Soon, the new Operation “Spectre Rising” will start in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Some fans concluded from a teaser that the Blackout world could be flooded. And this will indeed happen.
Which teaser is it about? A few days ago, Black Ops 4 already teased a new specialist. In the new season, the character Spectre, an old fan-favorite from the third part of the Black Ops series, will make his return.
Although he had only a brief appearance, there is no doubt in the eyes of the fans. They have also been on the lookout for more details. And now some fans think that not only a new character is coming but that the game world of Blackout could also change. But why?
What will be blown up in the teaser? In the short clip, you can see how Spectre stirs up a whole squad of soldiers in a kind of gang or tunnel, and then attaches numerous explosives to a wall. An explosion is not visible, but the tweet says, “The clock is ticking.” Where exactly this scene takes place is unclear.
Spectre
However, some fans are convinced that this corridor is located in the Hydro Dam, that is, in the dam of the Blackout map. They speculate that an explosion inside the dam would create a hole in the structure, potentially leading to massive flooding of the game world.
Is the teaser scene happening inside this dam?
As a result, areas like Rivertown or the train station area could completely or partially disappear underwater. This way, Treyarch could bring fresh air into the Blackout map, which has only been changed with the yacht from Hijacked and the Ghost Town area since its release.
Update April 30 – The dam will indeed break: Fans apparently had their theory right. As Treyarch revealed during the announcement of the new operation, the dam will actually break and the world of Blackout will be flooded in many places. You can find out more here: The new Operation Spectre Rising for Black Ops 4 starts today – Here’s what’s included
When does the new operation start? As officially announced, the new season begins on April 30 – at least on PS4. PC and Xbox One fans will have to wait a week longer.
In Fortnite, a clip of a professional player is currently attracting attention. In it, you can see him eliminate 2 opponents, but it seems like they are intentionally letting themselves be shot.
This is what the clip is about: The professional player “XXiF” is playing a qualification round for the World Cup. There, he gathers some kills, but another clever pro notices something.
The opponents are eliminated with surprisingly little resistance and only shoot back a bit. For the pro “HighSky”, this is too easy. He now accuses XXiF of collaborating with his opponents. They let themselves be eliminated intentionally, so he could qualify for the World Cup, so the accusation goes.
See the clip here – Did the pro cheat?
This is the video: HighSky shares a video of his pro colleague’s gameplay on Twitter. There, he repeatedly switches the view of the players. You can see not only XXiF playing, but also his opponents, who seemingly let themselves be easily defeated.
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This is what the video shows: You can see 3 players landing by a small building, where there is already little loot.
This is what happens to the first opponent: Instead of grabbing a weapon, the player “Bad and Wuji” calmly gathers materials and is then, of course, easily eliminated by XXiF.
This is how it continues with the second player: The second opponent has the same fate. The player “gestyy” glides with his glider through the air for a long time and seems to be just waiting for the first player to be eliminated. Then he lands comfortably on the platform and searches a chest first, even though a weapon lies right next to it.
After being shot at by XXiF, he grabs the weapon, but fires most of his shots into the stone wall in front of the opponent. You can even see him deliberately shooting at the stones.
At the World Cup, it is about 30 million dollars
Does the video prove cheating? So far, there are only indications of cheating. It is unusual for professional players to let themselves be eliminated so easily and to almost wait for the opponent.
If there was cheating here, then the players at least tried to hide it.
This is particularly brazen: The pro XXiF has even qualified for the World Cup. He ranks 2nd in the list of players on the East Coast of North America, directly behind Tfue.
Here you can see XXiF directly behind Tfue during the qualification
What does the community say about it? There is great solidarity here. The community is sure that the 3 players have colluded here. Many pros like Vivid, Svennoss, or Nickmercs have agreed with the video. There must have been cheating.
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How does Epic react? So far, there has been no statement from Epic. If they also believe that there was cheating, they would have to disqualify the players for the World Cup. However, this is now a matter of interpretation for Epic.
Pandemic Express is a new zombie game with survival aspects. The twist in the game is that the zombies are players themselves. When you die, you switch sides – and become significantly stronger.
What is Pandemic Express? Pandemic Express – Zombie Escape is a new zombie game from the indie developers TALLBOYS and tinyBuild. The game involves escaping in a large world using a train or infecting all humans.
In a round, 30 players start, one of whom is randomly infected and thus becomes a zombie. Their task is to infect all other players. Anyone who dies by a zombie becomes a zombie themselves and helps the infected team.
The humans must reach a train that will take them out of the world. If they reach the train and survive there long enough, they win. Along the way, they find weapons, equipment, and ammunition to defend themselves.
As more players become zombies, Pandemic Express is reminiscent of the children’s game “Black Man,” where two groups run towards each other to switch sides, and anyone caught by the “Black Men” switches to their side.
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These are the features: Pandemic Express offers some features that are typical or more common in zombie survival games, such as:
Airdrops to help the humans
various weapons such as shotguns, SMGs, and pistols
However, Pandemic Express also does many things differently. In particular, zombie players get a wide range of features designed to make the gameplay more interesting:
Zombie players have various abilities to hunt humans
Zombies can throw other zombies to reach remote locations
if a zombie is killed by a human, they simply respawn
the more frequently a zombie respawns, the higher their chance of gaining an “Ultra Ability”
Especially the last point sets Pandemic Express apart from many other zombie games. The “Ultra Abilities” are things like explosions upon death or stealth. This is somewhat akin to special zombies in other games like Left4Dead or the recently released World War Z. However, players also get these abilities to infect humans.
The respawn mechanic is also intended to make the game more interesting. Once the humans reach the train, zombies reappear on the path. This allows them to stop the humans on the moving train again before they escape.
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When will Pandemic Express be released? Pandemic Express is set to enter Early Access on Steam starting May 2, 2019. A price is not yet known. You can also find more info about the game on the official website.
The community outcry from Dead by Daylight helped. Some planned nerfs to the killer “The Pig” were rolled back.
When the developers of Dead by Daylight introduced the “Endgame Collapse” a few days ago, they also announced some adjustments to the killer “The Pig” (also known as Amanda Young). These were so unpopular with the community, that there was a huge outcry on social media. This apparently had success, as the developers are now backtracking.
What was supposed to change: Behaviour wanted to change the reversed bear traps (RBTs). When they are inactive, they no longer prevent a survivor from leaving the map – previously, this would result in immediate death. Additionally, the timer was not supposed to expire as long as the survivor is within the killer’s terror radius. Those would have been two significant nerfs for The Pig.
How the nerf is being softened: The last change will be reversed. This means that the timer of the RBTs will also expire when the survivor is within the killer’s terror radius. However, nothing changes in the chase – here the timer continues to pause, so that no survivor can be driven directly to death by the trap.
The hashtag “PrayForAmanda” was successful: On Reddit, especially the hashtag “#PrayForAmanda” helped, under which many fans had published their artworks of the killer. The community was particularly “loud” this time, and the success seems to confirm their efforts. Complaints and the many posts in the Dead by Daylight subreddit apparently helped the developers reconsider the nerfs.
Possible buffs for Amanda in the future: Additionally, the developers want to keep an eye on The Pig after the patch is released. If her performance significantly declines due to the endgame collapse, some buffs may follow. But they want to wait and see first.
Do you think it’s good that part of the nerfs is being rolled back? Or is “The Pig” too strong and deserved these adjustments more than ever?
What’s going on with The Division 1 lately, more than a month after the release of The Division 2? Here are the numbers from the last months.
What has been happening in The Division 1? Since its release over 3 years ago, The Division 1 has gone through some really good and some rather mediocre phases.
However, the game has managed to establish a predominantly stable player base. On February 4th, the peak player count on Steam temporarily reached 21,055 players. Not bad for a 3-year-old game.
The numbers of The Division 1 after the release of part 2
How does the release of The Division 2 affect it? Around March, the peak numbers fluctuated between 4000 and 7000+ players. Even the release of The Division 2 did not immediately lead to a drop in numbers.
It wasn’t until March 24th (the maximum player count was around 6000 players) that the tide turned.
A possible reason could be that many Division 1 players wanted to wait for feedback before switching. Once that feedback turned positive, more and more players might have made the switch.
On April 22nd, the peak count finally fell to 2365 players. On April 29th, the numbers were only 1886 players, a low point since the release on March 7, 2016.
What about the other platforms? Unfortunately, there is no data available for Uplay, Xbox One, and PS4. Therefore, one has to infer the activity on the other platforms from the Steam numbers.
Since there are more console players, one can expect higher player numbers here. Nevertheless, the general activity is likely to have declined.
The graph of player numbers from release until today. Source: Steam Database
If The Division 1 doesn’t receive new content out of the blue, it is unlikely that the numbers will rise again. Rather, they are likely to continue to decline.
However, there is a possibility that some loyal players will stick around or even play both Division installments in parallel. In the meantime, some new agents will probably still wander into snowy New York.
More numbers regarding The Division 1:
In March 2018, Ubisoft announced on the 2nd anniversary of The Division 1 that the game has around 20 million players.
The Ground Event in Pokémon GO is in full swing and brings new raid bosses with it. There you have the chance to catch many rare ground-type shinies.
What rare shinies are there? Especially in 1-star raids, you have the chance to find many shinies. Pokémon like Sandshrew or Geodude are among the rarest shinies in the game.
In addition to these shinies, there are also other interesting raid bosses, such as Flunkifer, Absol, or Alolan Marowak. Additionally, Groudon returns as a legendary raid boss in the arenas.
These are the raid bosses for the Ground Event
Tyranitar and Exeggutor are among the current raid bosses
These are the bosses: In keeping with the Ground Event, there are mainly ground Pokémon. Most of these Pokémon have already been available in raids. There is no real surprise here.
Shiny Sandshrew can currently be obtained from raids
The positive aspect of these raid bosses is the high number of possible shinies. You can obtain the following Pokémon in their shiny form:
Sandshrew
Geodude
Whismur
Trubbish
Shinx
Flunkifer
Drifloon
Alolan Raichu
Alolan Marowak
Absol
This is what you should pay attention to: You should particularly pay attention to the 1-star raids if you want shinies. Among them, Geodude, which is very rare in its shiny form. In the wild, the Pokémon is mostly found in its Alolan form, which cannot be shiny.
Shiny Geodude can be found not only in the wild but also in raids.
How long will the raid bosses stay? These bosses are exclusively for the Ground Event. The event ends on May 2nd, so the bosses will also disappear then. If you want to raid, you should do it in the next few days.
What is your favorite? Are you excited about the numerous possible shinies?
3 legendary Pokémon cannot be found in raids but can be caught in the wild:
The MMO New World by Amazon is still under strict NDA. However, there has been a new leak on YouTube. This mainly shows the heavily revised start of the game.
What is new in New World? At our press event in Berlin, the player experience started directly with a pre-made character in the game world. However, the latest leak from Scandinavian YouTuber J Serano shows an intro sequence and a company and character creation.
In addition, the MMO now has a tutorial mode that explains the main features of the game. Players had expressed the desire for an easier start multiple times, as we were told by the developers in Berlin.
https://youtu.be/lAUnXohqDgk
Three Steps to Create Your Character
What type is your character? At the beginning of character creation, you see a video sequence. During this, you are on a ship on your journey to the New World.
There you also start with creating a backstory. Four different character types are available:
The Fighter
The Sharpshooter
The Crafter
The Explorer
New World is a sandbox MMO, and you determine your playstyle by equipping the appropriate gear. In this menu, you don’t choose a class.
Therefore, we do not know whether and what advantages and disadvantages a certain choice of character type has. As can be seen from the screenshot, everything is still in an early development phase.
The four character types in New World from the Alpha (Image from the video)
The Company Selection: In the second step of character creation, you choose your company. You can create your own individual logo.
Under this banner, you have embarked on your journey to the New World.
Character creation in New World (Image from the video)
A Smoother Start to the Game
The new tutorial in New World explains the most important steps into the game. This includes movements, as well as fighting, gathering items, or eating and drinking.
Although not eating does not lead to death in New World, there are benefits when you take care of your character. This way, you regenerate health and stamina faster when your belly is well filled.
The tutorial of New World (Image from the video)
New Alpha Invitations
New players are regularly invited to the Alpha of New World. A new large wave was sent out on April 26. If you haven’t signed up for the Alpha yet, we tell you everything important about it here.
In addition, we have already spent a few hours with New World. Here are our most important findings:
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is an MMORPG that was officially shut down in 2013. Today, 6 years later, thousands of players are still playing, sometimes simultaneously. It is larger than some other MMORPGs that are still operational.
What is Warhammer Online? Warhammer Online was – or is – an MMORPG set in the popular Warhammer universe, specifically in the franchise’s fantasy setting. It is somewhat of Warhammer’s answer to World of Warcraft.
In Warhammer Online, the factions Order and Destruction fight against each other. The focus of the game is on the so-called “Realm vs Realm”, meaning large PvP battles and common objectives, known from still-played classics like Dark Age of Camelot.
The playable classes follow a “Career” system. These are specific roles such as Tank, Healer, Melee and Ranged DPS. The actual “Classes” are only open to the respective Race as an option and may be familiar to some players as classes from Vermintide 2.
Slayers are present in both Vermintide 2 and Warhammer Online
“Return of Reckoning” is currently operated by a team of 24 members who take care of both community management and ongoing development and patches. Even a German support helps in some areas.
How big is Warhammer Online: Although this project is a fan-operated private project that is unofficial, several thousand players are playing “Return of Reckoning.”
As the Polish site mmorpg.org.pl reports, at one time 1379 players were simultaneously playing “Return of Reckoning,” causing the server capacity to be increased to 1500.
“Return of Reckoning” is thus larger than some still running MMORPGs like Bless, which according to current status according to steamcharts can muster just 633 players at the same time. (As of April 30 at 12:45 PM)
Not only projects like Warhammer Online sometimes have to shut down, but also large MMORPGs:
A small patch is nerfing the last boss in World of Warcraft in the Crucible of Storms. Will there be a World First Kill soon?
Actually, the Crucible of Storms is just a small interim raid that shouldn’t hold players back for long. However, the “Mythic First Kill” of the end boss Uu’nat is still pending. Since the fight in its current form seems to be too hard, Blizzard has now made some adjustments.
How Uu’nat was changed: The following adjustments were made to the raid boss Uu’nat:
On Mythic difficulty, Uu’nat no longer casts Rupture of Forgetting immediately after casting Unstable Resonance.
On Mythic difficulty, N’zoth’s Eyes are now cast further away in time from Unstable Resonance.
The duration of Unstable Resonance has been increased from 12 to 15 seconds.
Uu’nat with the three relics.
What the changes mean: In summary, the adjustments give players a little more time to react to different mechanics and make necessary preparations.
However, there is also a downside. Due to the shift in casting times, N’zoth’s Eyes are now more dangerous and particularly pose a greater problem in the final phase of the fight. There, raids have to endure more damage.
In summary, the changes are therefore both a nerf and a buff – which one prevails remains to be seen.
Uu’nat is deadlier than Jaina: It is also interesting to note that Uu’nat is already a deadlier boss than Jaina Proudmoore in the previous raid “Battle of Dazar’alor”. There, Jaina fell after 346 attempts by the guild Method. For comparison: Uu’nat has now been attempted roughly 500 times by Method. The best attempt was at 24.5%. So about three-quarters of the fight is mastered.
Some guilds are not participating “properly”: Some professional guilds, such as Limit or Method, are not going all out in the Crucible of Storms. For them, this “interim raid” is not really a race. They are already focusing on the next raid, Azshara’s Eternal Palace. Some of the boss fights are already being tested on the PTR of Patch 8.2 Azshara’s Rise.
Some players are also participating in the Dungeon Tournament (MDI) and therefore can only raid to a limited extent or not at all.
So far, Uu’nat has proven to be significantly more stubborn than players or Blizzard expected. Whether further nerfs will be necessary or if the adjustments are now sufficient for a First Kill will be shown in the coming days.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The joint project of Marvel and Square Enix, Avengers Project, is still shrouded in silence. However, developer Eidos Montreal is bringing more and more new employees on board.
What is happening at Eidos? In the Canadian headquarters of Square Enix and Eidos in Montreal, there are major expansions going on in 2019. The office in Canada, with over 700 employees, is already considered the largest subsidiary of Square outside of Japan, but it is set to expand even further:
Over 100 new jobs for Square Enix Montreal and Eidos Montreal in 2019
Expansion of office space by almost 1,000 m² (currently about 5,000 m²). It would be almost as large as the White House
New studio for motion capture and image measurement
New studio for mixing and voice recording
New department for market and user research
These are all upgrades that the MMO Avengers Project could benefit from. The expansion is scheduled to take place sometime in 2019.
What is the status of Avengers Project? The collaboration between Square Enix and Marvel was announced back in early 2017. It is expected to be a huge project that encompasses multiple games.
At the beginning of 2018, the developers Eidos and Crystal Dynamics posted various new job listings online, mainly for leading positions in development and management areas.
So far, all information regarding what exactly fans can expect from Avengers Project has been kept under wraps. Based on the job postings for Avengers Project, it is suspected that it is an MMO, but exact information is still lacking.
When could new information arrive? Recently, Square Enix confirmed its presence at E3 2019.
However, unlike publishers such as Bethesda or Microsoft, they have not yet said a word about which Square Enix games we can expect at E3.
It is possible that fans will finally receive more information about the Avengers Project after a two-year wait.
In The Division 2 there are many active and passive talents for your weapons and gear. This is our overview.
The Division 2 is a complex loot game that also involves building characters. All weapons and most gear pieces have talents with different advantages.
Here we list all active and passive talents for you. The list also includes recent changes from the test servers, where the new Title Update 3 is currently being tested.
[toc]
The Attribute Categories
This is how talents work: In your gear there are active and general talents. Active talents usually need to be unlocked and require a specific composition of your gear.
These are the attribute categories: This is determined by attribute categories into which the stats and mods are divided:
Attack (Red)
Defense (Blue)
Additional (Yellow)
Values with attack attributes include, for example, all offensive stats like crit damage or weapon damage. Which talents are activated depends on your attribute distribution.
Active talents often have requirements that you must meet. Be it the attribute requirements or specific weapons that must be used.
All active talents
Calculated (Calculated)
Description: Kills from cover reduce the active cooldown of skills by 20%.
Requirements: 7 or more additional attributes
Equipment Part: Knee pads
Berserk (Berserk)
Description: +10% weapon damage for every 10% of maximum armor destroyed
Requirement: Equipped with a shotgun, SMG, or assault rifle
Equipment Part: Vest
PTS Change – Minimum value of destroyed armor increases from 10% to 20%.
Requires at least 7 attack attributes
Bloodlust (Bloodlust)
Description: A weapon switch within 3 seconds after a kill increases weapon damage by +25% for 10 seconds.
Requirement: 4 or more defense attributes
Equipment Part: Holster
PTS Change –PvE: Weapon damage increased by 35%. Effect now lasts only 5 seconds.
PvP: Weapon damage is only increased by 20%. Again, the effect is reduced to a 5-second duration
Requires 9 attack attributes
Bloodsucker(Bloodsucker)
Description: Destroying armor grants a stackable armor bonus of +20% for 20 seconds. The maximum stack size is 5.
Requirement: 7 or more defense attributes
Equipment Part: Vest
Mad Bomber (Mad Bomber)
Description: Grenades have a 150% increased blast radius and are refunded if you kill an enemy with them.
Requirement: 4 or more additional attributes
Equipment Part: Vest
Efficient (Efficient)
Description: Using a repair kit has a 50% chance not to be consumed.
Requirement: No other talents active that affect the repair kits
Equipment Part: Backpack
Dialed In (Dialed In)
Description: While aiming, weapon stability increases by 25% of your weapon precision.
Requirement: –
Equipment Part: Mask
Fill’er Up (Fill’er Up)
Description: Reloading an empty magazine reloads all weapons.
Requirement: –
Equipment Part: Holster
Spotter (Spotter)
Description: +10% weapon damage to enemies marked by the pulse
Requirement: –
Equipment Part: Mask
PTS Change – Damage increased from +10% to +20%. Requires 5 additional attributes
Braced (Braced)
Description: +25% better weapon handling when in cover.
Requirement: –
Equipment Part: Knee pads
Patience (Patience)
Description: After staying in cover for 3 seconds, your armor repairs itself by 5% every second
Requirement: 7 or more defense attributes
Equipment Part: Knee pads
PTS Change – You must now stay in cover for at least 5 seconds. Requires 6 or more defense attributes
Clutch (Clutch)
Description: Crit hits heal 15% health points and repair 2% armor
Requirement: Can only be activated with SMG, assault rifle, or LMG
Equipment Part: Gloves
PTS Change – Healing of health points increased to 20%, armor repair reduced to 1% )
To Order (To Order)
Description: Grenade throwing can be delayed by holding down the throw button. But be careful, it can explode in your hands.
Requirement: –
Equipment Part: Gloves
On the Ropes (On the Ropes)
Description: Weapon damage increases by 25% when all skills are on cooldown or used up.
Requirement: 7 or more additional attributes
Equipment Part: Backpack
Knee Cap (Knee Cap)
Description: Shots to the legs have a 10% chance to inflict the status effect “Bleeding Wound”.
Requirement: 4 or fewer additional attributes
Equipment Part: Gloves
PTS Change – Chance for bleeding wounds increased to 15%
Compensated(Compensated)
Description: Weapon damage is increased by a low chance of critical hits.
Requirement: 3 or fewer attack attributes
Equipment Part: Gloves
Centered (Centered)
Description: Headshot kills grant a status effect immunity for 10 seconds.
Requirement: 4 or more defense attributes
Equipment Part: Mask
Reassigned (Reassigned)
Description: When killing an enemy affected by a status effect, you receive 3 rounds of random special ammunition for your handgun. Can occur every 45 seconds.
Requirement: –
Equipment Part: Holster
Wicked (Wicked)
Description: +10% weapon damage against enemies affected by status effects. 4 or more attack attributes
Requirement: –
Equipment Part: Gloves
Opportunistic (Opportunistic)
Description: Destroying an enemy’s weak point or armor increases damage taken by +10% from all sources for 20 seconds.
Requirement: Shotgun or sniper rifle must be equipped
Equipment Part: Gloves
Gunslinger (Gunslinger)
Description: Switching to the handgun within 3 seconds after a kill fills its magazine with bullets and grants +20% weapon damage for the entire magazine.
Requirement: 5 or fewer additional attributes
Equipment Part: Holster
Creeping Death (Creeping Death)
Description: Status effects spread to the next enemy within 10 m. Can occur once every 15 seconds.
Requirement: 4 or fewer attack attributes
Equipment Part: Mask
Blacksmith(Blacksmith)
Description: Killing an enemy with the handgun repairs 25% of your armor. Can occur every 10 seconds)
Requirement: 5 or more defense attributes
Equipment Part: Holster
PTS Changes – Repair is increased to 50%. Can occur every 15 seconds.
7 or more defense attributes
Trauma (Trauma)
Description: Headshot kills with semi-automatic weapons have a 15% chance to dazzle enemies.
Requirement: Rifle or sniper rifle equipped
Equipment Part: Mask
Safeguard (Safeguard)
Description: Eliminating an enemy grants a 150% bonus to repair and healing effects for 20 seconds.
Requirement: 4 or fewer attack attributes
Equipment Part: Backpack
PTS Changes – Duration reduced to 5 seconds. Can only occur every 20 seconds (This was already the case, now displayed in the description)
Skilled (Skilled)
Description: On kills with skills, there is a 25% chance to reset ongoing cooldowns of skills.
Requirement: 6 or more additional attributes
Equipment Part: Backpack
Tech Support (Tech Support)
Description: Kills by active skills grant +25% skill damage for 10 seconds.
Requirement: 6 or more additional attributes
Equipment Part: Backpack
Terminate (Terminate)
Description: Ruining an enemy’s armor grants +35% skill damage for 15 seconds.
Requirement: 5 or more additional attributes
Equipment Part: Gloves
Unstoppable Force (Unstoppable Force)
Description: Killing an enemy grants 2% weapon damage per 10,000 points of maximum armor)
Requirement: –
Equipment Part: Vest
PTS Changes – PvE: Killing a target grants +2% weapon damage per 25,000 armor.
PvP: Killing a target grants +1% weapon damage per 25,000 armor for 7 or more defense attributes
Unbreakable (Unbreakable)
Description: When your armor is destroyed, 25% of max armor is repaired and using a repair kit in the next 5 seconds does not consume the repair kit)
Requirement: Only active when no other talents are active that affect the repair kits
Equipment Part: Vest
PTS Changes – PvE: Instead of 25%, 70% of max armor is repaired. Repair kits are not consumed for 7 seconds.
PvP: Repair increased from 15% to 25% of max armor. Repair kits are not consumed for 7 seconds.
Cloaked (Cloaked)
Description: When your armor is destroyed, the skills of nearby enemies are disrupted for 10 seconds. Can occur every 30 seconds.
Requirement: 5 or more additional attributes
Equipment Part: Knee pads
Obliterate (Obliterate)
Description: Destroying an enemy’s armor increases critical hit damage by +25% for 5 seconds.
Requirement: 4 or more attack attributes
Equipment Part: Gloves
Entrench (Entrench)
Description: Headshot hits from cover repair 5% of your armor)
Requirement: Rifle or sniper rifle equipped
Equipment Part: Knee pads
PTS Changes – Repair increased to 10%
Payload (Payload)
Description: Destroying an enemy’s skill helper grants +50% explosion damage for 15 seconds. 4 or fewer defense attributes
What are gear sets? Currently, there are 3 gear sets in the game. Each has several set bonuses. The more pieces you equip, the more of the bonuses will be activated.
These are the 3 gear sets:
Activated Directive
True Patriot
Hard Wired
These are the bonuses of the “Activated Directive” set:
2 parts: +20% weapon handling
3 parts: 25% incendiary damage
4 parts: 25% bleeding damage
5 parts – Talent “Emergency Requisition”: Every 30 seconds, combat resources (repair kits, ammunition, grenades) are automatically collected in a 40-meter radius around the player.
6 parts – Talent “The Right Tool…”: Kills with a weapon add special ammunition to one of your other weapons (fire, explosion, or shock). (Shock does not apply in normalized PvP!)
These are the bonuses of the “True Patriot” set:
2 parts: +10% armor damage
3 parts: +10% protection against elite enemies
4 parts: +10% total armor
5 parts – Talent “Red, White, and Blue”: When you shoot an enemy, they receive a debuff. The debuffs are applied in the order red/white/blue, switching every 4 seconds. Red reduces the damage the target can inflict. White refills the armor of the allied shooter with each bullet that hits the target. Blue grants allies a cooldown reduction after a hit.
6 parts – Talent “The Full Flag”: When an enemy is hit while debuffs in all three colors are active, other nearby enemies with at least one debuff also suffer 25% damage.
These are the bonuses of the “Hard Wired” set:
2 parts:20% skill health
3 parts: +20% increased duration of “Shock”
4 parts: +20% skill power
5 parts – Talent “Sabotaged”: Electrify your deployed skills (drone stock, turret, pulse generator) to shock enemies that come too close. Can occur every 10 seconds. (Shock does not apply in normalized PvP!)
6 parts – Talent “Feedback”: Kills through skills reset the cooldown of your other skill. Repairing the armor of a allied agent that is at zero resets all of your skill cooldowns. Can occur every 15 seconds. When a skill has completed its cooldown (or is fully charged), a damage and repair bonus for all skills occurs for 15 seconds.
Before the launch of Anthem, BioWare made a major promise: players should never have to tackle activities in the action RPG alone through matchmaking. However, reports are currently increasing that freelancers often find themselves without a full group.
This was intended to give them an edge over the competition: While Destiny and Destiny 2 also have matchmaking, it only covers activities like PvP or strikes. For endgame content like raids, players must find teammates in other ways.
Anthem wanted to circumvent this situation and introduced matchmaking for all activities, whether they are story missions, contracts, or strongholds.
Do players increasingly have to face opponents alone?
Why is this a problem? Currently, reports are piling up from players who, even through matchmaking, cannot find teammates or only manage to get partial groups.
Some freelancers write that it especially affects the higher difficulty levels GM2 and GM3. Other players report that it becomes particularly difficult to find players during off-hours.
What happens if no players are found? When you sign up for an activity in Anthem, suitable players are searched for. After a while, you enter the desired mission – regardless of whether enough teammates are available or not.
As a result, it can happen that you start a mission completely alone. However, other players can still join a few minutes after the activity has started.
Players are reportedly preferring to repeat a stronghold rather than play other activities.
What do the players say? Some players have participated in the discussion and provided various answers as to why there are problems with matchmaking:
Some freelancers indicate that they have always received too few teammates through matchmaking. This issue is reportedly present from the very beginning on PC.
Others say they currently are not playing and are waiting for the situation in Anthem to improve. They are waiting for changes to loot and bug fixes.
Some other players believe that there is actually no problem with player numbers. Players would only focus on the activities where they could farm loot efficiently. This would include the stronghold “Heart of Rage” on the GM1 difficulty. All other activities would not yield enough loot or take too long, making them uninteresting for players.
Finally, a new stronghold was added to Anthem. Here’s how players are receiving it:
Hearthstone wants to become more attractive for fans again – especially in eSports and on Twitch. Therefore, they are trying out a new format in eSports that forces players to use specialized decks.
The eSports of Hearthstone is struggling a bit. This is not only said by the view counts on Twitch, but also by Sam Braithwaite, the Esports Franchise Lead of Hearthstone.
This is why they want to experiment and try out a new format. The hope is that players will become more interested in eSports again and be able to identify more with the game situations.
This is how it has been so far: So far, the “Conquest” format was used. Players had to bring three decks with different heroes and win at least one match with each deck. Whoever won with a hero had to switch to one of their other decks afterward. The loser could stay with their deck.
This is how the new format works: In the “Specialist” format, each player can only compete with one class – they must specialize. Overall, they bring three decks of their chosen class to each tournament.
The primary deck has no restrictions. It can be built freely from all currently valid Standard cards.
The secondary and tertiary decks may differ from the primary deck. However, each may only differ by 5 cards. In other words: The secondary and tertiary decks must each contain 25 cards from the primary deck.
Do you think the new format is good? Is it a good idea that each player must focus on a type of deck? Or does this harm eSports instead?
This is how a match proceeds: In a duel, both players must compete with their primary deck in the first round. After that, they can freely choose from their three decks – either switch to the secondary or tertiary deck or stay with the primary deck. The opponent does not know in advance which deck was chosen.
The games then repeat until a winner is determined (usually a “Best of 3” or “Best of 5”)
Spectators should find easier access: For spectators, eSports in Hearthstone is different than in games like MOBAs, shooters, or real-time strategies, as explained by the eSports head of Hearthstone. It is much easier to empathize with the professionals’ situations and they try to learn from the professionals’ decisions.
After all, as a player, you encounter the same situations. Moreover, it feels good when you anticipate the move the professional will make – you feel validated and good for having recognized that step beforehand.
This educational aspect is an especially important detail and a reason why many viewers tune into Hearthstone streams at all: they want to learn from the professionals.
The format should also help eSports newcomers: At the same time, the “Specialist” format makes it easier for new players to take the step into eSports. For many, it has been a hurdle to come up with four or even five completely different decks to compete with multiple classes. Many players just want to play one deck or one class that they enjoy playing in their free time.
Even the professionals have often criticized that the preparation is significantly greater when so many decks are required – especially when a tournament takes place immediately after the release of a new expansion.
This is how fans react to the new format: However, the Specialist format has already had to face a lot of criticism beforehand. In the comments under the presentation of the format, fans are concerned that there will only be one archetype per tournament.
That would mean a large part of the matches would be decided before the game even begins. Whether this will really be the case remains to be seen.
However, the new “Specialist” format is only an experiment for now. If it turns out in a few months that the format is boring and does not have the desired effect, they want to explore other options – according to Braithwaite, they still have several alternatives in store.
Do you think the new format is good? Is it a good idea that each player must focus on a type of deck? Or does this harm eSports instead?
Standing Stone Games, the developers of the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, have big plans for 2019. That’s why there is no anniversary mount. Fans are excited to see what is coming.
What have the developers announced? In a live stream, it was mentioned that the developers of LotRO have very big plans for this year. Some details were specified:
A raid for Minas Morgul is planned.
In this raid, the players will likely not encounter the giant spider Kankra. The developers seem to reserve this for another story content.
The wizard Radagast is supposed to play a role.
The valley of Anduin will be accessible through Lothlórien, the Misty Mountains, and the woodland portal of Mirkwood. This will create a long-desired connection between the zones.
The housing in Rohan is in the works.
The 64-bit client is well advanced and should soon be deployed to the test server.
Plans for content after the upcoming update 24 are already in place.
Disappointment over missing anniversary mount
How are the fans reacting to this? Basically, the players of The Lord of the Rings Online are satisfied with this announcement and are very curious to find out what this year will still bring. Housing is something that is being talked about a lot. Some fans are looking forward to it.
However, there is also disappointment. To implement the big plans for 2019, this year’s anniversary mount had to be canceled. This decision is not well received by everyone.
ZoneTripper stated in the official forum: “Mounts as rewards for events and anniversaries are a long-standing tradition in LotRO. If you had explained it better, it would have been a different matter. But now it seems as though the developers are just doing less than usual. “
Players are at least wishing for some form of mount reward for the anniversary. Vouchers or discounts, for example.
A summary of the story would be nice
What else do the players wish for? A wish from the community is the possibility of summarizing the previous story in some form.
The story has become so extensive that it is hard to remember everything. One suggestion is to introduce an NPC who discusses the heroes’ past deeds with them.
There is also a wish to receive an even higher level cap. After level 120, some boredom sets in. Players want new goals to continue playing and improving their heroes.
Players who work their way up the rankings in Overwatch with a rating of over 4000 land in the Grandmaster tier. Blizzard is planning a major change for these players starting from Season 16.
This is what will change: Starting from Season 16, Grandmaster players will only be able to team up in groups of a maximum of two players, meaning they will play “Duo” matches.
This change applies to all players whose Season Rating (SR) is over 4000 in the current season. It affects only a small percentage of players.
The change will take effect between today, April 30, and the next day after Season 15 ends and Season 16 begins.
What is the purpose of the change? The Principal Designer of Overwatch, Scott Mercer, has written a post on the official Overwatch forum discussing the reasons for the change:
in the Grandmaster tier, there are often too few players for equally sized groups
this makes it more difficult to ensure fair games in this tier
the change is intended to help in this regard
Some fans have also found another, more pragmatic reason. This change makes “boosting” more difficult or even impossible.
Through “boosting,” weaker players, often for payment, can be “pulled up” by Grandmasters in their group to win games and receive an SR that does not correspond to their skill level.
A different type of “boosting” would be to have a professional directly play on an account. Such practices are penalized with prison sentences in countries like Korea. But the change by Blizzard helps here as well since the matches will generally be fairer, and Grandmasters cannot simply overwhelm opponents on unfamiliar accounts in the higher tier.
Boosting will now be more difficult.
How do Grandmasters react? Most players are welcoming the change, even those affected. Professional player Jake “JAKE” Lyon from the Overwatch League is pleased about it:
When asked why this is good, Jake replied that teams of three or more players in the already small player pool of Grandmasters leads to imbalances in game balance. They would therefore often be one-sided.
What do you think about the change?
Another new feature is the Workshop in Overwatch, which has already produced many crazy game modes:
In Pokémon GO there have been increasing reports about the new Pokémon Schalellos during the night. However, after a few minutes, the Schalellos-euphoria came to an end as the Pokémon disappeared again.
This is what players reported: One hour, after the release of the legendary lake trio, Schalellos also entered the game. While the lake trio can still be caught, Schalellos is no longer available now.
It took only a few minutes for Niantic to apparently notice the mistake and stop the spawn. However, there has been no official statement from the developers regarding this.
Schalellos in the Wild – What We Know
What we know about the spawns: In those few minutes, players caught both forms of Schalellos – in every region. It was assumed that Schalellos would become a regional Pokémon since it appears in two different forms.
Both forms of Schalellos were caught in the same location. Source: Reddit
Both forms were caught at the same locations. At least at that time there was no regional Schalellos.
Will the Pokémon return? So far, nothing is known about that. However, it is evident that Niantic has this Pokémon ready for release. They just need to pull a lever and the Pokémon will spawn. That lever was apparently mistakenly pulled during the night.
However, since some players now own this Pokémon, it can only be a matter of time before the Pokémon is officially released.
If Schalellos is released properly, it could actually be distributed across two regions. Since it was merely a false release so far, Niantic can change quite a bit about it.
Schalellos can then be evolved into Gastrodon
This is what makes Schalellos special now: If you have caught a Schalellos, you currently possess one of the rarest Pokémon in the game. After all, Schalellos was only available for a few minutes in Pokémon GO, and only a handful of players own such a Pokémon.
Currently, the Ground Event is also still running. Here are the bonuses:
In the shop of Fortnite today on April 30th, you can find a new Marvel skin: Star Lord. For an additional 500 V-Bucks, you can buy the Dance-Off emote that looks really cool. We will show you the new items here.
What’s new? The shop of Fortnite now offers, on April 30th, the new Star-Lord outfit. Additionally, there’s the new Dance-Off emote that lets you dance like Star Lord’s distraction move.
What does the Star Lord outfit look like? In Fortnite, the skin looks like this:
How much does the skin cost? For 1,500 V-Bucks, you get the outfit including the gear. This means that the back accessory is included.
For Avengers fans, here’s a hot tip: If you look closely, you can even see Groot dangling from the back accessory.
On the left side of the back accessory, you can find the little Groot
What does the Dance-Off emote look like? With the Dance-Off emote, Fortnite showcases the perfect distraction move of the superhero. Maybe you can distract opponents who want to take you down with this move.
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In the Destiny 2 community, Titans are currently lamenting their situation. They feel useless in the endgame content right now. Hunters and Warlocks can do everything Titans can, only better.
This is why Titans are complaining: Currently, there are more posts from sad Titan players in the Destiny subreddit. They feel powerless and useless. Especially in PvE content, they hardly seem to have a place anymore.
In the endgame, like the raids, the other classes simply do a better job. Titans are only expected to serve as debuff bots by using the Hammer Strike from the Sunbreaker to weaken enemies.
But even that is challenged by Hunters: The Spectral Blades Hunter, introduced with the Forsaken expansion, can also weaken enemies with Shatter Strike. And that without any cooldown.
The better Titans? Spectral Blades Hunters.
This is what players are saying: Some players agree with the current plight of Titans – including Warlocks and Hunters. Guardians wish for times when each class had its rightful place in the game.
It is remembered that in Destiny 1, during the King’s Fall raid against Oryx, one was stranded without Titans and their bubble. That Titans are only needed as Hammer Strike types would feel like the predecessor title when Warlocks could only play the Solar Focus.
Solar Warlocks had a super in Destiny 1 that allowed them to self-revive. This was often used and appreciated in raids.
Some Titans even report being kicked out of raids or excluded because their teammates preferred to take more Hunters and Warlocks along.
Are the exotic items to blame? The topic was also addressed by Datto in a video. He sees the weakness of the Titans’ situation partly attributed to the weak exotic items.
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For instance, Hunters and Warlocks have some gear that enhances their abilities and supers in many ways. The Helm of Saint-14 gives the Solar Hunter’s Golden Gun a significant damage boost. The Warlock helmet Skull of Dire Ahamkara is a must-have for Nova Warlocks and was recently buffed.
There are also enough Exotics for other subclasses that enhance Hunters and Warlocks in many ways and make them important team members in endgame content.
According to Datto, the only Exotic for Titans that would come close to the great items for the other classes is the Doomfang Paunche.
Do you find Titans in Destiny 2 currently useless as well?
A new trailer for Borderlands 3 shows first information about the skill trees. We reveal how the skill trees will look.
There is not much information known about Borderlands 3 yet, but slowly but surely more details are coming to light. In a short trailer explaining in-game loot for viewers on Twitch, there was a first look at the skill tree of Amara, the Siren in Borderlands 3.
Classic skill tree with equipable skills: The first look reveals many similarities to its predecessor Borderlands 2. It seems that each character will have three different skill trees. The first skill point is an augmentation of the respective character’s special ability. Additional skills then unlock passive bonuses or provide extra “augmentations,” which must be equipped and are therefore limited.
Details from Amara’s skill trees: The Siren Amara will have three different skill trees, the names of which are already known:
Brawl
Mystical Assault
Fist of the Elements
The symbols at the bottom suggest that you can only equip one upgrade of this type at a time.
The first skills of Mystical Assault: Initial skills from the skill tree can also already be read:
The first augmentation from the skill tree of “Mystical Assault” is “Phasecast”: Amara sends out an astral projection of herself that damages all enemies in her path.
Passive improvements include “Do Harm”: Each time Amara kills an enemy, she gains a stack of “Rush.” When Phasecast is activated, the stacks are consumed, and the ability deals more damage per stack.
Another ability is “Violent Tapestry”: Here, Amara receives a stack of “Rush” every time she triggers an elemental effect. When activating Phasecast, all stacks are consumed, which temporarily increases Amara’s chance to trigger elemental effects.
What we can conclude: The interface already allows some conclusions about gameplay and talent selection. Not all abilities will be combinable. Since each skill tree has some “upgrades” for the ability that must be equipped, there will probably be a choice. For example, if you equip “Upgrade A” from the first skill tree, you probably cannot simultaneously equip “Upgrade B” from the second skill tree.
Passive skills, on the other hand, which do not need to be equipped, seem to be able to stack without any problems.
More information about the skill trees will surely be available tomorrow, on May 1st. Selected streamers will then be able to get their hands on the game for the first time and get an impression of the characters, the weapons, and of course the talents.
Please keep in mind that Borderlands 3 will not be released for several months. Many details may change before then.
Are you excited about Borderlands 3 and the different skill trees of the characters? Have you already decided on a character?
The bad news surrounding the developer studio Riot Games just keeps coming. The League of Legends creators have been sued by female employees for alleged discrimination and now a strike is supposedly looming.
Where is the information from? The site Waypoint has received news from the internal Slack of Riot Games. It mentions that a strike has been on the horizon at Riot Games for some time and the mood has intensified in recent days.
A response from Angela Roseborough, some sort of equality officer at Riot Games, has also been made public through Waypoint.
What is the lawsuit about? In Summer 2018, a report about the work culture at the LoL developer Riot Games was published. This report spoke of sexism in the workplace. Especially women reportedly suffered under a macho culture that the tech company cultivated.
However, it is said that there is a clause in the employment contracts of Riot Games that prohibits employees from suing their employer. Allegedly, employees commit to resolving disputes internally.
The lawyer of the two women now wants to take action against this clause. According to him, employees are silenced by such measures and announcements about changes in work culture are nothing more than lip service.
A strike looms
This is how the employees are reacting: A non-specified number of employees from Riot Games plan to strike on Monday, May 6, according to the news that Waypoint received. The employees feel poorly treated and “ignored”.
ohnoitslubu comments: “They did not fire the people at the top who are responsible for all this. And now they expect everything to be fine because they explained for the 17th time that it will get better?”
Furthermore, many do not understand why Riot’s COO Scott Gelb is still working in the company. He is reportedly one of those who behaved particularly inappropriately and shows very little respect for colleagues.
This is what the company says about it: Riot Games is aware that a strike is looming. Therefore, they are offering employees talks to discuss the issues. Anyone interested should sign up on a list. The talks are to be held in a small, preferably private setting.
Riot Games promises improvement and wants to implement changes in the corporate culture. But the company has claimed this before.
Fans stand behind the Riot employees
This is why the employees are unhappy: The employees find the proposal from Riot Games insufficient.
The employees prefer to stand together to represent their position as a group.
How do the fans react? Discussions about the situation are taking place on Reddit. The fans of Riot Games are siding with the employees. Many find a clause in the employment contract that prohibits employees from going to court unacceptable.
Furthermore, some see the problem in the management.
ohnoitslubu comments: “They did not fire the people at the top who are responsible for all this. And now they expect everything to be fine because they explained for the 17th time that it will get better?”
