In The Division today, on July 21, the major vendor reset (Vendor-Reset) takes place. We present to you items from the vendors that are particularly worthwhile.
Since this week, a new shield is available. This one is called “Holy” and guides you into the Underground. For players who have not purchased this DLC, Underground is free until July 25. Before you start, take a look at the vendors’ offerings, which are randomly shuffled every week during the night from Friday to Saturday.
So you don’t have to visit all vendors, we have our summary of the best offers for you. These are our recommendations.
Recommended Weapons since July 21.
DZ03: SASG-12 Tactical with Responsive, Deadly, and Sustained. Alongside the Showstopper, one of the best shotguns. If you want to use it in PvE, you can replace Deadly with Destructive or Predator. For the PvP area, the talents are already well-suited.
DZ Park Ave: RPK 74-E Black Market Version with Deadly, Malevolent, and Determined. Good LMG for PvE. Replace Malevolent with Destructive if you do not meet the requirements. If you can unlock Malevolent, take Deadly instead.
The Mods after the vendor reset
Vendors of the Dark Zone:
W 31st St: Performance Mod with Impulse Generator Crit Chance (2%)
DZ05: Rifle Silencer Omega with Headshot Damage (18.5%), Crit Chance (3%), optimal range, and reduced threat
Vendors of the PvE Zone:
Madison’s Stand: Weapon Mod (266) with Health Points (3215)
Camp Hudson: Purple Electronics Mod (190) with Damage against Elites (3%)
The Offer of the Special Blueprint Vendors
The vendor in the Terminal offers blueprints for these items:
In Destiny 2 players have finally found the secret quest that brought them to the new version of the Black Spindle. The new exotic weapon is called “Whisper of the Worm.”
What happened before: For months, players have been searching for the “Black Spindle” in Destiny 2. In the first part, it was a weapon that could be obtained through a hidden quest. However, the quest was unlocked only some time after the launch of the expansion “The Taken King.” It was “time-locked.” In Destiny 2, dataminers found hints about the “Black Spindle” in May. Since then, players have been searching for a hidden quest but couldn’t find it for months.
What has happened now: Last night, a player reported on Reddit. He said something strange happened during a public event on IO. This might be a silly question and has been asked many times before, but a “Taken Portal” appeared that could be entered. He entered it, took out a few enemies, and then found a key that triggers a quest with a 20-minute timer. What was behind that?
A naive question triggers a gold rush in Destiny 2
That’s why it’s bizarre: The player actually stumbled upon the “secret quest” for the new Black Spindle without realizing it. Some time lock must have expired, and the new quest “Whisper” is now active in Destiny 2.
This is how crazy the news made everyone: The Reddit thread spread quickly. Streamers and anyone who could hold a weapon rushed to IO, completed the event, got the quest with a 20-minute timer and then … everyone failed for quite a while. Because the coveted exotic in Destiny 2 has been placed in a really tough quest by Bungie.
This is why it was so difficult: Because the 20-minute quest “Whisper” is a tough challenge that players have to sink their teeth into. Guardians have to maneuver in tight spaces and fight numerous tough “Taken enemies”, along with performing challenging jumps. It has cost some nerves in the race to be the first to complete the quest.
In the end, this was the reward: However, in the end, the player “Gelatosquid” was the first to complete the challenge and grab the weapon “Whisper of the Worm”. This is an exotic sniper rifle and is essentially the “Black Spindle 2.0.”
We have published a guide on Mein MMO on how you can also access the Whisper of the Worm:
Zapdos is only available for a short time as a Level 4 Raid Boss in Pokémon GO – also as Shiny! Find out here what bonuses you will receive on Zapdos Day and how to defeat the Raid Boss.
What time does Zapdos Day start in Pokémon GO? Zapdos Day starts on Saturday, July 21st, at 11:00 AM. It ends already at 2:00 PM. During this time, Zapdos will be the only Raid Boss you encounter in gyms for three hours.
Are there special bonuses? Yes, and they are these:
Chance of Shiny: You will encounter and be able to catch Shiny Zapdos. However, you have no increased chance of getting a Shiny. The chance is 1 in 19.
Thunder Shock: This Zapdos will definitely have Thunder Shock as its Fast Move instead of Charge Beam.
5 Free Raid Passes: You will receive five free Raid Passes. To get them, you must spin the Photo Disc with Zapdos.
Zapdos Day is one of the global rewards that trainers worldwide unlocked at the GO Fest 2018.
Countering Zapdos: Tips to Defeat the Legendary Raid Boss
The most important information about Zapdos at a glance:
Raid Boss CP/HP
33068
Catch Rate
3%
Min/Max CP at Lvl 20, 100% IV
1820-1902
Min/Max CP at Lvl 25, 100% IV, Wind/Rain
2275-2378
Type
Electric/Flying
Trainers
At least 4+
Weather Boost
Wind and Rain
Weaknesses
Rock, Ice
The Strongest Attackers Against Zapdos
The three best counter Pokémon for Zapdos:
Tyranitar with the moves Smack Down and Stone Edge: This Pokémon is of the Dark/Rock type and is currently the strongest Pokémon to defeat Zapdos.
Rayquaza with the moves Dragon Tail and Outrage: In windy weather, Rayquaza is even stronger than Tyranitar.
Golem with the moves Rock Throw and Stone Edge. Golem is a strong alternative if you don’t have Tyranitar or Rayquaza.
Other good counter options:
Mewtwo (Psycho Cut/Dark Pulse)
Glaceon (Ice Beam/ Avalanche)
Kyogre (Waterfall/Blizzard)
Dragonite (Dragon Tail/Outrage)
Salamence (Dragon Tail/Draco Meteor)
Weavile (Ice Shard/Avalanche)
Golem is the best non-legendary counter against Zapdos.
Is it worth participating in Zapdos Day?
Yes. This Zapdos will definitely have Thunder Shock as an attack, and you have a chance to get a Shiny.
Thunder Shock is a stronger move than the usual Charge Beam, has more attack power, and is faster.
Shiny Pokémon have been quite valuable in trades in the RPG titles. Pokémon GO now has a trading function. Especially for a shiny legendary Pokémon, you can ask for really strong or rare Pokémon in return.
There are even more interesting raids for you right now:
The MMORPG Runes of Magic by Gameforge was a big hit almost a decade ago, but is now hardly relevant. Nevertheless, this MMORPG veteran wants to make a fresh start on Steam. Will it go well?
What is Runes of Magic? Runes of Magic (RoM) is a Free2Play online role-playing game that was released in 2009 and, for a brief period, was the most well-known free alternative to WoW.
At that time, it was extremely successful and gained over 300,000 players during the beta. By 2010, there were around 4 million registered players. Of those, according to Wikipedia, about half a million were actively engaged. Additionally, the game was awarded multiple times back then, initially praised highly and constantly advertised on German television.
And what happened then? Unfortunately, it didn’t stop with the initial success. Frustration quickly set in. This was due in part to buggy and insufficient content, a scandal concerning data protection, and perceived Pay2Win elements from the cash shop.
Another niche MMO: Runes of Magic continued to run in the following years, but at a simmer. The last video from the developers was released on YouTube in 2017. Nevertheless, a core group of fans remained who particularly appreciated the profound, complex gameplay and the system of multiple classes. This core group of Runes of Magic players could soon find themselves in company again.
Relaunch on Steam!
In June 2018, an unexpected announcement came: Runes of Magic is set to launch on Steam! This announcement immediately led to an excited discussion. Some players found it completely absurd to drag a “dead” game onto Steam.
You still need skill! Other players defended the relaunch. After all, you still need talent and skill for an old-school MMORPG like Runes of Magic. There’s still real depth to it. So, let’s have that Steam release!
However, most interested players agree: If Runes of Magic is to launch on Steam, new servers are a must. Newcomers should have the chance to start well in the world and not lose courage in face of experienced veterans and their progress.
Developers promise new servers for everyone! Indeed, the developers of Runes of Magic seem to think alike. In a post on the Steam forum, new servers have already been announced. However, these are not only for Steam players. Users of the regular version should also be able to play there.
Where is the game?
Players are getting impatient: In the first announcement on June 20, it was mentioned that Runes of Magic was supposed to be released in July 2018. A month has passed since then, and nothing is here yet. Some players are slowly losing their patience and threaten to kick the game off their wishlist.
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But at least the displeasure and a thread over 10 pages long in the Steam forum show that some players are indeed interested in the MMORPG veteran. So, it remains exciting.
Fortnite is celebrating its 1st birthday with an event and gifts. There are challenges for Fortnite: Battle Royale and an event series for Save the World. It starts next Tuesday.
When does it start? The event starts on July 24th. That is a Tuesday. Epic has now announced via reddit (via reddit) that the event should last about two weeks, so roughly until August 7, 2018.
Birthday at Fortnite Battle Royale – 3 Challenges, 4 Gifts
What do you have to do and what gifts are there in Fortnite Battle Royale? This is what it looks like starting Tuesday:
You need to deal 1000 damage to opponents, for this you will receive the emote “Fortnite Birthday!”
You should dance in front of 10 birthday cakes, for this you will receive the spray design “Happy Birthday” – we will surely provide a guide on Mein MMO from Tuesday on where the birthday cakes are hidden on the map, the villains
And you should complete 14 matches and receive 5000 XP for that.
If you complete all the challenges, you will get the back accessory “Birthday Cake.”
What else is planned? It sounds like they will change the bus color in Fortnite. There is talk of a “Birthday Battle Bus” (this could be the bus from our title image).
Birthday at Fortnite Save the World
In Save the World, players can also win something. Here comes a new quest series. You can win:
Birthday Brigade Ramirez (probably the lady from our title image)
Tickets for Birthday Llamas, which contain heroes and weapons from this year
What exactly you have to do for that is still unknown; usually, players need to complete relatively simple bonus tasks in the normal “Save the World” missions or complete a special mission.
What else is planned? Epic mentions “Kaboom Capsules.” That sounds like something that will explode. Perhaps they are the capsules from the title image that are carrying cakes.
Is there another surprise?
Are they planning something else? Officially, Epic hasn’t announced anything yet. But perhaps they are planning a surprise. Three things are hanging in the air at Fortnite:
It seems unlikely that for the 1st birthday, “Save the World” will suddenly become free. That will probably take much longer, although it is still scheduled for 2018.
A new map also seems unlikely so shortly after the start of Season 5.
The only thing that has been long awaited is the port to Android phones, and there have recently been hints found by data miners – this could be well imagined for the 1st birthday.
Next Tuesday, we will know more. We at Mein MMO will keep you updated.
As every Friday in Destiny 2, Xur returns today.Where is the Agent of the Nine located and what items does he offer? Here are the location and inventory for July 20.
July Update in focus: This week, new details about the Forsaken expansion were released – since Tuesday, Update 1.2.3 has also gone live, bringing several new features to the game. We’ve summarized the main new features for you in this article: 5 things you should know about the July Update 1.2.3.
You can find a detailed list of changes in the patch notes of the July update.
Everything about Forsaken: You can find all important information about the upcoming Forsaken add-on for Destiny 2 in our comprehensive overview: Everything about Destiny 2: Forsaken
And today, on July 20, the mysterious Agent of the Nine is back in the Destiny universe. Let’s welcome Xur together. What does the noodle face have for us this time?
All info about Xur in Destiny 2 on July 20 on PS4, Xbox One and PC
When does Xur come?
Xur visits us every Friday at 7 PM. He then chooses a quiet spot on a planet or moon of his choice, from where he can unobtrusively bring his goods to the Guardians. You have until the next weekly reset on Tuesday to browse his inventory – then he disappears without a trace again.
Where is Xur? He can be found at this location today
Xur has certain locations where he likes to settle over the weekend. This time, he is stationed on IO.
Offer and inventory from Xur
Weapon: Coldheart – Fusion rifle for 29 Legendary shards
Warlock: Dawn Chorus – Chest piece for 23 Legendary shards
Fate Engram: 97 Legendary shards
Three of Coins: 31 Legendary shards
Xur also has the challenge card “Five of Swords.” This card is free. It upgrades your rare Nightfall challenge card to a legendary challenge card. This allows you to activate one scorched modifier, one advantage/disadvantage, and two additional disadvantages.
The weekly PvP event Trials of the Nine starts on Friday evening at 7 PM. The Trials end with the weekly reset on the following Tuesday evening at 7 PM.
Map: Altar of Flame
Mode: Survival
After the release of the Warmind expansion, new rewards can be earned in the Trials of the Nine.
There are three new weapons:
The Kinetic Sidearm “Restraining Order”
The Energy Scout Rifle “Cease and Desist”
The Shotgun “Reprisal”
Additionally, there is a new Ghost shell, a new Sparrow, a new ship, and a new shader. However, in Season 3, there are no new armor ornaments for the Trials sets.
The developers of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PC, Xbox One, iOS, Android) are not pleased with alleged clones of their successful game and are suing the developers of the Battle Royale games. The latter label these accusations as shameless and demand the cessation of the proceedings!
The history of the Clone Wars: In the case of PUBG, the “Clone Wars” are not about Star Wars, but rather a rather curious legal dispute. Because PUBG Corp., the creators of PUBG, have sued the Chinese company NetEase. The Chinese are allegedly violating PUBG Corp.’s copyrights with their two mobile games “Rule of Survival” and “Knives Out”.
The Empire Strikes Back: NetEase, on the other hand, has its own problems with clones, as other companies have allegedly copied their games and they have also filed lawsuits. However, in China, they currently want nothing to do with the original copyright accusation from PUBG Corp.
What a shameless lawsuit!
How can they! With a motion to dismiss, NetEase wishes to resolve the matter with PUBG and make the lawsuit from Korea disappear. In their motion, they state among other things that the whole lawsuit is a shameless action by PUBG Corp.
One cannot simply claim copyright over such general elements as vehicles, a health bar, or a game lobby. Moreover, many of the items in the game are based on real objects, and PUBG has no copyright on those either.
Since no further evidence from this case could support PUBG Corp.’s claims, it is now obvious that the lawsuit cannot stand.
Clone War continues
How will the court decide? How the whole issue regarding the plagiarism allegations continues remains to be seen. The clone war remains exciting!
By the way: They have meanwhile withdrawn the most popular lawsuit from PUBG. In South Korea, they had filed a lawsuit against Fortnite. That one is off the table now.
Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, has indeed retired from his sprinting career, but FIFA 19 players may soon see Bolt on the virtual pitch. How did this come about? And what could Usain Bolt’s FUT card look like?
Although Jamaican Usain Bolt is no longer active as a sprinter, he still wants to be involved in competitive sports. He is reportedly close to signing with a club in the 1st Australian League. The 31-year-old holds the world record in the 100m sprint and has won multiple gold medals at the Olympic Games.
Bolt has previously expressed his love for football. He trained, among others, with Borussia Dortmund. Now he wants to bring his speed to the field as a professional footballer.
Bolt is in negotiations with an Australian club
The Australian club Central Coast Mariners is in negotiations with Bolt, and a 6-week trial period is possible. So, Usain Bolt could start his football career at 31.
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What does this mean for FIFA 19? The licenses acquired by EA Sports are extensive. Thus, the Central Coast Mariners club is also included. The Australian first division club is therefore also part of Ultimate Team.
Based on the available footage from the training sessions at BVB, the supposed values were derived. The result was a bronze card with rather decent stats:
Source: Sportbible
A journalist from Ghana sees it similarly, but expects Bolt to have even higher physical stats.
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Incredibly fast, good physique – otherwise sadly lacking: Presumably, Bolt will come with the highest speed rating, as one would expect from the fastest man in the world. At 1.95m tall and with his fitness, he shouldn’t be outdone physically by other players.
The rest of the stats are expectedly low, after all, Bolt has no experience in professional football.
Overpowered or rather useless?
If the card will exist in a similar form in FIFA 19, the question arises whether it is actually useful. Are the stats good? Does the team, league, and nationality fit into your team chemistry? Due to the pace and physicality stats, we believe that Bolt could at least find a place on the bench for some players.
Pace is (almost) everything: A tradition in FIFA is the relevance of speed. Fast players are more popular and usually better than the slower ones. Therefore, this card will definitely be very popular, should the stats turn out that way.
Many will gladly use the speedy giant in their attack. Due to his physique, he would also be very effective.
The chemistry would be the catch: The Central Coast Mariners play in the 1st Australian League. Their level is not exactly comparable to the European top leagues. Thus, it will be challenging to fit Bolt into a team made up of players from those leagues.
His Jamaican nationality is also not exactly an advantage, as only a few Jamaicans are active in the top leagues. Perhaps we will soon see him more often in a team with Leon Bailey from Bayer 04 Leverkusen?
Especially in the beginning, there are certainly worse alternatives. It would surely be fun to have the lightning-fast Bolt in the team.
What about you? Would you include Bolt in your team?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
On June 27, the limited-time game mode Playground was supposed to launch. However, after a short time, the servers of Fortnite went down – no matter the game mode. What happened? What measures is Epic taking to prevent such catastrophes in the future?
The joke with Playground: While normally 100 players can enter a match, the Playground only allows 1-4 players. The capacity of the Playground is therefore tiny. If one is full, a new one must be opened. This small difference recently killed Fortnite.
This is what happened: The Sternschanze in Hamburg is a popular nightlife destination with many bars. Let’s assume that each bar can allow 100 guests at the same time. All people strolling through the Sternschanze can freely choose where to go for a drink.
Now, if the number of allowed guests in each bar is reduced to 1-4, the following happens:
Many people have to stand outside the pubs, cannot gain entry, and get angry.
New pubs cannot be opened quickly enough to accommodate all the people.
In the case of Fortnite, the pubs are servers, and the slightly intoxicated guests are the players.
What went wrong with the introduction of Playground
Playground requires significantly more servers: Fortnite’s matchmaking is controlled by a mechanism called Matchmaking Service (MMS). This assigns players to free servers. Preferred regions and server load are taken into account.
If we take our analogy of the Sternschanze, the MMS acts as a kind of guide that selects the suitable bar for guests and accompanies them there.
If now not 100 players are on a server (as is usual in a normal match), but only 1-4 (depending on squad size), the required number of servers could potentially increase a hundredfold because the total number of players has not changed, but the servers they need have.
Epic’s previous measures were not sufficient: Even though Epic prepared for the “Playground” event, the servers were suddenly confronted with a gigantic number of players searching for a free server simultaneously. Additionally, as the Matchmaking Service now had to examine significantly more servers for free capacities, the process slowed down further.
Like a drunken party guest, the search routines stumbled over their own feet but could no longer stand up on their own – it led to a crash. Since the server clusters between the Playground and the other modes were not separated, all running modes in Fortnite were affected – a global outage.
Playground is separated from the rest of the game: Epic’s first measure was to separate the server cluster of the Playground from the rest. This was intended to prevent further problems with the Playground from impacting other modes.
Furthermore, Epic could now make unlimited changes to the servers to react promptly to service limitations. What followed were profound changes in the server architecture.
Epic succeeded in making the system more dynamic. Player access to matchmaking was significantly accelerated, and free capacities were identified more quickly.
Epic pushed the servers to the limit during testing: Every change required a stress test of the architecture. For this purpose, millions of virtual accounts were created, all accessing the system simultaneously. In this way, further bugs in the system were identified and fixed.
Only when everything was fine-tuned and no more crashes occurred, was the Playground finally reopened on July 2.
What has Epic learned from the drama? According to their own statement, Epic has learned a lot about their own matchmaking and the potential sources of errors within it. The changes made during the work on the Playground were correct and necessary.
The insights gained from the crash will also be helpful in the future for new modes and player influxes.
Epic also admits: It was harder than expected. The problems were not foreseen in this way, but they will be helpful for the future of the game.
What do you think? Were you very upset about the server crashes?
On the PTR of Overwatch, a new patch is active. The patch brings already announced changes to healers and adjustments to the snipers Widowmaker and Hanzo. The snipers lead the current meta.
PTR patch nerfs snipers: In the new patch on the Overwatch test server, there are changes to Hanzo and Widowmaker. The movement abilities for both heroes are now nerfed, punishing them harder for taking a bad position.
Another important point in the patch is improved ultimates for many heroes. The patch also includes comprehensive changes to almost all healers in Overwatch. You can now test all changes.
Changes to Snipers, Healers, and Ultimates
The focus of the new PTR update is on the innovations for healers. Mercy and Brigitte are getting nerfs, while almost all other healers are being buffed – this is intended to slightly improve the balance among support characters.
Additionally, there are changes to the ultimate abilities that need to be channeled – such as those of Pharah, Genji, and Zenyatta.
Buffered channeling ultimates: Ultimate abilities that the hero must channel or that transform them now automatically reload weapons when they end. This means Pharah, Genji, and others come out of their ultimates with fully loaded weapons.
Heroes with such ultimates often find themselves in unfavorable situations after they end. With the new update, their chances of survival should be slightly increased, provided they don’t have to reload first.
Snipers become less mobile: Both Widowmaker’s Grappling Hook and Hanzo’s Wall Climb have increased cooldowns.
Grappling Hook: Now has a cooldown of 10 seconds instead of 8.
Wall Climb: Now has a cooldown of 5 seconds instead of 4.
Widowmaker and Hanzo are currently at the top of the DPS heroes in the Grandmaster rank on PC. Especially Hanzo has become much stronger after his recent rework. The changes are intended to punish players who position poorly and make snipers generally a bit easier to deal with.
The Overwatch PTR Patch Notes in Detail in English
General
Junkrat’s Bunker skin has been renamed to Bilgebat.
Voice lines have been added for Zenyatta, Lúcio, and Moira when they are attacked.
Group Search
The settings are saved after filters are changed in the “Group Search” screen.
Hero Gallery
A “What’s New?” option has been introduced to see new content.
Hero Updates
General
Channeling and transforming ultimates now restore ammunition for some heroes.
As seen in the examples Wild West Online, Shroud of the Avatar or The Culling, it seems to be becoming increasingly common to release games intentionally unfinished – and fans even throw jubilant money into the developers’ mouths for it. Even Sea of Thieves fits this pattern. Author Andreas Bertits has his own opinion on this.
Unfinished but “released”: Wild West Online
How unfinished was Wild West Online released? Wild West Online could be considered the prime example of unfinished released games. Even during the Alpha, the MMO gave the impression that half was missing, including textures on objects. A multitude of bugs ruined the fun. Promised features like bounty hunts weren’t even integrated. Well, it was still Alpha, one might think. But now, after the official release on May 10, the online game is still in the same state.
What is happening with Shroud of the Avatar? Placeholder dialogues in NPCs, an unrefined balancing, an offline mode where the game becomes nearly impossible to master in later passages because NPC companions are useless. Along with cloned game areas and bugs where you have to expect that every quest may not be finishable, these are among the things that show: SotA was simply not finished at launch on March 27.
The developers even admit this and will be releasing updates in the coming months – not to add more features, but to finish the game – after release!
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The Culling – Canceled, restarted, canceled, and another restart planned. The Culling never knew what kind of game it wanted to be. Perhaps influenced by the success of battle royale shooters like Fortnite, the game mechanics were constantly changed until the original had to be canceled due to criticism of its unfinished and “bad” state. Player numbers were also in the cellar. The Culling 2 was released and met the same fate. Now the team plans to return to square one… Sounds like not a particularly well-thought-out concept. Maybe it would have been better to establish a clear concept from the beginning and stick to it.
Sea of Thieves
Sea of Thieves – It should evolve. When Sea of Thieves was released on March 20, it was already clear from the beta that it would be in an unfinished state. And the developers explained that they wanted to bring a game to market that evolves. Nevertheless, at release, the online game simply had far too little content. Yes, content is being added and slowly the title is making progress. But the bitter aftertaste of having intentionally released an unfinished game continues to linger.
Unfinished games cost as much as finished ones. So, games are released that are not finished or that at least do not start in a state that could be considered completed or mature. And yet, they cost just as much money as a completed product. Paradoxical, but that’s how it is.
Isn’t it normal for MMOs to be “unfinished”? It depends on what you mean by “finished”. A game that has the status of “released” should be able to stand alone as a refined product, play well, and be enjoyable. It’s okay for updates to be used to add new content or fix the remaining bugs. However, at release, a game should have a good status that can be described as “finished” or “refined”. After all, developers charge the full price for their product.
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Where lies the problem? The problem lies in the fact that this behavior is becoming the norm and is being supported by paying customers. Whoever pays the full price for an obviously unfinished product ensures that more developers jump on this bandwagon. Thus, we will increasingly see games that are obviously unfinished and perhaps even in a dire state being released, yet still cost the full price. Here, the question arises whether players want to pay just to act as testers or whether it might be time to show developers that only mature products should be supported.
What about Early Access? Early Access is a double-edged sword. The intention behind it is quite fine and legitimate. Releasing a game in an early state to involve players in the development through feedback and to see what works well and what does not. After all, Early Access titles are also marked as “unfinished”. However, more and more developers are simply using Early Access to release unfinished games to make quick money. As customers, one should always be careful about which titles to support.
Isn’t this kind of thing going to backfire? Players have the power to dictate how they deal with this situation. If such unfinished full-price games are heavily criticized, rated poorly, and not purchased anymore, it should be a lesson for the development studios, and maybe they will pay more attention to delivering quality in the future. As long as such products are being purchased, however, there will probably be no learning effect.
What do we recommend? Look at what you are spending your money on. If you are uncertain about a new game, it’s better to wait a bit before buying and read reviews and comments from players who have already bought the title. Or use the refund option on Steam to return a game that does not meet your standards of a quality product within two hours. Such returns often hit developers where it hurts.
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In Overwatch, players will encounter a new adjustment that is meant to bring the heroes back “in line”. After a rework of Torbjörn was already announced earlier, there are now details about his update.
Torbjörn is being reworked: Torbjörn will undergo a complete rework in an upcoming Overwatch update. The hero with his turrets is aimed to be more playable in more situations, no longer as limited in usefulness as before.
The developers aim to make Torbjörn generally more effective and provide him with a better gameplay feel, but without making him comparable to offensive heroes. His defensive character is to be preserved. When exactly the rework will come is still undecided.
Flying Turrets instead of Molten Cores
Torbjörn has thus far had the problem of being either a burden or a standout player – depending on how much scrap he can collect and whether his Ultimate “Molten Core” along with his turret is active.
Turrets will be thrown, self-build: The developers are currently experimenting with a version of Torbjörn in which he can throw turrets over a short distance – about as far as Tracer’s Pulse Bomb. The turrets then build themselves up to level 2. He no longer has to work on them with the hammer.
This should make Torbjörn somewhat more versatile. His current usefulness depends on where his turret is placed. Without his turret, Torbjörn is at a loss. With the new variant, he can throw his turret to a suitable position and fire immediately afterwards.
Molten Core will likely be removed: The second, bigger issue with Torbjörn’s rework is his ultimate ability. The developers are considering incorporating Molten Core as a standard ability in a weaker form, similar to the Teleporter in Symmetra’s rework.
The ability could thus only affect his turret or only Torbjörn himself. However, it could also completely disappear from the game, and Torbjörn would receive a completely new Ultimate.
Changes not final: Neither the changes to the turrets nor the considerations for Molten Core are final. The developers still need to think about how the abilities fit well together, what could be renewed.
Particularly for the turrets, an adjustment of the damage or their function may be necessary if they receive more versatile usage options. When exactly the update will be released is not known yet.
What do you think about the ideas for the changes? Are you a Torbjörn fan or do you not really care? Leave us a comment!
Blizzard is not completely satisfied with Patch 8.0 of World of Warcraft. The Game Director has now formally apologized.
The major Patch 8.0 of World of Warcraft was supposed to heroically usher in the era of Battle for Azeroth and prepare players for the new expansion. However, many faced bugs and issues that hindered their gameplay. In the “Developer Q&A”, Ion Hazzikostas has now apologized for the state of the patch and promised improvements.
What did Hazzikostas say? In the Q&A, the Game Director apologized for all the bugs that slipped into Patch 8.0. “It has been eventful days. This was not the cleanest start of a Pre-Patch. This was not the player experience we wanted to present to you, and frankly, not the player experience you deserved.”
Stat-Squish system for the future great – problematic for the present
Stat-Squish is the culprit. The biggest problem has been the Stat-Squish. This time, Blizzard wanted to take a smarter approach. Instead of scaling each individual spell (more than 250,000!) and each creature (over 150,000!) individually and manually, Blizzard created a fundamental system that affects all game content. If a value squish is needed in future expansions, only a switch has to be flipped and everything will happen automatically. The first time it still had numerous side effects and those are the bugs that have now surfaced.
Specific reports instead of flames, please
Specific reports help more than flames. Hazzikostas emphasizes that he understands the frustration of the players. However, when they discover a bug, they should not write in the forum, “Everything is terrible, nothing works,” but rather name the bug specifically. When developers find out which enemy, for example, causes too much damage, fixing the bug is only a matter of a few minutes.
Yes, this case would probably have been worth reporting!
In Fortnite, the entry into eSports is attempted, but the first attempt failed catastrophically. Now Epic says: This was mainly due to the building frenzy of the professionals and their defensive play. Here’s how they want to get it under control.
100 million into eSports: Epic Games wants to transform Fortnite into an eSport and is opening its wallet for that. They are providing 100 million dollars as prize money for the 1st Fortnite season 2018/2019 in eSports. They launched the season last Saturday with an 8-million-dollar trial balloon.
The first tournament was a disaster
Boring and laggy: However, the first tournament turned out to be boring. Furthermore, lag spikes ruined the fun. For viewers and participants, the tournament was a catastrophe. The event was canceled after only 4 out of 10 scheduled matches. Players sometimes exited without being able to move. Those who survived built themselves in and tried to stay alive as long as possible to achieve victory and claim the big main reward: tens of thousands of dollars.
Statement from Epic: The creators of Fortnite have now admitted the failure in a “postmortem” (via Epic). It didn’t go as planned, but they learned a lot. While they emphasize this was the first time, they admit: That was nothing. And especially because so much money is at stake, they feel obligated.
The big money changes gameplay: Speaking of money. Even though Epic has conducted many tests, the large amount of money involved in the tournament has significantly influenced player behavior: They played much more defensively than usual. This is because in duos, a lot of resources (ammunition, health points, materials) must be expended to eliminate someone. Therefore, it is tactically wiser to avoid these conflicts. Epic wants to address this.
3 problems kill servers. There were basically three major problems that pressured the server performance:
There were too many players alive when the game entered the final phase
Then players built too much, especially at the end
And players who were dead remained in the game to watch others
Servers will be optimized for “tight builds”
Just don’t explode: A problem arises when many structures are clustered together at the end and someone causes an explosion. Then every single component reports damage numbers to all connected clients. This creates a significant load on the CPU. Epic is currently working on this issue by optimizing server performance. Epic believes that this will also improve other modes, like the 50vs50, in Fortnite.
Building frenzy causes server issues: Especially the intensive and tight tunnel constructions seem to have killed performance. Players then build “twisting tunnels”, they are digging proper trenches.
The problem with building and fun
Building is also boring: The building frenzy not only puts pressure on the servers but also on the enjoyment of the viewers. Because the tunneling makes it difficult to follow the match in Fortnite via Twitch. The building decreases the action. It apparently also causes lag.
In this video, you can see how crazy it was built by top player TSM_Myth:
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Spectator tool also a problem: Moreover, Epic cannot rely on the “spectator tool” that worked so well at E3. It only works in a LAN environment. During the “Summer Skirmish” tournament, one had to jump to individual streamers. This made it difficult to narrate “a story” in the stream. This is also one explanation for the rather boring tournament.
Epic, however, does not respond to the partly sharp criticism of the casters. For instance, PC Gamer has portrayed them as clueless smart alecks.
The measures to make eSports more exciting
This is how Epic wants to solve the problem:
More rewards for kills: Epic plans to now increase the rewards for kills, but wants to use a “simple” points system so it doesn’t become too complex. They are experimenting with the formats.
Next tournament on public servers: This weekend, Epic will hold the second tournament on public servers, after which they will return to private matches next week.
We learned a lot: At Epic, they see last week’s “defeat” sporting. Epic says that they learned a lot from it and seem confident they will get the problem under control.
We at Mein-MMO always want to be in touch with the community. Therefore, it is important for us to write the kind of articles that you want to read. That’s why we are asking you this week: What do you want to see on our site?
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Survey – More news? Or something else?
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This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Pokémon GO has new raid bosses. Among them is the legendary Registeel, which is part of the golem trio. But you should pay attention to even more Pokémon when you think about the fourth generation.
Regice is gone, Registeel is here: Registeel will be the new level-5 raid, replacing Regice. Registeel is of the steel type and melts under fire attacks. Effective are also attacks from fighting and ground types. You should challenge Registeel with 5-6 trainers.
How long will Registeel be here? Until August 16. Who will appear in the level-5 raid after that is still unknown.
Entei and Moltres are the strongest attackers against Registeel.
Raids for the 4th generation: Kirlia, Porygon, Magmar, and Rhyperior
Farm candies for the fourth generation: Among the raid bosses are four Pokémon that have an evolution in the fourth generation. If you don’t have enough candies for these yet, the raids are a great opportunity to get some candies. The fourth generation has already been hinted at.
Kirlia is a level-2 raid boss. A male (!) Kirlia evolves into Gallade.
Magmar is a level-2 raid boss. It evolves into Magmortar.
Porygon is a level-3 raid boss. It evolves into Porygon-Z.
Rhyperior is a level-4 raid boss. It evolves into Rhydon.
If you want to prepare for the fourth generation, here’s an overview:
Alolan Marowak is a level-4 raid boss. It is of the ghost/fire type and should not be taken lightly as a boss. It has a base defense of 200 and has no double weakness. With a weather boost of fog or sunny, you can expect a maximum catch CP of 1208 at level 25.
Alolan Raichu is a level-3 raid boss. It is of the electric/psychic type and thus has weaknesses against dark, ground, ghost, and bug types. With a weather boost and a level 25 encounter, you can expect a maximum CP of 1447-1531 CP.
By Saturday, you will encounter Zapdos in the raid:
What about Raids in Destiny 2 in 2018/2019? Even after the launch of the Forsaken expansion, Destiny 2 wants to stick with the raid sector system. However, the upcoming raid passages will no longer take place on the ship of Emperor Calus. No new content will come for the Leviathan raid.
With Leviathan, it’s over: Shortly before the release of the Forsaken addon, the Prestige modes of the two Leviathan raid sectors World Eater and Star’s Gateway went live. But for everyone who has never warmed up to the setting and special look of the Cabal ship or has had enough of the Leviathan, you can rejoice. The two Prestige sectors were the last contents for the Leviathan raid.
Destiny 2 sticks to raid sectors – But not anymore for Leviathan
Annual Pass for Forsaken brings new raid sectors: If you want to fully enjoy Year 2, you have to pay. Seasonal updates and live events will still be available for all players, but with the Forsaken Annual Pass, buyers receive additional bonus rewards as well as three premium content packages.
The premium content will include new raid sectors among other things. Bungie has already communicated this during the presentation of the Annual Pass: The studio is also sticking to the existing raid sector system with Forsaken.
Future raid sectors with new settings: Some fans speculated whether the possibilities of the giant ship of Cabal Emperor Calus would be further exploited. After all, the Leviathan offers enormous potential for further raid settings due to its massive size.
But Bungie put an end to the speculation. As the Forsaken leads stated in an interview with Game Informer, there will be no further content for the Leviathan. The upcoming raid sectors in Year 2 will therefore use a different setting. Whether they will be set like the main raid in the Dreaming City or in another location is still unknown. But it’s over for the Leviathan.
What do you think of the Leviathan setting? Have you never really warmed up to the glittery look? Or would another raid sector in the dark interior of the ship entice you?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The “Legacy Loot” system of World of Warcraft could become a greater disappointment. There seems to have been a communication problem.
Fans of transmogifications were already looking forward to the “Legacy Loot” system with Battle for Azeroth to get many cool items in the upcoming expansion of World of Warcraft. However, loot from Legion seems to be excluded, as the “Legacy Loot” system will only come into effect later.
What is “Legacy Loot”? With the “Legacy Loot” feature, Blizzard wants to give all players a way to farm old dungeons and raids while receiving a lot of loot to collect items for transmogification. Instead of getting just one item or none per boss like with “Personal Loot”, you will now drop 1-2 items in old dungeons and up to 4 items per boss in raids. This will speed up the completion of collections.
Legacy Loot does not apply to the latest expansion. In the Q&A with Game Director Ion Hazzikostas, it was clarified that Legacy Loot does not apply to the latest expansion, but only for the following one, that is, for the penultimate one (currently for “Mists of Pandaria”).
Players initially thought this was a bug from Patch 8.0, that they received too little loot in the raids of “Warlords of Draenor”, but it has now been confirmed: This is intentional.
Communication problem to blame. According to Hazzikostas, there was probably a communication problem during the presentation of the “Legacy Loot” system. Players (and news sites) assumed that the system would come into effect with “10 levels difference or more.” That is not the case, as the bonus loot rules apply only when you are “more than 10 levels” (so a minimum of 11) below the current content. That has always been the plan and was just conveyed incorrectly.
What do you think of this “change” to the system, which was actually always planned? Completely absurd or a good thing to keep things from the last addon still “valuable”?
Permadeath is a nightmare for many online gaming fans. That’s why this feature is rarely used. However, Ubisoft wants to introduce it with a new update in the shooter Ghost Recon Wildlands.
Death is Final
What is Permadeath? Permadeath means: If your hero dies, the character is gone. This offers a challenge that some players find interesting. The Hardcore mode in Diablo 3, for instance, presents a certain appeal. However, this system has rarely been well-received in MMORPGs. Players build a strong connection to their character, which they often develop over years. It is a gruesome thought to lose that. MMOs like Wizardry Online or Face of Mankind tried permadeath but achieved only a small player base.
The upcoming MMORPG Chronicles of Elyria offers a special form of permadeath. Your hero will inevitably die at some point, at the latest due to old age. That means the character is gone. However, it is possible to create a descendant who then inherits some of the predecessor’s traits.
How Permadeath Works in Ghost Recon Wildlands: Hard PvE “Ghost Mode”
Ubisoft wants to try it with permadeath. For the shooter Ghost Recon Wildlands, Ubisoft plans to introduce a permadeath mode called “Ghost Mode” in the upcoming GRW update “Special Operations 2”. Those who die in this PvE mode are permanently out. That means the game is over for them, and all progress will be reset. In a shooter, that may not be as tragic as in an MMORPG. Nevertheless, the mode is primarily aimed at frustration-tolerant hardcore players.
The Ghost Mode also offers:
New Loadout: Players can only use one primary weapon and one sidearm.
Real Reloading: When players reload with a partially full magazine, the remaining bullets are lost.
Friendly Fire: Shots and actions from players can damage teammates.
Equipment Management: Players can only switch weapons at ammo boxes or when looting enemies.
Removal of Teammates: For a true solo experience, it is now possible to play without AI teammates (this is also available in the game’s main campaign).
More new features of the update. The upcoming update for Ghost Recon Wildlands has even more to offer, especially for the Ghost War PvP Mode:
New PvP Classes and Maps: Two new PvP classes and two PvP maps will be introduced, including a snow landscape map.
Observer Mode: A new spectator feature that allows players to watch and present PvP matches with special tools and a free-roaming camera.
New Leaderboard Features: Introduction of a new progression bar that tracks leaderboard progress and shows players their position in the current league.
After-Game Screen: A new screen after the game presents the winning team.
Social Items: Emotes, Voice Lines and Victory Poses allow you to further personalize your gaming experiences (also available in the main campaign of the game).
The update for Ghost Recon Wildlands will be released on July 24 for owners of the Year 2 Season Pass. All others will receive the new features on July 31.
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Hearthstone has introduced its craziest card yet. Bargain hunters should craft it, as it is likely the most valuable card in the game.
With the upcoming Hearthstone expansion “Dr. Bumms Geheimlabor,” Blizzard seemingly aims to break all existing boundaries once again. Many crazy and absurd cards await in the new expansion, and the most outrageous one has just been revealed: Whizbang the Wonderful.
Whizbang the Wonderful is a neutral, legendary 4/5 minion that costs 4 mana. When you create a deck and include him in the deck list, you need no other cards. For Whizbang has the unique ability that you begin the game with one of Whizbang’s wonderful decks!
Overall, there are 18 different decks to choose from that Blizzard has put into Whizbang. At the start of each game, you receive a random one. So, you never know in advance what class or cards you will actually get.
However, more cards were revealed in the last few days, including a lot of new stuff for druids.
The druid minion Mulchmampfer is an 8/8 mech with Rush, costing 10 mana. Its cost decreases by 1 for each friendly Treant that has died in play.
The Dendrologe is also only for druids. A 2/3 minion for 2 mana that comes with a special Battlecry: You discover a spell if you control a Treant.
To bring Treants onto the battlefield, there is the new card Landschaftsgestaltung. This druid spell for 3 mana summons 2 Treants with stats 2/2.
The legendary druid minion will be Flubbidinius Flurp, a 3/4 creature for 4 mana. When he is in your hand, he is always a 3/4 copy of the last minion you played. So he could be a cheaper Ysera – or any other expensive card with a powerful effect.
The warrior gets an epic weapon with the Kollisionsbeschleuniger for 5 mana, which only deals 1 damage and has 3 durability. However, it has a unique effect. Minions attacked by this weapon must then attack one of their neighbors!
What do you think of the new cards? Cool, exciting things in there? Or is it too far out?
