This is a surprise: As Epic announces, the Battle Pass for the new Season 3 in Fortnite: Battle Royale can indeed be paid for with the in-game currency V-Bucks. Originally, Epic announced that future Battle Passes could only be purchased with real money, euros. Reactions to the announcement are mixed.
The Battle Pass grants bonuses on experience points, V-Bucks, and a variety of cosmetic items such as emotes, gliders, skins for the characters, and the axe. Players received the concept positively.
Especially nice: If you earned V-Bucks with a Battle Pass, you could immediately buy the next Battle Pass in the next season.
That’s why it caused excitement when it was said in between: “You have to buy the next Battle Pass with real money and cannot use V-Bucks for that.” But it seems Epic has now moved away from exactly that statement.
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Those who purchased the Battle Pass in Season 2 in time and regularly played the daily challenges had no trouble reaching the maximum level 70, which rewarded players with the coveted Black Knight skin.
The Battle Pass was introduced with Season 2 in Fortnite: Battle Royale. Instead of 1,900 V-Bucks, it was offered at a discounted price in Season 2 – for a mere 950 V-Bucks (approximately €9.50). This was a bargain, as the investment paid off with appropriate progress.
The announcement that the new Battle Pass for Season 3 is now also available at a discounted price of 950 V-Bucks, is not well received by all players.
Originally it was said: The Battle Pass must be purchased with real money
This would have been possible without the use of financial resources. Since players relied on Epic’s statement, they invested huge amounts of V-Bucks elsewhere – which are now missing for the acquisition of the new Battle Pass.
All V-Bucks spent – now players need new ones
Players now have to exchange real money for V-Bucks again to buy the new Battle Pass, because they spent their V-Bucks savings under the assumption that they could not acquire the new Battle Pass with them. But it turns out they can now.
What a mess.
This currently creates an ambivalent mood on Reddit. Even the announcement that buyers of the Battle Pass for Season 2 will receive five bonus levels on the new Battle Pass did not generate excitement.
The Battle Pass for Season 2 was mainly about knights. What theme Epic is planning for the Season 3 Battle Pass is still unknown. It could be a theme suitable for the Olympics, as skier skins were already available last week.
What do you think? Are you happy that the Battle Pass will now cost V-Bucks?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
However, “Time Dilation,” the “deliberate lag” of the game, dashed any hopes for this event. More than 6,000 players participated in the battle, which overwhelmed the servers.
There are small improvements
Players hope that the developers at CCP Games will address this, as they desire gigantic space battles, which would represent a significant event in EVE Online each time.
The developers have already stated that they are working on it and have made some improvements to the large Upwell structures, which are often the target of powerful attacks. Optimizations have been made to the timers and combat mechanics, which should make the battles somewhat more enjoyable.
Huge space battles remain problematic
This doesn’t mean, however, that huge space battles with 6,000 or more players are now playable. The problem is not with the game mechanics that need adjustment, but with the number of players.
Therefore, it is not so easy to ensure improvements here. CCP Games claims to have gathered useful feedback from the last battle and is working on solutions, but what these solutions will be and when they will arrive remains uncertain.
It is far from easy for the team to implement gigantic space battles in EVE Online in a way that the fights run smoothly and can be played well. One can only be curious about what solution the developers will come up with – and when that will be.
Currently, it sounds like the developers at CCP have a lot of respect for what happens when tens of thousands of ships want to participate in a battle simultaneously.
In PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PC, Xbox One) a player team was surprised by a naked opponent at the end of a round. But instead of murdering them from behind, he preferred to kill himself and voluntarily gave away the Chicken Dinner.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) often leads to absurd and ridiculous situations. There is hardly anything that doesn’t exist. However, what happened to a team at the end of a PUBG round is almost unbeatable in absurdity.
Nerve-wracking tension in the endgame!
The streamer Rob113 and his buddy were skilled. They methodically took out many enemies and fought their way into the endgame of a PUBG round. Only three opponents were left. With military precision, Robin and his buddy took out two of them.
“Where is the last enemy?” one of them wanted to know. The blue force field was alarmingly close, and a hidden opponent could still cost them the victory. The tension was at its peak. Any moment a deadly gun salvo could ruin the dream of a Chicken Dinner!
Then suddenly a loud “Hey, guys!” could be heard from the speakers.
“Just shoot me, I don’t care!”
Startled, the two players turned around and saw an previously undiscovered guy in his underwear with a gun drawn. He was lying hidden in the grass right behind them and was in the perfect position to just blow Rob113 and his friend away.
But somehow, the naked unknown didn’t seem to have a thirst for blood and murder. He simply said fatefully, “Just shoot me, I don’t care! I’m just glad to have made it to the end.” While the two players stood there in disbelief processing the situation, the underwear joker took it upon himself and made the decision for them.
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“You know what, I’ll do it myself!” he said and jumped longingly into the blue force field, where the naked guy burned up in seconds. Rob113 and his friend were left stunned and received a free Chicken Dinner.
An incredulous “What the Fuck?” from Rob113’s buddy summed up the situation well.
In PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds there have been plenty of crazy situations. Here’s a small selection:
Once a player squeezed an Car into a bunker and flattened all enemies
What does the strange quote released by Bungie recently mean? Is it a hint at the future of Destiny 2?
In the current “This Week at Bungie,” the developers discussed some new features that are coming in the future. A large section was dedicated to the changes to the Nightfall strike. It will lose its time limit and be enhanced with strike scoring, modifiers, and new rewards.
The section about the new Nightfall strike was introduced by Bungie with an initially inconspicuous quote. A sentence in it suggests that the Nightfall is upon us. So probably it’s just a quote meant to set the mood for the Nightfall theme, right?
A few days later, game director Christopher Barrett reposted this quote without any comments via Twitter. At this point, speculation began: Apparently, these lines hold greater significance. Do they hint at the future of Destiny 2?
It is a quote from “Ulan-Tan.” Translated, it reads:
“Do you see the stars sparkling? Listen closely. Their cries bear witness to the wounds our enemies inflicted upon them. The balance has been threatened. The dusk is upon us. Never has the burden of light been heavier. We can no longer sleep.” – Ulan-Tan
Who is Ulan-Tan? Who is the “We” that can no longer sleep? What do these lines mean?
What could this quote mean?
Most Guardians may have little to no clue about the name “Ulan-Tan”. However, diving into the Destiny lore reveals that Ulan-Tan was a Warlock who spread controversial teachings among the Guardians.
The Guardians who followed his ideology formed their own faction known as “Symmetry”. When the Concordat, another Guardian faction, was expelled from the Tower, Symmetry could have taken their place, as Symmetry’s numbers grew rapidly. However, the theories of Symmetry were ultimately deemed too dangerous – they spread too much fear. Therefore, the War Cult of the Future took the place of the Concordat.
It is unknown how Symmetry, centered around Ulan-Tan, is currently positioned. There is an entry stating that Ulan-Tan supposedly died in some way. However, the quote above suggests that Ulan-Tan is likely still alive. And the “We” that can no longer sleep is probably Symmetry.
This means that if Symmetry awakens again, the Guardians will sooner or later have to deal with them.
Ulan-Tan and the Darkness
What controversial teachings did Ulan-Tan spread? Ulan-Tan was among those who attempted to define the Darkness, the mysterious, great danger in Destiny:
The Speaker, for example, speaks of the Darkness as a cosmic force that came over us and caused the Collapse.
Saint-14 believes that the Darkness was an invasion armada, an alien power with incredible but tangible strength.
And Ulan-Tan presents a somewhat more abstract theory: In his opinion, the Darkness is a necessary symmetry to the Traveler to maintain cosmic balance.
To save humanity once, according to Ulan-Tan’s theory, the Traveler sacrificed itself and fell into a sleep so that the darkness would withdraw.
Therefore, Ulan-Tan comes to the following conclusion: If one wants to destroy the Darkness, one must destroy the Light. Because as long as there is one, the other must exist, as cosmic balance must always be maintained. He thus poses the question: “How many of us would be willing to make this trade?”
This is probably why his theories were deemed “too dangerous.”
What does this have to do with the quote above?
Ulan-Tan now says that the balance has been threatened. The dusk is coming because never has the burden of light been heavier.
This statement fits with the events seen in the last story cutscene of the main campaign of Destiny 2. The Traveler awakens, its light floods the universe, and the balance is now strongly tipping back towards “Light.” And as seen in the last seconds of the cutscene: A mysterious threat awakens as it is touched by the light.
We have already speculated that this could be the Darkness that has been activated to restore cosmic balance. Ulan-Tan seems to have noticed this, according to the quote. The dusk, meaning the return of the Darkness, is coming.
He and his Symmetry faction can no longer rest.
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Keep in mind that these are just speculations. All this information is not officially confirmed. But it suggests that soon we will have to deal with the Symmetry faction, which might help us fend off the Darkness.
Most likely, this event will occur at the earliest in autumn 2018 with the first major expansion of Destiny 2, but possibly much later, with a Destiny 3. The future will tell.
What do you think of these theories and speculations?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Does the Horde mutate into a comic book villain in WoW: Battle for Azeroth? The alleged reasons for the attack on Teldrassil have been revealed.
With Battle for Azeroth, the conflict between Horde and Alliance is back in focus in the storyline of World of Warcraft, after both parties had been on a peaceful course in the last expansions.
The latest data mining has uncovered a lot of “broadcast text”. These are the texts of important characters that appear on the screen during a scenario or cutscene. Now includes first statements about how the Horde’s attack on Teldrassil came about. Evidently, it is indeed Sylvanas who calls for the direct attack on the Night Elves’ tree, justifying it with an utterly ridiculous excuse.
You can find the roughly translated German text of Sylvanas’ speech here – just click to expand:
[vc_toggle title=”Sylvanas’ words about the attack on Teldrassil”]
“Time is running out, but I understand you want to know more. Sylvanas points to Silithus on the map.
Whatever we do, THAT will upset the balance of power.
Reports of Azerite sightings are spread all over the world, hero. We don’t yet know the full potential, but we know it will create a new generation of warfare. What will war look like in twenty years? Or in one hundred?”
“The children of the Horde and their children’s children will curse the memory of us as they burn. If there were any grace in life, you and I would live in peace for the rest of our days, hero. We both have seen enough of war, and yet there is no end in sight. The Horde and Alliance are at a stalemate. Both armies have been weakened in the fight against the Legion. But I see this as a favorable opportunity.”
“We take the Azerite and use it to conquer Kalimdor.
We will create the greatest empire that has ever existed; one that is untouchable by the Alliance. With the sea separating our lands, much better than simple borders, we can live and thrive without conflict.
This is how you will secure the survival of the Horde for the next hundred years, hero.”[/vc_toggle]
If these words indeed come from Sylvanas and the attack is based on this reasoning, then Sylvanas is initiating nothing less than a blunt war of aggression. The justification is the cliché-anime excuse of a generic villain: “If I conquer everything, then peace will reign, because no one will be able to attack us anymore.”
Really, Sylvanas? That the Banshee Queen is no longer in her right mind was already apparent in Legion when she only focused on her Valkyr story and left the demons to others. That she is now mutating into a comic book villain is especially unfortunate for players of the Horde who are being downgraded to mere henchmen of evil.
If it were at least about destroying the enemy army and eliminating them through an ambush – that would be justifiable. It would still be grim, but at least sensible. Instead, attacking a capital full of civilians and literally burning it down: that is just evil. This is no longer even a matter of interpretation; it is simply and utterly evil.
Or as a comment on wowhead nicely puts it regarding the topic:
“The Horde are the bad guys. I mean, sure, from an Alliance player’s perspective, I get that… but I have sympathy for the Tauren players and the other Horde players who took on the role of a morally justifiable hero or the underdog for a while.
Not anymore, you are “Team Evil”. They will not go the ‘Garrosh’ way with Sylvanas – you are all bad. That is your characterization.”
And I have no arguments against that.
WoW author Christie Golden warns against hasty conclusions
However, there is a glimmer of hope. The author Christie Golden, who has been employed by Blizzard for a few months and is writing the story, spoke out on Twitter. She announced that not everything that has come to light through the dataminers is actually a fact and that it will play out exactly like this.
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This essentially leaves two possibilities: Either the texts will change, and these are just “filler” texts (which sounds unlikely) or the entire representation of the attack on Teldrassil will be recounted by someone who twists and misrepresents the facts to intentionally stoke the conflict.
If that is not the case, then Sylvanas will likely go down the Garrosh path – and that would be a sad end for a character who was so damn cool in the opening cinematic of Battle for Azeroth.
With the help of glitches and furniture, a player built a giant robot in Final Fantasy XIV. Do-it-yourself at its finest.
The housing is undoubtedly one of the most popular features in Final Fantasy XIV. In fact, it is so popular that fans threatened Square Enix with boycotts when there was a massive housing shortage.
Players spend hours and days decorating and renovating their houses. Some have even become professional interior designers who are hired by others for in-game currency to design their homes.
The player Pieta Nano from the Typhoon server took it a step further: He decided to use various housing glitches to build cars, bikes, and even giant robots from ordinary furniture.
LALA RANGER ROBO MEGAFORCE!
On his Twitter, the builder regularly showcases his creations, and one of them gained significant attention on social media. It is the “Lala Ranger Robo”.
Pieta built the giant robot in a friend’s house because “there was a lot of free space”.
According to him, his creation is based on the robots from the anime series Gundam, which is so popular in Japan that there is an almost 20-meter tall statue of a Gundam mech in Tokyo.
It took Pieta about two weeks to create it, placing all furniture pieces himself. He also incorporated a little trick.
Due to a glitch, the robot is “walkable”. If you stand in a specific spot underneath it and jump, you will be teleported directly onto its shoulder.
The giant was mainly built using the Asian Hingan furniture introduced with the “Stormblood” expansion and the subsequent content patches.
The spikes on the shoulders are the horns from the Ifrit wall trophy, while the shins consist of cellos.
In a small interview with housing enthusiast Merry Matsuri on her YouTube channel, Pieta mentioned that he wants to leave the robot standing like this for about half a year.
He also receives regular visits from players on other servers, who come by to check out his creations.
A Love for Classic Cars and Bikes
The Lala Ranger Robo is by no means Pieta’s only work. Besides regular home decoration, he loves to build various types of classic cars and bikes.
His classic car consists of around 150 individual furniture pieces, according to his own statements. It is so detailed that it even features a radio and gear shift inside.
Additionally, you can open the hood to admire the replica V8 engine, which was constructed from a footstool and several microscopes.
Pieta’s personal favorite piece is his “SUWARU – 34HQ” bike, which consists of 34 components. The player mentioned that he kept a picture of a real motorcycle open while creating this piece.
The next big project of the builder is supposed to be a truck. He did not provide any details about it but hinted that it will be “not just any truck”.
So we can expect great things.
While we’re on the topic of glitches; a new glitch in FFXIV causes monsters to run in circles endlessly, and it’s hilariously funny:
Team Rocket in Pokémon GO: Now you can wear the villains’ outfits when you take over gyms.
Trainers have been waiting for new Team Rocket-style outfits for a long time. This team is known from the early anime series and usually started their appearances in the series with the phrase “Now there’s trouble – and it’s going to get tougher …”
Now the developers are fulfilling this wish and presenting the new outfit collection in the game. From the hat to the boots, you can dress in Team Rocket or Rainbow Rocket style. However, you will have to dig deep into your pockets for this.
Team Rocket Outfits – Prices
The outfits consist of:
Team Rocket Hat (100 coins)
Team Rocket and Rainbow Rocket Shirt (400 coins)
Team Rocket Gloves (50 coins)
Team Rocket and Rainbow Rocket Belt (100 coins) – Belt category available only for female characters
Team Rocket Pants/Skirt (100 coins)
Team Rocket and Rainbow Rocket Boots (200 coins)
For the complete outfit with Team Rocket name, you will pay 950 coins – which is about €10. These changes are generating a lot of discussions in the community.
“Outfits look good, but are too expensive”
The look of the new outfits is bringing joy among trainers. Finally, there would be more variety in clothing in the game, as mentioned on social media.
Others jokingly demand that spoofers should wear these Team Rocket outfits so they can be recognized. After all, Team Rocket is a criminal organization that has appeared in the anime and other editions and caused trouble. Spoofers have a similarly bad reputation in the Pokémon GO community.
Source: Reddit user evindow
Trainers are less satisfied with the price of the outfits. Many find it too high. After all, the clothing doesn’t provide any gameplay advantage, but only serves aesthetic purposes.
The online role-playing game Secret World Legends will soon receive a major update that introduces the Agents system.
The Agents system allows you to hire NPCs that can not only complete missions for you but also support you by providing buffs. However, since you can only select three agents at the same time, it’s important to carefully consider which ones should be active.
Agents are useful helpers in Secret World Legends that support you in several ways:
Each agent grants you two passive buffs when you have selected the agent
You can always have three agents “active” at the same time
It is possible to assign agents to missions
Each agent has a different chance of success in specific assignments
Successfully completed agent missions reward you with things like distillates and anima shards
You always need to choose wisely which agent you “activate.” To do this, read the dossier of each NPC to learn more about their stats, the passive buffs for you, and their other abilities.
The system is easy to use. If you find an agent dossier, read it and activate the NPC in your inventory. You will then receive the buffs. Now send the agent out to complete missions, which will bring you the loot.
Currently, it is still unclear when the Agents system will be introduced into the online RPG Secret World Legends.
Today, the patch 2.5.0 (1.43) for Fortnite is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC. We have the patch notes of the latest update for you in English.
Fortnite has started the maintenance on the servers and released the patch notes 2.5.0. So you have something to read during maintenance: Here are the patch notes in English.
Highlights in the new patch 2.5.0 (1.43) – Grenades, Shrines, Weapons
The highlight of the patch is probably the new impulse grenade in Battle Royale mode.
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Additionally, shrines will bring new locations in the Battle Royale mode of Fortnite where players can search for treasures. Also interesting for Battle Royale: A submachine gun is being removed.
For the PvE part of Fortnite “Save the World”, there are four new Lunar New Year heroes (cover image) and dragon weapons.
GENERAL – Patch Notes 2.5.0 (1.43)
Dynamic resolution and high-quality temporal upsampling have been enabled for PS4 and Xbox One.
The dynamic resolution allows for a more consistent frame rate during heavy battles and better graphical representation at low GPU loads.
Full 4K resolutions are now supported on Xbox One X.
A control scheme for “pickaxe repeat swing” has been added on PC.
The friends list has been expanded on PC and Mac to make browsing long lists easier.
Special sound variations have been added when building with wood/stone/metal.
Several scenarios where connection errors prevented login have been corrected.
XMPP connection recovery on consoles has been improved.
XMPP load has been optimized.
Additional messages upon returning from a match have been removed.
Redundant messages in the shop have been removed.
Bug Fixes
A problem on Mac has been fixed where empty progress bars were incorrectly displayed as full.
Issues with Discord game invites and status messages have been resolved.
BATTLE ROYALE
WEAPONS AND ITEMS
Impulse grenade has been added.
Blue rarity.
Only found in treasure chests and supply drops.
The assault rifle with scope is now completely accurate when zoomed in.
Headshot damage of the scoped assault rifle has been reduced from 250% to 200%.
Revolvers now use medium ammo.
The crossbow can now be found 20% less frequently.
The minigun can now be found 12.5% less frequently.
The Slurp Jug can now be found 15% less frequently.
White/blue/green submachine gun no longer appears.
Tactical submachine gun
Magazine size increased from 30 to 35.
Rate of fire increased from 10 to 13.
Bug Fixes
A problem has been fixed where sniper rifle hits were sometimes not registered when aiming down in poor connection.
A problem has been fixed where projectiles missed players nearby when hitting other targets.
A problem has been fixed where players could shoot through walls with the crossbow or minigun when standing very close to the wall edge.
The messages on failed reloads are no longer displayed for weapons without a magazine (e.g. minigun).
Rounding down and up per shell for shotgun damage has been removed.
Damage for each individual shell was previously rounded down to the next whole number.
Instead, all projectiles are now summed before rounding.
A problem has been fixed where the minigun’s drum kept glowing after using the weapon.
GAMEPLAY
Bug Fixes
A problem has been fixed that prevented players on consoles from using the first picked up weapon.
A problem has been fixed where players could be damaged by bullets that penetrated newly built structures under certain network conditions.
These bullets now hit the building, not the player.
A problem has been fixed where projectiles penetrated doors shortly after they were closed.
A problem has been fixed where players could pick up an additional weapon or consumable while holding a trap.
This issue also caused players to drop complete stacks of resources and prevented them from collecting that resource for the rest of the match.
A bug has been fixed that triggered shield effects when taking fall damage.
A bug has been fixed that caused supply drops to float in the air if the object beneath them was destroyed.
Possible crashes when firing weapons before launching with the Battle Bus have been fixed.
WORLD
Bug Fixes
The soccer stadium and other buildings should now load properly.
A problem has been fixed where treasure chests were empty in rare cases.
A problem with an ammo crate in Lonely Lodge that contained no ammunition has been fixed.
PERFORMANCE
Player animation performance has been optimized to improve the frame rate.
Dust cloud and shield effects at low settings have been optimized for better performance.
Various issues caused by loading certain outfits and items at unexpected times have been fixed.
Character models, weapons, and environmental elements now use a detail level system to improve performance.
Level streaming has been improved by loading content in the background.
The effects settings at medium to low settings have been significantly optimized.
UI
The “Net Debug Stats” option for PS4 has been activated. This function displays your ping and overall bandwidth usage while playing.
The feature can be found in the “HUD” tab under game settings.
A symbol has been added to the HUD that indicates the button to open the map.
The player search user interface has been updated to show the total elapsed time.
Bug Fixes
A problem has been fixed where PS4 players were not credited for playing with friends.
AUDIO
Footstep sounds have been improved by adding different sounds for steps on wood, stone, and metal for both up and down.
Volume dampening is now based on the player’s location rather than the camera location.
Players can now hear ambient sounds better while building.
Initial volume when placing a building has been reduced.
New sound effects when placing buildings made of wood, stone, and metal have been added.
A new sound effect indicating when the crossbow is ready to shoot again has been added.
Footstep volume from team members has been slightly reduced.
Volume on sniper rifle hits has been lowered.
Volume of emote music in the pre-game lobby has been lowered.
Bug Fixes
A problem has been fixed where other players could not hear the minigun’s spin sound.
Some sound issues with the panoramic distribution of the minigun have been fixed.
GRAPHICS/ANIMATIONS
Graphic effects when moving through deep water have been improved.
Bug Fixes
A bug where the head of the Royale Knight was protruding through her helmet has been fixed.
SAVE THE WORLD
SPRING STORM-EVENT
New missions will be added throughout the duration of the event! The Spring Storm begins with a love story in a storm-ravaged world – with that special something from Fortnite …
Lunar New Year heroes have been added, each with their own traits!
Dragon weapons have been added.
Mission rewards (preview):
Love Ranger Jonesy, legendary soldier
Choice of three legendary dragon ranged weapons
New legendary melee defender
Firecrackers tickets
V-Bucks
Spring Storm gold
Reward for completing a repeatable mission
Firecrackers tickets can be earned through the new “Customized Difficulty” feature (details below). They are awarded every time a mission is completed at an increased difficulty.
They are used to purchase Spring Llamas in the loot tab.
Llamas have been updated to award Firecracker tickets during the duration of the event.
Spring Llama can be purchased in the loot tab for 1,000 Firecracker tickets.
Each Llama contains a Lunar New Year hero or a dragon weapon.
Each stack of 1,000 Storm tickets has been exchanged for Storm Llamas.
Up to 3,000 seasonal gold can be exchanged for Firecracker tickets at a ratio of 3 to 1. Gold beyond that is lost. Spend any extra gold before the update! Spring Storm gold is also seasonal and will be replaced with the start of a new season.
Alarms for mutant storm and miniboss missions are not tied to this event. Both have returned to their lower “passive” activity level and provide neither rewards nor tickets.
Up to 3 mutant storms in the Stone Forest, 10 at other locations. | Quote: 4 per day
Up to 3 miniboss alerts in the Stone Forest, 6 at other locations. | Quote: 3 per day
NEW AND IMPROVED UNIVERSAL INVENTORY
*ATTENTION: This feature is currently being tested and will be available starting Monday, February 19.
The inventory can now be prepared in the weapon storage before entering the world.
In the backpack screen, world items can be crafted, equipped, and recycled.
In the storage screen, items can be transferred between the backpack and storm shield storage.
These screens are only available for viewing during the connection to a game.
NEW CUSTOMIZED DIFFICULTY
A new type of BluGlo-Pylon can be found in the world that allows the difficulty of most mission types to increase up to five times.
With each use, the number of enemies significantly increases, and their health and damage dealt get a small boost.
Each time the difficulty of the game is increased, additional seasonal gold is rewarded for completing the primary mission.
During the Spring Storm event, at least one increase in difficulty is rewarded with Firecracker tickets, from 40 tickets in the lowest level Stone Forest to 94 tickets at the end of Twine Peaks.
CHANGES TO RARITY EVOLUTION AND RECYCLING
The costs of rarity evolution have been revised. The costs to increase a hero’s rarity now require more training manuals and evolution materials (raindrops, eyes of the storm, etc.), depending on the hero’s stars.
This change was partly introduced with v.2.4.2 and resulted in unexpectedly higher costs for leveling heroes with 3, 4, or 5 stars. These costs have now been corrected.
When schematics, heroes, survivors, leaders, and defenders with 2 stars or more are recycled, all evolution materials used for their upgrade will now be refunded.
This change was made to allow players to try out new heroes, weapons, and traps without the risk of losing valuable evolution materials.
HEROES
Four new Lunar New Year heroes with their own traits:
Berserker – A fearless soldier who charges into close combat with battle cry and shockwave.
Thunderstrike – A ninja who stuns nearby enemies and uses this condition to deal increased damage.
Riot Control – A constructor who controls the battlefield with TRAP and eliminates enemies with a plasma pulse.
Flash – A mobile explorer who uses phase shift to stun opponents and escape.
Plasma Pulse
Redesigned to no longer jump when placed.
Rate of fire increased from 2 pulses per second to 8 pulses per second.
Base damage reduced from 80 to 14.
Forward Command’s minigun is now classified as a ranged weapon, allowing soldier benefits like Stun Shot to take effect.
The Explorer’s phase shift no longer interrupts most actions upon activation, making the ability smoother in combat.
The long arm of the law no longer stops the Anti-Material Charge upon first building hit.
The “In the Zone” ability
Tooltip has been updated to clarify that 5 hits in a row are required.
Reset timer has been reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds.
Base healing from Deft Punches has been reduced from 12 to 10.
[Rework] Firewall advantage
Melee attacks that hit the constructor’s shield trigger an energy pulse that deals energy damage in a radius of 0.5 tiles and pushes back nearby enemies (16 seconds cooldown).
[Rework] Tactical bonus from Firewall
Melee attacks that hit the main hero’s shield trigger an energy pulse that deals energy damage in a radius of 0.5 tiles and pushes back nearby enemies (48 seconds cooldown).
[Rework] Shrapnel Protection Vest advantage
Damage taken is reduced by 60%.
Reduction decreases by 15% each time the soldier is hit. If the reduction is lower than 60%, 15% is regained every 10 seconds.
[Rework] Attack against buildings has been reworked: When the Anti-Material Charge hits a building, a small portion of the energy cost is refunded and cooldown is reduced.
Killing an enemy with a skill or weapon restores 3 health per second for 3 seconds (scales with hero level and Tech). Additional kills reset the healing duration. Does not activate when at full health.
[Rework] Soldier Support Specialist
Weapon durability increase from “There’s many of them …” while battle cry is active has been reduced to 80%.
“There’s many of them …” is now unlocked at level 30 (previously level 18).
Battle-Hardened advantage has been added at level 18.
“Lightning Fast” advantage has been removed from level 30 (replaced by “There’s many of them …”).
Bug Fixes
Damage from the tactical advantage “Porcelain Store” now correctly scales with the hero level.
A problem has been fixed where constructor and machinist Harper had legendary status values across all rarity levels.
A problem has been fixed where it was not specified that the Deft Punches from Thunder-BASE-Kyle require metal melee weapons to activate.
The tooltips for the TEDDY and Electro Shock Tower abilities have been updated to explain that these abilities increase the maximum capacity of fragment charges by 1.
WEAPONS
Heartbreaker Crossbow has been added.
Sniper crossbow with Valentine’s Day design
Fires bolts that pierce through enemies, deal high damage, and push back significantly.
The bolts slightly drop during flight.
Requires heavy ammo.
Available in the event shop for seasonal gold.
Dragon weapons are available:
Dragon Roar – Semi-automatic rifle that fires piercing ammunition and deals fire damage to opponents.
Dragon Power – Shotgun that fires explosive crackers.
Dragon Claw – Sniper rifle that fires small rockets that stick to their targets and explode after a short delay.
Dragon Fury – Rocket that leaves behind an explosive cloud after impact.
Dragon Tooth – Medium sword that deals fire damage.
Dragon Slayer – Heavy spear that deals fire damage.
These weapons have some unique advantages – discover them all!
GAMEPLAY
Benefits of weapons and heroes that increase damage against knocked down enemies now work during the recovery animation of weapons.
Health, stability, and points rewards after minibosses have been reduced by 20%.
The number of enemies spawning in the presence of a miniboss has been slightly reduced.
Raindrops and other evolution materials are now more influenced by the difficulty and mission reward chests. This makes everything drop more often (except in low-quality chests).
Fall schematics for Crackling Campfire have been added to Llamas.
A spot in the collection has also been added for Crackling Campfire.
The following missions have been added to side missions in the mission journal and are no longer daily missions:
The little clever bus
Data recovery
Storm Hunter
Crafted weapons now come pre-equipped with a magazine of free ammo for the weapon (this does not consider the current hero who has the “Don’t waste, don’t want” advantage, thus having no effect on the size of the magazine).
Bug Fixes
The Twine Peaks mission “A Glimmer of Hope” should no longer list “Data Retrieval” as a goal twice. Instead, it should now list “Ride the Lightning”.
The description of the Life Drainer attacks Storm Zone mutation is now clearer.
Leech can no longer deal critical hits.
A problem has been fixed that occasionally prevented players from leveling up after the Outpost tutorial.
A problem has been fixed where the heavy attacks animation with light swords was interrupted by a movement.
A problem has been fixed that occasionally prevented players from picking up BluGlo when they were near a player-created building.
A problem has been fixed that made some ammo crates difficult to loot.
UI
“New Updates” feature added.
Bug Fixes
A case of overlapping text in the shop has been corrected.
It is no longer possible to add something to a stack in the storm shield storage that is not full if the maximum number of the item has already been exceeded.
The tooltip for the tactical wilderness specialist advantage has been updated to clarify that it does not stack with the wilderness specialist hero advantage.
A problem has been fixed where the weapon advantage list briefly disappeared in some cases.
A problem has been fixed where the item level display was not updated in certain situations.
The tooltip for the grenade generation advantage has been updated to indicate that 20 kills are needed instead of 30.
AUDIO
Sound effects have been added for Dragon Ninja ability.
New sound effects for activation and recharging of the Firewall have been added.
New sound effects for impact and recharging of the Shrapnel Protection Vest have been added.
KNOWN ISSUES
The event side mission “Colorful Night” is displayed on the mission map but is not available until the next phase of the event.
The event side mission “Colorful Night” is erroneously displayed as completed when the main event mission “Our Song” is completed.
In the English version, Spring It On! gold is mistakenly called Sprint It On Gold!
Twitch missions currently do not grant daily missions.
Crafting missions must be completed in the world.
These are some hefty patch notes from Epic. Currently, server maintenance is still ongoing:
In Destiny 2, we demonstrate a quick farming method to obtain Crimson Engrams without having to engage in PvP.
From February 13th to February 20th, the Crimson Week is running in Destiny 2. The highlight of this event – and basically the only noteworthy addition – is a 2v2 PvP mode, where you can earn Crimson Engrams containing a few new cosmetic items.
This means that the Crimson Week has little more to offer than a new PvP mode. Some PvP fans are pleased, but the Guardians who have no interest in PvP are annoyed by this Crucible focus of the event.
Nonetheless, even some PvP-haters who play Destiny 2 solely for PvE want to get their hands on the new Crimson items. What options does one have?
How to obtain Crimson Engrams
There are several ways to earn Crimson Engrams:
as a gift from Tess Everis at the start of the Crimson Week
as a post-match reward in the 2v2 Crimson matches
as a reward during the XP level-up, along with a Glimmer Engram
For each character, Tess Everis only has one gift for you. This means the Crimson items cannot be farmed. The 2v2 matches are indeed the fastest way to get Crimson Engrams, but the PvE Guardians want to avoid that.
Without PvP, there is only one option left: collect experience points and unlock Crimson Engrams.
Quickly farm XP for Crimson Engrams
Before you dive into PvE activities to farm XP, you can make two preparations:
Grab Strike Medallions: One costs 50 Glimmer from Tess Everis. For 4 hours, this increases XP gains for Strikes, PvP matches, and public events.
Find a Ghost with the Ghost Shell perk that increases XP gains in the EDZ. If you do not have a Ghost with this perk, but have plenty of Glimmer in your inventory, you can buy Ghost shells from Tess Everis. With a bit of luck, one of them will have the perk.
This Ghost grants additional Glimmer in the EDZ, but no XP. Find another!
Additionally, at the start of the week, you have the “Well-Rested” buff: When you log in at the start of the new week, XP gains for the first three levels increase.
These are three advantages with which you can increase your XP gains.
Where and how do I farm XP?
During the Crimson Week, the Flashpoint takes place in the EDZ. This is an advantage, because you can earn experience points fastest through public events – and in the EDZ, there is almost always an event active somewhere. That is why you should have the EDZ XP perk on your Ghost shell.
If you are playing solo, always do the events with random Guardians. If no other Guardian is nearby, quickly travel to the nearest landing zone. Repeat this until other Guardians are nearby. Because in a group, these events go much faster and easier.
While waiting for an event to start, kill all nearby PvE enemies. Every kill grants XP.
Between events, you can hunt high-ranking targets. These provide significant XP boosts.
Keep in mind that the Crimson Engrams have a “Knock-Out List” mechanic. This means that the Engrams will only start dropping duplicates once you have all the new gear.
This is how you quickly obtain the new Crimson Items through public events. Those who do not want to engage in PvP can thus bypass the Crucible.
In Fortnite (PC, PS4, Xbox One), the servers will go offline on February 15. This also affects the Fortnite Battle Royale servers. These are planned maintenance works for the official update with version number 2.5.0. Players are expected to be back in the queues soon.
A scheduled server downtime starts today, in the morning of February 15, 2018, in Fortnite. This will affect the servers as follows:
The matchmaking for the Battle Royale mode will be disabled from 9:30 AM
The servers will be taken offline from 10:00 AM
Fortnite Maintenance – How long will it last?It is not yet known when the servers will be back online Meanwhile, the Fortnite servers are back online, and you can play!
If everything goes according to plan, the servers will soon be available again. We will update this article when we have more information on that.
Fortnite Maintenance – Update 2.5.0 is on the way – Patch Notes
The patch 2.5.0 introduces shrines and a new type of grenade for the Battle Royale mode.
For PvE, the mode introduces new heroes and skins.
Gold Update – Developers apologize for poor communication
The developers apologize for the poor communication and the delay of the update. The original plan was to reset the seasonal gold in version 2.5.0. To prevent leftover gold from being lost due to the reset, it will be converted into Firecracker Tickets.
Due to the delay of the update, you currently won’t find anything in the event shop, and you also can’t find Storm Llamas right now.
In the future, gold resets will take place on specific days that will be communicated by the developers beforehand. This way you can better prepare for it. Now seasonal gold will be converted into Firecracker Tickets.
How will it be converted?
Each 1000 stack of Storm Event Tickets has been replaced by Storm Llamas
Up to 3000 seasonal gold will be converted into Firecracker Tickets at a 3:1 ratio. Any additional gold over the 3000 value will be lost.
Uniformity or more diversity? The Hunter pets in WoW are being significantly adjusted in Battle for Azeroth.
With the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft, the developers at Blizzard will overhaul or revise many game systems. In Battle for Azeroth, hunters can especially expect major changes to their companions.
The class designer Solanis has detailed how the hunters’ companions will change in Battle for Azeroth in the official forum.
We summarize the key adjustments for you here:
There will be no separate tank or DPS pets anymore. All hunter companions are supposed to be somewhat equally capable of tanking and dealing damage. To this end, all offensive and defensive passive abilities will be integrated into all animals. It will no longer be necessary to constantly swap out a pet when it needs to fulfill a certain role.
Each family will get a unique ability. Blizzard wants to emphasize the uniqueness of the different families more strongly. Thus, all families will receive a special ability if they previously did not have one. Exotic animals will also retain their unique ability (in addition to the new one). The purely “fluff” abilities, where animals perform special emotes, will continue to exist.
Berserker Rage will be expanded, Battle Res will be abolished. Many hunters had little real choice when it came to selecting their pets, as they had to choose an animal with “Berserker Rage” to gain the powerful effect. This limited the options to a few select animals. With Battle for Azeroth, nearly 1/3 of all animals will be able to use Bloodlust, making the ability more accessible and increasing pet selection. At the same time, hunters will lose their access to resurrection in combat. Pets can no longer use this ability – it will be removed.
More diversity or more equality?
The underlying idea behind all these changes is that there are currently only a few truly good animals, and only about half of all pets have a meaningful ability. Blizzard aims to make all pets appealing so they can shine in certain situations.
Whether this will succeed, we will likely notice in the coming weeks and months when hunters leave their comments in the official forum.
What do you think of these changes to the hunter pets? A good decision? Or was it great that only a few pets had truly special abilities?
To test the server capacity of Sea of Thieves, the first major stress test will take place this weekend.
You will again have the opportunity to set sail in the vast seas of Sea of Thieves starting Friday. To prepare the game for launch, a major stress test is now upcoming. The developers explained when it starts and what content will be offered in a blog post.
Sea of Thieves Stress Test on February 16
Since the closed beta in January, the “Sea of Thieves” team has been working towards a smooth launch. They want to ensure that the servers can handle the expected player count at release.
As a result of the closed beta, a few stress tests will be conducted in the upcoming weeks leading up to release.
Start: The first stress test of Sea of Thieves will start on Friday, February 16 at 11:00 AM German time.
End: It is expected to remain active until Sunday, February 18, at 11:00 AM German time.
A stress test is not meant to show players that everything runs smoothly. During such a test, the developers anticipate problems and plan for them. After all, they want to learn from this and improve Sea of Thieves in these areas.
For this purpose, the performance of the servers will intentionally be throttled at various times during the stress test. The game will be tested in different data centers around the world, and intentional outages will be simulated.
Therefore, you can expect:
Game sessions interrupted
Login issues at various times
Bugs in the ingame shop
Who Can Participate and Are There New Features?
Anyone who is an Xbox Insider and all players who already had access to the closed beta can participate. As an Xbox Insider, you simply navigate to the Insider Hub and install the Sea of Thieves test build from there.
The player experience of the stress test will be similar to that of the closed beta. As a trading company, only the Gold Hoarder and their associated voyages will be available again. In this test, the developers do not seek feedback on gameplay features, but rather server data.
A new PTR for Overwatch brings strong buffs for Mei and Sombra. But Doomfist also gets a little love.
In line with Valentine’s Day evening, Blizzard laid a special gift in the beds of Overwatch fans last night (14.02.2018). The PTR is back active, and new changes can be tried out by all interested players.
The focus of the update is on adjustments to Sombra. Thus, she no longer receives ultimate charge for healing done by hacked health packs. However, hacking is now faster and disables many more abilities, allowing you to cause more frequent deaths for Pharahs and Genjis.
Especially the improvement of Opportunist should be helpful – as soon as enemies have taken damage (and are not fully healed), Sombra can see their health bars without having wounded them herself.
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Mei also gets a bit of love. When she slows enemies, this slow now lasts longer when opponents try to escape. This should make it easier to freeze even fast targets.
PTR Patch Notes 14.02.2018
Here are the complete PTR patch notes in detail:
Hero Updates
Doomfist
Hand Cannon
Ammo now regenerates at a rate of 0.65 seconds (previously 0.8 seconds).
Mei
Endothermic Blaster
Freezing (slowing) now lasts 1.5 seconds (previously 1.0 seconds).
Alternate fire now only consumes 20 ammo (previously 25).
Sombra
EMP
Is no longer blocked by small objects (e.g. street signs).
Hacking
Healing from health packs no longer grants ultimate charge.
Effect duration reduced from 0.8 seconds to 0.65 seconds.
Now disables the following abilities:
Genji – Double Jump and Wall Climb
Hanzo – Wall Climb
Pharah – Boosters
Lúcio – the current song is disabled, as well as Wall Ride
Mercy – Guardian Angel
Machine Pistol
Spread reduced from 3 to 2.7
Opportunist
Now activates when enemies have less than 100% health (previously under 50% health). This only applies to the ability to see health bars over the enemy’s head.
Teleportation
Duration increased from 15 seconds to 20 seconds.
Mercy
Valkyrie
Now does not show the health bars of enemies who have not yet taken damage.
Keep in mind that these changes are “only” for the PTR. Whether everything goes live is uncertain.
Plans for Hanzo still undecided
The internally failed renewals of Hanzo have been presented in this article.
However, Blizzard is already testing new possibilities. In an internal build, Hanzo has a skill that allows him to shoot 5 arrows at an extremely fast rate. In addition, the developers are experimenting with a small jump in his line of sight. Originally intended as an escape option, it can also be useful in offense during pursuits.
PlayStation Plus members currently receive an exclusive glider and a skin for Fortnite: Battle Royale for free in the PlayStation Store.
In Fortnite’s free PvP mode “Battle Royale”, there are a lot of outfits that let you customize your hero. Normally, you purchase skins with V-Bucks in the shop. However, Sony and Epic are now gifting PS4 players with a Plus membership a “special package”. This includes an exclusive outfit and a glider. You can find the two items here in the PlayStation Store, from where you can add it to your game for free. As a PS Plus member, you can download this content and keep it forever.
Once a month, “PS Plus” members receive a delivery of free games, which they can download from the PlayStation Store and add to their library. This game lineup is included in the subscription of the online service. PlayStation Plus costs about 60 euros per year (12 months). Additionally, it grants access to all online and multiplayer features.
Monster Hunter World consists of the grind for better gear obtained by hunters from increasingly powerful monsters. Those who have completed the main story will soon unlock quests for “tempered monsters.” This is where the current endgame of the action RPG lies.
Those who finish the main story of Monster Hunter World have experienced several adventures and wild battles with gruesome beasts. You have risen as hunters to high rank, uncovered many secrets, and faced the dangerous Elder Dragons.
What does Monster Hunter World have to offer after the story?
Those who have played up to this point should have realized that the action RPG consists of hunting and fighting monsters repeatedly. Afterwards, loot and rewards are collected to craft better equipment.
It should come as no surprise that after completing the story, you will be doing exactly the same: You will hunt even stronger monsters in the endgame of Monster Hunter World and receive better gear in return. The only difference is that now you will also face tempered opponents.
Warning: Those who would prefer to be surprised by the endgame content should stop reading here.
Tempered monsters are the focus of the endgame in Monster Hunter World
Once you have completed the main story and thus defeated Xeno’jiva, you can unlock quests for tempered monsters. These monsters are, simply put, stronger versions of the standard monsters. It is important to note that tempered monsters are only stronger in attack, but can take no more damage. The defense values of tempered monsters remain the same, but they can deal significant damage to you.
Tempered monsters are divided into 3 different difficulties:
Level 1:Hunter Rank 13+ – This level includes weaker monsters such as Tobi-Kadachi, Barroth, or Pukei-Pukei
Level 2:Hunter Rank 30+ – This level includes stronger monsters such as Rathalos, Diablos, or Legiana
Level 3: Hunter Rank 50+ – This level consists solely of Elder Dragons such as Nergigante, Teostra, or Kushala Daora
Blue tracks unlock investigations for tempered monsters
Once you reach the appropriate hunter rank, you can find special tracks for the monsters of the respective level. Your scoutflies will glow blue when they have picked up the trail of a tempered monster. For regular monsters, they glow green.
You need to follow the blue tracks of your scoutflies until new investigations are unlocked for you. You can tell whether you have unlocked an investigation with a tempered monster by the fact that the monster’s icon is surrounded by a purple-blue outline.
Tempered monsters provide augmentation: Warrior and Hero Stones
The tempered monsters are the toughest opponents in Monster Hunter World to date. Especially around Hunter Rank 50+, tempered Elder Dragons can knock you out with a single blow.
To take down these beasts, it is advisable to upgrade your armor with decorations. These are jewels that you can slot into your equipment. The jewels provide benefits such as increased damage, defense, faster reloading, or accelerated sharpening of weapons. Decoration slots are only available in high-rank armors and primarily for the beta sets of these.
Decorations and equipment slots both have levels from 1 to 3.
Decoration levels: Higher-level decorations contain more powerful abilities.
Slot levels: Slots can be filled with decorations of the same or lower level. A level 2 decoration CANNOT be attached to a level 1 slot.
Augmentations enhance weapons and armors BEYOND their maximum
Through the quests of the tempered monsters, you can receive special stones as unique rewards. You do not obtain these when hunting “normal” monsters. With these stones, you can further upgrade your weapons and armors. This process is also referred to as augmentation.
There are two types of stones:
Warrior Stones
Hero Stones
The drop chance for these stones is generally quite low. However, it holds true that the more difficult the quest, the higher the chance that you will receive a stone as a reward.
Augmentations are divided into 5 types:
Attack Increase
Affinity Increase
Defense Increase
Additional Slot (Here, 1 slot is expanded for a level 1 decoration)
Health Recovery
A weapon can be improved 1-3 times, and for armors, the maximum upgrade level improves. Hero Stones are needed to upgrade weapons of high rarity (around 8). Hero Stones also have a rarer drop chance than Warrior Stones.
Collecting Warrior and Hero Stones is currently the main endgame of Monster Hunter World. This is the way to enhance your equipment beyond its maximum level and make the most out of it. These stones drop so rarely that it is a hard grind to acquire them. You will have to fight through several monsters to get the coveted augmentations.
You can only obtain the stones starting from level 2 (Hunter Rank 30+) of the tempered monsters. Tempered Elder Dragons have a higher chance of dropping the stones.
Monster Hunter World features event quests with fresh content
In addition to the tempered monsters integrated into the “normal” gameplay, there are also event quests. These can also be seen as part of the endgame as they provide the game with fresh content.
Then there are event quests for which you can earn special rewards such as additional decorations. The events also offer new challenges.
At this time, it is still unknown whether Capcom is planning another stage of endgame as DLC. Many fans are still hoping for the G-Rank, which would make the monsters significantly stronger. Until then, the endgame of Monster Hunter World revolves around farming tempered monsters in a loot grind spiral.
Have you already reached the endgame of Monster Hunter World?
Electronic Arts might soon lose one of its biggest franchises. Disney is reportedly considering reissuing the “Star Wars” license. This is what the website Cinelinx claims to have learned from anonymous sources. The rumor is causing quite a stir.
With the release of Star Wars: Battlefront 2, the largest debate about loot boxes began last year, which continues to this day. Countless “Pay2Win” allegations led to EA facing significant criticism and losing the favor of its loyal fans.
The many negative headlines could now have far-reaching consequences for Electronic Arts and even prevent them from producing any more games in the “Star Wars” universe.
Cinelinx reports that they have learned from anonymous sources that Disney is considering revoking the license for Star Wars from publisher EA. If that happens, EA would no longer be able to release new titles in the “Star Wars” universe.
The rumors suggest that EA representatives have already been summoned for crisis talks and are considering steps to take.
Is Disney looking for new publishers for Star Wars?
Allegedly, they are looking for alternative publishers and have set their sights on Ubisoft and Activision, who could be new developers for Star Wars games. There are possibilities for Disney to exit the exclusive contract with Electronic Arts if certain conditions are met and specific goals are not achieved.
However, it must be pointed out that these are currently just rumors. Cinelinx cannot provide sources to confirm these statements.
Mein-MMO states: Although this is currently just an unconfirmed rumor, such a step would fit Disney. Disney has always placed great importance on its public image and presents itself and its products as family-friendly. Loot boxes in Battlefront 2, which are quickly associated with gambling and therefore also with the “exploitation of children and teenagers,” do not fit this image.
It has also been a while since a “Star Wars” game was universally regarded as good by fans worldwide – the SW games might be a thorn in Disney’s side.
What do you think of this rumor? Does it seem logical to you? Did EA bring this upon themselves? Or is it a hasty step?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In honor of Valentine’s Day, we present to you the story of two players. They met in Guild Wars 2 and have been inseparable ever since!
Hobbies bring many people closer together. This is also true for gaming. Some players form close friendships or even romantic relationships.
One particularly touching story is about the two Guild Wars players Nicole and Tyler, whom we want to present to you in honor of today’s Valentine’s Day.
The Guild as a Matchmaking Platform
The two gamers Nicole and Tyler are both passionate players of Guild Wars 2. They met in the game because they played in the same guild and immediately got along great. Tyler had been in the guild for a while and showed Nicole some content.
But even later, the two always happened to be online together and dedicated themselves to the epic task of “Map Completion”. In Guild Wars 2, you can explore each map 100% by completing all tasks and points of interest.
This consumed a lot of time and they had a lot of fun. Meanwhile, Tyler had already completed this challenging task!
“Let’s go out sometime!”
At some point, Nicole suggested a date to Tyler. The two spent a weekend together and fell in love. From then on, they met more often and spent even more time playing.
Of the approximately 1,300 hours in Guild Wars 2, Nicole spent about 1,000 with Tyler: “You can really get to know someone well in 1,000 hours.” The two have been together for 4 years now. For almost 2 years, they have lived in a shared apartment with a cat.
Since the two get along so well, they want to spend the rest of their lives together and get married. However, Tyler did not want to propose to Nicole in a simple manner. Instead, he created a complex “Map Completion Challenge” in their hometown of Bellingham.
Nicole had to visit various locations and complete tasks. Among them were “Pet a starfish at the aquarium” or “Visit the art gallery”. For this, she received handmade puzzle pieces. In the end, there was an entry on the Guild Wars wiki, the site where players look for solutions to tricky quests.
… as a Marriage Proposal
On the wiki page, under “Legendary Journey”, Tyler’s declaration of love to Nicole could be seen. When she read the entry, Tyler proposed to her on his knees. Of course, she accepted!
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In 6 months, the two plan to get married and move into an old farmhouse. The only concern they have is the internet connection. Because they still spend a lot of time together in Guild Wars 2.
Valve has removed the games of developer Insel Games from Steam. The reason is manipulation of the rating system in Wild Buster. The company’s CEO apparently urged his employees to write reviews.
To improve the ratings of its own games, developer and publisher “Insel Games” apparently resorted to unfair means. Games like Guardians of Ember or Wild Buster: Heroes of Titan are no longer available for purchase on Steam.
Email leak shows slight threats towards employees
You can no longer purchase Insel Games’ offers in the Steam shop. However, if you have already bought games from this publisher, they will still remain in your account’s game library. You can also continue to launch and play them via Steam.
Valve says that developer Insel Games was caught manipulating the review score of one of its games, Wild Buster. This reportedly happened through several accounts on Steam that wrote positive reviews and all can be traced back to the publisher.
Such methods are not “new,” but contradict the terms of use on Steam and lead to a ban, meaning the termination of the business relationship between Steam and the game provider.
Leaked email may spell doom for Insel Games
The Valve team is reacting to a post on Reddit that accused Insel Games of “forcing” their employees to write reviews. This involved the latest project from Insel Games: “Wild Buster: Heroes of Titan.” To improve the game’s reputation on Steam, employees were supposed to write reviews.
In the email shown above, which is also linked in the Reddit post, the CEO indirectly issues threats. Simultaneously, it is mentioned that the sales of Wild Buster do not meet expectations and that this is due to the review score. There are only six reviews, and there are more employees in the company…
The CEO had previously sent an email, but there were those who refused to buy the game and write reviews. This disappointed him.
Furthermore, it states:
“Of course, I cannot force you to write a review (or tell you what it should say) – but I shouldn’t have to. If you neglect the importance of reviews, it will cost jobs. If Wild Buster fails, Insel Games fails, IME [Interactive Media and Entertainment] fails, and next year we will all be jobless.”
Afterwards, he asks employees to buy the game and bring him the receipt so he can reimburse them. Those who do not want to should personally speak with him and explain why they are against it.
Update: Insel Games responds
In the meantime, there is a statement from the CEO of Insel Games. He told Gamestar that the email is genuine, but was not intended as a threat to the employees. The publisher has also contacted Steam to clarify the incident.
On the day of the EA launch [Early Access launch] in December, an email was sent to all employees in the company (about 20 people including freelancers), emphasizing the importance of reviews in the Steam ecosystem and stating that the failure of Wild Buster would put the company at risk. It was meant to mobilize support from people, including promoting the game to family and friends. Hoping to simply get more reviews.
It was never intended to threaten anyone but to highlight the importance of reviews for the entire company. No employee has faced penalties for not buying the game or not writing a review. No texts or templates for reviews were provided. We apologize for the misleading wording in the email and the practice in general.
The entire team behind Insel Games will continue to work on improving Guardians of Ember and Wild Buster while allowing access to our games through other channels. We hope to regain players’ trust through our future actions and are in discussions with Steam regarding this incident.
Until then, current Steam owners or owners of a Steam key can continue to play normally.
The wait is over. In Destiny 2, the weekly reset on February 13th kicked off the Crimson Week. The Valentine’s Day event draws Guardians to their screens with fresh rewards and a new game mode. What has specifically changed? How does this event play? Is it worth starting Destiny 2 for the Crimson Week?
With a slight maintenance delay, the week-long festivities honoring Valentine’s Day in Destiny 2 began yesterday – on Tuesday, February 13th: The Crimson Week is on.
The highlight of the Crimson Week is a 2vs2 Crucible playlist. Through this playlist, you earn Crimson Engrams, which contain all sorts of cosmetic event items. However, the Valentine’s Day event doesn’t offer much more. Is it worth checking back into Destiny 2 for the 2vs2?
2vs2 PvP Mode – the Heart of the Event
The “Crimson Week” playlist in the Crucible is the first PvP mode in Destiny 2 that deviates from the standard 4vs4 format.
The game mode is 2vs2 Conflict, and it is round-based.
How does the round system work? Each round lasts 2 minutes, within which a winning duo should be found after 4 rounds. In other words, the team that wins 3 rounds first wins the entire match. For a round win, you need to score more points with your partner than the opposing team after the regular 2 minutes have elapsed. You earn points by defeating opponents. One point per kill.
What happens in case of a tie? If you end a round tied with your opponents, there will be an extension where you need to capture a control point or eliminate the opponents to win. Respawns are disabled during the extension.
Should it happen that the rounds also end in a tie – meaning 2 to 2 – there will be an extension round. Again, a control point must be captured or opponents eliminated to emerge as the match winner. Respawns are not possible during this extension either.
The new PvP mode has the following features:
If you are close to your ally, your abilities recharge faster.
If you are too far away from your ally, a waypoint becomes visible to opponents, revealing your position.
Revives are not possible. After a kill, you automatically respawn after a few seconds.
If you don’t have a partner for the PvP matches, you will be matched up with someone by Bungie, fitting for Valentine’s Day. There is normal matchmaking. Level advantages are disabled in the Crimson playlist.
Does the Valentine’s Day Event Convince?
Sven thinks:
I must admit, the Crimson Week didn’t really touch me upon its announcement. While it marks a further small step in the right direction, in my opinion, there are other factors that are responsible for Bungie driving players away in droves, rather than a lack of events and cosmetic rewards.
The game suffers most from fundamental issues such as the lack of end-game content, the current weapon system, trivial loot, or the generally casual-friendly orientation of the game These grievances remain almost entirely untouched by the innovations and improvements that this event brings. Therefore, I started the Crimson Week with a large dose of skepticism.
But after an intense evening in the Crucible, I was surprised to find – the event is a lot of fun contrary to all my expectations!
I find the new 2vs2 mode refreshing, it definitely does the game good. Rarely have I had so much fun in Destiny 2 in the Crucible as I did last night.
Why does the 2vs2 mode convince?
The new mode feels faster than the matches in the previous playlists. The recharge time of the abilities is just right compared to the Mayhem mode for my taste. Sure, I am now often hit by grenades, but I can also use them more frequently myself.
Weird as it may sound, there are many more tactical possibilities than in the regular 4vs4. You can now confidently separate from your teammate and effectively flank an opponent without running headlong into certain death. This way, I could often hold my own last night against two opponents at once – even if they were acting close together. Almost all matches were exciting.
This brings back the desperately missed Destiny moments from the predecessor, I felt – also due to the new old map – at times thrown back to the good old days that so many of us wish to return. I was also happy about some of the rewards, such as the exotic Crimson Sparrow, which I finally got to call my own after about 10 matches.
In short – I had a lot of fun with Destiny 2 again after a long time. So much that this fun made me forget for a brief moment all the real problems the game is facing.
2vs2 Won’t Keep Problems Forgotten Forever
The most important question here is, for how long? Because the mentioned problems are not gone – they are only masked by the fleeting fun of the current event, and I fear that this fun will end quickly with the conclusion of the Crimson Week.
Of course, I would now prefer to chase armor and weapons with random rolls and gameplay-relevant stats instead of just purely cosmetic stuff. Of course, I want Bungie to finally deliver bigger improvements and more substance than just weakening the in-game shop and a new PvP mode.
But one thing I clearly felt last night: For a brief moment – but Destiny 2 still manages to let the brilliance of its predecessor shine through from time to time. This shows me that Destiny 2 is not dead yet. Not for me.
I keep my fingers crossed, toes, and whatever else can be crossed, that Bungie will ultimately manage to finally deliver the gaming experience we all so desperately long for and that the franchise also deserves.
So is it worth starting Destiny 2 again for the Crimson Week? Yes, definitely for a while. Grab your buddy, play a few matches in 2vs2, and have a few hours of fun together. But the fundamental problems of Destiny 2 are still not resolved.
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