Today, July 26, shortly after the release of Title Update 5, there will be emergency maintenance for The Division 2on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. There will be several hours of downtime, so the Division servers will go offline. Here is everything you need to know about the maintenance process as well as the patch notes.
Unscheduled maintenance is coming: Yesterday, Thursday, the usual weekly maintenance was skipped. However, for today, Friday, emergency maintenance has now been scheduled – luckily, not during prime time.
When is The Division 2 offline today and when can players return?
Here’s the official schedule for today’s work on the Division servers:
The maintenance is set to begin at 9:30 AM German time. At the same time, the server downtime will start.
According to Massive, the maintenance work is estimated to take about 3 hours. During this time, you will not be able to play – at least not The Division 2.
If everything goes according to plan, the servers are expected to be back online by 12:30 PM German time. Then you can dive back into the battles for D.C.
What changes today during maintenance? The primary reason for the maintenance appears to be an issue with the Defender Drone. This skill has been faulty since the release of Title Update 5. Using this drone can cause the skill user to become completely immune to all incoming damage for a period of time.
Especially in PvP, this phenomenon currently ruins the experience for many players – especially when encountering a full team that exploits this bug.
What do the patch notes say? The official patch notes are now available – here’s what’s included:
A bug has been fixed that made the Defender Drone temporarily invulnerable to its user.
A crash issue was resolved that sometimes caused the game to crash when a team member was kicked.
A problem was fixed where the Firefly skill could not target more than 3 enemies.
A problem was resolved where the notification for level-ups or new field expertise was not displayed correctly.
FIFA fans have been wanting new features for Pro Clubs for years. In FIFA 20, it seems to finally be happening. Learn everything about the updates to Pro Clubs here.
EA has released a new blog post, which discusses the changes and new features for the Pro Club mode in FIFA 20. According to EA Sports, they listened to fan feedback and reworked the popular mode based on that. We are excited.
This is the “Pro Clubs” mode: Pro Clubs is a FIFA game mode where you create your own player and take control of them. You choose a playing position and play that in online matches to improve your Pro player.
The focus is mainly on the cooperative fun that you can have with friends.
EA announces new features: EA Sports has overhauled the Pro Clubs mode for the first time in several years and announced many new features, additionally, they want to fix well-known bugs. Among the biggest changes is the creation of the Pro player. This process has been completely redesigned and now offers more options.
Player customization
This is new: In FIFA 20, there will be a completely new editor for creating the Pro player. This will retain all features of the old editor and offer additional customization options, including:
Free face modeling
Precise adjustment of skin tone
There will also be changes to the attributes and physical characteristics of the Pro Player, including:
Weight and height affect the player’s movements
Stamina has been reworked – choosing too much stamina will affect other skills
House Rules Cups – Each week there will be a new cup that players can compete in online, with the house rules rotating each day.
Practice Match – In practice matches, you can play alone or with your friends in Pro Clubs against computer-controlled teams. Here, the strength and behavior of the CPU opponent are fully adjustable.
When playing the “All” position, stamina no longer drains too quickly
In the free-kick wall, large midfielders and forwards can now also stand, not just defenders
The celebrations after winning a tournament can be fully viewed
The goalkeeper can be captain again without affecting the game’s stability
Visual enhancements: In addition to gameplay changes, Pro Clubs will also improve visually. The stadium atmosphere and broadcast graphics are expected to look better and visually match the other online modes of FIFA 20.
Additionally, you can now celebrate goals with your whole team, as after a goal, not just the scorer is in the spotlight anymore. The camera zooms out and shows the entire team.
This opens up all doors for choreographed celebrations with friends.
What do you think of the changes in Pro Clubs? Are there any more features you think are missing? Tell us on Facebook.
In Destiny 2, the summer event Solstice of Heroes is just around the corner. Many Guardians are already looking forward to it. However, this also brings a change that concerns many fans. What’s going on?
What is the Solstice of Heroes? The Solstice of Heroes is an annual summer event that marks the end of the respective Destiny year, in this case, the second, allowing Guardians to celebrate their achievements and accomplishments.
Traditionally, there are also a variety of new theme-inspired cosmetic items through the Eververse. However, this year the Solstice event gets a significant change from Bungie.
This is what the change is about: Although there will still be many event-specific items through the Eververse during the Solstice of Heroes 2019, these can no longer be earned in the form of event engrams. The event engrams for the Eververse will be completely removed for the Solstice. Whether this will also apply to subsequent events is not yet known.
The individual event items can then be purchased directly from Tess Everis’s shop using real-money currency Silver and the in-game currency Glimmer. Each event-specific item will be guaranteed available during the Solstice event for Glimmer.
Previously, every level-up after reaching the maximum character level during events rewarded players with double Glimmer engrams: one from the respective season and one event engram, from which the event-specific rewards were obtained—alongside the existing Eververse offerings.
There was a duplicate protection for event engrams. An item could only be obtained again once all items from the event loot pool were already collected. Players considered this a fair and balanced method to obtain event rewards.
What does this mean for players? Specifically, this means: Apart from the armor, you will now receive event-specific rewards if you pay for them—either with Silver or Glimmer. You can no longer earn them.
If you
only have limited Glimmer reserves and have little time during the event to earn more
and/or do not acquire enough Glimmer by dismantling existing Eververse items
then it might be difficult for you to collect all the desired items from the summer event.
What do the fans say? Although the prices for the items are not yet known, many players fear that Guardians with little Glimmer may be pushed to reach for their wallets if they really want to have this or that item.
In the past, you had a good chance to earn everything completely for free through the event engrams—given enough time. Many fans now say that the event has lost a lot of its appeal for them since they have little Glimmer but do not want to spend money on the new items.
Many consider the event engrams in their previous form to be one of the best decisions Bungie made regarding the previously criticized Eververse, and therefore cannot understand this step.
Others support this change because now each event item can be specifically purchased with in-game currency. Chance is completely eliminated, provided you have enough Glimmer or, if necessary, Silver—a change many players have desired for some time, especially when they have little time to play.
Whether it will indeed become easier to acquire sufficient Glimmer remains to be seen. Some think it is conceivable that Bungie wants to prevent larger accumulations of Glimmer.
What do you think of this change? Right decision? Or do you wish for the event engrams with the previous system back?Let us know in the comments.
Guild Wars 2 has announced legendary runes and sigils for the upcoming patch on Tuesday, July 30. Players fear, based on initial information, that the costs for this new feature could explode.
What is special about the legendary runes and sigils? In Guild Wars 2, armor pieces can be upgraded with runes and weapons with sigils. Besides the actual attributes of the weapon, these upgrades provide additional bonuses.
Legendary equipment has the unique feature that the attributes can be changed freely at any time. This was not possible with runes and sigils before. They had to be manually swapped constantly.
How do the new runes and sigils work? In the first step, you need to create a legendary upgrade at the Mystic Forge. This is then applied to an armor piece or weapon.
After that, you can change the values of this legendary upgrade at any time. These upgrades can be applied to any armor and weapon and removed without an extractor.
However, they have no special effect. They can also be combined with existing exotic runes to obtain the set bonuses.
The image shows how to select any rune in a legendary version:
Why are players skeptical? To create the new version, the Mystic Forge is required. A new gift must be used, which must be unlocked during an event. And this gift is causing players concerns.
A data miner found the Gift of Upgrades weeks ago, which could have been introduced into the game specifically for this purpose. It requires:
250x Piles of Shimmering Crystals
250x Talisman of Brilliance
250x Talisman of Skill
250x Talisman of Power
The prices of these materials were already high beforehand and have exploded now. The talismans cost between 55 silver and 1.2 gold. For each upgrade alone, that would be over 700 gold.
For all six armor pieces and four weapon slots, one would need over 7,000 gold. For that amount, you could easily buy all the runes and sigils in the game in multiple copies along with large bags for storage.
This new feature is, from the perspective of many players on Reddit, not an improvement but rather aims to rip gold from players’ pockets.
How is the recipe for the Mystic Forge unlocked? To get the recipe for the legendary upgrades, a community event in Lion’s Arch must be carried out first.
On July 30, along with the release of the patch, an event will begin where players can use piles of shimmering crystals in exchange for loot bags.
Once enough has been donated by all players, the recipe will unlock globally for everyone.
This new feature also comes again without a new episode of the Living World. Small patches are piling up, which our author Alexander Leitsch appreciates:
Wolfenstein: Youngblood will be released today, on July 25 on PC. Shortly thereafter on PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. During the pre-test, our author Benedict noticed an Easter egg that everyone should see.
What is this Easter egg? While playing and testing the new Wolfenstein, I noticed some slot machines that are standing around in the catacombs, the resistance base, during my second session. You don’t even need co-op for them.
Unlike the machines elsewhere, these can be used. And they run “Elite Hans”, a quite old-looking but very amusing game that proves to be a fantastic Easter egg at first glance.
The “Elite Hans” machines in the catacombs.
Elite Hans, or: The Story of Wolfenstein
Who or what is Elite Hans? Elite Hans is a character in Wolfenstein: Youngblood who has a game series of the same name. You can play “Elite Hans 2: The New Order” at the machines. (Note: The character is written with a hyphen, the game without)
The games are integrated with old 3D graphics with many pixels and rudimentary controls. You can aim left and right and move on a level, similar to the old parts of Serious Sam or DOOM.
Elite Hans himself is a blue-eyed, blonde fighter in his games who fights against Americans, Soviets, and other opponents to escape from buildings that look heavily like prisons.
The character has existed in Wolfenstein for a longer time. He was already used as propaganda in the direct predecessor “Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus” and even a video game about Elite Hans was playable.
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That’s why the game is so important: The “Elite Hans” series and specifically “Elite Hans 2” is visually almost an exact copy of the classic game “Wolfenstein 3D” from 1992. Almost everything looks identical.
The only difference is that you play as a war veteran in “Elite Hans” who takes on the Wiesenau Circle and fights B.J. Blazkowicz – that very Blazkowicz who is the protagonist of the Wolfenstein games.
A major and important factor is: The game is a lot of fun. In my first session, I needed nine levels and 15 minutes for the first of the two episodes (“Escape from Wolfstone”). I haven’t quite finished the second episode (“Operation: Terror”). However, after my impressions of Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Elite Hans really captivated me.
How does Youngblood handle this? What I find splendid about the Easter egg is how Youngblood implements “Elite Hans”. There is quite a bit of backstory available for “Elite Hans” here, unlike in the predecessors.
You can find a cassette in the game where a Swedish resistance fighter explains the character of Elite Hans and the game series. A sequel to the game called “Return to Castle Wolfstone” was also supposed to be released, but it never came due to the revolution in America.
He also says that he would like to access the source data. He would then want to create a game where you play as a resistance fighter. And to make it sound a bit more Germanic, he would name it “Castle Wolfenstein” … Well, does it ring a bell?
Anyone who wants to see Elite Hans can play Youngblood on PC starting July 25 at 7:00 PM. The release for PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch is on July 26.
The Diablo MMO Pagan Online finally has a release date and will be officially launching soon. The developers have planned a ton of new content and features, including a function that the community has long desired.
What is Pagan Online? This game is an action RPG like Diablo that you can play online with other players. It takes place in a wild world shaped by Slavic mythology where you drop down from the sky as a hero to smash a lot of monsters and collect loot in fast-paced action.
The game is being developed under the aegis of Wargaming and is currently available in Early Access for PC. That is set to change soon, as a release date has finally been announced.
Release and a ton of new content
When is Pagan Online coming? The release date for the game is set for August 27, 2019.
What does Pagan Online cost? You can buy the game at launch for 24.99 Euro. The early access version is currently available on Steam for 16.99 Euro.
What else will be included in the release? Similar to the infamous “Big Fucking Patch” earlier in July, the release update of Pagan includes a lot of content:
Complete story campaign with 8 acts and new maps and bosses
Two more heroes, an ice construct with two weapons and a guy who burns everything
You can make legendary weapons even more powerful and upgrade them to “Fabled Weapons”
Ultra-rare gear sets
Looting and crafting will be revamped to become more meaningful
Each hero will get a new skill tree
Endgame content for those who have seen everything else
Finally Controller Support
This is what players wanted the most: In addition to all these goodies, there’s another feature that the developers say was particularly close to the fans’ hearts. Pagan Online was designed for PC gamers and only utilized control via WASD.
https://youtu.be/QzLL5rtr_9E
However, an “overwhelming majority” of players would have liked to connect a gamepad and play with it. Action RPGs are simply more fun for many players like that.
Therefore, the developers came to a realization, and with the launch on August 27, the long-awaited controller support for Pagan Online will also be added.
In Destiny 2 the servers are down today, July 25, for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Bungie is only performing maintenance, but the downtime coincides with your evening break.
Yesterday afternoon, Bungie announced via Twitter that the servers are down. This is the reason why you cannot play right now, as the servers are currently being maintained. The downtime was planned to start at 5:30 PM, but Destiny was already unavailable half an hour earlier.
When can you play again? Various times are important. We give you an overview:
The maintenance is taking place for both Destiny 1 and Destiny 2, across all platforms (PS4, Xbox One, PC).
The servers are down from 5 PM to 7 PM. You cannot log into the game. Originally, the downtime was supposed to begin at 5:30, but the servers were offline precisely at 5 PM.
The maintenance will last until 11 PM. However, you can log in again at 7 PM and get back to playing.
Bungie shared these times, but they are not a precise guarantee. The servers could also come back online a bit later.
Update 7:32 PM: After it was initially said that the maintenance would be extended until 9 PM, Bungie now reports that the Destiny 2 servers are back online. The maintenance is over.
What is Bungie changing in Destiny 2 today?
Are any changes known? The developers have not revealed any further details about the server downtime. Therefore, it is not known whether the maintenance might bring about small changes or fixes.
So it seems likely that nothing major will happen, as Bungie would announce something like that in advance.
This is why maintenance is annoying: The server downtime happens for German players exactly when most people are off work. So the rounds of casual gaming get pushed back, as it can only commence after 7 PM.
What can you do instead? There is a lot going on in Destiny 2 right now. To ensure you are up to date when you log back in, you can check out the following articles:
In Fortnite, the birthday challenges are now live. To complete them, you need to dance in front of 10 birthday cakes. We will show you their locations.
What kind of task is this? Fortnite is celebrating its 2nd birthday, and that’s why there are new challenges. One task is: “Dance in front of different birthday cakes”.
What is the reward? If you dance in front of 10 cakes, you will receive new music for the lobby as a reward. If you complete all the tasks, you will receive a new pickaxe.
Locations of all birthday cakes in Fortnite
Where should you search? The cakes are spread all over the map. Here is a map that shows all the locations:
At these 10 locations you will find them
So you know exactly where to search, we will list all locations for you here:
Cake 1: In the middle of the Viking village, right in front of the longhouse
Cake 2: In front of the large barn in Fatal Field
Cake 3: In Salty Springs near the reboot bus and an overturned car
Cake 4: Right in the center of Pleasant Park in front of the large wooden pavilion
Cake 5: In Lonely Lodge at the spot where the zip lines meet
Cake 6: In the middle of Junk Junction next to a large truck
Cake 7: On the small hill by the racetrack in the desert area
Cake 8: Right at the entrance of Shifty Shafts
Cake 9: On an island in Loot Lake, north of the mysterious orb
Cake 10: Between Paradise Palms and John Wick’s house, right between the two solar panels
Connect the tasks: For another task of the challenges, you have to regenerate health or shields by eating the cake.
So if you end up by the cakes, eat from the cake slices there and also solve the next task.
This video will help you: We will embed a video here that shows all the locations. This way, you can’t miss the spots:
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The new patch 11 in Fallout 76 is causing more and more discontent in the community. Players are complaining about various issues – even though they would actually still like to enjoy Fallout 76.
What is currently the problem with Fallout 76? The latest patch 11 was supposed to bring many new features to Fallout 76, which should give players more reasons to play. Instead, the patch brought problems with:
This is what the community is currently saying about Fallout 76
What are players criticizing? In the subreddit of Fallout 76, there have been more and now almost exclusively negative posts and criticism at the top in recent days. This is a strong turnaround, after a very positive atmosphere shortly after the release of Battle Royale.
The user Glorf12 writes in his post that he originally played more than 5 hours a day. Currently, due to the problems with the legendary items, it is less than an hour. He says: “Please, stop ruining the game. It used to be fun.” Glorf is known in the community, among other things for:
Other points are also criticized, such as the weight of items, which is a bigger problem than the size of storage or challenges like playing PvP in various costumes that are hardly feasible.
Some other users even ask that the game not be let die. The user GdaIV747 states that he loves Fallout 76 despite all the problems and does not want it to be abandoned; it deserves to get the content that players want.
Some players still have hope that the upcoming grill event with Grahm will salvage something:
A study has been released in the USA that specifically targets toxic behavior and harassment in online games. According to the study, almost two-thirds of all online players have been harassed in one way or another in online games. This is particularly bad in 5 games.
What was the study about? The organization ADL (Anti-Defamation League) deals with discrimination, primarily racism and anti-Semitism. However, toxic behavior in online games was recently the focus of a study by ADL. The study was conducted with the assistance of the Newzoo Institute, which specializes in eSports and gaming.
A total of 1,045 individuals from the USA aged 18 to 45 were surveyed.
The result: 74 percent of all online gamers have been approached in a toxic manner at least once. Of those, 64 percent reported that they were subjected to severe discrimination, including threats of violence, stalking, and prolonged harassment.
By the way, 40 percent of insults are sexist in nature and directed at women. According to the study, this is likely because a female player can be easily identified in voice chat.
These 5 games have the most discrimination
Among the many online games, five games stand out in the ADL study that performed particularly poorly and are said to have an unusually toxic community. These games are:
DOTA 2: 79% of players report discrimination
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 75% of players report discrimination
Overwatch: 75% of players report discrimination
PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds: 75% of players report discrimination
League of Legends: 75% of players report discrimination
The study does not only address toxic behavior. It also mentions games where players have positive associations. Here, friendship was mentioned with 51% and helping other players with 50%. The following games are well-received:
Participants reported having positive experiences with other players in these games:
World of Warcraft (59%)
Minecraft (55%)
NBA 2k (51%)
Overwatch (49%)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (48%)
It is noticeable that Overwatch and CS:GO have an ambivalent community that is characterized by both large trolls and great willingness to help. This might be because both games are shooters but also cooperative games where teamwork is essential.
Playing in a clan or with a close group of friends tends to result in less interaction with toxic trolls than playing with strangers.
Which games do you think are particularly toxic and where have you had the opposite experience?
In Pokémon GO there is a new special research. Under the name “A Disturbing Situation” there are 4 new stages. We show you how to solve themand what rewards are available.
What is the new special research? Team Rocket is back, which is why there is now a special research about the Grunts. You’ve seen this before with Mew or Meltan.
The new research is called “A Disturbing Situation” and is meant to introduce you to the mechanics around Team Rocket. You will have to battle the Grunts and receive some Pokémon as rewards.
Special Research “A Disturbing Situation” – The Quests
Overall, there are 4 stages in this research. It is relatively small. Additionally, you only need to complete 2 tasks per stage. As rewards, there are Stardust, Pokémon, and Berries.
Stage 1 of 4
Evolve 2 Pokémon
Reward: Encounter with a Kramurx
Use 5 Power-ups on Pokémon
Reward: Encounter with a Zobiris
Reward for completing the stage: 1000 Stardust, 2000 XP
Stage 2 of 4
Catch 2 Shadow Pokémon
Reward: Encounter with a Rettan
Defeat 3 Team GO Rocket Grunts
Reward: Encounter with a Smogon
Reward for completing the stage: 2000 Stardust, 2000 XP, 5 golden Razz Berries
Stage 3 of 4
Rescue 3 Shadow Pokémon
Reward: 3000 Stardust
Free one Shadow Pokémon of Fire, Water, or Grass type
Reward: 3000 XP
Reward for completing the stage: 2000 Stardust, 5 silver Razz Berries, 1 Rare Candy
How to free Shadow Pokémon: After catching such a monster, you can free it in addition to leveling up. This costs Stardust and candies.
Stage 4 of 4
Already completed
Reward: 1000 Stardust
Already completed
Reward: 1000 XP
Already completed
Reward: 1000 Stardust
Reward for completing the stage: 1 Fast TM, 1 Charged TM, 3 Rare Candies
You can get plenty of Stardust
What to keep in mind for the research? You will now encounter the Grunts from Team Rocket more frequently at PokéStops. So it is not that hard to engage in battles against the villains.
Otherwise, the special research is not really challenging, but is mainly meant to introduce you to the new feature.
What do you think of the special research? Do you find it too easy or just right?
In Fortnite the “Fish Stick” skin is currently extremely popular again. The reason for this is new levels that can be obtained for free.
How do you get the new levels? You don’t have to do much for it. The levels are available for free as long as you have the aforementioned skin in your inventory.
The skin receives this new level in celebration of the World Cup, which starts this weekend. The new level will feature a black outfit with purple stripes.
The new level and all old levels in the background. Source: Fortnite Insider
The Skin is Received Well
This is what makes the Fish Stick so special: This skin is probably one of the most popular skins. On one hand, it is celebrated for looking wonderfully ridiculous. It fits perfectly into the colorful world of Fortnite.
On the other hand, this skin has already received several new levels before without any requirements. There has already been a pirate version available for Season 8 in Fortnite, which was also free.
What do the players say? The Fish Stick is celebrated by fans. What is particularly appreciated is that the skin only cost 10 euros and keeps getting new levels.
Players compare the skin on Reddit with other skins that were more expensive and offered significantly less:
In this comparison, the Fish Stick performs significantly better. Source: Reddit
Additionally, people are already joking about how many more levels the skin will receive. A fan created a fitting image that received over 6000 upvotes on Reddit :
If the styles keep coming like this, the skin could end up having numerous levels. Source: Reddit
How long is this level available? Epic has confirmed that you will only be able to get this level for a limited time. It is likely that it will end after the World Cup. So take your chance to get the skin again.
What do you think of the Fish Stick? Did you buy it? A well-known Fortnite pro also always plays with this skin:
In Pokémon GO Team Rocket is back! Players from all over the world report this. We give you all the info about the return.
This is what happened: Team Rocket disappeared on Tuesday night and did not show up at all on Wednesday. After the feature had been there for about a day, it suddenly vanished.
Now the Grunts are back and are occupying PokéStops, just as known. It seems that nothing has changed.
All about the return of Team Rocket
Players report: According to initial reports, Team Rocket can now be found significantly more often. A screenshot on Reddit shows that 5 PokéStops in the immediate vicinity of a player are being occupied by Team Rocket.
This player has 5 Team Rocket encounters nearby. Source: Reddit
The rarity of Team Rocket was a problem at the feature’s launch. Many players complained that they had not encountered a Grunt at all, as they were simply too rare.
What do you need to consider? You can recognize Team Rocket by a dark blue PokéStop. As you approach this stop, it turns black. When you spin it, a Rocket Grunt appears and wants to battle.
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You must defeat the villain in a Trainer battle, and you will receive a Shadow Pokémon that you can catch. What you need to consider with the monsters can be read here:
A new Special Research has also been introduced: In line with Team Rocket, a new Special Research has been added to the game. Players are already sharing the first stages of it.
There are a total of 4 stages to complete. We have compiled all stages of the research for you here:
Background: The wallpaper depicts the destruction of Teldrassil. Sylvanas, the Banshee Queen (visible in the picture), burnt down the home tree of the Night Elves, killing thousands of civilians in the process. This event reignited the war between the Horde and the Alliance. You can experience the whole thing in the latest addon of World of Warcraft, Battle for Azeroth.
Background: The wallpaper originates from the first expansion of FFXIV, Heavensward. The addon revolves around the 1000-year-long war between the Dragons and the nation of Ishgard. In the picture, you can see one of the elite fighters from Ishgard, a Dragoon, fighting against a dragon. Dragoons have the ability to jump extremely high, allowing them to battle the flying dragons.
Background: Here you see a scene from the Season of the Dragon from The Elder Scrolls Online. On the mountain stands the Breton necromancer showcase hero. The dragon in the sky is likely Kaalgrontiid, the dragon overlord, who is freed from the coliseum at the beginning of the season. In the background, you can see the great city of Krempen, and in the sky, the two moons sacred to the Khajiit, Jone and Jode, shine.
Background: The wallpaper showcases a highlight from the first hours of gameplay in Monster Hunter World: the battle of an Anjanath (on the left) with a Rathalos (on the right). Both monsters are true kings and claim a vast territory. This often leads to impressive confrontations, where even a great monster hunter prefers to just watch from a distance.
Background: The wallpaper features a group of Warframes, consisting of Zephyr, Valkyr, Ash, and Oberon (starting from the left). The space shooter Warframe sends you on various missions across space with the titular battle suits. The locations range from oppressive spaceship corridors to sprawling areas.
Background: The image from The Division 2 shows 3 agents of the Strategic Homeland Division, a secret network of sleeper agents that can be activated by the President of the United States as a last resort in case of an emergency. They have just arrived in post-apocalyptic Washington D.C., where they are to restore law and order following a deadly virus outbreak.
Background: The wallpaper features three Guardians witnessing an invasion of the Cabal, an enemy alien race, on the last city of humanity. The Cabal are in the process of capturing the Traveler. This spherical construct embodies the source of power for the Guardians and has been responsible for some of humanity’s greatest achievements. The scene takes place at the beginning of Destiny 2.
Background: Here you see the legend Octane from Apex Legends, just before he loses his legs. Because the crazy speed junkie constantly lives on the edge and thought it would be a good idea to blow himself up with a grenade while capturing it all with a selfie stick. After the incident, Octane has mechanical legs that he also displays in the game.
Background: This image was intended to promote the new Battle Royale mode of Fortnite. Because the popular BR game was primarily known at that time as a PVE survival co-op shooter. The image was supposed to show at a glance what players can expect now. Below is the famous Battle Bus, glider, self-built cover, 3 standard skins, and the indestructible tactical shotgun!
Background: The image was published by Niantic to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Pokémon GO. The developers hid various clues in the image, such as a Team Rocket grunt behind a tree and the starters from the 5th generation.
The bare feet of Sigma occupy the Overwatch community. But now there is clarity on why his feet are not concealed.
Since the new hero Sigma became playable on the PTR of Overwatch, players have primarily been focused on one question: Why exactly does Sigma not wear shoes and show his toes to the world? Blizzard has now answered this question. The reason is that Sigma still wanted to give the impression that he comes from an institution where experiments were conducted on him.
That’s why Sigma shows everyone his toes: The Character Artist Qiu Fang revealed why Sigma walks around without shoes. The reason is that they still wanted to give him an “institution look.” In such facilities, it is common for patients not to wear shoes because it could lead to issues with restraint straps.
Sigma may no longer be in a position where it poses a danger to him, but they wanted to maintain the appearance because it bridges to his backstory and makes him look “less generic.” With shoes, he would resemble a typical warrior in full armor too much, which would not do justice to his character.
Shoes will appear in other skins: At the same time, Blizzard has also announced that there will indeed be Sigma skins in which he will wear shoes. So, for those who do not want to play a barefoot hero, there will surely be one or another skin that covers Sigma’s little feet and lets him strut safely through the world.
Do you find the explanation logical and sensible? Or do bare feet not fit Sigma, especially since he has not been subjected to experiments for a long time now?
Jagex, the developers of Old School Runescape have been working for several months on a new skill for their MMORPG. The ability was intended to significantly enhance the gaming experience. It was up to the community to vote on the implementation.
What had happened? The Old School Runescape community was allowed to vote in a survey on whether the new skill “Warding” would be introduced to the MMORPG or not. At least 75% of the participants had to vote in favor of the skill for it to be added to the game.
The community’s interest in “Warding” was enormous. With 125,147 survey participants, the vote was the largest ever.
In the end, the votes stood at a ratio of 66.4% (in favor) to 33.6% (against), and that was the end of the new skill.
Some developers are sure to be disappointed.
What is “Warding” supposed to be? The skill “Warding” would have allowed players to craft magical equipment. Until now, players could only buy or obtain magical equipment as drops. The other two types of armor (leather and metal), however, can be crafted. The skill “Warding” was intended to fill this gap.
Furthermore, “Warding” would have meant a change in game balance and would significantly enhance the mages. New rewards, armors, and weapons would also have been introduced into the game.
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The developers at Jagex had already put a lot of work into the new features.
Why was the new content even voted against? Old School Runescape (also known as 2007scape) is modeled after the 17-year-old RuneScape from its early days and was released in 2013 at the request of fans. The game still has the old graphics and the earlier, clunky mechanics of the MMORPG classic.
Consequently, for some players, nostalgia comes first, and any innovations or changes could go against the very essence of Old School Runescape.
Reactions on the topic: The topic was picked up in the general Reddit for Games in a own thread and is being fervently discussed there. The post currently has 547 upvotes and 249 comments (as of July 25, 1:06 PM).
The Redditor JoJolion writes: “This is pretty much the end for any new skill for Old School Runescape. It’s nearly impossible to get 75% of the votes in favor.”
KingGumboot says: “I mean, people play Old School Runescape for a specific reason. I don’t play Old School Runescape anymore, but I would have probably been against it if content from Runescape 3 came to Old School Runescape.”
Teath123 writes: “I’ve never seen a community so actively vote against new content. I can remember from my Runescape days that players were actually looking for new skills and generally new things.”
Youngblood is the latest installment in the Wolfenstein series, once again inviting players on PC, Xbox One, PS4, and even Nintendo Switch to take on a fictional Nazi regime. Our authors Benedict and Jürgen were able to test the new shooter in co-op mode for a few hours in advance. Here is our first impression.
Today, on July 25th at 7 PM, Wolfenstein: Youngblood launches for PC on Steam and via Bethesda.net. PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch will have to wait until July 26th. Find out in our preview whether the new Wolfenstein is worth it.
[toc]
Preview of Youngblood: What the new Wolfenstein offers
What is Youngblood about? April 1980: A few years after the events of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, protagonist BJ Blazkowicz disappears, leaving no word to his wife and two daughters, Jess and Soph.
Dad is gone – so now the daughters have to step up!
After some investigation, the twin sisters find out that their father has settled in Paris. There they begin their search, and we embark on a co-op adventure where we learn more and more about Blazkowicz’s whereabouts and his daughters’ motives. Key features of the game include:
Pure co-op action: The co-op aspect of Youngblood is the most important feature of the game. Everything in the new Wolfenstein revolves around the two sisters fighting together. Many doors and containers can only be opened with two players. If you don’t have a friend to play with, an AI will assist you.
A leveling and skill system: The longer you play, the further you progress. For each level, you earn skill points with which you can learn new abilities, such as special stealth skills or the ability to wield two weapons at once.
Familiar and new Nazis: Youngblood wouldn’t be a Wolfenstein if there weren’t plenty of Nazis for us to take down. Familiar enemies like diesel soldiers or tank dogs will face us, but there are also entirely new boss fights providing challenges.
A (semi-)open world: Youngblood allows us to explore the environment more freely than its predecessors. While there isn’t an open world per se, we have the freedom to approach missions as we wish. Although there is a story arc, we can relatively freely complete it whenever we want.
Wolfenstein: Youngblood – A really cool shooter with great co-op
In our test, Jürgen and I started playing together immediately. The collaboration is quite simple: One player hosts a session and chooses a sister. They can then invite friends from their friends list (for example via Steam). The friend takes over the other sister, and you can play together.
How does Youngblood play in co-op?
How good is Youngblood in co-op: In our session, we played the first mission on General Winkler’s zeppelin and the subsequent mission, the return to the client. Both missions were quite challenging and required a lot of coordination.
We quickly noticed that Youngblood is really designed for co-op gameplay. Whenever one of us ventured out alone for a moment, we both quickly met our demise.
However, when we played as a team, coordinated and supported each other, everything went smoothly. Armored Nazis? No problem. Closed doors? Opened with teamwork. One gets lost? The other helps find the way.
In short: In Youngblood, co-op is not an option, but a necessity. Those who play alone are therefore directly supported by a useful AI.
Stick together – or die.
How does the Buddy Pass work? Accordingly, the Deluxe Edition of Wolfenstein: Youngblood offers a so-called “Buddy Pass.” The edition costs €10 more than the standard edition. This allows you to invite a friend to play along. They do not need to own Youngblood.
Once you’ve selected to host a game, you have the option to use the Buddy Pass. The corresponding friend you want to invite must own the demo version and have a linked account with Bethesda.net. You can then easily invite them to join.
The pass can be used as often as desired for as many friends as you want, but always for only one friend at a time.
Youngblood is quite a challenge
How hard is Youngblood: The co-op aspect is also reflected in the difficulty of Youngblood. We played only on the “normal” difficulty and already died multiple times in the first two missions.
For us, Youngblood felt quite “challenging,” but not too hard or “overtuned.” The fact that the enemies do not simply fall down gives us the feeling that we are not overpowered supersoldiers rushing through the wimpy Nazis. Instead, we are two girls searching for dad.
There are quite a few save points, so dying is not too tragic. However, it indicates where we made mistakes and how we can improve. In our session, we quickly learned how to play best together and coordinate.
Diesel soldiers can be quite nasty.
For us, it quickly became clear: Youngblood is not a shooter where you can just shoot around a bit. We have to approach tactically and defend ourselves against real danger if we want to progress. This turned out to be unexpectedly fun.
The features of Youngblood
The core feature of Youngblood is certainly the co-op mode, but many other things make the game truly enjoyable. We took a closer look at various aspects of the new Wolfenstein.
The graphics of Wolfenstein: Youngblood
How good does Youngblood look: Even during our first play session, we noticed how much the graphics and details of Youngblood have to offer. The graphics are exceptionally beautiful and quite detailed for such a bloody shooter.
While we do not see explicit brains and intestines splattering, certain finishing moves where we execute enemies with their own weapons or dismember them are visually very appealing and quite thrilling.
There are also impressive cutscenes.
In addition, the entire environment provides cool details. The zeppelin we infiltrate has its own cinema with films like “The French Chef” and an arcade with video games like “Frogger,” “Sausage Worm,” and “Super Punch.” Such little things in the environment often made us smile.
I would have liked to play Sausage Worm – but it’s just decoration.
How good is the gameplay?
How Youngblood plays: The controls in the new Wolfenstein are quite enjoyable. We played on PC, but assume that the versions for PS4, Xbox One, and Switch are similarly intuitive.
Much in the game explains itself or is explained through the journal and laptops lying around, which we can always refer back to. This way, we keep learning more about how to master our characters and defeat enemies.
Elements like leveling up, upgrading skills, and weapon mods differentiate Youngblood from its predecessors, but fit well with the game. It’s exciting to see what can be done and then work towards it.
Akimbo guns are love!
How comprehensive is the story?
So much story unfolds: We haven’t played very far into the story of Youngblood yet. However, in the first two missions, it hinted that there will be significantly more to discover than just the whereabouts of Dad BJ. How did Soph and Jess even get the motorcycle armor and to Paris?
Youngblood is not supposed to provide a story as extensive as the main parts of the series. Nevertheless, we had the impression that there is enough story present to keep us engaged for quite a while.
How did the girls come across such technology?
Long-term motivation: How long will the new Wolfenstein keep you engaged?
What Youngblood offers in the long run: Jürgen and I completed the first two main missions in the nearly two hours we played, and we didn’t take much time to explore the area.
In an interview with VentureBeat, Executive Producer Jerk Gustafsson stated that it would take about 25 to 30 hours to complete Youngblood. This aligns with our first impression and assessment.
The demise of some enemies is quite impressive, but whether it’s worth seeing it twice is something everyone must decide for themselves.
However, we could not find a high replay value. It is fun to see how the characters evolve, and we are curious to see how the story continues.
Playing Youngblood a second time seems a bit unnecessary. Because once the story is concluded and the characters developed, it seems the game is done. Whether something will come in the future or at the end that increases the replay value is still unknown.
However, if you simply enjoy the setting, you will likely be able to play Youngblood multiple times on higher difficulty levels. Fans of story shooters like Resident Evil and Tomb Raider often give their favorites multiple honors as well.
Is Wolfenstein: Youngblood a game for me?
Whether the new Nazi co-op shooter is worth your time is always a very subjective question. Here’s our assessment:
Youngblood is worth it for you if …
you’re looking for a cool co-op shooter to play through with a friend.
you enjoy a pretty environment and an engaging setting.
you just want to take down some Nazis.
you appreciate character development in a shooter.
you’re into a lot of violence and blood in a shooter.
Youngblood is probably not for you if …
you’re only looking for fast shooter action without much thought.
you want more story and less action and tactics from a Wolfenstein.
In Destiny 2, the Solstice of Heroes is upon us. The event marks the end of the current year and the beginning of the new year in the game. One change should particularly delight the players: the Solstice armor, which was associated with a lot of grind last year, will no longer become obsolete when the new expansion starts.
What is the Solstice armor?The Solstice of Heroes event is approaching. The summer festival took place last year as well; it’s somewhat of a farewell party for the current content.
As in the last year, there is again an armor set to earn – the Solstice armor. This can again be upgraded from a green set to a masterwork.
Unlike the last festival, the armor will not become obsolete once the next expansion is released. The Solstice armor will be the first set to utilize the upcoming Armor 2.0 system from the next expansion.
Once players have earned the legendary variant of a full armor set, they can pick up a customized version with Armor 2.0 from the gunsmith Banshee-44 in Shadowkeep.
It is also possible to hunt for armors with different perks. Once you have the legendary variant of the Solstice armor, you can earn additional armor pieces with various perks through the combat meditation activity.
Finally, there are new armor glow effect sets. While these are only available in the Eververse for Glimmer or Silver, the glow will remain after the summer event.
What is Armor 2.0? Armor 2.0 is a new armor system that, according to Bungie, aims to balance functionality and appearance. Players should have the freedom to choose an armor that looks good and modify it to make it useful.
Normally, the bonuses rotate so that each bonus is repeated every 3rd month. After the egg distance in June and the XP in July, the Stardust bonus should actually follow in August.
That’s why there is no Stardust bonus
What is behind the decision? There is no message from Niantic regarding this. However, it can be assumed that the global challenge in August is behind it.
The global challenge could be behind the decision.
There will be various Stardust bonuses worldwide starting August 13, if sufficient field research has been completed beforehand.
So it would be a second Stardust event in a short period, which seems to be too much for Niantic.
What does this mean for the upcoming Community Days? Since there is no triple Stardust in August, it is likely to happen in September.
At least there has been no extra Stardust at a Community Day since May and the Community Day with Flemmli.
There was more Stardust at the Community Day with Flemmli last time.
What do players say about this? Many players are disappointed about the bonus. After all, they were counting on Stardust, and now they are being offered the reduction of egg distance instead. It is said:
Yes, the global challenges will surely be the reason. I just don’t understand why they couldn’t have two Stardust events two weeks apart. My dust reserves are depleted. 🙁
That’s why it’s strange: Last November, Niantic had a Stardust event and a Community Day with a Stardust bonus running at the same time.
There was six times the dust alongside shiny Cyndaquil. All the more strange is that they broke the cycle of bonuses this time just so that two such events wouldn’t take place in close succession.
What do you think about this? Do you find it unfortunate that there will be no Stardust bonus?
The upcoming survival MMO Citadel: Forged with Fire is leaving its early access status. So far, it has only been playable on Steam. Now it is coming for both PC and PS4 and Xbox One. In line with this, there is a new trailer.
When will Citadel: Forged with Fire be released? On the official website of Citadel, the release is stated to be October 11, 2019.
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This is what makes the game special: Citadel is a survival MMO centered around magic. You play as a wizard who must survive in a foreign world. To help, you are given a variety of spells, can tame magical beings, and build your own castles.
As an MMO, it is also open for you to ally with other players and found powerful houses with which you can engage against other players or simply explore the world together on your flying brooms.
These are the features: Citadel aims to attract players with numerous features that make the game unique. These include:
Magical items: Gloves, wands, axes, and other weapons can be enchanted to serve as a focus for your spells.
Building and crafting: Build massive castles and fortresses and create items to demolish your opponents’ bases.
Houses: Join forces with other players and forge alliances to construct a fortified castle together and increase your power.
Taming and riding: The “Calm” spell allows you to subdue beings like orcs or wolves. Even dragons can be conquered and serve as mounts.
A strong vertical: With enchanted brooms, you can fly through the world – or meet with other players for a game of “Quidditch”.
As a survival MMO, the exploration aspect is also of high importance. Over 36 square kilometers of the magical world are waiting to be explored. Various biomes like forests, swamps, tundra, and mountains provide variety in the surroundings.
This is what is still to come: Citadel has already received several major updates during development. However, early access will continue to be developed. On Steam, some upcoming features have already been announced, including:
even more weapons
new, customizable spells
daily quests
seasonal loot
dungeons and more areas to explore
achievements
The complete list of upcoming features and improvements can be found on Steam.
Will Citadel be good? The developers Blue Isle Studios have already released two games on Steam that the community has rated “very positively”:
The horror game Slender: The Arrival (88% of all reviews positive as of July 25 at 12:30 PM)
The action-adventure Valley (91% of all reviews positive as of July 25 at 12:30 PM)
Citadel itself currently has only a “mixed” rating with 67% positive reviews over its entire lifespan. However, the 77% positive ratings in recent reviews indicate an upward trend.
Will you check out Citadel? Or are you more interested in survival MMOs with different themes?
