In January 2019, it looked like Sea of Thieves would be the next big game on Twitch. But then something unexpected happened: Apex Legends came along. It is now the official “Fortnite alternative” of the stars on Twitch.
This is what it looked like just a month ago: In January 2019, it seemed that Sea of Thieves was making an incredible comeback.
The shooter player Summit1g suddenly found success with his streams of “Sea of Thieves”, entertaining his viewers with a “brand new” game, standing out among the crowd of Fortnite streamers, and achieving great success – financially as well.
Summit1g is associated with the rise of Sea of Thieves on Twitch
The escapades of Summit1g in Sea of Thieves captivated the viewers and earned him a lot of subscriptions. It was a bit of a sensation that a streamer suddenly found success by playing a game that was neither “hip” nor “trendy”.
Led by the top pirate Summit1g, many well-known shooter streamers suddenly tried out the pirate MMO.
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The adventure Sea of Thieves suddenly seemed entertaining and cool when DrDisrespect took the helm. Even well-known figures from Fortnite like TimTheTatman or Ninja suddenly became pirates.
As the US site Kotaku notes, Sea of Thieves suddenly had over 100,000 concurrent viewers and ranked third among Twitch games behind Fortnite and League of Legends.
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This is what it looks like now: But currently, the numbers for Sea of Thieves on Twitch have dropped – they range between 2,000 and 15,000 viewers.
Apparently, the hype is already over.
The fat weeks seem to be over – Source: SullyGnome
What is the reason? The decline of Sea of Thieves coincides with the rapid rise of Apex Legends on Twitch. Many of the streamers who had tried “Sea of Thieves” for a change are now playing Apex Legends:
While in January, Summit1g was seen as a trendsetter and top winner with Sea of Thieves
Young streamers who want to make it big, like the “wonder child” Dizzy, are seeing shiny growth in their channels with Apex Legends. Summit1g is now only at 23rd place in the statistics for most new followers.
The fastest growing channels on Twitch as of February 25 – Source Twitchmetrics
That makes it remarkable: What’s interesting is that Sea of Thieves and Apex Legends are completely different games with hardly anything in common.
But the rise of Sea of Thieves was not only about the game itself, but also about the general craving of top streamers for something new and not just the eternal Fortnite.
But now Apex Legends seems to be the new hot thing on Twitch.
A sign of how quickly the winds can change and that a single top streamer can establish a trend that others then follow.
With the upcoming season of the Vagabond comes another iconic weapon from its predecessor – the Thorn. Our author Sven explains why he has never looked forward to anything as much as the return of this shoot piece in Destiny 2.
What is already certain is the return of the Thorn – one of the most popular and simultaneously most hated hand cannons in the Destiny series.
That’s why I am especially looking forward to Season 6: I must admit, I was also looking forward to the currently concluding Season 5 and had a lot of fun – even though I am a little deflated towards the end.
With the Season of the Forge, Destiny 2 has come closer to my personal vision of Destiny regarding weapons, equipment, raids, and setting. I was also very excited about the return of the hand cannon “The Last Word”.
But since the end of January, my eyes have been firmly fixed on Season 6. After leaks already hinted at the return of the Thorn, it was officially confirmed on January 28 – soon I can finally hold my absolute favorite weapon of the Destiny series in my hands again.
This is what the Thorn can do: The Thorn is an exotic hand cannon from Destiny 1. Its hallmark are the thorn-like, poisoned projectiles that inflicted damage over time on enemies in addition to regular kinetic damage.
It was often possible to take out enemies who had already taken cover or to “avenge” one’s own death posthumously.
The Thorn dominated in year 1 for a long time alongside other hand cannons like the Hawkmoon or The Last Word in the Crucible and was considered one of the best and most popular weapons in PvP.
However, this hand cannon was also hated and reviled by just as many players. Because it was very difficult to counter.
Later, it was nerfed by Bungie and left behind until it was brought back with the expansion “The Rise of Iron” in year 3. However, it could never regain its dominance from year 1.
That’s why I love the Thorn: The Thorn holds a very special place for me and is by far my absolute favorite weapon in the entire Destiny series.
The original Thorn
On one hand, this weapon got me into Destiny PvP and made the Crucible an indispensable part of my virtual Guardian life.
The Thorn quest was so rare and special, and the PvP part (for me) so difficult that I made it my life’s mission to master it. As an average PvP player, I really bit my teeth on this challenge. And to this day, I can hardly think of anything I would be prouder of as a Guardian than finally holding this weapon in my hands.
On the other hand, I simply fell in love with the overall package of design, sound, and the unique mechanics. The Thorn from year 1 perfectly embodies my personal understanding of Exotics and aesthetics. To this day, no other weapon evokes comparable emotions in me.
I initially played the Thorn solely due to its dominance. However, after some time, I found just as much joy in playing against it. Few things have brought me as much fun and satisfaction as matching up against a Thorn carrier in a direct duel or even taking him down with a weaker gun.
How will the Thorn be implemented in Destiny 2? One of the most exciting questions for me is how Bungie will implement the Thorn in Destiny 2.
I personally hope for the year-1 Thorn from the predecessor to return, but that is unlikely to happen. There is simply no room for such overpowering effects in Destiny 2 PvP. At least not yet.
However, even in year 3, I still enjoyed playing the Thorn for nostalgic reasons and was still quite successful with it. I would still be very pleased with a somewhat weakened poison effect form like the exotic Bow Le Monarque in Destiny 2.
An ornament for the Thorn in Destiny 1
Moreover, it gives me confidence how Bungie has implemented the returning “The Last Word”. This exotic weapon works a bit differently now than it did in Destiny 1, but in my opinion, it hasn’t lost any of its character or charm.
Also, the heavy machine gun Donnelord, which also came back from Destiny 2, is really well implemented. This weapon is currently among the best and is also one of my favorite Exotics in Destiny 2. At least in this aspect, I haven’t completely lost my trust in Bungie and hope for a cool Destiny 2 Thorn.
This leaves me with a bitter aftertaste: Currently, it is not yet known how the Thorn will come into play during Season 6.
However, it is highly likely that, like The Last Word, it will receive its own exotic quest tied to the second premium DLC “The Joker’s Wildcard” and thus to the paid Annual Pass.
While I personally find the converted €10 for the second premium DLC worth it to hold my great Destiny love in my hands again, Destiny veterans are basically paying for this weapon exotic for the third time now.
I would personally prefer Bungie to serve this weapon to all players as a free feature. That would be a more than appropriate gesture in my opinion.
An ornament for the Thorn in Destiny 1
While it is very unlikely that this will happen, it is not completely excluded. Because as part of Season 6, there is supposed to be a new exotic quest for all base game owners, in addition to the exclusive exotic quest for Annual Pass owners.
There is still a chance that the Thorn will celebrate its return for free and available to everyone. And possibly there will already be first official details soon. Because Bungie wants to announce this week how things will continue in March for players with new content.
What do you think of the return of the Thorn? Are you tired of all the old weapons from Destiny 1? Or are you also excited about this icon and curious how Bungie will implement it in Destiny 2?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
For years, Pro Club fans have been disappointed by the FIFA series. In FIFA 19, the situation is particularly bad.
I have been playing Pro Clubs since FIFA 10. In the fall of 2010, I founded a club with a few friends in FIFA 11, which still exists today, and we passionately take on every new FIFA installment each year.
So I have been a dedicated Pro Club fan for more than 8 years. And for just as long, I have loved and hated this mode. All the highs and lows I have experienced could fill an entire book.
Because changes are actually urgently needed. For years, EA Sports has been letting the mode gather dust. Fans keep criticizing that they should please take care of their favorite mode and not put all resources into Ultimate Team.
No innovations, but fresh bugs
FIFA 19 asks a lot from club fans: However, in this FIFA season, the lack of innovation is not the only problem that club fans have to deal with. Annoying bugs have crept into FIFA 19, spoiling the gaming experience.
I’m thinking of
the broken Pro Clubs statistics. In the club overview, no statistics were displayed, even though the club overview looked the same as in previous years. So one could not compare oneself with the other club members, as all statistic displays were empty. This problem has now been fixed, but only four months after the release.
the serious position problem that mainly affects CAMs. If you set your Pro as a CAM, you are treated as a left-back in the game. If you still act as a central attacking midfielder, you receive poor ratings and constantly see a red arrow above you. This bug is said to be fixed with a new update. However, you had to wait 5 months for it.
Pro Club players are frustrated: In other words, FIFA 19 not only has no innovations for Pro Clubs. For almost half the season, important features were also missing that worked perfectly in previous years.
Many see EA taking an extremely long time to fix these issues as downright outrageous.
It was already clear before the launch that Pro Clubs in FIFA 19 would not spark jubilation among fans. But that the mode would disappoint so much was unexpected for everyone.
The focus is on FUT, not Pro Clubs
Why do so many still play Pro Clubs?
Nevertheless, I play Pro Clubs: In FIFA 19, I have now played around 400 club matches. Compared to my games in previous years, this is a significant drop, due to the issues mentioned above. Still, I still enjoy the club.
That’s because, in my opinion, this mode offers the best online experience in FIFA. You play virtual soccer together with a few buddies, chat about all sorts of things, and are thrilled when you win as a team.
And there were a few changes: Additionally, there are a few changes that differentiate Pro Clubs in FIFA 19 from those in FIFA 18. The gameplay has been revised, new animations and techniques have been added – and there were also new shoes.
Pro Clubs urgently needs innovations
Nevertheless, Pro Club fans have been complaining for years that EA Sports is letting the club mode wither. There is so much untapped potential in this mode, as is repeatedly read in the forums. They dream of more modes, more interaction possibilities, more customization options, and much more.
Accordingly, the fans express their frustration and anger that nothing has changed in FIFA 19.
EA is listening: Sam Rivera from EA announced in Summer 2018 that they are listening to the fans. They know that they are very passionate and expect bigger and better things for Pro Clubs. At EA, there are discussions about what to add to the mode in the future.
But since EA took months to fix the annoying bugs in Pro Clubs, many do not believe that the club mode will be significantly improved in the near future.
Square Enix is starting a collaboration in Japan with the wedding company Deuxzero, allowing fans to marry properly just like in Final Fantasy XIV.
This is how Square Enix enables FFXIV weddings: Fans of Final Fantasy XIV in Japan can now spend the most important day of their lives just like in their favorite MMORPG.
A demonstration of such a wedding was recently held for several Japanese journalists, with FFXIV producer Naoki Yoshida playing the father of the bride.
The bride and groom cut the wedding cake with the Curtana, the relic weapon of the Paladin.
What’s included in the wedding plan? The detailed plan includes everything necessary for a FFXIV wedding:
Outfits for the bride and groom: These are “cosplays” of the outfits worn during the ceremony in the game.
Props and decorations in the MMORPG style: Crystals, the wedding Chocobo, relic weapons of the Paladin and White Mage, etc.
A wedding cake: Faithfully modeled after the cake from FFXIV
A huge screen: The video of the Eternal Bond from Final Fantasy XIV will play during the ceremony.
A feast: The menu is designed for 70 guests and includes dishes that can be made in the game.
Wedding Chocobo, as well as relic weapons of the Paladin and White Mage
Everything is accompanied by music from Final Fantasy XIV.
However, director Yoshida is not part of the package. When asked by a journalist present, he jokingly replied that players would tell him to keep working on the game otherwise.
Yoshida leads the bride to the groom
What does it cost? Yoshida mentioned a price of 3.5 million yen, which would be just over €28,000.
However, the price may vary depending on factors such as the number of guests attending the celebration and any special requests.
According to the news site japantimes.co.jp, the average cost of wedding celebrations in Japan is about €30,000. This means the FFXIV wedding would actually be slightly below the average price.
Ceremony of the Eternal Bond
How did the collaboration come about? Both the wedding company and the Final Fantasy series celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2017. Therefore, Deuxzero decided to send a proposal for this somewhat unusual collaboration to Square Enix.
Producer Yoshida said that the FFXIV team was very impressed by how detailed and well thought out the proposal for the collaboration was.
Yoshida has also often received emails from FFXIV fans who met in the MMORPG and later got married. This motivated him to agree to the collaboration.
Even before the collaboration, fans had found ways and means to make their favorite MMORPG a part of their wedding:
Titans are among the most powerful enemies in Anthem. However, the fight against these creatures causes frustration for many players.
In Anthem, there are a number of boss fights that demand more from players than the normal “average” fights. However, the fight against the Titans causes frustration for many players, as the encounters often feel unfair and, above all, unfinished. We express what bothers the player community.
What are Titans? Titans are particularly powerful enemies in Anthem that are best attacked with a full squad of four players. They have a lot of health points, possess an almost impenetrable armor, and are only vulnerable to damage in a few spots. They also summon additional enemies and have further devastating attacks.
The powerful Titans are impressive – and sometimes frustrating.
The three major problems: The fights against Titans are challenging as they have many different abilities. However, some of these cause frustration:
The flame rings have a hitbox that is too large. Players get hit even though they are clearly above or below the fire effect. Additionally, the attack goes through all walls, making cover useless in many cases.
The fireballs are too homing. Even if you dodge late, some fireballs still make a “90° turn” and hit Javelins that just dodged.
The flame laser appears random. Players report that the Titan has turned its back to them, suddenly turns completely around after the “charging animation”, and blows unsuspecting players out of the sky. This feels like a game bug, as Titans otherwise have very sluggish movements. This “spontaneous death” causes frustration.
Fights against Titans can drag on for many minutes.
Titans confuse “gamer senses”: The fights with the Titans are hotly debated on Reddit. The prevailing opinion seems to be that it just doesn’t feel right in Anthem when and how to evade a certain ability. Too often, you get hit even though all “gamer senses” tell you that you dodged in time. The feel of the various abilities is simply not optimal.
The issue with overheating: Due to the three inconsistencies, players often get hit and their Javelins overheat. This, in turn, causes them to stay on the ground for a while while the Javelin cools down. This time is particularly frustrating when you previously thought you had successfully avoided an attack.
Hopefully, BioWare will make improvements here and turn the Titans into a fairer and therefore more enjoyable encounter.
How do you feel about the fights against Titans in Anthem? Do you enjoy them? Or do you have the same problems that we described?
Many players express their creativity in Fallout 76. One of them has apparently put in a lot of effort and hoarded heaps of rare weapons to display them in a museum he created himself. He even charges admission.
What kind of museum is this? The player Fischfabrik has built the “Whale Penetration Museum” with his C.A.M.P. in Fallout 76. Behind the name lies a museum full of harpoon cannons.
In this museum, he has displayed heaps of harpoon cannons, heavy weapons that he has mounted on special weapon holders on the wall or that lie on stands. In some display cases, there are various maritime trophies to admire.
There is a short promotional clip for his museum featuring both the interior and some of the exhibits:
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How can I visit the museum? The museum is located in the west of Appalachia, right by the river and exactly between the two workshops Sunshine Meadows Industrial Farm and Billings Homestead. Fischfabrik (his PSN name) plays on the PS4.
Those who want to enter must pay an admission fee. This is not paid in bottle caps as is usual in Fallout, but is said to be a bottle of Nuka Cola, if the sign is to be believed. If you need to buy cola first, you can find out here how to get bottle caps.
Rare Weapons and Souvenirs
What makes the museum special: The special thing about the museum is that Fischfabrik offers his own souvenir shop with memorabilia from the whale and harpoon museum, and also exhibits only truly rare weapons. In the shop, there are items like
The displayed harpoon cannons are all 3-star legendaries, meaning they are the strongest and rarest weapons in the game. It’s already difficult enough to get 3-star legendaries at all. Exhibiting all of the same type is even harder.
We spoke with Fischfabrik and he told us that he originally started the collection with just one strong variant of the harpoon cannon.
The value of this collection is currently well over a million bottle caps. The idea came from the many crazy factions in the Fallout universe.
He managed to get a large part from other players who offer these weapons in their player shops or who traded with him.
The new legendary vendor might have been a help as well. Any legendary items can be exchanged for legendary tokens and then random legendary items can be purchased with those. 3-star harpoon cannons can also be among them.
Fischfabrik took several months to gather the weapons and build the camp. If you want to organize something similar, here are some ideas for your camp:
The player Tfue is among the best Fortnite players in the world. However, he explains in the stream why he might have trouble qualifying for the Fortnite World Cup.
What did Tfue say? During a stream, Turner “Tfue” Tenny watched a clip of NickMercs, who plays for 100 Thieves. NickMercs explained that Tfue should automatically qualify for the World Cup.
He says that Tfue would be the best Fortnite player in the world to him.
Tfue was moved after hearing the kind words. However, he fears there may be issues with qualification.
It might sound stupid, but: If I had never streamed in my life, I believe my chances of qualifying for the World Championship would increase significantly.
And I don’t want to go into too much detail about why that is. But you know why. If I want to qualify for the World Cup, I can’t stream.
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What problems does Tfue face? He continues in the clip and explains that people know where he lands. They know his favorite landing spots. And then others would land there intentionally because Tfue is dropping from the sky there. Plus, he would have to wear random skins to remain inconspicuous.
He says a large part of the players in “Versus” know his stream. They know where the streamer likes to land and how he plays. It wouldn’t be like with other players. He will try to play offline and do his best to qualify.
Stream sniper as a problem: Such issues with stream snipers are often seen in competitive games.
If Tfue played online and streamed his attempts to qualify, it would probably complicate his games. Players would watch the stream to see where Tfue is, what weapons he has, and what plans he shares with the viewers. A big disadvantage for the streamer himself.
A possible solution would be to stream with a heavy delay, so that viewers see the events of the stream minutes later, after they happened in the game. But this would hurt interaction with the viewers if they have to wait minutes for a response.
This is the Fortnite WM: A few days ago, Fortnite presented its World Cup for 2019. There is a prize pool of 30 million dollars, and the winner becomes a millionaire:
During a match of the Overwatch League, there were loud boos. These reflect the fans’ dissatisfaction with the current state of the meta.
What led to the boos? On Sunday, February 25, there was a match between the Houston Outlaws and New York Excelsior in the Overwatch League. Both teams are among the better teams in the league, with New York remaining undefeated in Season 2 while Houston is currently struggling.
Nevertheless, the match created excitement as the teams faced each other on the map Temple of Anubis. Excelsior played defense with a GOATS composition, which the commentators typically refer to simply as “defensive line-up” for understanding.
Houston wanted to start the attack with Pharah and Tracer on their team, which earned them loud applause from the audience. However, after seeing the enemy composition, they quickly switched to GOATS themselves and were booed for it.
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This is what it’s about: GOATS is a composition consisting of three tanks and three healers, which originally (from Team GOATS) consists of six precisely defined heroes:
D.Va
Reinhardt
Zarya
Brigitte
Moira
Lúcio
The composition combines strong shields and a lot of health with enormous healing. Due to its strength in almost every situation and the lack of effective counters to GOATS, this setup has been the meta of Overwatch for a long time.
GOATS is a defensive composition that robs the fights of both dynamics and action. Offensive heroes with flashy plays currently have no place in the meta; the fights are very static.
In the end, it’s all about which Zarya can set a Graviton Surge first so that the opposing team is wiped out. It’s a constant back and forth until a team makes a mistake or gets lucky.
The first sales figures of Anthem are in. However, the retail sales from the UK are not particularly good and could mean serious problems for the game.
For several days now, Anthem has been available and many players have dived into the new co-op shooter from BioWare. But how many players are there actually? Is Anthem selling well? The answer is a bit more complicated.
Because at least in comparison to other top titles, the retail sales figures of Anthem are rather low.
Only a quarter of Destiny 2: The basis of these statements are the sales figures in the UK. They are not representative of the whole world, but they often give a first impression of a game’s performance. This refers to so-called “box sales,” meaning the sales of the classic box version of a game. Digital sales are not included, as they are unknown:
On the launch weekend, Anthem sold only about a quarter as many units as Destiny 2 – but had less time since the game was released on Thursday.
In comparison with its predecessor Destiny (1), it’s even only 10% of the sold units.
Anthem also lags behind the sales figures of single-player games, such as Kingdom Hearts 3 or the remake of Resident Evil 2.
Stay informed: All the latest information about Anthem is always available on our Anthem Facebook page.
The retail sales figures do not tell the whole story
Online sales are the big unknown: Nevertheless, all these sales figures should initially be taken with caution. Because Anthem can of course not only be purchased as a box version but also bought digitally or played in conjunction with the “Origin Access Premier” service on PC.
So how high the actual sales figures of Anthem are can only be guessed.
EA has estimated the digital sales on PS4 and Xbox One at around 47% for the past year – this at least suggests that Anthem is not doing very well.
It is known that there is a significant shift from “retail sales” to “digital sales.” When Destiny 2 was released, significantly more was sold in stores than today.
Fans are worried about support: In various discussions on this topic, initial fears and concerns from the community are already emerging. There are fears that EA could simply “drop” Anthem, as they did with Mass Effect: Andromeda. In this case, planned DLCs were simply scrapped and never released.
Are you surprised by these sales figures for Anthem? Do you think the game is performing better in other regions (like the USA)? Or are the digital sales figures perhaps much higher?
In The Division 2 the setting shifts to the U.S. capital Washington D.C. Now developer Massive explains why the map offers significantly more variety than that of the first game.
In an interview with Gadgets360, the focus is on the game world of The Division 2. This is one of the biggest innovations compared to its predecessor. It’s not just set in a different city, but also in a different season.
The Division 2 takes place 7 months after the events of the wintry Christmas first part, in the middle of summer. Creative Director Chadi El-Zibaoui now emphasizes the advantages of the new setting.
More Variety, Not Just Visually
This is what Massive’s El-Zibaoui says: El-Zibaoui himself was previously a level designer. He still finds the setting of the first game “beautiful”. However, New York was “built on a grid”, while Washington D.C. would offer “much more variety”.
The Division 2 benefits especially on two levels from the new setting:
Washington D.C. plays an important role in the Division universe, which is especially exciting for story fans.
Additionally, the level design brings a lot of variety to the game and makes the game world significantly more diverse than in the predecessor.
Visually alone, the change of setting makes a big difference:
This is what the map of The Division 2 offers: El-Zibaoui names several examples that clearly distinguish D.C. in the game from New York, such as
the large, open areas and levels
and the historical monuments and government buildings.
Additionally, the warmer climate allows for significantly more vegetation.
However, there are some places like the residential areas that, aside from their height, resemble parts of New York.
In this context, El-Zibaoui mentions the 3 different Dark Zones that are scattered across D.C. in the west, south, and east. They are a good example of how differently the map of The Division 2 has been designed.
You can learn more about the Dark Zones in our special:
What does Washington D.C. offer? The map of The Division 2 is divided into 6 different regions:
Suburbs
Nature
Residentials
Commercial
Government
Historic
This is the map of D.C. including the 6 marked regions
The game world is significantly larger than in The Division 1. This is also due to the fact that Massive “recreated” the city at a 1:1 scale.
A large intersection has the same dimensions as in reality. This is supposed to apply to the entire map. In the predecessor, Manhattan was still largely compressed.
In the MMORPG Black Desert, there is usually a lot of complaining. However, this has improved lately. At the beginning of 2019, there is even praise for the new content, and the marketplace is also being received better.
What do players currently like? The mood in Black Desert has noticeably improved lately. This is especially due to the new content:
Shadow Arena: This is the battle royale mode of the MMORPG, where 50 players loot items and fight monsters and other players to be the last survivor – new players can also participate without having to gather very good equipment first.
Dark Rifts: These events appear randomly in the game world and offer participants exciting battles against nasty bosses with interesting rewards – Black Desert fans celebrate this content, as both newcomers and veterans can find a challenge and obtain good items.
How players are reacting: These two changes are being well received in the community.
huntersood writes on Reddit: “I loved all the changes so far. Dark Rifts are fun and rewarding, the Shadow Arena is not my thing, but I will never complain about more gameplay options with good rewards and incentives.”
ANewErra says: “I am considering returning to the game.”
Players are currently satisfied
What is the opinion in the forum? The new features are also being discussed in the official Black Desert forum. Generally, there is a better mood here than a few months ago. The forum indicates that, in addition to the Shadow Arena and Dark Rifts, the new marketplace plays a significant role in why Black Desert is now better received.
Because in the marketplace, most items are now constantly available without the need to bid on them.
Furthermore, you can access banking functions for items and silver from any city.
Additionally, a “pre-order” system has strengthened the in-game economy.
The marketplace can now generally be used much better.
The improved communication from Pearl Abyss through producer letters is currently being praised and highlighted.
Now the question arises how long the good mood in Black Desert Online can last.
Anthem offers you legendary contracts that are meant to keep you busy in the endgame. How to unlock this type of contracts, we have explained here for you.
What are contracts? Contracts are short side tasks in Anthem that increase your reputation with a certain faction. For each faction, you need to visit a different NPC:
Yarrow for the Freelancers
Brin for the Sentinels
Matthias for the Arcanists
Contracts are already offered to you during the Anthem campaign at a low level. The normal contracts are meant to serve as a kind of “training” for what players can expect in the endgame.
Matthias Sumner is the contact person for the Arcanists.
Legendary contracts are among the activities in the endgame and provide a means to further improve your Javelin. They do not guarantee masterworks or legendary items, but the chance of getting the best gear is higher in legendary contracts than in normal contracts.
Faction missions can be recognized by the icon with triangles, as shown here at the top with “This is how Freelancers work”.
How to unlock legendary contracts: You receive legendary contracts when you have completed the Anthem campaign and have reached level 30 with your pilot. You should also have completed the faction story. This means, if you want the legendary contracts of the Sentinels, you must complete their story as well.
If you want to receive the legendary contracts of all factions, you must also have played through the stories of all three factions. You complete them when you finish all tasks of the factions. If you regularly talk to the NPCs in Fort Tarsis after your missions, you will automatically pick up the storylines of the factions.
You can find the Freelancer contracts with Yarrow.
You do not need to have reached the full reputation points for the respective faction to get the legendary contracts. Just complete the Anthem campaign, finish the side quests of the factions, and reach level 30. Then the legendary contracts should be available to you.
How many legendary contracts can you receive? While normal contracts of the factions can be repeated, legendary contracts are limited: Players can accept three legendary contracts per day, one contract per faction.
More guides to Anthem can be found in our overview:
A shitstorm is raging against the football skins in Fortnite . We tell you what players hate about these skins.
These are the skins: Since mid-February, the football skins have been available for purchase in Fortnite again. These skins were first released for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and are available again in Fortnite. They returned to the shop on February 16.
This is the problem: As the US site Polygon explains, many players now see a problem with these skins. For them, this outfit represents the new “Try-Hard Skin” and stands for aggressive gameplay. A shitstorm against the football players broke out on Twitter.
That’s why players have a problem with the skin
That’s why the skin is hated: The football players were particularly popular among many YouTubers and streamers. Therefore, many fans also emulated their idols and purchased the outfit.
The prejudice is: Players now want to prove that they are just as good in Fortnite as the streamers. Anyone wearing a football skin is determined to get every possible kill. Aggressive gameplay is the consequence.
It can be assumed that when one sees such a skin, they will also be attacked. At least that’s what some players claim.
This is what the players say: On Twitter, there are real hate messages directed at the wearers of the football skins. We present you some highlights:
The football skin is especially something for kids, says this player This player simply hates all football skins. No matter what they do.The football skin wearers should not have a good morning. At least according to this player.
Football players in Fortnite are the new John Wicks
They are not the first skins: This kind of hate towards skins is not new. The John Wick skin from Season 3 received similar hate. This skin could only be obtained if you played a lot. The John Wick was one of the first “Try-Hard Skins” in Fortnite.
Season 8 is just around the corner! Check out the first teaser for the new season here:
Fans demand German aircraft for paratroopers in Battlefield 5. However, the response from a developer is met with criticism and sparks discussions in the community about the expectations of AAA titles.Because the developer presents fans with a choice.
This is the problem at hand: When German troops attack in the Airborne mode of Grand Operations in Battlefield 5, they jump from Allied aircraft. The crew members are also clearly visible as being part of the Allies.
This situation disrupts immersion and annoys many fans.
For quite some time, players have urged DICE to finally introduce a German aircraft model and a German crew in Battlefield 5.
The developers have now commented on this demand and are presenting the fans with a choice.
What the developers say: On Twitter, senior designer Niklas Astrand addressed the fans. He explained that occasionally players complain about jumping as German soldiers from a C-47 (US plane) instead of from a JU-52 in Airborne mode.
At launch, it was decided to allow both sides to use the C-47 and instead provide more usable vehicles such as tanks, transports, fighter planes, or bombers.
The non-controllable C-47 was at least as expensive to create, if not more expensive, than any usable vehicle in the game. And it is only employed in a mode where players jump from it.
Now they want to know from the fans:
Should the work on new vehicles be interrupted to instead build the comparable JU-52?
Or should they deliver more usable vehicles to players and only address this German aircraft when or if there is ever time for it?
What do the fans say? Currently, the survey shows that building the German aircraft is leading with 58%. The developers’ response is not well received by the fans.
On Reddit, a new debate has arisen regarding the expectations of Battlefield 5. Fans are questioning whether it is really acceptable for a €70 AAA title to put players in such a situation.
For many, it is clear that Battlefield 5 was released too early and in an unfinished state. If the game were complete, players wouldn’t have to face such a choice.
Some emphasize that at the very least, a German crew could have been included in the plane. Instead, they feel they are being given an ultimatum and must decide whether to have further new vehicles or a German aircraft – one that many believe should have been in the game at launch and was possibly just not finished.
Many fans find the tone of the developers particularly upsetting. Fans feel the stance is aggressive. It seems as if they dared to question the developers about a missing feature and are now facing the consequences.
It creates the impression that the players are now to blame for the studio’s need to make a decision. While it could be fixed, fans are punished with waiting. The motto seems to be: Decide – No aircraft, or all other vehicles will be delayed.
Many fans also emphasize that if they can’t even manage to add an aircraft for one faction without completely interrupting work on other new vehicles – how will new factions and other new content ever stand a chance?
Data miners have found hints of another new hero in the game files of Apex Legends. Along with his name, even the name of one of his abilities has already been discovered.
Who is it about? The website GamingINTEL has discovered hints of a legend named Prophet. This was figured out by an ability with the filename “prophet_pregoc_target”.
What can Prophet do? According to the leak, one of his abilities, which makes the legends in Apex Legends unique, will be named “Precognition”. In German, “Vorausahnung” or “Vorkenntnis”. What exactly Precognition will do is still unknown. However, there are some speculations:
Prophet might know the location of the final ring, similar to Pathfinder.
Prophet might know where the next supply drop will land.
Prophet might know where certain loot is located on the map.
Especially the last two possibilities sound likely, as the found code with the suffix “target” refers to a target associated with the ability. Thus, Prophet might be able to target an item and use Precognition to see where copies of that item are located.
The loot zones of Apex Legends. Could Prophet possibly foresee loot?
When will Prophet be released? So far, there is no exact date known for Prophet’s release. However, it is likely to happen only after the beginning of Apex Legends seasons in March.
So far, there are only 8 legends in Apex Legends. More could be coming soon.
How reliable is the information? So far, only a few files have been found. Therefore, it is not certain when Prophet will arrive or if he will even make it into the game.
The found files might also represent drafts or discarded plans that did not make it into the balancing of the current legends and therefore exist only as remnants.
More evidence for more legends
After the leaks of some names for upcoming legends, game files have now appeared that at least prove the existence of these legends. In a reddit thread, the user HansLandaBlackout posted a list of character names.
This list of names was found.
In this list, Prophet is also found, which at least makes his appearance more likely. However, whether and when the new legends will come needs to be confirmed officially first. At least one new map seems to be in the works.
What do you think? Will Prophet come, and if so, what will “Precognition” do?
Not in the mood for Apex Legends in a squad? There is new information about the solo and duo modes:
Today there is a rather long server maintenance in the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO). New code is being implemented for the ESO database to prepare it for the future. However, fans know how to bridge the waiting time.
A long but necessary server maintenance
Why is the server maintenance taking place? The Elder Scrolls Online is an MMORPG that continues to grow. With Wrathstone, the next DLC is already on the way, Elsweyr will be a major addon. This means that the game’s database is getting larger. Now it is necessary to make adjustments to be prepared for the future.
What does this mean for the server maintenance? Today it takes a bit longer before fans can continue playing. According to statements, the servers of the PC version are down from 9 AM until at least 4 PM. The console versions will receive maintenance on February 27th starting at 10 AM. The ESO servers will then be unavailable until at least 1 PM, possibly even until 6 PM.
A long loading screen follows, which can last between 5 minutes and several hours – depending on how many items you have in your inventory. This long loading screen will only happen once. After that, ESO will load normally again.
Fans understand and pass the time
How do players react? Maintenance work is occasionally necessary for an MMORPG. Although today it takes a bit longer than usual, the ESO community shows understanding. However, many hope that there won’t be any issues, such as losing items.
How do fans bridge the waiting time? There is a thread in the forum where players talk about what they plan to do in the coming hours. Links to browser games are shared there, which lead to small games that can be played in between.
There is also a survey where players can participate after the ESO maintenance. The survey aims to show how long the loading times were for players after logging in.
Some players want to use the time to finally catch up on household chores, while others temporarily switch to another game, such as The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.
Generally, players are curious about how things will go after the maintenance and how long they will have to endure the loading screen before they can finally continue playing. We will know that at the earliest from 4 PM.
You feel like there was more loot in Anthem before? With this feeling, you are correct, as confirmed by BioWare. A loot frenzy after the last patch was to blame.
Since then, reports from players have been increasing that they suddenly receive much less loot than they did before the patch.
This is particularly noticeable when playing at higher difficulty levels like Grandmaster 2.
Alegost shows on Reddit the difference in his loot drops before and after the patch. It can be seen:
that in the upper image after 30 minutes on GM 1 he received some masterwork items (orange), which are among the best loot.
In the lower image, despite double the playtime and a higher difficulty level, he received much less loot and has even more common items, indicating a worse yield.
Which loot is obtained is determined by chance.
However, after the last patch, so many players noticed that they were getting less loot that it was already referred to as a nerf.
BioWare explains the sudden loot nerf
Lead Producer Ben Irving has now commented on the “loot nerf”. According to BioWare, there was no “loot nerf” on February 23, but the patch on February 22 had briefly led to a loot frenzy.
Actually, the big loot frenzy was probably due to a bug related to the patch on February 22.
In our changes on Friday, one of our adjustments had the side effect of increasing certain drop chances. This was not intended. When we identified the problem, we reverted it. That was about 11 hours later.
Ben Irving, Lead Producer of Anthem
BioWare needed some time to be internally sure about what the problem was. That’s why it took a while to explain the issue to the community. It was not BioWare’s intention to change anything without being transparent about it.
Players want the loot frenzy back
This is how players react:RENNYandBENNY opened a thread on Reddit stating: Bring this condition back. We never had so much fun in Anthem as during the time when loot was raining. With 1.6K upvotes, it receives a lot of support.
RENNYandBenny: “During this 11-hour window, everything felt rewarding. Strongholds were still the best for good loot, but freeplay was a lot of fun. Give the drops their buff back, add a few bosses to freeplay, take the class-specific perks off the wrong items, and let us grind for masterworks until we drop dead.”
Other users agree with this opinion. The loot system in Anthem is still not refined.
Nicarass: “It’s the same argument we had at the launch of Diablo 3, Destiny, Division, and so on. The fun is not in getting that one item once. The point of this type of grind is to receive billions of drops and crafting materials to get the rolls you want for the item. For this to happen, the game needs to shower you with loot like crazy.”
The loot problem for players is related to inscriptions (perks): In Anthem, items receive random stats via inscriptions. This means that the same item can have different effects. The inscriptions are additionally vaguely described. Many players do not understand what each inscription means.
To get items that players really want, with inscriptions of their choice, they need to collect certain drops quite often. That’s why many enjoyed the loot frenzy so much.
To get items that players really want, with inscriptions of their choice, they need to collect certain drops quite often. That’s why many enjoyed the loot frenzy so much.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is packed with little features that players marvel at. A player recently noticed that the city of Saint Denis has no tolerance for rats.
Time and again, players stumble upon smaller nuances that are only revealed upon closer inspection in RDR 2. A player has now discovered that you are rewarded for killing rats.
This is what happened: On Reddit, user ZooNai posted a video. He writes: Fun Fact #5837: Killing rats in Saint Denis increases your honor.
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In the video, you can see how the player finds a rat by the tracks of Saint Denis, aims at it, and finally shoots it with an arrow from his bow. An icon then pops up on the screen, indicating that his honor has just increased.
However, it is better not to attack these animals:
This surprises players: In fact, the city of Saint Denis is very sensitive. A player writes in the comments: “Wrong! Even killing a mosquito will give you a $200 bounty in Saint Denis.”
Another writes: “Really? Has anyone else tried that? I mean, I am really surprised that you don’t immediately have the police on your tail because you had your weapons drawn.”
Others explain that they have also hunted rats in Saint Denis. But when citizens saw them, the players were reported for disturbing the peace.
The city is known for imposing a staggering number of fines for smaller offenses. Therefore, there are regularly memes that poke fun at Saint Denis:
“When you’re literally doing anything in Saint Denis” – Source: Reddit
“When you accidentally bump into a cop in Saint Denis with your horse…” – Source: Reddit
So now it is surprising that the player received honor points, even though the city is actually so sensitive in that regard. Perhaps the residents are secretly pleased not to be overrun by a plague.
Many Pokémon GO players were surprised by the current weekly reward. For many trainers, the Adventure Sync counted more than 10 kilometers of distance.
This is how it actually works: The Adventure Sync of Pokémon GO counts the kilometers walked by the player throughout the week. Every Monday, there is a reward based on how much one has walked. Rewards are given for 5, 25, and 50 kilometers.
This problem exists now: However, this week there were some issues with the distribution of the rewards. Although players walked over 50 kilometers, they only received the reward for 25 kilometers. They would have needed to walk significantly more than 50 kilometers to receive those rewards.
This is the problem with weekly rewards
What players report: On Reddit, some players report this error. For example, “Kevin50n3” shows a screenshot of his 58 kilometers that he walked. However, he only receives the rewards for 25 kilometers, as he suddenly appeared to have walked under 50 kilometers.
This is how Adventure Sync made the rewards of the Reddit user significantly smaller.
Thus, he was cheated out of 10 kilometers and only receives the smaller reward, even though he walked the correct number of kilometers. He would have needed to walk at least 60 kilometers to receive the better reward.
Other players affected: However, the Reddit user is not alone. Over 700 people have already agreed and shared the trainer’s problem. One user writes:
I have the same problem. Adventure Sync shows me 57.8 km, but I am rewarded for only 51.3 km. Luckily, I was still over 50 kilometers.
The problem is not an isolated case: Players repeatedly report issues with Adventure Sync. However, not as many players were often affected. Here, it seems to have impacted a very large portion of the player base. This is particularly frustrating for players who have been deprived of their rewards, even though they walked the correct number of kilometers.
This is how the developers of The Division 2 use data science and machine learning to create better games.
In a blog post by Massive Entertainment, the developers of The Division and The Division 2, Senior User Researcher and Data Scientist Alessandro Canossa poses the question, “What makes a game enjoyable?”
Because at Massive, as Canossa explains, they do not just develop games. They also study them and use various innovative technologies and tools to understand what motivates players to play the games.
Alessandro Canossa in conversation
“Fun” is not the same for everyone
What motivates players? Canossa explains that every developer wants to create a game that is fun. But fun is not the same for everyone. That is why he is working on a project that aims to predict what motivates players in a game solely based on their gameplay behavior.
In other words: He is examining which psychological needs are satisfied by different games and what makes a game enjoyable.
Who is working on the project? Canossa himself was an associate professor at the university in Boston, working in the growing field of game analytics. Due to his academic background, he was able to collaborate with former colleagues at the Institute for Digital Games at the University of Malta to advance this project.
Project aims to collect data from millions of players
Questionnaires collect only limited data: To explore what makes a game enjoyable for gamers, Massive initially developed a specific questionnaire. This is based on the self-determination theory and outlines how much players are driven by the following factors: competence, autonomy, social relatedness, and attitude.
But no matter how good a questionnaire might be, it is difficult to gather comprehensive feedback from millions of players.
Innovative technologies instead of questionnaires: Therefore, as Canossa states, they are now using innovative machines that learn certain techniques to predict player motivation based solely on gameplay behavior.
This technological advancement alone is already incredible, but now they can evaluate not only the motivation data of a few hundred players who filled out the questionnaire but also make use of the data from millions of players out there for future games.
Machines must first learn: They used data collected from around 300 volunteer The Division players. This data was processed through a specific learning algorithm.
By preparing gameplay data, play styles, and the questionnaire, the algorithm was continuously taught how to measure players’ commitment and motivation.
After the learning phase, the algorithm can predict how a player feels—depending on their competence, autonomy, social relatedness, and attitude. Based solely on gameplay data, the algorithm is said to have an accuracy of 97%.
How you play should show what motivates you
The gameplay of players who exhibit high competence differs significantly from players who are not as competent. This can also be observed with the naked eye. However, there are many gradations in between that are not so obvious to detect.
And it has proven tricky to determine motivational factors based solely on in-game actions.
The technology can do it: The machine, however, is now capable of predicting complex psychological constructs in all their nuances based on gameplay.
The success of this project shows that it is possible to use gameplay data, connect it with survey-based insights, and thus represent complex emotional and cognitive states.
Better games become possible: At Ubisoft, they will leverage this deeper knowledge about consumers to deliver better and more personalized gameplay experiences in the future.
