With the Path of Fire expansion, unidentified gear was introduced in Guild Wars 2. This was intended to make inventory management easier. The next patch is set to bring this gear to the entire game world.
What is unidentified gear? A major issue in many MMORPGs is inventory space. Each individual piece of equipment takes up one slot.
For this reason, unidentified gear was introduced in Guild Wars 2. This gear is dropped by enemies like weapons or armor, but it stacks in its rarity up to 250 times in one slot.
This way, 250 blue, green, and yellow gear pieces can accumulate and only take up three inventory slots. Afterwards, this gear can be sold directly at the trading post, reused, or identified by right-clicking.
Identifying gear: When identifying, individual armors and weapons are created from the gathered gear. Most of the time, these will be of the same equipment level.
However, with some luck, exotic items and precursors can be found in the unidentified gear. These items will still be dropped due to their rarity, even after the revision of the system.
Until now, this form of gear was only dropped in the areas of the Path of Fire expansion and in Living World Season 4.
This will change with the patch: However, with the patch on the upcoming Tuesday, the gear is also set to come to Central Tyria (base game) and Heart of Thorns (first expansion).
That means that in the entire open world of Guild Wars 2, in World vs. World, and from champion bags, only unidentified gear or exotic items will drop from now on.
Adjustments to the loot tables: In order to make the rewards identical and fair throughout the world, adjustments are being made to the loot tables:
The number of rare (yellow) unidentified gear in the Path of Fire areas has been adjusted to match the rest of the world.
The items Eyes of Kormir, Frozen Rot, and Pulsing Ember will no longer be obtained from unidentified gear and will instead be dropped directly by enemies in Path of Fire.
Masterwork (green) gear will also include the reclaimed weapons from Heart of Thorns.
The chance for exotic gear and precursors has been adjusted. They were dropped less frequently in the open world, while they were obtained more frequently from gear. A mean value has now been created from this.
Changes to Magical Sense: Magical Sense is an attribute that influences the chances of loot. Until now, it had two influences on unidentified gear:
On one hand, it increased the chance of rare gear drops.
On the other hand, it increased the chance of rarer gear when opening.
With the new patch, the second area of influence for Magical Sense will be removed. This slightly weakens the unidentified gear. Players on Reddit are already complaining that the Istan event, after the nerf in January, is being weakened again.
Fortunately, besides Istan, there are other ways to effectively farm gold:
The launch pad is a feature in Anthem that many players wished for after the demo. However, the social hub serves no real purpose. With a few additions, it could thrive and help many players find new companions, believes our author Timo.
What is the Launch-Bay? The Launch-Bay is a social hub where players can meet others to showcase their Javelin and start missions. In contrast to Fort Tarsis, players control their Javelin in the familiar gameplay perspective rather than in first-person view.
What can you do there? The Launch-Bay acts as a launch pad. You can accept contracts and use the forge. There is also access to the in-game shop. Additionally, you can access the vault and check your weekly alliance status.
The Launch-Bay offers the perfect opportunity to show off your stylish Javelin. (If you manage to meet someone there)
What is wrong with the social hub?
This is the problem: Nobody uses the Launch-Bay. Due to the longer loading times required to access the social hub, most players prefer to return to Fort Tarsis after an expedition and pick up their contracts there.
As a result, the Launch-Bay is usually quite empty, although up to 16 players can be present in each instance simultaneously.
There’s nothing to do in the Launch-Bay: Unfortunately, the hub offers too little to be of real relevance to players. The only advantage it has over Fort Tarsis is that you can accept three legendary contracts simultaneously. However, this doesn’t provide any real gameplay benefit.
The interaction is limited: For the Launch-Bay to be relevant, there need to be ways to interact meaningfully with other players. So far, there are three options in the Launch-Bay after you press “Interact” on another player’s Javelin:
Add to Favorites: Adds the selected player to the favorites list.
Ignore: Silences the selected player and blocks them for future expeditions.
Invite to Group: Invites the selected player to the existing group.
Aside from the latter, these options are rather secondary for players looking for new teammates.
An option to inspect other players’ equipment or to send someone a message would be a much more important option here.
Anthem is known to be the most fun when playing together.
How the developers want to solve the problem
BioWare’s approach: In the Launch-Bay, there are several gestures to choose from. When you press the ultimate button while in the social hub, you receive some options to send a “message.” This will be displayed on the screen edge for all other players.
Why doesn’t that help? Among these options is the “Search for a group” option, which initially seems quite sensible. However, these messages are only displayed for a few seconds before disappearing again. In addition, many players do not even know that these options exist in the Launch-Bay, so they do not pay attention to them.
Since you cannot specify the desired activity precisely and the Launch-Bay mostly remains empty, this feature for finding groups unfortunately proves quite ineffective.
Unfortunately, the chat feature is largely ignored: BioWare’s approach remains mostly unnoticed by the community.
What should the social hub bring to players? The Launch-Bay should serve as a base for social interactions for players. It should be a lively place where players
can admire other Javelins and showcase their own design
can find new teammates and suitable groups for expeditions
can manage and test their equipment
What players wish for: Many players desire some kind of training area or shooting range where they can test their weapons and abilities. Since you cannot change your equipment during an expedition, many players start a stronghold on a grandmaster level just to briefly test their arsenal.
They then leave again, abandoning the rest of the team. This does not stem from ill will, but highlights that players are seeking a way to meaningfully test their equipment.
Anthem’s hardcore fans love dealing with numbers.
Clan system coming soon:After the initial review disaster, BioWare released a roadmap. It outlines their future plans for Anthem and what features will be added in the coming weeks. Among these is the clan system, which is to be included in the game for the first time in April.
Details are still unknown. How the clan system will actually look and how it will be implemented in the game remains open. If BioWare wants to link the guilds to the Launch-Bay, it could be a significant saving grace for the social hub.
Implement text chat in the game: Many players have been asking for a proper text chat in Anthem for a long time. This would prevent communication from being reduced to awkward gestures and thrown glowsticks. Players could communicate during missions without a headset.
A chat system would be highly beneficial for the Launch-Bay. This could allow players to connect with like-minded individuals and find specific groups more easily.
Communication during missions currently consists of emotes: Occasionally you clap your hands or wave to each other.
Expand interaction options: Inspecting a player’s equipment or simply being able to send a console-based message is almost trivial for a social hub.
Then you would at least know what power level the pilot is at and what activities their Javelin is suited for.
These values matter: The top right shows the current power level, as well as the equipped weapons and abilities.
Quick access to the group screen: In Anthem, there is a group screen where you can see your current team members along with their equipped Javelin.
This screen could be made available in the Launch-Bay as a “walkable station,” similar to the forge stations or the board for contracts. This way, players would have a quick overview of their team without constantly having to switch back and forth in the menu.
This would make it easier to invite other players in the same instance while keeping an eye on the current team composition.
In the group selection screen, you can invite players and manage your team.
Create personal info boxes: You could implement optional text boxes that appear above the Javelin while in the Launch-Bay. In these, you could write things like: “Need 2 people for Heart of Rage” or “Looking for World Event Farm.”
These info boxes already exist in the game and are displayed over specific objects in some missions. The feature just needs to be made accessible for players.
This Dominion soldier seems to have tampered with a designer relic.
The option to continue playing together: At the end of an expedition, there is currently no way to start another mission with the same team.
An option to continue with the existing team could bring agreeing players to the Launch-Bay. From there, they could upgrade together and start another expedition.
The option “Stay in the group” could lead to many new friendships.
Always send groups to the same instance: Team members can currently be loaded into different instances of the Launch-Bay. This makes it difficult for players to equip and consult with their team together.
Offer a shooting range: Many players desire a test dummy in the Launch-Bay where they can test their weapons and check damage. A kind of test area could revive the social hub, as this function would also be of great interest to full groups.
Simple target dummies that represent the three grandmaster difficulty levels would be helpful for all players in Anthem. This would boost visitor rates and fill the instances of the Launch-Bay, making it significantly easier to find potential team members.
Scar dolls would make an ideal test dummy. Or maybe a clown?
Why the Launch-Bay in Anthem should be improved
What does it bring to the game and the players? Making the Launch-Bay more meaningful can only strengthen the game. A real social hub would make Anthem appear much more lively and welcoming. This is important for both new and veteran players.
That’s why a proper social hub is important:
Players would feel at home in Anthem for the first time and could experience the community up close.
Helpful veterans could better assist newcomers in navigating the world of Anthem.
Newcomers would have a point of contact to get information from other players.
Players could compare their equipment with each other and inspire each other to new builds.
You wouldn’t have to use third-party apps like Discord to search for groups.
Players could demonstrate their best Javelin designs; the Launch-Bay would become the fashion metropolis.
The Launch-Bay is a feature that was quickly implemented into the game at the request of fans just before release. As a result, it is still quite bare and underdeveloped.
With some time and love, it could serve as the main base and create the same lively atmosphere as, for example, the Tower in Destiny 2.
Future additions like the guild system could help the Launch-Bay flourish again. Until then, hopefully, BioWare will have solved the communication problem in the game.
What do you think about this? Do you have good ideas on how to improve the Launch-Bay? Let us know in the comments!
Today, on March 22, the servers for The Division 2, are down. Massive is conducting maintenance. Here are the patch notes in German as well as all the information about the server status.
Massive is performing unplanned maintenance today, Friday. They managed to create fixes for three issues that they will be implementing now. As a result, the servers will be down for several hours.
The announcement just came in. A server down countdown is now running in the game.
These are the important times today, March 22:
At 9:30 AM, the servers will be shut down. You will not be able to log in. If you are in the game, you will be kicked.
By around 12:30 PM, the server downtime should be over. According to Massive, the maintenance will last about 3 hours.
If the servers come back online later than expected, we will update this article.
An issue is being fixed where daily and weekly resets did not occur properly when players were offline during the reset time.
An issue is being fixed where players lost “Guiding Missions” and access to “Guiding-Missions-NPCs,” preventing them from making further progress. This problem primarily occurred when you were playing in a group. This refers to missions like “Talk to xy in the Campus Settlement” or similar.
Last Wednesday, the developers stated in the State of the Game (all information here) that they want to fix the most urgent issues before delivering new content, such as World Tier 5. The core player experience should be as optimal as possible for everyone.
They mentioned that they currently need to find a balance between “fixing issues as quickly as possible” and “keeping the servers online.” This is likely why the planned maintenance on March 21 was canceled.
Now that new fixes are ready, we are likely one step closer to World Tier 5. However, when it will go live is still unknown.
XLGAMES, the Korean studio behind ArcheAge, is looking for employees for new projects. Apparently, two RPGs are planned, one of which could even be an MMORPG.
What kind of employees are being sought? Several developers are being sought for the production of new RPGs who are familiar with Unreal Engine 4.
They should also have experience in role-playing games, first-person shooters, or MMORPGs. Development is being done for both PC and consoles.
What is behind the two games? In the official job postings, employees are being sought for the new projects P3 and P4. P3 is supposed to be an online action RPG, while P4 is meant to be a “stylish” action RPG.
The two projects primarily differ in the designation “stylish”. For project 4, experience in MMORPGs is also being sought.
However, there is also the possibility that the two projects are one game, as the descriptions sound very similar.
Is XLGAMES planning another MMORPG?
What has XLGAMES developed so far? XLGAMES is primarily known in the West for the MMORPG ArcheAge. However, they also developed the sandbox MMO Civilization Online, which was discontinued after a year.
Additionally, the developers released the mobile game “Brave” and the racing game XL1 Clipping Point. The racing game has a 62% positive rating on Steam from 53 reviews and was released there in February 2018.
How is the MMORPG ArcheAge performing? In Korea, ArcheAge ranks 49th on the ranking website Gamemeca among all online games. This site evaluates the weekly usage of games in internet cafes.
The western version of ArcheAge was taken over by Gamigo after the closure of Trion Worlds. Unlike the other games from Trion, the team behind ArcheAge remained intact.
At that time, several million were invested in XLGAMES by Kakao Games, the publisher of Black Desert, and WeMade Entertainment. It was hinted that a PC game was also in the works, which was a small peculiarity. Currently, in South Korea, there is a strong focus on mobile games.
However, the latest information suggests that an MMORPG among these projects is not unlikely. The company has already gained experience with two games, one of which was successful and one of which flopped.
It would be clever, of course, if the new game does not necessarily dwell in the realms of ArcheAge. A pure theme park MMO or a game with a different scenario than the fantasy game would be conceivable.
Initially, only the Altered Forme will appear, but after a few days, it will transform into the Origin Forme, and you can challenge Giratina in this form in raids.
What we know about Giratina’s forms
When do the raids start? You still have to wait a bit before you can challenge Giratina.
Giratina in Altered Forme: From March 28 at 9 PM to April 2 at 9 PM
Giratina in Origin Forme: From April 2 at 9 PM to April 29 at 9 PM
This is behind the timings: If you don’t yet have the Altered Forme, you don’t even have a week to complete your PokéDex. The focus is on the new Origin Forme, which will be found in raids for almost a month.
Since the raid bosses only change at 9 PM German time, we will only find the new bosses in arenas the following day. After 9 PM, no new raid will hatch.
The Altered Forme of Giratina
What are the best counters? The two forms differ only in stats, but their types remain the same. You can use the same Pokémon as counters.
In a new Q&A, Game Director Ion Hazzikostas discussed upcoming changes to World of Warcraft. Fans of good looks can rejoice, as many aspects of customization are getting cooler.
What is changing in customization? Specifically, three things will be improved for fans of outfits and design options in World of Warcraft:
“Chest” items can be hidden
the appearance of “crazy” items can now also be adopted
new options for character customization are coming
While the changes may sound trivial, they delight a good part of the community, particularly those interested in possible outfits. The changes are expected to come “with one of the next patches.”
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Here’s why you can hide your chest: The original question about chest items arose in the community after the Allied Race of the Zandalari was made available. Players wanted to play Zandalari with bare chests, especially the imposing guys.
This was supported by the fact that the Zandalari can have elaborate tattoos that would be obscured by chest pieces. Other races (and classes) would also benefit and could show off their tattoos, such as:
The chest would thus be the fourth item that can be hidden, alongside helmet, cloak, and shoulders. This should be great news for fans of the “Great Style Checks”.
Many of these items cannot currently be transmogged, as they are seen as “too crazy”. These regulations are expected to be loosened. Specific statements have not yet been made, but the possible items include:
Bottles
Bones
Kitchen utensils like pans and rolling pins
Fish
Tools
The colleagues at wowhead suggest that limited-time transmog items like flower crowns and witch hats might also fall under this.
The strange fish heads are currently only usable, but they might also come as transmog.
What does “character customization” mean? Another point raised by fans was character customization. During character creation, many players find it important to give their character a personal touch.
According to Hazzikostas, this is on the developers’ to-do list. They have long wanted to do more with customization options and there will be more options. However, what exactly will come or when to expect it remains open.
We might soon have more customization options available.
However, it seems unlikely that there will be all kinds of sliders to smoothly adjust size, face shapes, and limbs.
What do you think of the upcoming changes?
For those who like to look particularly cool, you can now also run around as a boss in WoW:
In Season 6, Destiny 2 will try something new in the Iron Banner. Two new consumables should bring fresh air to the PvP event. We explain to you how.
This is what to expect in the Iron Banner of Season 6: As soon as the first Iron Banner of Season 6 begins, Guardians will encounter some changes. Bungie has tinkered with the Iron Banner rewards again, and there will also be a special reward. But the biggest innovation is represented by two new items.
These are the items in question: They are consumables that bring new mechanics into the game:
“The Iron Burden” is supposed to provide more challenge for high-level players and reward them accordingly
“The Favor of the Wolf” is intended to encourage PvP avoiders to try the Iron Banner and give them a better starting position
This is behind the Iron Burden: This item costs 5 Iron Banner tokens and lowers your Power Level by 100 levels while in use. Strong players are to prove their skill, strategies, and weapon mastery.
In return, there is also a corresponding reward. If you manage to take down 500 Guardians while the Iron Burden is active, you will receive an updated masterwork version of the Iron Banner fusion rifle “The Clever Rebuke” with curated rolls – a kind of top weapon of the Iron Banner.
This is behind the Favor of the Wolf: This item has the exact opposite effect of Iron Burden. The Favor of the Wolf increases your Power Level by 100 Power Levels for 30 minutes, up to a maximum of 700.
The aim is to motivate crucible avoiders and players who are lagging behind in Power Level to try the Iron Banner. In this event, Power Level advantages are active. Weaker Guardians thus have a disadvantage that is supposed to be balanced or turned into an advantage.
The Favor of the Wolf can drop in limited quantities in the following activities:
Heroic story missions
Strikes
Nightfall
Flashpoints
Gambit
Weekly milestones from Ikora and Hawthorne
This is how the Iron Banner quests change in Season 6: Bungie has also worked on the bounties from Lord Saladin. They have tried to incorporate fan feedback.
The bounties are supposed to offer more choices and no longer be so lengthy. Many fans had complained in the past about the comparatively high time investment for some bounties.
Each bounty will continue to reward you with a powerful prize upon completion. Additionally, completing bounties will unlock further items in Lord Saladin’s inventory that you can then purchase directly.
These new rewards can be yours: During the season of the Nomad, you can earn these Iron Symmachy sets for your Guardians:
For completing all weekly Iron Banner bounties, there is the emblem “Last of the Debt.” This tracks your kills of opponents with a higher Power Level while the Iron Burden is active.
Additionally, you have the chance to get an updated version of the Iron Banner grenade launcher “Orewings Hammer”. This features random rolls and can drop after completing a match and from token packages.
In Pokémon GO, there are two new attacks: Grasmixer and Säurespeier. However, these attacks are a total disaster. We will tell you why.
What kind of attacks are these? With the Plant Event, two new attacks were introduced in Pokémon GO. The poison attack Säurespeier and the plant attack Grasmixer.
Why does no one want them? However, both attacks are not useful in any situation. You should definitely stay away from them. We will explain how bad the attacks really are.
What is known about Säurespeier and Grasmixer
Which Pokémon can learn the attack? Niantic released a list of all Pokémon that can master the two attacks:
Alola-Sleimok can learn the new attack Säurespeier
These attacks are so weak: Säurespeier is probably one of the worst attacks available. Per second, the attack only does about 6.6 damage (DPS value). Other poison attacks have values of 41.9 per second.
Grasmixer is not as bad as Säurespeier but also has only a DPS value of 14.5. Other plant attacks have DPS values of 42.3.
Here are better attacks: For both types, there are significantly better alternatives. Poison Pokémon should rather master the attacks Mülltreffer, Matschbombe, or Schlammwoge.
Plant Pokémon are well equipped with attacks like Blütenwirbel, Strauchler, or Solarstrahl.
Do the attacks work in PvP? Even in PvP , the attacks are a total disaster. While the DPS value isn’t that crucial, the remaining values are also disappointing.
The attacks are not really worthwhile even in PvP.
Both attacks take a long time to charge and then deal relatively little damage.
You do have a small advantage with the attacks in PvP. Säurespeier can increase your Pokémon’s status values, while Grasmixer decreases the opponent’s values. They could therefore be somewhat useful as a second charge attack, but only in a small niche.
What players say: The player base seems to agree. Especially Säurespeier is already hated by trainers. It is said on Reddit:
“Am I the only one seeing this, or are both attacks totally useless?”
In conclusion, you should definitely stay away from these attacks. We can only hope that Niantic introduces better attacks in the future.
You should play on Community Day, because a plant Pokémon learns a really strong attack:
In The Division 2 belongs the exotic Chatterbox to the best weapons in PvP. This is how you get the Exotic with Charged Canister, Creative Magazine and Mods.
This is why the Chatterbox is worth it: Shortly after the launch of The Division 2, “The Chatterbox” is among the best Exotics in the game. In English, this exotic submachine gun is called “The Chatterbox”.
However, you will not receive the weapon as a random drop or as an item in a vendor’s offer. Instead, you have to assemble it yourself. For this, you need several components that you first have to find.
How to get the Chatterbox
The requirements for the Chatterbox:
You must likely have completed the campaign and reached the endgame
You need some luck to find the components. According to user reports, the drop chances for the components are higher the further along your character is
Once you have these items, you can craft the Chatterbox at the crafting station. Additionally, 30 Polycarbonate, 22 Titanium, and 69 Closure Components are needed as crafting materials.
All information and tips regarding crafting and materials can be found here:
Location of SMG: Charged Canister: You can find this component in the mission “Hotel Grand Washington”. In a bathroom, there is a Hyena box under a sink. Another box is located in the mission directly to the right of the door when you enter the roof.
You need one Hyena key for each of these. Both boxes are said to have a chance for the exotic component – however, a guaranteed drop is not the case.
The exact locations of the boxes can be seen in Charles’s video starting at minute 0:57:
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Location of SMG: Creative Magazine: You can find this component in the mission “Jefferson Trade Center”. Play the mission until you reach the underground garage. At the ramp behind two vans, the box is located in the corner.
You can see the location in the video from 1:33.
Location of the Chatterbox Blueprint: The blueprint can be found in the mission “Bank Headquarters”. Play the mission until you reach the room with the large window and computer desks. On the left side of the room, there is a hidden wall safe. You need to be standing directly against the wall to see the message that you can interact.
Inside the safe is a key card. Continue until you reach the vault. Go left where there is a gold grated gate. Open it with the key card. You will need to interact with the switch next to the gate on the right. Now you will find a Hyena box inside, which contains the blueprint.
You can see this location in Charles’s video from 2:18.
Location of SMG: Mods: You can find this component in the Open World; you do not need to start a mission. Walk to the police headquarters at Judiciary Square (in the southeast of this area). There is also a side mission there. Go over the courtyard with the fountain and to the wall with the two doors. Inside, on the right, there is an elevator shaft; climb down it.
Now walk across the parking lot to the turret, behind which a Hyena box is hidden. There are reportedly more boxes in the area where the component might be hiding.
You can see the location of this component in WillisGaming’s video starting at minute 5:44:
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You only need one key per box if you are playing in a group. The loot is then received by all group members.
According to user reports, components can drop from all kinds of Hyena boxes. However, the above locations are confirmed as possible locations.
Now you just need to craft the Chatterbox at the crafting station. Since blueprints scale with your agent’s character gear score, you should craft the weapon at World Tier 4 (or later 5), as otherwise you have to search for the components again. Make sure the crafting station has been upgraded to the maximum world tier.
The Perks of the Chatterbox
This is what the Chatterbox can do: The submachine gun is based on the P90. It has a fire rate of 700 and a huge magazine of 60.
The weapon talents:
Swelling Chatter: Every shot that hits an enemy grants +1% fire rate up to a maximum of 60%. Reloading resets this bonus.
Duck Magazine: Kills with the weapon refill 20% of the magazine and provide a buff for 10 seconds. While the buff is active, every successful shot increases the magazine capacity by 1 up to a maximum of 60. A kill consumes the buff and fully refills the extended magazine.
Chatterbox: As long as it is in the holster, reloading the weapon within 5 seconds after a kill grants a fire rate of 20% for 10 seconds.
The talents ensure that you can pump your enemies full of bullets extremely quickly. This makes the Chatterbox a true beast that is particularly feared in PvP.
In week 4 of Season 8 in Fortnite this time there is no star, but a secret banner. We will show you the location of the banner on the map.
What does the banner bring? You can pick up this banner upon completing the weekly challenge. You can only collect the banner after you have completed all tasks.
The banner is always hidden in different locations. To save you time searching, we will show you the location here.
Here you can find the banner from week 4 (S8)
Here you can find the hint: If you have completed all tasks of week 4, a new loading screen will appear. This image always gives a hint about the location. In week 4, the loading screen looks like this:
This is the loading screen of week 4
What does the loading screen show? This time you see various banana skins that apparently carry their Banana King. The whole thing takes place on the volcano of the new map from Season 8.
Where is the hint? You will find the hint for the secret banner in the background. A torch is glowing there and underneath hangs the sought banner. You need to search in this spot to find the banner.
The hint is hidden in the back right
Where do you need to search? This location is right on the volcano, southwest of the city Sunny Steps. You will find the banner northeast of the volcanic crater.
The red arrow shows where the banner is hidden.
Finding it easier: To make it even easier for you to find it, we will show you a video that precisely shows you the location. This way you definitely won’t miss the banner. So watch the video and find the banner directly.
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The Elder Scrolls Online had two spectacular new dungeons in the last DLC update Wrathstone. However, the star of the update was something different for many players: a kind of Navi helps players find game content that suits them.
What was the highlight of the update? The big DLC Wrathstone was released at the end of February and brought paying customers the start of the new dragon season along with two hefty dungeons for The Elder Scrolls Online.
Additionally, there was Update 21, which is available to all players. And that brought a feature that delighted a multitude of ESO fans.
Finally, an End to ESO’s Main Problem
What was the problem with ESO so far? The Elder Scrolls Online is a game with a huge world full of content. You can find new tasks and quests at every corner of Tamriel.
Unfortunately (but also to the delight of many), the game is structured differently than many MMORPGs.
You always see only one active quest on your compass, there’s not even a mini-map, and the big map only shows the selected task.
This is already quite confusing. But it gets worse, as every time you take on a new quest, it automatically becomes active. You easily lose track of the old task.
Often, you only remember late that you had another quest and might already be somewhere else.
So where was that strange quest again? This becomes especially annoying when you’ve taken a longer break and wanted to finish something before the break.
What is different now? Since Update 21, there is a feature called “Zone Guide”. This is an inconspicuous comfort feature that can be easily overlooked.
However, it would be a mistake to overlook it. With it, you can specifically target quests, achievements, and activities in the respective area.
Whether it concerns the current main quest, open dungeons, world events, or set crafting stations – the zone guide shows you how many of them you have already visited and where you can find the next ones in your vicinity.
This makes the flood of content more manageable, and you can finally focus on exploration and completing content without having to keep external lists.
This is how the new feature is received by fans: Recently, there was a question on Reddit about how the new feature was received. The reactions were almost universally positive:
“I’m excited that there’s a different icon for the main story! This way, I can farm it optimally for skill points on my alts!”
“I’ve wanted this for years!”
“I didn’t know I needed it until I had it!”
“I love it! Especially for us console players, since we can’t use mods that would have done the same thing.”
“It helped me so much to find all the books in Stormhaven”
“Finally, I’ve reached level 10 in the Mage Guild because of it!”
The majority of players love the new feature and do not want to miss it anymore. Only occasionally do you hear voices criticizing it, saying it doesn’t allow for enough time to explore.
Today, on March 21st, the servers for Destiny 2 are down. Bungie is conducting maintenance – just as the after-work gaming begins here. Information on server status.
Bungie is carrying out quite spontaneous maintenance today. Without much prior announcement, they informed a few hours ago that the servers will be shut down today, March 21st.
These are the important times today:
At 6 PM, maintenance begins. The servers will be shut down. Both Destiny 2 and Destiny 1 will be offline worldwide on all platforms (PS4, Xbox One, PC).
If you are still in the game at 6 PM, you will be brought to the login screen. So make sure to finish your activity before 6 PM.
By 7 PM, the maintenance should be completed. From then on, you can log back into Destiny 2 or Destiny 1.
Keep in mind that Bungie is never too exact with these time indications. The servers may come online later – or even earlier.
Are changes known? No, for today, neither an update nor any other changes are scheduled. Bungie has not communicated through social channels whether or how today’s maintenance will affect the gaming experience.
According to the gameplay calendar, no new season 6 content will be unlocked today. The next event will be the Arc Week on April 9th, apart from the weekly Gambit Prime map rotation.
Today, Bungie is probably just tinkering a bit in the background on the servers. If something does change, we’ll update the article.
This is why the maintenance is disruptive: For guardians in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, this maintenance work still affects the gaming experience. It happens right in the after-work period when guardians want to play here. During this time, you will need to find another activity.
This new information is coming soon: Community Manager dmg04 announced a few hours ago that in the upcoming “This Week at Bungie” they will discuss the improvement cores and their future role in the ecosystem. There are no plans to decouple these from infusion. But they are set to be updated in an upcoming season.
It seems that the odyssey of the PS4 version of Path of Exile is about to come to a reconciliatory end. Even the last skeptics are apparently convinced of the release date now. Until recently, this was quite different.
However, after the now third announcement of a release date, not everyone believed that it would actually happen this time.
But a tweet from the developers seems to have taken away the last doubts of the skeptics.
About this tweet: Yesterday, Grinding Gear Games announced on Twitter that there will be an AMA (ask me anything) session with the developers regarding the upcoming PS4 release in the PS4 subreddit today at 21:00 our time.
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During this time, fans can ask all sorts of questions they have on this topic. The developers will try to answer as many as possible.
Why were so many fans still skeptical? At the announcement of the current release date, there were many fans who were happy about the date, but there were also a lot of skeptics who just shook their heads or laughed at the new date.
After so many delays, many players did not really believe that the developers would stick to the new date. Numerous fans assumed rather that there would be yet another last-minute delay.
Path of Exile was initially scheduled for release on PS4 on December 7, 2018, then a release in January 2019 was planned, until the game was postponed again to mid-March.
Now it should finally work out on March 26 at the end of the month.
This is the mood after the recent tweet: The reactions from fans are now significantly different compared to the official announcement of the current release date.
Now it seems that even the last skeptics are convinced that the release date on PS4 will be adhered to. In contrast to the actual release announcement, there are hardly any critical voices – neither on social media, nor on Reddit or in the official forums.
Fans are diligently collecting questions they want to direct to the developers during the Q&A session.
The mood is positive, players are looking forward to the PS4 launch of Path of Exile and are eager to finally dive into the virtual monster slaughter.
Now even the last skeptics no longer expect another delay. After a large-scale Q&A session just days before the release, this possibility seems almost excluded.
In EVE Online, there was a one-hour test for a new “Aether Engine” designed to enhance large battles. The goal was to make the material clashes typical of EVE flow more smoothly in space. It looks like a great success.
What was that test about? During the Game Developer Conference 2019, CCP, the developers of EVE Online, held a test on March 20. In this test, players and bots were supposed to fully utilize the “Aether Engine”.
The engine is based on HadeanOS. The operating system utilizes cloud technology and promises to transmit even massive amounts of data in real-time. Ideal for the scales at which battles in EVE take place.
https://youtu.be/5bMb68y2mv4
Here’s how the test went: To test the new Aether Engine, according to the official Dev Blog of EVE Online, 3,852 players logged in. They played a deathmatch, a space battle lasting an hour, where defeated players respawn and aim to defeat as many opponents as possible.
Alongside the nearly 4,000 pilots were AI players, bots that were to take the place of real players. This brought a total of over 14,000 players and bots together. Although EVE Online has even introduced its own servers for such immense battles, the number leaves many players amazed. The developers released some statistics about the battle:
10,412 ships/pilots participated simultaneously at peak
A total of 88,988 ships were destroyed
Over 14 million torpedoes were fired
The test is only said to be the first of many. The developers wrote:
There will be more tests in the future and more opportunities to help shape the future of vast virtual worlds.
Diverse ships are used in EVE
How did the test end? Despite some technical problems, connection drops, and delays, the results were positive. The developers are satisfied, and the players seemed to have had fun too.
The game stuttered in some places, but for the size of the battle, it ran quite smoothly. We have included an impressive video from a player below for you.
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Also in the community on reddit and in the official forum, there is currently predominantly positive feedback, though this was only available about an hour before writing this article. The scale of the test gives many hope that EVE Online will soon enable even more impressive battles.
What do you think of the images from the battle?
Things are intense in EVE Online. Another project by the developers hasn’t been as fortunate:
This week you can make a lot of money in GTA 5 Online! Numerous bonuses increase the earnings so you can make a ton of money.
Why is it worth it this week? This week there is no new vehicle to buy in GTA Online, but you have the opportunity to earn money first.
For selected missions and races, you can earn double the amount of GTA$.
These bonuses you get this week
On top of that: This week GTA increases the earnings for the following missions:
50% more GTA$ for Import/Export sale missions.
2x GTA$ and RP for all Rockstar stunt and transformation races.
Car races bring you extra cash this week
What this means for players: Normally, Rockstar gives players the chance each week to get new weapons or cool vehicles. However, these cost a lot of money. But this week you can effectively grind for money again.
Still want a new car? While there are no new vehicles this week, older models are available at a discount at the car dealership. These include:
Pegassi Tezeract – 40% discount
Överflöd Tyrant – 40% discount
Pegassi Zentorno – 40% discount
Grotti X80 Proto – 40% discount
Dewbauchee Vagner – 40% discount
Principe Deveste Eight – 40% discount
This is free: Besides the numerous bonuses, you can also snag a piece of clothing for free. If you log in this week, you will receive the “Toe Shoes” t-shirt for free in your wardrobe.
This T-shirt is free this week.
How long are the bonuses available? The bonuses are available for one week. You have 7 days to earn as much money as possible.
Still considering if it’s worth starting GTA 5 in 2019? We will tell you how rewarding it still is:
With the FUT Birthday starting on Friday, the next event in FIFA 19 is upon us. The many promos in 2019 have been critically discussed by the community – but especially the recently concluded Carniball gives hope, according to our author Max.
Anyone who has been playing FIFA 19 in the last few months has noticed: Team of the Year, Future Stars, Headliner and more – the event list since the end of last year is long. The biggest problem: Getting the strong event cards is not easy.
Getting event players was not easy
This is the problem with events: In the FIFA community, many players accuse EA of pure money-making. The events and top cards are only there to entice players into buying packs. The fact that even with high investments, event players are rarely drawn from the packs caps it all off.
The consensus: Only those who invest a lot of real money in packs have a chance of getting colorful cards. Players who do not want to invest even more money are at a disadvantage – just playing purely would require a truckload of luck to get event cards.
But here, Carniball improved things.
Many players were only available in packs – but not exclusively
That’s why Carniball was a particularly strong event
This is what made Carniball different: A journey through the carnival hotspots of the world, stylish card designs, and an unusual selection of event players – the starting situation of the Carniball event sounded interesting. However, it seemed that one could only rely on packs again. This also applied to the main Carniball team, but there were many good aspects.
The promo also brought interesting weekly objectives. Although you could already get event players or quite good loan players through weekly objectives during Ultimate Scream or Future Stars, Carniball offered four players that could certainly hold their own:
Weekly tasks allow for unusual matches: These players could be earned just by playing. For a Serie A player like me, Emre Can was of course interesting. The task: Nine online games with silver players from Germany – sounded doable.
The silver team was quickly assembled. In the online single player mode, one only encountered opponents who had the same goals and therefore played unusual teams.
And lo and behold: What initially sounded like a frustrating task to finally get an event player turned out to be quite fun.
Competing with an unusual team against equally matched opponents was surprisingly enjoyable
Swap Deals make SBCs possible: In the end, the Can card, which fit perfectly into the team, was the reward. But that’s not all: Shortly after, among many other challenges, there was an SBC with which one could get a Carniball Bonaventura. And to make the Serie A luck perfect, there was also a Flashback De Rossi SBC.
Normally, the requirements for the two SBCs would have been way too high. But: In March, one could earn TOTW players in the Swap Deals that fitted perfectly into the SBCs. The combination of Carniball and March Swap Deals enabled me to suddenly have three suitable, colorful cards in my team without needing to invest money. This was never possible in previous events.
What does the FUT Birthday bring?
What players hope for: In the FIFA subreddit, similar stories can be found. Finally, one could earn really exciting players – many were especially happy about Carniball Talisca from the weekly objectives.
And even if some would have preferred other event players: For many, EA Sports took a step in the right direction with this event. A path that many hope will continue in the next event.
The next event: The FUT Birthday
The event could become something special: On Friday, March 22, the FUT Birthday event begins, celebrating ten years of Ultimate Team. Consequently, players are excited. But many also hope to receive good rewards through gameplay again – just like with Carniball. It is now also known how the FUT Birthday will unfold.
How did you find the Carniball event? What would your perfect event look like? Tell us in our Facebook group!
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Anthem will receive new content with the upcoming update. Legendary missions are said to be a special challenge that can also provide good loot.
When will the new content arrive? In the last livestream on March 20th, BioWare discussed, among other things, upcoming content for Anthem. This will come along with some changes in the next patch.
Update 1.04 is scheduled for next week, but a specific date has not yet been announced.
Legendary missions allow you to repeat quests from the campaign. In the stream, the mission with Faye, Haluk, and Princess Zhim was shown.
What are Legendary missions? With the patch, Legendary missions will be added as new content to Anthem. These missions are more difficult variants of some quests that players have already experienced in the campaign. However, Legendary missions come with a twist.
In addition to the increased difficulty, you will also encounter an “Apex Creature” in the missions, one of the large monsters that Anthem has to offer. These can either be Ursix, Titans, Enlightened, or Fury, which according to the livestream can provide a “nice loot table.” The loot from the four creatures was buffed only with the last hotfix.
How do Legendary missions work? You won’t have to pick up Legendary missions from an NPC; they will always be visible on the map. You can select them just like missions or strongholds from the map before launching with the Javelin.
You can easily select Legendary missions on the map, just like the freelancer contract shown here.
You will have one Legendary mission available at a time, which will rotate daily. At the start of the feature, there are six missions that you can repeat as often as you like.
In addition to the large monsters that can provide good loot, there will be a chest to grab at the end of the Legendary missions.
What else is included with the patch? In addition to the Legendary missions, further changes have been announced for patch 1.04. The patch notes for the upcoming update are expected to take about 13 pages of a Word document, according to the developers in the livestream.
You can find our other articles about the last livestream here:
In Season 8 of Fortnite: Battle Royale, you need to drive a variety of rounds with the new Baller in Week 4. But where are the fun new vehicles? We will show you!
This is the task for the Baller: The Baller is a new vehicle in Fortnite, which came with the latest patch. It’s a kind of hamster ball with a claw on it.
With it, you can roll around and swing to unexpected heights. Even crazy stunts with cannons are possible.
In Week 4 of Season 8, the Baller has become even more important. You have to roll around in the vehicle in various rounds. Of course, that’s hard when you can’t find a Baller.
The locations of the Ballers on the map
Here you can find the Ballers: Ballers are usually found at Expedition Outposts. These container buildings are easy to spot because they are red and quite large. Alternatively, you can find various Ballers at Pirate Camps. They spawn there fairly often as well.
The map shown here indicates good Baller locations. It seems that the fun hamster balls are especially common in the ice biome in the southwest and in the new jungle in the northeast.
What do you need to do for the task? For the week challenge from Week 3, you only need to find and use a Baller. No further action with the vehicle is required. Of course, this shouldn’t stop you from having a lot of fun with the Baller anyway.
What you should note regarding the Ballers: The locations of the Ballers are coveted. Not only because the Baller is a fun vehicle, but also because you can find plenty of good loot at the Ballers.
Therefore, a trip to the Baller location is always worth it, as long as you are the first to arrive there. However, if you land there later, be prepared for a tough fight against well-equipped enemies.
A list of all tasks from Week 4 of Season 8 can be found here:
Despite strong free competition in the battle royale genre, the Firestorm mode of Battlefield 5 is not coming as a free-to-play – at least not at the moment. This was stated by a lead developer at a preview event. Players can download Firestorm for free, but only if they own Battlefield 5.
This is the current situation regarding Battle Royale: The genre is booming. Numerous hits have made battle royale a worldwide sensation.
Games like Fortnite or Apex Legends benefit from their free-to-play model with huge player counts and good revenue from the sale of virtual currency for cosmetic items or the battle pass:
What about free-to-play plans? Battlefield 5 has sold just under 7.5 million copies so far. By tying Firestorm to the main game, the potential number of players is also limited – especially compared to free-to-play competitors like Apex Legends or Fortnite.
At a Firestorm preview event, John Stanley, a lead designer from Criterion Games, was asked by representatives of VG24/7 about the linkage of Firestorm with a full-price model.
He responded: “At the moment, it is important for Firestorm to be released as part of Battlefield 5.”
He continued: “It is clear that there are numerous connections to Battlefield 5 when you play Firestorm. All experience points earned there also count towards Tides of War and the chapter ranks – and much more. The same applies to weapons and vehicles that you use in Firestorm.
For Firestorm, it is important to be a part of the whole at this time and a way for Battlefield players to experience something completely different in the Battlefield universe. That is where we currently stand.”
When Stanley was asked about further future plans for the Firestorm mode, he shut it down. There was currently nothing to discuss.
But a clear denial looks different – especially with the emphasis that it is “important at the moment” for Firestorm to be part of the overall package of Battlefield 5.
Initially, Firestorm will only be playable in connection with Battlefield 5. But a different model for the future is quite conceivable given his statement.
This is what the developers say about their in-house battle royale competition: With Firestorm, the second high-profile battle royale from EA comes after Apex Legends in a very short time.
Stanley was also asked by VG24/7 about the competition from their own ranks. But what some experts see with concern and confusion does not seem to be a really big issue internally. Accordingly, Stanley’s response was relaxed:
“Apex Legends is great and many people here play it. I play it myself. It is a fantastic game, really well made. There is absolutely enough space for us and Apex to coexist in the same ecosystem, while we also feel very different at the same time.”
He then explicitly emphasized what distinguishes both titles from each other: “Respawn does more hero shooter stuff, we focus more on real combat. We have the typical Battlefield style, we have vehicles.”
In Fortnite: Battle Royale has new challenges for week 4 in Season 8. This time it’s all about pirate treasures, cannons, and hamster balls.
Free and paid: If you purchase the Season 8 Battle Pass for 950 V-Bucks (9.50 Euros), you can complete all 7 challenges in week 8. Without the pass, only the first three challenges are available to you.
All Challenges for Week 4 in Season 8
The Free Challenges
Reward
Phase 1: Land at Tilted Towers Phase 2: Land at Junk Junction Phase 3: Land at Retail Row Phase 4: Land at Happy Hamlet Phase 5: Land at Pleasant Park
5 Stars/500 XP
Use the Balloon in 5 different matches
5 Stars/500 XP
Eliminate an opponent with a sniper rifle and a suppressed weapon
10 Stars/1,000 XP
The Paid Challenges
Reward
Shoot yourself through 25 buildings with the pirate cannon
5 Stars/500 XP
Search 2 buried treasures
5 Stars/500 XP
Eliminate 3 opponents in Happy Hamlet or Pleasant Park
10 Stars/1,000 XP
Phase 1: Survive 60 opponents during a match Phase 2: Survive 70 opponents during a match Phase 3: Survive 80 opponents during a match
How to complete the task: Again, you need to visit various locations. The task has 5 phases. The individual phases are:
Phase 1: Land at Tilted Towers
Phase 2: Land at Junk Junction
Phase 3: Land at Retail Row
Phase 4: Land at Happy Hamlet
Phase 5: Land at Pleasant Park
Eliminate an opponent with a sniper rifle and a suppressed weapon
How to complete the task: Here you need to get one kill with each of the mentioned weapons. Sniper rifles are usually sniper guns. There is also a suppressed version.
There is also a suppressed version of that.
Shoot yourself through 25 buildings with the pirate cannon (Battle Pass only)
How to complete the task: Here, you need to get into pirate cannons and launch yourself as a projectile. It’s fun and ideal for demolishing buildings.
This will then show you a hidden treasure that you can loot. Do this twice and the task is solved.
Eliminate 3 opponents in Happy Hamlet or Pleasant Park (Battle Pass only)
How to complete the task: This is the usual kill quest where you need to shoot or smash enemies in Happy Hamlet or Pleasant Park.
Survive 60 opponents in a single match (Battle Pass only)
How to complete the task: It may sound boring, but you best accomplish this task by hiding in remote locations until only about 40 players are left. Or win the game right away, then you have also survived 60 enemies.
For the next phases, you must then survive 70 and finally 80 opponents.
