Sandbox Interactive, the German development studio behind the MMORPG Albion Online, has announced some layoffs. They want to return to the team size they had before the beta, which means almost halving the studio.
The team at Albion Online wants to return to the number of employees they had before the beta. During the testing phase and especially at launch, new employees were hired to ensure everything ran as smoothly as possible. Now, these employees are no longer needed.
Fewer employees needed
The developers explain: “Albion Online was successfully launched in 2017. To be ready for the release and during the beta tests, we almost doubled the team to more than 50 people. Now that we have completed the release, we are reducing the team size again to reach about the level we had before the beta. 31 employees are now supported by talented freelancers and are working to regularly improve and expand the game.”
Albion Online is still being developed
Furthermore, it says: “This goes hand in hand with our vision to focus on the core vision of the game: With the release of the Kay update last December, we were able to stabilize our player base at a high level, and it is steadily growing. The next update, Lancelot, will continue this path and is expected to be released in March. Further updates are already in planning.”
Apparently, the developers of Albion Online are satisfied with the current state of the game.
In collaboration with Studio Hi-Rez, we are giving away a Sennheiser headset and high-quality prizes for the hero shooter Paladins and the action MOBA SMITE. These include founder packages that unlock all champions and gods and special skins.
The giveaway was well received by you and your interest in Paladins: Battlegrounds was great. Therefore, we decided to hold another giveaway. Here you can win high-quality prizes for the games Paladins, SMITE, and SMITE Tactics: Hand of the Gods. Additionally, we are giving away aheadset worth 140 euros:The Sennheiser GSP-350
These are the prizes you can win
You can grab the following physical and digital prizes by participating in the giveaway.
Paladins Founder Package: Includes all current and future champions, 10 radiant chests, all standard champion voice packs, an exclusive beta skin and an exclusive mount skin
Paladins Convention Skin
SMITE Ultimate God Package: Unlocks all current and future gods in SMITE.
SMITE Convention Skin
“Hand of the Gods” Founder Package: Includes a massive stack of cards, the limited founder avatar, a limited card back, and exclusive “Hand of the Gods” bonus items for SMITE
Hand of the Gods Convention Skin
SMITE Mini-Figures Set: The figures come in a set of three, including Anubis, Ymir, and Neith.
lightning-fast muting by raising the microphone arm
an intuitive volume control on the right ear cup
To participate in this giveaway, you only need to perform one of the actions specified in the window. Those who perform multiple actions increase their chances. However, only one prize can be drawn per participant. The winners will be randomly selected after the submission deadline and will be contacted via the provided email within a few days to send the prizes. The submission deadline is on Monday, January 22, 2018, at 09:00 AM.
Paladins is a hero shooter in which you compete in teams of 5 players against each other. In various game modes, you must seize control of the battlefield. Each champion has four skills to fight with. The special feature of Paladins is a card system that allows the skills of the champs to be customized individually. This gives the hero shooter strong MOBA elements. What is Paladins? Here you will find information for new players.
SMITEis an action MOBA in which you compete against each other with different gods and mythological figures. The game is played in third-person, making SMITE much more dynamic than other MOBAs like LoL or Dota. The test of Smite is here.
Hand of the Gods is a turn-based and strategic card game in which you take on the role of a SMITE god. As the god of a particular pantheon, you command your subordinate gods and summon them onto a chessboard. This adds a deeper, strategic level to the card game, as the positioning of the gods also determines victory and defeat. Here you can find a play report on the beta of Hand of the Gods.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
At the end of January, five important updates and adjustments will be rolled out in Destiny 2. Here is an overview of them.
About a week ago, game director Christopher Barrett presented a roadmap for 2018. In it, he mentioned some updates and endgame adjustments and provided approximate timelines for when players can expect them.
The first delivery of new content has already received a specific release date: January 30th. – that is a Tuesday. More detailed information is now available about what Guardians can expect on that day.
These updates and adjustments are coming on January 30th.
Masterwork Armor
The masterworks will be expanded to armor.
“Masterworks” were introduced in December with the legendary weapons. They represent better and rarer variants that grant additional bonuses. Those who want to optimize their Guardian in the endgame can grind for them. The masterworks have been well received in the community so far.
The new masterwork armor pieces provide additional damage reduction when you have a super active. This means you can withstand more damage. Additionally, you can reroll the armor stat type. Existing armor pieces can be upgraded to masterworks with masterwork cores.
Later, in the fall of 2018, masterwork exotics are also expected to arrive.
Rework of Raid Rewards
The raid rewards are set to become unique and interesting starting January 30th. Therefore, they will receive new mods with raid-specific perks. What these will look like is not yet known.
Additionally, raid items are expected to drop during every major encounter in the raid, and the raid vendor in the Tower (Benedict) will sell raid weapons and raid armor pieces from the standard raid and the world-eater raid directly. You will need raid tokens and legendary shards for this.
Additionally, there will be a chance with the final bosses (Calus and Argos) to drop a new ghost with raid-specific perks.
It is expected that the prestige version of the world-eater raid will only go live after the raid rewards have been reworked. Many Guardians have been wondering for weeks what has been happening with the prestige raid. Bungie remains silent on this matter.
The waypoint at Ikora will be fixed
For weeks, it has been indicated in the Tower that Ikora Rey has a quest for you. However, this is not the case, yet a waypoint is constantly blinking over her incorrectly. This is annoying and has been criticized by players countless times.
The annoying waypoint is expected to be fixed on January 30th.
The Prometheus Lens will be adjusted
With the launch of Curse of Osiris, the Prometheus Lens caused a stir: this fusion rifle was completely overpowered in PvP. Bungie was only able to apply a fix a week later – Guardians were able to enjoy the OP weapon for several days. The fitting capstone was that Xur brought the Prometheus Lens that weekend, allowing every Guardian to purchase the weapon. For a few days, the Crucible was a pure laser spectacle.
Then Bungie delivered an emergency fix that weakened the Prometheus Lens too much. They promised that a patch would come in January to bring the lens back into balance.
Recently, community manager Cozmo confirmed in the reddit forum: Bungie has not forgotten the Prometheus Lens. An adjustment is expected to be rolled out on January 30th.
Shaders with Gunsmith Engrams
Furthermore, a fix for an issue with the Gunsmith Engrams will arrive on January 30th. Currently, the engrams do not drop shaders. Bungie has now announced that they will fix the issue on January 30th as well:
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It is no secret that Final Fantasy XIV is a huge toy box for fans of the Final Fantasy series. The new Omega: Sigmascape raid from patch 4.2 “Rise of a New Sun” is a love letter to Final Fantasy VI with its boss fights. Fans are particularly excited about the villain Kefka.
The development team has also responded to the criticism from the raiding community regarding the difficulty of the epic raids.
Here is the new trailer for Final Fantasy XIV 4.2 in German
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For a long time, Square Enix kept all information about Sigmascape under wraps, resulting in the producer’s letter stream chat exploding as soon as the first sounds of the trailer played.
The fans of the series immediately knew that it was music from Final Fantasy VI.
The strongest reactions came in the final seconds of the trailer when a face emerged from the darkness.
This is Kefka, the final boss of the cult RPG Final Fantasy VI and one of the series’ most popular villains.
The producer Naoki Yoshida did not provide further details regarding Kefka’s exact role in the Omega raid, but promised that the final fight of Sigmascape will be “something truly special.”
According to Yoshida, the development team listened to feedback from the Western community, which had been hoping for Final Fantasy VI.
Blast from the past
The Phantom Train will be the first of the four different bosses of the raid. During the stream demonstration, Yoshida stated that the railings in the open combat arena of the Phantom Train will behave exactly like in the fight against Leviathan:
In the normal mode of Sigmascape, the railings remain and protect players from falling.
In the epic version, however, they are destroyed, and players must be careful not to fall off the platform.
The second fight of Sigmascape is already known. In the trailer, one can see a woman wrapped in fog emerging from a painting. This is the boss “Chadarnook” from FFVI.
The special feature of this boss is that players will receive a special ability called “Chocobo Paintbrush: Black” during the fight.
The producer did not reveal exactly what its function is, but during the demonstration, one could see a large inkblot forming around his character for a short time.
Information on the difficulty and the launch of Omega
Despite requests from the raiding community, the development team decided to launch both modes of Sigmascape directly on patch day. The reason for this, according to Yoshida, is that players should tackle the epic mode without the additional boost from the new gear.
The balance of the raid is based on the values of the old gear and would thus be distorted if players had two weeks to gear up. The synthesis and melding of the new items with materia would have made players too powerful.
To unlock the epic mode of Sigma, this time neither must players complete the main story quests nor master the normal version of the raid. It’s enough to have completed the previous raid Delta (normal) to enter Sigma (epic).
With such hype, expectations from the community are accordingly high, and the race for the world-first kill will begin as soon as the servers go online.
Yoshida emphasized that there will be no early start, even if server maintenance is completed before the scheduled time.
The raid is expected to go live with patch 4.2 on January 30th at 10 AM.
Square Enix also plans to put an end to the housing issue of Final Fantasy XIV with patch 4.2. Read more about it in our article:
A new cheating behavior has caught the developers’ attention. Now there are bans and countermeasures to make PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) fairer.
Cheaters are a problem in many competitive online games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. We regularly read in our articles about players complaining about cheaters.
The developers are aware of the issues with cheaters. While checking player data, they have recently encountered a new cheating pattern – and they are kicking all affected users out.
Undetected? Not anymore!
The new cheating pattern was noticed by the developers only recently. Afterward, gameplay data from over 10 million players was checked. Successfully!
During this process, they came across over 100,000 individual cases where these cheats were used. All cheaters will now be kicked out of the game at once.
According to the developers, this is just one of the additional measures running alongside the base detection system. Such gameplay checks will now be conducted more frequently. “Even if it means our anti-cheat team has to manually sift through hundreds of billions of data logs.”
A new method will also be introduced soon that aims to detect and ban even more cheaters.
Killcam unintentionally turns into Cheat-Cam
In their recent statements regarding PUBG cheaters, the developers advised using the killcam to identify the cheaters. After all, it shows who is cheating. However, the plan didn’t quite work out.
Due to a bug in the replay and killcam system, the actions of other players in the replay appear as if they are cheating. However, they often are not.
A popular PUBG cheat disables recoil and spread on weapons. With the Adventure Full-Auto, you can thus continuously fire at the same spot. The bug in the replay system makes it look exactly like this cheat for other players. This further adds to the confusion, as cheaters are difficult to distinguish from “normal” players. The developers are already working on a solution to this problem.
The developers of the online action RPG Dauntless have spoken about what is planned next for the game after the PAX South gaming convention.
With Monster Hunter World, Dauntless faces a strong competitor that is currently attracting more attention. However, the developers of Dauntless are not impressed by this and are planning for the current year 2018. This will, for example, see the launch of the open beta of Dauntless.
This is how development continues
Based on the feedback from previous testers and what was learned from the presentation at PAX South, the team is currently working on the following things:
Ways to gain more influence over the game world and the story
More exciting events that are more integrated into the game’s lore
Beards for the characters
Crafting should allow for more effective and a greater number of items in a shorter time
The tutorial should be further improved to provide a good entry point for newcomers
Even more activities for players that make exploring the islands and hunting monsters more exciting
Optimizations to the War Pike
More cells and more options to use them, as well as more flexibility in using cells for weapons
Easier ways to find groups and hunt together with friends
Improvements to the chat and the general user interface
Hunting multiple Behemoths simultaneously
Optimizations to bleeding damage to make the combat more interesting
Open Beta coming
The developers of the online action RPG Dauntless have quite a bit planned for the near future. They also state that the open beta is still planned for 2018.
A Guild Wars fan lost his house and belongings in a fire. By chance, the developer of Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet, caught wind of it and helped with a generous donation.
Just before Christmas 2017, a serious accident occurred in the home of a Guild Wars player. A defective dryer caused a fire in which the player’s house and that of her parents was quickly consumed by flames.
The family lost almost everything. Even the pets perished in the fire.
After the firefighting operations, the player searched the rubble of her home for usable items. There she found a game from her collection that had emerged unscathed from the inferno: The Collector’s Edition of Nightfall, an expansion for Guild Wars 1.
Developers see post and help
A video of the intact Nightfall edition finding was posted by the player on Twitter, where the developers at ArenaNet became aware of it. They decided to help the player and asked her for an address to send her “a t-shirt”.
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A package arrived with all parts of Guild Wars, all expansions in special editions, and a lot of other Guild Wars swag. Most of the items were signed by all the employees of the studio.
Money is coming too…
Well, a bunch of gaming stuff is surely comforting after such a disaster, but the family had of course other concerns. They needed to quickly find shelter and advance rent.
But ArenaNet was there as well: By now, there was a call for donations on the internet to raise $5,000 for the victims of the fire disaster.
ArenaNet contributed the lion’s share of over $3,500 as well. The player and her family were extremely happy about this. She wants to keep the new Guild Wars editions forever. However, in a fireproof container, as she notes on Reddit.
The hero shooter Paladins (PS4, Xbox, PC) is getting a battle royale mode where 100 players compete against each other in teams. It’s basically: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) meets Overwatch – and it’s free. We explain what Paladins: Battlegrounds is all about and how the gameplay works.
At the HiRez Expo 2018, Hi-Rez Studios announced a battle royale mode for their hero shooter Paladins. The mode is called Paladins: Battlegrounds and, just like Paladins itself, is free.
Paladins: Battlegrounds will be the first battle royale mode for hero shooters. The mode is intended to offer a mix of skill-based MOBA and survival gameplay.
Paladins: Battlegrounds is a mode that combines hero shooter and battle royale
Paladins: Battlegrounds is a mode for the free MOBA shooter Paladins from Hi-Rez Studios. It is not a standalone game, but an extension of Paladins.
Paladins distinguishes itself among hero shooters by having a deck system that allows the skills of the heroes to be individually customized. The cards influence aspects like range, damage, or cooldowns. This very card system will also play an important role in Paladins: Battlegrounds.
Paladins: Battlegrounds has been designed so that players must work closely together in teams and fulfill their roles. Supports should do their best to keep tank players alive. Tanks protect the rest of the team and DPS players unleash a hail of bullets. Flankers always look for individual targets they can quickly eliminate.
This is how a round of Paladins: Battlegrounds is structured – step by step explained
In Paladins: Battlegrounds, players fight for survival and need to collect loot that makes their heroes stronger. Here’s how a round in the Paladins battle royale mode looks:
At the beginning, teams of 2-4 members are formed. A total of 100 players will compete against each other in a round.
Each player chooses their hero from 8 random champions. All 100 players in a match have the same 8 heroes to choose from. The heroes always include 2 champions of each role: 2 x damage, 2 x support, 2 x flankers, 2 x tank.
Players now land on a huge map that is about 300 times larger than the typical maps in Paladins.
Then, everyone rides on a mount to explore the world. Players can dismount and remount at any time to move quickly from point A to point B.
At more than four dozen outposts, players can look for equipment and keep an eye out for zeppelins that drop legendary gear.
Once the fog appears, it’s all or nothing, as it is deadly and continuously shrinks the map’s radius. The last surviving team wins.
If eliminated, players still have a chance to remain in the race. If health points fall to 0, players turn into chickens and can be transformed back by a teammate.
The special thing: The heroes have access to their 4 abilities. The ultimate skill, the strongest one, charges over the match and will only be available to the last survivors.
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What impact does the equipment have and what loot is there?
The huge map is divided into various little towns that comprise the “normal” maps in Paladins. Here, players will find loot boxes filled with extremely powerful items.
This equipment consists of armor that provides benefits like more health or damage. These are always strong boosts for the champions! Those who want to win must get to these loot boxes. Players who hide forever and have nothing will be killed by others with items as soon as the fog shrinks the map’s radius.
Additionally, the card system comes to Paladins: Battlegrounds. HiRez announced that they are developing special cards for the champions that can balance weaknesses or strengths in the battle royale mode.
The cards are selected and equipped before the match. There could be cards that give a quick leap forward for champions that are slow and deal most damage at close range. How the cards will be integrated into Paladins: Battlegrounds remains to be seen.
The gameplay of a hero shooter brings a new component to battle royale
Normally, in a battle royale game, everyone is looking for the best weapon and armor.
Given that Paladins: Battlegrounds primarily originated from a hero shooter, the situation here looks a little different. All Paladins champions have a unique weapon that is fixed to them and cannot be changed. The cat flanker Maeve has her daggers and the action sniper Strix wanders around with his sniper.
Furthermore, the abilities of the heroes, of which everyone has access to 4. The fourth ability is particularly strong and is referred to as the ultimate. The ultimate charges slowly while playing. Only the players who make it to the last will be able to use it.
Every player must consider how to utilize the skills of the champs for survival. The tank lady Inara has a skill to summon a stone wall. This can be used to protect herself from enemies or to block their path so that confrontation is impossible. Lady Lian possesses skills with auto-aim and can dodge particularly quickly and easily.
So, in Paladins: Battlegrounds, it’s about cleverly utilizing the heroes and upgrading them with strong items. Their weapons and skills always remain the same.
Todd Harris: “We saw surprisingly much variety in the roles. We allow in Battlegrounds that everyone on the team can play the same hero. We were concerned that if a sniper like Kinessa was available, everyone would just choose the sniper because of the high range. But that wasn’t the case.
We also observed that the most successful teams were the ones that stayed together and in which everyone fulfilled their role. The supports who stayed with their team also had the tendency to heal their group.”
When is the release of Paladins: Battlegrounds on PC, Xbox One, and PS4?
HiRez Studio announced that the release of Paladins: Battlegrounds on PC will be no later than March 2018. Players on PS4 and Xbox One will have to wait a bit longer.
According to Harris, they want to collect feedback from PC players before the battle royale mode comes to consoles. It is easier to implement on PC for technical reasons.
Gameplay video of Paladins: Battlegrounds from the HiRez Expo 2018
At the fan festival HiRez Expo 2018, an early alpha version of the battle royale mode was playable. First gameplay footage emerged here:
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The Diablo-like MMO Devilian is closing its doors, the servers will go offline in March – the strange thing is: Somehow the mega-hit PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is to blame.
We reported in December 2017 that players of Devilian were worried that their MMO could fall by the wayside. And their fears have now been confirmed.
The western publisher of the game, Trion Worlds, announces: The servers of Devilian will close already on March 5th. This is likely to be the first closure of an MMO announced in 2018.
This is what Trion Worlds and Bluehole Ginno have agreed upon, they state.
What does PUBG have to do with Devilian?
The studio behind Devilian, Bluehole Ginno, only had Devilian and Devilian Mobile in development. Devilian was the only brand of the studio.
Devilian is an action MMORPG, with the special gimmick that the heroes of the game also had a devil form: They can transform into this Devilian form as their Ultimate.
But Devilian wasn’t really a success and was quickly discontinued in Korea. The mobile version also faded away eventually. Only the western version of Devilian remained, which Trion Worlds has operated for Europe and North America since December 2015.
Meanwhile, the parent company of Bluehole Ginno, Bluehole, hit the jackpot with the shooter PUBG in 2017. They wanted to operate the game under their own brand, the PUBG Corporation. This PUBG Corporation has not been newly established by Bluehole, instead, they renamed and restructured “Bluehole Ginno”.
The western version of Devilian was essentially the leftover of the PUBG Corporation from the days of Bluehole Ginno.
By that time, they had already lost interest in Devilian, support ran out, while Trion Worlds was left in limbo. They probably simply had no more contact person in Korea.
Therefore, the closure is now justified.
How is the end of Devilian going?
The servers will remain open until March 5th at 9:00 PM our time, and players will be showered with bonus EXP, gold, and gems. Credits and regular player passes can no longer be purchased.
But there are ways for active players to receive welcome packages in other games from Trion Worlds. There are welcome packages for:
FoxNext Games is set to release an online shooter in the Alien universe in the future. This could become a competitor to Destiny.
Since 2017, FoxNext Games has been its own division of the large media company 21st Century Fox, responsible for the “Video Games” sector. Until now, FoxNext’s focus has been on mobile games, but now they aim to establish themselves on PC and consoles as well.
To this end, they acquired Cold Iron Studios, which is currently working on a science fiction online shooter set in the universe of the well-known Alien film series.
The Cold Iron Studios was founded in 2015 by industry veterans such as Craig Zinkievich, Shannon Posniewski, and Matt Highison. According to their own website, the developers bring decades of experience with MMOs and action titles, having previously been involved in games like Neverwinter, BioShock Infinite, and City of Heroes.
Together with these experienced developers, FoxNext Games aims to release AAA titles for consoles and PC. According to FoxNext President Aaron Loeb, they are looking forward to the collaboration, as Cold Iron Studios brings fantastic talent for design and development. Together, they want to create a cross-platform and cross-genre portfolio of great games.
Destiny Concept
What Kind of Online Shooter Will This Be?
Not much is known about the new shooter yet:
According to Cold Iron Studios, they are currently working on a game for next-gen consoles and PC. To do this, they are hiring new people.
It is a science fiction online shooter in the Alien universe.
According to Loeb, they are creating an action-packed, persistent world that is full of the mysteries of the Alien universe.
According to Zinkievich, the developers’ past experience in creating online worlds and taking existing franchises to the next level of interactive entertainment fits perfectly with the new tasks of the studio. They can’t wait to share more information soon.
Until the official reveal of this online shooter, there is much room for speculation. It is suspected that they are working on an “MMO shooter,” meaning an online shooter with a persistent world that evolves continuously and is supplied with new content. Destiny (2) and The Division already use this game principle, and upcoming shooters like Anthem also aim to follow this “Games as a Service” path.
Since the new game will be a sci-fi shooter and you will presumably get to shoot nasty aliens in the face, some parallels to Destiny are certainly possible. However, there is still too little information available about FoxNext’s game to declare it the next competitor to Destiny directly. We will definitely keep an eye on this game.
This year is set to be “legendary” for Pokémon GO, as announced by The Pokémon Company International.
While we have already been able to battle and catch a few legendary monsters in Pokémon GO, the year 2018 is expected to offer even more.
A Legendary Pokémon Year 2018 Awaits
In a press release, The Pokémon Company International announced that fans will celebrate a legendary Pokémon year in 2018. This includes video game distribution events, new Pokémon trading card game products, updates to mobile games, and more offerings in the near future.
Throughout this year, some of the most coveted Pokémon will be celebrated. From February to November, there will be surprises across different parts of the franchise.
Legendary Pokémon are particularly rare and powerful. In Pokémon GO, some trainers are currently encountering Mewtwo through EX Raids or encountering Kyogre at local gyms.
“As a thank you to all trainers who have been so loyal and passionate about Pokémon over the years, we want to make 2018 a legendary year,” said J.C. Smith, Senior Director of Consumer Marketing at The Pokémon Company International. “We are giving fans the opportunity to get to know these powerful Legendary Pokémon across the brand while we take the opportunity to celebrate their role in the history of the franchise.”
3DS
From February to November, monthly distribution events for 3DS devices with the Pokémon editions Sun, Ultra Sun, Moon, and Ultra Moon will take place.
Trading Card Game
Players of the Pokémon Trading Card Game can expect new products with a legendary theme in 2018.
Pokémon Mobile Games
Players of Pokémon Shuffle Mobile (for Android and iOS) will have opportunities to participate in the legendary activities of the year. For example, players will receive two new event stages featuring the legendary Pokémon Dialga and Palkia, which can be played from February 6 to 13.
Pokémon GO
There is no specific announcement regarding dates or specific monsters. Officially, it says: “Pokémon GO players can also look forward to special offerings featuring Legendary Pokémon as part of the celebration of this legendary year. More information will be announced soon.”
Animated Series
The Pokémon TV app for iOS and Android features monthly Pokémon movies that have legendary Pokémon as their theme.
“Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai” will be available in the app in February and features the legendary Pokémon Dialga and Palkia.
Just recently, Overwatch League player Félix “xQc” Lengyel praised improvement, but he’s already falling back into his old patterns – and this time even more obscenely. The punishment followed immediately.
xQc, a professional player of the Dallas Fuel, can’t help it. He has always been known for his heated behavior and has been banned by Blizzard twice. However, xQc recently stated that it doesn’t really reflect his nature.
All the pressure on him would lead to his outbursts, but he now claims to have everything under control.
xQc feels provoked, openly insults homosexual player
Yesterday, the Houston Outlaws swept xQc’s team, Dallas Fuel, off the stage with a score of 4:0. xQc didn’t even play.
Meanwhile, Houston Outlaws player Austin “Muma” Wilmot used the expression “rolled and smoked”—a phrase often used by xQc—to express his joy over the dominance.
xQc saw this as a jab implying that he couldn’t be part of the game and exploded.
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Lengyel vented his anger in a subsequent stream. With harsh words: “No, you didn’t even smoke shit! Shut your fucking mouth! Go and suck a big dick. I mean, you like that, right!“
The openly homosexual Wilmot aka Muma reacted relatively calmly in a subsequent stream. “I don’t care,” he said, but later added: “He’s a homophobic piece of trash. I will just keep winning.”
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In a statement today on Twitter, xQc expressed remorse again and promised: “Everything is happening so damn fast lately, it’s so damn broken. I hope to turn this around for the better. I’m sorry, Muma.” Muma publicly accepted this apology.
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However, this does not prevent either the league or Dallas Fuel from punishing pro xQc harshly. While the Overwatch League immediately suspended him for four matches and imposed a fine of $2,000, his own organization added to that.
For the entire duration of Stage 1, which lasts until February 10, Lengyel will remain suspended, his team announced.
Additionally, Dallas Fuel expressed its support regarding Blizzard’s decision. It was the right call. They will continue to support Lengyel during his suspension, providing him with training and support so he can improve and ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future.
With the rise of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) in 2017, the rise of the streamer DrDisRespect is also associated. He is returning to Twitch now.
Behind the character DrDisRespect is Guy Beahm, who was formerly a designer at Sledgehammer Games, the studio behind Call of DutyWW:II. However, Beahm streams not as an experienced gaming insider, but as the macho character DrDisRespect, who engages in all sorts of quirks and misdeeds. The fans love him for it.
2017 was the year of PUBG, Twitch, and the Doctor
In 2017, the Doctor’s channel reached unprecedented heights. With a mix of controversial, brash, sentimental, and humorous actions, he fueled his prominence:
Numerous insider jokes shape the style of his channel.
By the end of last year, the Doctor’s channel had over 1.4 million followers, and DrDisRespect was able to snag the Video Game Award for Streamer of the Year 2017.
No question, 2017 was the year of PUBG, Twitch, and the Doctor.
The Doctor paused due to infidelity
However, the year ended on a difficult note. In mid-December, the Doc appeared in a stream, but without his usual disguise. He seemed shaken.
The streamer confessed to the fans that he had been unfaithful to his wife and would now suspend streaming indefinitely.
All of this seemed unusually serious for the Doc. He spoke of his wonderful family and the child, and that he did not want to be the man who did such things.
However, yesterday the announcement came via Twitter: The Doc is returning. And this announcement brought DrDisRespect back fully into character.
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While he is caught in a leg lock by a woman who holds a knife to his throat, the Doctor announces his return. Perhaps he wants to humorously suggest that his wife could take revenge on him at any moment.
In any case, fans can expect new escapades starting February 5th.
Perhaps 2018 will also be the year of the Doctor again.
A new sale has started in the PlayStation Store. You can get discounts on some top PS4 games, now available for under 20 euros.
Recently, the January sale in the PlayStation Store ended. According to Sony, this was the largest PS Store sale of the year, where you could purchase the latest AAA games at discounted prices.
If you missed this, you now have another chance to purchase high-quality games for a low price.
Games under 20 euros in the PS Store
Since January 19, the “Games under 20 euros” promotion has been running. In it, you will find not only full games but also add-ons – and each offer is for under 20 euros. The prices are valid until February 8 at 1 AM.
In The Division, today, on January 20th, is the big vendor reset (Vendor Reset). Which items are recommended this week?
In the post-apocalypse of The Division, the next global event is approaching. It is called “Ambush” and introduces the last missing secret gear sets, namely AlphaBridge, FireCrest, Hunter’s Faith, and Tactician’s Authority.
You can already think about builds that you want to create around these sets. Perhaps you can use some of the following items. The vendor reset just happened, here are the most exciting offers.
Recommended Weapons since January 20th
In fact, there are no outstanding weapons this week. Here are solid firearms:
Special equipment vendor at Camp Clinton: Pakhan with Talented and Ruthless
Special equipment vendor at Camp Clinton: Historian with Toxic and Malevolent. Re-roll Toxic.
Special equipment vendor at Camp Clinton: SASG-12 K Tactical with Precise, Brutal, and Deadly
The Mods after the Vendor Reset
Special equipment vendor: Stamina Mod with Skill Power
Advanced weapon seller: Rifle Suppressor Omega with Headshot Damage, Precision, Crit Chance, and Reduced Threat
Special equipment vendor at Camp Clinton: Angled Grip with Stability, Reload Speed, and Precision
Camp Hudson: C79 Scope (3.4x) with Crit Chance, Stability, and Headshot Damage
The Cavern Safehouse: Mod with bonus on First Aid Self-Heal
Southpaw Safehouse: Mod with bonus on Support Range
The Grindhouse Safehouse: Extended Magazine with Crit Damage and Rate of Fire
5th Ave: Mod with bonus on Ballistic Shield Hit Points
E 34th St: VX-1 Scope (12x) with Headshot Damage, Crit Damage, and Stability
E 31st St: Reflex Sight with Crit Chance, Crit Damage, and Stability
E 53rd St: Mod with bonus on Turret Damage
DZ05: Ti-RANT Suppressor with Crit Chance, Headshot Damage, and Crit Damage
The Offers of the Special Blueprint Vendors
These blueprints are available from the vendor at the terminal:
Model 700 – Sniper Rifle
SASG-12 – Shotgun
Electronics Knee Pads
Firearms Backpack
Angled Grip – Red with Stability and two additional bonuses
Small Grip – Red with Crit Damage and two additional bonuses
Electronics Equipment Mod
Performance Equipment Mod
The blueprints in Camp Clinton:
PF45 – First Wave – Pistol
M60 Classic – LMG
Electronics Mask
Stamina Vest
552 Hollow Sight with Crit Chance and two additional bonuses
PRO Laser Optic with Crit Damage and two additional bonuses
In today’s producer letter, Naoki Yoshida announced a shake-up of the housing system in Final Fantasy XIV in patch 4.2. The patch is set to go live on January 30th at around 10 AM our time.
For a long time, there have been too few houses in Final Fantasy XIV, or in other words: The existing houses are unfairly distributed. While some cannot afford a house at all, wealthy players control blocks of houses in neighborhoods and live it up there.
These chronic problems will be addressed by Final Fantasy XIV later this month. This was announced in a new producer letter.
Houses for All!
As promised by the development team, a lot of new houses will be coming in the patch. The four residential areas Mist, Lavender Beds, Shirogane, and Goblet will each receive 6 additional districts and subdivisions.
The sale of these houses will only begin a week after patch 4.2 hits the game, to give players enough time to enjoy other content from the patch.
Strict Conditions for Purchase
However, a whole number of things will change when acquiring the plots:
First and foremost, from now on there will be houses that can only be purchased by Free Companies. These must have at least 4 members.
The purchase of private houses will be unavailable for an indefinite time. The developers will monitor the situation and then decide when sales will start. Additionally, players will only be able to own one house per server and per service account. However, the option to relocate is not affected by this restriction.
The more severe restriction is that players will only be allowed to have one private estate and one FC house per account and per server starting from patch 4.2.
But what happens to players who have already violated these regulations? Will they lose their houses? In response to our inquiry with Square Enix, it was stated that no specific information can be provided at this time. So it remains to be seen what will be stated on the official site regarding the new system.
Example of the New Housing Rules
If you have two characters (A and B) on one account and A is a member of a Free Company that owns a house, then character B cannot buy a house for their FC. If B is transferred to another server, they can buy a house there.
Rooms and apartments are not considered plots and do not affect the acquisition of these. They are also exempt from the restrictions mentioned above.
A Blow to the “Brokers”
The resale of houses at exorbitant prices has long been a significant problem in FFXIV, which the development team will address with patch 4.2. To at least make resale more difficult, the plots will not be available for purchase for a certain period after being vacated.
Furthermore, the moment when the plot goes back on sale will be determined randomly and will not be disclosed to players.
As great as the new regulations sound for players right now, it still remains to be seen how exactly they will turn out in the end.
We reported on a case where 2 players owned particularly many houses:
In The Darwin Project you fight in battle royale style in an ice wasteland. Additionally, there is an all-powerful game master who can set traps for players or support them.
The Darwin Project is one of many upcoming battle royale games in 2018 that want a piece of the pie that games like Fortnite or PUBG are currently devouring.
In light of an impending ice age, 10 participants in a scientific experiment must slaughter each other. However, the low player count is not the only unique feature compared to competitors like PUBG or Fortnite.
Campers have a hard time
The Darwin Project is partly a survival game. Because to avoid freezing to death in the cold, you need to regularly warm up by fires. However, the flames are widely visible and attract other players. This is ideal if you want to set traps for them.
However, long camping in Darwin Project is not as effective as in other battle royale games. Because in the snow, you leave visible tracks, and savvy players can quickly track you down and discover your hiding spot.
There is also a crafting system. You can build useful items from leftover junk and wild animals, thus equipping yourself with warm cloaks or bows and arrows.
The show must go on!
The survival element itself is already something new, but The Darwin Project has even more original features up its sleeve. Like in the battle royale story “Hunger Games,” The Darwin Project is a media spectacle. Therefore, one player acts as the game master, who has a full overview of the playing field.
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He can interact with the players and do good or evil to them. He can give valuable tips to players he likes or throw bombs at players he doesn’t like. So it’s important to get along well with the game master to avoid provoking his wrath.
If the game master is a nasty troll, then may the gods have mercy on you!
Test Darwin Project this weekend – Download
The Darwin Project is not finished yet, and the release is still far away. However, this weekend, from January 19 at 9:00 PM to January 22 at 6:00 AM, you can test The Darwin Project for free on Steam.
Today Xur is coming to Destiny 2.Where is Xur and what items does he have on offer? Here are the location and inventory on January 19th.
Guardians can pledge to a faction these days, collect tokens for it, and thus gain faction rewards. This week, the first faction rally in Season 2 is running, which was supposed to bring variety and good cheer to Destiny 2.
However, the opposite is the case. Developers are facing heavy criticism:
Bungie promised that they will announce such changes in advance to avoid frustration and confusion.
Xur, the Agent of the Nine, is not bothered by the faction rally. He appears as usual on Friday evening to offer you his exotics. Let’s welcome him.
All Info about Xur in Destiny 2 on January 19th on PS4, Xbox One and PC
When does Xur come? – Time
Once it becomes 6 PM on Friday, Xur appears out of nowhere. He allows you to browse his offerings before he packs up his things again on Tuesday, January 23rd at 6 PM and disappears.
Where is Xur? At this location, you can find Xur today
Xur has his specific positions where he likes to hang out over the weekend. This time he is in the Tower, in the Hangar.
Offer and inventory of Xur – List of items with prices
Weapon: Tractor Cannon – Shotgun for 29 Legendary Shards
The weekly PvP event Trials of the Nine also starts on Friday evening at 6 PM in Destiny 2. The Trials end with the weekly reset on Tuesday evening at 6 PM.
Since Legion, there have been some NPC pets in World of Warcraft that can be petted. With Patch 7.3.5, these adorable little creatures can also be found in the embassy of Stormwind!
The pet-petting craze broke out in Bradensbrook in Val’sharah and in the pet shop in Dalaran. It continued with Goya on the Broken Shore. Now there is another place where players can satisfy their cuddly needs with pets.
Some Reddit users have discovered that there are also pets in Stormwind that can be petted! In and around the embassy of Stormwind, cats and dogs roam around, eagerly reaching out to your virtual hand to be petted.
In true Blizzard self-ironic fashion, petting the little companions is, of course, not completed with just one click. Instead, your character kneels properly in front of their cuddly companion and receives a casting bar for the “Pet” spell.
Petting Pets as a Profession? Users would Sacrifice Main Professions for it
On Reddit, this pastime is receiving a lot of acclaim. There are even some particularly fascinated players who would unlearn their main professions for a “Petting” profession. Just to be able to interact with every critter in the world instead.
Alternatively, users wish for at least a micro-holiday where exactly that is possible. After all, Blizzard has already introduced such mini-events for all sorts of things.
What do you think? Do you find this attention to detail from Blizzard good? Would you support a “Petting” profession or a micro-holiday? Let us know your opinion!
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In FIFA 18 Ultimate Team, the complete TOTY (Team of the Year) is available in packs starting today. If you want players from the Team of the Year, the chances are highest now.
The TOTY week is slowly coming to an end.
In the last few days, the forwards, midfielders, defenders, and the goalkeeper of the Team of the Year have been revealed and included in the sets. And starting today, from January 19th, all TOTY players are in packs for a short time.
This is the complete Team of the Year in FUT 18
Here you can see all TOTY cards at a glance:
Cristiano Ronaldo – 99 Rating (the best card in FUT 18!)
Lionel Messi – 98 Rating
Harry Kane – 96 Rating
Modric – 96 Rating
De Bruyne – 96 Rating
Kanté – 95 Rating
De Gea – 97
Sergio Ramos – 97
Bonucci – 96
Marcelo – 96
Dani Alves – 93
All TOTY players are from January 19th at 7 PM until January 22nd at 7 PM (Monday) in packs.
Once the TOTY players are available, you can pull them from the packs for a limited time, if you are lucky. There will be special pack offers during this period. Afterwards, it will only be possible to acquire the TOTY players on the transfer market, where they will fetch high prices.
It applies:
Once the TOTY cards are in the packs, the standard cards of the respective players can no longer be pulled from the packs.
A set must contain rare gold players to have a chance of a TOTY player.
If you own a standard card of a TOTY player, nothing happens with that card. If you want a TOTY player, you must pull it from sets or buy it on the transfer market.
The chances of pulling a TOTY player are exactly the same as the chances of pulling the standard card of the respective player at another time.
