Twitch and Blizzard have signed a 2-year deal for the broadcasting rights to the Overwatch League. Overwatch is a shooter for PS4, Xbox One, and PC: Blizzard aims to establish it as a professional eSports.
For the coming years, the streaming service Twitch holds the official broadcasting rights to the matches of the Overwatch League. The league starts on the night from Wednesday to Thursday.
The deal is set for 2 years and also includes the playoffs and championship matches. In addition to English, the streams will be available in French and Korean. Twitch will not provide German commentators (casters).
The deal is valid worldwide except for China – Blizzard will likely team up with another partner there.
Teams faced issues finding sponsors because the deal came so late
The deal was long anticipated, and it likely made it difficult for the teams that the Blizzard-Twitch partnership for Overwatch was announced so late.
According to the US site PC Gamer, the owner of the San Francisco Shock stated it would have been easier if they could have told sponsors a month ago who the distribution partner of the league is, but that’s how it is.
There weren’t really many doubts that Blizzard and Twitch would team up. Both companies have already collaborated on tournaments for other games.
The business site Venturebeat believes: Another option for Blizzard could have been Facebook, but the channel is not established for eSports. Twitch, which belongs to Amazon, however, already is.
Overwatch League aims to set new standards
The Overwatch League from Blizzard is modeled after American sports leagues like the NFL or the NBA:
The teams are assigned to individual cities,
the players have contracts, so they are professionals
the schedule is broad – the league starts on Wednesday and lasts until June, with playoffs in July.
Overwatch currently not yet at the top of eSports
With Twitch as a strong partner for eSports, the Overwatch League has all doors open, however, there are still some question marks:
In 2017, Overwatch was not in the top 5 for prize money, but only ranked 7th, still behind Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone. Overwatch was far behind giants like Dota 2, CS: GO, or League of Legends in 2017.
Even on Twitch, Overwatch is currently not at the top, here it is, according to market researchers from newzoo, in terms of viewer numbers in 4th place – also behind LoL, CS: GO, and Dota 2.
These are the numbers for November 2017, in which eSports were viewed on Twitch.
Perhaps Blizzard can eliminate these doubts in the coming weeks and months with the Overwatch League. A home has now been found.
The online role-playing game The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO – PC, PS4 and Xbox One) offers subscribers a burst of free loot boxes and players without a subscription a few days of free premium playtime. Learn the details of this promotion here.
The Elder Scrolls Online is a Buy2Play game that you can play unrestricted after a one-time purchase. However, there is a subscription called “ESO-Plus,” which grants you numerous goodies. And if you like, you can purchase loot boxes that contain mounts and costumes. All of this costs real money, but with the current promotional campaign, both are free.
Free Loot Boxes for Subscribers
Those who already have an ESO-Plus subscription can enjoy free loot boxes. These “Crown Crates” usually cost real money and contain, in addition to boosters and buff food, rare mounts, pets, and outfits.
From January 9 to January 15, there is a loot box available every day for existing subscribers. The box will always be credited between 16:00 and 15:59. Be careful! If you stay online permanently, you may only receive the box for one period.
So make sure you are completely offline during the transition period. It’s not enough to just log out and return to the character selection screen!
The loot boxes you qualify for by logging in each day will then be collected on January 18.
Free Subscription for Anyone Who Doesn’t Have One!
However, if you don’t have an ESO-Plus subscription yet, you can get one for free from the Crown Store in the game from January 9 to January 15. The subscription lasts until January 15 and offers all the benefits of a regular ESO-Plus subscription, except for the monthly crown bonus:
Full access to all DLC expansions (except for the chapter Morrowind!)
A crafting bag that provides unlimited storage for all your crafting materials
Double space in the bank for all characters on your account
10% additional experience, gold, crafting inspiration, and shorter analysis times
Double the number of placeable housing items
Exclusive ability to dye outfits
Double storage for transmutation crystals
If you use the free ESO-Plus subscription, you will not receive free loot boxes. These are only available for regular ESO-Plus subscribers.
In Destiny 2 today, on January 9th, is the Weekly Reset. New activities come with the weekly reset, such as the Nightfall strike and the Flashpoint.
A thrilling Destiny week is ahead, as Bungie is expected to finally reveal the path Destiny 2 will take in 2018 during the night from Thursday to Friday.
Additionally, the Winter Event “The Dawning” ends today at 6 PM. For three weeks, you could throw snowballs at friends and foes, gift NPCs, and celebrate your light in the Cauldron. Now the festivities are over.
Let’s see what new things this week brings.
Nightfall starting January 9th on PS4, Xbox One, and PC
This week, The Arms Dealer is the Nightfall.
The modifiers:
Prism: Attacks matching the displayed element deal more damage. Other elemental damage is reduced. The element changes.
Timewarp:Time Streak: Defeat enemies to extend the mission timer.
The challenges:
Complete the Nightfall with at least 5 minutes remaining.
In the Eververse, you can obtain the Gallop and “Bureaucratic Walk” emote, as well as “Ikora’s Iron Will” (ship) and ornaments for the Prospector and D.A.R.C.I. for Glimmer.
Ikora Rey still mistakenly has a waypoint above her. She brings meditations for the missions 1 AE, Theft, and Well-Stored.
By the way: Shortly after the weekly reset, it’s still snowing in the Tower. Snowballs are still lying around. However, no Dawning items can be earned or Dawning milestones completed anymore.
The next event after the Dawning may already be in February:
Another boss from Antorus, the current raid of WoW, has been soloed. This time, a Paladin succeeded in defeating the Garothi Worldbreaker.
World of Warcraft: Legion is nearing its end. The upcoming Patch 7.3.5 is almost complete and should soon be transferred from the PTR to the live servers. At the same time, many players are still flocking to the current raid, Antorus, the Burning Throne.
Although most bosses are relatively challenging in normal mode, this is still not a real challenge for some players. The protection Paladin Rextroy figured that he did not need other players and faced the Garothi Worldbreaker – and was successful!
With an exploit to solo kill the Garothi Worldbreaker
The method Rextroy used is borderline an exploit. The fight lasted more than 8 hours. The reason for this is that the Garothi Worldbreaker goes into a rage after a few minutes, dealing deadly damage.
However, all of the Worldbreaker’s abilities have a range of only 60 meters – so Rextroy only had to move out of range and wait to avoid the damage.
To deal the necessary damage, he used various cooldowns every 5 minutes, such as Divine Shield, to get close to the boss, deal some damage, and then return to a safe distance.
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In the new loot boxes from PUBG, there is extremely rare loot. The chances for this are very low – especially compared to loot box items from Overwatch or Destiny 2.
The developers of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds presented a new update that is currently on the test servers. Included are bug fixes and cheater reporting functions as well as two new types of loot boxes.
One of them can be opened for free, while the other requires a paid key.
Chances for cosmetic items below 1%
The two new loot boxes increase the pool of boxes in PUBG from two to four. When the patch goes live, you will have a chance to drop one of the following loot boxes when spending BP:
Survivor or Wanderer Box – These are the old boxes. They have a 10% drop chance.
Desperado Box – One of the new boxes. Has a 40% drop rate and requires a paid Early Bird key to open. A price for this has not yet been announced.
Biker Box – The second new box. Also has a 40% drop rate but can be opened for free.
To provide as much transparency as possible, the developers explained the chances for the individual items from the loot boxes. This makes it clear that some clothes are so rare that many players will probably never see them in their inventory.
In the Biker Box, the chances for special items are at 0.01% – statistically meaning that one of those items is found in one out of 10,000 boxes.
BIKER items
Long-sleeved T-shirt (Red) : 15.00%
School Shoes (Brown) : 15.00%
raglan shirt : 10.00%
T-shirt (Pink striped) : 10.00%
Polka Dot T-shirt : 10.00%
Dirty Long-sleeved T-shirt : 10.00%
School Shoes (Black) : 5.00%
Skinny Jeans (Khaki) : 5.00%
Gas Mask (Half) : 4.50%
Beanie (Gray) : 4.50%
Sleeveless Turtleneck (Red) : 4.50%
Skinny Jeans (Pink) : 2.50%
Patrol Cap (Brown) : 1.20%
Sleeveless Turtleneck (Gray Striped) : 1.20%
Patrol Cap (Gray) : 0.40%
Biker Pants (Black) : 0.40%
Floral Shirt (White) : 0.26%
Sneakers (Black) : 0.26%
Padded Jacket (Purple) : 0.06%
Princess Power Tank-top : 0.06%
Floral Shirt (Black) : 0.05%
Biker Pants (Gray) : 0.05%
Aviator Goggles : 0.03%
Sleeveless Biker Jacket (Brown) : 0.01%
Sleeveless Biker Jacket (Black) : 0.01%
Cloth Mask (Checkered) : 0.01%
PUBG Biker Box – Contents from pubgshowcase.com
In the paid Desperado Box, the values look similar:
DESPERADO items
Sleeveless Turtleneck Top (Gray) : 8.00%
Leather Boots (Black) : 8.00%
Punk Knuckle Gloves (Black) : 7.50%
Baggy Pants (Black) : 7.50%
Striped Tank-top : 7.50%
Wide Pants (Red) : 7.50%
Punk Knuckle Gloves (Red) : 7.00%
Sleeveless Turtleneck (Black) : 7.00%
Baggy Pants (Brown) : 5.00%
Long Leather Boots (Brown) : 5.00%
Striped Shirt (Gray) : 5.00%
Beanie (Brown) : 5.00%
Horn-rimmed Glasses (Black) : 4.50%
Training Pants (Light Blue) : 4.50%
Leather Boots (Brown) : 4.50%
Horn-rimmed Glasses (Brown) : 2.50%
Aviator Sunglasses : 1.30%
Checkered Jacket : 1.30%
Long-sleeved Leather Shirt : 0.60%
Leather Hoodie (Black) : 0.32%
Leather Hoodie (White) : 0.32%
Cloth Mask (Leopard) : 0.16%
PUBG Desperado Box – Contents from pubgshowcase.com
Loot Box Comparison with Overwatch and Destiny 2
In other popular games like Overwatch or Destiny 2, the contents of the loot boxes are divided into various rarity categories. In Blizzard’s shooter Overwatch, legendary skins are particularly sought after. They change a character’s appearance almost entirely.
Overwatch players have a 7.4% chance that a loot box contains a legendary item. This corresponds to about every 13.5 boxes. However, players have discovered that this is apparently just a minimum, and the chances are sometimes higher. Additionally, the developers at Blizzard reduced the chance of duplicates.
In Destiny 2, there are Glimmer engrams. These contain, like in Overwatch, four items. However, the developers at Bungie do not disclose the chances of the contents. The rarest item tier in Destiny is “Exotic” and according to the experiences of many YouTubers, the chance for this is between eight to ten “boxes”.
What do you get for your money?
The cost for the Early Bird keys that you need to open the paid boxes in PUBG has not yet been revealed by PUBG Corp. It is assumed that prices will be around $2.50 again. So much as the key for the Gamescom box from PUBG cost.
This would be about the standard price that you would pay for keys from CS:GO, Killing Floor 2, and other games with such loot box systems.
However, you pay $2.50 for a single item in PUBG compared to four items in Overwatch. In Destiny 2, there are also 4 items, but some of those are fillers.
The value of your money is therefore more on the side of Overwatch than PUBG. The cost of a single box is at most around $1 in Overwatch and about $2 in Destiny 2.
Additionally, there is the poor progression system in PUBG. Overwatch rewards you with a loot box at every level-up. No matter how good or bad you play, you can look forward to a new box after each level up. It works similarly in Destiny 2, although the path to the loot box takes longer here.
In PUBG, you only get the boxes if you exchange them with the in-game currency “BP”. You receive some BPs when you finish a match. The better you perform in that match, the higher the BP reward.
There are still some opportunities to improve the game in PUBG.
The Mobile MMO Lineage 2 Revolution (iOS and Android) is also successful in the West. Currently, there are over 5 million registered players. The developers have been providing some nice goodies and special events.
Lineage 2 Revolution is already a huge success in Korea, Japan, and large parts of Asia. The developer Netmarble aimed to replicate this success in Europe and America. Apparently, it worked, as the numbers of registered players are impressive.
Level Up Faster & Grab Extra Loot
According to Netmarble, over 5 million gamers have registered for Lineage 2 Revolution in the nearly 2 months since its release. This pleases the developers, and thus there are hefty rewards for players:
Everyone gets 5 Enhancement Scrolls
Until January 17, 2018, there’s an event that rewards you for creating an S-Rank item by combining items. You’ll then receive a chest with R-grade lacquer
The “Aymel’s School” event runs until January 16, 2018, and offers you automatic levels when you complete 5 quests. You can do this up to twice a day! In addition to leveling, there’s more loot from the quests.
To celebrate the New Year, you will receive additional goodies every day until January 20, 2018, when you log in.
Another event gives you extra loot when you collect and redeem the numbers 2, 0, 1, and 8
Additionally, there are 10 more floors of the “Tower of Insolence” where you can loot even more spoils. So it’s worth it to occasionally power on your phone and start Lineage 2 Revolution in January.
In the upcoming MMORPG Bless (PC) by Neowiz, there will be exciting dungeons for PvE fans. These instances bring not only loot and feelings of success while playing through but also curious stories.
As in most MMORPGs, there are dungeons in Bless. In these instances, dangerous creatures are waiting for you, and therefore, there is particularly good loot as a reward. Bless offers simple solo dungeons, but also epic 10-person raid instances. Those who manage to get through can enjoy the success alongside the loot.
Because tough dungeons require teamwork and skill. Bless aims to offer not only fans of epic realm-vs-realm PvP battles something but also to make PvE enthusiasts happy.
Each dungeon in Bless is supposed to tell a story. The instances are not just soulless dungeons and ruins that simply rot away in the vegetation. Each dungeon has a backstory that is supposed to be woven into the main plot of Bless.
Necromancers, Sexy Snake Ladies, and Killer Cats!
On the Steam page of Bless, the developers have already posted a few screenshots of various dungeons and bosses. And these images already make you eager for more. You can see, among other things:
A kind of nasty necromancer conjuring greedy, ghostly hands from the ground.
A scantily clad female figure seemingly having a snake body.
A floating, horned creature with a sort of club.
Two extremely mean-looking cat beings with jewel-studded turbans in a crystal cave. The beasts look almost like the evil cousins of the Palicos from Monster Hunter World!
Bless might still come to Steam in early 2018. Then we will finally find out what the deal is with the cat monsters. Maybe the impression is misleading, and they just want to play?
Bluehole’s upcoming MMORPG Ascent: Infinite Realm (A:IR) features a monster breeding system. You can reassemble individual parts of creatures to create your personal mounts and pets.
Ascent: Infinite Realm (A:IR) by Bluehole is set to be a fast-paced action MMO with steampunk mechs and airships. This has been known for some time. However, new is the monster breeding feature, which a clever beta tester recently discovered.
The monster construction kit for the perfect mount or pet
In A:IR, there is housing and among the buildable objects, there is also a stable. In it, you can create monsters. There are various “monster memories” that you can find in the game as quest rewards.
The special feature of the system is that you can freely combine the parts. While only components of the same monster type can be used for now, the variations are already impressive. The beta tester Sera has already experimented with a griffin and a lion, posting pictures of them in the forum.
Thus, the lion could become a winged lion creature or gain an even more magnificent mane. The monsters bred this way can then be used as mounts and probably also as pets in the game.
On the PUBG(PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) test servers, the new loot boxes and the reporting feature are already being tested.
A new update for the battle royale shooter “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” brings crates full of cosmetic items and a new reporting feature against cheaters. The crates are available in both free and paid versions.
The developers aim to continue making the game fair with this update.
Reporting cheaters will be easier
By the end of 2017, PUBG reached a massive “3 million concurrent players” milestone. At the same time, it became known that 1.5 million cheaters had already been banned from the game. To ensure that cheaters continue to be identified and banned, it is important that you report suspicious players.
The PUBG team is making reporting easier for you. On the test server, you can now report cheaters directly using the replay feature. This means that a potential cheater no longer has to kill you for you to have video evidence and report the player in-game. The replay system now makes this task easier.
New loot boxes and keys for PUBG
Two new loot boxes are also making their way to PUBG – one can be opened for free, while for the other you need to purchase an early-bird key. All boxes that require a key to open need the early-bird key. You can then buy the key similarly to keys for CS:GO on the Steam market.
Players on the test servers receive 100,000 BP and six early-bird keys to test the boxes. This increases the pool of loot boxes from two to four. However, the contents of the new boxes are also purely cosmetic. The developers emphasized again that this does not create any gameplay advantage.
One of the four available boxes can be obtained on the test servers when you spend BP for it. The chance of receiving one of the two new boxes has been significantly increased for testing purposes.
The chance for the new Desperado box (which requires a paid key) is 40%
The chance for the new Biker box (which you can open for free) is 40%
Chances for the old Wanderer and Survivor boxes are each 10%
The BP currency, new items, and keys will not be transferred to your live accounts.
This update is also intended to improve the performance of PUBG. For example, the visibility while parachuting has been reduced and some bugs have been addressed.
The complete patch notes for the new test server update can be found on the PUBG Steam community page. Once the tests are successfully completed, the update will be transferred to the live servers. Here are the PUBG patch notes on Steamcommunity.com
You can’t get faster legally than this. A Paladin breaks all records in WoW and zooms through the world.
Paladins are not exactly known for their speed in World of Warcraft – and that has been the case since Classic. They played slowly and were also not known for their quick decisions.
This past apparently sparked an ambitious goal in one player.
The player Doggiebone has set out to become the fastest Paladin in Azeroth and has mastered this task with flying colors. Where other players are already happy with 30% or 40% additional movement speed on their character sheet, for Doggiebone, that was just the beginning, as he breaks into the four-digit range.
The Paladin reaches an impressive 3427% movement speed! This allows him to move so quickly that normal control is virtually impossible. Just tapping a movement key lightly causes the character to run into any wall. Normal movement is practically impossible.
Turbospeed only possible in Arcway
The result was made possible by a clever combination of many items, including:
Sephuz’s Secret, the legendary ring that increases speed
Aggramar’s Stride, which increases speed based on a secondary stat
A Chronoshard, which increases speed through procs
Strang of Stars, which grants even more speed when combined with the Chronoshard
But the location also had to be perfect. To achieve the maximum bonus, Doggiebone and his group went to Suramar, into the instance Arcway. In the fight against Corstilax, players can pick up strong buffs through the speed zones that further increase their movement speed.
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How will online gaming develop in 2018? What are the trends? Our author Schuhmann makes 5 predictions. He sees 2018 as the year of the shitstorm looming.
Predictions are difficult, especially when they concern the future. We have 5 gaming trends in 2018 for you, of which we are quite sure will come true.
Few big games – only gigantic or small
This is a strange trend that has been observed for years and will continue in 2018. While more and more indie games are being released on Steam, the supply in the “medium and large titles” category is drying up: Established studios can only be huge and mega.
The best example of this is RockStar Games. They used to release one or two games every year – since they launched the mega-seller GTA V, no new game has come out – and that was since 2013.
No experiments!
If you will, Grand Theft Auto V has killed 4 or 5 “good, big games,” because there was no space left next to the giant GTA V. Publishers are putting all their eggs in one basket and are reluctant to spread them out across several.
Even EA, Activision, and Ubisoft are experimenting less than before: They prefer to fatten the big franchises rather than try something new.
Especially in online gaming, this is clearly visible: When a studio attempts a game, they immediately reach for the top category with hundreds of employees, developing in 6 countries on 3 continents, getting support from external studios, and bringing the thing to all possible platforms. Anything less is no longer acceptable.
So either there are giganto-mega-games or indie studios programming something for the PC with limited means. But these “big and medium-sized games” will be rare in 2018 – for the big publishers, only gigantic counts.
Ironically, 2017 was a “medium-sized game,” PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds from Korea, that was a mega-hit – but that is hard to plan.
Studios believe: More is more
If you look at the financial report from Activision Blizzard, one insight has long been acknowledged by the bosses of the companies: More is more.
Activision Blizzard and its 8 billion franchises.
They say: “Our big franchises compete against the big franchises of our competitors.” And here’s the money to be made: Our mega-title should crush their mega-title.
The giant franchises are becoming increasingly important for companies, as a growing percentage of revenues depend on these mega-titles.
As long as studios think this way, the flagships, the mega-titles, will only get bigger.
One hears from all corners: “The game is now the biggest one we’ve ever worked on.” From Poland, it is said that Cyberpunk 2077 will be even bigger and more expensive than The Witcher 3.
At some point, this trend of gigantomania might hit limits, but certainly not in 2018.
Although players do not directly lose their artifact weapon at the end of the questline, strange things will happen to the weapons afterwards. The colleagues from wowhead have already read the effects from the game data.
Artifact weapons lose power in Patch 7.3.5
The artifact weapons have become unstable due to the great strain. When players open the weapon interface (where the stats and artifact power can be viewed), the artifact weapon starts to tremble. The collected amount of artifact power begins to shrink and the weapon gradually loses its attributes.
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As of now, it seems that this “loss of artifact power” is merely a visual effect meant to illustrate that the artifact weapons are losing their power. The absorbed corruption is too strong and causes the weapons to slowly “bleed out” their collected artifact power.
However, the weapons will probably not actually lose power – because then players would hardly be able to participate in endgame activities like raids until the release of the expansion Battle for Azeroth.
Cortyn says: Honestly, I find this visual effect pretty cool, and it will likely unsettle those players who do not inform themselves on news sites beforehand. The mere fact that we are losing our weapon, which has grown over months, through the slow “bleeding out” of artifact power is rather grim, but it feels like a worthy conclusion to me. Let’s hope that it will truly be just a visual effect…
What do you think about this instability of the artifact weapons? A cool idea or should the weapons remain untouched?
In Destiny 2, Bungie resumes communications. This week there are forward-looking updates.
The Bungie employees have returned from winter break. Normal operations at the studio resumed yesterday (1/8). Now, the year 2018 begins for Destiny 2.
The community managers have already returned on social media:
Cozmo wrote a detailed post in the reddit forum that he is back after a baby break.
dmg04, who was promoted to community manager during Cozmo’s absence, tweeted that it feels good to be back at work. He has to answer hundreds of emails and attend some meetings.
DeeJ is happy via Twitter that his community team is back together. He spent the time behind the scenes setting the stage for success. He emphasizes that nothing at Bungie happens because of a single person. Everything is a team effort.
Bungie promises not to ignore feedback
dmg04 recently addressed a sensitive topic – the criticism of the Eververse.
A post in the Bungie forum gained significant attention: A user accused the developers of currently employing the tactic “If we ignore them long enough, they might stop demanding the removal of the Eververse”. This post has received hundreds of upvotes so far.
dmg04 has now responded to this post in the Bungie forum: Yes, all the feedback about the Eververse is indeed being heard. There are no plans to ignore the feedback. He also heard the concerns that some users believe Bungie is blind to this issue or that they might simply delete negative feedback. However, dmg04 can assure that there are no plans to ever do that.
Via Twitter, he further addresses this issue: There was never any intention to ignore the community or silence their feedback. This is a promise he will stand by throughout his entire career.
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If the Guardians have feedback about Destiny 2 – whether it’s about the Eververse, the Crucible, adventures, or raids, they should post a thread. They want to know what the community thinks.
When can we expect the promised updates?
Bungie announced a while ago that this week they would like to share “good updates” regarding the future of Destiny 2. They want to outline what the future direction of the MMO shooter looks like and how they plan to implement the feedback received.
But when will the updates come? Game director Christopher Barrett has now addressed this: He will speak about it on Thursday.
Due to the time difference, the updates will probably arrive here late Thursday night into Friday. We will report on it promptly.
The popular streamer “Tyler 1” returned on Monday after a long absence as a League of Legends streamer. He immediately broke a Twitch record set by LoL world champion “Faker”.
With streams of the popular MOBA League of Legends, Tyler1 caught attention back in 2016. However, it was less about his quite high skill and more about his toxic character. Insults and intentional dying in the game were order of the day.
Now Tyler1 has been unbanned and is allowed to prove that he has improved. His first stream shows that a lot has changed for the better.
Fat Stream Comeback for Tyler1
The stream started in the IRL (In Real Life) category. There, Tyler1 welcomed his fans and explained how he spent the last months in absence of League of Legends. He was dressed as the champion he masters best and became known for: Draven, the glorious executioner.
Right at the start of the stream, viewers began to subscribe to his channel. In the first hour, four viewers subscribed per second. In total, after about ten hours, there were probably over 4500 subscribers. The subscribers were rapidly chatting in the chat. (Gif from Reddit user TheSubtitlesAreReal)
https://i.imgur.com/zvLMSg0.gifv
After his introduction, he started League of Legends and the chat went wild.
In his first match, Tyler1 achieved positive stats of 10/5/12, although his favorite champion Draven was banned. Other players in the match tried to annoy the reformed streamer and to provoke a touch of the old, insulting Tyler1 to elicit an outburst of anger.
They banned Draven and forced him to play other champions
Enemies camped him or constantly attacked him with five people
Teammates intentionally fed (gave the enemies kills so that Tyler1’s team has poor chances)
Somehow ironic that his teammates are now exhibiting the behavior that originally got Tyler1 banned. But the plan did not work. The streamer remained cool.
This first LoL stream after a long absence from Tyler1 turned out particularly positively and will likely remain in memory for him and the community for a long time. Hopefully, the streamer stays true to his new ways and does not fall back into old patterns.
Tyler1 – Toxic, Banned, Reformed
In 2016, Tyler1 was banned from League of Legends due to his excessively toxic behavior. At that time, Riot Games did not just ban his account but issued an ID ban. This means: Every account created by Tyler1 will be banned. If he were to “reform,” this ban could be lifted.
Forced, the streamer then switched to other games, played PUBG or hosted tournaments on his Twitch channel.
After nearly two years, Riot Games is now giving the streamer the chance to prove himself again in League of Legends. To demonstrate that his behavior has changed for the better. Yesterday, on January 8, Tyler1 started his first official LoL stream after his ban.
Farming Awakened Essences in WoW now yields significantly less. Blizzard does not want players to “pre-farm” Legendaries.
Just yesterday, we reported that forward-thinking players in World of Warcraft can already start farming legendary items in advance. This required gathering Awakened Essences, which can be exchanged for Legendary items with the release of Patch 7.3.5.
Apparently, Blizzard was not pleased with this player behavior, as they have now made some changes to the Awakened Essences.
Awakened Essences now drop for every player at level 110 – regardless of whether they possess the quest “A titanic effort” or not.
The required amount of Awakened Essences for purchasing a Legendary item has been drastically increased.
Emissary caches obtained before Patch 7.3.5 will still contain the reduced number of Awakened Essences even after the release of Patch 7.3.5.
Awakened Essences will also be available in Patch 7.3.5 for the first battleground per day.
The Legendary tokens are “bind on pickup,” as Blizzard does not want players with multiple twinks to farm Awakened Essences to then flood their main character with legendary items
Players should not be able to “pre-farm” Legendaries
The intention behind these changes is that Blizzard does not want players to farm many Awakened Essences now and be able to buy several items on the release date of Patch 7.3.5.
In summary, this means that now all players can now “passively” farm and receive Awakened Essences. However, the Legendary items in Patch 7.3.5 will be so expensive that the current essences will likely not be enough. The drop rate of essences will be significantly increased with the release of Patch 7.3.5.
What do you think of these announcements and changes? Is it good that Blizzard is taking such drastic measures and reacting quickly? Or would you have liked to “continue farming” to cash in big on the release day of Patch 7.3.5?
Traps are a fantastic way to eliminate careless players silently. Whether placed in your own hideouts or in the numerous houses – traps are a great game element that would have perfectly harmonized with this special mode.
Conclusion – Bring the mode back, but better
I wanted to set out in James Bond style with a silenced pistol and eliminate careless players. Unfortunately, as a solo player, I struggled against opposing squads with full shields. I don’t understand why traps were disabled; they would have complemented the game perfectly.
If Epic reintroduces this game mode, I hope it can only be played solo or at most as a duo. The shields available should be limited, and traps should be reintroduced. Epic should even consider placing traps much more frequently. This would significantly enhance the “stealth” feeling even in buildings. And where is my suit with bowtie, by the way?
Have you tried the Sneaky Silencers mode? How did you like it?
For even more exciting news and curiosities, check out our Facebook page!
The silenced pistols were mainly implemented for the new game mode. However, since they only appear in Epic and Legendary rarity, pistols were significantly underrepresented.
The majority of players likely played most rounds with a green submachine gun. That’s a shame since the silenced pistols were designed for this mode.
To top it all off, Epic disabled traps for the Sneaky Silencer mode. Why? I wonder that too.
Traps are a fantastic way to eliminate careless players silently. Whether placed in your own hideouts or in the numerous houses – traps are a great game element that would have perfectly harmonized with this special mode.
Conclusion – Bring the mode back, but better
I wanted to set out in James Bond style with a silenced pistol and eliminate careless players. Unfortunately, as a solo player, I struggled against opposing squads with full shields. I don’t understand why traps were disabled; they would have complemented the game perfectly.
If Epic reintroduces this game mode, I hope it can only be played solo or at most as a duo. The shields available should be limited, and traps should be reintroduced. Epic should even consider placing traps much more frequently. This would significantly enhance the “stealth” feeling even in buildings. And where is my suit with bowtie, by the way?
Have you tried the Sneaky Silencers mode? How did you like it?
For even more exciting news and curiosities, check out our Facebook page!
The silenced pistols were mainly implemented for the new game mode. However, since they only appear in Epic and Legendary rarity, pistols were significantly underrepresented.
The majority of players likely played most rounds with a green submachine gun. That’s a shame since the silenced pistols were designed for this mode.
To top it all off, Epic disabled traps for the Sneaky Silencer mode. Why? I wonder that too.
Traps are a fantastic way to eliminate careless players silently. Whether placed in your own hideouts or in the numerous houses – traps are a great game element that would have perfectly harmonized with this special mode.
Conclusion – Bring the mode back, but better
I wanted to set out in James Bond style with a silenced pistol and eliminate careless players. Unfortunately, as a solo player, I struggled against opposing squads with full shields. I don’t understand why traps were disabled; they would have complemented the game perfectly.
If Epic reintroduces this game mode, I hope it can only be played solo or at most as a duo. The shields available should be limited, and traps should be reintroduced. Epic should even consider placing traps much more frequently. This would significantly enhance the “stealth” feeling even in buildings. And where is my suit with bowtie, by the way?
Have you tried the Sneaky Silencers mode? How did you like it?
For even more exciting news and curiosities, check out our Facebook page!
For our author Robert, the game mode Sneaky Silencers in Fortnite: Battle Royale had everything he dreamed of on paper: Sneaking across the map like James Bond disguised as a bush and eliminating careless targets. Unfortunately, the mode does not deliver on its promises.
Even though there is consensus that an aggressive playstyle is more successful in Fortnite’s Battle Royale in the long run, I do enjoy playing the bush wanderer: Invisible but deadly. Taking out opponents from ambush is incredibly satisfying.
I was all the more excited about the announcement of the game mode Sneaky Silencers. Only silenced weapons and bushes? Yes please, bring it on!
Unfortunately, Epic executed the mode in the worst way possible – and I don’t even mean the fact that I can’t sneak around in a suit!
A stealth mode is for solo players! Or?
Even during matchmaking, I have a bad feeling. The “Fill” option is only available for solo players in duo or squad mode. James Bond as a spy for Her Majesty does not tolerate partners beside him (except for female co-stars).
This is how it should be – James Bond with a silenced pistol
In fact, the mode is played in Fortnite: Battle Royale as a squad. A bush polonaise consisting of four people has nothing to do with “sneaky”. The mode would have been perfect for solo players. However, those who play alone must fill their squad with random players, which often ends in chaos, or face off solo against four-man squads.
This is a bad idea – alone against four players who are all likely equipped with full shields. Yes, the mode offers shields, and in generous amounts.
Sneaky Silencer or the flood of shield potions
Shield potions are found in abundance. It’s not uncommon for cities to be looted with up to six reserve shield potions. Why Epic did this remains a mystery, but it severely reduces the win chances for solo players, as presumably the entire opposing team has full shields.
No unlikely result of a city raid
Since the available weapons are primarily designed for close combat, it is also significantly harder to land a surprise attack. Only silenced pistols and submachine guns were allowed in this mode. However, the distribution leaves much to be desired.
Submachine guns are significantly more present in Sneaky Silencers
The silenced pistols were mainly implemented for the new game mode. However, since they only appear in Epic and Legendary rarity, pistols were significantly underrepresented.
The majority of players likely played most rounds with a green submachine gun. That’s a shame since the silenced pistols were designed for this mode.
To top it all off, Epic disabled traps for the Sneaky Silencer mode. Why? I wonder that too.
Traps are a fantastic way to eliminate careless players silently. Whether placed in your own hideouts or in the numerous houses – traps are a great game element that would have perfectly harmonized with this special mode.
Conclusion – Bring the mode back, but better
I wanted to set out in James Bond style with a silenced pistol and eliminate careless players. Unfortunately, as a solo player, I struggled against opposing squads with full shields. I don’t understand why traps were disabled; they would have complemented the game perfectly.
If Epic reintroduces this game mode, I hope it can only be played solo or at most as a duo. The shields available should be limited, and traps should be reintroduced. Epic should even consider placing traps much more frequently. This would significantly enhance the “stealth” feeling even in buildings. And where is my suit with bowtie, by the way?
Have you tried the Sneaky Silencers mode? How did you like it?
For even more exciting news and curiosities, check out our Facebook page!
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
During the TOTY (Team of the Year) in FIFA 18 Ultimate Team, there is a big surprise! This time, the Team of the Year will be chosen by community representatives. Here are the nominated players who can receive TOTY cards. All information about the voting.
This year, everything is different for the Team of the Year in FUT 18 compared to previous years! Until now, the TOTY has officially been announced by FIFPro at the beginning of January each year, followed by EA Sports revealing the TOTY cards.
This year, FIFPro announced the TOTY back in October, however, EA Sports is sticking to the January date. As the developers revealed, they are now looking for their own Team of the Year for 2017, the “EA Sports Team of the Year”. Voting for this will start on January 8. Here is all the information about it.
Which players are the candidates for the Team of the Year in FUT 18?
EA Sports has put forward 55 candidates, for whom you can now vote. There is one basket each for goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and forwards. The nominated players showed excellent performances on the field in 2017.
Nominated Goalkeepers:
Nominated Defenders:
Nominated Midfielders:
Nominated Forwards:
Who chooses the Team of the Year in Ultimate Team? – Voting
The “EA Sports TOTY” is chosen by community representatives. They are:
Selected media representatives,
Athletes
and FIFA community members
These “handpicked voters” represent millions of FIFA players around the world. On January 8, they will receive specially designed ballot boxes with the 55 nominated player cards (see above). Each vote includes 3 forwards, 3 midfielders, 4 defenders, and 1 goalkeeper in a 4-3-3 formation. Each ballot box recipient casts their vote by posting a photo of their team with the hashtag #TOTYVote on social media until January 12.
However, the community representatives do not fully choose the TOTY, but only 60%. The remaining 40% comes from EA employees.
The final Team of the Year will be announced on January 15, 2018 – a week later than expected.
How do I get TOTY cards?
Once the TOTY players are available, you can pack them for a limited time if you are lucky. There will likely be special pack offers during this time. Afterwards, the only way to acquire the TOTY players will be through the transfer market, where they will demand high prices.
It holds:
Once the TOTY cards are in packs, the standard cards of those players can no longer be packed.
A set must contain rare gold players to have a chance at a TOTY player.
If you possess a standard card of a TOTY player, nothing will happen with that card. If you want a TOTY player, you must pack them with luck or buy them on the transfer market.
The chances of packing a TOTY player are exactly the same as the chances of packing the standard card of the respective player at another time.
More details about the requirements for Allied Races in WoW are known. We reveal which character needs the achievements.
One of the biggest features of the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft, Battle for Azeroth, will be the Allied Races. Horde and Alliance will each be expanded with three new species that are available as playable characters. While the Alliance will have Dark Iron Dwarves, Void Elves, and Lightforged Draenei, the Horde will gain Zandalari Trolls, Nightborne, and Highmountain Tauren.
Throughout Battle for Azeroth, more races are expected to ally with the Alliance or Horde, likely to be added in content patches.
But how does the unlocking of the Allied Races actually work?
From the past weeks, we already know that the various races have special requirements to be unlocked. For instance, players must have a revered reputation with the Nightborne and have completed the “Uprising” achievement, meaning: The complete story of Suramar.
However, players speculated whether the requirements are faction-specific. Since the Nightborne end up with the Horde, it would be logical for a Horde character to also have the corresponding reputation to unlock the Nightborne as an Allied Race. However, this is not the case.
If you have completed the requirement (Revered Reputation + Achievement) on an Alliance character, this also applies to the Horde side. However, the introductory quest line for the Nightborne must be completed with a Horde character – regardless of whether that character has completed the reputation or achievement.
Are you looking forward to the Allied Races? Which new race will you play?
An investigation is underway against the former CEO of the MMORPG Blade & Soul for insider trading. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
As reported by mmoculture, the financial authorities of South Korea have a suspicion against Bae Jae Hyun. He is the former CEO of Blade and Soul.
The criminal act is said to have taken place in June 2017. At that time, Bae was Vice President of NcSoft. He allegedly sold shares of NCSoft worth 3 million USD before the stock value of NCSoft fell by 11.41%.
Bae Jae Hyun denies these allegations of insider trading, stating he sold his shares because he needed money for stock options.
If Bae is found guilty, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a hefty fine.
The case is reminiscent of Funcom’s CEO
The allegations against Bae Jae Hyun are reminiscent of the case of former Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. He was pursued by the Norwegian financial authority for having sold shares of his company based on insider knowledge that the MMORPG The Secret World would not be as successful as investors thought.
Trond Arne Aas was ultimately sentenced to 11 months in prison and a fine after years. Also, Funcom had to pay a fine of 162,000 euros. The penalty was relatively low because Funcom had cooperated with the Norwegian authorities.
Founder of NCSoft competitor Nexon was also charged
In 2016, there were also corruption allegations against the founder of the MMO giant Nexon, a direct competitor of NCSoft. He allegedly bribed a prosecutor for years.
The Nexon CEO received a suspended sentence, while the bribed prosecutor was sentenced to 7 years in prison. However, this case has been under appeal since December 2017.
A Bungie developer discusses some details about enemies in Destiny 2. Have you spotted them yet?
David Bocek has been a Combatants Designer at Bungie since 2015. That means he works on the looks of the enemy races. In Destiny 2, he was mainly responsible for the Cabal Red Legion.
When a Reddit user discovered a detail about the warbeasts, the dog-like creatures of the Cabal, Bocek couldn’t hold back and spilled some more info about the enemies.
Warbeasts have brand marks
The Reddit user pointed out that the warbeasts have the symbol of the Red Legion branded on them. Each beast shows this brand on its hind legs, which can be seen particularly well in the following concept: Bocek happily replied that someone finally noticed this. He himself got this symbol as a tattoo after working on the Red Legion:
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Bocek is a guy who passionately pursues his work and describes himself as a huge Destiny fan and “Lore junkie”.
However, he revealed not only his tattoo on reddit but also another detail about the warbeasts: If you shoot off a beast’s helmet, you will see “barrel openings”. These were implanted in the poor creatures to pump a specific liquid into their brains, which makes them extremely aggressive.
Additionally, the scaly skin of the warbeasts is used by other Cabal units to create flexible armor. You can particularly see it at the joints of some Cabal units, like here with the Gladiators: Alongside this information about the Cabal, Bocek also shared a detail about the Fallen in Destiny 2: Unlike the Exiled in Destiny 1, the Exiled in Destiny 2 grow two additional arms: There is a reason for this found in the lore: The Fallen, including the Exiled, always have four arms. If they lose an arm, it regrows easily. However, the Exiled rank very low in the hierarchy of the Fallen, which is why they are allowed to have only two arms as a symbol of shame. Once a Fallen proves to be worthy to ascend in rank, they are allowed to regrow their arms.
That the Exiled in Destiny 2 can simply regrow their arms is a sign that they want to leave their traditions behind. And this is a sign that the Fallen are currently in a desperate situation.
According to Bocek, there are still many more hidden details that can be found throughout the game, showing how passionate the developers, who design all this stuff, are. They want players to enjoy the small details too, if they look closely enough to discover them.
Maybe you’ll slow down a bit in the Destiny universe over the next few days and take a closer look at all the enemies you encounter. What cool details about the enemies have you discovered?
