Magic: The Gathering Arena is supposed to become the new flagship of online card games. However, according to our guest author DevilRon, the project is plagued by some issues. Especially Magic fans are struggling with the new game.
Magic: The Gathering is a classic. Almost everyone has heard of it. This refers to the founding father of modern Trading Card Games, or TCG. Without Magic, we probably would never have enjoyed Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and Hearthstone would likely never have existed without this original collectible card game.
From Magic Duels to Magic: The Gathering Arena
Since Magic was designed and distributed by Wizards of the Coast in 1993, this game has dominated the TCG market. Hence, numerous Magic video games have been produced for various platforms, including Magic Online or Magic Duels for PC.
Magic Duels was officially discontinued around summer 2017 after the “Amonkhet” expansion. Shortly after, the official successor named “Magic: The Gathering Arena” was announced. Magic Arena is supposed to do everything better!
According to Wizards of the Coast, this is supposed to be “the most profound, richest digital card game” available on the market. What sounds very promising here, however, causes a lot of frustration and anger among Magic fans. But why exactly?
Free to Play with Major Limitations
First, it needs to be explained how Magic Arena is supposed to work. Similar to the older Magic video games or Hearthstone, there are two different ways to win cards in the game.
You can probably guess it:
Either you “grind” the game like a berserker and earn new sets through the in-game currency.
Or you invest real money into the game and eagerly open new boosters.
What About My Old Cards?
Right at this point, the problem begins! Numerous players have already invested a lot of time and money in Magic Duels and cannot understand why a new Magic game must necessarily be released now.
Similarly, one could just give Magic Duels a fresh coat of paint and continue to maintain the old game with content in the form of card sets. This way, players could continue using their old cards and still spend money on new ones.
Playing at the Table and on the Computer?
But that’s not all! With Magic Arena, Wizards of the Coast not only wants to attract numerous new players to the card game. It is also quite about keeping older Magic veterans entertained.
Those who do not feel like visiting the local store after work to play a few rounds of Magic with friends should be able to experience this at their own desk via PC.
Paying Twice for the Same Thing
But this basic idea has a catch. In this case, players are forced to invest twice as much money into this hobby. They need the cards in physical form as well as virtual representations in Magic Arena. The real-life cards cannot be transferred to the virtual game.
If Pokémon Can Do It, Why Not Us?
The curious thing about this situation: The Magic community has found the perfect solution for this problem for many years. The basic idea of the community is based on the Pokémon card game.
In some physical Pokémon booster packs, there are codes that allow players to win cards for the virtual version of the game.
This concept could easily be transferred to Magic. Wizards of the Coast could even gain new customers for offline games at the kitchen table this way. A “win-win situation” for players and for Wizards of the Coast.
Wizards of the Coast Says: No!
But the idea is currently falling on deaf ears at Wizards of the Coast and is being ignored. It certainly cannot be due to high printing costs for additional cards with codes.
The current set named “Rivals of Ixalan” already contains cards that advertise Minecraft skins.
Magic Professor Points Out Fatal Weaknesses!
Anyone who has dealt with Magic on the YouTube platform will know the most successful YouTuber in this format. This refers to the “Professor,” as he is affectionately called by his fans. On his channel “Tolarian Community College,” he does not hold back on Magic Arena.
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Here are some points of criticism that he mentions:
Magic Arena has only been announced for PC so far. Smartphone, tablet, or console owners are unfortunately left out. Thus, Wizards of the Coast is missing the connection to current TCGs that offer broader usage options for their games. Wasted potential, as the professor states, since no one can discover the game randomly in the PSN store.
Magic Arena is expected to only cover new card sets and ignore older cards. This causes numerous problems as players cannot play popular formats like “Legacy” or “Commander,” which require older cards, online. The majority of the cards released in the last 25 years are thus forgotten.
Magic Arena will initially only support the English audio output. This means there will be no German, French, or Japanese cards available at first! Those who are not fluent in English will find it impossible to play this game online. This is even more curious, as all cards of the game are translated in their paper form. The translations could thus be integrated 1:1 into Magic Arena, yet strangely Wizards of the Coast says: No!
I can certainly understand the criticisms of die-hard Magic fans. At the moment, Wizards of the Coast gives me the impression that Magic Arena is a money-making machine for hardcore fans. I sorely miss good, innovative ideas and especially communication with the community at this point.
How the current state of the game is supposed to compete with the competition like Blizzard’s Hearthstone or Gwent is a mystery to me. So, it seems like I will have to continue spending my Magic time with friends at the kitchen table. What a shame!
This guest post was written by our reader DevilRon1989.
In the survival MMO Conan Exiles, it’s about bare survival in a hostile environment. You play as a condemned person who, thanks to the rescue by the barbarian Conan, is allowed to wander through the lands. You are a refugee – and the inspiration for this background lies in the reality of the present.
In an interview with PC Gamer magazine, Games Director Joel Bylos explains which real influences inspired him for the game’s backgrounds. The focus is on the refugee crisis that has affected Europe in recent years.
The Reality as a Source of Inspiration
When Bylos was just starting the development of Conan Exiles with Funcom, the refugee crisis was all over the media. Hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants were traveling through and into European countries.
A surge that many places were not prepared for and to which many locals still react skeptically. For Bylos, who was working on the setting of Conan Exiles, this was a welcome inspiration:
“I thought to myself: Here we have these people who are huddled in exile and suddenly waves of refugees are washing into their country. Both sides of the story are very interesting – that’s what I wanted to build upon. (…) At first, they open their arms to welcome the refugees. But as more pour in and claim both resources and land, the hosts become more bitter and eventually turn against them. We have seen this to a certain extent in Europe.”
The player will partially take on the role of a refugee in Conan Exiles. However, Bylos also emphasizes that both sides are important. Neither is right, and each has a reason for their views. The refugee crisis marked a framework for the desired player experience in the game’s development.
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Should Secular Politics Play a Role in Video Games?
Bylos believes that every (game) author draws their inspiration from real-life experiences.
However, one should always keep in mind that they have a responsibility towards their characters: Bylos often feels that authors place their own political opinions too openly in the mouths of the characters, without illuminating the other side.
“Sometimes, when I play a game, I think: Hmm, it seemed important to the author to say this or that. But that probably doesn’t apply to the character within this world and this situation. For instance, if I write a story about a refugee who comes to a foreign country, I have to write that story based on these characters and their experiences. But I also have to put myself in the perspective of those who already live in the country in question and consider how they feel about it.”
The conflicts between the characters then arise quite naturally. According to Bylos, nuances are what make the characters interesting – and the fact that neither side is right.
Moreover, it is a prerequisite that authors write about things that also interest them. These typically stem from the world in which they live, including its politics, people, and disputes.
The full version of Conan Exiles will be released on May 8, 2018, on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The game is already running in early access on Xbox One and PC.
Today is the last day to secure your Sky Ticket with Entertainment and Cinema package at a 80% discount. 2 months of Sky Ticket for €9.99.
On February 26, the second half of Season 8 of The Walking Dead begins, and you can watch it at a particularly low price thanks to Sky. Generally, the winter break ends in February for all series, so many new episodes are awaiting you.
The Sky offer provides you with the Sky Ticket consisting of Sky Entertainment Ticket and Sky Cinema Ticket for two months for a total of €9.99. This means you save 80% compared to the regular price.
Interestingly, Sky waives the proportional fee for February, allowing you to get February, March, and April for €9.99. Only from May does the normal fee of €9.99 per month and per package apply.
In addition to The Walking Dead, you can currently enjoy the following series highlights thanks to the Sky Ticket: The Good Doctor, Babylon Berlin, and Game of Thrones Seasons 1 to 7.
For the movie fans among you, there are Fast & Furious Parts 1 to 8, Logan: The Wolverine, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, X-Men, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
You can watch all movies and series conveniently via the app on your Smart TV, console, tablet, smartphone, or PC. Sky Ticket can also be conveniently canceled monthly through your Sky Ticket account at any time. Starting in May, each of the two tickets will cost €9.99 per month again.
The offer is exclusively online and can only be booked for Sky Ticket new customers over 18 years of age until 04.02.2018.
The offers presented here are equipped with so-called affiliate links. With a purchase through one of these links, we receive a small commission from the respective provider. This does not affect the price.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The love of a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fan was so great that he purchased a weapon skin: for a staggering 61,000 US dollars. What makes the skin in CS: GO so particularly valuable?
Time and time again, virtual items are sold. Usually, when the amounts go to horrific heights, they are expansive products. In Second Life, for instance, the entire city of Amsterdam with sex shops changed hands for 50,000 dollars and in the MMO Entropia Universe, the Crystal Palace was even sold for a whopping 330,000 dollars! Along with tax revenues of course.
Following Cloud9’s #ELEAGUEMajor victory yesterday, this beautiful Souvenir Dragon Lore quickly sold for a whopping $61,052.63. Yes, you read that correctly ?
The most expensive beauty treatment a weapon has ever seen?
However, a player has spent $61,052.63 on cosmetics: the beautification of a weapon.
The weapon in question is the Arctic Warfare Police sniper rifle in CS: GO, adorned with the extremely rare “Dragon Lore” skin.
This skin is an extreme rarity, a true six in the lottery:
It is the rarest drop from the Cobblestone Collection. Those loot crates drop during Valve-sponsored events and currently cost around $31.
A few crates also contain items with stickers of the participating players – like this one.
The skins vary in their beauty: While they usually show signs of wear, one can also be lucky and receive skins that are “factory new” – and that is the case here.
On Cloud 9
And the stickers are not only from PGL, G2 Esports, and the Cloud9 team but also from the eSports player Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham – who has just won the spectacular Final of the E-League Major Boston 2018 with his team Cloud9. Cloud9 items are likely to have significantly increased in value now. The “Dragon Lore” skin is thus not only an extremely rare skin but also one with a certain immaterial value.
However, only hardcore collectors will likely understand why someone paid $61,000 for it. The seller, player “Drone”, had purchased the skin for around 35,000 dollars about two months ago.
A tactic in Fortnite: Battle Royale is becoming increasingly popular: building stairs to the sky and spending the match in the air until the end. Not a good idea, according to our author Robert.
This tactic is called “Stairway to heaven,” where players build a gigantic staircase at the edge of the map to reach high into the air, from where they can build to the center of the safe zone and win a game. An opponent who cannot be seen cannot be killed, right?
Even though the strategy sounds good in theory, it has significant weaknesses.
Unfortunately, structures in Fortnite are tricky: they have the unfortunate property of being completely destroyed as soon as they lose connection to a solid object. This solid object can be something mundane like the ground, but also slopes or fortifications placed on buildings.
Anyone building a gigantic staircase to the sky risks being spotted. Since a staircase cannot fight back, it is usually destroyed.
If you are on the staircase, you will not survive the fall. The other player now has access to the loot of the fallen player, who could not defend themselves. Nice!
Freedom may be limitless above the clouds – but the fall has a limit, and it’s a pretty painful one. Therefore, anyone building a large staircase must hope that no other player is nearby – an unnecessary risk, as games can also be decided with firepower.
The problem with resources
Furthermore, you need to gather massive amounts of resources. There are not many places that offer such resources in abundance. Other than Wailing Woods, the Trailer Park, and Moisty Mire, there are hardly any places that promise many resources in a short time. If the starting zone is unfavorable, you also have to deal with the storm.
The streamer Zerkaa tried this tactic in the following video (warning: Spoiler alert: It did not go well):
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What many players are not aware of: Stairs and floors cast shadows on the ground beneath them, regardless of the height at which they are built. Observant players on the ground can notice these and react accordingly.
The following video illustrates this clearly:
So before you try this “trick,” consider whether you want to fight the opponent on the ground instead. In this way, you may still lose – but at least you’re giving your opponent a fair fight!
Who has been successful with the “Stairway to heaven” strategy?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
We take a look at some cool franchises that definitely need an MMO! Do you agree with our opinion?
Today, those looking for a suitable MMO are faced with a huge selection of established and new games to choose from. Yet, every now and then, one reads a good book or watches an exciting series on TV and thinks “Wow, that would be the perfect material for an MMO template!”
And indeed, many great franchises still haven’t received an MMO, even though their extensive world and setting practically beg for an implementation.
Today we will look at a few franchises that, in our opinion, urgently need an MMO implementation!
The Dark Tower
“The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed.”
With this simple sentence, Stephen King began his probably greatest work in eight volumes, in which he created more than just a world, but an entire cosmos.
The setting of The Dark Tower is quickly explained: In a dystopian world, the Gunslinger Roland Deschain is pursuing the “Man in Black,” a sinister wizard who is to herald the end of the world.
The hunt leads through several worlds and ages, as the dimensions are interconnected through “doors.” There are many crumbling ruins of former metropolises that were technically far ahead of our time, just as there are small, very simply structured villages of farmers who want to secure their survival against the dark creatures that have arisen over the centuries.
Since The Dark Tower is a multiverse story, where different times, actions, and dimensional levels are connected through the namesake tower, there would be virtually endless possibilities for exciting locations or peoples. Whether one wants to play the noble Gunslingers from Gilead, the dark sorcerers of the Man in Black, or simply the gas station attendant from New York: All could have their place in an MMO with multiple factions.
With twisted settings that otherwise resemble “The Secret World,” The Dark Tower would be the perfect candidate to establish an MMO in a more surreal area, far from classical “medieval” fantasy with swords and castles.
After the abysmally bad movie, we can only hope that an MMO implementation – if it ever comes – would meet the fans’ expectations.
I would really like to wander through an MMO world as a Gunslinger, to gaze upon the beams of the world and bring down the servants of darkness.
A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones)
Good that Game of Thrones is mentioned here, that was somehow to be expected, right? But the franchise deserves it. Hardly any fantasy world has received so much attention in recent years thanks to HBO’s successful television series. But not only the success on TV makes Game of Thrones a perfect candidate for an MMO; the entire world itself is perfectly built.
Thanks to different groups, such as the Wildlings, the people of Westeros, or simply the division into various houses and their vassals (Stark, Lannister, Greyjoy, etc.), factions would naturally form that could battle each other in PvP. Knightly battles in the style of “War of the Roses,” with much tactics, could define the combat system and create excitement far from a system with various skills.
The world of Game of Thrones is cruel, brutal, and damn well thought out. Here, an MMO with permadeath would be suitable, where servers might only exist for a few weeks before a final battle for the throne occurs. Intrigues between houses, played out in a political system among players, could lead to interesting outcomes of battles.Who helps in the fight against the undead? Which houses ally to overthrow the throne? Many different factors could determine the outcome of a server and create a new player experience month after month.
The Expanse
Like the two franchises before, The Expanse is based on a book series.
The story takes place in the 23rd century. Humanity has begun to settle our solar system, establishing colonies on the Moon and Mars.
The UN has risen to world government on Earth; however, the planet suffers from rising sea levels and massive unemployment, as most tasks are better handled by androids.
Mars has since broken away from Earth and is considered an independent state. Since Mars has strong weapons, Earth has little recourse, although no war has broken out yet, and both benefit from trade.
However, Mars and Earth are dependent on a third party, the inhabitants of the asteroid belt. They supply resources such as metals and ice (which is then turned into water) from the asteroid belt and primarily live off trade.
This results in a fragile balance among the three powers: Earth, Mars, and the asteroid belt.
The story of the series and book begins when the spark of war slowly ignites and all three parties are thrown into turmoil.
This makes The Expanse a perfect space MMO with many different roles. One could transport resources as a trader or fall upon merchants as a space pirate or again protect merchants as law enforcers. With expeditions to individual planets or asteroids, content could also be created where one explores the world as a human. Large space metropolises could be accessible and much more.
But for now, all this remains a figment of imagination and a distant hope.
Which franchises would you like to see implemented as an MMO? Or do you fear that an MMO could harm a particular franchise?
If you now crave new MMOs, here are some that are truly in development:
Calus has never seen this: He was defeated in Destiny 2 completely without weapons.
With the latest update, the raid rewards in Destiny 2 have been revised: The armor pieces now have special mods that provide various benefits on the Leviathan and make you more powerful. Additionally, there are more chances for exotics and a special ghost shell has also been introduced.
Many Guardians are daring to venture into the raid more frequently these days to see the loot changes. Among these Guardians are the bus drivers – a Destiny clan that put up a strong performance in early February. They defeated Calus completely without weapons!
Note: In the following video, you will encounter a swear word or two:
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This is how the bus drivers succeeded in the “No Guns Calus Fight”
If you are wondering whether you have heard of the bus drivers before: Yes, they have made headlines in the past. In October 2016, they managed to master the Heroic mode of Wrath of the Machine as the first clan ever. The “World First” run went to them.
Now they also claim the “World First No Guns Calus Fight” for themselves.
We spoke with a clan member who shared some information about their strategy. If you want to replicate what the bus drivers did, have fun!
At the start of the Calus encounter, five Guardians go to the left side of the throne room, where they take down all enemies with melee until that side is cleared. Meanwhile, the Titan deals with the center using his grenades. The other five Guardians then assist him and clean the entire room.
The Dimension
During the dimension phase, only the Titan returns to the throne room. He punches the Psions that get called out and deals with Calus’ shield with grenades and melee attacks.
In the dimension, two floating Psions spawn in the first phase. The Arc souls (through Rift from Warlocks) take care of these.
In the second phase, three normal Psions join the floating Psions. These are also eliminated by Arc souls, while the floating Psions are taken out with throwing knives.
In the third and fourth phase, a Hunter takes care of all five Psions alone by using the Golden Gun with 6 shots (upper skill tree).
In the fifth phase, the Hunters throw a grenade at each Psion, while the two Warlocks each throw a Storm grenade under the floating Psions.
Now the buff must be built by destroying the skulls. A Warlock uses the healing Rift with Arc soul for this. All five Guardians stand inside and try to survive. After about 15 seconds, the second Warlock sets his Rift while the Arc souls destroy the skulls. During this time, two Hunters switch to the lower skill tree.
After all the skulls are gone, one must sacrifice themselves in the dimension as there are only four orbs to return to the throne room.
Damage Phase
The Titan and the Warlocks clear the room. Then the Warlocks switch to the Void focus and the Titan to the Solar focus.
It starts at the Solar plate. The three Hunters create two orbs each with a headshot so that the team members quickly refill their supers. Now you deal as much super damage and throw as many grenades as possible at the boss.
The bus drivers needed a total of two damage phases. It repeats once. Make sure that you have enough supers for Calus’ last stand – and then stab him to death.
The most common problems:
Calus pulls the Guardians over the barriers in the dimension for no reason.
Too many enemies in the throne room.
The skull buff falls too low (55-70 is good).
The orbs get smaller each time, making it difficult to refill supers after the damage phase.
Allegedly, the next CoD is set to be a Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and it will be released for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and also for the Nintendo Switch. It is supposed to be a realistic Call of Duty, with the release set for 2018. The information comes from a so-called industry insider.
It is not official, rather we are in the realm of rumors and whispering industry insiders. The rumor states: The next Call of Duty is supposed to take place in a modern setting and be realistic. Thus, Activision is neither leaning on futuristic experiments, nor will the next CoD take us back to one of the world wars.
CoD: Black Ops 4 allegedly focuses on realism and contemporary setting
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is supposed to be released in 2018 for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch. Additionally, it is expected to offer DLCs, support HD Rumble, and Motion Controls.
This information comes from the “industry insider” Marcus Sellars, who had previously been correct with leaks about Nintendo. However, he is unable or unwilling to substantiate his claims.
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Nintendo specialist Sellars feels responsible as a leaker here, as Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is also set to be released for the Nintendo Switch.
Black Ops studio is indeed slated to develop the next CoD in 2018
The statements gain a bit more credibility due to the fact that the studio Treyarch is indeed slated to develop the next Call of Duty in 2018. The studio is responsible for the Black Ops series. Their job postings indicate that they might be planning a contemporary setting. This is known by the German gaming site GameStar, which reported on the job postings.
Since 2012, three main studios have been alternating to continue the Call of Duty series.
Currently, the information seems quite thin, but since Call of Duty is such a huge topic, even a small stone can cause big waves.
Here, however, a dose of skepticism is certainly appropriate: The bigger a game title is, the more likely such leaks are.
In Monster Hunter World you have several ways to form groups with other hunters in multiplayer. This guide shows you these options and covers creating squads and hunting groups, explaining how and which quests you can tackle together.
In total, you can go on a hunt with 3 other friends. The action RPG offers various features for this purpose. However, the multiplayer in Monster Hunter World is somewhat cumbersome. You must take several steps to be able to travel with a group. The guide includes:
What to consider in multiplayer in Monster Hunter World.
How to invite friends and join a session
How to start a quest in multiplayer
What hunting groups are, how to create them and join them
The purpose of the gathering place
[toc]
What to consider in multiplayer in Monster Hunter World
Generally, you can play all quests in Monster Hunter World together. However, there are a few prerequisites that you must meet as a group. This is why you sometimes receive error messages when trying to play together.
You must meet these prerequisites to participate together in a quest:
You can only join quests that have the same or lower hunter rank
The hunter rank symbolizes the experience and abilities of your hunter. The higher it is, the more quests are available to you. The hunter rank increases with the completion of assigned quests and expeditions. With a higher hunter rank, the difficulty of quests also increases, meaning the monsters become stronger.
You are allowed to play with a friend who has a higher hunter rank. However, note the following:
You cannot join any quest that has a higher hunter rank. If your friend starts a quest that is at hunter rank 7, you CANNOT join if you are hunter rank 3.
You can join quests from friends who have a lower hunter rank. If you start a quest with hunter rank 3, your friend with hunter rank 7 can join here. Or you must have the same hunter rank.
Story quests can only be played together if everyone has seen the cutscene
In the main quests of Monster Hunter World, there are various film scenes that usually introduce the new monsters or maps. The main quests are marked with a thick red symbol.
You can generally complete all story quests together. However, everyone in the group must have seen the corresponding film scenes in the quest to start it together. In these quests, you can only use an SOS signal with the emergency flare after you have seen the film scene.
The strength of the monsters does NOT scale with each additional player
In Monster Hunter World, the strength of the monsters scales in multiplayer. However, this does not apply to every additional player. Only the second player increases the monster’s strength! So if you are in a group with two players and their Palicos, the monsters are just as strong as in a group of three or four players. Four players are out and about without Palicos.
Loot stealing is impossible and everyone gets the same
In Monster Hunter World, you carve the animals and receive loot in the form of claws, teeth, or horns. You can all take the same parts from the monsters and receive the same rewards in the group. Players cannot steal loot by being the first to carve the monster.
Cross-play and split-screen in Monster Hunter World
Cross-play between the PS4 and Xbox One is NOT possible in Monster Hunter World. You also CANNOT use split-screen to play together. Co-op in Monster Hunter World works exclusively online.
Playing expeditions in multiplayer
Expeditions are the only way to explore the maps without a time limit. There are two ways to start multiplayer expeditions:
If you need help during a quest or expedition, you can do so with an SOS signal. To fire the emergency flare, press the options button and go to Start menu > Quest > Fire emergency flare. Once you have fired an emergency flare, other players can come to your aid. However, be aware that you cannot fire an emergency flare in some situations. If this is the case, the game will inform you.
Invite friends and join an online session
Creating or joining an online session is cumbersome in Monster Hunter World. You have to take a few more steps to form a group online. In this section, you will learn how to invite friends, join online sessions. Additionally, useful online features such as finding friends are explained.
Inviting friends
Press the options button and go to the start menu.
From here proceed to communication.
You can now invite friendsvia their PSN name.
Invited friends always start in Astera.
Joining a friend’s online session
You can join a friend’s online sessions directly with your PSN account. If you join an online session this way, you will end up in Astera.
You can join a friend’s session as follows:
Let a friend create an online session or join another player’s online session.
From the PS4 home screen, go to “Current Game” in the friends menu and select “Join Session”.
Search via online session ID
If you know someone’s online session ID, you can search for it directly to join the session.
To search for an online session ID, select “Search via Session ID” when looking for online sessions.
If you want to find out your online session ID, access Options Button >Start Menu > Communication > Player List to view the ID.
Finding players you recently played with
You can search for the online session of a player you recently played with.
You can search for these players as follows:
Select “Search in game history” when searching for online sessions.
Access Options Button > Start Menu > Communication > Recently Met .
Note: The game history is cleared whenever you leave the game.
Playing alone: Create a private session
You can activate the “Private Session” so that others can only join your online session through the “Invite a Friend” and “Search via Session ID” options.
There are two ways to activate the “Private Session” option:
When creating an online session, select “Yes” under “Private Session”.
Access the Quest Board or the Quest Switch Menu > Online Session > Session Settings and select “Yes” under “Private Session” after creating an online session.
Friend requests and blocking
You can see the online IDs of players in the online session or quest by selecting the Options Button >Start Menu > Communication > Player List .
You can view a player’s profile in PSN (PlayStation Network) by selecting their name in the player list and then choosing “View Profile”.
Sending friend requests: Select “Friends” on the function screen, then a profile, and finally “Add to Friends”.
Blocking other players: Select “Options” on the profile screen of the player you want to block, and then select “Block”.
Removing players from a quest or hunting group
You can only remove people from the quest or hunting group if you are their leader.
Removing quest members:
Before departing on a quest, you can remove players by calling up the “Group Member Status” and pressing the “Remove Player” button. You can also remove a player by accessing Options Button >Start Menu > Communication > Player List .
During a quest or expedition, you can remove another player by accessing Options Button Start Menu > Communication > Player List .
Removing hunting group members:
You can remove a hunting group member by accessing Options Button > Start Menu > Communication > Hunting Groups > Member List .
Start a Co-op quest with friends in multiplayer
Online sessions are like online rooms where players come together to play together.
Before starting the game, you can adjust the corresponding multiplayer options in the save data selection screen. Here you have the choice between “searching for an online session”, “creating an online session”, or “searching for a hunting group”. Select one of these options to play online.
The easiest way to play together is to select “Create Online Session” and set “Private Session” here. This creates a lobby where you can basically play solo on your own server. However, you can still invite other players.
You can also create or join online sessions by talking to the wilderness expert, the place girl, or the arena girl, or by going to a quest board and selecting the “Online Session” option.
Create an online session with the wilderness expert:
Search for an online session with the wilderness expert:
How to start a joint quest:
You can announce a quest or join one by talking to the wilderness expert, the place girl, or the arena girl, or by going to a quest board. If you want to be the leader of a quest and recruit other players, select “Announce New Quest” and choose a quest. If you want to join another player’s quest, select “Join Quest” and the quest you want to join.
Step by step to start a joint quest from the leader’s perspective:
Invite other players. To invite a player, press the options button and go to the start menu. From here, proceed to communication. You can now invite a player via their PSN name.
A joint session has been created. However, you can only see each other in the gathering place. This will be explained in more detail in the following section.
Start a quest via the quest board or the wilderness expert. When starting a quest, you will receive the option to specify a maximum number of players and a password. This is only relevant if you have created a public session and do not want strangers to join the group.
Prepare for the quest and indicate when you are ready. A notification will appear for the other group members that the leader has started the quest.
The group members must now also go to the quest board or the wilderness expert! Instead of selecting “Announce Quest”, they must now choose to join a quest. Here they will see the quest prepared by the group leader and can join it. After that, they must also indicate when they are ready to leave.
To hunt together, the prerequisites listed at the beginning of the post must be met.
How to announce a quest in an online session
Select “Announce New Quest” at the quest switch, at the quest board, or with the wilderness expert. Select a quest, and it will automatically be announced and made accessible for other players to join.
Once you have announced a quest, it will load. When the quest is loaded, you can press to bring up the departure screen and set off as soon as you are ready.
Tips for departure:
It’s best to wait until all group members have set their status to “Ready to Depart!” before setting off on the quest.
If a quest member is still set to “Preparing…” when the quest leader departs, that member must join after the quest has started.
How to join quests in an online session
Select “Join Quest” at the quest switch or the quest board. You can join any quest that has been announced within your online session. If you respond to an SOS signal, you can also see quests outside your own online session.
Once you have joined a quest, you can press the touchpad on the PS4 controller to bring up the departure screen and signal your readiness to depart. If you set your status to “Ready to Depart!”, you will automatically set off as soon as the leader leaves.
Joining a quest:
Setting search criteria for the quest:
Indicating readiness for quest departure:
Hunting groups are the guilds in Monster Hunter World
Hunting groups are equivalent to guilds in Monster Hunter World. So hunting groups are large in-game communities that you can join. In the hunting group, you can participate together in various activities.
When you join a hunting group:
You gain access to an online session that is only open to members
A hunting group symbol and name are displayed above your character name and on the guild card
You can leave messages for hunting group members, even if they are not online.
How to create and join hunting groups:
To join a hunting group, you can either create your own or get invited in the gathering place
You can belong to up to 8 different hunting groups
A hunting group can have up to 50 members
Only hunting group leaders can invite or remove members from a hunting group
Anyone who has received an invitation to a hunting group must press the options button, proceed to communication, select “Select Hunting Group” and then “Join Hunting Group”
The gathering place: Here you can see each other and create hunting groups
The Celestial Hall is a gathering place where up to 16 players can meet for hunts. The following facilities are located there:
Arena switch: In arena quests, you complete challenges with others that must be accomplished with specific equipment. You will face certain bosses here. Those who successfully complete arena quests will receive rewards.
Quest switch: Here you can view quests and set off to them
Hunting group manager: Here you manage your hunting group and can also create one.
Message board: Here you will find important information such as current event quests and log-in bonuses.
A canteen: The dishes in the canteen provide you and your Palico with bonuses like additional HP and stamina. You should stop by the canteen and eat something before a hunt
Your room
The gathering place is the only place outside of quests where you can see other players. Here, you can also challenge other hunters to an arm-wrestling match. Most mentioned facilities are also available in offline mode.
The multiplayer of Monster Hunter World in the German video guide
The German YouTuber Charles has created a video guide on multiplayer in Monster Hunter World. In the video, you can see step by step how to start a co-op quest.
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The Dive meta has been dominating most matches in Overwatch for quite some time now. However, other compositions are becoming increasingly visible – especially in the Overwatch League. Leading the way is the “Quad-Tank” strategy. Are we expecting a shift in the prevailing strategy in Overwatch?
The strongest strategy in Overwatch at the moment is dictated by the so-called meta. It indicates which hero composition has the greatest chance of success and is also the most commonly played combination.
For a long time, the Dive meta. In the Overwatch League, where the best players in the world currently compete against each other, many other compositions are also becoming increasingly common. Could this potentially have general impacts on the meta?
The Dive meta in Overwatch relies on quick position changes
For some time now, the Dive and Support meta have been dominating the ranked playl of Overwatch.
The core heroes of the Dive meta are
Winston,
D.Va,
Genji,
Zenyatta,
Mercy
and Tracer.
All of them can quickly change positions or support from a great distance, breaking and dividing the enemy formation, which gives the meta its strength.
Although the Dive meta does not have as firm a grip on the Overwatch League as other areas of competitive play, it is still frequently used. However, there are alternatives to respond to the opponent, such as Widowmaker, Junkrat, or McCree instead of Tracer.
D.Va, one of the key heroes in any composition.
Anti-Dive is emerging, securing key positions
Such adjustments, which can drastically change the situation depending on the context, require responses. A heavily contested position at key locations that is defended has thus become popular – a so-called Anti-Dive composition.
The Anti-Dive composition relies on heroes like
Orisa
Widowmaker
Junkrat
and D.Va
As a result, something has changed in the game that has not often been seen before: Instead of relying on playing better or searching for mistakes in the opponent, players react. There are now alternatives that bring more variety to the game.
However, this does not guarantee victory – as Boston Uprising impressively demonstrates here. Mastering the game is still the best tactic.
By the way: A special variant of the Anti-Dive is the so-called “Pirate Ship“, which is commonly played on Junkertown. A combination of Orisa, Roadhog, Bastion, and Mercy firmly positions itself on the payload, supported by Widowmaker and Hanzo from high ground, and happily sails to victory while firing. As long as this combination is not coordinated and dismantled, it is hard to stop.
The Tanks are making a comeback – “Quad-Tank” as offensive defense
Another strategy that is frequently used is a combination of four tanks and two healers. This breaks through both the Dive meta and the Anti-Dive composition with a completely new approach:
With a speed boost from Lucio and healing from Moira, four tanks push past the opponents – or simply through them – to the objective, and establish themselves there. This tactic is especially popular on the Horizon Lunar Colony.
The Quad-Tank meta typically consists of:
Reinhardt
Zarya
Roadhog
D.Va
Lucio
and Moira
This combination works because the defending team is forced into action, which it doesn’t want from its position. While four large targets wait at the objective, sufficient pressure must be applied by the defenders to push them back.
The colleagues from Overwatch Central refer to the emergence of this tactic as the “Rock, Paper, Scissors” principle, as this strategy is particularly effective against immobile barricades like the Anti-Dive comp. Here, it becomes evident that movement is coming back into the meta.
In general, the meta will not change overnight from “Dive” to “Quad-Tank”. As Overwatch Central correctly points out, a composition is always best suited to certain situations and maps.
However, with the nerf of Mercy, the emergence of more tanks in the meta is quite likely. She is not necessary for such compositions, making other healers viable and thus opening up more possibilities.
Overwatch Central predicts that a tank meta like last year will not occur, which is probably true. However, a similar tactic might soon become stronger than the colleagues expect. A look at the Overwatch League shows the rising popularity, even already on control point maps.
It is certain: Dive is no longer the only strongest tactic.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In MMORPGs, many players want to always be the heroes who win wars and defeat villains. In Life is Feudal: MMO, it is equally important to be a farmer. Because without food, the land dies.
The developers of the sandbox MMORPG Life is Feudal have released a new video that focuses on agriculture in the MMO. This is extremely important, because without food, you cannot survive for long. Survival also plays a major role in the online game. Life in the Middle Ages is certainly anything but easy, and that also applies to farmers.
What do you need to be a successful farmer?
In the video, you will see what you need to become a successful farmer. What do you need to pay attention to, and which skills and tools are important? You cannot just build a field anywhere and start sowing. You need good soil and, above all, space. If you manage a guild, it is necessary that you have good fields so that every guild member can be supplied with food.
Help keep the population supplied with food
It is important to pay attention to how the environment looks before you create a field. Is anything growing there? What is the weather like?
Also crucial is the question of whether enemies are nearby who might repeatedly raid you and steal your food supply. All of this and much more is explained in the video.
If you follow the tips, you can surely become a successful farmer who helps keep the game world of Life is Feudal running. Because without farmers, the land dies.
Thanks to Saturn’s Weekend Deals, you can get the Nintendo Switch at an unbeatable price. There are also many interesting gaming offers.
This weekend, you have the opportunity to grab the Nintendo Switch at the lowest price ever. The Neon Red / Neon Blue and Gray variants are available at Saturn for just 289 Euros. With this, you can experience outstanding games like Super Mario Odyssey and Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
In addition to the Switch, you can get the Xbox One Controller in various colors and editions for only 37 Euros. The controller is among the best on the market and is also very popular on PC. Additionally, Destiny 2 for PC, Xbox One, and PS4 is available for just 25 Euros. So if you haven’t taken the plunge yet, you can secure the sequel at a particularly low price.
Bundles for the Xbox One S, smartphones, TVs, and other tech are also on offer. All offers are valid until Monday at 9 AM or while supplies last.
All Weekend Deals from Saturn The offers presented here contain so-called affiliate links. If you make a purchase via one of these links, we receive a small commission from the respective provider. This has no impact on the price.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
New hopeful games that were once supposed to last for years are dying like flies. Battleborn, Gigantic, and Paragon are dead. Lawbreakers are almost gone. We will have to get used to this, believes our author Schuhmann.
The new gaming world sounds fantastic from the publishers’ perspective. The most successful games earn money for years after their release.
Rockstar, Blizzard, Riot Games – the winners of the new gaming world
At RockStar, one used to have to release one or two new games every year: Today, a few updates for Grand Theft Auto Online are enough, and the money flows in through microtransactions. One can take a year or two longer with the next game.
And Riot, although it is called “Riot Games,” has only had one single game since the beginning: League of Legends. That is enough to generate billions of US dollars year after year. The LoL publisher Tencent came up with the royal idea to make even more money: They release LoL as a mobile game under another name. Done is a game that in China has shown such a risk of addiction that the government had to take measures to protect the youth.
The success formula for all these games is “Games-as-a-service.” Games that run for years through expansions and updates. They continue to generate more money through microtransactions.
Other studios also want such games, want to sit at the table of the big players. With significant effort and marketing energy, studios are working on their hero shooters or their games-as-a-service that they want to race with.
Because such games are expensive and time-consuming, years of development and millions of dollars go into them. The expectations and advertising budgets are pumped up, and the concepts for the games sound fantastic.
But here the dark side of the model shows.
New games are dying like flies in hero shooters, MMORPGs, MOBAs
These are four games that were released in 2016 or 2017. They are games with decent ratings, high production levels, and good concepts. Games that one thought: They have potential.
These are only the hero shooters. In MMORPGs and MOBAs, the same trends have been observed for years. New games find it hard to assert themselves against the incumbents.
The last major Western MMORPG WildStar sank in 2014.
Even Blizzard could not establish its MOBA “Heroes of the Storm” against giants Dota 2 and LoL.
Because the seats at the table are occupied. These are the downsides of the “Games-as-a-service” games: They bind players for years, make them loyal players and fans. These loyal players can no longer be won over as customers for new games.
Many fans of single-player role-playing games have been complaining for more than 10 years about WoW and how World of Warcraft has killed their favorite genre.
WoW pulled millions of role-players out of the “gaming market for PCs” back then because role-players wanted nothing more than to be in Azeroth and raid with their guilds, go hunting for loot.
This WoW effect, where a game pulls customers out of the market for years, now also affects new games-as-a-service.
Games-as-a-service eat each other up
The binding force of established games is strong: Anyone who has invested months or years in developing their skills and skin collection in a title like Overwatch or LoL will have difficulty leaving those games for a new title.
And because of this, we will have to get used in the coming years to news that a new hopeful game was shut down only a few months after its release.
Now that more and more genres are moving into the realm of “Games-as-a-service,” the space for new games is becoming increasingly limited.
Established publishers are already reacting to this and restructuring production so that fewer, but larger titles are released, as they are given more market potential.
But even these new titles are fighting for the same players. So the new games must either displace an existing game or attract new, still unbound players.
More on the topic of games-as-a-service and the winners in the market can be found here:
Improbable, the company behind the miraculous technology SpatialOS, is now collaborating with the Chinese giant NetEase. They aim to build the next generation of MMOs and online games. This could bring Improbable CEO Herman Narula closer to his dream: something like Destiny with a vast, living world.
It’s kind of like Goliath teaming up with Goliath.
Improbable is regarded as a miracle startup. They received a huge investment in 2017 and have since been valued over one billion US dollars.
Improbable is working on the development platform SpatialOS, designed to create living and vast online worlds where thousands of players and NPCs can interact with each other. They intend to harness the power of the cloud.
So far, Improbable’s partners have mainly included smaller indie teams looking to realize their grand visions of an MMO or MMORPG with the help of SpatialOS. These include games like:
But it’s known that the head of Improbable actually thinks on a larger scale. His dream would be for a blockbuster like Destiny to take place in a vast, living universe powered by their technology.
Worlds Adrift
Improbable and NetEase Announce Partnership
Now Improbable announces a cooperation that could reach such, another dimension: They are now collaborating with the Chinese giant NetEase.
NetEase is one of the largest companies in online gaming in China and therefore probably worldwide.
The head of Improbable, Herman Narula, signed a partnership agreement with NetEase in Beijing. Improbable will now develop and publish games based on SpatialOS, their cloud-based platform, together with NetEase.
Improbable is now considering opening offices in China and recruiting people there. They are curious about the collaboration and what fruits the partnership will bear. The partners plan to announce news throughout the year.
Further information about the deal and its impact is expected during the Game Developer Conference (GDC), which takes place from March 19 to March 23 in San Francisco.
The American branch of Korea publisher Nexon has laid off employees after their most important new game Lawbreakers has disappointed. However, it is said that this is not the reason for the layoffs. They simply want to realign themselves with the promising titles and hope for more success in the future.
GamesIndustry reports that the South Korean publisher Nexon has restructured its US branch. They want to “reset the organization to ensure a deeper focus on the most promising titles,” it is said. Unfortunately, it has become necessary to lay off some people.
However, the Nexon spokesperson reassures: the number of layoffs is not significant in relation to the entire workforce.
Allegedly 20% of the workforce of the US branch laid off
However, GamesIndustry claims to have learned from a source that one-fifth of all employees were laid off. It reportedly affects some “familiar faces” like community managers. They are posting on Twitter that January 31 was their last day at Nexon and are now looking for new jobs or reorienting themselves.
Observers believe that the layoffs are related to the flop of Lawbreakers, but Nexon does not want to know anything about it. The layoffs are independent of the financial performance of Lawbreakers, says the spokesperson.
The restructuring aims to sharpen Nexon America’s focus and lay the groundwork for long-term success. The company is financially stable, growing, and will continue to report record revenues, it is said.
The layoffs are meant to ensure that Nexon achieves the same success in the West as it has in Asia.
Lawbreakers seen as a commercial flop
Lawbreakers was Nexon’s attempt to establish a fast-paced, competitive shooter in the West. However, that failed. In the business report, Nexon has since written off Lawbreakers.
They chalk it up to a learning experience and believe in hindsight that they chose the wrong time for the release: Nexon seems to feel that Lawbreakers was overshadowed by shooters like Destiny 2, Call of Duty: WW2, or PUBG.
Many players have reported that they are waiting for a Free2Play transition for Lawbreakers. Apparently, the market was not really waiting for the game. Because Lawbreakers has struggled with weak player numbers since its launch. For a competitive shooter, that is a large, self-reinforcing problem.
Mein MMO thinks: If you lay off people after a flop but say “That has nothing to do with the flop, we just want more success in the future,” then there might be something “Lost in Translation”, but the message is being received.
The Korean pro-gamer D.Va is one of the most popular heroines in Overwatch. So far, it was assumed that she was a StarCraft pro. But is that perhaps not the case? Overwatch Lead Writer Michael Chu says: No, D.Va was not a StarCraft pro!
Overwatch has a wide selection of various heroes. They are all unique and have their own backgrounds, standing together across all boundaries. This diversity is an integral part of the game.
One heroine has particularly captivated many fans for several reasons: the Korean professional gamer and actress Hana “D.Va.” Song. She is young, beautiful, and probably plays better than any Overwatch player herself. No wonder she has many admirers.
When she was introduced, she was embedded in a StarCraft context. She had her own profile on the StarCraft 2 World Championship Series website. Here are the profiles of the best StarCraft players in the world. Reason enough to assume that D.Va also belonged to these.
An archived version of D.Va’s WCS profile retrieved via the Wayback Machine.
“This is a common misconception. D.Va was not a StarCraft pro before MEKA.”
In response to a fan’s question on Twitter, Overwatch Lead Writer Michael Chu stated that D.Va was not a StarCraft pro before she joined the MEKA program. That is a common misconception.
This statement faced strong criticism from other fans. So much so that Chu eventually had to backtrack and said: “I was trying to make a distinction between D.Va as a pro gamer and pro gamers specializing in StarCraft. I wasn’t precise enough.”
However, with these words, he sparked an even larger controversy. More and more fans found more evidence that D.Va was indeed a StarCraft pro before her duty with MEKA – and even backed this up with official sources.
Since D.Va’s first appearance, she has been associated with StarCraft. She is a StarCraft announcer, has exclusive game content for the strategy game, and freaks out in Heroes of the Storm when she meets Kerrigan for the first time.
Her WCS profile also mentioned: “At the age of 16, she became the #1 player in the world and was undefeated for 3 years.” Her connection to StarCraft esports is similarly repeated at several points.
Sure, any “normal” StarCraft player could experience the same, without earning money from the game. But where is the line between esports and pro-gaming? Additionally, in an interview with Forbes about BlizzardWorld, even Game Director Jeff Kaplan seemed to fall for this “common misconception”: he referred to D.Va as a “StarCraft pro.”
All this eventually led Michael Chu to publish a blue post in the official forums, in which he addresses his statements once again. He writes that any teasers and stories surrounding D.Va may have been experimental and somewhat confusing.
Moreover, many of these allusions have since been deleted. The WCS profile can only be found through web archives, and other references are gradually disappearing as well.
Fans find that further provoking. They feel attacked and portrayed by Blizzard as those who are at fault. Chu’s statement aims to place the blame on them – instead of simply owning up to a retrospective change in the story.
It is clear that D.Va has officially been referred to multiple times as a StarCraft pro gamer. Only Michael Chu, who ultimately has the final word, now says that she is not. This only recently. Why is Chu changing his stance on D.Va? This can only be speculated.
Perhaps an official lore video for D.Va is upcoming, perhaps Blizzard no longer liked the idea. It remains to be seen whether D.Va will be seen as a StarCraft pro or not.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The Season Pass for Far Cry 5 comes with three additional DLCs. These are quite crazy: they include Far Cry 3, the Vietnam War, zombies, and Mars!
Recently, Ubisoft revealed the contents of the Season Pass. After the release of Far Cry 5 on March 27, the content for Season Pass holders will be expanded with bizarre themes. The Season Pass for Far Cry 5 can be purchased separately or obtained with the purchase of the Far Cry 5: Gold Edition.
These are the contents of the Season Pass for Far Cry 5
The developers have come up with three additional exciting scenarios alongside the actual Hope County, in which players can enjoy Far Cry 5, and they couldn’t be more different.
Dead Living Zombies: In the zombified wasteland, you must fend off hordes of the undead.
Hours of Darkness: This DLC takes us back in time to fight against guerrilla soldiers during the Vietnam War.
Lost on Mars: Arachnophobes present? They will have a blast in the third DLC! Once sent to Mars, you must battle gigantic spiders!
Also included in the Season Pass is the full version of Far Cry 3. Console players can look forward to Far Cry 3: Classic Edition . This edition will be available to Season Pass holders four weeks before the actual sale as a standalone offer in summer 2018 on PS4 and Xbox One.
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Additionally, the story trailer has been released, providing more insights into the community of Hope County. The small town is suddenly confronted with a heavily armed, fanatical cult – dark and bloody times are ahead!
Once again, the game lures players with a crazy but intriguing antagonist, beautiful locations, and interesting secondary characters. You won’t have to wait much longer for it: the title will be released on March 27.
Update 17 of the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online will be released alongside the new DLC Dragon Bones on February 12 and brings several new features – including a more rewarding level up.
Leveling up in an MMORPG is always a special moment. What can I teach my hero now? How does he fare against the monsters that have always been a problem?
The level up feels good. You have achieved something and are rewarded for it. And with Update 17 of the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online, even more.
Level ups become more interesting
If you level up after installing Update 17 in ESO, you can expect several new features:
You will receive information about new skills available for your character class.
You will get useful tips regarding gameplay mechanics.
Occasionally, you will receive rewards, including gold, crafting materials, or learning scrolls. For certain milestones, there are even collectibles like mounts or costumes.
A guide will provide you with tips on how to best play your class. For example, you will receive skill tips. However, the guide can also be turned off.
“Admittedly, our system for level ups and skills is really complex,” admits Creative Director Rich Lambert. “The main goal of this new feature was to provide some support to new players or players who weren’t quite sure what to do with their abilities as they improve. You can do whatever you want with your character in ESO at any time. But the skill guide gives you an idea of how all the skills interact and shows you a direction in which you can develop your character. Then you can continue freely once you’ve understood the basics.”
New outfit system and storage for your home
Additionally, Update 17 brings more new features:
Through an outfit system, you can visually customize your gear.
There are now storage options in your home. This includes four chests and four boxes, providing you with up to 360 additional storage spaces for items.
You will be able to use the new features of Update 17 starting February 12 in the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online.
EA has secured a new milestone that the company surely is not proud of.
Last year, there was significant negative criticism aimed at Electronic Arts. Particularly, the pay-to-win scandal surrounding Star Wars Battlefront 2 stayed in the minds of many players. A listing from Wall Street now shows that this negative criticism has special consequences.
EA in 5th Place among the Most Hated Companies
Based on factors such as major events, customer surveys, employee reviews, and more, 24/7 Wall Street compiled a list of the most hated companies in America.
In 5th place, behind the NFL (National Football League) and the University of Phoenix, is Electronic Arts. They have previously won the title of “worst company” more than once. Regarding the latest ranking, Wall Street writes:
“Electronic Arts, or EA, has been creating particularly successful video games for many years. EA has produced many successful franchises such as ‘The Sims’, ‘Battlefield’, or ‘Need for Speed’ as well as the annual titles ‘Madden’ and ‘FIFA’. They had a significant role in shaping the face of gaming, but the company’s reputation has suffered greatly. There are many examples where EA acquired smaller studios due to a particular game and then either took away the originality of the game or drove the studio into the ground.”
Furthermore, Wall Street addresses the issues with Star Wars Battlefront 2 in their description: “EA released an early access version of the game which immediately caused a lot of anger. Players discovered that unlocking popular characters would cost more than 40 hours of gameplay or several hundred dollars [for in-game purchases]. The public outcry over the perceived greed prompted the studio to temporarily disable in-game purchases.”
After the scandal surrounding Battlefront 2, EA disabled microtransactions in BF2 and even in Need for Speed. While fans did not criticize the in-game purchases in Need for Speed, EA likely wanted to act preemptively here.
Now EA stands in 5th place among America’s most hated companies. Do you think this is justified?
The top spots:
In 1st place is Equifax, a financial services company
In 2nd place you find the film production company Fox Entertainment Group
In 3rd place is the NFL (National Football League)
In 4th place is the University of Phoenix
You can find the complete list of America’s most hated companies here at 247wallst.com
In Destiny 2, Bungie finally listens to the community – just the right time for fresh ideas, like the Archive! A guest contribution by Sven.
Destiny 2 currently resembles a gigantic construction site. Bungie is visibly struggling to listen to and meet the demands of the upset and dwindling community – as evidenced by the recently released roadmap for Spring 2018 – but the list of necessary changes is long, and it will take a lot of time before they are implemented.
While Bungie focuses on some core elements of the game, like PvP or Strikes, one topic is being overlooked, many Guardians feel: The Lore of Destiny 2. Numerous players wish for the Grimoire Cards to return, or at least a similar system, that allows players to retrieve and look up information gathered in the game about the Destiny universe and its associated lore at any time.
The YouTuber and recognized lore expert My name is Byf, who gained fame through his profound lore videos on Destiny, has now developed a detailed concept for just such a system in cooperation with his friend and colleague NFSgaming.
This is “the Archive” – a kind of compendium for Destiny 2, which meaningfully expands the Grimoire system with the functions of the seal books and cleverly connects it with the collections (kiosks) from the predecessor, while also taking into account the existing lore systems from Destiny 2.
Thus, Byf addresses multiple weaknesses of the current Bungie title and offers some remarkable solutions for them. The community and Bungie itself have already taken notice of this concept and expressed consistently positive feedback.
What is it all about?
The lore should be told in the game – the dilemma of the missing Grimoire Cards
With regard to the story of Destiny 1, Bungie has not exactly shone. Story missions without clearly recognizable goals and sometimes without any connection led to long faces in 2014, and finding a red thread in the first part was often a fruitless endeavor. Disillusionment soon spread among the Guardians, followed by mockery and derision. Anyone wanting to dive deeper into the story and the lore in the background ultimately had no choice but to deal with the Grimoire Cards.
What are the Grimoire Cards?
These are a kind of collectibles for Destiny 1 that were meant to shed light on the story surrounding the Destiny universe and could be unlocked in various ways in the game – such as by killing enemies, reviving dead ghosts, or participating in certain activities.
The content of these cards, which mostly consisted of detailed lore texts, could only be viewed through Bungie’s website or the companion app, which caused even more frustration among large portions of the still fairly young community at the time.
While the Grimoire Cards offered interested players some very profound background knowledge and helped to close some narrative gaps and rectify a few logical errors, their poor accessibility and lack of integration in the game itself turned out to be no truly elegant solution for conveying the undoubtedly exciting and captivating lore of Destiny to the broader player base.
What has happened to the Grimoire?
With Destiny 2, Bungie has discarded this Grimoire system. The lore is now supposed to be told in the game world. The cards from the predecessor have been replaced with items that are distributed throughout the playable world and reveal details about the background story to players after a scan.
Additionally, players can now undertake so-called adventures at all locations. These are self-contained instances that function as mini-missions and provide players with deeper insights into the story surrounding Destiny 2.
Moreover, all exotic weapons and armor, as well as the entire raid and “Trials of the Nine” gear, received what are known as lore tabs. So now, when viewing these items, players have the option to display the associated lore by pressing a button.
Many players initially reacted positively to this new lore concept. Information about the background story was finally available directly in the game. External sources were no longer necessary. Hardly anyone seemed to truly miss the Grimoire Cards.
The problem with the lore system in Destiny 2
Only a small minority – the lore community – warned that the lore surrounding the Destiny universe could lose its depth if it completely abandoned the Grimoire system. And to a certain extent, they were right. For soon, the new concept revealed its first weaknesses.
Yes, the adventures play well and are mostly interestingly designed, the scannable objects often provide exciting background information about the story, characters, and locations surrounding Destiny 2. However, there is nowhere to read or watch all of this again. Not even on bungie.net, where at least the Grimoire Cards could be viewed.
There is no encyclopedia, no journal, no collection of objects and background information in the game that one has already found, to read or view again later when needed. There are also no indications of where exactly to search for these objects, should one wish to listen to the recordings again, because one might have been more occupied with shooting than listening the first time.
Ironically, linking complex storylines and better understanding new insights isn’t as easy anymore as it was in Destiny 1 – even though one had to rely on external means back then, while Bungie in the case of Destiny 2 itself resorts to external means like the comic “Fall of Osiris”, as it apparently isn’t possible to adequately address such a complex and extensive universe solely in-game.
Furthermore, participating in adventures and searching for scannable objects is not necessarily tied to the game’s progression system and can generally be completely ignored.
This leaves a lot of potential background knowledge hidden for many – knowledge that could still have been easily accessible via Grimoire Cards in the first part, even if one had rushed through the story.
Moreover, there are no worthwhile incentives for the broader player base, such as Grimoire points, progression rewards from a seal book, or special quests that encourage players to dive deeper into the game’s story than what was necessary during the initial playthrough of the campaign.
And precisely this issue is where My name is Byf and NFSgaming focus with their concept for the “Archive”.
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The Archive – more than just the return of the Grimoire
The core idea behind the Archive is to optimize various lore and tracking systems, such as the Grimoire Cards, the seal books, and the different collections from Destiny 1 and integrate them into the game as a unified construct, primarily to minimize or eliminate the following problems in Destiny 2:
Destiny’s universe and associated lore have always been phenomenal. However, the lore is often so poorly accessible that it simply does not reach the mass of potentially interested players.
There has never been a truly successful attempt to motivate players through gameplay mechanics or incentives to willingly delve into the lore and uncover and pursue the background story.
The world of Destiny almost overflows with lore, but the game fails to tell it in a suitable manner because of a lack of support. It’s like trying to view the Mona Lisa through a keyhole or listening to Mozart through a tin can.
The Archive:
The “Archive”, according to the idea, is located in the character menu, where it can be selected as a standalone tab. It is divided into 6 different categories, which are structured and function similarly to the various seal books from Destiny 1. The following categories are represented in the Archive and can be selected there:
Path of Enlightenment
Cutscenes
Grimoire
Codex
Arsenal
Collectibles
Path of Enlightenment
In “Path of Enlightenment”, this is an archive-specific progress and reward system – essentially a huge seal book from Destiny 1. By progressing in the archive, players can enhance their “Enlightenment Score” or “enlightenment points”.
The “Enlightenment Score” point system includes both the Grimoire points and milestones achieved in Destiny 1, as well as individual achievements and completion of certain milestones in Destiny 2, cumulatively calculating the amount of the mentioned enlightenment points.
This system is designed to honor Destiny veterans for their past deeds in Destiny 1 with unique cosmetic items like auras, class items, or emblems, while also offering new players who have just started with Destiny 2 lucrative incentives for endgame grinding – both in PvE and PvP. Reaching different milestones offers fixed thematic rewards such as unique armor sets, sparrows, ghost shells, shaders, weapons, etc.
The “Enlightenment Score” or the “Enlightenment system” represents a kind of Grimoire points, but with more significance and relation to the actual gameplay.
The “Path of Enlightenment” section includes, tracks, and rewards progress in the following areas: Story, Adventures, Collectibles, Crucible, Strikes, Faction Rally, Iron Banner, Trials of the Nine, Raids, and cumulatively calculated “Enlightenment Score” and milestones.
All of this also applies to any future content. The “Path of Enlightenment” section will be thematically expanded accordingly.
Cutscenes
Under the category “Cutscenes,” players can rewatch all previously unlocked cinematics in the game.
Grimoire
The category “Grimoire” contains all Grimoire Cards from Destiny 1. These do not need to be unlocked first; all knowledge is available from the start.
The Grimoire points are still counted and displayed if a player has played Destiny 1 or still does. However, these no longer influence the availability of the cards.
The cards will maintain the same categories and order as in Destiny 1.
This category is primarily aimed at Guardians who truly want to immerse themselves in the world of Destiny.
Codex
The area “Codex” essentially resembles an encyclopedia. Here, everything worth knowing from the Destiny universe – that is, from both games – can be quickly referenced.
The “Codex” also serves as a beginner’s guide for new players who want to gain a quick overview of the world of Destiny.
This category is not as profound and complex as the Grimoire. It is meant to be accessible, straightforward, brief, and self-explanatory.
The “Codex” is divided into 4 sections: People, Events, Places, and Objects.
If new players are asking, “Who was Rasputin again?”, “What is the sword of Crota?”, “Who or what is SIVA?” or “What small cubes is Osiris holding in the trailer?”, then the Codex is the perfect place to find answers to these questions.
Arsenal
Under “Arsenal”, all lore tabs from Destiny 2 are compiled and listed – sensibly ordered into different categories like exotic weapons, exotic armor, raid armor, trials armor, ghost shells, ships, sparrows, etc., with corresponding subcategories. This ensures that, for example, the lore for the Trials gear can be coherently traced under the category “Trials”.
The individual items with lore tabs and additional information will be unlocked as they are acquired in the game.
The “Arsenal” also serves as an overview of the items already obtained or still missing in the personal collection.
Collectibles
In the category “Collectibles”, all collectible items from Destiny 2 are to be listed. Nothing concrete is known yet, but it was recently confirmed by Chris Barrett that new collectible items are coming.
Furthermore, Byf suggests reintroducing the artifacts known from the predecessor. Unlike in Destiny 1, these should not carry stat boosts but function as collectibles that do not take up inventory space and are archived.
These artifacts could be found in the open world like dead ghosts, serve as milestone rewards, or be obtained as a reward for completing certain activities. All artifacts would have a lore tab and tell their own story. Primarily, however, they would be obtainable by completing lost sectors to further illuminate their background story. Additionally, collecting these artifacts would contribute to the “Enlightenment Score”.
What do you think about this? Would such a system benefit Destiny 2 and contribute to long-term motivation, or is the current system sufficient for you, and should Bungie focus on other things instead? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments.
This guest contribution comes from Sven.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
