamic combat system of FFXIV 1.0. Here it even worked glitch-free.
Personally, I think Anthem in its current state is most comparable to FFXIV 1.0. But there is still hope that it can become a decent game under proper management with enough patches. It has gameplay elements that are actually fun.
For most other games where fans are demanding a reboot, this is definitely not necessary and would likely cause even more damage.
Above all, a successful reboot requires not just a bad game, but also the right circumstances. In the case of FFXIV, they were:
The name of the brand “Final Fantasy” was at stake
Naoki Yoshida had the organizational skills and the endurance to carry out such a reboot
The development team was motivated enough to save the project
The management of Square Enix was willing to take the enormous risk and provide the financial resources for it
These circumstances are not always present, which is why the success of the FFXIV reboot depended not only on the hard work of the team but also on some luck.
The right people were in the right place at the right time.
Recently, we wanted to know from you at MeinMMO if you will buy the Shadowkeep expansion for Destiny 2 right at release or if you are waiting for the reviews or even opting out of the big autumn add-on altogether. Now we show you how you have decided.
Because the upcoming autumn expansion not only brought excitement and positive vibes among fans and interested parties – there were also numerous controversial discussions and criticisms that are still ongoing. Bungie has been unusually generous with new information, yet many fans feel that Shadowkeep does not offer enough new content based on what we know so far. The term “content recycling” is heard repeatedly.
In this context, we were very interested in our readers’ opinions. What do you think of Shadowkeep? We have now evaluated the survey and show you how you have decided.
Will you buy Destiny 2 Shadowkeep? Here’s how you voted
A total of 3,003 readers participated in our survey. And as the results and the comments show, a large majority of you are excited about Shadowkeep, yet some are cautious or still have doubts.
Most are getting Shadowkeep right at launch: Despite the controversial and sometimes heated debates, the result is quite clear. A total of 65% of all participants cannot or do not want to wait and will dive into Shadowkeep right at release.
46% of all survey participants (1,353) have already pre-ordered the big autumn expansion
19% (568) stated that they will buy Shadowkeep directly at release
The majority of you are therefore convinced about the Season of Dawn despite all the criticism.
This is what some of our readers think
PetraVenjIsHot: “Yes, I have been hopelessly addicted to Destiny since Day One”
sir1us: “Of course I pre-ordered it! Destiny has been a part of me since 2014, what can I say … experienced many good and many bad things with the franchise and I still enjoy playing it!”
Darius Wucher: “So far, D2 has been worth my money more than ever, I’ve already pre-ordered it. I will only play D2 anyway as soon as it’s out”
Sleeping-Ex: “Pre-ordered, absolutely. Not because I think Shadowkeep will be the best expansion of all time, but because I am going to play it anyway.”
About a quarter are still cautious: 24% of our readers are still undecided, which further highlights the controversy surrounding Shadowkeep.
13% (366 participants) are generally still undecided
9% of participants (275) want to at least wait for the first impressions and reviews before deciding on a potential purchase
2% (80) want to start with the free-to-play version Destiny 2: New Light first and then think about their further path in Destiny 2
This is what some of our readers say about it:
rispin: “Later for sure, all those years have shown me that pre-ordering is not worth it when it comes to Destiny DLCs…”
Higato: “I’m still undecided. I recently checked it out again and am still working through some of the missed content (it’s still fun)…”
Only a few will really opt out of Shadowkeep: A total of 11% of all participants indicated they would forego Shadowkeep.
7% (218) decide against buying the expansion but remain loyal to Destiny 2
4% (143) of participants are not only skipping the autumn expansion but are also turning their backs on Destiny 2 altogether because of Shadowkeep
Here’s what our users wrote
qmail: “Buy? No – why would I? Destiny is no longer current for me. I bought D2 again, but today I play Warframe, Eve Online, Elite, and No Man’s Sky. There are so many good games. Why should I dig up Destiny again?”
Roland mauerer: “I won’t buy it. Unfortunately, there are many small things that make a positive development look impossible in my eyes…”
vv4k3: “No, I will opt out of Shadowkeep. But not forever. After BL3 comes Shadowkeep … eventually”
How was it actually with Destiny 2: Forsaken? Even with the first major expansion for Destiny 2 – Forsaken – we conducted a corresponding survey.
What stands out: with a comparable number of participants, players were not as certain and convinced almost a year ago as they are now with Shadowkeep.
Only 55% wanted to purchase Forsaken right at release
29% were not really sure
16% had decided to skip the Forsaken expansion right away
Did you expect this or a similar result? Or is there a big surprise for you?
In WoW Classic, you have nine classes to choose from. Mastering each one takes a lot of time, but knowing them can prove to be valuable information. How well do you know them?
What classes are there? In WoW Classic, you can choose from eight classes per faction and nine in total:
Why check my knowledge? In WoW Classic, teamwork is a big and important factor. To work together ideally, it is important to know what the other players can and cannot do.
Those who want to build an ideal group or get the most out of their composition benefit from knowing what is possible and what should be avoided. Knowing the classes makes planning easier.
Moreover, PvP is a major aspect in WoW Classic. Many German PvP servers are so overcrowded that Blizzard offers free transfers to new realms. In PvP, it is important to know your own class as well as that of the opponent to assess how to win best.
WoW Classic: Participate in the class quiz
This is how the quiz works: To test your knowledge, we have come up with 13 questions that you can answer. The questions refer to talents, abilities, peculiarities, and also interesting or curious facts about the classes.
We will ask you the questions in order. Answer them and then click “Continue” to go to the next question. Once an answer is submitted, it cannot be undone. To repeat the quiz, simply refresh the page.
Dieses Quiz ist geschlossen.
How did you do? Are you real connoisseurs or do you need to improve your knowledge in some areas? If the quiz has got you thinking, take this test to find out which class suits you best:
In FIFA 20, the Early Access is approaching with the Champions Edition and Ultimate Edition. Here’s what you need to know about release times and preload on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. When can you download FIFA 20?
This is the next FIFA 20 release: After the 10-hour trial version of FIFA 20 via EA Access and Origin Access launched on September 19, the release of the main game on PS4, Xbox One, and PC is now approaching. Next, owners of the Champions and Ultimate Editions can start, followed by Standard Edition owners a few days later.
You need to purchase one of these three editions of FIFA 20 to play FIFA 20 unlimited and in full. Only through Origin Access Premier on PC, the full version has been available to play unrestricted since September 19.
These are the release dates for FIFA 20:
September 24, 2019: Early Access with Champions Edition and Ultimate Edition
September 27, 2019: Release of the Standard Edition of FIFA 20
What time does it start with the FIFA 20 Champions Edition and Ultimate Edition?
The start time for Early Access: On September 24, it begins with the Champions Edition and Ultimate Edition directly at midnight.
If you can stay up late on the night from Monday (September 23) to Tuesday (September 24), you can start right at midnight.
What can you play starting September 24? With the Champions Edition and Ultimate Edition, you have unrestricted early access to the complete FIFA 20. You can play FIFA 20 earlier.
Additionally, with the more expensive editions, you receive some extra bonuses, especially in the form of FUT packs. Here are the prices for the editions available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, which give you 3-day early access:
FIFA 20 Champions Edition – €79.99 on PC (€89.99 on PS4 and Xbox One)
FIFA 20 Ultimate Edition – €89.99 on PC (€99.99 on PS4 and Xbox One)
Preload for FIFA 20 is available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC
When can you download FIFA 20? So that you can start directly at 0:00 on September 24, the preload can now be started on all platforms.
On PS4, it is available today, September 22. Go to the library on PlayStation 4, navigate to your purchased games, select FIFA 20, and start the download. You may also have set up automatic download.
When does the preload for the Standard Edition on PS4 start? On September 25.
How to get started in FIFA 20
This is what you can do now: So that you can start the new FIFA season on September 24 without stumbling, you can now inform yourself about important innovations and tips:
In Fortnite, you need to activate various Bat-Signals. We show you the locations of the Bat-Signals on the map. This is part of the “Welcome to Gotham City” missions for the Batman event in Season 10.
What is this task about? In the “Welcome to Gotham City” missions, you need to activate various Bat-Signals outside of Gotham City. These Bat-Signals are located in several places on the map.
We show you 4 Bat-Signals that you can visit to activate them. In total, you need to activate 3 Bat-Signals to secure the reward of 1000 experience points.
Finding Bat-Signals in Fortnite
Where should you search? We show you seven locations of the Bat-Signals. However, for the completion of the mission, you only need to activate 3.
How do you complete the task? For the challenge: “Activate various Bat-Signals outside of Gotham City”, you must first visit the Bat-Signals. When you stand in front of a signal, a message will appear for you to activate it. The Bat-Signal is activated when the Batman symbol appears in the sky.
Bat-Signal in Gotham City, you can no longer activate it
The locations on the map: On the following map, you can see the 7 locations of the Bat-Signals.
In Junk Junction, you will find the Bat-Signal on the largest building, on the flat part of the roof.
At the castle, on the mountain of Haunted Hills, you will find the signal.
On the mountain, near Snobby Shores, where the villain’s hideout is located, you will find the Bat-Signal at the top of the mountain.
On the hill between Pleasant Park and Loot Lake, you will find the signal on top.
On the large, pointed mountain near Salty Springs, you will find a signal.
At the edge of Retail Row on a hill, behind the shopping center, you will find another Bat-Signal.
At the prison near Moisty Palms, you will find a signal on one of the watchtowers.
In this gallery, you can take a closer look at the locations:
By the way, here’s everything we already know about Season 11:
There are no Shiny Pokémon that can also become Ditto. There is still no Shiny Ditto in the game and it would be very frustrating if a rare Shiny suddenly turns into Ditto.
What else do you need Ditto for? The Pokémon is part of some special research tasks. So if you’ve just started and need to complete the quests with Meltan or Mew , you can now look forward to more opportunities with Ditto.
Otherwise, there are still field research tasks where you need to catch a Ditto. These only reward you with items and no Pokémon encounters.
For the Meltan quest, you also need a Ditto
Can you recognize Ditto? When you’re on the catch screen, you cannot recognize Ditto. You must first catch the Pokémon. A good hint that it might be a Ditto could be that the Pokémon in question is harder to catch than you expected.
So if there is a Hornliu with 200 CP in front of you, but it breaks out of some Pokéballs, it could be a Ditto. The transformable Pokémon is not that easy to catch.
Have you heard about the return of Mewtwo in EX Raids? We give you all the info:
During thebetaof Call of Duty: Modern Warfare a list of multiplayer maps has now been leaked – and it is massive.
Where does the information come from? Currently, the second phase of the Modern Warfare Open Beta is running. Players can unleash themselves in various multiplayer modes like Ground War – the largest mode for the traditional multiplayer component in the history of Call of Duty.
What hardly anyone expected: Data miners have now discovered a list of maps for the multiplayer of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in the PC files of the beta. This could provide insight into what fans can expect in the multiplayer mode of the latest installment in the “Call of Duty” series.
Keep in mind that although these are excerpts from game data, they have not been officially commented on or confirmed yet. It is also unclear whether this list will be valid for the release version of Modern Warfare 2019. Treat the information with a healthy dose of skepticism for now.
The multiplayer maps for Modern Warfare have been discovered so far
What exactly was in the data? The data contains nearly 50 maps, including fan favorites from earlier installments such as Shipment, Terminal, Rust, or Crash, as well as additional night versions of some maps. Some maps are already known from the alpha and the two beta phases.
41 maps for regular multiplayer (plus 5 night versions)
one map for the large “Ground War” mode
listed in the game data.
Whether all these maps will actually make it into the finished game, whether they will all be available at launch, or if they will be delivered in waves post-launch, is not known so far. Only that all maps from Modern Warfare will be free for all players has already been confirmed by the developers.
Below you will find a list of all maps found so far.
Maps for 2vs2 Gunfight:
Cargo
Hill
King (including night version)
Docks
Pine
Showers
Speedball
Stack
Maps for regular multiplayer:
Aniyah Palace
Aniyah Tac
Azhir Cave (including night version)
Crash
Dam
Deadzone
Grounded
Scorch
Varskaya District
Euphrates Bridge
Faridah
Smetna Farms
Frontier
Gulag
Hackney Yard (including night version)
Lumber
Malyshev
Precinct
Milbase 1
Milbase 2
Neon
Petrogad
Piccadilly
Port 2
Noir
Prison
Frost
Crusher
Gun Runner (including night version)
Rivne
Rust
Shipment (including night version)
Terminal
Slums
Spear (including night version)
Speed
Stadium
Sub Base
Transit
Takedown
Torez
Maps for the “Ground War” mode:
Karst River Quarry
Would you be happy if so many maps actually made it into the game? What is your impression of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare so far?
On September 21, the MMORPG Astellia started with its head start. Through this, we now also get a glimpse into the shop, which according to its own statement should no longer contain pay-to-win elements. But is that really the case?
How is the real-money shop structured? The real-money shop in Astellia contains two currencies:
Bena Cash, which you can buy for real money
Gems, which are converted from Bena Cash
100 Gems cost 1,000 Bena Cash. 1,000 Bena Cash, on the other hand, costs 10 euros. Therefore, 100 Gems have a value of 10 euros, and you receive bonus Gems when exchanging a larger number of Bena Cash.
But what can you buy for Gems and how much do the items cost?
There are subscriptions with benefits
What items are available in the shop? The real-money shop is divided into two areas:
Subscription
and Gem Shop
The Gem Shop offers you additional character slots, bank slots, free teleports for a limited time, and cosmetic items such as weapon, armor, or Astel skins.
In the Subscription, you can choose from three different passes that last either 30, 60, or 90 days.
What is behind the subscriptions? The first possible subscription is Norden’s Favor. It offers you:
20% more XP
20% more XP for Astels
30% higher rate for dungeon tickets and +4 dungeon tickets that you can collect in total
15% more Zender (an in-game currency)
The package costs 150 Gems for 30 days, which corresponds to 15 euros.
Karza’s Guile is the second subscription. It offers you unlimited access to all Astel costumes for 30 days. It costs 100 Gems, or 10 euros.
Niar’s Passing is the last package. This allows you unlimited resurrection and teleportation. It also costs 100 Gems.
Subscriptions also available through gameplay
Why is Astellia not pay-to-win? When looking at the three possible subscriptions, one might wonder why this is not pay-to-win.
The reasoning probably lies in the fact that the subscriptions can also be earned through gameplay. In the Zender shop, you can unlock all packages for 1 or 7 days.
You get Zender for special activities, daily quests, achievements, in PvP, or in the Avalon region. Through Zender, you can also get:
dungeon tickets
resurrection scrolls
free teleports
extensions to your bank
Astel skins
How much Zender do you get? This question is currently still difficult for me to answer as an author. You automatically receive 10 Zender when you play for an hour each day.
In about 4 hours of playtime over two different days, I earned 53 Zender, but I also benefited from the 15% more Zender bonus as a pre-orderer. For Norden’s Favor, I would need 50 Zender per day.
However, I assume that in the endgame and PvP, more activities with Zender await me. I will later supplement the article with this information.
Does Astellia now have pay-to-win? The MMORPG offers you at least with Norden’s Favor an optional subscription that brings relevant gameplay advantages during the leveling phase.
However, this subscription can also be earned in-game, and the effort required does not seem too great. There are also no purchasable advantages that truly make you stronger when you reach the endgame or in PvP.
Westley Conner, head of the western version of Astellia and CEO of the publisher Barunson E&A, who is responsible for the western version, said in response to inquiries:
The question of “What is Pay to Win?” is something that I have been discussing since I started online gaming, and have continued to consider as my professional career has progressed within the gaming industry.
While it is very easy to get lost in the various shades of grey that plague this topic, I believe we can address the core concept clearly.
In my opinion “Pay to Win” is any system or mechanic that allows one player to purchase power for real money that gives them a direct advantage against another player.
Prices in the real-money shop are acceptable
How expensive are items in the shop? The shop offers you various skins, extensions to your bank, or additional character slots:
A character slot costs 100 Gems (10 euros)
10 additional bank slots cost 10 Gems (1 euro)
Free teleports for one day cost 1 Gem (10 cents)
Costumes in the shop cost 180 Gems (18 euros)
Weapon skins cost 80 Gems (8 euros)
Armor skins cost 120 Gems (12 euros)
Astel skins cost between 100 and 180 Gems (10-18 euros)
In FIFA 20, a professional talks about how much money he invests right at the start into the Ultimate Team mode to gain an advantage. It amounts to a four-digit figure.
Who is speaking? Recently, Ivan Lapanje took to Twitter to explain how much money he will invest in FIFA 20 Ultimate Team. Lapanje is better known as BorasLegend – and he is number 1 among Swedish competitive FIFA professionals.
He describes himself as a professional FIFA player, RedBull athlete, and captain of the Swedish team. In 2013, he won the Las Vegas World Challenge Series, and he also holds several Swedish FIFA Champions titles.
How much money is he putting into FIFA 20 FUT? BorasLegend states that many have asked him how much money he will spend on FIFA 20. He openly addresses this topic:
He loaded 204,000 FIFA Points.
This amounts to nearly $1700.
In euros, that is also 1700€. Because 12,000 FIFA Points can be purchased in a bundle for 99.99€. He bought this bundle 17 times.
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Why is he investing $1700 into FUT 20? According to BorasLegend, there are two reasons for this enormous financial investment:
This gives him an early advantage over some players – essentially over most, who do not invest nearly as much money – or even no extra money – into FUT 20.
It also reduces the disadvantage against the “Heavy Spenders” – that is, those who invest even more money, amounting to several thousand euros.
BorasLegend concludes: “I wish it weren’t so, but I wanted to be transparent now.”
Are such amounts really necessary? It is indeed not uncommon for professionals (or YouTubers) to invest that much money into FUT. The successful German FIFA YouTuber and professional FIFA player proownez recently uploaded a Pack Opening, showing that he has over 250,000 FIFA Points in his private account. This means he has invested a few hundred euros more than BorasLegend.
proownez actually pulled Cristiano Ronaldo within the first 2 hours after the FUT-20 Club’s founding:
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Why invest so much money? With the real-money investment, you can buy so-called “Packs” in FIFA 20 FUT. These packs contain players and consumables, which you can use to build your ultimate team.
It depends on chance whether valuable and strong players are in the packs. If you open a lot of packs with a large sum of money, the chances are good that one or another top player will be among them.
You can also earn good players and packs using coins, but this takes significantly longer.
Thus, the community continually raises allegations of Pay2Win, as advantages can be “bought”. Ultimately, it is true that money does not score goals – a good FIFA player with an average team can beat a bad FIFA player with a top team on the field – but especially in the professional scene, a significant financial investment seems to have become the standard to be able to compete early on at the top.
Since you mostly play online against other players in FIFA Ultimate Team, discussions about FIFA Points and packs keep surfacing.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Are you investing extra money in FUT 20?
You can find out how to quickly earn lots of coins without investing money here:
The most powerful decks in the Hearthstone adventure “Graves of Horror” can only be obtained with a trick. For this, they are virtually unstoppable!
In the latest adventure of Hearthstone, the Graves of Horror, there are again plenty of secrets and hidden interactions. But one of them is extremely powerful and ensures that the current run becomes almost a walk in the park. The most important character is Bob the Base Master.
Who is Bob? Bob the Base Master is a character who appeared in the previous adventure “The Great Coup”. He is an innkeeper and helps his customers – whether they are a hero of the Explorer’s League or a villain from E.V.I.L.
He was extremely popular with the community because the “battles” against Bob are inn visits, where you can improve your own deck, gain new effects, recruit powerful minions, or get rid of unwanted cards. Bob is also back in “Graves of Horror” and more powerful than ever.
Encounters with Bob improve the decks – always.
What makes Bob so powerful? This time, players can trade their entire deck under certain conditions with Bob and receive one of “Bob’s Bombastic” decks instead, with which they can finish the rest of the current run. The decks are extremely powerful and contain cards and combinations that are not normally available. These include:
A deck that consists of all “Quest rewards,” such as Queen Carnassa, the Nether Portal, or Giant Fin.
A deck of the most powerful spells in the game, including the “Treasure spells,” with which you can summon 3 legendary minions.
A rogue deck consisting of 30 copies of the “Robohopper” – a minion that gains +2/+2 more in stats each time it’s played compared to its predecessor.
It is quite possible that there are more decks, but so far, these three have been found.
This is what it usually looks like at Bob – but it can also be upgraded!
How do you get the decks? Getting the cool decks depends on luck, as two conditions must be met.
First, you must be offered the “VIP membership” during the treasure selection. This ensures that visits to the inn are upgraded. You have more mana (gold coins), more minions to choose from, and new cards.
Now you must reach the inn and also be lucky enough to draw the 4-gold card “House Special.” If you use it, your deck will be exchanged for one of Bob’s decks!
The Reddit user Cr01s1s has created a small mini-guide in image form:
Have you already played with Bob’s decks? Were you able to defeat the Plague Lords with them? Or did you not know about these decks at all?
Will Sony launch 2 models for the Next-Gen PlayStation in 2020? That’s at least what a Japanese journalist claims. According to his statement, alongside the standard PS5, a PlayStation 5 Pro model is also expected to be released.
When will the PS5 be released? There is no official date for the release of Sony’s Next-Gen console. However, experts assume that the release of the PS5 will take place in the fall or at the latest by the Christmas season of 2020.
Although Sony has already made some official statements about the new PlayStation generation, a new rumor now speaks of a development that likely few people had on their radar.
Please note that this rumor has not yet been commented on by Sony and should therefore be taken with a grain of caution.
What is the rumor about the PS5 Pro? According to the rumor, Sony will not only launch the PlayStation 5 in 2020 – but also 2 models at launch:
The base model PlayStation 5 (PS5)
as well as the more powerful version PlayStation 5 Pro (PS5 Pro)
The rumor further states that Sony has recognized the interest in a high-end model of the Next-Gen console and wants to give players what they desire right at the launch of the new generation.
Where does the rumor come from? The rumor originates from Japanese tech journalist Zenji Nishikawa. As Nishikawa reports in a video, he claims to have picked up the details from an insider source at the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference (CEDEC).
How likely is this rumor? Although it is still unconfirmed information, Zenji Nishikawa has proven to be a reliable source multiple times. For instance, he spoke about the Nintendo Switch Lite before its official announcement. While this is no guarantee that he is correct this time, his statements at least do not seem completely unfounded in this context.
This is what we know so far about the PlayStation 5: Even though there is no official release date yet, Sony has already revealed a lot about the PS5 – including some initial technical specifications. Everything we know so far about the Next-Gen PlayStation has been summarized in this overview article for you:
In World of Warcraft Classic, you should be careful about your positioning on PvP realms. The wrong spot can lead to account penalties!
In the “good old days” of World of Warcraft Classic, there were many rules and habits that are hardly imaginable today (or in Retail). After all, there were no flying mounts back then and many game mechanics worked differently. For this reason, you also need to be careful where your character stands in Classic. Otherwise, you might be considered a nasty exploiter.
What exactly is going on? In the WoW Classic subreddit, user KazmaticsTV shared a screenshot of a dialog with a Game Master. The conversation was about the player standing on the roofs of buildings and turning passing players from the other faction into sheep just to tease them a little. This was a PvP action, but spawning NPC guards could not catch him on the roof.
If you stand on roofs and engage in PvP, be prepared for penalties. Source: reddit/r/classicwow
KazmaticsTV was subsequently warned by the GM that this would be considered an exploit and advised the player to refrain from doing it. He said:
We want you to have fun in PvP, but if you are standing on buildings and so on to avoid guards, then that counts as an environment exploit.
What does that mean? In plain terms, this now means that you cannot stand on roofs or elevations in PvP that you had to reach through “wall-jumping” or other tricks. Any place where guards spawn but cannot reach you will be considered an exploit and could potentially be used against you and your account.
So, if you want to avoid penalties, you should always ensure that you only use “fair” positions in PvP where there are either no guards nearby or guards at least have the opportunity to strike.
In Classic, different PvP rules apply than in Retail. Guards can still not shoot there …
The rule is, by the way, not new. Even back in Vanilla, this decision existed and anyone who hid on roofs, making themselves invulnerable to many, could expect penalties if reported by other players.
What do you think about this rule? Is it sensible and important to create fairness? Or does exploiting such places add to the charm of Classic?
The preliminary patch notes for the second test server phase (PTS) of The Division 2 already reveal a lot about how Massive intends to address the issue of low build diversity. If the changes go through, hardly any build will survive the next update.
Why are there currently so many changes in The Division 2? The developers are currently extensively testing the changes of the upcoming Title Update 6 on public test servers on PC. The second phase is set to begin soon, and Massive has once again released preliminary patch notes.
The test phase ends on October 1, and the release of the new Title Update 6 has also been confirmed for October.
Passive armor talents are being revised
What will happen to our builds? With the upcoming update, the bonuses from passive armor talents – the smaller buffs available on many armor pieces – will be significantly changed. The talent bonuses can no longer be stacked.
If the changes go through, many PvE builds will be put to the test. The talent “Ruthless” currently provides +10% damage to elite enemies (DTE) per equipped piece. The revised “Ruthless” will come with +25% DTE but will no longer be stackable. This talent is widespread and forms one of the foundations for dealing substantial damage to NPC enemies.
This means that if you have multiple armor talents with Ruthless equipped, only one item will provide the talent bonus – the rest of the Ruthless talent bonuses will nullify.
These are the new values of the passive armor talents
This is how the talents are currently being revised:
Critical
+20% Critical Hit Damage (previously +5%).
Surgical
+15% Critical Hit Chance (previously +5%).
Devastating
+10% Weapon Damage (previously +5%).
Empowered
+20% Skill Strength (previously +10%).
Ruthless
+25% Damage to Elite Enemies (previously +10%).
Vital:
+25% Health (previously +20%).
Hardened:
+20% Armor (previously +10%).
Isolated:
+30% Damage Resistance (previously +10%).
Fortifying:
+30% Health on Kill (previously +10%).
Self-Regulating
+30% Armor Regeneration (previously +20%).
Destructive
+40% Explosive Damage (previously +20%).
Capacity:
+50% Skill Duration (previously +20%).
The passive bonuses will no longer be stackable, but this overall buff of passive armor talents introduces genuinely good values into the game. “Devastating” and “Hardened” will reach a whole new level due to the potential doubling of bonuses.
“Surgical” and “Critical” now receive their second upgrade within the PTS phase and are likely to bring joy to specialists for critical hits in the next update.
The community is still weighing in
What does the community say about it? The players are still uncertain about what impact this will have on build diversity. With a larger system overhaul like this, there will likely still be very strong talents initially, and the current test phase may not suffice for optimal balancing.
Some players are a bit upset. It is criticized that such drastic changes to the builds nullify many hours of looting. There is a desire for an expansion of recalibration options to be able to assemble the optimal gear themselves.
Other voices from the community appreciate these planned changes. A service game is defined by exactly this type of changes. Constantly adjusting the tightest screws if it makes the overall game more stable.
The developers engage in the discussion
What does Massive say? The developers are also very active on Twitter regarding this issue. As some users are upset about the interventions in their builds, Fredrik Thylander, Lead Designer at Massive, posted a brief statement regarding the developers’ strategy.
Nobody likes their cool build invalidated by a patch. I get that. But worse is to play a game where the meta is stale, narrow or dull. We don’t rebalance like this often, but when we do, there will always be the need for new builds. No matter what the changes are.
Fredrik Thylander on Twitter
He essentially says: “No one likes it when a cool build is ruined by a patch. But worse is to play a game where the meta is so restricted. We don’t often conduct rebalancing to this extent. But when we do, it’s always because new builds are needed. Regardless of what changes it may be.”
This clarifies that the developer is willing to implement larger changes if the meta, meaning the current gameplay favored by players, focuses too much on a few talents or weapons. However, Massive tries to avoid these larger interventions as much as possible.
What else is there to know about the next update? Whether all the announced changes will make it into the game is still uncertain. However, many other new features have already been confirmed.
