In Fortnite a new weapon has gone live today: the Stone Throwing Pistol. This pirate weapon was previously torn apart by the community, but now it proves to be useful or at least interesting. It allows for wonderful jumping and avoiding fall damage.
What the new weapon can do: The Stone Throwing Pistol came today in the new update to Fortnite. It deals high damage but has significant drawbacks:
You can only fire one shot with it, then you have to reload
the reload takes an eternally long 3 seconds
the Stone Throwing Pistol only works at close range
it also knocks the player back and the target opponent back
What players said before the patch about the weapon: Players were relatively shocked when they learned the “pure” stats of the weapon through datamining. Especially the three-second reload troubled them.
In their eyes, the weapon seemed completely useless. They saw hardly any way to finish off an opponent with it.
If you were reloading it, you would simply get shot.
Moreover, there are already many pistols and handguns in the game, and an additional one seemed pointless and unnecessary to the players.
This is how the weapon is now used in Fortnite: A few hours after the update went live, first stunts on reddit show that the weapon indeed has some utility.
However, not because it deals damage, but because it knocks the player back.
The first videos demonstrate how the thing is used effectively.
Here you see a player using the Stone Throwing Pistol to catapult themselves through the air, switching to a shotgun while in flight, and then taking out the opponent.
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One can be curious about what ways the resourceful Fortnite players will find to use the weapon to their advantage. Perhaps the weapon will even find use in competitive play.
Recently, there was fear of the powerful hamster, Kugler, but now he is being thrown far away with impulse grenades: even fun items have to be balanced and countered.
A bug during the recent maintenance work on Destiny 2 allowed some players to take a look at the Eververse rewards of the Spring event “Revelry.” Here’s what they look like.
What is this bug about? During the Update 2.2.0.2 on March 19, maintenance was performed. In principle, all players should have been returned to the title screen by 5:45 PM if they had not loaded the update.
However, some Guardians unexpectedly remained in the game and noticed some strange things happening in Destiny 2. Apparently, it was due to a bug.
This event set seems to be available through the event itself and not from engrams
Bug grants early look at event rewards
How did the error manifest? Some players received items from the Eververse that they hadn’t actually earned.
For instance, one Guardian simply had the weapon ornament for the Thorn in their inventory – even though they neither owned the weapon itself nor had drawn the ornament from an engram before.
Others had various items in their character’s equipment slots that didn’t belong there at all. Some players reported having brand new ghost shells in the emblem slot or different engrams in armor or weapon slots.
Source: Reddit user MurderToysx
How could the rewards of the Spring event be viewed? Some fans found a completely new type of engram in their inventory – a so-called Glimmering Engram. Currently, this is not available in the game.
However, fans and experts are sure that this engram will be included in the Spring Festival “The Revelry” and will include corresponding Eververse event rewards.
After looking at the contents of the engram, many fans feel validated in this assumption. Not only the items, but also the description of the engram clearly indicates that the contents will only be available during the Revelry.
Warning, potential spoilers ahead! Continue at your own risk.
What’s inside the Glimmering Engram – The Highlights
Some players have already inspected the new engram and captured the contents in pictures and videos. Many items thematically align with the Spring theme.
From the event engram, you will receive:
7 ships, one of which is exotic
8 sparrows, 2 of which are exotic
An event-specific armor set for each Guardian class (separate from the event armor seen in some promotional images for Season 6)
5 emotes, one of which is exotic
8 ghost shells, 2 of which are exotic
4 ghost projections
numerous shaders and teleport effects
We have summarized the highlights for you below:
The exotic Lapin shell:
The exotic Ladybug shell:
The exotic Auroral Sparrow:
The exotic Sparrow Equinox Edge:
The exotic ship Mayfly:
The exotic emote Perfect Swing:
Many other items can be seen in this YouTube video by Keynen S:
https://youtu.be/iQNv1poMqCQ
What is known so far about the Spring event? The Spring event “The Revelry” is free for all owners of the base game and independent of any additional content.
The event starts on April 16 and runs until May 6. It takes place in the Everforest, among other locations, and offers specific armor sets (not just the sets from the event engram). Whether or what additional event rewards will be available during the Revelry is currently unknown.
Apex Legends has finally released the highly anticipated Battle Pass for Season 1. Our author and battle royale fan Jürgen has also been eagerly waiting for this. But what he got in the end made him very unhappy.
Do you remember the feeling when you were a little kid and received a gift, and in your imagination, there were all sorts of amazing things in the package? And then you open it, and it’s just a pair of lame socks in a box!
A huge disappointment that really ruins your mood. And that’s exactly how I felt yesterday with the new Battle Pass from Apex Legends.
High Expectations
This is what I expected: Those who know me know that I love gifts. This even includes loot boxes and battle passes. I just love unlocking rewards in a game that I enjoy.
When the pass finally arrived, I immediately threw 9.50 Euros at it and looked forward to the cool rewards!
But what was that? There were three rather lame skins at the start. Well, surely more will come. But nope! The majority of the pass seems to consist of some stupid stat trackers with numbers.
Hey, what’s up with that? And then there are only a few quotes for the intro, banner graphics, and colorful weapon skins. In the end, there’s one – admittedly very cool – skin for the Havoc.
These are the only new skins in the Battle Pass. Seriously?!?
What’s missing in the pass? But all the things I wanted were not in the pass. Because I wanted:
cool kill animations
more quotes (not just for the intro)
and especially crazy skins for the cool heroes in the game!
Especially the cool skins were always a reason for me to spend money in Fortnite and grind for hours!
Instead, I now have a few boring jungle fighter skins and otherwise only new looks for weapons, half of which I don’t even favor. Great job, Respawn!
Endless Grind for Lame Rewards
But okay, there’s no point in complaining. Now I’ve already bought the thing, and at least a few of the weapon skins, the quotes, and the cool level 100 Havoc are somewhat cool.
Wow, so much grind!
So, I started Apex last night and played for a good hour. That should bring me two to three levels in the pass, right?
How bad the grind is: Nope! After a good hour of gameplay with randoms – including a win – I had just over half of level 2 filled!
Wow, with 100 levels total, this will be tough for an average player to complete the pass in 90 days. Moreover, I miss the constant feeling of receiving rewards that I have gotten so used to in Fortnite.
Even a win didn’t bring a level in the pass.
That’s why the buddy bonus is dumb: And yes, I know that you get a big multiplier when playing with buddies, but I usually play Apex very late at night when none of my buddies are still online.
Why are there no challenges? The fact that Respawn does not offer challenges and quests to get bonus XP or levels in the pass doesn’t help either.
I get that the tasks in Fortnite and PUBG were sometimes quite silly, but for the developers to say, “We’d rather do nothing and give you an intense grind so you can get to know the pass” seems to me a pretty lame and cheeky excuse.
Hey, where are the challenges?
Instead of bringing dumb challenges, they could have thought about what they could do better. That the developers have already proven their good thoughts on improving the BR genre with all the wonderful gameplay ideas in Apex.
The fact that they come across as so unimaginative and conservative regarding the Battle Pass and the first season really makes me sad. In my opinion, Respawn wasted a big opportunity and fell far short of the possibilities.
But enough whining. Apex is still fun, and I’ll do my best to grind through the pass. But there remains a feeling of deep disappointment.
Do you feel the same way, or do you actually like this Spartan approach in Season 1?
A new patch is online in Overwatch. Along with the new hero Baptiste, changes are made to many heroes. Most heroes are getting buffs – except GOATS.
What’s in the patch? The biggest highlight in the patch is the new hero Baptiste. Baptiste is a combat medic who functions in Overwatch as a hybrid healer and DPS. He can heal, boost, and even make his team immortal while dealing good damage himself. You can find Baptiste’s abilities in detail in our article.
Other highlights from the patch include
Buffs for many non-GOATS heroes
Adjustments to how armor works
Adjustments to knockback and damage boosts
Many changes have already been tested earlier on the PTR. We will show you what changes in detail and what impact it has in the patch notes.
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What’s changing for the heroes: Most of the revised heroes simply receive a buff to their damage or shorter cooldowns. The buffs for McCree and Soldier 76 are particularly interesting.
Soldier 76 generally deals more damage per shot from his pulse rifle and can shoot faster after sprinting. Additionally, his Tactical Visor can now target Junkrat’s tire and Baptiste’s Immortality Field and destroy them.
McCree receives a big buff.
Which heroes are getting nerfed? A nerf is particularly given to three heroes that are often played in the currently popular GOATS composition:
Lúcio’s speed boost increases speed less significantly. However, his wall ride is faster.
Zarya’s alternate fire doesn’t grow with increasing charge but always has a diameter of 2 meters.
Zenyatta’s Orb of Discord now only increases the damage the target takes by 25% instead of 30%. However, he deals more damage with his regular shots.
Ana also receives a small nerf. Her Nanoboost now heals only 250 (previously 300). All nerfs weaken the particularly unpopular GOATS meta among viewers. How strong the impact is will soon show, as the patch will also be applied to the Overwatch League.
Zenyatta’s nerf could hit GOATS particularly hard.
What’s changing with shields and damage: All beam weapons, such as the attacks from Mei, Winston, or Symmetra, are now only reduced by 20% from armor (previously up to 50%). Damage-over-time effects are no longer reduced by armor at all. Details about the adjustment of armor were already given beforehand.
Additionally, the boosting of projectiles, such as by Mercy’s damage boost, will now be calculated when they are fired. Previously, the calculation occurred upon impact, which led to seemingly incorrect calculations in some cases.
Knockback effects should now be more consistent. Flying heroes can also now be slowed or knocked back.
The Division 2 is now being used to illustrate how many issues Anthem still has. That is really annoying, says our author Schuhmann. Especially when considering the past of The Division.
It is in the nature of things: People like comparisons.
It is also right and important to compare games to explain to potential buyers what they can expect from a game and what they cannot.
Anthem and The Division 2 can certainly be compared. Both games differ significantly from each other, but they target the same player base that is supposed to buy and play the game:
To clarify what a game will be like, I find comparisons excellent.
Also, comparisons are perfectly okay to help people decide which game they should get at the moment.
However, when that leads to a rivalry between two groups, it annoys me every time.
In 2014, there was a battle between ESO and WildStar.
This was in 2014: We had a similar situation in 2014:
The Elder Scrolls Online, a fantasy MMORPG, was released in April 2014
WildStar, a science-fiction MMORPG, in June 2014
Both games were quite different but targeted the same buyer demographic and somehow that turned into a battle of ideologies.
The great battle of 2014 was also a battle of aesthetics
Even beforehand, fans of both games were at each other’s throats, declaring how the other game would fail:
When ESO started with major issues, WildStar fans made their jokes.
When later WildStar struggled, ESO fans returned and asked: “So, where are you now?”
At least back then, it was still mocking at eye level.
This time it is different:
In 2014, both games started under similar conditions:
Both were “big online games” from new teams.
Both had significant launch difficulties and struggled to find their way.
Both received similar criticisms and faced similar headwinds.
Now with The Division 2 and Anthem, there are similarities, but two major differences:
The Division 2 is a sequel from the same team that made almost the same game back in 2016 – Anthem is a new game
Anthem receives a lot of criticism – The Division 2 is still in its “honeymoon” phase and is being praised.
Where is Anthem headed?
This is what is being said: Just in the last few days, major “This is how to do it right, BioWare” articles have appeared on US sites:
On TechRadar it states “After Anthem, The Division 2 now shows BioWare how to make a looter shooter”
On Insider it reads “A new game set in the ruins of Washington, D.C. is the new best shooter and Anthem should be ashamed.”
In comments on our site The Division 2 is frequently referenced and praised in articles about Anthem.
One user writes:
Since last week I have been playing The Division 2, and it feels so immediately after Anthem as if it were a single, realized looter shooter dream – technically/gameplay/quality of life/balance/game mechanics/world/story/immersion/variety/loot spiral/AI/combat dynamics/scope/depth – EVERYTHING is eons ahead of Anthem
The fans of Anthem are driven to fury by this. They cannot hear it anymore.
The Division 2 was born in pain
Why is The Division 2 currently so good? The Division 1 was down for a year in 2016, and the developers admitted: “Our game is not fun.” The Division 1 was ridiculed and scorned.
Apparently, Massive has drawn the right lessons from this: The original team seems to have started developing “The Division 2” back in 2016 while other Ubisoft studios dealt with repairing and improving The Division 1.
The Division 2 is in 2019 in a completely different situation than Anthem, as the developers have learned from the mistakes of the first part. They also had the opportunity to do so.
With Anthem, we are where The Division was three years ago. A studio in the search phase.
Yes, The Division 2 can really be a role model, but: Massive took three years to achieve this.
That’s why I find the comparison understandable, but annoying: Currently, I find comparisons between Anthem and The Division 2 more annoying than truly helpful. They lead to players being put in a bad mood. They are not productive.
Ultimately, both games are in different situations.
The comparison seems to be, at the moment, as if someone wanted to sprinkle salt in the wound or kick someone who is already down.
The comparisons of Anthem from the perspective of The Division buyers, who are glad to have made a “correct decision”, I find understandable – yet they annoy me somewhat.
It seems a bit like the behavior of a “bad winner” who has forgotten that they were just as down three years ago.
By the way: Two years ago, we made an article to give hope to the then quite dejected fans of The Division 1.
Back then, we compared the situation of The Division 1 with that of The Elder Scrolls Online, which had struggled over the last three years and had transitioned from a crisis game to a new MMORPG hit.
I find such comparisons, in retrospect, really good.
The digital sales on PC are also excluded from the statistics.
Anthem is already included in the EA Access Premier subscription service.
What do the numbers indicate? In the USA, Anthem was the best-selling game in February 2019, according to the NPD Group. The market researchers track physical sales at retailers and obtain data from digital sales of the publishers (except for PC).
According to a representative of the market research group, Anthem was the best-selling game of February 2019 and is currently in second place among the best-selling games of the year 2019.
The most sold game of the young year 2019 so far is Kingdom Hearts 3, which was released on January 25, 2019.
Retail sales have significantly declined in recent years, since 2017. Anthem seems to be performing much better digitally than in retail.
Among the best-selling games of 2019, Anthem was outperformed by Kingdom Hearts 3.
How is Anthem rated? Despite the sales success, opinions about the game are mixed. Shortly after the launch, the press gave a Metascore of 61 on Metacritic.
Many tests and reviews from the press are now available for The Division 2. This overall rating is displayed on Metacritic.
What are these grades? Metacritic is a site that collects review scores from around the world and presents them in an overview. From this, a Metascore – an average overall rating of all reviews – is calculated.
This allows for a quick view of how games like The Division 2 perform in the reviews of the press.
Many interested parties wait for this Metascore and the reviews of testers before purchasing a game. The ratings on Metacritic thus have a significant influence on the purchasing decision of many players.
Rating Overview for PS4, Xbox One, and PC
Just over a week after the early access launch of The Division 2, many representatives of the press have settled on a score for Ubisoft’s shared-world shooter. They needed this time to play through the campaign, get an overview of the endgame, and form an opinion.
Here you get an overview of the previous ratings (as of March 20) – bearing in mind that Metacritic calculates all scores into its own rating system (x out of 100 possible points, with 100 being the maximum).
The Division 2 – PS4 Ratings
So many scores are available: For the PS4 version, there are currently 15 reviews.
This is how the current score should be interpreted: Most reviews rate The Division 2 with a score significantly above 80. However, as there are currently still relatively few reviews available, the few negative scores drag the Metascore down, particularly for the PS4 and Xbox versions.
Nevertheless, The Division 2 is already doing quite well. With an average rating of 80 on the PS4, The Division 2 is among the highest-rated current PS4 games. For comparison:
Red Dead Redemption 2 tops the list with 97
The highly acclaimed Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has 83
Battlefield 5 has 73
With 80, The Division 2 is currently ranked 14th among the highest-rated PS4 games on Metacritic.
Metascore comparison with previous MMO shooters (PS4):
Anthem has 55
Destiny 2 received 85 at launch
The Division 1 received 80
Agents in The Division 2
Some Opinions on The Division 2
Review from GameStar
This is what GameStar says: The colleagues from GameStar rated The Division 2 with an 88.
Praised for among other things
Presentation with a varied lighting atmosphere, solid German speakers, and good sound design
The game design with a gripping weapon feel and a motivating loot cycle
The balance with intelligent opponents and well-balanced weapon types
The atmosphere with dynamic fights and many details in the game world
The Division 2 is enjoyable both solo and in co-op.
Criticized are
A few bugs and graphical errors,
recycled missions in the endgame
and the uninspiring story with uninteresting characters
“The Division 2 presents itself as a polished loot shooter with meaningful detail improvements upon release.”
GameStar
Review from GameWatcher
This is what GameWatcher says: This site has so far given the highest score with 95.
Praised are
The great world
The fantastic combat
The graphics and sound
The weapons that feel great
The voice acting and semi-realistic story
The endgame
Criticized are
The long loading screens to get into the game and to log out
Balance issues with skills and weapon mods
The skills, which do not feel as impressive compared to The Division 1
“A great game with fantastic world-building and gameplay. The biggest problems of The Division 2 can be easily fixed.”
GameWatcher
Review from Variety and Guardian
The reviews with the worst scores come from Variety and Guardian.
Variety states that The Division 2 exhibits ruthless violence and becomes repetitive after just a few hours. It is blind to basic narrative techniques and quite clumsy. No characters stand out, they lack personalities.
The Guardian concludes that The Division 2 is a rather boring and macabre game – and gives 2 out of 5 stars.
Blizzard eliminates the paid option for loot boxes in Heroes of the Storm. The patch notes for the current update show that you no longer need Gems to purchase the boxes. Players are now fearing that this could be the beginning of the end for the MOBA.
What has Blizzard announced? The patch notes from March 18 state that loot boxes in Heroes of the Storm can no longer be purchased with the premium currency Gems. Instead, they can now only be acquired with Gold that you earn.
Blizzard has not provided an explanation. It does not appear to be a temporary change, but rather a permanent one.
You now only acquire loot boxes in HotS with earned Gold.
A very big change
What do the loot boxes offer? In the boxes, you can find the following:
Common items such as sprays and emojis.
Rare items such as common skins and mounts.
Epic items, including new heroes, special skins, and mounts as well as announcer packs.
Legendary items such as the latest heroes, as well as special skins and mounts.
Will there still be loot boxes? Yes. You can still earn the boxes or purchase them with Gold. Only the option to buy loot boxes with Gems will be removed.
What does this mean for HotS? The game loses its gambling character, as loot boxes have often been referred to as gambling in the community. However, Blizzard is also losing a revenue source for the MOBA.
How will HotS continue to be funded?
How are players reacting? The community’s opinion is divided. Some are happy about it, as they generally do not like loot boxes, especially when they can be purchased with real money.
yoloswagrofl writes on Reddit: “This is fantastic! I’m so glad the community is being heard.”
tzucon comments: “The decision is probably related to recent investigations regarding gambling and loot boxes in some countries. I don’t think Blizzard wants to get on the radar of authorities.”
Shadowdragonuniverse says: “Removing the paid option for the boxes could lead to HotS being discontinued, as it surely won’t generate as much revenue as WoW or Overwatch.”
joetothejack disagrees, stating: “It’s a stroke of genius from Blizzard. Players will now buy boxes, mounts, and announcers with in-game Gold and spend their money on new heroes.”
How this change will affect Heroes of the Storm in the long term remains to be seen. The future of the game does not look too bright:
This is the official status:Official information about the next installment of the “Call of Duty” series is scarce. So far, it is only known that there will be a massive and expandable multiplayer world as well as enjoyable co-op gameplay. A single-player campaign has also been confirmed. The responsible studio is Infinity Ward – the creators of the entire Modern Warfare series.
The game’s roots would lie in one of the most important stories of Call of Duty. However, fresh rumors may now reveal some additional potential details.
New Rumors About Call of Duty 2019
About these rumors: The US site GamingIntel claims to have received new information from its own “exclusive sources” regarding the upcoming Call of Duty 2019. It concerns modes, weapons, maps, and the general direction of the game.
While the site does not elaborate on the mentioned sources, it is generally regarded as serious and reliable. Nonetheless, these supposed details should be viewed with the appropriate degree of skepticism. As of now, these are unconfirmed rumors.
Weapons and Maps from Modern Warfare 3 and 4: GamingIntel refers to the upcoming Call of Duty as Modern Warfare 4.
According to its sources, numerous popular weapons and maps from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and 4 are set to make their way into the traditional multiplayer of Modern Warfare 4. The source did not comment on which specific weapons and maps are involved, as such aspects may change during development.
This decision was justified by the fact that the campaign of Modern Warfare 2 is supposed to appear in a remastered version – but without multiplayer. Accordingly, multiplayer elements would flow into the multiplayer component of Modern Warfare 4.
Furthermore, Modern Warfare 4 is supposed to be exactly what Black Ops 4 is for the Black Ops series. They aim to evolve certain key mechanics of the series and bring back popular elements in remastered form.
No Specialists Anymore: According to the sources, Modern Warfare 4 is said to forgo specialists or other class mechanics such as the divisions from Call of Duty: WW II and lead the series back to its roots.
This specifically means: There will be no powerful abilities or over-the-top weapons as seen in Black Ops 3 and 4 or in Infinite Warfare. Players will have to rely on the classic standard loadout of Call of Duty.
No Battle Royale: The source also revealed that Modern Warfare 4 will not have its own battle royale mode, unlike Black Ops 4. Instead, they want to focus on the single player, the traditional multiplayer, and the co-op experience.
No Zombies Mode: There will supposedly also not be a zombies mode in Modern Warfare 4, according to the source.
After 5 years full of the undead, it’s time for something different. Zombies are to be replaced by another co-op experience in the style of the survival mode from Modern Warfare 3.
There, one also fought against waves of AI soldiers in a kind of horde mode. Players could order air support with earned currency, acquire new weapons, or call in AI-controlled comrades for support.
Unfortunately, how exactly the new co-op mode of the upcoming Call of Duty will look like has not been revealed.
The online shooter Evolve was not a big success. The servers were shut down last fall. But now the developers are back with Back 4 Blood, an online game that sounds a lot like Left 4 Dead.
What is Back 4 Blood? Basically, it is a spiritual successor to the zombie online shooter Left 4 Dead. No wonder, it was also developed by Turtle Rock studio when it was still part of Valve.
The developers don’t want to reveal much about the gameplay yet. But we can expect the following:
You will hunt zombies in a team just like in Left 4 Dead.
You will experience a story through a campaign.
There will also be PvP, which will probably play out similarly to Evolve.
The team will not integrate a battle royale mode.
There are supposed to be some unnamed innovations compared to Left 4 Dead and Evolve.
Basically, the team wants to return to its roots, but modernize them a bit.
The creators of Evolve want to return to the zombie genre with Back 4 Blood.
Not Left 4 Dead 3, but something of its own
That’s why it’s not Left 4 Dead 3: The developers explicitly state that they are not making Left 4 Dead 3. On the one hand, they do not have the naming rights, and on the other hand, they want to offer a modern and new gaming experience that is based on Left 4 Dead.
Fans should therefore not expect exactly what they got with Left 4 Dead.
How are the players reacting? On Reddit, this announcement is being discussed. In the process, the failed online shooter Evolve is also a topic. Players are somewhat tempering their expectations because of the flop. However, the excitement about getting a game in the style of Left 4 Dead is also present.
Finget says: “Good news but I don’t want to get my hopes up. Evolve was the first game that the studio produced itself and it was a flop.”
Mrbrick states: “These are great news. No zombie shooter has been really good since Left 4 Dead.”
Left 4 Dead is the model for the zombie online shooter Back 4 Blood.
Everything is still in flux
What about microtransactions? In the FAQ on Turtle Rock’s website, the developers explain that they primarily want to make a good game. Should microtransactions find their way into Back 4 Blood, they should feel valuable for the players.
When and for which systems will the game be released? Back 4 Blood will be released for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The team has not yet announced a release date.
What happened to Turtle Rock’s dark fantasy shooter? The developer studio announced about two years ago that it would produce a dark fantasy co-op shooter for Perfect World. The FAQ on the studio’s website now states that both companies have since parted ways. Therefore, the game will no longer be released.
Many Guardians are currently complaining about the monotonous rotations during the Weekly Reset in Destiny 2, and rightly so.
Why Destiny 2 is frustrating right now: Yesterday, on March 19, was the Weekly Reset. This weekly reset is supposed to bring fresh activities and some variety to Guardian life. But in the last weeks and even months, the same activities were constantly rotating.
Specifically, these are:
the Nightfall strike: The strikes surrounding Nokris (Strange Terrain) and Xol (Will of the Thousands) are appearing way too often. Especially Nokris is a regular guest. Looking at just the last 5 weeks, this strike was featured on March 19, March 5, February 26, and February 19 as Nightfall.
Ada-1’s weapon forms: This character brings only the sword and automatic rifle weapon forms with similar frequency.
Ada-1 and Nokris (see title image) are currently quite annoying.
Why is this annoying? If the same activities and weapon forms are constantly available, it’s not only boring but also really frustrating. Guardians also need other content for their progress:
In the Nightfall, the strike “The Corrupted” is especially called for. This is required for a title. Guardians point out on reddit that it has been 10 weeks since The Corrupted was featured – on January 8.
Moreover, you can’t access all Nightfall-exclusive rewards if Nokris and Xol keep coming up in the rotation.
And at Ada-1, Guardians also want to receive other weapon forms. The Hammerhead, the machine gun, is for example desired.
Xol – one of the Worm Gods
Bungie is looking into the matter
This is what the Guardians say: In the MeinMMO comments of the Weekly Resets, many readers express their frustration:
Shin Malphur writes: “Again Xol… again Nokris… again no The Corrupted. Sorry Bungie, but your “randomization system” is terrible […].” He demands that Bungie take a few minutes to review the Weekly Reset – or to create a proper random generator.
Also, I_Sarius writes frustrated: “The same crap as every Tuesday, thanks for that!”
And Lars Patzenbein asks: “Honestly, what’s up with that?” Because Ada-1 doesn’t have the Hammerhead again.
This topic is also making waves on reddit right now.
With nearly 4000 upvotes, one of the top topics is: “We’ve had the same Nightfalls and NO machine gun weapon form for weeks!”
With 1400 upvotes, a user complains that The Corrupted has not been the Nightfall for 10 weeks.
And several posts with fewer upvotes are complaining about the same issue.
This is what Bungie says: Community Manager Cozmo commented on all these complaints on reddit a few hours ago. He states that this will be forwarded to the team. Specifically, he mentions the issue that The Corrupted hasn’t been the Nightfall for 10 weeks. Players should get the chance to earn the title again.
It remains to be seen when these contents will be playable again and whether Bungie will permanently adjust the Weekly Reset rotation.
Anthem tells the story of freelancers who protect the people from enemies and monsters. In early concepts, however, the game was supposed to focus on the survival of a ship on an alien planet.
Where does the other story come from? In early concepts, Anthem was supposed to tell a very different story than the one we have seen since the release. This can be read in the art book for Anthem, where some developers talk about the game’s backstory. Here you can view some pages of the book in the Google Play Store.
In the beginning, when Anthem was nothing more than “Project Dylan”, the game was supposed to revolve more around survival in a hostile world.
What was the story? In early drafts, the players were supposed to come from a futuristic Earth. With their ship, they would have crashed in the “Bermuda Triangle of space” and landed on an alien planet.
In an early concept, the Javelins were spacesuits repurposed for combat.
The survivors of the crash had to settle in this new, dangerous world. The Javelin were initially nothing more than suits used for space travel, which were then repurposed into combat suits.
The team even considered that players could salvage parts of the crashed spaceship to build structures or improve their suits.
A small glimpse into an early stage of Anthem, or rather Project Dylan, was already given in a teaser for E3 2014:
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What is the story of Anthem now? The players take on the role of a freelancer who protects the people of Fort Tarsis in their Javelin. The world was created by the “Shapers” but is still incomplete.
For its creation, the Shapers used the “Hymn of Creation”, which no one really knows where it comes from. However, the hymn cannot be controlled and continues to create – or destroy – even without the Shapers.
Even now, Anthem still has surprising stories to offer:
The new raid bosses in Pokémon GO are focused on grass Pokémon. You also get the chance to obtain many shinies. We will tell you what to expect.
These are the new bosses: In addition to the grass event, there are also many grass raid bosses in Pokémon GO. Additionally, there are various shinies that you can obtain from the raids.
We will show you the list of current raid bosses and then give you an insight into the possible shinies.
These are the raid bosses for the grass event
Alola-Kokowei is one of the current raid bosses
Raid level
Raid boss
1
Tuska Sonnkern Endivie Loturzel Shinux
2
Flunkifer Roselia Alola-Kokowei Kokowei Reptain
3
Alola-Raichu Machomei Kapilz Tangela
4
Absol Despotar Alola-Knogga Tengulist Sarzenia
5
Dialga
Which raids can I complete alone? If you are level 35+, you should be able to defeat all raids up to and including level 3 raids solo.
The level 4 raids should be manageable with three people. Absol and Tengulist are even quite easy to defeat with two.
Absol and Despotar can be found in level 4 raids
This is interesting: In the level 2 raids, you get double the chance at Kokowei. This Pokémon appears in both its normal form and its Alola form.
These shinies are available: Not only grass Pokémon are available as raid bosses. There are also many Pokémon that can be shiny. We have a list of all possible shinies:
Sonnkern
Endivie
Sheinux
Flunkifer
Roselia
Alola-Raichu
Absol
Alola-Knogga
Alola-Raichu is also available as shiny.
How likely are the shinies? There are no exact numbers on shiny probability in raids. Flunkifer is said to have a chance of about 1 in 35. Absol, on the other hand, is said to have a probability of 1 in 70.
Bioware is currently working on changes to the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, which will be hardly noticeable to players. Nevertheless, these adjustments are necessary for future updates. This shows that Bioware still has a lot in store for SWTOR.
What is Bioware working on? The company announced that it will be overhauling the system of dynamic, placeable objects and the Preview Window. These are things that players may notice less, but they are fundamental systems that work in the background for the game.
This is what a scene in the MMORPG SWTOR looks like with and without DYNs.
Necessary Adjustments Behind the Scenes
What are DYNs? DYNs, also known as dynamic, placeable objects, are items such as switches or lights that can partially be interacted with, but which always affect the game world. An example would be an NPC through which interacting with it causes a wall in the room to explode. The explosion and the wall are then themselves DYNs that affect the surroundings.
Since each DYN is its own object in the game, this can sometimes lead to bugs that create new bugs. Creating and testing such DYNs is, according to Bioware, a significant undertaking.
What is changing? In the future, DYNs will be combined into a unit, making it easier to create and verify them.
What does this mean? This could lead to interactive decorations in a Stronghold, which players of SWTOR have long desired. Developers will simply have better opportunities to create dynamic, placeable objects, from which players will benefit.
Regarding what the developers have planned for Star Wars: The Old Republic, this change helps implement these plans. Bioware can tackle many new ideas for the MMORPG that were previously almost impossible. Patches should also bring fewer bugs.
The Preview Window in SWTOR is being revised.
Bioware Has Much More in Store for SWTOR
What else is coming? In addition to the overhaul of the DYNs, there will be a better preview video.
In this video, you will see effects, for example, from a lightsaber.
Your hero will be sitting on a mount instead of standing next to it.
Objects can be presented animated.
You will see weapon and combat animations in the preview window.
That’s why fans can look forward to it: According to Bioware, with the changes, it is possible to lead SWTOR into an exciting future. The tools are improving and allow for ideas to be implemented more effectively. Additionally, there should be fewer bugs with new features.
This makes it clear that Bioware still has a lot in store for SWTOR. Fans can look forward to what lies ahead.
Today the new update 8.11 for Fortnite is coming to PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Mobile. The highlight of the update is the unusual new weapon “Stone Knock Pistol.” We will take a look at the patch notes in English.
This is one of the smaller content updates, but this time it has its own version number 8.11.
These are the highlights of the patch notes for Battle Royale
New weapon: The Stone Knock Pistol is available in gray and green. It deals 86/90 damage at close range.
The reload time is 3 seconds. It needs to be reloaded after each shot. The weapon can be found on the ground.
The special gimmick of the weapon: It knocks back the shooter and the opponent when they are close enough. If the shooter crouches, they will not be knocked back.
The weapon is back: Impulse grenades are back. Epic pulled them out of the vault. The impulse now hits vehicles even harder: the effect of the impulse on vehicles has been increased by 344%.
Vehicles under fire: All weapons that deal explosive damage now deal 233% more damage to vehicles.
Weapon changes: The scoped assault rifle previously dealt 24/23 damage, which will increase to 27/26.
Mode “One Shot”: The mode has low gravity – in this mode, everyone has 50 health points, there are only sniper rifles, and you can only heal with bandages.
Fresh tournament with $100,000
This is the Blackheart Cup: On March 23rd and 24th, there will be $100,000 in prize money.
Players must place in the top 3% in Gauntlet to qualify for the tournament.
Then, on March 23rd, all qualified players will compete against each other.
On March 24th, the top 3,000 from round 1 will compete against each other.
New melee weapon in Fortnite Save the World
Highlights of the patch notes for Save the World
Hero returns: Battle Hound Jonesy, an old grenade specialist, is back in the shop. He will be waiting there starting March 21st at 1 AM.
New weapon: Additionally, there is the spear “Sir Lancelot” in the weekly shop. When triggered with a heavy attack, it charges forward and deals damage to enemies in the way and knocks them back.
Everything smoother: Epic also announced that they have significantly optimized bandwidth usage. There should now be fewer lags and issues.
The Division 2 has some pretty cool cutscenes – just hardly anyone knows that they even exist.
That’s why you should see these cutscenes: Those who have already completed the story of The Division 2 know that it doesn’t have particularly impressive cutscenes.
In the few video interludes, you usually find yourself with Agent Kelso in a dark room. Kelso talks to other NPCs while our agent stands next to him and watches, because he can’t open his mouth himself. There’s not much more that the videos in the story have to offer.
However, there are also 8 “hidden” cutscenes in The Division 2 that are significantly more interesting than Agent Kelso’s conversations. But you first have to find them in the menu yourself, which means that many agents currently don’t know that they even exist.
Videos filled with violence and action
This is how you see the videos: You can unlock the 8 cutscenes one by one by completing the main missions.
Go to the menu and press “Progress”, which is located next to the character overview on the right. Now switch the tab to “Collectibles”. Then select “Found Footage”. Here you will find all the hidden cutscenes that you have already unlocked.
This progress overview is quite overloaded. Basically, an exclamation mark is constantly lighting up somewhere, because you have achieved something in the game. Many agents have long since given up constantly checking the progress overview; they ignore this flood of exclamation marks. That’s why many agents are currently missing these cutscenes.
What can you see in the cutscenes? In most videos, you see enemy factions killing people who beg for mercy. The faction leaders commit cold-blooded acts so that you can see how cruel these enemies really are and why your mission to eliminate them is so important.
In a pretty cool cutscene, for example, you see the recordings from a JTF helmet camera. Here a fight is shown in “first-person”, which is staged in an action-packed and dynamic way.
We embed this clip here:
https://youtu.be/WtdqNHTGLdM
Did you already know about these cutscenes? Have you seen them all?
The planting event in Pokémon GO has started! It brings Shiny Lunatone and Solgaleo and 4 new quests. We will tell you what it’s all about.
This is the planting event: Pokémon GO celebrates the equinox. For this occasion, plant Pokémon are spawning more frequently for one week. Additionally, there are two new Shinies to catch and many other things related to plant Pokémon.
This is the planting event 2019
What are the bonuses? There aren’t any real bonuses. However, much has changed regarding the spawns:
Plant Pokémon appear more frequently in the wild
Plant Pokémon in raids
4 new quests related to plant Pokémon
Lunatone and Solgaleo are swapping regions and can be caught as Shiny
Two new moves are available in the game
With this image, Niantic announced the planting event.
These are the Shinies: Lunatone and Solgaleo can be caught as Shiny for the first time. However, in Germany, only Lunatone can be caught, as both belong to the regional Pokémon.
There are also other Pokémon that appear more frequently and are available as Shiny in the game. These include:
Bulbasaur
Chikorita
Sunkern
Roselia
Chikorita and Bulbasaur are also part of the event.
These Pokémon also appear more frequently: Basically every plant Pokémon can be found more often in the event. This includes, among others, Treecko, Spheal, Swablu, or Turtwig.
Especially Swablu may be interesting for many players since it is needed for the Meltan quest and is still sought after by numerous players.
How long does the event last? You have until March 26 to take advantage of the event. The bonuses will remain active until then. The event ends at 9 PM.
These 4 quests are new
There are also 4 event field researches to complete. These are only available for a limited time.
Venusaur is one of the rewards for the quests
Catch 3 Bulbasaur or Chikorita
Reward: Encounter with a Turtwig
Evolve 2 plant Pokémon
Reward: Encounter with a Tangela
Evolve 5 plant Pokémon
Reward: Encounter with a Venusaur
Catch 10 plant Pokémon
Reward: 1000 Stardust
Riolu could be a quite expensive Pokémon in Pokémon GO:
Today, on March 20, the Fortnite servers will be taken down for maintenance on all platforms (PC/Mac, Xbox One, PS4, Switch, iOS, Android). You will need to download a patch. How long will the servers be down and when can you get back in?
What is happening today in Fortnite? Fortnite will also be taken down for maintenance this week. A new patch will bring bug fixes and new content as usual. The Battle Royale mode will likely fulfill its pirate theme, but there should also be new content for Save the World players.
Before you can dive into the action, however, you must wait for the maintenance to finish. When does it start? When will the servers be back online? MeinMMO has all the information!
Fortnite Servers Going Down – When Will They Be Online Again?
When do the maintenance work begin? As in every week, matchmaking for new rounds will be disabled at 9:30 AM German time. This gives you enough time to finish your last game before maintenance starts at 10 AM. Because then, the servers will be completely down and Fortnite will no longer be accessible.
When can I get back into the game? Since a smaller maintenance is scheduled this week, the servers should only be down for a short time. Around noon, you should be able to log back in.
If unexpected problems occur during maintenance, we will report on it at MeinMMO. Also, shortly after the maintenance starts, you can find all important information about the patch notes!
What does update 8.11 bring for Battle Royale fans? A new pirate-themed handgun will be introduced, so much is known. However, the community is quite skeptical, as the pirate pistol will likely deal less damage than expected.
Additionally, there will likely be further bug fixes and stabilizing measures. More details will be revealed in the patch notes.
This is in update 8.11 for the Save the World mode: Aside from an ominous phrasing in the maintenance announcement, little is known. In the subreddit for Fortnite’s PvE mode the developers hint that there will be a new spear.
What do you think of the new update and the new pirate pistol?
Many Guardians are currently having fun with a new animation from the Drifter in Destiny 2. They are creating cool clips about it – which Bungie also finds funny.
This is why the Drifter is being mocked: Since Season 6 and the introduction of Gambit Prime, the Drifter has some new animations when announcing the opponents for the upcoming Gambit match.
For example, he pulls a coin from behind his ear or jingles his green coin and says “Ding” before revealing which enemy race you have to face.
The latter animation with the “Ding” has now inspired many Guardians to create funny clips that are currently being viewed by thousands of players and receiving upvotes.
“What does the Vex say?”
This video is currently popular: On Reddit, a clip of the Guardian “I am Claw!” has already gathered more than 3700 upvotes and around 30,000 views in the last few hours. It is the Guardian’s first YouTube video.
He mentions that he worked on this 15-second clip for four hours. But it seems to have been worth it, as many are celebrating the video:
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He lets the Drifter jingle his coin to the well-known song “What does the fox say”, while the Drifter appears pretty silly and frequently says “Ding”.
Since the Drifter announces at the end that the Vex will be on the field, several users immediately suggested that the video should be titled “What does the Vex say”.
This is how Bungie reacts: The community managers Cozmo and dmg04 both responded to this video.
dmg04 wrote: “I don’t like that.”
Cozmo wrote: “I like that.”
However, dmg04 wrote this with a smirk, as a quick glance at his Twitter account shows. He is also amused by the community’s “Ding” clips:
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“Soon” WoW Classic will launch. Back then, not only was everything “better”, but above all, it was different. We have put together a list of things that only true fans will remember.
Those who have stayed active will have gotten used to many new features, and those who haven’t played since then may have forgotten a lot. We’ll help refresh your memory.
[toc]
1. Classic Dungeons were different
Every dungeon that existed in Classic has now received at least one adjustment. The enemies, layout, tactics, and level restrictions have changed.
Did you know that in Classic, you fought against Worgen instead of undead in Shadowfang Keep and that the boss of the Deadmines was Vanessa’s father, Edwin von Cleef?
Many only remember Edwin von Cleef from Hearthstone.
2. No resurrection in Dungeon
If you died in a dungeon or raid, you had to run back. There were no mass resurrections, and after a wipe, you reappeared as a ghost at the nearest graveyard.
To resurrect, you had to run to the entrance of the dungeon. At least in the upcoming version, there will be the ability to trade loot.
3. Areas were level-ordered
In Classic, no areas in Azeroth scaled with the character’s level. World scaling came much later. Back then, it could happen that enemies suddenly became too weak and quests provided hardly any experience points.
New players had to be careful not to accidentally travel through areas for which their level was insufficient. Even normal enemies could be deadly. Stronger foes guaranteed death.
4. There was no “fast mail”
If you were expecting a letter, you had to wait. Always. There was no express delivery between your own characters or even guild members. A letter only arrived an hour after it was sent.
Mail in Classic took time.
5. New skills were expensive and cumbersome
If you leveled up, you didn’t automatically learn the next rank of a spell or new spells right away. You had to go to your class trainer and purchase new abilities with gold and silver.
It became particularly tedious later on. Many abilities required tomes that dropped in the open world or in dungeons. If you could afford it, you might even find them in the auction house.
6. There were more weapon slots
Each class had an additional weapon slot:
Hunters, Warriors, and Rogues could carry ranged weapons
Priests, Mages, and Warlocks got wands
Shamans, Paladins, and Druids had relics, totems, and idols
There was also a distinction between ranged and thrown weapons. If you wanted to use ranged weapons, you had to be able to “shoot.” Thrown knives and similar weapons required the “throwing” skill.
A hunter.
7. Ranged weapons required distance and ammunition
If you wanted to shoot with bows, guns, or similar items, you had to carry ammunition. Without ammunition, the attacks did not work.
Additionally, there was a minimum range. If you stood too close to the enemy, you couldn’t attack them with ranged weapons. This also led to a dead zone, as there were about 2 meters between maximum melee range and minimum ranged range.
8. Weapon skills had to be learned and improved
When you got a new weapon, you couldn’t necessarily use it immediately. There were weapon skills that you might have to learn from the class trainer.
Furthermore, it was necessary to train with each weapon and improve the corresponding skill through attacks. If you didn’t do that, you wouldn’t hit or dealt less damage.
If you wanted to show off your mounts and pets, you needed a lot of inventory space. Each mount and pet took up its own slot in your backpack.
By the way, mounting also took longer. Today, when you mount your mount, it takes 1.5 seconds. In Classic, it took 3 seconds.
A collection like this didn’t exist in Classic.
10. Some buffs and abilities required reagents
Many spells could not be used by spellcasters just like that. The abilities in Classic often required specific reagents:
Mages needed runes for teleportation and portals
Rogues had to mix their poisons themselves
Druids needed Dreamfoil for resurrection
The reagents were available from reagent vendors in cities.
11. There were “debuff slots”
In Classic, enemies could not simply be afflicted with an unlimited number of damage-over-time spells. The number of DoTs and debuffs per target was limited to 8, later to 16. This limitation will also be present on the Classic servers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lo9kmcEw0w
12. Elite mobs were truly “elite”
An enemy with a golden frame around their portrait is called an “elite mob.” These are stronger enemies that have lost much of their shine today and can often be taken down alone by players.
In Classic, that was almost impossible. Such an enemy typically needed a full group of players and could easily wipe unprepared players.
What can now be done for free with a mouse click in any resting area once cost a hefty sum. If you wanted to respec, you had to fork over, and the cost increased over time.
Respeccing once cost up to 50 gold and was possibly one of the worst things returning with Classic. The price decreased by 5 gold if you did not reset your talents for a month.
The talent tree of a Warlock in Classic.
14. PvP realms had restrictions
The PvP realms today have largely been replaced by the new war mode. But in Classic, there were realms where you could whack the opposing faction without any hesitation.
There was one condition: Every player had to choose a faction. If you played a Horde character on a PvP realm, you could not create Alliance characters there.
In Classic, to gather certain herbs, ores, and leathers, you first had to achieve a certain skill level in the corresponding profession. Before that, the items could not be gathered. Additionally, pickaxes and skinning knives were necessary.
Today, anything can be gathered with any skill level, just more or less effectively.
