In the coming days, you can try out the MMO-ARPG Wild Buster: Heroes of Titan for free. The early access game is available during Steam’s Free Weekend.
About a month ago, Wild Buster started in early access and gave players a glimpse of the sci-fi MMO.
In the coming days, you can find out for free if the game suits your taste.
Wild Buster in the Free Weekend on Steam
From January 26 to 28, 2018, you can try Wild Buster: Heroes of Titan’s content for free on Steam. If you enjoy the game, you can take advantage of the 33% discount offer on the Founder Edition, which now costs €15.40 instead of €22.99. Here’s the link to Wild Buster: Heroes of Titan on Store.Steampowered.com
In Wild Buster, you fight on the side of the Guardians or the Abandon. Then choose from 13 unique classes with which you want to dive into the fray. New to the lineup is the hero “Heating Fist”, who specializes in melee combat and lets his fists fly.
With the push of a button, you can change attack or defense values, allowing you to maximize the hero’s potential.
Hanzo from Overwatch might soon be reworked. The scatter arrow is particularly a thorn in the developers’ side.
Shortly after the release of the “Cosmetic Update” for Overwatch, Game Director Jeff Kaplan took the time to address the community again. In the latest “Developer Update”, Kaplan talks about issues that are important to the players and explains what the development team thinks about certain points. This time, it mainly focused on the balance of various heroes.
Mercy’s resurrection remains!
For almost a year, adjustments have been made to the healer Mercy. She is the most popular character in Overwatch, and at the same time, one of the hardest to balance. In particular, the resurrection has repeatedly caused problems. Part of the community assumes that this ability cannot be balanced at all and should simply be removed from the game.
The developers do not share this view and are confident that sooner or later they will find the right place for the resurrection. However, until that time comes, there will likely still be some PTR cycles.
Hanzo might lose his scatter arrow
Hanzo is particularly a special arrow in the eyes of the developers. The scatter arrow is currently hated by many players, as it does not feel good. For example, a Hanzo can kill Orisa or Reinhardt with just one shot by simply shooting the scatter arrow right at the feet of the respective character.
Blizzard is still unsure how to proceed. They are trying to balance the scatter arrow but also have several ideas on how to completely replace this ability if necessary. We will probably see more about this in one of the upcoming PTR versions.
Toxicity in Overwatch is diminishing
But even outside of the heroes, Blizzard has positive news.
Recommended editorial content
At this point you will find external content from YouTube that complements the article.
I consent to external content being displayed to me. Personal data can be transmitted to third party platforms.
Read more about our privacy policy.
There would slowly be an improvement regarding the toxicity in Overwatch. Since the introduction of the new reporting system, where players also receive feedback when their reports lead to sanctions, there has been 17% fewer incidents of offensive chat messages.
Additionally, players on average spend 20% more time reporting other players, which for Kaplan is a clear sign that trust in the reporting system is growing.
According to Kaplan, they are aware that 17% fewer incidents is not as significant a success as they would like, but at least the direction is correct.
In the space sandbox game Elite: Dangerous, the new expansion Beyond is open as beta to all PC players. One of the major innovations of Beyond allows you to have more fun and profit as a bounty hunter.
Meanwhile, the first chapter of the new Elite expansion Beyond is available for free as an open beta for all PC players. Players on PS4 and Xbox One unfortunately have to miss out on the beta. Beyond introduces some cool new features to the game, including:
New coop missions
Prettier planets and better trading
GalNet news as audio text
New ships for players and the Thargoid aliens
In addition, a revised crime system will make it harder for criminals and easier for bounty hunters.
Become the Boba Fett of Elite!
Bounty hunting is supposed to be more rewarding in Elite again. Therefore, the developers have revised the crime system. If you do bad things now, you generate a value on your criminal ship called “Heat”. This is associated with a bounty. The more Heat you have, the more money a bounty hunter will get if he catches you.
If you want to fly around undisturbed, you have to change ships and hide the “hot” vessel in the hangar. The “Heat” does not just go away by itself. So think carefully about which ship you continue your career as a pirate with.
At the same time, the new system should allow for more profit as a bounty hunter, as the “hot” ships promise decent rewards.
Computer-controlled hunt squads track the worst criminals
As an additional hurdle for criminals, there will also be squads of NPC ships that track particularly notorious criminals from system to system. This was something that happened in the early days of Elite: Dangerous. According to the developers, the AI bounty hunters should not be easily evaded by changing ships.
With Battle for Azeroth, Blizzard is pursuing new and old goals in WoW class design. Abilities will likely be rigorously trimmed – but old skills might also return.
The closed alpha of Battle for Azeroth, the next addon for World of Warcraft, has begun. To prepare players for the upcoming expansion – no matter how far in the future it may be – the developers are largely revealing their plans for the classes.
In a long blog post, Blizzard talked about how class design should look after Legion. After all, the artifact weapons will be gone, and usually, each new expansion brings a major overhaul of the classes.
At its core, the developers are pursuing three goals they want to achieve with Battle for Azeroth:
Strengthen the uniqueness of the classes
Refine the talent selection
Adjust classes to the absence of artifact weapons
Strengthen the uniqueness of the classes
Although Legion focused on the uniqueness of each class with its order halls and corresponding campaigns, many classes still bring the same set of abilities. For these “utility” abilities, such as stuns, sprints, teleports, or other useful skills, Blizzard wants to create stronger differences.
A good example is mass stuns. Nowadays, almost every group has 2-3 mass stuns, making these abilities no longer special, and the only challenge is to prevent overlaps in stuns.
The developers plan to remove some abilities from certain classes – mass stuns seem to be at the top of the problematic list. In return, there will be new abilities elsewhere or even the return of abilities that were removed from the game in previous expansions.
The fundamental idea is: Each class should be able to do something that no other class can do.
Refine the talent selection
Basically, the developers are quite satisfied with the talents, but there are areas that need adjustment. For instance, they want to try to eliminate choices between “single target” and “AoE” talents, as this creates a constant urge to change talents for each situation.
At the same time, they also want to avoid selection between three similar talents (like three AoE spells), where one must perform lengthy mathematical calculations to choose the best talent.
How exactly this balancing act will be achieved remains to be seen.
Adjust classes to the absence of artifact weapons
The last problem is likely to be the biggest one, as in Battle for Azeroth, classes must stand without their artifact weapons. In order for the classes not to feel suddenly incomplete, the developers are considering implementing one or two bonuses from each weapon into the core set of a class. However, the benchmark for this is high, and only a very few bonuses are to be transferred.
At the same time, attention is being paid to the rotations of the respective specializations. If classes have too large gaps in their rotations without their artifact abilities, the intention is to reduce cooldowns or meaningfully fill the gaps.
So far, most of this is still just gray theory. How well Blizzard actually manages to implement these goals will probably be evident in a few weeks. After all, the alpha of Battle for Azeroth has already begun.
Next week, Bungie will conduct three maintenance operations for Destiny 2. An update will go live, bringing some new features.
The next week starts with turbulence for Destiny 2: The announced update 1.1.2 will be deployed on January 30, with a series of maintenance tasks necessary before and after.
Here are the preliminary dates:
On Monday, January 29, a backend maintenance will take place. From 7 PM to 9 PM. No server downtime is expected, Bungie is just working behind the scenes on the server infrastructure.
On Tuesday, January 30, maintenance will occur with server downtime:
Preparation for the maintenance starts at 5 PM. You will not be able to log in.
At 6 PM the servers will go down. If you are still in the game now, you will be roughly kicked.
On Wednesday, January 31, another backend maintenance will take place. The servers will remain online. Maintenance will occur between 9 PM and 11 PM.
Keep in mind that during backend maintenance, the servers will remain online, but there may be server disruptions and connection drops. To avoid unnecessary frustration, it’s better to play something else during this time.
What changes with update 1.1.2?
Bungie released a preview of the patch notes for update 1.1.2. Therefore, this is not the complete list of changes, but merely a preview.
Legendary armor pieces will receive masterwork versions
The Flame Refractor perk now generates ammunition instead of pulling it from reserves
Base damage is increased
A bug is fixed where new characters created after “Curse of Osiris” do not receive the Flashpoint milestone
Players in hotspots, such as the Tower, will receive a notification when their post office mailbox is full
Heroic strike completions now have a higher chance of exotic loot
Mercury challenges are now available during adventures
A bug is fixed where “Curse of Osiris” strikes do not award clan engrams correctly when featured as “Nightfall”
A bug is fixed where challenges do not appear in the quickplay playlist
The dismantling timer for masterwork cores has been increased
These are all the changes that Bungie lists. However, there was already information via Twitter in the days before that in this update, the faulty waypoint at Ikora Rey as well as the missing shaders in weapons master engrams are to be fixed.
Conan Exiles is celebrating its first anniversary – at least in terms of Early Access. It’s a good reason to talk about one of the most discussed features of the game: the penis slider.
On January 31, 2017, Conan Exiles had its Early Access release on Steam and has since provided players with hours of fun, blood, and naked body parts. What garnered particular attention was the fact that characters can actually be nude and you can adjust the size of a male avatar’s genitalia.
PC Gamer recently spoke with director Joel Bylos about the open-world title in general and the penis slider in particular.
How did the slider come to be?
In the initial discussions, they at Funcom wondered, “Does it fit the setting? Should we really do it or is it too problematic?” After all, there was nothing sexual in the game, but nudity did fit the setting. Who had ever integrated penises into a game like this before?
“Let’s just do it!” was the well-considered conclusion.
It quickly became apparent that penises are a self-sustaining topic. No marketing was needed, which they hadn’t even considered beforehand. Players and the press jumped on the topic on their own.
The fact that such a “big thing” wasn’t advertised beforehand came as a surprise to most. For the team around Joel Bylos, it then turned into a big issue.
NSFW but Conan Exiles has an endowment slider. Big dong, little dong, big dong, little dong pic.twitter.com/MNgGsmlv32
While the ESRB (America’s Entertainment Software Rating Board) understood that it wasn’t a “porn game”, it did not simply allow the depiction of swinging genitalia.
The PEGI (Europe’s Pan European Game Information System) was more relaxed in these matters. Nudity didn’t bother them; rather, it was the violence that was the sticking point.
In the interview, Bylos reflected on the reactions and categorized them, how else could it be on this topic, by gender. Most women were pleased with the penis slider. After all, it reminded them of the much-loved breast customization options in many RPGs. The penis version was the long overdue balancing equivalent.
Men, on the other hand, saw less of the aspect of balancing justice. The fun was probably the priority for men. It was just okay and not as scandalous as feared.
“That someone would be upset was my only concern. But actually, no one was upset. Everything just worked smoothly,” Joel Bylos
Bylos’ team seemed to have a huge amount of fun with it and still do. During the brainstorming phase, they were only concerned about how Jenny would react. She was the character artist for Conan Exiles and would now be seeing a lot of penises.
But Jenny thought it was great too! For a week, her work screen was full of penises. For reference purposes, of course.
With Bless Mobile, the Korean developer studio ThinkFun is working on a mobile offshoot of the upcoming MMORPG Bless.
Although Bless has not yet been released, a mobile game has already been announced that will serve as a spin-off. This game is not being developed by Neowiz, as the team is still busy working on Bless, but by the Korean studio ThinkFun – which is even using a better engine than the “main game”.
Same World, Different Stories
Bless Mobile is based on the Unreal Engine 4, while Bless is still using Unreal Engine 3. Not much is known yet about the mobile game. Both games are set in the same world, but tell different stories and are also expected to differ significantly in gameplay.
This is already evident from the trailer that has been published (embedded at the end of the article). Bless Mobile looks more like a type of Diablo than an MMORPG. From an isometric perspective, you fight together with friends against hordes of enemies in fast-paced, action-packed battles. Graphically, it makes a pretty cool impression and somewhat resembles Lost Ark and Project TL (formerly Lineage Eternal).
Release in the West Still Unclear
Bless Mobile is set to launch in Korea in the second half of 2018. It is optimized for modern smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Apple’s iPhone 6S. As for a release in this country, the developers are still tight-lipped.
However, there are still many questions surrounding the game, including the gameplay mechanics, the story, the controls, and more. In the coming months, we will surely learn more about this mobile game, and perhaps also whether and when it will be released in Europe and the USA.
This weekend, a special event awaits you in Warframe! With double experience points, you can level up your Warframes, weapons, sentinels, and companions much faster.
In the coop shooter Warframe, there are tons of Warframes, rifles, pistols, swords, companion drones, and even quirky space cats and dogs! They all start at level 0 and need to be leveled up to level 30 for their best performance. This can be quite a grind for some items.
If you’re not keen on that or just want to level up faster, you can look forward to the weekend!
Double Affinity, Reputation, and Focus for Everyone!
From Friday, January 26, to Sunday, January 28, the Double Affinity Event will take place. Affinity is the experience points of a Warframe, which you use to level up your weapons, companions, and Warframes. If they are already at max level, you’ll receive Focus for your Operator instead (if you have a lens installed) or more reputation points for your syndicates.
The event starts this evening after the developer’s live stream. The Warframe Devstream starts today, January 26, 2018, at 8:00 PM on Twitch.
Quadruple Rewards with Boosters
If you want to get the most out of the event, you can grab an XP booster. Since the bonuses are cumulative, you’ll achieve a 4x boost for experience. The boosters are usually available in the cash shop. However, you can also get them as a daily login reward or loot in sortie missions. The optimal missions for farming Affinity are:
Generally defense missions
Hydron on the planet Sedna
All Tier 3 spy missions on the Kuva fortress.
If you execute the spy mission – ideally with a stealth frame like Ivara – perfectly, you can earn an impressive 48,000 Affinity points per mission. This way, you can level everything in no time or earn tons of Focus points!
Note: There is a Cap for Focus and Reputation!
Keep in mind that there is a cap for Focus and reputation points per day. No more than 250,000 Focus per day is possible. The maximum reputation per day is based on your Mastery Rank x 1,000 + 1,000. However, those who only want to level up equipment can do so until their fingers fall off.
At the end of January, Bungie will make some changes to the raid loot in Destiny 2. This is supposed to be finally exciting and rewarding.
On January 30, a larger update will be rolled out, bringing a significant change: A revision of the rewards in the raid and the raid activity.
According to Bungie, they have heard the feedback that while the raid experiences are quite good, something must definitely be done about the rewards in the raid.
It currently does not feel exciting when defeating bosses because the loot is boring. The tokens as rewards are not interesting enough, and there are too few rewards that make you want to really put in the effort.
Raid armor receives new raid perks
Now Bungie’s senior designer Daniel Auchenpaugh has spoken out, addressing these criticisms and promising what actions will be taken by the end of January.
One new feature is raid perks.
From January 30, raid armor pieceswill drop with special mod perks that only function in raid activities. These mods with special perks will be available on both new raid drops and on raid armor pieces already in your inventory.
The raid mods are reusable. If you swap the mod for another mod, it is retained. This swap process costs you 1 Calus token each time. By the way, all raid mods are Legendary.
The goal of these special raid perks is to increase the power of guardians in the raid and provide useful benefits for each encounter. Examples of raid perks:
On the Leviathan, your solar abilities deal 25% more damage (this applies to all elements)
When you use a super, your grenade is recharged
After a melee kill, you deal 20% more damage
Here you see such a mod with a raid perk:
In raid encounters, there is always a raid item
In addition to the raid perks, several other new features will be introduced. This should help to avoid frustration when you receive no loot after an encounter.
From now on, raid gear will not be tied to specific encounters anymore (with one exception, more on that later), instead, every raid encounter can have raid items as rewards. This means, no matter which raid encounter you master, you will always receive raid loot.
Additionally, there will be a chance for an exotic drop in every raid encounter! This is not an exotic engram, but a weapon or armor piece that you can use right away. This loot pool contains all exotics – except those tied to quests. And you can only receive exotics that your guardian class can equip.
If you play the prestige raid, you will now receive double rewards: The prestige rewards and the rewards from the standard raid. If you are good enough for prestige, Bungie says, then you do not need to go back to the standard raid to obtain its items.
Additionally: The raid vendor Benedict will sell you raid gear directly at the tower for legendary shards and Calus tokens. This raid gear offering rotates. If you need an item that Benedict currently has on offer, you can specifically buy it. However, with one special condition: You must have completed the prestige mode during the week to be able to directly purchase prestige armor. It is not possible, therefore, to earn the necessary tokens in the standard raid and then buy prestige gear without having mastered the prestige raid yourself.
A new raid ghost with special abilities
Bungie is introducing a special and rare item as a raid reward: A ghost shell called “Aspirant Shell”, which can only be obtained as a random drop from the final bosses Calus and Argos.
This ghost shell is meant to motivate passionate raiders to play the raid over and over again. There is a protection mechanism against bad luck: If you play the raid often, you will certainly receive the ghost sooner or later. Even if it takes several weeks, Bungie stated.
What can this ghost shell do?
The ghost shell has three special perks that are only active on the Leviathan:
Seeker of Brilliance: In every raid encounter, you have a chance to receive a lumina engram. Each time a lumina engram does not drop, the chance for the next encounter increases.
Seeker of Opulence: There is a 50% chance that – if you receive an exotic during a raid encounter – the exotic will be an exotic item you do not yet own. Otherwise, there is a 50% chance that it will be any exotic (it could be a new exotic or one you already own).
Seeker of Luck: Thanks to this perk, the ghost keeps track of how many encounters you have completed on the Leviathan.
Auchenpaugh adds at the end that he knows this won’t solve all issues, but he hopes this is a good start. He looks forward to receiving much feedback from the community about these changes next week.
Monster Hunter World has finally been released for Playstation 4 and Xbox One, and countless players are creating cool hunters in the editor. Therefore, we want to know: What does your hunter look like and how have you customized your cat?
The action RPG Monster Hunter World by Capcom impresses with a beautiful, vibrant world full of giant monsters. And with a really detailed character editor. And there’s even an extra editor just for your Palico cat companion! Therefore, the editor of Monster Hunter World made it into our selection of games with the best character editors.
Before we want to see your heroes and cats, we will show you here a few examples from our editorial team.
Leya and Ms Top-Ket
Our Monster Hunter expert and tester Leya has immortalized herself as the namesake avatar in the game. Her hunter is a rather wiry woman with a wild gray mane. The virtual Leya is accompanied by her Palico “Ms Top-Ket”.
The cute cat with different eye colors is black and white and looks a bit like a raccoon with color inversion on its face. However, that was not the reason for the fur pattern. Rather, the Palico is based on a real cat from Leya’s childhood.
Irie and Waffles
Our author Echo Mirage has a fondness for red hair. Her hunter therefore also has a fox-red mane. Additionally, there are multicolored eyes. One is green and the other is more amber-colored. A relic from her time in Final Fantasy XI, where she played a Blue Mage with Monster Eye.
Her Palico is called Waffles. Waffles is a pitch-black Palico, but hopefully won’t bring bad luck. The hunt for giant monsters like Nergigante or Kirin is already hard enough!
Show us your monster hunters!
But enough about the tough monster killers from our editorial team! We now want to know what heroes and Palicos you have created in the editor! Write it in the comments and upload your screenshots!
The Overwatch League is facing increasing allegations. Recently, it was accused of having racist tendencies. It involves controversial internet memes. What is the truth behind these allegations?
It started with the Pepe meme, which is unfortunately often associated with ideologies on the extreme right. Viewers displayed a banner featuring the well-known meme during a Dallas Fuel game.
The Pepe banner was confiscated, and the whole issue could have been peacefully buried. But that was just the beginning.
The “Ugandan Knuckles” Case
However, a whisper went through the OWL-affiliated internet when the first shirts and banners featuring the Ugandan Knuckles meme were spotted in the audience. Additionally, three teams used the meme in tweets: Dallas Fuel, San Francisco Shock, and the Los Angeles Valiant. These tweets have since been deleted.
It seems there was little awareness of the negative associations of both memes. Players from San Francisco Shock referenced the meme while the entire audience could witness it live.
Recommended editorial content
At this point you will find external content from Twitch that complements the article.
I consent to external content being displayed to me. Personal data can be transmitted to third party platforms.
Read more about our privacy policy.
By nature, Ugandan Knuckles does not appear racist at all. Created as a parody of the Sonic character Knuckles, it appeared well in Gregzilla’s video .
However, when connected and placed in the wrong context, it can take on a different side. When an African accent, and thus a specific ethnicity, is deliberately associated with harassment towards women, inappropriate behavior, and jokes about Ebola, then the otherwise harmless meme takes on an unpleasant nature. In particular, it gained popularity in this form within the game “VR Chat”, spilling over into other communities.
And those who condemn it and cannot respect any team that associates with it.
The fact is, the teams listen to the criticism. The tweets have since been deleted.
Dallas Fuel also expressed itself upon request to Kotaku: “We will no longer use the meme on our social media channels and will no longer engage with it.”
This once again shows the problem that the OWL is still young and that there seems to be a lack of awareness regarding the impact and reach in public. Some topics are very sensitive to handle on the internet, whether one stands behind the criticism or not.
Guddy states: “I believe many players and viewers do not realize what the use of the meme can express – even if one is against racism. It’s difficult to look into others’ heads and know what they associate with any meme. Therefore, I consider condemning individual teams at this point to be rather premature.”
14 hours of maintenance work on Fortnite were not well received by fans or developers. A database error caused gray hairs and angry curses. The good news is: Fortnite is back online. The bad news: There are still bugs.
From midday hours in our time until late at night, the servers of Fortnite were offline yesterday, on January 25th. What was initially planned as a routine maintenance to deploy a rather unspectacular patch turned into a maintenance marathon.
Routine maintenance turns into a nightmare
Praiseworthy: Epic Games tried to show transparency during the maintenance period. They tweeted updates and engaged with fans. Unfortunately, the big explanation post “What went wrong?” was published in their own forum – which quickly crashed. Therefore, the team turned to reddit to describe their issues.
Apparently, they had decided to address a database error during the maintenance, which led to catastrophe. Then they wanted to restore the database, which did not work. And thus a routine operation turned into a maintenance day for Fortnite.
These bugs plague update 2.30 / 1.38:
Since about midnight our time, the servers are back online, but they have already issued a list of bugs that still plague patch 2.30 / 1.38:
Some players get stuck in the crosshair when aiming with a weapon using iron sights
There are visual issues with the interface when trying to build
And there are problems when reloading
Epic says: They are aware of these bugs, they are addressing them and working on a fix. Hopefully, it will run smoother than the last patch.
Additionally, Epic has offered compensation. Details are not available at the moment.
For those wondering: What is actually in the patch we have been waiting for so long? Here is the answer:
On February 15, the Age of Wolves begins. Season 5 of the multiplayer action game For Honor focuses mainly on hero balancing, matchmaking, and performance.
One of the biggest points of criticism for For Honor has always been the quality of the network connection. This will change with Season 5, starting on February 15.
The infrastructure for dedicated servers was already tested in December and will soon provide you with a better gaming experience. However, the new servers will likely not be ready at the start of Season 5 but will be implemented during the season. A detailed schedule will be announced later.
Season 5 brings a lot of new features
Ubisoft explains the upcoming changes:
Dedicated Servers: The test in December was successful and enough data for the infrastructure of the dedicated servers was collected. The servers prevent re-synchronizations, session migrations, and NAT requirements and stabilize the connection on all platforms.
Hero Updates: The heroes Kensei, Conqueror, Highlander, Berserker, and Nobushi will receive updates to ensure better balancing. There will be new movesets, gear, and animations for Kensei and the Conqueror. Highlander, Berserker, and Nobushi will also be improved in balancing. The other classes will follow after Season 5.
New Training Features: New training modes will ensure that new players learn the basics of the game in the Initiate Trials and Warrior Trials modes as well as advanced techniques.
Arena Mode: Advanced heroes will face specific heroes to train moves and prepare for all possible combat situations.
This is also included
In addition, Season 5 brings an item that increases experience points in exchange for materials. Moreover, the 4v4 ranked mode will switch from “Dominion” to “Tribute.” A new reputation level cap will be introduced, and new gear advancements will be enabled.
In Destiny 2 you can now take part in PvP and win “legendary prizes”, such as a motorcycle: Rockstar has launched a Crucible challenge with a leaderboard.
At the launch of Destiny 2, there was a promo campaign between Activision and “Rockstar Energy Drink”. You could buy Rockstar cans, each containing a code that could be redeemed for in-game rewards as well as, with a bit of luck, some physical prizes like limited Destiny 2 editions or even motorcycles.
A new promotional campaign from Rockstar related to Destiny 2 is now running: The “Rockstar Energy Crucible Challenge”.
Recommended editorial content
At this point you will find external content from Twitter that complements the article.
I consent to external content being displayed to me. Personal data can be transmitted to third party platforms.
Read more about our privacy policy.
You play Crucible matches in Destiny 2 to earn points
The more points you have, the higher you rank on the leaderboard on the Rockstar page.
The 10 Guardians with the most points will receive prizes once the challenge is over
How do I earn points?
Once you are registered for the challenge, you will earn points after each Crucible match in Destiny 2:
+25 points for completing a competitive game
+25 points for completing a quick game
+1 point for each opponent you defeat (kill/assist)
Important: You must complete the PvP matches to earn points.
What prizes are there?
Only the top 10 Guardians on the leaderboard will receive rewards.
1st Place: The winner receives the best prize – a motorcycle in Destiny 2 and Rockstar style. It is a custom build of a Husqvarna 701 Enduro: The Top 3 receive PC hardware: each bundle includes an Aurora tower, a 25” gaming monitor, a Pro keyboard, and an elite mouse:The Top 10 will receive a collector’s edition of Destiny 2 with all its contents:
What else do I need to know about the Rockstar Challenge?
The challenge has been running since January 25.
The challenge ends on March 12 at 6 AM (our time). There is a countdown on the Rockstar page.
The challenge is also valid in Germany!
Top ten prizes are only available for Guardians from the USA, Canada, the UK, and Germany.
You must be 18 years or older.
Registration is through a valid Bungie.net account.
Registration, the leaderboard, and all other information and official rules can be found on the Rockstar page.
The start of the closed beta of Sea of Thieves did not go as planned. Now the developers are extending the test phase due to significant issues.
On January 24, the pirate adventure Sea of Thieves launched into closed beta. However, only for a portion of the players. Errors caused participants to be excluded right from the start, and some still are. This particularly affects the pre-orderers of the game.
The team apologizes for the errors and is postponing the end of the beta to a later date.
Beta end postponed, solution on the way
On the Sea of Thieves website, the developers comment on the current status of the beta. Many players receive a “Too early” message that prevents them from testing the closed beta. The solution is already in rollout. This means it will be gradually unlocked for different regions and affected accounts. However, according to the developers, this will take longer than planned.
To make up for the lost days when affected players could not play due to the “Too early” error, the closed beta will be extended by two days. This means the test phase will end on Wednesday, January 31, at 09:00.
The goal of the developers is that every player with access to the closed beta can participate.
The bonuses of the Collector’s Edition for the next expansion of World of Warcraft have been extracted from the game data. We reveal what awaits you.
The current update of World of Warcraft, Patch 7.3.5, has been live for several weeks now, yet data miners are still finding new hints and information in the depths of the game data. Three new achievements have been discovered that each distinguish the character as the owner of the Collector’s Edition of Battle for Azeroth.
Since Battle for Azeroth has a strong focus on the difference between Horde and Alliance, there are two different mounts.
Alliance players receive the Seabraid Stallion, evidently a horse with special adornments.
Horde players will have the Gilded Ravasaur, a mount raptor, presumably with the adornments of the Zandalari trolls.
Both factions also receive a small pet, Tottle – a Tortollan, a new turtle species.
Currently, in addition to the achievements, there are only the icons of these rewards.
Further rewards for pre-orderers?
It is not yet known if there will be more rewards, for example for pre-ordering. However, fans speculate that pre-orderers may already create a new character of the Allied Races ahead of time. They would then have enough time to level the corresponding character so that it is ready for the launch of Battle for Azeroth to move to Zandalar and Kul Tiras.
Blizzard recently launched the Alpha of Battle for Azeroth. It is only a matter of time before pre-orders for the next WoW expansion will be possible. Typically, the corresponding bonuses will be immediately available in the game.
So far, none of these rewards have fitting models in the game; they may either be encrypted or simply not yet included in the game.
The ranking system of Hearthstone is being fundamentally changed. We will tell you how ranked matches will proceed in the future.
When the developers of Hearthstone implemented the ladder a few years ago, it quickly received criticism. After players had to grind hard for their ranks over the course of a month, they fell back down significantly at the start of a new month. Those who previously had the rank “Legend” found themselves back at rank 16.
This meant little fun for both sides. The “Legend” had little fun pulling inexperienced newcomers, and the newcomer did not enjoy his crushing defeat.
In March 2018, the ladder system of Hearthstone will finally undergo a more comprehensive revision.
From now on, players will need five stars to advance for each rank in Hearthstone. Previously, depending on the rank, only two, three, or four stars were needed to progress. Therefore, the progress is equal across all ranks, and the promotion experience is more uniform.
Recommended editorial content
At this point you will find external content from YouTube that complements the article.
I consent to external content being displayed to me. Personal data can be transmitted to third party platforms.
Read more about our privacy policy.
Those who are now concerned that they will have to grind even more each month are mistaken. Because a second change should benefit all players: At the end of the season, you will only be demoted by four ranks. For example:
Players at rank 12 will land at rank 16
Players at rank 19 will land at rank 23
Players with the rank “Legend” will land at rank 4
This is intended to ensure that even at the start of a season, the professionals are already positioned high up, and the loss of rank is smaller.
With the change, the requirement to reach at least rank 20 to receive the monthly card back is also eliminated. Instead, you now need to win 5 games in ranked mode per month.
What do you think about the changes to the ranking system of Hearthstone? Has the ladder needed this overhaul for a long time? Or is this a clear case of “too little, too late”?
In Destiny 2 the Iron Banner returns! This will be the first Iron Banner in Season 2, where there will be a few changes and new loot.
Lord Saladin, the leader of the Iron Banner, has not been in the Tower of Destiny 2 for months. The reason: At the beginning of December, Season 2 started, which changed some accessibility requirements for activities like the Iron Banner. To ensure that all Guardians – including those without the “Curse of Osiris” DLC – can participate in the Iron Banner again and earn its loot, Bungie had to deploy several updates first.
Now, at the end of January 2018, nothing stands in the way of Lord Saladin’s return. Here are all the details about the upcoming Iron Banner.
The first Iron Banner in 2018 – Game mode, start, end, loot
Start of the Iron Banner: January 30 (Tuesday), expected around 9 PM (after maintenance)
End of the Iron Banner: February 6 (Tuesday) at 6 PM
Game mode: Control
In Season 2 you can earn the old weapons from Season 1 as well as additional new weapons, ornaments, and cosmetics.
Lord Saladin still has Iron Banner Engrams for you. In the first Iron Banner of Season 2, these three new weapons are available through the engrams:
Hand Cannon:
Scout Rifle:
Shotgun:
Additionally, these new items are available – a Sparrow, a Ghost Shell, and a badge: Furthermore, there will be an Iron Banner ship. Bungie has not revealed this yet; you will have to discover it in the game itself.
The Iron Banner items from Season 1 are also earned as random loot by opening the engrams at Lord Saladin.
By mastering the Iron Banner milestone, you will receive a badge that counts all your rank-ups in the Iron Banner.
If you are looking for a specific item from the Iron Banner, you can browse Lord Saladin’s inventory. In Season 2, he offers the 5 armor pieces as well as three weapons for direct purchase:
You can see in the picture that Lord Saladin also has armor ornaments available. You unlock these by completing specific challenges. Each Iron Banner armor piece has an ornament. Here they are: There is no limit to how many engrams you can open or how many tokens you can earn.
Things are moving forward in World of Warcraft! The alpha test of the new expansion Battle for Azeroth has begun.
Blizzard has fulfilled its promise from BlizzCon 2017 and has already launched the alpha of Battle for Azeroth early in 2018. Since last night (26.01.2018), the beta servers of World of Warcraft are live with version 8.0.1.
Currently, the alpha already includes many of the major contents of Battle for Azeroth, such as the new continents Zandalar and Kul Tiras, as well as plenty of new mounts, achievements, and new models for creatures, along with some updates to older models.
Anduin has quickly become a man.
Currently, dataminers are still sifting through the massive data piles of Battle for Azeroth. We have included some excerpts of the results from wowhead in this post. As soon as there are exciting discoveries, we will of course report on them.
Who can play Battle for Azeroth?
Logging into the beta servers is currently likely only possible for a few people. Normally, Blizzard holds a “Family&Friends Alpha,” where only developers and their closest relatives or friends have access to the game. In this state, the playable content is usually very limited and only one or two zones are already available.
Queen Azshara has not much in common with an elf anymore.
It will likely be some time before other chosen individuals, such as journalists, are allowed onto the servers. Also, registered players for the beta will, judging by previous expansions, have to wait several weeks for Blizzard to send out the first waves of invitations.
How to register for the Beta of Battle for Azeroth
The action RPG Monster Hunter World (PS4, Xbox One, PC) had its worldwide release on January 26, 2018, on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This review report delves into the pillars and gameplay experience of Monster Hunter World.
Monster Hunter is one of the most successful game series of all time in Japan. A total of 40 million copies have been sold worldwide, with nearly 80% of sales occurring in Japan.
At its core, it’s a loot grinder – you hunt monsters and loot their corpses.
It has a deep crafting system – from the corpses of the monsters, you create equipment to take down the next, more dangerous monster.
Strategic battles against these monsters – the monsters do not go down without a fight; they present challenging battles that always require new strategies.
A dynamic ecosystem – the fights do not take place in a vacuum; the environment and other monsters need to be taken into account during battles.
You’ll often strive to achieve something better. Whether it’s improving your skills, such as weapon handling, or simply acquiring new gear.
In Monster Hunter World, it’s all about reaching the next objective and the next big milestone. You’ve mastered the first tough opponent and can now craft great armor from it? Great! Just wait until you encounter the next Elder Dragon and get knocked down again. A new challenge, a new goal, a new hunting frenzy!
In Monster Hunter World, it’s all about the hunt. The hunt for monsters, the hunt for loot, and the hunt for better gear. That is simply the core of the game.
You take one quest after another, where you must hunt or capture monsters. If you want to get better gear, you often have to farm the same monster repeatedly. The creatures contain valuable loot derived from their body parts. Claws, teeth, or fur are transformed into weapons and gear.
Monster Hunter World excels at making this grind pure ecstasy. The quests come with a time limit of 50 minutes, and within this limit, the monsters must be located and defeated.
Similar games: You might also enjoy Monster Hunter World if …
– You enjoyed the adrenaline-pumping boss fights in hard mode in TERA and the crafting involved in weapons. – You liked the mysterious atmosphere of Horizon Zero Dawn, with its interactive ecosystem and the hunt for colossal foes. – You appreciated the mercilessness and combat system of Dark Souls.
The Nergigante is a highly dangerous dragon!
The monsters in Monster Hunter World are powerful and can knock hunters unconscious with a single attack. How robust your character is depends on the equipment you wear. Dodging the fierce monster attacks is paramount for every hunter. However, to evade skillfully, you must first learn the movement and attack patterns of the monsters. Each monster behaves differently and has its own strengths and weaknesses. This can also be compared to boss fights in MMORPGs.
It’s a dance of life and death that ends in a loot frenzy
It’s like a dangerous dance with colossal beasts: dodging repeatedly, waiting for the right moment, and striking mercilessly!
The adrenaline rush triggered by this dance of life and death is indescribable. The frustration when the creature still gets you, and the quest is considered failed can make you slam the controller with force against the wall. When the monster finally lies down, there’s often a feeling of pure euphoria, especially when you’ve failed against that monster multiple times already.
This makes grind and farming never feel monotonous or tedious. It’s this euphoria that leads you to seek out stronger monsters and new loot.
Recommended editorial content
At this point you will find external content from YouTube that complements the article.
I consent to external content being displayed to me. Personal data can be transmitted to third party platforms.
Read more about our privacy policy.
In this gameplay video, hunter versus Anjanath: Quite epic.
The intelligent nature gives Monster Hunter World this “sense of authenticity”
In Monster Hunter World, there’s also an intelligent ecosystem into which the monsters are perfectly integrated. This ecosystem makes the hunts dynamic.
When monsters start fighting one another, it never feels out of place. It can even occur that nature lends you a hand in your hunt. Cave systems sometimes collapse and rain down a massive load of stones on the monsters. This causes tremendous damage and can be a relief for you.
However, the ecosystem can also get in your way. If you step on a debilitating Frogsquawker, you may find yourself unable to move for a while and quickly become a snack for monsters.
The environment in Monster Hunter World is breathtaking. The graphics may not look as good as those in a Horizon: Zero Dawn, but there’s so much love for detail in nature and ecological interaction that it feels real and coherent, even though Monster Hunter World takes place in a fantasy universe.
The Paolumu lives in the Coral Highlands. This monster glides on the warm winds of its surroundings and feeds on the floating eggs.
The dreamy Coral Highlands is an absolute highlight
A special highlight is the Coral Highlands, which looks like a dreamy underwater world. The coral reef is located outdoors and offers some curiosities. Warm winds ascend from below and carry the eggs of coral plants away, facilitating the plant’s reproduction.
The new maps in Monster Hunter World are much more open than those in its predecessor.
The Coral Highlands draw their vital essence from the Ancient Forest, the first map of Monster Hunter World. Several monsters have adapted to the winds and many verticalities, so you will encounter many flying foes here.
In each individual map, the monsters are adapted to their surroundings. In the “Valley of Decay,” bones lie everywhere, carcasses, and toxic gas flows throughout. The monsters have long since adapted to the toxins, while you will slowly be poisoned and die just from inhaling the haze.
The nature and monsters have such a harmonious and logical interplay that it’s entirely conceivable that the world of Monster Hunter World could exist somewhere. These nuances contribute to the certain “sense of authenticity” and help you immerse yourself in the game.
In the Valley of Decay, a toxic mist swirls around. The creatures have adapted to it. Hunters who inhale the haze slowly die from suffocation.
The learning curve is steep, but mastering it feels great
The deep crafting system, the complex monster battles, and the dynamic environment create a steep learning curve.
To be able to take down certain monsters, you must consider what equipment is best suited for the task. For you only have your armor, your weapon, and your own skill to face the creatures:
For this, you need to understand what your equipment is capable of and how to handle it properly.
The weaknesses and strengths of the monsters are NOT presented to you on a silver platter. You actually need to study the creatures to learn how they attack and defend. Studying works through the use of scout flies and observing the monsters.
The 14 weapon classes each have different properties with an upgrade tree to improve them. The combinations and handling of the cumbersome weapons must also be mastered. Monster Hunter World offers a training room where you can practice with the weapons.
Items can be crafted by yourself. The intelligent use of items and the crafting of these is also an important component of success.
The character does not collect XP or unlock skills. You need to adapt and improve your gameplay to be successful.
It’s a wonderful feeling when you’ve finally understood a certain monster mechanic and know exactly when to dodge and strike. You will notice over the course of the game that you become more skilled with your weapons as well. The learning curve may be steep, but the reward is all the greater when you get that “I did it because I persevered!” feeling.
In Monster Hunter World, it’s part of the game to fall often. The art lies in getting back up and taking up the fight with renewed courage.
The story cleverly wraps around the gameplay
In Monster Hunter World, for the first time in the series, there is a clear line in the story campaign. However, as in previous installments, the story takes a backseat.
Without giving too much away: At the core of the story is the migration of the Elder Dragons to the New World. This disrupts the balance of nature, and nobody knows what this phenomenon is all about. As hunters, you help to explore the event and mitigate the dangers that arise.
Here, the Anjanath shows its truly furious side! Its nostrils are flared and fins are raised.
Capcom has managed to tell a story in Monster Hunter World that arouses curiosity and elicits some “wow!” effects through its presentation. However, the story should be understood more as a clever wrapping.
The story guides you through the core portion of the game and gradually familiarizes you with the mechanics. With each new chapter of the story, a new major monster is introduced. New gameplay mechanics are also usually associated with a new chapter of the story.
The intelligently integrated story makes you hardly realize that you are engaged with a tutorial for quite a while. Once you’ve completed the story, you should have understood most of the mechanics and gameplay.
Even though Monster Hunter World tells a nice story, it is relatively thin compared to other RPGs. In Monster Hunter World, action and gameplay are clearly in the foreground.
Film scenes are often used to introduce the new monsters and environments.
Monster Hunter World unfolds its full potential as a group
Monster Hunter World can be played in singleplayer or multiplayer. All quests can be completed alone or in a group of up to 4 players. Hunting in a group is especially fun and opens up new strategic opportunities:
One player can distract the monster while another sets up a trap.
The group can split into close and ranged combat or have someone who provides healing for the team.
In Monster Hunter World, you can jump on the monsters. This distracts them and makes them vulnerable! While one player rides the beast, the others have a clear shot to shoot and slice.
The dynamics that develop in a group in Monster Hunter World are indescribable. Everyone tries to warn each other. The internal shame can be huge when you deplete the group’s last life due to a silly mistake.
That makes the collective celebration even sweeter when the beast finally goes down, and everyone joyfully loots.
Monster Hunter World is at its best in a group, and the MMO feeling really comes alive in the tough boss fights.
Long-term motivation: How long does Monster Hunter World captivate?
The playing time in Monster Hunter World heavily depends on each player’s motivation.
How many hours of fun are offered?
Monster Hunter World is the first game in the franchise to provide a clear and straightforward story quest line. The main story can be completed in under 100 hours, if you strictly follow it. However, there’s also the opportunity to complete side quests in between. These are usually practical for farming a few more materials and expanding your equipment. Side quests typically involve slaying or capturing monsters or gathering resources.
How long the main story takes ultimately depends on how quickly you manage to take down the individual boss monsters. Each main quest has a timer of 50 minutes. So if you repeatedly fail against a monster, it can take several hours as you have to restart the quest from the beginning each time.
It may also happen that you have to return to a smaller boss monster to loot and forge a stronger armor from it.
What is there to do after the story?
After the main story, it may and will likely continue for many players. Long-term motivations in Monster Hunter World may include:
Collecting all armor sets and weapons and upgrading them accordingly.
Ranking up as a hunter to unlock new challenges.
Seeking new challenges for yourself.
Completing all side quests.
There are players who have spent more than 1000 hours on these mentioned activities in the earlier “Monster Hunter” titles. Others are satisfied after completing the main quests.
Capcom will also release free expansions that will include new monsters. These could be moments when the group comes together again and says, “Hey, there’s a new monster coming this weekend. Shall we go hunting again?”
However, Monster Hunter World will only deliver new content for a limited time! This action RPG is not a service game like The Elder Scrolls Online. Eventually, Capcom will stop providing Monster Hunter World with new content and will work on a new main installment instead.
The Anjanath always lurks for the next prey. It wants to be the ruler of the Ancient Forest.
How much variety does Monster Hunter World offer?
In Monster Hunter World, you will take on one quest after another and hunt monsters – that’s the fundamental principle of the game.
The variety lies in the dynamic ecosystem. The monsters are intelligently designed and will behave a little differently in each fight. Sometimes, other monsters unexpectedly come into play that also want a piece of your loot. In such cases, you often need to actively and cleverly seek out a new strategy.
Palicos are the unsung stars of Monster Hunter: World. They are adorable companions and capable of much!
The various monster species differ significantly from one another. No fight is the same when you have a new species in front of you.
Just like with long-term motivation, the variety lies within the player themselves. Because you always have the opportunity to try new things and approach the fights differently.
Monster Hunter World can offer a lot of variety. Trying out new weapons to slay monsters can be an incentive here.
Is Monster Hunter World a game for me?
Monster Hunter World is suitable for players seeking challenges and willing to delve into cumbersome systems.
These advantages of Monster Hunter World:
Epic and action-packed fights with intelligent monsters
The special effects and animations of the monsters are impressive
A realistic ecosystem that helps immerse you in the game
Diverse fights with over 20 large boss monsters
The maps are picturesque, well-composed musically, and designed with great attention to detail
You can interact with the entire environment
A deep and extensive crafting system
A strong variety in equipment and weapons, with ranged and melee combat
A well-executed story with many beautiful cutscenes
The Palico is an optional companion that can be left at the base
An integrated and well-crafted tutorial within the story
Free expansions with new monsters after release
Co-op with up to 4 players on quests
Guilds with up to 50 members to form squads
These disadvantages of Monster Hunter World:
Despite “Quality of Life” improvements compared to previous titles, the menu and item management is still cumbersome and not immediately intuitive
The small text of the tutorials is sometimes difficult to read on the TV
For an RPG, the story is relatively thin
Forming a group is cumbersome and not very intuitive
The feedback from hits could be better: The impact of your attacks is mostly felt only through damage numbers. Severed limbs and visible injuries on monsters make up for it somewhat.
The mysterious Coral Highlands is a real highlight.
Monster Hunter World is worth it for you if …
you enjoy looting and grinding
have no problem getting used to a cumbersome menu navigation and controls
find joy in an extensive crafting system
enjoy challenging and action-packed fights that can be lengthy
After testing Monster Hunter World, I, Leya Jankowski, have drawn a conclusion. Robert Albrecht also played the action RPG as a newcomer to the series. He was also asked to provide a conclusion from the perspective of a beginner.
“Monster Hunter World is not a quick brawl for between”
Robert has never played a Monster Hunter title before World. He has also written a conclusion as a newcomer.
Robert Albrecht says: If someone is looking for a quick brawl for between, they won’t find happiness with Monster Hunter World. The attacks of the monsters are unique and must be observed again and again. The right choice of tactics and equipment requires perseverance and creativity. Those who like to plan their fights and want to experiment with the many tools that the game provides will spend many enjoyable hours.
Just the weapon system offers dozens of different playstyles. Each weapon has its own advantages and disadvantages, combos, and moves. Mastering these grants the battles an aesthetic that I have seen in few other games. The game world looks fantastic as well, being colorful and versatile. I was negatively surprised by the item management, which is complicated and assigned to various button commands. The loading times were sometimes too lengthy for my liking.
If this doesn’t deter you, especially if you want to hunt with friends, you can look forward to dozens of hours of fun. Because let’s be honest, monster slaying in a group is the most fun!
[mashshare shares=”false”]
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
