The most feared boss in WoW learns new tricks. The elevator has a new method to kill players in Antorus!
The World of Warcraft is filled with plenty of adversaries. This ranges from the notorious gnoll Hogger to Argus, a corporeal, titanic world soul that likes to snuff out players’ life lights.
However, hardly any boss in Azeroth is as feared as the legendary elevator boss. He usually possesses just one single mechanic, which is the mental confusion of the players.
Whether in the supposedly safe Shattrath, the heights of Thunder Bluff, or in raids like Serpent Shrine or Blackwing Descent: If the player becomes inattentive, he takes a step too far and falls into the void. Unless one belongs to a class that can cushion the fall, it usually ends with death.
Even in Shattrath, there was the feared elevator boss from the factions “Seer” and “Aldor”.
The elevator boss is now a well-known adversary among most WoW players, who appears from time to time.
Antorus revives the elevator boss
Also in Antorus, the Burning Throne, he returns – and this time he has learned a new trick!
Instead of merely letting players fall to their deaths when they take a step at the wrong moment (or are “accidentally” pulled by a priest with Leap of Faith), the elevator has one more trick right before the Antoran High Command: It simply crushes the players.
Those waiting on the platform for the elevator to go down will be swiftly crushed by it and die. Particularly funny (or macabre): Some player characters will even be transformed into red meat chunks. Even the spirit healer will likely break a sweat.
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Normally, elevators in World of Warcraft do not do this. In fact, elevator platforms “pass through characters,” so players ultimately stand with their feet on them. After a jump, one stands on the platform and is lifted up.
But evidently, Blizzard did not want this illogic to remain in the game any longer. This will surely lead to some funny laughs in Teamspeak – and especially in LFR, every time players are crushed by the elevator in dozens.
Let someone say that WoW is not coming up with new boss mechanics!
Are you interested in experiencing what the daily life of a young professional gamer in eSports looks like? Or would you like to find out how your life might have looked if you had played more games earlier? With “eSports Life,” you get a step closer to that experience!
Note: We discuss the new single-player game “eSports Life” for PC as it touches on the relevant topic of eSports for us and our readers.
The Dream of Becoming an eSports Star
Professionals in eSports earn their money by playing video games professionally. Like “real” athletes, just with a mouse and keyboard. They live the dream: they have made gaming their profession. However, it is not that simple.
In “eSports Life,” you build a life like that. Most of the time, it’s not just about gaming but everything surrounding it. The life of a professional gamer is not just about playing and collecting money. Our author Benedict has put the game to the test!
What is eSports Life?
The goal of “eSports Life” is to become a notable figure in virtual sports. This means: a professional gamer. In the game itself, it’s less about gaming. It’s much more about establishing an existence as a pro and managing your life along the way. This includes:
A good relationship with parents.
Good grades in school.
Relationships with friends and true love.
Leisure and stress management.
Becoming known by streaming on “Mirch” and posting photos on “Photogram.”
Training through playing and watching streams to improve.
Competing in tournaments and climbing the rankings.
Here everything starts: The basics in the eSports café.
“eSports Life” is being developed by U-Play, the creators of Youtuber’s Life.
The Spark Ignites
First things first: Character creation is remarkably diverse for a relatively small-looking game. I can choose my gender, body shape, and even my personality. The personality determines which position I can play best.
The ticket to the event.
After starting the game and creating a character, of course named after my gamer tag, I realized that he had no idea about gaming. The first event in the whole game invites me to an eSports event nearby by my childhood friend Mike.
At the event, I quickly realize that the game is bigger than I thought. A huge Diablo stands in the middle of the event hall. The first people Mike and I talk to are the famous cosplayer Julia Nigri and the eSports veteran John Malatute.
Sogar die Halle des Events besticht mit Nerd-Kultur.
John Malatute, eine eSports-Veteran, gibt mir einige Tipps auf dem Event.
Julia Nigri ist eine Ikone in der Szene – und so berühmt, dass Mike die Stimme versagt.
Der erste Blick meines Charakters auf ein eSports-Event.
After the event, which leaves my character in a waking dream, reality hits again: Mom wakes me up and reminds me that I have to take out the trash and go to school.
The Cornerstones of Virtual Life Are Built on Real Life
From here on, the exhausting and somewhat chaotic management of a professional gamer’s life in its early stages begins. Step by step, I learn that it’s not enough to just “sit down and game.”
More important than dropping everything to become a pro gamer overnight is the life around it. To ensure this, my mother reminds me that pro gaming is just a dream. A dream that I want to make come true.
To avoid getting stuck in a cul-de-sac, should I stray from my path, I have to keep endless things in balance. I find new friends, study for tests in school, go out with friends, and look for a girlfriend (or boyfriend).
Learning requires clicking a button at the right time in the game, like almost all mini-games in eSports Life, quite easy.
The Ground of Reality: Family
Furthermore, I must also make sure that I do not neglect my family. If I help too little around the house or sleep too much, there are complaints. Even if I play late into the night, watch “Mirch” (a kind of Twitch), or stream myself, there are issues.
Only with enough good reputation with my parents do I receive pocket money. I can exchange this again for “reputation,” which is a nice idea to ensure a small income permanently.
The Beginnings of eSports Life
All of this shows that: Without a functioning social life, the gamer life doesn’t work either. Even my best friend Mike makes it clear to me. He advises me to talk to people when I’m too stressed.
But Mike is also the one who teaches me everything I need to know as a gamer. He treats me to my first gaming session at the eSports café and shows me what I can learn from streams. The mini-games for both are very simple: Click on the right spot on the screen.
Zocken im eSports-Café.
Streams gucken im eSports-Café – auf Mikes Kosten!
An diesen Tischreihen werden Turniere bestritten. Sie sind aber auch zum trainieren da,
I should focus on one of the two currently most popular games: The MOBA “Masters of Champions” or the shooter “ShooterStrike,” which is mostly referred to as “Overshoot” later on.
I chose “ShooterStrike.” However, there aren’t major differences. Both games play out identically in eSports Life. Only their popularity differs, as well as the reach one can achieve as a professional player and the prize money awarded.
The Rising Star
With that, I have almost the entire foundation for everything I need to build my career. So I just have to juggle school, friends, gaming, parents, romance, and earning money – all in 24 hours a day…
A love life is important – it keeps the mind healthy!
Especially at the beginning, all of this is hard because I am constantly being invited to new things that interrupt my activities. Additionally, I am frequently offered new opportunities to handle stress, exhaustion, or training.
The introduction culminates in the fact that the school bully Russel steals my friend Mike’s laptop. I challenge him to a match at the eSports café, needing to gather my team – which I don’t have yet.
My First Team and the Start of My Career
Throughout the game, I meet new members of my team, who become more and more like friends. Once Russel is defeated, they even gift me my first own PC with gaming and streaming accessories.
The humble beginnings.
Moreover, Malatute has taken notice of us. He offers to coach us once we become good enough. His manager shortly thereafter explains to me how important reach is as an eSports player and streamer, and refers me to Photogram, which I should maintain with as many photos of myself as possible.
Because of this, I rarely get to actually game. More important is passing the tests, satisfying my mother, and improving my equipment. There is also training, which I complete by playing myself and watching streams to get better.
My expertise is reflected in skills I can train in three trees: Coordination, Intelligence, and Communication.
With enough practice, I can eventually integrate tournaments with my team into my everyday life – yet another thing to juggle. Because if I play too many tournaments back to back, my team becomes exhausted and non-productive.
Sooner or later, I manage to have Malatute take me under his wing and guide me on the way to the top. Or I get lost in the chaos of real life and remain the eternal casual. I am curious how far I can go!
My goal: to walk into that hall and be the star of the evening!
Benedict’s Conclusion
I didn’t expect it to be this hard to manage a life as an aspiring pro player. Balancing the life of a teenager with a career in eSports is exhausting – as “eSports Life” impressively demonstrates.
That, however, has driven me to keep playing. The simple gameplay keeps leading me to finish just one more task, just one more day.
Gaming in front of a large audience – the dream of many, and still far away for my character.
Because in “eSports Life,” my character doesn’t just sit in front of the PC to game online and occasionally grunt into the webcam when he needs more money. It’s much more about getting life in order while becoming famous.
“eSports Life” is available today on Steam as Early Access.
World of Warcraft: Legion has now received its final raid: Antorus, the Burning Throne. With Antorus finally comes new content for WoW: 11 new bosses, new loot, and new numbers! At the top of the calculated damage list of the DPS ranking: Fury Warriors! But is that really true?
One of the most important questions with every new raid is: Which class actually deals the most damage? The site simulationcraft.org offers a tool that simulates the damage of all classes.
The numbers are calculated ideal values that often do not occur in reality. However, they can be used as rough guidelines and targets to improve. Simulationcraft calculates the damage that each class can theoretically achieve with the best available gear.
Simulationcraft calculates the gear in the so-called “Patchwerk” style with Legendaries for item level 960. This means that the T21 set is not necessarily worn, but rather the mathematically best gear and the best Legendaries with an average item level of 960.
At the top of this calculated list are Fury Warriors. They already shone in Tomb of Sargeras with high numbers in the simulation, and later also in the logs towards the end of the raid. Closely following them are Enhancement Shamans, Shadow Priests, and Frost Mages.
The theoretical damage numbers from Antorus, the Burning Throne. Image source: Simulationcraft.
The single-target focus is dead – long live the single-target focus!
If you take a closer look at the breakdown of damage, you see that most of the damage comes from Bloodbath, Execute, and Bloodthirst. The first place of the Fury Warrior does not result from the strong AoE damage of the class, which certainly has its advantages in some boss fights, but from single-target damage.
Even the other classes at the top are actually more known for their single-target damage. What is surprising is that the true masters of single-target damage, Assassination and Subtlety Rogues, linger in the last places.
Instead, it can most easily be explained by the fact that the sets and legendaries of the upper classes are significantly stronger. New trinkets also contribute to this. For Rogues, Convergence of Fate may still be the strongest trinket – but that comes from the penultimate raid, The Nighthold.
Theory meets practice
The first numbers from Antorus according to logs contradict this mathematics. However, the runs are still not sufficient to draw a solid conclusion. Furthermore, the calculated numbers are designed for a higher item level and tier sets. No one has achieved this yet, so the numbers below are just a temporary trend.
The logs for all item levels for Antorus, the Burning Throne on heroic difficulty. Image source: warcraftlogs.
So far, the Fury Warrior seems to be not as strong in reality as in theory. It remains to be seen what the sets can change about this.
In The Division, the official release date is known, although Massive is not allowed to announce it yet.
Recently, the State of the Game aired on November 30. This contained the information that agents have been waiting for weeks and months: Update 1.8 finally has a release date – at least almost.
Community developer Yannick Banchereau confirms that Update 1.8 will be released next week.
The curious thing is: He cannot specify the exact release date yet. Officially, it is supposed to be announced next Monday. Apparently, there are instructions “from above” that one can only announce the release date shortly before the release.
When will Update 1.8 be released?
Although the developers are being vague with their statements, there is no doubt: Update 1.8 will be released on December 5, 2017. That’s a Tuesday.
The reason is: All major updates are released for The Division on a Tuesday, always around noon. Banchereau “spoiled” in the stream that you should simply look at the days when Division updates have been released so far. This way, you can calculate the release date yourself. Afterwards, he joked that he probably just lost his job with that statement.
At the end of the stream, he revealed that the update will arrive early in the week. He then said: “So, now I need a lawyer!”
In short: Update 1.8 will definitely be released on December 5.
What can agents expect in Update 1.8?
Update 1.8 will be the largest update ever for The Division. It expands the PvE map, introduces two new modes, brings the next two global events, adds new exotics and new secret gear sets, increases the gear score, overhauls a few systems, renews the underground, and turns the rogue system upside down with “Rogue 2.0”.
On Monday, the complete patch notes will be released.
During the livestream, the developers talked a bit about “Rogue 2.0”. This new rogue mechanic has been controversially discussed during the PTS. Today, they emphasized that The Division is a live game. And a live game without changes is not a live game, which is why the Dark Zone will be changed with Update 1.8.
They also released this graphic: Here you can see the deaths in the Dark Zone over the past months and how the percentages changed with the updates:
The red area indicates how many players have died by rogues,
the green area indicates how many rogues have died by non-rogues
and the orange area indicates how many agents died by NPCs.
The graphic illustrates two things:
Significantly more players die through PvP than through PvE
And significantly more players die by rogues than rogues by non-rogues.
The latter is supposed to be balanced out with Rogue 2.0. From now on, you must first show your intention to become rogue before you can attack. This gives the other agents a moment to prepare. Previously, peaceful agents could only react once fire had already been opened on them. Hence, they usually ended up on the losing side.
More information from the State of the Game:
The Global Event 3 will start a week after the release of 1.8, probably on December 12.
The exotics will be enhanced, so you will be able to play more with exotic weapons again.
An “Xbox One X” support is still planned, but it will not come with 1.8. Instead, it will come later.
Revelation Online has received the major ShadowBlade update, bringing assassins to the free-to-play MMORPG. Jürgen and Leya will take a close look at the new class together live today. During the stream, you can win premium packs for Revelation Online.
In Revelation Online, you can now play the new class of assassins! These ruthless characters sneak unnoticed through enemy lines and eliminate their opponents with lightning speed. Thus, the assassins are the first class in Revelation Online that can disguise and perform stealth kills.
I, Leya, will test the role of the assassins in today’s live stream – and I’m not alone! Our Jürgen will be joining for the first time on camera and play together with me.
Date and time of the stream:
When? The stream is live today, on November 30
What time? The stream lasts 2 hours from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM in the evening.
Raffle: We are giving away high-quality premium packs
We are organizing in cooperation with My.Com araffle in which youcan win premium packs. The packages include costumes, skins, and boosts for Revelation Online.
Colleague Jürgen is joining (with cat Cleo) as an expert for Revelation Online!
For the first time, my colleague Jürgen will accompany me in the live stream. He has already written some texts for the MMORPG and played Revelation Online in the beta.
Together, we will roam the world of Revelation Online as ninja assassins and see what the ninjas have to offer! By the way, Jürgen warns that his dear Cleo might sneak through the image from time to time – cat alert!
Jürgen says: “I’m excited to see and test the assassins! They will be a DPS class with dynamic action gameplay and a lot of carnage: because ninja! I’m also curious if there will be the cool Warframe look for the girls too.”
Our Jürgen with his Cleo
What ShadowBlade brings: Mutated motorcycles & new class abilities
In the stream, Jürgen and I will take a close look at the assassins. ShadowBlade also brings more new content to Revelation Online. Thus, there are:
The mutated motorcycle Venom ZX500
The new mount in Revelation Online is a mutated motorcycle on which you can zip around all of Nuanor. This chassis can only be tamed by a skilled driver and must be unlocked in a quest line.
Class and equipment switching
Anyone who wants to start a new class can now transform their current class into another. This way, you don’t have to level your character from level one again.
New class abilities
From now on, there are new quest lines for all classes, where newskills can be bought from vendors. The quests are scattered all over Nuanor. So, you need to take the new assassins into the foggy scorpion plains, where the deadliest mercenaries gather. The blade mages, on the other hand, have opted for the snow-covered starwatch meridian, as it offers an unrestricted view of the cosmos.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
With Legendary Shards, you will soon be able to buy more in Destiny 2.
As the endgame currency in Destiny 2, there are “Legendary Shards“. You obtain them from various sources such as vendor engrams or by dismantling legendary and exotic items.
The current problem with Legendary Shards: There is too little you can do with them. You can exchange them with Xur for Exotics or use them as infusion materials. However, once you have all the Exotics and your characters are at the maximum level of 305, the “Legendary Shards” become worthless.
Given that there is so little one can do with this currency, you receive it way too quickly. Many Guardians could easily buy out Xur’s entire inventory from week to week.
What else would you want to do with Legendary Shards? In the future, there should be several answers to this question.
These items will be available from December for Legendary Shards
In December 2017, two updates for Destiny 2 will be released, with Bungie stating that one of the top priorities of these patches is: To make Legendary Shards useful again by adding things you can buy with them.
Buy vendor items directly
Starting December 12, you will be able to buy weapons and armor directly from vendors in Destiny 2. You will need Legendary Shards and tokens for this. This is what the new inventory of Lord Shaxx looks like: Vendors will always have five armor pieces available – one for each slot. However, the weapon offers will rotate weekly. In the top image, you can see that one of the armor pieces costs 15 Legendary Shards and 10 Crucible Tokens. This “price” will likely vary from item to item.
Starting December 12, you will be able to spend significantly more Legendary Shards with Xur. As you can see, the offerings of this tentacle-faced merchant will be expanded: He will continue to bring one exotic weapon and three exotic armor pieces each week – and also:
Fate Engrams: Once a week, you can purchase a Fate Engram from Xur. This will guarantee an Exotic that you do not yet own (if you don’t already have all the Exotics that Xur can bring). According to the top image, it costs 97 Legendary Shards, which is quite expensive compared to his other offerings.
Three of Coins: A simplified version of “Three of Coins” is returning. These increase the drop rates for Exotics from all sources in Destiny 2 for 4 hours. There are no special mechanics behind this. You do not have to activate them again before every boss. Each coin lasts 4 hours. They cost Legendary Shards, and you can buy as many as you want.
In other words: In December, it will be even easier to quickly get Exotics. You only need enough Legendary Shards.
Buy mods from the gunsmith
Starting December 5, Banshee-44, the gunsmith, will offer you a selection of legendary mods that you can get directly in exchange for Legendary Shards and mod components.
The selection rotates daily and may include even legendary kinetic mods.
Legendary Engrams from the Cryptarch
If you want, you can bring your Legendary Shards to Master Rahool, the Cryptarch, starting December 5. He will sell you Legendary Engrams.
Mythic raiders always find a group in WoW? Not at all! Even professionals sometimes get left out…
If you want to experience the tough “Mythic+” dungeons of World of Warcraft not only with friends, but also want to find a group in the group tool, it’s not that easy – especially since the visits to the high “M+” instances are particularly rewarding.
Especially in the coming days, coinciding with the raid launch of Antorus, the Burning Throne on mythic, many players are seizing the opportunity to farm a few more “Mythic+” dungeons. After all, there’s relatively good loot there and this coming Wednesday even a particularly strong item from the weekly reward chest.
Despite mythic raider success, no spot in a dungeon group
On Reddit, the player TheOMB reported that he desperately searched for a “Mythic+15” group to obtain the corresponding reward. But he found no teammates and was repeatedly rejected. The reason for this is that he has no “Mythic+” score that meets the requirements of current groups.
Various tracking websites, such as wowprogress, read a character’s armory profile and derive a value from it. Those who complete many and high “Mythic+” instances are ranked better.
The absurd thing about it: TheOMB is otherwise a raider at the mythic level who has already defeated Kil’Jaeden at the highest difficulty.
The requirements for teammates increase significantly over the course of an expansion. This is another example of how the demands occasionally miss their target.
However, it must be said that ultimately it is solely the responsibility of the group leader whom they want to take along. Those who have had too many bad experiences and just want to be effective have to set some standards – no matter how absurd they may be.
Cortyn says: Honestly, I find the whole topic relatively difficult. Even if many “WoW is so easy” shouters deny this, there is – in most cases – indeed a correlation between a player’s item level and their skill. Because anyone who is a gameplay fluke will not succeed in mythic raids and therefore will not have the best equipment. Only a few players have that much luck with the “Titanforged” system.
Excluding a mythic raider for having too few points in a “Mythic+” score, however, is absurd. However, the number of players who raid mythically but rarely hang out in “Mythic+” dungeons is likely to be low.
The wait for the PvP features in MU Legend is over. Next week there will be a big update!
For a few weeks now, you can play MU Legend in open beta testing. At the beginning of December, the developers are planning a major patch that will unlock the long-awaited PvP features in the ARPG.
3v3 in MU Legend – Release in December
On December 5, MU Legend players can expect an update that finally activates player-versus-player content. Fans have been waiting a long time for the 3v3 battles, which will finally be brought to life through this update.
The special thing about it is that these fast fights also work cross-server. With the “multiserver function,” players from the same regions can play together, regardless of which server in the same region they created their character on.
The team at Webzen is curious to see how you will use your skills to dominate in the fights. Webzen’s COO Dennis Czybulka says: “We are also passionate players of MU Legend and therefore can hardly wait for the arrival of the first PvP features, just like our fans. We are very excited to finally offer these features to our players and are looking forward to seeing how they will use their skills and equipment in PvP battles.”
But these shouldn’t be all the PvP features. The team confirms that more player-versus-player functions will be added to MU Legend in the future. MU Legend does not want to limit itself to typical PvE content but aims to provide players with opportunities to experience a good PvP experience in the game.
Also, PvE players will continue to find their enjoyment, as work is also being done on these contents.
How does the 3v3 mode work in MU Legend?
First, open the quest atlas with the B key or by clicking on the quest atlas icon. Here you can see individual and group requests as well as your stats like wins, records, and the league you are playing in. Initially, there are only individual requests for the PvP mode. Group requests will be added later.
Based on your victory points, you will be placed in one of the following six leagues:
When you join a 3v3 match, you can first see information about your group and the opposing team. Once all players have joined, you fight for victory. Points are only awarded to winners. In the case of a draw, both teams are treated as losers.
The remaining time and the current team points of a match can be seen in a window on the right side of the screen.
As rewards for your battles, you will receive battle badges that you can exchange at the PvP vendor in Ohrdor.
MU Legend – Auction House Partially Reopened
Gold sellers and other fraudsters made it difficult for players and the MU Legend team in recent weeks. Due to the actions of these players, the team decided to temporarily disable the auction house.
After today’s maintenance (on November 30), the Zen auction house is reopened. Unfortunately, you will have to wait further for the Redzen part of the auction house. Additionally, player-to-player trading remains disabled for now. However, there is a strong effort to activate these functions again soon.
During the period when the auction house was disabled, the developers improved tools against cheaters. The MU Legend team continues to work to eliminate fraudsters from the game. So far, thousands of accounts have been banned that were connected to “forbidden practices” in MU Legend.
In Lineage 2 Revolution (iOS and Android) you can currently earn great rewards every day. A Christmas calendar in the game rewards you for daily logins with amazing gifts! And the fortress sieges are coming soon!
In Lineage 2, it’s all about a good combat value. This refers to the general indicator that indicates your overall strength. The combat value can be increased significantly through upgrades to your equipment, but especially higher levels like S or R are hard to level if you don’t have high-quality items or upgrade materials that you can “sacrifice” for the upgrade.
But thanks to a cool Christmas calendar in the game, there are high-quality items available for free every day!
You just need to log in to L2R and you’ll receive top items for free!
If you log into Lineage 2 Revolution right now, you will be handsomely rewarded. The game gives you some of the best items for free. Just go into the game and check your inbox.
Click on “Account” there and claim your daily goodies. Until December 12, you can grab the following items if you log in after midnight on the respective day:
29.11: 1 x S-level weapon box
30.11: 2 x R-level weapon skins; 50,000 Adena
01.12: 20 x C – SR-level soul crystal boxes; 5 x S-level scroll boxes
02.12: 2 x summoning stone boxes for rare monsters; 2 x Einhasad’s Blessings
03.12: 1 x selection box for boss summoning stones; 2 x Einhasad’s Blessings
04.12: 1 x S-level accessory box; R-level accessory skin
05.12: 10 x enhancement stone boxes
06.12: 5 x upgrade scroll boxes; 50,000 Adena
07.12: 1 x S-level armor box; 3 x R-level armor skins
08.12: 5 x upgrade scroll boxes
09.12: 2 x summoning stone boxes for rare monsters; 2 x Einhasad’s Blessings
10.12: 1 x selection box for boss summoning stones; 2 x Einhasad’s Blessings
11.12: 1 x Blessed Scrolls box; 100,000 Adena
12.12: 1 x Maphr’s Blessing
We asked the publisher if there will be more rewards after this date. If we find out more, we will update this here.
Fortress Sieges are coming in December
The announcement email in the game about the rewards also mentions the long-awaited fortress sieges. These are expected to be unlocked in December and will offer you wild 50vs50 battles.
According to the email, the cool rewards are intended to prepare you for these battles. However, no exact date was given. The sieges may come as early as December 13, because the last Christmas calendar reward is on December 12.
We also asked the publisher about this topic. If we find out more, you’ll know it here!
Star Wars Battlefront 2 has had a tough time. As a small consolation, there might soon be the possibility for character customization – at least that is suggested by a leak that has surfaced via Reddit.
In the PC version of Battlefront 2 he found a menu that is supposed to allow changes to the Assault classes of both sides, but it has not yet been implemented into the finished game.
In the latest conference call, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen commented on loot boxes with purely cosmetic content – and made it clear that EA is very critical of this measure.
“We are very keen not to violate the Star Wars canon. This is a great brand that has been built over many, many years. Cosmetic aspects could violate this canon. A white Darth Vader probably doesn’t make sense compared to a black one. Not to mention a pink Vader. Nothing against pink, but I don’t think that would fit into the canon,” Blake Jorgensen
But character customization is not about creating ludicrous cosmetic content, but about individual adjustments. These wouldn’t have to violate the canon – at least not more than a fight between Boba Fett and Kylo Ren would.
EA’s Nightmare – Pink Darth Vader, here he is
By the way, you can see EA’s nightmare; a pink Darth Vader, in action from the predecessor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMbxVTxkUvM
Either way: The end of Battlefront 2 has not yet come, despite all the doomsayers, and EA surely has some surprises and changes in store.
Bungie needs to work on overcoming this distance. In recent days, steps have been taken in this direction. Nevertheless, many questions remain unanswered, which the captain probably cannot talk about yet because there are larger, economic interests involved.
Apparently, Destiny 2 was meant to be a game for casual players to appeal to the broadest base possible and deliver 80 hours of good gameplay. They have achieved this. Now Bungie must address the needs of those who expected more from Destiny 2.
After more than 3 years, this is an uncomfortable place for the Destiny franchise to be in. After the podcast, one gets the impression that the developers are all too aware of this.
For more on the specific changes coming to Destiny 2 in the next week and the week after, read here:
In a podcast, the leading developers of Destiny 2 address the issues of their game and the bad mood prevailing in the community.
In a Bungie podcast yesterday, the two “fathers of Destiny 2,” Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy, along with PR chief Eris Osborne, took a look at Destiny 2.
The reasons for the bad mood in the community have been identified as two major areas:
Problems in communication with players
and the fact that there are too few reasons for core gamers to play Destiny 2.
According to Bungie, they have tailored Destiny 2 more for casual players based on the feedback from Destiny 1 and have likely swayed too far in that direction. Players who regularly enjoy playing Destiny 2 have too few reasons to log in. There is less gear to find, fewer bars to fill.
Maybe casual players shouldn’t be as powerful as hardcore players
Game Director Luke Smith is one of those hardcore players of Destiny 2. He is probably one of the 100 people on the planet who have played the most Destiny.
Smith says he had all 3 classes on console at 305 and then wanted to play only one character on PC to experience the “casual experience.” After a month “with relatively little playtime” on PC, he now has all 3 classes and they are powering up towards level 300.
Maybe, Luke Smith says, that is good, but maybe it is also a problem. He speaks of a “democratization of power.” Maybe casual players shouldn’t have access to the same power level as hardcore players. Maybe power is too democratically distributed, too equal for everyone.
These are discussions that are held internally at Bungie: In which direction should the game move?
Hardcore players are upset because their friends are no longer playing
The fact that hardcore players have too few reasons or excuses to log into Destiny 2 weighs heavily on the mood in the community.
The frustration in the community arises from the fact that hardcore players lose motivation to continue playing after about 80 hours. Their friends also log in less often. This causes them to lose their social contacts made in the game. That hurts, and their feedback is then passionate – thus negative.
The discontent with Destiny 2 comes from a human place; it has social reasons, according to Bungie’s leadership team. Bungie is aware of these issues, and several strike teams are working to resolve them.
Overall, this is a significant topic in the podcast: How many people and teams are working on the individual aspects of Destiny 2 and how many systems make up the game and interconnect. However, it is often difficult to communicate this externally because Bungie does not know when any particular solution will be ready.
During Stream 2 of “Curse of Osiris,” the mood shifted
Communication from developers to fans is, according to Bungie, extremely difficult. They would like to talk more with the fans, but do not want to make nebulous promises, and concrete commitments are often only possible late.
So, they did not know before the first stream of “Curse of Osiris” whether the masterwork weapons would actually be ready by the December update. Otherwise, it would have started the first stream with these system changes.
By postponing the topic of “system changes” to later, it seems as if Bungie is “deaf” to the players’ problems, while in reality they are already working on them.
A shift in mood occurred during the second stream of “Curse of Osiris.” Here, it was already anticipated that it would not be well received. But even there, the concrete system changes had not yet been finalized. Therefore, they remained silent about them to avoid raising false hopes.
Bungie wants to avoid making promises that they cannot keep. Maybe they are too conservative in this regard.
Communication problems – Bungie doesn’t want to promise anything that isn’t 100% certain
The communication problem stems from a large discrepancy between what players see from the outside and how things are conducted within the team.
Destiny 2 is a massive, complicated undertaking. All parts interconnect. What appears from the outside to be a minor change is a complicated process internally because one thing depends on the other.
Making a game like Destiny 2 is incredibly hard
Essentially, the developers describe in the podcast how difficult their job is in all aspects:
They were unable to quickly fix the bug with the bureaucratic hallway because it coincided with the time window of the PC release and they wanted to keep the code as clean as possible at that time. There was a time window of 7-10 days in which they only wanted to patch in emergencies.
Communication externally is difficult because they don’t want to raise false hopes – they themselves do not know when certain ideas will come into the game because they need to wait for further developments at each point.
How quickly they address a problem depends on the severity of the issue, the ease of a solution, urgency, and many other factors.
Christopher Barrett
Who is actually the Game Director of Destiny 2?
Two mixed things from the discussion:
Apparently, the hierarchies at Bungie are very unique. Luke Smith is a “Game Director” and works on Destiny 2, but that does not necessarily make him the Game Director of Destiny 2.
An important figure is Chris Barrett, who is also a Game Director on Destiny 2 and takes care of the day-to-day operations. He probably oversees the development. Luke Smith has probably communicated constantly with “Barry” over the last 6 months.
Destiny 2 as a steamer in the fog
My MMO thinks: The analysis is correct, but it does not change the problems. One can hear a certain frustration in the podcast that they receive so much flak because they appear “deaf” from the outside, even though they have long recognized the problems and are working on them.
Eric Osborne says at one point: Making such a game is difficult, but no one wants to hear complaints about it. People pay 60 dollars and expect a great game.
The podcast leaves the impression that Destiny 2 is a cumbersome steamer, whose captain does not want to talk about a change in direction because he does not know when it will happen. Therefore, he prefers to say nothing at all and keeps the passengers in suspense.
The passengers then see the mysterious activities on the bridge from the outside, cannot make sense of them, and have the feeling that the captain has no idea what he is doing at all. However, he knows well but cannot convey his perspective because the passengers are too far away.
Bungie needs to work on overcoming this distance. In recent days, steps have been taken in this direction. Nevertheless, many questions remain unanswered, which the captain probably cannot talk about yet because there are larger, economic interests involved.
Apparently, Destiny 2 was meant to be a game for casual players to appeal to the broadest base possible and deliver 80 hours of good gameplay. They have achieved this. Now Bungie must address the needs of those who expected more from Destiny 2.
After more than 3 years, this is an uncomfortable place for the Destiny franchise to be in. After the podcast, one gets the impression that the developers are all too aware of this.
For more on the specific changes coming to Destiny 2 in the next week and the week after, read here:
The Elder Scrolls Online is free for a week on PC and PlayStation 4! Additionally, as a newcomer, you will receive a bundle of real currency to buy goodies in the game such as loot boxes and mounts.
Update: The free version of ESO is now available on PC and PlayStation 4. However, it will take a bit longer on Steam and is expected to be available at 7:00 PM or later, according to Zenimax.
Therefore, The Elder Scrolls Online will be playable for free for one week as part of the “10 Million Storys” event!
Download and play The Elder Scrolls Online for free
From November 30th at 4:00 PM until St. Nicholas Day on December 6th Tamriel is open for all. Anyone who wants to explore the world of The Elder Scrolls Online can download the client and start on PC or PlayStation 4. However, please note that the game client is approximately 80 gigabytes in size. So start downloading as soon as possible.
If you create a new ESO account, you will receive 500 crowns as a starting aid for the event. Crowns are the real currency in ESO, allowing you to purchase loot boxes, buff food, mounts, pets, or costumes.
Your hero waits where you parked him
If you have previously created an account with ESO for another free game event in the past, you will retain your progress from that time and can start right where you left off. The same applies if you want to buy ESO after December 6th. You will keep your hero.
Clear out dungeons and snag houses!
In addition to the free-to-play week, you can snag special loot in dungeons in ESO until December 6th. Just do a random dungeon through the dungeon finder and you will receive a chest with extra loot.
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The next title update for FIFA 18 is already available for download and installation on PC. PS4 and Xbox One will follow later. On consoles, it should be update 1.07. These are the patch notes.
In recent days, the #FixFIFA movement has spread like wildfire on social media. The community has united in urging EA Sports to finally improve FIFA 18 and resolve annoying bugs.
Exactly one week ago, on November 23rd, EA Sports responded. They wanted to become more transparent. At the same time, they released a title update for PC, which is now also available on consoles.
Today, on November 30th, EA Sports is following up. The next title update has now been released on PC and will also be available on PS4 and Xbox One in the coming days.
Patch Notes – Title Update 1.07
The patch notes are currently only available in English, we will translate the updates into German.
Gameplay Adjustments
If a goalkeeper scored a goal, it could cause a freeze during the celebration. This has now been fixed.
If a goalkeeper scored a goal, it was possible for the goal celebration to be skipped.
If you press the sprint button, the goalkeeper can immediately get up when lying on the ground holding the ball.
In a skill game, the player sometimes had control over the wrong player.
If you repeatedly performed the “Juggle Skill Move” in the practice arena, it could cause the player to disappear.
The default coach settings at the intro match have been adjusted.
Pro Clubs
In Pro Clubs, there was an issue in some situations where captains (or players who had just been captains) experienced disconnections when inviting another club for a friendly match.
Ultimate Team
Replays in the FUT Champions Channel can now be viewed at slow speed (0.5x).
The single-player camera has been removed in the FUT Champions Channel, as well as the restart button in the pause menu, which was not functioning.
The FIWC Stadium has been renamed to FeWC Stadium.
Xbox One owners can now also enjoy the MMORPG Skyforge. This gives you the chance to become a true god.
The world of Aelion has a problem: The god has disappeared, and gods from other worlds are now launching invasions to conquer the planet. You are part of a group of immortals who stand against these dark forces. Thus, you not only defend your planet, but you even get the chance to become its next god.
The somewhat different MMORPG
Skyforge differs from other MMORPGs.
On the one hand, it is a mixture of fantasy and science fiction. For example, mechanical enemies from another world attack your planet.
On the other hand, you can switch your class repeatedly. Before each mission and before an invasion, you decide which class you want to embody. At the beginning, you have access to Light Guardian, Cryomancer, and Paladin.
Later, it is possible to unlock additional classes, giving you access to a total of 15. Each class has unique powers, so you must always consider which class is best suited for the upcoming mission.
Become a god
Over time, you will become more powerful and gather a following around you, who begin to worship you. Eventually, you ascend to a god and gain the ability to attain god-like powers. However, you must always take care of your followers, as they are the source of your power.
It is also possible to compete with other players in various PvP modes.
All of this is now also available on the Xbox One by downloading the free-to-play MMORPG from the store and jumping right in. An “Xbox Live Gold” membership is required to play.
Black Desert Online will receive the new class Mystique (Mystic in English) this year! The wild Kung-Fu fighter has a release date in December, and there is an event beforehand where you can already prepare the new heroine.
Since July 2017, it has been known that there will be a new class called “Mystique” in Black Desert Online. However, after some information about her special moves, her story, and her awakening weapon, there was a long period of silence about the tough blonde martial arts fighter.
But shortly before the end of the year, there is still a sign of life from the Mystique and even an upcoming release date.
Release of Mystique in December
According to Kakao Games, the publisher of Black Desert Online, the Mystique will go live on the servers of Black Desert Online on December 13, 2017. However, the perfect Kung-Fu heroine needs to be carefully created.
After all, Black Desert Online has the most detailed editor of all MMORPGs. Therefore, you can create and save your Mystique starting December 6th. This way, you’ll have enough time to design your heroine and be ready to start with your dream fighter at the launch on December 13th!
A versatile melee fighter for PvE and PvP
The Mystique is the female counterpart to the martial arts class “Striker.” However, her focus lies a bit more on PvE than on PvP. She also relies on complex combos and powerful attacks with kicks and fast strikes. You can see how effective the Mystique is at beating enemies in the embedded trailer below! Enjoy watching!
In December, the token system of Destiny 2 will be adjusted. All information can be found here.
The token system has long been criticized. It is said to be boring and does not motivate playing.
Currently, this system in Destiny 2 looks like this: When you complete an activity, you receive tokens. You then take these to the respective vendor responsible for the tokens. If you have collected enough tokens, you receive an engram containing a random item.
The problem with the token system is: It is much too dominant. The Guardians want direct loot after an activity. A flashy weapon or a piece of armor. Tokens, on the other hand, are not appealing. They are boring and monotonous. You already know before completing an activity: My rewards will again just be a few tokens. The heroes in the Destiny universe are becoming token collectors.
Bungie has now released the “State of Destiny 2”, a detailed blog post in which they discuss future innovations. They also address the tokens.
You will soon be able to buy items directly from the vendors
The most important thing upfront: Bungie is not abandoning the token system; it remains fundamentally as it is. However, a few adjustments and more options for what you can do with these tokens will be implemented.
Starting from December 12, it will be possible to buy weapons and armor pieces directly from the vendors. For this, you will need legendary shards and tokens. Here you can see the new inventory of Lord Shaxx:
The vendors will always have five armor pieces available – one for each slot. However, the weapon offerings will rotate weekly.
In order to buy these items directly, you need to
unlock the offers first. In the upper image, you can see that you need to receive two engrams from Lord Shaxx before you may buy the Hunter cloak.
additionally bring 15 legendary shards and 10 Crucible tokens. This “price” will likely vary from item to item.
Furthermore, you should receive “credit” for engrams that you earned since launch.
In the graphic, you can also see a offer of ornaments. You will have to unlock these. For example, a certain number of PvP matches must be completed to receive an ornament. You can learn more about the ornaments here.
Important: You can still exchange the tokens for engrams containing random items. However, the vendors now offer you an additional option where the random factor does not play a role.
Further changes to the loot and token system
From December 12, Commander Zavala and Lord Shaxx will offer “gift consumables” that you can purchase with legendary shards. These will result in:
In the next strike or PvP match, there will be bonus rewards for everyone (friends and foes)
These bonus rewards can be anything – from tokens to exotics.
The gift consumables make the loot after matches a bit more exciting.
Additionally, these innovations to the tokens:
Starting December 12, the vendors will only ask you to hand over your reputation tokens if you have enough of them to earn a reward
Starting December 5:
Daily challenges will reward you with higher reputation token rewards across the board
Cayde’s treasure chests will continue to offer various rewards, but there is now a guaranteed payout of tokens corresponding to the location
Strikes will drop a higher number of Vanguard tokens
“Target resource tokens” of normal quality will have a drop rate of 100% and the value per token will also increase (by 50% for normal tokens and by 250% for rare tokens)
For balance, the required reputation per reward engram for destination vendors will increase (+37%) and for the weapon master (+50%)
Leviathan raid tokens will be redeemed directly at Benedict upon receiving the token. Completing the raid will no longer be necessary.
Hopefully you have already caught strong specimens of Raikou, as the monster will be leaving the Pokémon-GO arenas in a few hours.
With the rotation of the legendary beasts, Niantic provided many trainers with strong Fire, Water, or Electric Pokémon. Each of the beasts was only available to catch for a short time in a specific region. Now they have visited every region and are saying goodbye.
Raikou is disappearing today, November 30
Since September 1, the legendary rotation has delivered rare raid bosses in Pokémon GO. After the Bird Trio (Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos), the three beasts Entei, Suicune, and Raikou have hatched from the legendary raid eggs.
Today, November 30, is the last day you can catch the three in their regions. After that, there will be no Raikou in Europe, no Suicune in North and South America, and no Entei in Asia as raid bosses. Whether and when these monsters will return is still not certain.
If you don’t have a Raikou yet, you should hurry. You only have until this evening to battle and catch one. From tomorrow, you will not find the monster as a boss in the arenas. You can find the best counters for Raikou here
As an alternative, there is still Ho-Oh
Without Raikou, we don’t have to completely forgo legendary raid bosses in Europe. To celebrate the successful global catch challenge, Niantic rewards you with Ho-Oh. The monster with the types “Fire” and “Flying” will be available as a special raid boss in the game for the next few days.
Additionally, until the evening of December 1, additional rewards such as double experience points, double stardust, and six-hour lure modules will be active.
Epic has released update 1.31 for Fortnite, which allows you to use smoke grenades in Battle Royale mode. Additionally, there are new firearms to try out in the PvE mode!
The patch 1.9.1 / 1.31 was released on November 29, just in time for the end of Fortnightmares (the Halloween event). “Xbox One X” users can look forward to 4K support, among other things. The further highlights can be found here in summary!
Changes in Fortnite’s Battle Royale Mode
The biggest new feature is the smoke grenade, which leaves your opponents completely disoriented for a short time. It is therefore ideal for a surprise attack. Unlike normal grenades, smoke grenades are not deadly!
In addition to the smoke grenades, Epic introduces ranked matches in Fortnite: Battle Royale. Do you claim to be the best players? Now you can find out if that’s really true. The ranking is divided into two sections:
Global Wins: The top 50 players with the most wins (divided by game mode)
Points: Shows the players with the highest gained experience
Furthermore, the amount of collected medium ammo has been increased. In duo mode, you now receive 14 rounds for your assault rifle instead of 10, and in squad mode, there are even 18!
Used as a ride – The pumpkin rocket launchers
Also interesting: Due to the popularity of the pumpkin rocket launchers and the ability to ride on them, the normal rockets have been modified so that you can now use them as a ride as well.
The buggiest character in Overwatch is finally playable again. Is this the end of “Bugfist”?
Players have gotten used to the fact that small bugs often creep into large online games. Such bugs are also tolerable if they occur only occasionally or very rarely. However, Overwatch has a character that has not functioned properly since his release: Doomfist.
The community affectionately mocks the boxer with the name Bugfist – and rightly so. With more than 18 known bugs of Doomfist that regularly spoil the fun and influence the outcome of a match, you just can’t rely on Doomfist.
This has also reached Blizzard. The developers promise improvements to the most severe bugs. The first changes are already active on the PTR!
Resolved Doomfist Bugs
Enemies hit by Rocket Punch now slide along the wall less often. If they are hit at an angle of (up to) 45° against the wall, they take full damage.
Rocket Punch can now destroy destructible objects again.
Seismic Slam can now be used more reliably near walls.
Seismic Slam now slides up ramps a small distance before being triggered.
The team is currently still working on additional bug fixes. The following issues are currently being addressed:
Seismic Slam occasionally fails to find targets when enemies are standing in a corner.
Rocket Punch sometimes goes through enemies without hitting them. Some bugs are due to high latency, but another source of error has already been identified.
Using Rocket Punch in a corner causes Doomfist to bounce around wildly. This will also be fixed.
For a number of bugs, Blizzard has not yet pinpointed the cause or they are difficult to reproduce. Fixes for the following issues will likely take some time:
When Rocket Punch collides with Reinhardt’s Charge, it leads to different outcomes. Sometimes Reinhardt is stunned, sometimes Doomfist, and sometimes both. The goal is for both to be consistently stunned, but Blizzard is still gathering data and has not pinpointed the bug.
Seismic Slam sometimes triggers the ground-target area while in the air. This bug is very rare and difficult to reproduce.
Do you think the changes are enough to make Doomfist playable again? Or does the guy with the hard fist need additional buffs on top of the bug fixes?
Gameplay footage of two new PvP maps from Curse of Osiris has been released for Destiny 2. Additionally, there are details on how the Crucible will change.
In the last two weeks, it was always the case that after the “Curse of Osiris” livestreams, an embargo was placed: Selected YouTubers and gaming sites were allowed to capture gameplay footage of the new expansion, but they could only publish it once Bungie gave the “OK.” This has always happened right after the livestreams.
Although yesterday’s livestream was canceled, an embargo was still lifted. People are now allowed to show fresh gameplay from two new PvP maps that will be introduced with Curse of Osiris.
Pacifica and Wormhaven in the video
A few weeks ago, there was information that the new DLC will introduce three PvP maps, one of which is PS4-exclusive for the time being.
In the GameSpot video, you can see two new maps: Pacifica and Wormhaven. Wormhaven is the PS4-exclusive map:
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Pacifica is set on Titan. It should primarily take place indoors, being quite complex in layout.
Wormhaven (from 3:50) is also set on Titan. This map also takes place indoors but features large, round rooms. There are also windows through which you can spot opponents.
In the video, you can see a few new weapons, especially the automatic scout rifle Metronome-52 which is said to stand out. However, the weapon stats in the build that testers could play with are reportedly not final.
What new features are coming to PvP?
In the blog post about the future of Destiny 2, Bungie shares some words about PvP:
Private matches are still expected to come “early in 2018.” A specific date will only be announced next year.
A ranked mode in PvP has been placed on the top priority list for next year. It is probably not to be expected too soon.
Crucible adjustments like better scoring in Control and improved spawning rules will be coming in December.
There will be more incentives to finish a Crucible match, and there will be penalties for leaving competitive games early. They are currently working on it. The new system will come in the new year.
The Iron Banner will be improved in December in terms of uniqueness and rewards.
In the Crucible, Iron Banner, and Trials of the Nine, there will be ornaments that you can earn in the respective activities starting from December 5.
