What can we expect from the MMORPG hope Ashes of Creation in 2018?

The upcoming fantasy MMORPG Ashes of Creation is at the beginning of its production. Regularly, the studio Intrepid gives a behind-the-scenes look at the development. Read here the main points from the latest live stream with Q&A!

Ashes of Creation is an open-world MMORPG set in a high-fantasy world. The game itself is literally what the players make of it. The world reacts to the players and evolves with them, allowing players on each server to experience their own story.

The indie game is currently in the early stages of development after its beginnings as a Kickstarter project. At the moment, the developers are working on the “Alpha Zero” phase, which is only accessible to invited testers.

ashes-of-creation-karawane

Highlights of the Livestream

Recently, there was a livestream where Lead Game Designer Jeffrey Bard and Creative Director Steven Sharif talked about the future of the game, showcased new content, and answered questions.

We have summarized the highlights of the new features and announcements for you:

  • A new stage of Alpha Zero will begin in a few days.
  • The development of the game is going remarkably well.
  • On Monday, January 22nd, the team will offer 10 new job positions.
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In addition, there was a brief insight into two new areas: an underground fortress of the Dunir and the “Underrealm”. The Underrealm is the area beneath the surface of the game world Verra. Players can explore it in many places, and it is important for the game and the story:

  • the Underrealm has its own ecosystem
  • The color of the realm indicates to the player what region they are in.
  • It feels different from the “Overworld” and is also meant to be seen as a distinct part of the world.
  • It is the birthplace and refuge of the “Tulnar” race.
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In addition to these new features, Sharif also discussed plans for 2018, which will focus on the community: There will be larger testing phases for Ashes of Creation, bigger announcements, and community meetups, including at PAX East in April.

The Q&A: Community Questions

After the announcements, questions from the community that interested parties could submit beforehand were answered. We have compiled the most interesting answers for you:

Ashes of Creation River and City

World, Buildings, and “Nodes”

  • For each node in the world, there is a limited number of building slots for taverns and others
  • The area where a building is located determines the availability of its resources
    • Taverns can only offer dishes made from local ingredients. Different dishes provide different benefits.
  • It may eventually be possible to climb in certain areas.
  • Player buildings are instanced – owners are safe from the gaze and interactions of other players inside.

Classes and Combat System

  • The siege system, one of the most important features, will be tested in the alpha and beta phases
    • various siege weapons can be crafted and purchased.
  • It is likely that there will be tameable companions for combat.
  • Weapons are not class-bound. Weapon types can be used by multiple classes.
  • The quick-time event for the focus system will be revised.
  • In response to the question about what some rather vague classes have:
    • Summoners: Flex classes that complete any group by filling in any role.
    • Bards: Pure team players that make the group as a whole stronger.
PvE Combat Ashes preview

Cosmetics, House, and Mounts

  • Purchasable cosmetics will change next month. This suggests that there will likely be a rotation.
  • There will be fairy- and elf-like companions.
  • Players can access a wide variety of mounts, but their custody may require prerequisites. One option would be a stable.

General

  • Around January 26th, there will be the possibility to upgrade purchased packs from the website.
    • This also applies to Kickstarter.
  • The servers of Alpha 2 will remain as PTR servers.
  • There is supposed to be a mobile app that will allow some things in the game to be controlled from outside.
  • For the alphas 1 and 2 and the betas, there will be no “Non Disclosure Agreement,” so streaming is allowed.
    • This will likely also apply to the next phase of Alpha Zero at the end of the month.

The entire live stream lasts about an hour and addressed additional questions regarding balance and implementations that remain an ever-present topic for development.

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Are you interested in Ashes of Creation? Will you participate in the game tests to help with development? Or will you dive into the game only at release?

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Xur stirbt in Destiny 2 so vor sich hin

The perhaps most famous merchant in video game history, Xur, hardly plays a role in Destiny 2 anymore. Now, the most popular YouTuber of the game announces that he will ignore him in the future.

At the beginning of Destiny, Xûr was the most important NPC in the game, and his importance extended beyond the boundaries of the game: an NPC who was only in the game for hours and sold randomly selected, special items when you had the right currency.

It was somewhat like the Yeti.

Xur became a cult

Soon, rituals and legends surrounded the merchant:

  • There were websites and Facebook accounts that exclusively reported about Xur.
  • National and international gaming magazines published regular reports about his inventory.
  • In the early days at Mein-MMO, the servers crashed every Friday under the weight of curious fans until we scraped together money for new servers with a donation campaign
    Donnerlord Destiny
  • Guardians discussed for hours what he might have next Friday.
  • As with any religion, there was even a prophet who could predict what Xur would bring.
  • And other games like The Elder Scrolls Online integrated their own version of Xur into their games.
  • There was even a reference to him in WoW:
WoW Legion Xurios

A reason to log into Destiny every week

For Bungie, Xur was a great catch: It became a weekly ritual for players to check what the tentacle-faced character had on offer this time and whether it might be one of the few exotic items they still needed.

Players logged in or checked Xur’s offerings even if they hadn’t played Destiny that week.

Guardians waited for months for certain items like the Thunderlord, the Transversive Steps, or the Gjallarhorn. Xur was also the opportunity for casual players to get their hands on some of the rarest and most sought-after items, items that made players powerful.

Destiny-Xur-Stimme
The voice actor of Xur.

In Destiny 2, however, Xur seems to be becoming a thing of the past. After last Friday, the Destiny YouTuber Datto announced: He would stop making videos about Xur for a while.

Datto had, like many others, reported on Xur’s location and inventory since his first appearance. It was a cornerstone of his channel. But in Destiny 2, hardly anyone seems to care about what Datto has to say about Xur anymore.

destiny-xur

From 312,000 viewers to 70,000 in 4 months

The view counts for Datto’s Xur videos have plummeted. The first one had 312,000 views, but the numbers normalized within a month to 200,000 views.

But they didn’t hold, rather they fell over the next two months to a plateau of around 140,000. Since 2018, the numbers have dropped further, falling below the 100,000 mark. The last videos only reached 70,000 viewers.

destiny-2-hüter

Why is Xûr not as important anymore?

There are several reasons why people are no longer as interested in videos about Xur:

  • Overall, interest in Destiny is declining – this is partly due to time and a normal decline in interest, and partly due to specific problems of the game: some of the people who announce they are quitting really do quit.
  • Then Bungie now shows in the game where to find Xur. Xur is also around much longer than in Destiny 1 – the event character is gradually fading: the urgency is missing.
  • Exotics are not as important as they were during the times of Destiny 1. There are hardly any iconic items that players absolutely want. If there is one, like the Prometheus Lens, it gets nerfed two minutes later.
  • And a special engram from Xur, the Fateful Engram, which he always has, guarantees players to find missing Exotics. This eliminates the luck factor and Exotics have become more frequent. After that, no one asked: Bungie provided the Fateful Engram along with the Three of Coins as a little extra.
Destiny-2-Xur

Xûr in free fall since September 2015

Mein MMO believes: Overall, it seems that Bungie has changed things with the Exotics and Xur that no one asked for. And until a change comes, Xur will likely continue to quietly fade away in Destiny 2.

It is all the more surprising because Bungie has repeatedly emphasized during Destiny 1 how important “weekly rituals” like Xur are for player retention. Even under the shine of special exotic weapons like Icebreaker, Thunderlord, or Gjallarhorn, one still basked in Destiny 1.

Back in 2014, it seemed like Bungie had stumbled upon a goldmine and had accidentally found a super-formula for “player retention”: weekly and monthly rituals, along with powerful items that everyone wanted and everyone talked about.

Clearly, the powerful role of the Exotics has been sacrificed on the altar of balance, taking Xur down with it. A direction Bungie already took with TTK. Since September 2015, the importance of Xûr has been gradually diminishing. Apparently, it reached a low point in January 2018.


More about Destiny 2:

Bungie needs to break the nightmare cycle in Destiny 2.

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Source(s):
  1. reddit

Land faster in Fortnite: Battle Royale – Here’s how!

You always land last in the cities of Fortnite: Battle Royale? While the other players are already armed to the teeth, you’re still out with your pathetic pickaxe? We give you tips to help you land faster in the hot spots.

Often, games in Fortnite: Battle Royale can be decided right at the start. Whoever leaves a big city as the winner will often be armed to the teeth with the best gear. However, in order for you to even have a chance of competing with opponents in a larger city, you need to quickly have adequate weapons.

This speed advantage should not be underestimated, especially when you notice during your approach that an opponent is targeting the same house as you. Whoever finds a weapon there first can quickly and easily take out the other.

fortnite-battly-royale-2

Even though the options to speed up the landing process are limited, we give you a few tips on how to get to the ground faster – and thus go hunting for loot before the others.

Learn when you need to jump

The battle bus is faster than a player in the air. For this reason, you should always jump out of the bus at the right time. Proper planning is important, especially if your target is far away.

In fact, you can determine the perfect jump point yourself. Mark the place on the map where you want to land. Now align your view so that the battle bus takes up most of the screen. Make sure that both sides of the bus have the same distance to the bottom of the screen. It should look something like this:

fortnite-bus-sprung
Both axes of the bus should have the same distance to the bottom of the screen. – Image source: YouTube Debitor

Now jump exactly at the moment when the marker on the compass display is exactly in the middle. This guarantees you that you will always have the shortest route to your target.

This is how it should look (example landing spot Retail Row):

fortnite-karte-winkel
The blue dot indicates the perfect jump point

The higher the landing point, the faster you get there

This is self-explanatory, but not so easy to accomplish. On the map of Fortnite, there are many elevated points that have a decisive disadvantage: they simply offer too little loot.

If no one lands on the elevated point because there is no good loot to be had, you have no reason to visit such places.

However, you can also look for elevated points in cities that offer a strategic advantage. Rooftops are perfect for gaining a height advantage. If you also know which rooftops hide chests, you can get a weapon faster than opponents who have to reach the ground first and run into houses.

fortnite-map-update-1

The terrain beneath you determines when your parachute opens

Depending on the terrain beneath you, your parachute will open sooner or later. Are you right above a mountain? That’s bad; the parachute will open earlier, you’ll take longer to get to the bottom, and you’ll have a massive disadvantage.

Try to time it so that you have flat terrain under you; then you’ll come down faster than other players who might still be hovering over a mountain.

fortnite-map-update-2

Never jump directly over your target

At first glance, it seems tempting to jump directly over your target. After all, sometimes you’re lucky, and the bus flies directly over it. Don’t do that! You can fly straight down without having to maneuver much.

The big disadvantage, however, is that after opening your glider, you simply sink down. This takes longer than if you glide towards your target. For this reason, do not jump directly over your target, but slightly offset. A good guideline is 4-5 centimeters next to your target on the mini-map.

Do you have more tips for landing faster? Let us know in the comments!


After jumping, you need weapons – we present them all and show you the best in Fortnite: Battle Royale!

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Water Elemental Madness at the Hearthstone Championship

Today, Hearthstone will find its world champion at the finals of the HCT World Championship. During the tournament, one match particularly stood out, which initially seemed like a clear case. It was an unexpected mirror universe of hungry water elementals!

In the quarter-finals of the HCT World Championships, American Fr0zen faced off against German Sintolol. A match in which Fr0zen entered with some pessimism. In the preceding press conference, he admitted he didn’t give himself much of a chance.

His decks were too geared towards aggro decks, which Sintolol does not cater to. Fr0zen did not expect to win even one of the games – and yet, Fr0zen made it to the fifth and decisive match against his opponent. It was all or nothing.

Check out one of the craziest Hearthstone matches of all time

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The Clear – Wrath of the Dragon as RNG Board Clear

Wrath of the Dragon

Sintolol’s “Dragon Combo Priest” and Fr0zen’s “Control Mage” faced each other. As expected, Sintolol was able to deploy his creatures and continuously strengthen them.

It could have indeed been a clear case – if Fr0zen hadn’t been able to cast two high-value spells from his deck precisely thanks to “Wrath of the Dragon”. That’s the kind of “high-mana” spells that Wrath of the Dragon needs to show effect. And he hit the 7-mana spell “Portal to the Firelands”.

This allowed him to deal significant damage to the servants and clear opponents from the field. Twice, mind you.

Admittedly, Fr0zen had already played most of the smaller spells or had them in hand, but if he had drawn just one of his 3-point spells instead of “Portal: Firelands”, the game would have looked quite different, and Sintolol could have strengthened and, above all, retained his servants.

Hearthstone Championship Elemental Madness 2

“Who is the Mage now?!” – Jaina vs. Jaina

The real madness began later. With the “Draconid Agent”, Sintolol copied a “Frost Lich Jaina” from Fr0zen’s deck. She turns her own hero into the Death Knight Mage Frost Lich Jaina. With her, an army of water elementals with lifesteal can be summoned.

Suddenly, Sintolol, originally started as a priest, tried to become an undead mage in the creation of a mini army of water elementals to regain control over the opponent’s threat. However, Fr0zen drew his Jaina just two rounds later – and the icy duel could begin!

Neither side gave anything in the true sense of the word. Both had to be careful to use the destructive spells skillfully so that not a single servant with just one health point was left behind – the danger of a new water elemental was too great. Because Frost Lich Jaina can deal one damage point with her hero power and thus create a new water elemental with lifesteal if the servant dies from that damage point.

Frostlich Jaina

Sintos problem: At that time he already had fewer cards than Fr0zen and hardly any servants left. It became a race against time, a game that could ultimately only be decided by the elementals – and only through that one copied Jaina. In the end, he went “all in”.

The elemental battle was eventually won by Fr0zen, thanks to “Portal: Firelands”, which had already helped him twice in the game. It not only dealt reliable damage but also summoned a 4/4 elemental. This finally eliminated Sintolol in the fun game of the lifestealing elementals.


The Show must go on!

It was certainly one of the most unusual games in HTC history and definitely the most challenging game of Fr0zen’s career so far, as he recounts in the thrill of victory after the match. While Sintolol now goes home with $50,000, Fr0zen is allowed to continue fighting.

Today at 16:00 he will face JasonZhou in the semifinals. The water elementals are surely already at the starting line.


More trolling comes with the “Flesh-Eating Cube”.

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

The 6 best free AR games on iOS and Android in 2018

Anyone can experience reality. Many can experience digital. Why not mix the two? With these AR games, you can have fun in 2018. We show you the best augmented reality games for Android and iOS. Here you’ll find free AR games like Pokémon GO, as well as games that let you improve your fitness while playing.

Augmented Reality (AR) may still sound like science fiction to some. However, there are already many games in the download stores that successfully utilize this technology and captivate millions of players.

What is Augmented Reality?

AR means that digital (and also acoustic) elements are “laid over” reality or connected to it, effectively merging the two. Instead of seeing monsters in a generated cave in the game, they appear on your desk or in front of you on the sidewalk.

The variety of AR games for smartphones is enormous. From catching monsters to stacking blocks and escaping from zombies, there’s something for everyone.

In our overview, we want to show you our selection of the best AR games for 2018. If you have any AR gems that excite you in 2018, we look forward to your comments on that.

Tetroids, a Tetris AR Game for iPad and iPhone

The patience game with falling blocks is something we’ve all seen somewhere. Some may remember Tetris from “back in the day” when it was one of their first video games. Others might be regularly playing variations of Tetris in their browsers. And most of you are probably humming the theme tune: *ding-dingdingding-dingdingding …*

With Tetroids, you play Tetris in multiple dimensions. The position of the blocks can be moved 360°, and there’s a square on the ground that you need to fill with the blocks. It sounds complicated at first, but after a few minutes of stacking, you get the hang of it.

AR Games Tetroids

Depending on how you and your iPhone/iPad move, you can change the view of the tower.

With AR gameplay, you stack the towers wherever you want. On the kitchen table or on stairs – anywhere there’s a flat surface, you can start Tetroids.

The gameplay consists of swiping, rotating, and closing gaps. With combos, you collect extra points.

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Here’s Tetroids in the iTunes Store: Tetroids AR Puzzle on itunes.apple.com

Zombies, RUN! Also Keeps Gamers Physically Fit (Android & iOS)

Augmented reality games on smartphones can help you become or stay physically fit. In “Zombies, RUN!” you run away from a disgusting horde of the undead while exercising.

The spectacle occurs mainly acoustically and in your head. Through your headphones, you hear both your own music and the spooky zombie story (in English). Tip: Running at dusk adds an extra sense of feeling.

While you run, you hear the sobbing noises and loud footsteps of the zombies chasing you. What helps you avoid getting caught? Exactly: running faster! This way, you can outpace the disgusting undead and sprint with an extra boost of motivation.

AR Games Zombies Run

If the zombies catch you, you lose the items you collected during your adventure. You need these to upgrade the settlement that the story revolves around. Collecting these items triggers a certain motivation factor that makes you eager for the next mission.

Over 200 missions lead you through the zombie story, in which you save a city. The “Zombies, RUN” app combines fitness tracking and gaming. Perhaps this app is the decisive step to motivate yourself to exercise more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXWwWXM1ghw

The Walk – Stay Fit without Running (Android & iOS)

The game “The Walk” comes from the same developers who are behind “Zombies, RUN!” As the name suggests, this game takes a more relaxed approach.

Instead of running away from a horde of wild zombies and collecting items, The Walk motivates you with a different way to save the world. A story (again in English) is told to you, and you are given a goal. A bomb explodes in a subway station, and you have a package with you that can save the world.

AR Games The Walk

However, you need to cover a certain distance and take steps. Here, the story also unfolds acoustically and develops as you get closer to the assigned goal. Players report that it takes about three months to complete the mission.

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Pokémon GO – Become the Best Pokémon Trainer (Android & iOS)

Pikachu and his friends have already been seen in the anime series or Gameboy games many years ago. In summer 2016, the big Pokémon hype broke out when Pokémon GO was released by developers at Niantic.

With your phone or tablet, you can discover Pokémon outside that are hiding in random places in the wild or at PokéStops. The game is oriented towards streets and landmarks that exist in the real world around you. Through actions in the game like catching monsters or spinning PokéStops, you collect experience points that slowly increase your trainer level.

Your phone’s camera makes it possible for you to find wild Pokémon in your environment.

Pokémon GO AR+ Preview

On your adventures, you try to complete the PokéDex, take over gyms, and defeat raid bosses together with other players. For that, it’s essential that you move to different places. If you want to play at home on your couch, you won’t get far.

Pokémon GO offers adventures for both young and old, and it’s also a great way to socialize. Trainers often meet at gyms or special locations to play together.

You can find more information about Pokémon GO on our overview page

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUztYCMZYls

Ingress, the Pokémon GO for Hackers (Android & iOS)

Ingress is essentially the predecessor of Pokémon GO, as it is the first AR game from Niantic. Ingress also uses real locations, landmarks, and maps that influence the gameplay.

Visit various locations and create or hack portals there to progress in the game. There are missions and events organized by Niantic that always aim to provide fresh experiences.

AR Games Ingress

Even though the gameplay structure is quite similar to Pokémon GO, the differences are significant. You won’t see legendary monsters here; instead, there are exotic matter. It’s more about data and hacking. Your goal is to control areas – the larger the area, the better.

Instead of experience points, you collect action points, which gradually increase your player level.

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Genesis AR – The Future of Hearthstone?

Genesis Augmented Reality shows what AR can do. Combined with game cards that players print themselves, monsters come to life before your eyes.

By pointing your smartphone’s camera at a card, the monsters find their place on kitchen tables or other playing areas. Each character has a unique gameplay style, some with brutal attacks, others with mystical spells. You control the characters in real-time with a joystick and attack buttons on your smartphone.

The game was funded through a Kickstarter campaign and is apparently still in development. The last post on Genesis AR’s Facebook page is from June 2, 2017, showing new gameplay.

https://www.facebook.com/genesisaugmented/videos/1786425778042105/

They mention a release in the third quarter of 2017. Unfortunately, there haven’t been any new posts on the developers’ platforms, but the game is already available in app stores. It seems that Genesis AR is still in a beta phase. You can still register for the beta program on the game’s official website.

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Harry Potter: Wizards Unite – The Magical AR World (Planned for 2018)

Harry Potter Wootbox

After Ingress and Pokémon GO, it’s not over for Niantic. They have teamed up with Warner Bros to plan the release of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, an AR game set in the Harry Potter universe.

The developers believe that the game has the potential to appeal to many generations. Moreover, the magical Muggle world fits well into the augmented reality environment where the spells could be displayed.

Harry Potter WU Title

In the game, you learn various spells and then use them in battles against legendary beasts. You can fight especially strong foes by teaming up with other players.

Unfortunately, no further information about Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is known yet. According to Niantic, the AR game is set to be released in the second half of 2018.

That was our selection of the best AR games for Android and iOS. Did we forget a game? Please write it in the comments – we’re always open to suggestions.

The mobile market has much more to offer. Here are the 6 most promising mobile MMOs for 2018

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Check out these new Overwatch skins for Lucio and Hanzo!

The loot boxes in Overwatch will soon receive new content! Dozens of new items can be obtained, including new legendary skins that allow Hanzo and Lúcio to embody the traditions of their home countries!

Hardworking players in Overwatch can expect new content in the loot boxes starting next Wednesday, January 24. The new content will be included in the “old standard boxes” of Overwatch.

New skins, sprays, and logos can be obtained at any time through boxes, arcade modes, and level-ups – or purchased with credits. There are no event boxes for the new items, so they will remain in the loot pool continuously.

Overwatch Butcher Roadhog Widescreen closeup

From Musician to Dancer: Capoeira Lúcio

The universally popular DJ and support from Brazil receives a skin in the Capoeira style. More wood-like in appearance, with a new tattoo on his shoulder and fewer neon colors, Capoeira Lúcio looks less futuristic and more classic.

Capoeira is a traditional martial dance from Brazil, showcasing Lúcio’s connection to his homeland – especially since he occasionally speaks in his native language, Portuguese.

Even More Tradition: Kabuki Hanzo

The Japanese archer Hanzo also receives a skin that anchors him in the tradition of his country. Painted in ghostly pale makeup, the Kumadori, and featuring subtle red and black accents, Hanzo embodies an actor from traditional Japanese theater with the new skin.

Kabuki is the Japanese art form of theater. Singing, dancing, and mime make the performances demanding. The strong, white makeup is one of its core features. While Hanzo still lacks the traditional Kyūdō bow for the full Japanese experience, that can still be added later.


What do you think? Do you like the new traditional skins of Hanzo and Lúcio? Leave us a comment!

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Early access of Bless should start as soon as possible, still quite a bit to do

The developer studio Neowiz Games is currently planning to launch the early access version of the MMORPG Bless as soon as possible. The Game Director has some words about the development of the game.

Fans had to wait a long time for the MMORPG Bless, which was considered one of the most interesting representatives of the genre. Then, suddenly, there were talks of problems and Bless had to be restructured. However, the developers believe they have now reached a stage that shows a good product and therefore want to start the early access phase via Steam as soon as possible.

Bless Dragons

There is still much to do

The new Game Director of Bless, Jae-hoon Jeon, explains that thanks to feedback from fans in the USA and Europe, many weaknesses in the game were discovered and addressed.

Additionally, he talks about what the team is currently still working on before we can start playing via Steam:

  • Player Progress: Systems are being worked on that allow players to progress through quests rather than simple level-ups in the game
  • Performance Optimization: Bless is intended to provide a smooth and enjoyable gaming experience
  • Combat: The combat system of Bless should not feel repetitive, but should be fun and offer variety
  • UI Optimizations: Bless is set to have a user-friendly and intuitive interface that is also clear
  • Skill System: The skill system will be modified so that the skills adapt to the player based on the path they follow in the game

Bless Mount

There is still no launch date

The team is currently working on providing better explanations for the player and optimizing the UI. After that, the combat system will be addressed, which has already been worked on intensively before. Subsequently, the focus will shift to the skill system. How long all this will take and when we can expect the early access version of Bless is not known. 

Bless will be playable in German at launch via Steam.

https://youtu.be/yreDGY4DIJE
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Source(s):
  1. MassivelyOP
  2. Steam

In Monster Hunter World, you are what you wear and what you can do

In Monster Hunter World (PC, PS4, Xbox) as a hunter, you have no magical abilities or assigned role. You must think like a normal human to succeed in the hunt. Skillfully use the tools at your disposal and be resourceful. 

From role-playing games like Final Fantasy or World of Warcraft, we are used to magical races: Wizards, Summoners, and Elves often heat things up for their opponents with enchantments. Even in online shooters like Destiny, players possess the power of light and can summon special powers.

In the action RPG Monster Hunter World, the situation is different. The only race available for you to play is human. You will not have special and magical abilities. Typical roles like tank and healer are also absent.

As a player in Monster Hunter World, you are human. Only knowledge and handling of equipment make you successful hunters. 

MHW-Beta4

The hunt for monsters should feel realistic

Although Monster Hunter World consists of a surreal fantasy universe, the developers want to create as realistic a feeling as possible for monster hunting. There should be no special skills that only require pressing one button to make the whole area explode.

For things like explosions, there are items and weapons that hunters craft and build in the forge. If you want to poison a behemoth, you can grab a light crossbow and use poison ammunition.

A crucial core of the gameplay is to think about the best equipment to take down certain monsters. Then you must also learn how to handle that equipment. The weapons are so huge that they are unwieldy to use. But that makes sense, as the monsters are often armored with thick scales or spikes. A tiny dagger would likely do nothing.

Imagine that someone takes you and drops you into the world of Monster Hunter World. You are the hunter fighting against huge beasts that see you as prey. What would you need to turn the tables?

Monster-Hunter-World-Palico-Feline

Learn the behavior of monsters and know your equipment

Since you have no magical powers as humans, there is only one thing left for you: Learn the behavior of the monsters, know their weak points, and be aware of what your equipment can do.

There are 14 weapon classes that can all be turned into different weapons with new properties. The same goes for armors. If you have collected enough monster bones, you will soon be able to craft a bone weapon and bone armor. They provide additional protection against elements like fire or electricity. Monsters are often aligned to different elements, which can be strong or weak against others.

You must consider how to balance these strengths and weaknesses with your equipment and what resistances you need.

Additionally, every monster behaves like an MMORPG boss. The animals have attack patterns that you must carefully observe and learn. For instance, the Anjanath is particularly aggressive and dangerous when it flares its nostrils. The Barroth charges at you with a massive bone plate on its head, but you can tell when it is about to charge based on its movements.

Each monster also has body parts that are sensitive. For some, it’s the tail; for others, it could be the wings or even the belly. Here you need to “tap” the whole monster and learn where you deal the most damage.

You always need to strategize and plan.

monster-hunter-world-anjanath

As humans, you must be hunters, gatherers, and inventors

There will always be that one monster you simply can’t conquer. That is part of the learning process.

  • But that is also the point at which you need to start developing strategies. Ask yourselves questions like:
  • Should the monster be lured away first?
  • Would stun arrows help, or does the monster have a resistance to them?
  • Do I need to farm a specific equipment set first to take down the monster?

Humans mastered the development of weapons like spears and the art of ambushing long ago. Likewise, you must become inventors in Monster Hunter World. Gather the necessary resources and refine your equipment. Meanwhile, you will learn how to handle your weapon.

In an interview with Metro  the producer of Monster Hunter World described this process.

Ryozo Tsujimoto:This is not a game where your character collects XP. You are the one who becomes better. […] So when you progress in the game and master the various challenges, one day you will look at your character with that cool equipment. Then you will realize that you have earned the right to own all that stuff. Because YOU have become so good at the game that you are now this damn strong hunter!”

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Hunting is especially fun in a group: This is how multiplayer works in Monster Hunter World, explained in the video guide

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German MMORPG Albion Online lays off about every 2nd employee

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.

Albion Online 1

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 Housing

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.

The December update of Albion Online focused primarily on the MMORPG’s PvP.

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Win a Sennheiser headset and high-quality prizes for Paladins & SMITE

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.

We reported on the new battle royale mode of the hero shooter Paladins. This is called Paladins: Battlegrounds and was first introduced at the HiRez Expo 2018. For the HiRez Expo, we are already hosting a giveaway in collaboration with Studio Hi-Rez.

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 a headset 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.
figuren
  • Sennheiser GSP-350 – The gaming headphones offer: 

     

    • high-quality Dolby 7.1 surround sound
    • a professional noise-cancelling microphone
    • customizable surround software
    • lightning-fast muting by raising the microphone arm
    • an intuitive volume control on the right ear cup
sennheiser

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.

Mein-MMO in collaboration with Hi-Rez – Giveaway

What are Paladins, SMITE, and Hand of the Gods?

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.

SMITE is 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.

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Destiny 2 – In 10 days, Bungie delivers 5 important new features and fixes

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.

masterwork_armor

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.

destiny-2-raid-area

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.

destiny-2-ikora

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.

destiny-2-prometheus-lens

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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The complete patch notes will only appear once the update is live. We will report on it then. There is no information about a server downtime yet.


Will Destiny 2 receive a new weapon system? – Bungie promises changes

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  1. reddit
  2. Bungie

Final Fantasy XIV brings back Kefka, a cult villain of the series

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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Fans of the series are hyped!

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.

kefka2

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.

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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:

omega
  • 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. 

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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.

omega6

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).

The development team believes that the difficulty of Sigma is above that of the previous raids Omega: Delta.

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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:

Final Fantasy XIV takes radical measures to solve housing crisis

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PUBG – New cheating pattern discovered, over 100,000 users have been banned

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.

PUBG Banhammer

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.

PUBG Killcam Title Clapper

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.

PUBG intensifies the blue zone, wants even more adrenaline

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Dauntless hat in 2018 einiges vor, lässt sich von MHW nicht abschrecken

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.

dauntless-2

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

Dauntless

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.

Competitor Monster Hunter World is currently giving Dauntless some trouble.

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Guild Wars 2: Player loses everything in house fire – but ArenaNet helps

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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However, what was delivered was much more.

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.

guild-wars-1-jade-see

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.


What was so good about Guild Wars 1 again? These are the reasons why fans still love it today!

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What is Paladins: Battlegrounds? – PUBG meets Overwatch

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.

Paladins-Battlegrounds

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.

Paladins-Battlegrounds-Loot

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. 

Paladins-Battlegrounds-Fernando

In an exclusive interview with Paladins head Todd Harris, we talked about the role distribution in Paladins: Battle Royale. In test runs, the studio made the following observation, according to Harris: 

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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Paladins is free-to-play and the new battlegrounds mode will also be free to play for Paladins players. More impressions of the gameplay can be found here: Gameplay from Paladins Battlegrounds looks nothing like a PUBG clone

What do you think of a battle royale mode in a hero shooter? Does the combination of “Overwatch” and “PUBG” fit?


What is Paladins? Beginner’s guide for new players.

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The MMO Devilian is closing – and somehow PUBG is to blame

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.

Devilian Storm Warrior

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.

Devilian Warrior

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.

Devilian ARPG-MMO

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:

  • ArcheAge
  • Rift
  • Trove
  • and Defiance

You can read all the details in this extensive FAQ – it’s even available in German.


More on the background of the shutdown and the PUBG parallels:

Somehow, the success of PUBG has killed this action MMORPG

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New online shooter in the alien universe could be similar to Destiny

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.

alien

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-Baum
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.
Destiny-Concept-Art-Tank

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.


Here we present to you some alternatives to Destiny 2 that you can play in 2018.

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Pokémon GO gets 2018 “special offers with legendary Pokémon”

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.

Pokémon GO Mewtwo Raid Title

“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.

These Pokémon of the 3rd Generation can still be released in Pokémon GO

This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.

Overwatch League: Pro suspended for homophobic insults

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.

The improvement was already set aside yesterday.

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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Overwatch League and the team punish xQc

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.


Here you can find all information about the Overwatch League

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