This Friday, Guild Wars 2 enters a new era with the “Path of Fire” expansion, but not much indicates that.
Next Friday, “Path of Fire,” the new expansion for Guild Wars 2, will launch. Actually, this is supposed to be the last highlight in the MMORPG year 2017 before Blizzcon. But somehow, the GW2 expansion is hardly making waves in the gaming press and public. Is Guild Wars 2 no longer a title for the mainstream?
New expansions are the stage for MMORPGs
A new expansion for an MMORPG – this is usually the time to drum up attention and make a splash. This is the time in the spotlight for an MMORPG. Time to attract new players and bring back old ones.
In 2017, before the release of Stormblood and before Morrowind, the MMORPGs The Elder Scrolls and Final Fantasy XIV were topics that were pushed on mainstream gaming sites. There were events, news, trailers, and campaigns – the drum was being banged vigorously.
Of course, The Elder Scrolls Online and Final Fantasy have the advantage of being part of large single-player franchises, which also interests non-MMORPG fans. Still, it is suspiciously quiet for Guild Wars 2 right now. Not even on MMO specialist sites does one read much about the once favorite of critics.
Guild Wars 2: Disappeared from the public since October 2015
At the beginning of August, Arenanet presented the relevant features of the expansion, since then there have been playtest events, but otherwise it remains quiet around “Path of Fire.” The biggest news about GW2 in recent days was that there are “new forums.” Wow.
Otherwise, ArenaNet seems to rely on internal engagement to keep existing fans in the game. A major campaign to attract new players and draw attention to the expansion does not seem to be underway.
This fits a trend that can be watched with concern in Guild Wars 2. The MMORPG seems to be withdrawing more and more from the public stage over the past years. This is indicated by the numbers from Google Trends, which document global search interest in the title.
After the release of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns in October 2015, global interest in Guild Wars 2 has fallen and stagnated at a significantly lower level than before Heart of Thorns. The “Living World” with episodes and seasons like a TV series makes it difficult to follow the title.
An alarming development: individual updates and patches have no impact on Google interest. While competitor games like WoW have “full patches” like 7.1, 7.2, or 7.3 that repeatedly make the media rounds and generate attention, this is missing for Guild Wars 2.
The expansion announcement in early August was the “only relevant” thing that has happened in Guild Wars 2 for the last 2 years and has given the game at least some boost.
But interest seems to be fading again since then.
Guild Wars 2: What is going on?
It seems that Guild Wars 2 is the loser among MMORPGs in the last 2 years:
With The Elder Scrolls Online and Black Desert, two games have matured that are apparently competitors – GW2 is no longer the alternative to WoW but a participant in an increasingly competitive market with 5 top MMORPGs (WoW, FF14, ESO, Black Desert, Guild Wars 2)
One can be curious whether ArenaNet will pick up the pace in the final sprint and can introduce Path of Fire to more people. Currently, it seems Guild Wars 2 is disappearing from the public radar.
If you want to know more about Path of Fire, here is all the information:
For The Division, there is detailed information about the Resistance mode. This will be introduced with update 1.8 – and it is endless!
Update 1.8, which is expected to be released this fall, introduces not only a PvP mode and a map expansion to the West Side Pier but also a standalone, new PvE mode. This is called Resistance (in German: Widerstand) and will be free for all agents.
In a detailed blog post, the developers introduce this mode. We summarize the information.
What Resistance is About
Resistance is a 4-player PvE activity played in an endless horde mode. This means you will face endless waves of enemies. The mode only ends when you die. There is no “final goal.”
Instead, you fight your way from wave to wave, with a boss wave coming after every 5 waves. These boss waves can be seen as milestones, so you have a point of reference, such as: “Last time we defeated 3 bosses, let’s try to reach at least the fourth boss wave this time.”
It is important to note: The difficulty increases with your progress. The first waves are at “Hard” difficulty, later waves become “Challenging” and “Legendary.” If you last longer, you enter the “Endless” difficulty level. From here, the difficulty is supposed to increase exponentially.
The individual waves (wave 1, wave 2, etc.) have a certain consistency. They maintain a degree of uniformity. If you play the mode again, you will know what to expect in each wave. However, they are not completely identical, as Resistance uses a “dynamic wave spawner.” This means that enemies can appear at random locations and surprisingly. No run will be like the previous one.
About the setting: In Resistance, enemy factions have allied. Together, they want to defeat the Division agents. So, you must face mixed waves of enemies consisting of Rioters, Rikers, Cleaners, and LMB soldiers.
Arenas and Features of Resistance in The Division 1.8
In Resistance, there are three arenas:
In the first arena, there are cargo containers, barges, and building materials.
In the second arena, you must venture deep into the sewers and narrow tunnels.
In the third arena, there is supposed to be an intense battle aboard a large aircraft carrier – the USS Intrepid.
Each arena requires a different playstyle according to Massive. Once you have discovered these locations at the West Side Pier, you can fast travel to them on the map.
More information about Resistance:
You fight not only against countless enemies, but you also have to pay attention to certain modifiers. In some waves, “critical objectives” appear that you must complete quickly. If you fail to do this within the given time, it counts as a defeat and you must start over.
SHD-Tech: In Resistance, there are similar fortifications as in “Last Stand.” You collect SHD-Tech from defeated enemies that you can use to build, upgrade, or repair turrets, healing stations, and pulse stations. You can also use SHD-Tech to replenish your ammunition, first aid kits, and grenades.
There are no checkpoints. If your squad dies, you must start over.
Every 10 waves, there are better rewards. You receive crates that continuously have better loot pools.
Those who were hoping for an open beta of the online role-playing game Dauntless this year will be disappointed. The developers have postponed the testing phase to next year.
The closed beta of Dauntless has revealed a lot of feedback from the testers. Feedback that showed the developers that there is still much work ahead of them before they can tackle an open beta. Therefore, the decision was made to postpone the open testing phase until next year. Especially regarding the network stability of the game and balancing, much still needs to be done.
Closed Beta gets more testers
The postponement of the open beta does not mean thatmore players will not get the chance to enjoy the RPG. New invitations will continually be sent out to allow more players to play Dauntless in advance and provide feedback. You can still register on the official website and, with a bit of luck, receive an invitation.
Roadmap shows what is being worked on
The developers explained what they will be focusing on in the near future. This includes a revision of the combat system and the ability to further customize the heroes. New behemoths that you can hunt will also find their way into the game. On the so-called roadmap you can read exactly what is planned for the near future. This includes a transmutation system and the localization of the game into other languages.
The postponement of the open beta of Dauntless actually brings a bigger disadvantage. Next year, Monster Hunter World will be released, which will likely become a direct competitor to Dauntless.
The MMORPG Black Desert has opened an auction house for the super-rich in South Korea. This serves as a luxurious gold sink and sells items that break rules.
What is a gold sink? And why is it necessary
A “gold sink” refers to mechanisms in MMORPGs that remove in-game currency gold from the game. The problem in MMORPGs is that gold is constantly generated “out of nowhere”: players defeat a monster and it has gold. However, the monster does not take the gold from the economy’s gold circulation; it is magically created anew each time.
Thus, the amount of money in an MMORPG keeps increasing. Gold is worth nothing anymore – and inflation occurs. Players no longer think about gold, as they have a fortune they can never spend.
Some mechanism must fully remove gold from the game; it must flow out again, which is why gold sinks are necessary: In most MMORPGs, traders or other NPCs want gold for their services and goods, which thus disappears from circulation. But in most MMORPGs, that’s not enough: More and more gold is generated.
Black Desert introduces luxury auction house
In the South Korean version of Black Desert, a “Luxury Auction House” has been available in the southwest of Calpheon since August 17th.
The normal auction house in Black Desert is a strictly regulated player-to-player marketplace with prices that only vary within a set range.
The luxury auction house always has one item for sale, which goes to the highest bidder. The super-rich of Black Desert bid against each other. The auction lasts 10 days, with each bid extending this time by 1 minute.
Billionaires will soon bid on black Pegasus
The first item in the auction house was a “Combat/Skill EXP Transfer Ticket” – with which the auction winner could essentially make a “twink” into a new “main”. The larger character exchanges experience points and levels with the smaller character. The item started with a minimum bid of 2 billion silver.
Currently, the billionaires of Black Desert are awaiting September 29th. Then a black edition of the Pegasus will be available. The mount “Nightmare of Arduanatt” starts at 5 billion silver.
The “Luxury Auction House” was part of the content plan for Black Desert, which we presented at the beginning of August. It is likely to come to the West as well.
Here we presented further plans from Black Desert:
The unfortunate hero shooter Battleborn is facing the end. Studio Gearbox has decided not to further develop the title after the next update. Instead, the Battleborn team is now reportedly working on a new Gearbox title. Is it Borderlands 3?
It’s so sad, as it was to be expected: The colorful and complex hero shooter Battleborn will no longer be developed. After even the partial free-to-play transition and fan-organized Battleborn Day events have not helped, developer Gearbox is now pulling the emergency brake and letting the Battleborn team work on another project of the studio.
Battleborn – The fall update will be the last – Battleborn will continue to run
Therefore, there is only the upcoming update for fall in terms of new content. After that, support will end and Gearbox is expected to release no further content for Battleborn. Should there be any news about Battleborn, it will be published through social media.
However, according to Creative Director Randy Varnell, the servers will continue to run for the foreseeable future. You can still happily play Battleborn. The game will not be shut down. Whether you will have much fun on the servers – according to Steam, an average of 100 players are online – is another question.
Is the Battleborn team now working on Borderlands 3?
The end of Battleborn support also has its positives: The team of the unfortunate hero shooter is now reportedly working on another, yet-to-be-announced Gearbox project, according to Randy Varnell.
And even though no names were mentioned, it is strongly suspected that the new game starts with “Border” and ends with “Lands 3.” Especially considering that the new skins and themes from the final Battleborn update have a strong Borderlands touch.
In Destiny 2, Xur does not want to go home yet. He likes being with the Guardians better than in Destiny 1. That is probably also the reason he reveals to them where he is located.
Xur is a mysterious, tentacle-faced Exotic dealer in Destiny. He comes to the Guardians every Friday to offer them his goods. However, his motives are not his own. He bends to distant masters, the Nine.
Especially in the first weeks and months after a launch, Xur is interesting for many Guardians: For perhaps he brings that Exotic that one still needs, which simply does not want to drop randomly. Once the Guardians are stocked up with Exotics, which usually happens with increasing playtime, Xur loses excitement.
In Destiny 2, this could happen particularly quickly, as several English gaming sites write. Xur has lost his allure, now one doesn’t need to google for him anymore. Why is that?
Xur in Destiny 1
Xur is no longer as mysterious as he once was
In Destiny 1, the special thing about Xur was: He randomly appeared in the social hubs. The Guardians ran wildly through the Tower (and to the Reef) to discover Xur’s location. It was a major event in Destiny week after week, followed by many Guardians. Once he was found, this was proudly announced in the reddit forum with bold exclamation points.
In Destiny 2, this search is no longer necessary. Xur may randomly appear in all four worlds – which many thought in advance would make Xur extremely difficult to find – however, he is marked on the map. That is, you only need to open the navigator to see Xur’s location. Mark his symbol, and you will be directly led to the noodle baker:
We summarize the reasons why Xur loses his allure in Destiny 2:
Everyone can quickly find him without having to google for him.
He is there longer than usual. Xur now leaves for home not on Sunday, but only on Tuesday. He is no longer a rare visitor, but almost a regular guest.
He sells only Exotics. He has neither Three of Coins nor other items on offer that might attract Guardians. As one quickly gets Exotics in Destiny 2, Xur could quickly become uninteresting. Already in the first Xur week, many Guardians wrote that they were disappointed with his inventory.
Xur no longer has his own currency (Strange Coins), now he requires Legendary Shards. You can quickly get these by dismantling Legendary Items, for example.
Now one can argue: These are all player-friendly changes. He is there longer, easier to find, and it’s easier to get his items. However, the major event “Xur” no longer seems quite so grand.
For us at Mein-MMO.de, not much changes: We will continue to report on Xur’s arrival every Friday. Now, while it’s not as exciting where he is located, the question of what he has with him becomes more interesting. Because his inventory is no longer displayed on Bungie.net. Those who want to know what Xur has at 11 AM on Fridays must either check in the game itself… or google it afterwards.
Some tactics in Hearthstone require a bit more planning. But a victory only after 90 turns? Well, that is now a thing.
Hearthstone actually has quite clear rules. Whoever sinks to 0 health points first loses. Whoever can no longer draw cards suffers increasing damage each round. But after how many rounds does a Hearthstone match necessarily end?
This question wasn’t relevant before, as most matches are finished after a maximum of 40 to 45 turns – and even that is already an absolute exception.
However, with Knights of the Frozen Throne, players have gained many opportunities to increase their decks afterward, thus avoiding “Fatigue”.
One of these cards comes from the Warrior and is the Dead Man’s Hand – this shuffles a copy of all the Warrior’s hand cards into the deck. Should he have another Dead Man’s Hand in hand, then he can continue the game indefinitely.
Endless? No, not quite. After 90 rounds, Hearthstone decides that the fun must come to an end and the match is resolved as a draw.
Hearthstone always ends after 90 rounds
Nevertheless, matches can drag on for a long time. Many of these fatigue warriors rely on continually destroying the opponent’s minions while building armor. In general, the opponent eventually runs out of steam and dies from fatigue damage. The Fatigue Warrior does not have real “breakthrough” – but plenty of cards to eliminate the opponent’s minions, such as Brawl.
But what if both players are playing such a Warrior deck and can no longer defeat each other? In that case, the match ends after nearly 2 hours with the 90th turn and likely has effectively stolen everyone’s time.
For the upcoming HCT Americas Summer Playoffs, organizers have already established new rules. If a match ends after 90 turns, the player with the greater combined total of health points and armor will be declared the winner.
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However, it is expected that tournament operators will have to come up with another solution in the coming weeks. Because when matches extend over up to 2 hours, it disrupts the entire tournament planning.
What do you think about players being able to “infinitely” increase their decks? Should this be excluded? Or is it good that even such ultra-long-term strategies have a place?
The Western MMO Wild West Online has started its closed alpha phase. I am visiting the game and going on a quest for gold and bandits. The most important question: What kind of game is this? A Western epic like Red Dead Redemption? Or a survival game like ARK Survival Evolved.
I haven’t had much to do with the Wild West for a long time. Sure, I watched a few episodes of “Lucky Luke” as a kid, but that was about it.
Then in around 2010, the open-world game “Red Dead Redemption” came out and man, that trip to the Wild West kept me glued to the console! Now, developer 612 Games wants to set new standards with its new project Wild West Online. This Friday, the game entered its first alpha, and I checked it out.
Wild West Online is still in an early stage (Technical Alpha), and all impressions are provisional and relate to the current version.
The game promises an open world where you can decide for yourself how to earn your bread. Will you be a sheriff and protect the towns, or will you become a bandit, start bank robberies, and rob innocent players?
My first minutes as a real cowboy
Before it even starts, you create a character. Here you notice that the game is in an alpha phase because there are no real options for customization. Quickly enter the name, and then nothing stands in the way of playing. Once you are done with the meager editor, you start randomly on the map, in my case, right in the middle of nowhere. Equipped with a revolver and a pickaxe, I first head to the graphics settings. Meanwhile, another player has the glorious idea to kill me. Here I realize that PvP and survival will play a big role. I die… so back to square one.
And what do I have to do now?
After respawning, I wondered what I was actually supposed to do. According to the listed features of Wild West Online, you can do whatever you want. I take the path of collecting gold with my pickaxe and plan to exchange the gold for some coins in town. With the “H” key, we can call our horse so that we don’t have to walk the entire way. What bothers me a bit: I miss the mini-map. Although you can call up the large map at any time, you remain immobile during that time. With a small map somewhere in the corner of the screen, I could find my way around much more easily.
After a wild ride with my horse, I then find one of the so-called “Safehouses”. Here I can essentially save, so to secure the inventory in a loot chamber. For much more, I still lack the gold.
On the way to gold
So back on the horse and finally find a suitable mine for gold mining. To make the search a little easier, there are special maps that show you available materials, such as gold ore. Along the way, there are some villages that you can examine. There is also the possibility to steal items from houses. However, this lowers your reputation and you might easily become a bandit. In addition, there are various camps where you can pick up items without harming your reputation.
After a thorough stroll, I finally find gold that I can work with my pickaxe. Now I have gold in my pockets and want to go sell it, but I have to be wary of hostile players.
As they say, speak of the devil: A player is looking for trouble and wants to get to me. Now we stand opposite each other, equipped with our revolvers.
As in a Western, I am quite tense and the occasional bead of sweat runs down my face. Then the first shot comes, and I can finally take out the enemy. Now I ride triumphantly into town and sell my gold to the trader.
How does Wild West Online play?
The Western MMO runs fairly stably for an alpha. I only struggled with a few stutters, and in general, the game ran quite smoothly.
In terms of gameplay, Wild West Online can be classified with other survival titles like ARK: Survival Evolved. At the beginning, you struggle with meager equipment and try to survive. Aside from a few outposts and in town, PvP is present, and you constantly keep a wary eye on players to see if they are hostile or not. What bothered me a bit was my horse. As soon as I move too far away from it, it disappears, and I have to call it again. So far, no problem. However, the horse spawns up to 200 meters away in the wilderness. The developers need to rethink and make some fine adjustments, but the Western MMO is still far from finished.
Conclusion: Does Wild West Online live up to its hype?
I must first say, that you could already do a lot in the alpha. People were shooting each other, collecting gold, or riding around the desert for hours. According to a note from the developer, one should focus on gathering resources in this alpha, and that has worked wonderfully.
As you may have gathered from my last sentences, I also successfully defended myself against bandits and safely transported the gold to the trader. What I missed a bit was being guided. There was a tutorial on the official site, but one in-game would have been preferable for me.
At the beginning, you really don’t know what exactly you are supposed to do. The game is a sandbox title, you can do whatever you want. For me, the game feels like another survival title. Sure, the setting in the Wild West sounds refreshing, but here too, it’s about pure survival, just like in other genre representatives. You can collect, craft, and shoot each other.
I would have liked to conduct the advertised heists, but it seems that they were not available in the alpha yet. Overall, for my taste, there is simply too little PvE content. Sure, the focus is on PvP, but sometimes the world feels a bit too deserted. Maybe I played at the wrong time.
Little resemblance to Red Dead Redemption – more of a survival MMO
The question remains whether the Western shooter is a good alternative to Red Dead Redemption? Currently, the game reminds me more of a survival title like ARK: Survival Evolved, just with horses and cowboys. A good story with quests needs to follow to really connect with RDR.
For an alpha, Wild West Online was decent, but some features were still not fully available. Maybe more will be revealed in the upcoming alpha/beta phases.
At the presentation, Wild West Online likely sought proximity to Red Dead Redemption 2 with a targeted leak; in the meantime, doubts about the game have arisen:
In the Crucible, you can use the dome to hold certain zones that represent important mission objectives, or to revive fallen comrades.
The Sentinel – the Captain America of Destiny
The perk Power Accumulation is worth its weight in gold in heated battles, as you and nearby allies regenerate health for each melee kill.
The Code of the Attacker – The Master of Shield Throwing
The second skill tree of the Sentinel is more offensively oriented; you can no longer create a Protective Dawn. However, it grants you a second shield throw while your super is active. Also, you recharge your grenade ability with grenade kills:
Shield Explosion – Execute a short sprint and then unleash this ability in melee. This creates a shield explosion that confuses your enemies
Second Shield – When the Sentinel Shield is activated, you gain another shield throw attack
Trench – If enemies surround you and you kill one of them, your super cooldown is reduced
Increase – By using this ability, you gain an additional grenade charge and the duration of grenade effects is increased
If you decide to play the Titan offensively, do not take this branch of the Sentinel. The Titan has significantly more offensive destruction potential with its other subclasses. However, if you are working as a supporter in tough content, the Sentinel is a good choice!
The Sunbreaker – The Hammer of Sol
The Sunbreaker was introduced in the expansion “The Taken King” of Destiny 1 and is the third playable subclass of the Titan. Once your super ability is charged, you can go on a hunt for criminals armed with hammers.
The subclass has not changed significantly compared to Destiny 1. As with the Sentinel, you can choose between two different skill trees, which we will introduce below.
The Grenades of the Sunbreaker
Of course, the Sunbreaker can also throw grenades. The following three are available:
Fusion Grenade – This grenade deals additional damage if it sticks to the opponent.
Thermite Grenade – A line of solar energy is drawn on the ground that damages your enemies.
Incendiary Grenade – The explosion of this grenade sets your enemies on fire.
The same grenades were already available to the Sunbreaker in the predecessor. For combat against AI opponents, a well-placed Thermite Grenade is recommended, while the Fusion and Incendiary Grenades are recommended for single targets. Note that the Incendiary Grenade must be thrown very accurately; otherwise, it does little damage.
The Code of the Fireforged – The Damage Booster
This talent tree is solely designed to lay waste to everything in your path. Exploding enemies and hammers are just two of the abilities you can expect in the Code of the Fireforged:
Hammer Strike – Use this ability during a sprint to ignite a flaming hammer that deals damage and weakens your opponents
Temperate Metal – Solar kills grant you and your nearby friends a bonus to movement and reload speed
Explosive Pyre – If you kill an enemy with the Hammer of Sol, it explodes
Volcanic Rage – Hammers crumble into ashes that explode upon impact
The bonus to movement and reload speed is nice; otherwise, this branch of the Sunbreaker has no support abilities and is purely focused on the offensive.
The Hammer Strike of the Sunbreaker
You should pay special attention to the perk Hammer Strike. This ensures that you deal 50% more damage to the hit enemy for a short time after the attack. Sounds good? It is!
At the core of this skill tree are the so-called sunspots, patches of liquid fire that speed up your solar abilities recharge and extend your super while you stand in them. You can create these “campfires” by killing enemies during your super or finishing them with melee attacks. Let’s take a look at the abilities:
Mortar Shot – If you hit your opponent with this ability, you unleash a solar explosion that sets nearby enemies on fire.
Sol Invictus – Solar ability kills restore your health, and melee ability kills leave a deadly sunspot.
Solar Warrior – While standing in a sunspot, your solar abilities recharge faster, and the super attack lasts longer.
Endless Siege – Hammers create a sunspot on impact. Standing in one, you throw your hammers faster.
The Sunbreaker has destructive potential and is a great offensive class that also possesses support abilities.
The Striker Titan – Head First Through the Wall
I need to use two phrases here. On the one hand “The best comes last”, on the other “Attack is the best defense”. Both apply to the Striker. The Striker has been fundamentally overhauled by Bungie. While the super attack, the Fist of Chaos, was a one-time thing in Destiny 1, you can now ignite the super in Destiny 2 and easily unleash the Fist of Chaos five or six times before your super ends.
Moreover, the Striker has been given the best grenades of the Titan, which are suitable for all purposes. What else the Striker can do, you will learn now!
The Grenades of the Striker – Better Take Cover
You can choose from the following grenades as a Striker:
Flash Grenade – This grenade confuses hit enemies.
Pulse Grenade – Enemies in the explosion radius take continuous damage.
Thunder Grenade – Attaches to surfaces and scatters light flashes that blind your enemies.
My personal favorite is the Pulse Grenade. If placed well, it takes down enemy Fallen Captains along with their shield in three pulses. Whether in PvE or PvP, this grenade cleans up!
The Flash Grenade is also good for gaining a bit of breathing room in tight situations. Unfortunately, the Thunder Grenade is not quite as strong as in the predecessor but still does a good amount of damage if placed well.
The skill tree for those who like brutal destruction. Shoulder charge? Check! Double grenades? Check! Aftershocks that recharge your grenade? Yes, please!
Seismic Strike – When you activate this ability while running, you ram into your enemies and trigger an explosion upon impact
End Speed – Using the Fist of Chaos activates a force field that deals increased damage to enemies while you are in the air
Aftershocks – When you hit enemies with Aftershocks, your grenade recharges
Increase – With this ability, you get an additional grenade charge, and the duration of grenade effects is increased
Seismic Strike offers area damage. When you execute the attack in a group of enemies, they dissolve into Arc energy. The Fist of Chaos creates an Aftershock, damaging enemies and recharging your grenade. You will have two grenades, and the effects of the grenades will last longer.
The Code of the Quake is pure offense. However, this also means that you lack any support or healing abilities. But you have the other classes as comrades who can assist you while they watch you in awe as you work.
The Code of the Juggernaut – The True Punch-Bro
The Code of the Juggernaut revolves around the Titan’s melee attack and brings the following skills:
Frontal Attack – The attack with this ability reloads your weapon and improves its stability
Reversal – If you perform a melee kill, your health regenerates
Knockout – If you break through your enemy’s shield or deal critical damage, you increase the damage you deal in melee and your range
Stomp – If you kill an enemy with the Fist of Chaos, it increases the duration of your super attack
The Reversal ability increases your chances of survival in larger groups of enemies; the Frontal Attack reloads your weapons and improves their stability. Compared to the Code of the Quake, you can also help yourself here and are not as dependent on other classes. Particularly in heavy endgame content, this skill tree is useful.
Summary: Do you want to play your Titan more defensively and support your team in difficult situations? Play the Sentinel and its Code of the Protector. Do you want to see the world in flames and benefit from it? The Sunbreaker and the Code of the Siegebreakers is your choice.
If you want to bring the offense with a bang, the Striker and the Code of the Quake are perfect for you.
The Titan in Destiny 2 is both front-line and tank. We show you in the class guide how to get the best out of the Titans. This is how you dominate with the Titan subclasses Sentinel, Striker, and Sunbreaker in Destiny 2.
You have completed the story, reached level 20, and have tried out a few Titan abilities here and there, but you are not sure what is best in which situation? We give you some basic tips on the Titan in Destiny 2: What is the best build? Which focus is the strongest? Which subclass and abilities are best suited for the hardest content?
And we show you how to perform well even as a solo Titan.
We will not present any “builds” here, as the skill selection does not offer enough scope and depth. Nevertheless, the choice of focus and the corresponding skill trees should be carefully considered and depends on your personal playstyle.
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The Titan’s class ability – the Barrier
The Titan’s barricade is a useful tool in every fight, whether against AI or other Guardians in the Crucible. Regardless of which subclass you have equipped, the barrier is always available to you. You can choose between two different versions:
Tower Barrier – Extremely useful in Nightfall strikes. The barricade absorbs a lot of damage and can quickly get you out of desperate situations. The tower barrier can also be helpful in the Crucible to hold certain points (e.g., the bomb in Countdown mode). Opposing Guardians also take damage when they run through the tall barricade, making it suitable for blocking smaller passages.
Gunfight Barrier – Behind this barricade, three to four Guardians can crouch and find cover. When aiming through the weapon’s scope, you can shoot comfortably over the barricade. This barricade is suitable for taking down large groups of enemies. The advantage of the barricade is that equipped weapons automatically reload when you stop shooting and leave the zoom. Theoretically, rocket launchers can be used in this way like slowly firing scout rifles.
The Titan’s Barrier
The Titan’s Jump – Fast and Far
Bungie has not fundamentally overhauled the Titan jumps at first glance. But appearances can be deceiving. You can jump significantly further in Destiny 2 than in Destiny 1, and you can do it quickly. The following jumps are available:
Lift – Jump while you are in the air to float higher
Glide – Jump in the air to activate gliding with precise directional control
Catapult Lift – Jump in the air to receive a powerful first boost
The Lift is equally useful in all situations, the Catapult Lift can get you out of tight spots (especially in the Crucible), while the Glide increases control in the air (I can’t name a situation where this was helpful).
For me, the Titan with the Lift has the best jump in the game. It is just as fast and high as in the predecessor, but it goes as far as a Warlock.
Guide: The Titans’ Foci in Destiny 2 at a Glance
The Titan has access to three foci, which we will present in detail in the guide:
The Sentinel – A focus that can be played defensively or offensively depending on the orientation. Wields a powerful shield or protects your allies with a dome that shields you from enemy fire. The Sentinel symbolizes the Void element.
The Sunbreaker – Smash your enemies with flaming hammers. The Sunbreaker is an offensive focus with support potential and corresponds to the Solar element.
The Striker – Pure destruction. An offensive focus that specializes in either grenades or melee attacks. Strikers represent the Arc element.
The skills of each subclass are not fully unlocked when acquired. You will receive upgrade points with each level-up until level 20. Even after level 20, you can still earn upgrade points, and a corresponding bar fills up as you earn experience. In addition to a bright engram, you can also earn upgrade points this way. Certain missions grant you skill upgrades as well.
The Sentinel – Usable Offensively and Defensively
The Sentinel is a new focus in Destiny 2; you get to play with a shield like Captain America. The Sentinel is the first subclass you can unlock in Destiny 2. It has the Void element.
The Grenades of the Sentinel
The grenades of the Sentinel are a mixture of the defender’s grenades and the Hunter’s Nightstalker—the Void Wall grenade, which the Sentinel can now also use.
Magnet Grenade – A sticky grenade that explodes twice on an opponent
Void Wall Grenade – With this grenade, the Titan creates a wall of Void light
Suppressor Grenade – This grenade temporarily prevents your enemies from using their abilities
While sticky grenades were almost always lethal in the Destiny 1 Crucible, they are significantly less harmful in Destiny 2. A Guardian with full health still has meager remains of their shield even after a direct grenade hit.
Which Grenade Should One Use as a Sentinel in Destiny 2?
Both for PvE and PvP, the Suppressor Grenade is recommended as it suppresses enemy abilities. You can also use Magnet Grenades to finish off enemy Guardians.
The Code of the Protector – Anyone for a Bubble?
If you want to support your team in the toughest endgame content, you should consider the Code of the Protector. Here you have access to the Protective Dawn, the Titan Bubble, which creates a dome that protects you from incoming damage. Additionally, you have an overshield as long as you stay in the dome. Specifically, the Code of the Protector offers the following perks:
Defensive Strike – A melee ability that creates an overshield for you and your friends. To do this, kill an enemy with the Defensive Strike
Protective Dawn – When your super is charged, you can create the Protective Dawn that shields you and your friends
Turning Tide – The extra shield from the Defensive Strike lasts longer and increases reload speed and melee damage
Power Accumulation – You and nearby friends receive health for each melee kill
The Protective Dawn is excellent for preventing the death of weakened allies or creating a safe space where you can revive fallen teammates.
In the Crucible, you can use the dome to hold certain zones that represent important mission objectives, or to revive fallen comrades.
The Sentinel – the Captain America of Destiny
The perk Power Accumulation is worth its weight in gold in heated battles, as you and nearby allies regenerate health for each melee kill.
The Code of the Attacker – The Master of Shield Throwing
The second skill tree of the Sentinel is more offensively oriented; you can no longer create a Protective Dawn. However, it grants you a second shield throw while your super is active. Also, you recharge your grenade ability with grenade kills:
Shield Explosion – Execute a short sprint and then unleash this ability in melee. This creates a shield explosion that confuses your enemies
Second Shield – When the Sentinel Shield is activated, you gain another shield throw attack
Trench – If enemies surround you and you kill one of them, your super cooldown is reduced
Increase – By using this ability, you gain an additional grenade charge and the duration of grenade effects is increased
If you decide to play the Titan offensively, do not take this branch of the Sentinel. The Titan has significantly more offensive destruction potential with its other subclasses. However, if you are working as a supporter in tough content, the Sentinel is a good choice!
The Sunbreaker – The Hammer of Sol
The Sunbreaker was introduced in the expansion “The Taken King” of Destiny 1 and is the third playable subclass of the Titan. Once your super ability is charged, you can go on a hunt for criminals armed with hammers.
The subclass has not changed significantly compared to Destiny 1. As with the Sentinel, you can choose between two different skill trees, which we will introduce below.
The Grenades of the Sunbreaker
Of course, the Sunbreaker can also throw grenades. The following three are available:
Fusion Grenade – This grenade deals additional damage if it sticks to the opponent.
Thermite Grenade – A line of solar energy is drawn on the ground that damages your enemies.
Incendiary Grenade – The explosion of this grenade sets your enemies on fire.
The same grenades were already available to the Sunbreaker in the predecessor. For combat against AI opponents, a well-placed Thermite Grenade is recommended, while the Fusion and Incendiary Grenades are recommended for single targets. Note that the Incendiary Grenade must be thrown very accurately; otherwise, it does little damage.
The Code of the Fireforged – The Damage Booster
This talent tree is solely designed to lay waste to everything in your path. Exploding enemies and hammers are just two of the abilities you can expect in the Code of the Fireforged:
Hammer Strike – Use this ability during a sprint to ignite a flaming hammer that deals damage and weakens your opponents
Temperate Metal – Solar kills grant you and your nearby friends a bonus to movement and reload speed
Explosive Pyre – If you kill an enemy with the Hammer of Sol, it explodes
Volcanic Rage – Hammers crumble into ashes that explode upon impact
The bonus to movement and reload speed is nice; otherwise, this branch of the Sunbreaker has no support abilities and is purely focused on the offensive.
The Hammer Strike of the Sunbreaker
You should pay special attention to the perk Hammer Strike. This ensures that you deal 50% more damage to the hit enemy for a short time after the attack. Sounds good? It is!
At the core of this skill tree are the so-called sunspots, patches of liquid fire that speed up your solar abilities recharge and extend your super while you stand in them. You can create these “campfires” by killing enemies during your super or finishing them with melee attacks. Let’s take a look at the abilities:
Mortar Shot – If you hit your opponent with this ability, you unleash a solar explosion that sets nearby enemies on fire.
Sol Invictus – Solar ability kills restore your health, and melee ability kills leave a deadly sunspot.
Solar Warrior – While standing in a sunspot, your solar abilities recharge faster, and the super attack lasts longer.
Endless Siege – Hammers create a sunspot on impact. Standing in one, you throw your hammers faster.
The Sunbreaker has destructive potential and is a great offensive class that also possesses support abilities.
The Striker Titan – Head First Through the Wall
I need to use two phrases here. On the one hand “The best comes last”, on the other “Attack is the best defense”. Both apply to the Striker. The Striker has been fundamentally overhauled by Bungie. While the super attack, the Fist of Chaos, was a one-time thing in Destiny 1, you can now ignite the super in Destiny 2 and easily unleash the Fist of Chaos five or six times before your super ends.
Moreover, the Striker has been given the best grenades of the Titan, which are suitable for all purposes. What else the Striker can do, you will learn now!
The Grenades of the Striker – Better Take Cover
You can choose from the following grenades as a Striker:
Flash Grenade – This grenade confuses hit enemies.
Pulse Grenade – Enemies in the explosion radius take continuous damage.
Thunder Grenade – Attaches to surfaces and scatters light flashes that blind your enemies.
My personal favorite is the Pulse Grenade. If placed well, it takes down enemy Fallen Captains along with their shield in three pulses. Whether in PvE or PvP, this grenade cleans up!
The Flash Grenade is also good for gaining a bit of breathing room in tight situations. Unfortunately, the Thunder Grenade is not quite as strong as in the predecessor but still does a good amount of damage if placed well.
The skill tree for those who like brutal destruction. Shoulder charge? Check! Double grenades? Check! Aftershocks that recharge your grenade? Yes, please!
Seismic Strike – When you activate this ability while running, you ram into your enemies and trigger an explosion upon impact
End Speed – Using the Fist of Chaos activates a force field that deals increased damage to enemies while you are in the air
Aftershocks – When you hit enemies with Aftershocks, your grenade recharges
Increase – With this ability, you get an additional grenade charge, and the duration of grenade effects is increased
Seismic Strike offers area damage. When you execute the attack in a group of enemies, they dissolve into Arc energy. The Fist of Chaos creates an Aftershock, damaging enemies and recharging your grenade. You will have two grenades, and the effects of the grenades will last longer.
The Code of the Quake is pure offense. However, this also means that you lack any support or healing abilities. But you have the other classes as comrades who can assist you while they watch you in awe as you work.
The Code of the Juggernaut – The True Punch-Bro
The Code of the Juggernaut revolves around the Titan’s melee attack and brings the following skills:
Frontal Attack – The attack with this ability reloads your weapon and improves its stability
Reversal – If you perform a melee kill, your health regenerates
Knockout – If you break through your enemy’s shield or deal critical damage, you increase the damage you deal in melee and your range
Stomp – If you kill an enemy with the Fist of Chaos, it increases the duration of your super attack
The Reversal ability increases your chances of survival in larger groups of enemies; the Frontal Attack reloads your weapons and improves their stability. Compared to the Code of the Quake, you can also help yourself here and are not as dependent on other classes. Particularly in heavy endgame content, this skill tree is useful.
Summary: Do you want to play your Titan more defensively and support your team in difficult situations? Play the Sentinel and its Code of the Protector. Do you want to see the world in flames and benefit from it? The Sunbreaker and the Code of the Siegebreakers is your choice.
If you want to bring the offense with a bang, the Striker and the Code of the Quake are perfect for you.
Paladins receives a new patch. With update OB59, the new champion Talus enters the hero shooter. What else is happening? We have the patch notes for you.
The most important information about Paladins OB 59 at a glance:
The demon boy Talus arrives as a new champ in Paladins. Talus is a flanker who teleports and delivers powerful punches.
The tank Torvald is getting a complete overhaul and receives a strong rework: His health points are significantly reduced, his attack is strengthened, and new skills have also been added.
There are new skins for Makoa, Barik, Kinessa, and Seris receives the community skin. Additionally, there are a few bug fixes and general adjustments.
New flanker in Paladins patch OB 59 – Talus, the Ska’drin
The new patch OB59 brings us a new flanker: Talus, the Ska’drin. The Ska’drin are a new race in Paladins and have been almost completely exterminated. They are hated among other races like the elves and have been hunted. The Ska’drin possess powerful abilities and travel through time and space with dark rune magic.
Talus’s abilities are a mix of revelation, teleportation, and punches, with which he triggers a recoil. Talus’s submachine gun is most effective at short to medium range and fires quickly. Talus is a flanker, which is why he is designed for fast and targeted attacks.
If you draw a rune portal on the ground with Talus, you have a safe escape option. You can plunge into the chaos of enemies and when the situation gets too hot, you can teleport back to the rune.
With his ultimate ability, Talus gains free sight of all enemies and can choose one. You will then be teleported directly to this enemy and deal a powerful blow that injures and knocks back the opponent. Only enemies with CC immunity can escape this blow.
Talus can be unlocked in the shop for 12,500 gold or 200 crystals.
New skins & cosmetics for the VIP store in update OB95
Paladins VIP store receives new skins and emotes, and the rotation of old special skins changes. The rotation includes old skins that cannot normally be purchased in the game anymore. The new VIP content remains in the VIP store and is only available exclusively there.
These are the new exclusive contents in the VIP store:
More skins in OB 59: Makoa & Barik as pirates – Seris as a hellish demon
In addition to the exclusive skins in the VIP store, there are also skins that you can obtain from chests or as direct purchases. In update OB59, the “Booty Box” chest comes to Paladins, where you can find Makoa and Barik in pirate look. Seris receives her community skin for direct purchase in this patch.
Cutthroat Barik – The epic skin can be found in the “Booty Box,” which you can unlock for 75 crystals.
Cursed Dutchman Makoa – The epic skin can be found in the “Booty Box,” which you can unlock for 75 crystals.
Hell Seris: This skin of Seris was elected through a community vote. Hell Seris is an epic skin and will be available for direct purchase in the shop during patch OB59 at a 50% discount. Thus, the epic skin will only cost 200 crystals in patch OB59, instead of the usual 400 crystals. Once patch OB60 comes, the discount will disappear.
Champion adjustments: Torvald receives new skills – nearly a new champ due to rework
The tank Torvald should be given special attention in patch OB59. Torvald receives an extreme rework, turning the laser grandpa into nearly a new champion. He is no longer the rock in the surf but will become a damage tank similar to Ruckus.
This is the new Torvald:
General: Health reduced from 5000 to 3500.
Glove adjusted: Now the glove fires projectiles and deals 200 damageevery 0.25 seconds.
Skill “Charging”: No longer absorbs enemy shields. Moved to ability 2 (F).
Skill “Rune Shock” removed from the game
New skill “Cancel”: Gather the energy of your glove and channel an energy beam that silences an enemy and deals 800 damage over 2.5 seconds.
The developers stated that the reason for Torvald’s fundamental rework was to give the tank’s weapon more significance and depth. He should have more impact on the battlefield. The other changes to the skill set are intended to adjust the glove.
Along with the rework of the skills, Torvald’s cards have also been revised. You can find them along with the other champion adjustments in our source reference.
It is also noteworthy that Androxus has received a rework and now possesses a semi-automatic weapon.
General adjustments and bug fixes in Paladins update OB59
The new patch OB59 includes a few adjustments for the hero shooter in general, and a few bugs are being fixed. We give you some of the most important excerpts of the adjustments. You can find the rest in our source reference.
Excerpt of the general adjustments:
Offensive receives overtime.
Makoa’s armor is now part of his skin setup instead of his eyes.
In deck building, cards will now appear gray when they have already been used.
Mounts are being adjusted: Horses will now adapt to the direction your character is running. Additionally, you can now freely look around while on your horse.
Excerpt of the bug fixes:
VIP points are now distributed correctly.
Healing projectiles now pass through shields.
The leaderboard order is displayed correctly again.
Deaths caused by the environment no longer grant points to enemies in offensive.
What do you think of the new laser grandpa Torvald and how do you like the new champ Talus?
A player who cannot speak and was therefore rejected by LFG sites has completed his first Nightfall Strike in Destiny 2. The community in Destiny 2 is showing its best side.
Destiny without a mic – a lonely affair
A story that gives food for thought comes from reddit. A player shares there that he has always struggled to find a group or friends in Destiny. The player is mute and logically does not have a mic either.
However, anyone who does not have a microphone or headset connected will be left behind on LFG sites – no one wants to play with that person. Guardians think: Without a mic, coordinated teamwork is not possible, and they avoid players without a headset.
The mute player felt excluded. He could never do the “hard stuff,” has never seen a Nightfall Strike or a raid. The Trials of Osiris were also closed to him without a voice. He found it extremely difficult to connect in Destiny.
Hundreds of Guardians offered help
In the reddit forum, he described his problems and hundreds of Guardians offered him their help. Just one day later, the visibly moved mute Guardian wrote how great the community welcomed him and responded to his post, which he had to muster the courage to submit.
Many had offered to go with him to the Nightfall Strike, play Crucible, patrol, or just hang out and shoot some aliens.
One player even invited him to his clan. He then ran through the Nightfall with him and his group. The mute player and his new crew completed it the first time.
He says: This experience felt … “normalizing.” He thinks the community of Destiny 2 is wonderful and thanks everyone who helped him.
It was probably difficult at first to coordinate with the team, but with the help of the Xbox app, it became possible to communicate effectively. It helped him that the team members did not start to pick on him just because he fell once.
Mein MMO says: It’s a small story, but given all the cynicism that circulates, it should definitely be told.
The PSN, the PlayStation Network, is experiencing issues today, on September 17. Players are unable to log in, receiving a message that the PSN is undergoing maintenance (WS-37432-9). What is the server status?
Those who want to play online games with their PlayStation this Sunday afternoon are facing a problem: The PSN service is not functioning.
Since around 3 PM, more and more users are reporting that they cannot log in. After a long loading time, they receive the error code “WS-37432-9“. Above this, there is a note: The PlayStation Network is currently undergoing maintenance.
PlayStation has already responded. They write that there are currently difficulties when using online functions on PS4, PS3, and PS Vita. The developers are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. They thank users for their patience.
In short: It is not your fault that you cannot play online. The PSN has a problem. How long the outage will last is not known.
Update 4:10 PM: The online services are slowly coming back online.
Until then, you can read interesting articles here:
For a few weeks now, Season 6 of Overwatch has been underway – and with it, a shift in the meta has been announced. Doomfist enters the fray as a new hero, and suddenly many previously weak heroes find their way open!
New Season – New Meta
At the beginning of the last Season 5 of Overwatch, a shift in the meta was already evident – away from the tank meta in Season 4 towards the dive meta in Season 5.
In gaming, “meta” refers to “the currently most effective tactic.” (Most Effective Tactics Available = META).
The term meta(-game) refers to the general composition of a team (for example, 2 healers, 2 offensive heroes, 2 tanks) as well as the most played specific heroes. Typically, a meta occurs when extremely skilled players discover strong synergies between heroes.
D.Va was one of the strongest heroes of the dive meta.
The dive meta was characterized by extremely mobile heroes like Winston, D.Va, Genji, and Tracer, who could practically change their position at any time. This made it difficult to predict where the next attack would come from. Flanking attacks were the primary method for breakthroughs. The strategy was so successful that very little else was played even in tournaments.
Doomfist is particularly strong on maps with many chokepoints, such as King’s Row or Hanamura. There, both his Meteor Strike and his Rocket Punch become a downfall for the opponents.
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Not only his ability to deal a lot of damage from any position in a team fight makes Doomfist a strong hero. He has the ability to slow down a dive team just by being present. His presence poses a threat to flanking attackers like Genji and Tracer. They would need to think twice about whether it’s worth the risk to jump into enemies when an attack could kill them instantly.
Gravity is Attractive
An additional important step away from the dive meta is the buff of Zarya’s Graviton Surge. Before the adjustment of the ultimate, heroes like Tracer, Genji, or Winston could escape the pull of the Graviton Surge by using their movement abilities. The buff changes this, so that heroes now hit by the ability are truly trapped for its duration.
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This not only makes Zarya stronger but also gives her the ability to counter a dive composition. The mobility that is the strength of this composition is disrupted by the Graviton Surge for its duration. Additionally, it opens up strong synergies with powerful area abilities, such as Doomfist’s Meteor Strike (“Space Jam” combo) and McCree’s Deadeye. The strong Russian has been seen more frequently in competitive matches lately, perhaps for this reason.
Is Doomfist Perhaps Too Strong?
The fact that one hero and a slight adjustment were enough to destroy a strategy that had been entrenched for months raises the question of whether this hero might be too strong. The DPS player of the pro team “Immortals”, Brady “Agilities” Girardi, says:
“I don’t think Doomfist is too strong. The only questionable thing is the cooldown on his Rocket Punch. Four seconds is very little for a one-shot ability that can deal so much damage.”
That the hitbox of the ability was nerfed, as it seemed to hit impossible targets, was still important, but it probably has little impact at the professional level. There, the hits are generally on point, and very few players in that class will have difficulty with the adjustment.
Many players who want to catch the eye of talent scouts for the Overwatch League have already incorporated Doomfist into their repertoire. They hope to attract attention with his current status and thereby have a chance for a spot in eSports. Established players like Agilities, Lucas “Leaf” Loison (GamersOrigin), Kevyn “TviQ” Lindström (Misfits), and George “ShaDowBurn” Gushcha (FaZe Clan) have already achieved some success with the brawler.
What do you think? Do you welcome the change in the meta? Will Doomfist ease the rigid compositions or just create new “must-have picks”?
Is PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) now unstoppable? The fact that the shooter reached this number of players on Steam so quickly was probably unexpected for most gamers.
Just over a week ago, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds reached a huge milestone: More than a million users playing simultaneously.
Only one Steam game stood in the way of the battle royale shooter on the all-time list: Dota 2. The popular MOBA had once reached 1,291,328 simultaneous users on Steam – that was in March 2016.
The PUBG community has now shown that there is even more to achieve. They surpassed the Dota 2 record and made it clear that PUBG is now the king of the hill.
No game has ever had more players online simultaneously on Steam than PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
Over 1.3 million players simultaneously on Steam
It cannot be emphasized enough: PUBG is in Early Access. Nevertheless, it is already showing other popular games how business can be conducted.
After the September update, the shooter was ready for its next milestone. According to Steamspy, PUBG reached an amazing 1,348,374 players playing simultaneously on Steam on September 16. Thus, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is the game with the most simultaneous players in the history of Steam. At that time, about one in 15 Steam users was logged into PUBG.
In June, the peak number of simultaneous players was still a million players less – on June 25, there were about 257,000 players simultaneously peaking in PUBG.
With this new record, PUBG pushes Dota 2 off the top spot of this leaderboard. The MOBA had held the number one position for over a year with the most simultaneous players. Dota 2 set the record with 1,291,328 players in March 2016.
Players are excited, despite performance issues
On Redditplayers write about how PUBG captivated them. User H34thcliff writes “The game convinced me to put aside my console and get a PC. I’ve been playing for two weeks now and have about 30 hours of gameplay. And that’s with a full-time job and a wife.
User TheLanceBean writes that he was immediately convinced by the game after watching a video of PUBG and bought it right away.
Other users mention the performance of PUBG. Even powerful PCs are inexplicably struggling with frames in many situations. Gamers are hoping for a performance optimization so that even average PCs can participate in the battle royale shooter. That would likely provide another significant boost to the player numbers.
Dear readers: Please place a piece of paper and a pen on the table – We are starting with the Destiny 2- raid vocabulary test. From “Wipe” to “Buff,” we will explain the most important words you will hear and use in a raid.
Since September 13, the raid in Destiny 2 has been open, and players are fighting enemies within. To be successful, effective communication is crucial. Short and concise calls save time and clarify objectives. But what is a “Slam”?
For newcomers, the calls in the raid may seem overwhelming. Consider this article as a cheat sheet or vocabulary notebook to shine in the raid.
Destiny 2 Raid Terms, Commands
When our Destiny experts Ttime, Schuhmann, and Robert start talking about the raid topic, it is hard for Destiny newcomers like me to understand anything. Fortunately, there are helpful players in the Destiny community who lend a hand and help beginners like me understand.
On Reddit, users LondonDude123 and other guardians have listed the most important raid terms. Not every raid group uses exactly these terms, but the following explanations are important as a basis.
Source: Duden.de
Wipe: This means something did not go as planned. It is best to quickly let the enemies kill you or jump into a hole so a new attempt can start in the level. Individual players trying to run away from enemies only waste time and hold the team back.
DPS/Damage Phase “Burn the Boss!”: Shoot the boss! During the raids, there are time windows when the boss is immune to damage. When the boss is not immune, a damage phase is active, and you should focus your damage on the boss.
Adds: Additional enemies are present. In a raid, it is not just about six guardians shooting a boss until he falls over. Additional enemies will appear in between, which you should kill during this call.
Dunk/Slam: Freely translated “Put the thing in the thing” – In Destiny raids, it occurs that you have to carry objects to a designated area. If someone in the group says they are doing the “Dunk,” you should protect them. They need to put down their weapon and might need cover from you.
Relic: This refers to the “objects” mentioned during the Dunk. A relic is an item that can only be carried by one player. Whoever is carrying it cannot use weapons.
Enrage: In Destiny raids, some bosses have different phases. The enrage phase usually begins when a timer runs out, and you have not defeated the boss by that time. In short: You are pretty much toast during this phase, and you should focus on defeating the boss before the enrage timer expires.
Parkour: This consists of jumping passages where you need to display your parkour skills.
Buffs: These are “spells” that have a positive effect on you and significantly increase your damage.
Now it’s your turn: To compile a nice vocabulary notebook and share our knowledge, you can write and explain additional terms in the comments. What words should other raiders know?
Paladins (PC, PS4, Xbox One) is getting a new champion in Patch OB59: Talus, the Ska’drin. The cheerful boy brings a new race to the hero shooter and a quite unique skill set. Talus belongs to the Flanker class and is designed to quickly and precisely eliminate opponents. We present Talus’s skills and cards.
The hero shooter Paladins is getting a new Flanker. His name is Talus, and he belongs to the Ska’drin race. The Ska’drin people have been nearly exterminated in the world of Paladins and are considered despicable. However, Talus is a hopeful cheerful person.
Talus appears as a human boy but possesses a cow tail, has horns on his head, and sharp teeth and nails. The Ska’drin debut with Talus in Paladins and bring a bit more fantasy to the shooter.
Talus’s Skills – New Flanker can Teleport & deliver powerful Uppercuts
Talus’s skill set is unique, and especially his ultimate ability is a fascinating mix of Revelation, Teleportation, and a punch with recoil. The Flanker has a weapon that is particularly effective at short to medium range. Talus comes to Paladins with 2,000 health points.
These are Talus’s abilities:
Discharger: A weapon that deals 95 damage every 0.1 seconds at close to medium range. Direct damage
Uppercut: Rushes forward, dealing 600 damage to opponents and knocking them back in a straight line. Area damage
Rune of Travel: Draw a rune on the ground, to which you will teleport after 10 seconds or upon reactivation. When teleporting, you are cleansed from CC effects.Area damage.
Overload: Overload your weapon and fire 33% faster for 4 seconds. Area damage.
True Strength: Move to an opponent directly from anywhere on the map after a brief warm-up phase, dealing 600 damage and pushing them back. Direct damage.
Things to note about Talus’s skills:
The “Uppercut” triggers area damage, allowing Talus to knock back multiple opponents.
The ultimate “True Strength”allows Talus to see every single opponent on the map! Opponents can only counter this attack with CC immunity.
Talus Deck – These cards does the new Flanker have
Talus’s legendary cards either enhance the “Rune of Travel” ability or “Overload”.
Talus’s legendary cards:
Inner Strength: Upon activating the Rune of Travel, the cooldowns of Uppercut and Overload are reset.
Deal Pact: Rune of Travel will no longer activate automatically after the duration ends. If the rune is not used, the cooldown will be reset.
Angry Demon: No ammunition is consumed while Overload is active. (Automatically unlocked)
Talus’s Loadout cards:
Revitalization: You heal 200/400/600/800 HP when you teleport to the Rune of Travel.
Ancient Power: If you hit an opponent during Overload, the cooldown of Uppercut is reduced by 0.5/1/1.5/2s.
Vanishing: While Rune of Travel is active, your movement speed increases by 8/16/24/32%
Stamina: If your health is below 40%, you receive 10/20/30/40% lifesteal.
Prehistoric: If you hit your opponent with Overload, their healing is reduced by 20/40/60/80% for 2s.
Bold: Your reload speed increases by 5/10/15/20%
Dark Vision: If you hit an opponent with Uppercut, they are revealed for 1/2/3/4s.
Passage: The duration of Rune of Travel is reduced by 1/2/3/4s.
Eternity: The duration of Rune of Travel is increased by 1/2/3/4s.
Reclamation: Upon activating Overload, 4/8/12/16 ammunition is generated.
Relic Affinity: If you hit an opponent with Uppercut, 4/8/12/16 ammunition is generated.
Execution: If you hit an opponent with Uppercut, your movement speed increases by 10/20/30/40% for 3s.
Remnants: Your ammunition counter increases by 3/6/9/12
Champion Teaser Video – Talus, the Ska’drin
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Talus is already on the Paladins test server for PC with Patch OB59. If everything goes according to plan, the patch will go live next Wednesday, September 20, for PC. PS4 and Xbox One will follow about a week later.
What do you think of the new Flanker Talus? It could be that Talus, with his special skill set, will rank high on the tier list of Paladins!
Fusion rifles in Destiny 2 have a tough time. In skilled hands, these weapons are absolutely deadly. For Bungie, this was reason enough to keep nerfing fusion rifles in Destiny 1. Shall we go to the next round now?
Fusion rifles are very strong weapons under the right conditions. This was true not only for Destiny 1 but also for Destiny 2. While the quality differences in Destiny 1 were still very large, fusion rifles in Destiny 2 are all virtually usable.
Old rule: When in doubt, Bungie nerfs the fusion rifle first
Fusion rifles need to be charged before they can fire their deadly payload. Bungie never quite knew what to do with fusion rifles, resulting in countless changes to the weapons. Therefore, some were even surprised that fusion rifles returned at all in Destiny 2.
The Infinity – a fusion rifle that Bungie left in the course of Destiny 1
Due to the constant balance changes to fusion rifles, a legend status has developed in the community. Bungie patches the game: How will the fusion rifles be nerfed? New content is coming? Guaranteed with worse fusion rifles. Automatic rifles are made 0.04% stronger? Fusion rifles must certainly suffer from it.
In the lead-up to Destiny 2, the community was already making jokes about it. In a fake tweet, they had Bungie’s weapon chief announce: Destiny 2 will have no balance. Only fusion rifle nerfs!
Bungie pushed the nerfs to fusion rifles so far that the weapons were still nerfed even though no one was playing with them anymore.
Lost Ark is currently in the Korean beta and showcases videos of all 10 classes from there. The gameplay of the character types looks extremely spectacular and overshadows competitors like Diablo 3.
Lost Ark is a highly anticipated action MMO from Korea. The game has been making headlines since 2014 and impresses with spectacular gameplay scenes. Nevertheless, the action MMO from Korea is not finished yet and a release date in the West is still pending.
Especially unfortunate is that extremely cool videos from the 2nd closed beta of Lost Ark have emerged, driving anticipation to unprecedented heights. In comparison to the cool classes from Lost Ark, Diablo 3 appears boring and sluggish.
Lost Ark – Spectacular Action MMO Gameplay
In the current beta of Lost Ark, you can play 10 different classes. These differ significantly in gameplay. There are nimble shooters, tactical mages, and brutal melee brawlers. In the following paragraphs, we present each class with a video.
Gameplay Video for Destroyer, Arcana, and Summoner
These three new classes are playable for the first time in the beta and provide plenty of fun in the game. Especially the Destroyer with his absurdly large hammer looks simply too cool!
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If you prefer to bring out the heavy artillery instead of small pistols, go for the Blaster. This gunner class blasts away with a big weapon and uses both machine guns and rockets.
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Infighters are also martial arts warriors. They rely on combos and the balance between two usable energies. You can see how all this looks in the game in the video here.
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The delicate bard fights with a harp and her attacks are accompanied by lovely chords. Nevertheless, her attacks pack a punch, as the video impressively demonstrates.
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Bungie has looked into how the hate symbol found its way into Destiny 2.
On Tuesday evening, thousands of players hung around without enthusiasm and couldn’t play Destiny 2 – Bungie was conducting painfully long maintenance work, which was then extended indefinitely, ruining the evening for German players.
In the midst of this maintenance, Bungie sent out 3 or 4 tweets: “We have a hate symbol in the game on a pair of gloves. We are sorry. We disassociate from it! We will fix it.”
For the first few minutes, nobody knew what was meant at all. The “guilty gloves” look completely innocent to most people, with only two green “K” visible on the sleeve.
What many of us do not know, and probably Bungie does not know either, is what this symbol currently means. A strange internet movement has made it their symbol with nationalist and racist tendencies.
The innocent internet meme “Kek” originates from World of Warcraft
Originally, “Kek” was what an Alliance member in World of Warcraft read when a Horde member wrote “lol”, meaning when an enemy laughed. In WoW, members of the different alliances were not supposed to understand each other, which is why Blizzard implemented a “encryption” and thus “Lol” became “KeK.”
Symbol of ultra-right internet trolls
This “Kek” has then, over the years, become self-sustaining and has become a part of internet culture. It became a meme.
Recently, however, a “satirical religion” has taken the “Kek” and made it their symbol. This is a group that supposedly worships a frog-faced creature with Donald Trump’s hairstyle.
They have designed a flag for the fictional country “Kekistan”, and this flag bears these symbols. This group is considered ultra-right and extremely provocative against liberals. Thus, it is believed that the flag is also reminiscent of Nazi symbols. Green instead of red – and the “K” serves as a substitute for the swastika.
How could this be overlooked?
The question now was: How could such a symbol end up in Destiny 2? Did an employee smuggle it in as a political message?
Bungie has investigated this. According to Bungie, there was apparently no thought behind the design. The item was designed back in June 2015. When designing items, they draw on a variety of sources from the real world. The “K” seen on the gloves is, according to Bungie, a mirrored heraldic element, a chevron, actually a rank badge from a military uniform.
In the process, symbols from the real world are taken and transformed so that they fit into the world of Destiny.
Then they actually check all symbols internally once more before items go live, to see if they might be “culturally sensitive” in any way in any country. And indeed, they found the gloves and realized: “Yes, this has some pop culture meaning regarding Kek”, but when they cross-checked, they only came to the thing with the “World of Warcraft internet meme” and did not look further.
That the symbol developed from there and became a hate symbol of a nationalist movement went unnoticed.
In the future, they intend to review the process and investigate even more thoroughly. Bungie emphasizes that they have nothing to do with such nationalist ideas. This is not flat talk: Bungie lives tolerance and rejects all forms of exclusion. This is one of the cornerstones on which the studio is built.
Patch 1.0.1.3 should finally remove the symbol from Destiny 2
Currently, players can still see the “K” on the gloves in the preview screen, but other players do not see this on the avatar when looking from the outside. In the next week, a patch 1.0.1.3 is supposed to remove the gloves completely and fix some other bugs.
The open beta of Call of Duty WWII starts this month. Shooter fans, pay attention: There is a trial offer waiting for you that you should not miss.
With the new installment of the Call of Duty series “WWII”, Activision and Sledgehammer Games aim to bring back many fans who left after the last part of the series. After outer space failed to fully convince the CoD fans, it is going back to World War.
The testing phase for CoD-WW2 begins in September.
CoD WW2 Open Beta Start in September
With an open beta phase, the developers want to invite many fans of the series to try the new installment of “Call of Duty”. But new players also have the chance to participate in the free testing phase and find out whether the new CoD installment might be a welcome alternative to their shooters.
The Call of Duty WWII beta starts for PC players on September 29, 2017, and is active until October 2, 2017. This was announced by developer Sledgehammer Games, who also thanked for the private multiplayer beta on consoles, which provided the developers with valuable feedback.
The open beta is aimed at all PC players. Even those who did not pre-order – the testing phase is open to everyone. The goal of the test is to stress test the core gameplay elements and the online infrastructure.
CoD WW2 System Requirements for the Beta
In order for the game to run smoothly, a certain hardware standard is required. Due to feedback from the open beta, the requirements might change by the release in November. The minimum requirements are:
Operating System: Windows 7 64-Bit or later
CPU: Intel® Core™ i3 3225 or equivalent
RAM: 8 GB RAM
HDD: 25 GB HD space
Video: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660 @ 2 GB / AMD Radeon™ HD 7850 @ 2GB or better
DirectX: Version 11.0 compatible video card or equivalent
Network: Broadband connection
Sound Card: DirectX compatible
Information on when the preload starts and what content awaits in the open beta will be announced by the developers in the coming days.
