Skull & Bones will feature RNG loot boxes instead of in-game transactions. According to the developers, this fits perfectly with the pirate setting. However, Pay2Win is something they want to avoid in Ubisoft’s pirate MMO.
Skull & Bones is a pirate MMO by Ubisoft. In it, you play as a pirate captain – or rather, their ship – and plunder other players and NPC ships in exciting naval battles. But not only in combat is there great loot to be found. Those who have a lot of money in real life can also buy loot boxes for euros.
Skull & Bones: Cosmetic Items for Microtransactions
In a conversation with Gamespot, Game Director Justin Farren revealed a few details about the economic system of Skull & Bones. Such loot boxes in the shape of treasure chests are indeed very “pirate-like” and fit well with the setting.
However, the real-money loot boxes will not provide Pay2Win advantages. Instead, they contain cosmetic items for beautifying the ship. Those with a particularly splendid vessel should be recognizable as a “Badass” from afar. Farren referred to this as “Ship Porn”.
There should also be enough events and opportunities in the game for players to earn the desired decorations and cosmetic objects without spending money. Those who want the items immediately and without effort can grab their credit card and purchase a “pirated” loot box. However, Farren did not want to reveal more details about the microtransactions (yet).
Skull & Bones: Game Economy to be Realistic
Through the pirate theme of the treasure chests, loot boxes are intended to be integrated immersively into the game. Additionally, in Skull & Bones, you should be able to see from afar what cargo an enemy ship is carrying. With the spyglass, you can scout the hoped-for loot according to Farren and perfectly plan your raids according to your needs.
Do you want to get into the mood for “Destiny 2“? Then check out this fan trailer.
Monday evening – it’s time for the videos of the week! Bungie presents the three best community works from the past days, which we complement with works from our readership.
All Guardians involved in the videos selected by Bungie will receive an exclusive emblem that they can proudly showcase in Destiny 1. It is the Mark of Containment:
This week’s “Video of the Week” title was awarded to a fan trailer for Destiny 2. It was created by Mr. Psychopomp. The Guardian edited scenes and quotes from various trailers for Destiny 2 and set it all to epic music. In the video description, he welcomes everyone aboard the hype train to Destiny 2.
Here we embed the trailer for you:
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In addition, Hannes from the clan MateOst, shows us how he spent the last Trials of Osiris in Destiny 1 with his colleagues Steffen and Tom. Very nice!
In order to showcase more videos in the upcoming MOTW article, you need to send us your videos! Get active, put together a video and send it to us preferably as a private message via Facebook. You can find us there under “Mein-MMO.de”. We will definitely take a look at the videos. But we can’t promise anything more.
How the videos of the week will continue with the launch of Destiny 2 is still unknown, by the way. However, we assume that Bungie will continue this community tradition.
Ubisoft released a launch trailer and patch notes for the update 1.7 for The Division. For the first time, the masks can be seen.
Tomorrow, on August 15, the free update 1.7 will be released on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Just in time, a launch trailer went live that showcases the most important new features of this update:
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1.7 is the first major content update in year 2 of The Division.
What’s New in Update 1.7 – The Most Important Contents
Agents can look forward to the following:
Global Events: Time-limited events that add modifiers to the PvE activities, making them more varied. There are global modifiers that affect all PvE activities, and activity modifiers that you can optionally set for certain activities. The challenge becomes greater, but so do the rewards. You earn “Global Event” tokens that you can use to purchase rewards. The first event starts on August 15 and is called “Outbreak” (more info in the link). It lasts until August 21.
Classified Gear: These are new versions of existing gear sets. If you equip five or six pieces, you unlock 5-set and 6-set bonuses. The classified armor pieces will initially only be available during global events. After that, they will be added to the general loot pool. They represent the new best armor pieces. During the first global event, you can earn the classified gear from Lone Star, DeadEYE, and Final Measure.
Commendations and Patches: You will receive over 500 objectives that you can fulfill to earn rewards. Some commendations reward you with a patch that is displayed on the agent’s right arm. A few of them can be seen in the trailer.
Post-Character Customization: A “Bathroom” will be installed in the terminal where you can customize the appearance of your agents.
Encrypted Chests: There will be new chests at the premium vendor that can only be opened with a key. You can buy and craft these keys for real money by finding key fragments in the game. Named bosses drop these fragments with a 20% chance. The encrypted chests contain cosmetic items: exclusive emotes, outfits, and skins.
Masks: These are new cosmetic items that were previously little known. Some of them can finally be seen in the trailer, like this one:
Patch Notes for 1.7 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC
The patch notes will initially list the new features described above. Then the “smaller” adjustments will be mentioned. Here’s a selection:
Blueprints, crafting materials, and currencies are shared across all characters of the same account
After healing a status effect with a first aid kit, you are immune to that effect for three seconds
A bug is fixed where players could sprint faster by hammering the sprint button.
All weapons now have a hard cap on fire rate. There should be no way to exceed this maximum.
The recoil of the SVD sniper has been adjusted closer to the M1A.
In the D3-FNC set, the 3-set bonus of +30% ballistic shield hit points has been exchanged for +10% damage against elites
Ballistic shield: In PvP, players deal 20% more damage to the shield.
The NinjaBike Backpack is back in the loot pool. The new talent causes the exotic to function as an additional item from all equipped gear sets, unlocking further set bonuses. It cannot unlock bonuses from classified sets (5-set and 6-set). More info about the new NinjaBike backpack here.
The weapon talent “Stable” now only increases stability by 10% (instead of 35%)
The talents “Coolheaded” and “Determined” now affect all skills – including individual skills
Seeker Mine: Explosion damage reduced from 900 to 600. The damage of the air detonation mod has been reduced from 300 to 120.
All sorts of bugs have been fixed – in the open world and in game modes. For example, players will no longer be hit through walls by NPCs or get stuck between two objects.
You can find all bug fixes in the patch notes on the Ubisoft page (currently only in English).
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Are there too many egoists in Overwatch? Or does buying the game permit any “antisocial” behavior?
In the official forum, a user with the cryptic name BT160506 wrote a rather long text about Overwatch and the problems of its community. The post received more than 3500 upvotes on Reddit and hundreds of agreements in the official forum.
According to the post, Overwatch suffers primarily from one issue: Overwatch is a game that demands selfless behavior, but is played by egoists. This works only when one puts their own needs a bit behind and tries to make the best decision for the team. Overwatch is simply not a Battlefield, where teams of 64 players fight against each other, and the choice of character has minimal impact.
Generally, there are two groups of players:
Group A wants to play the game as it was developed and intended: They work as a team, pay attention to communication and composition. They strive to improve and win more. This group does not accept playing a hero that is currently not in “the meta”.
Group B expresses a hedonistic view: They have paid for the game, so they can have fun in any mode, even if all others suffer as a result. They are not interested in victory as a group, only in fun. They do not switch their heroes, even when it is obvious that they are being countered continuously.
But neither side is “the good one”. Both groups are “damn toxic”. Group A is too serious, and Group B does not care about winning at all.
The problem here is that both groups play together.
Real matchmaking also assesses personalities
According to BT160506, much more is needed to create a truly solid matchmaking. Many more factors must be considered:
“Without a suitable LFG system, the matchmaking in Overwatch tries to form matches based on a hidden MMR. A true team gameplay must not only consider the skill of the players but also their personalities, their flexibility in hero choice, and their limitations.
However, other calculations should also influence the matchmaking. For example, he considers it unacceptable for children to play with adults, as it brings problems:
Even age should be a factor, because – and this is just my personal opinion – children should not be mixed with adults. Children have curfews, homework, dinner, and when their parents call, they have to stop immediately and leave. This happens constantly in ranked mode, as most children do not have the skills for time management. As long as Group A and B are forced to play together, this chaos will continue, and the Overwatch community will always be divided and endlessly discuss.”
He concludes his post by noting that “Overwatch probably won’t be able to patch selflessness into its players.”.
Or as a few comments later say: “In Overwatch, it is no longer about being the best team. It is only about not having the worst team member.”
Can you agree with this opinion? Or is it just a general problem with online games? What are your experiences?
The legendary bird trio consisting of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, as well as Lugia, will stay in Pokémon GO for a few more days.
Anyone who hasn’t had the chance to catch Lugia, Articuno, Zapdos, or Moltres yet will again have the opportunity from Niantic. The four birds can still be caught in raid battles in the coming days.
Niantic has now revealed how long the time window will remain open before the birds fly away and are no longer available in Pokémon GO.
Legendary Birds Until the End of August in Pokémon GO
Initially, Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos were only available to catch in Pokémon GO for one week each. Many trainers were frustrated that they couldn’t catch one of the legendary Pokémon during the first time windows. However, now the adventure continues, and trainers get another chance to encounter these special birds.
As Niantic explains in a blog post, thousands of legendary Pokémon have already been defeated in raid battles. Together with you, the developers want to celebrate this success and are giving you an extension.
You can again challenge the four Pokémon Lugia, Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos in raid battles in Pokémon GO from August 14, 2017, to August 31, 2017. You then have another opportunity to add these special specimens to your collection.
Catching Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, and Lugia – How to Counter Effectively
To win the battle against the legendary monsters, it is advisable to attack with strong Pokémon. You have a good chance of victory with Pokémon that counter the birds. Tyranitar and Golem are often a good choice. In our guides, we show you everything you need to know about the legendary Pokémon.
It remains legendary: As the developers have already announced, Pokémon GO trainers can expect more legendary adventures. This will now happen through Mewtwo, which will appear in exclusive raids in the coming weeks. For this, however, you need an invitation. We explain how the exclusive raids work in Pokémon GO here.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
How are champions actually created in Paladins? Thomas Holt is the lead artist of the MOBA shooter and explained to our author Leya how heroes are created. Read here how a champion grows from the first idea to completion.
Hero shooters thrive on their champions – they are the heart of every game in this genre. The characters need to be diverse, fun, and exciting to keep us engaged for the long term. Paladins offers variety among its champions.
I was curious how the colorful hero bunch in Paladins actually comes into being. So I asked Thomas Holt, the lead artist of Paladins, for an interview. He and his team of graphic artists, illustrators, and animators give the champions their appearance and breathe personality into them. He explained to me how the heroes are developed.
The entire process starts with a single question.
Why do we need a new champion in Paladins?
The creation of a champion starts with the “Why?”. First, the entire design team, along with the visual artists, considers why Paladins needs a new champion at all.
The answer to this question becomes the pillar of the champion and can be extremely varied. Sometimes it’s a role like a tank or a damage dealer that needs to be added. The answer can also be a specific mechanic that the team wants in Paladins. For example, the developers really wanted a champion that pulls enemies towards them.
From the idea of a single mechanic, Makoa with his anchor was born. The anchor was the start and became the pillar of the frontline champ. Then the idea was further developed, and the entire skill set was designed around the anchor.
Thomas Holt emphasized that Paladins is not only a shooter but also a fantasy game. This is taken into account when brainstorming a new champion. The team looks at specific roles or jobs that fit a fantasy world. A role could be filled by a dragon or a fairy. Jobs can involve knights, kings, or mysterious shamans.
The first phase is complete when the answer to the Why is found. And the answer can be something simple like a role, a gender, or a mechanic.
When the team is excited, an idea is developed
The answer to the Why is the foundation of the champion, and then it is elaborated on. The team collects and discusses ideas on how a hero should be designed. Whether an idea is actually developed is decided by the leads based on the enthusiasm of the staff. If the team is excited about an idea and can hardly wait to work it out, this is often the best approach to creating a champ that is fun.
Holt explained this process with the champion Zhin. He is the first character in Paladins that comes closest to a rogue. Zhin is the leader of a large criminal organization, has committed murder, and has done some terrible things to achieve his goals.
The team knew there should be a criminal in Paladins. The artists and designers received a rough description of Zhin’s personality. It was known that the general should become a criminal mastermind. Before art and mechanics can start, the team must understand the general idea of the champion.
Then came the idea with the sword. Both the artists and game designers were excited about the idea of giving Zhin a sword. The challenge of incorporating a sword into a shooter that would also reflect Zhin’s character was seen as brilliant by everyone. Due to this enthusiasm for the sword, it was ultimately developed.
A real ping-pong takes place between the game designers and artists
According to Thomas Holt, many studios work in such a way that gameplay is first developed and then the artists beautify everything.
But at Hi-Rez, the graphic artists and game designers want to work closely together and design new champions collaboratively. Holt believes that this way, a much rounder result is achieved because everything is coordinated and everyone understands the champion at its core.
Once the core of a champion is established, the real work begins. The design team now starts to develop the abilities of a champion. They work with the programmers. The champions don’t yet have a visual appearance but only consist of blocks to test skills. First, the mechanics must work and function before a champion can be visually developed.
For the artists, it is also time for the concept phase. The concept artists often start with just shadows and outlines of the champions. What is liked is then refined in detail.
Thomas Holt provided concept art of Zhin for this article. It shows well that Zhin could have received a much more brutal appearance.
The artists present their concepts to the design team and are sometimes inspired to come up with new abilities. But it can also happen that the game designers have an idea and ask how it could be artistically supported. The graphic artists then adapt the weapon of a champion accordingly.
The team considers it important that there is a constant exchange – like in ping-pong – between game design and graphics.
Ash is a perfect example of this. Her core was that the developers wanted a strong female knight in Paladins. In the first drawn concepts, Ash received a large, heavy armor. However, the graphic artists wanted to give her even more presence and drew a long flag that Ash ties to her back.
The flag therefore only existed visually in the graphics at first. When the game designers saw the drawings, they came up with the idea that Ash would take her flag from her back and slam it to the ground. Thus, Ash’s ultimate ability was created merely because of a drawing.
In the final phase, the entire team is moved to play
When the concept drawings and the skill set are finished, it’s time for the final execution. Here the champions are designed in detail, and their appearance is also determined. Normally, one team works on the champion itself and another team on the weapon.
In this phase, regular meetings take place, where the entire team sits in a room and someone plays the champion. Here, special attention is paid to whether a champion feels good: Does the sound sound good? Is the ability fun enough? Does everything work?
To avoid tunnel vision, employees who have nothing to do with champion design are also invited to these play meetings.
In the end, when everyone is basically satisfied with the champion, the cards for the hero are created. After that, marketing ultimately comes into play. Here, it is considered how to best announce and tease a new champion.
In Paladins, champions always receive a teaser video that showcases their personality. Below is the one from Princess Lian, who steps on the lower people.
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Before the champion reaches the live game of Paladins, it is tested every day after completion to ensure that everything is indeed consistent. This means for the team: Play as much as possible.
This is how champions are created step by step in Paladins. For studio Hi-Rez, this means above all a strong exchange between artists and game designers. There is always communication, and they try to inspire and excite each other.
In general, Holt said that Hi-Rez doesn’t want champions that are simply black and white. The team wants various elements; no one is simply good or evil. The champions should have real emotions and a broad background story.
What do you think of Hi-Rez’s approach to developing champions in Paladins?
Skull & Bones was announced as a pirate MMO at E3 2017. The developers have since stated that the game is not intended to be an online version of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Instead, the focus is on “ship porn”.
Skull & Bones is a planned pirate MMO from Ubisoft where you play as pirates in the Indian Ocean. The idea for Skull & Bones originally came from the single-player game Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.
While working on the naval combat mechanics, the developers came up with the idea for a special pirate naval battle MMO. During the final stages of the Black Flag development, the developers sailed around in pairs for testing purposes and found it quite cool: “We’d like to have more of this,” was the general consensus.
Skull & Bones: No sexy assassins, but pornographic ships
With this idea of a multiplayer naval combat game, Skull & Bones was born. However, the pirate spectacle is not meant to be part of the Assassin’s Creed series. According to Game Director Justin Farren (via Gamespot), Skull & Bones is supposed to be a standalone game. After all, Assassin’s Creed is about assassins and their machinations. It’s about sneaking around and hiding in crowds.
Skull & Bones, on the other hand, focuses more on the ship. After all, you are essentially playing the ship rather than the captain. Therefore, according to Justin Farren, Skull & Bones will be a veritable “Ship Porn”. However, by this, he does not mean naked island beauties on the railing or wild orgies in the pirate brothel, but the excessive decorating and upgrading of your own ship.
According to Farren, players loved the Jackdaw, their own ship in Black Flag, and Skull & Bones wants to go much further. Famous pirates should be recognizable from afar by their unique ships.
Skull & Bones: A living world in PvP and PvE
With your stylish ship, you can experience the vibrant world of the Indian Ocean. Both in PvE and PvP. The story is set to unfold across all game modes and intertwine everything organically. This is how the developers aim to create a “living and breathing” world.
Furthermore, the learning curve is to be pleasantly gentle. By the time you reach the contested waters – the PvP zone of Skull & Bones – you should be well acquainted with your ship and especially know and master the now even more complex weather mechanics.
King of the Kill, the PvP version of H1Z1, will soon receive a major Combat Update. This will overhaul the combat mechanics of the shooter significantly, including revised recoil, an improved reticle, and a new bleeding feature.
The survival PvP game H1Z1: King of the Kill is still in Early Access. Therefore, there are constantly major updates that shake things up in the game. The major Combat Update is one such major patch that has recently been uploaded to the test servers of H1Z1: King of the Kill. This update brings a ton of new content and changes aimed at making the fights even more dynamic and exciting.
H1Z1 – King of the Kill – Recoil, Bleeding, Movement, and Map Overhauls
The Combat Update for H1Z1 is already playable on the test server. The following new features and changes are currently available with the Combat Update of H1Z1.
Weapon Changes in the Combat Update
There is a new “Classic reticle” that you can enable
Shotguns now have a hit indicator so you can better estimate how much of your shotgun shell actually hits the target.
Bullets now travel more realistically. Rifle bullets are fast, pistol rounds hit hard at close range, and shotguns mow everything down in close combat. Additionally, bullets now have a visible trajectory.
Each weapon now has a clear role, with specific advantages and disadvantages
There is a new weapon, the rapid-fire submachine gun Hellfire 4-6
The AR-15 and AK-47 receive new graphics and sounds
Grenades have a new throwing mechanic that allows for more precise throws
Changes to Maps, Vehicles, and Gameplay
There are dynamic camera settings that make aiming and overview easier
The movement control is now more precise and your character’s animations are more realistic
New points of interest have been added to the maps
The bleeding mechanic has been simplified, with only 4 stages of bleeding now instead of 6
Vehicles behave more realistically now and do not tip over constantly
There are more map navigation features, including a better compass and custom waypoints
New shoes are now automatically equipped and have better stats
A new game mode called Weapon Roulette will be coming soon. In this mode, all players start with a random weapon and unlimited ammo for it.
For all changes in detail, check the H1Z1 website.
Those who want to catch Mewtwo will soon have the opportunity to do so worldwide. The legendary Pokémon will appear in exclusive raids in Pokémon GO.
The news about Mewtwo keeps getting better. This morning, we first found a shiny form of the coveted Pokémon, which soon appeared in Japan at the stadium event. Now the developers explain that Mewtwo can spawn as an exclusive raid boss in the coming weeks and will be catchable. We will show you what that means.
Mewtwo worldwide as a Raid Boss – Exclusive!
Today the Mewtwo hype started in Japan when trainers could find this special raid boss for the first time. The screenshots of Mewtwo in Yokohama quickly spread around the world and pleased the Pokémon GO community. But many trainers wondered when the monster will also be available to us. Niantic is now providing an answer to this.
In the coming weeks, trainers worldwide will have the opportunity to battle against Mewtwo in exclusive raid battles and catch it. But what are exclusive raid battles and what distinguishes them from normal raids?
Exclusive raid battles are similar to the raids you already know. They regularly appear in gyms around the world. The differences are that trainers are invited to exclusive raids.
To receive an invitation to such a raid, trainers must have recently completed a raid in the gym where the exclusive raid battle will appear. Unfortunately, it’s not clear what Niantic means by “recently.” The invitations have an announcement about when the raid starts. This should give you enough time to coordinate with other trainers. Because Mewtwo is not an easy opponent.
Mewtwo is the first Pokémon you can find in exclusive raids. In the coming weeks, the selection is expected to expand, allowing other powerful Pokémon from raid eggs to hatch that will appear in exclusive raids.
There is reason to celebrate: Gjallarhorn Day turns one today in Destiny.
On August 14, 2015, the Guardians were excited: Xur, the stingy exotic dealer in Destiny, finally brought the Gjallarhorn. It was a memorable day, as countless Guardians were redeemed, who simply had no loot luck and had been waiting for this exotic rocket launcher for months.
The Gjallarhorn is considered the weapon that defined Year 1 like no other. A true cult formed around it, as this rocket launcher combined both power and elegant design.
Those who had it in their inventory didn’t need a tactic during boss fights: One simply placed a Titan bubble and fired at full throttle at the enemy with the horn.
The Gjallarhorn was thus the solution to all problems, which is why everyone wanted – and needed – this beast. Because on social networks, owning a Gjallarhorn became a prerequisite for being allowed to play.
Xur and the Gjallarhorn
Anyone without a Gjallarhorn needed one. Therefore, all Guardians, who weren’t randomly receiving a Gjallarhorn drop, eagerly awaited the Agent of the Nine every week. There was a chance that Xur might bring this weapon.
But no, the Agent of the Nine disappointed week after week. A website was even set up solely to answer one question: “Is Xur selling the Gjallarhorn?” And the question was always answered with a big “No.”
Was stingy with the Gjallarhorn: Xur
Actually, Xur initially meant well with the Guardians at the start of Destiny. Already in the second week after the release, he had the exotic rocket launcher in his inventory. However, back then, it was not known that the weapon would become THE dominant weapon in the first year. The opinion was: “I won’t give up my exo slot for a stupid rocket launcher!”
Only a little while later, the Gjallarhorn hype picked up speed, and the hunting fever broke out.
Holy Crap, Xur Sells Gjallarhorn!
When after months it finally happened, and Xur brought the rocket launcher for the second time on August 14, 2015, many Guardians threw Strange Coins around carelessly (note from Ttime: I bought three of them!). Major gaming sites like Kotaku titled: “Holy Crap, Xur Sells Gjallarhorn!”
However, not much could be done with this rocket launcher anymore. A few weeks later, “King’s Fall” was released. This expansion left the Gjallarhorn behind. Many players accused Bungie of only delaying Xur’s selling of the Gjallarhorn. But Bungie repeatedly emphasized that this was all coincidence. Xur is a mystery; no one has a clue what he sells.
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By the way: On reddit, they celebrated Gjallarhorn Day last Friday already. Because that was the arrival of Xur that was closest to August 14. However, Xur this weekend did not cause any jubilation. He had the Telesto, the Hawkmoon, and the Nemesis Star with him – all stylish weapons but failed to live up to the hype surrounding the Gjallarhorn.
The Gjallarhorn is also the only weapon that has received its own holiday.
Are you firing a few pack missiles with your Year 1 Gjallarhorn today?
After nearly 20 years, a new edition of a classic strategy game is being released today – StarCraft Remastered!
It has taken almost two decades for Blizzard to decide to give one of its biggest successes a new “remastered” version. This was also bitterly necessary, as the first StarCraft game not only looks incredibly pixelated and thus ugly today but also does not function on many modern computers anymore. Now the release has finally arrived.
StarCraft Remastered is released today, on August 14, 2017!
In America, the game goes live at 7:00 PM our time. It is expected that the launch in Europe will take place a few hours later.
The game costs 14.99€ in the Blizzard Shop and requires the “StarCraft Anthology” to play – which can be downloaded for free.
StarCraft Remastered is essentially nothing more than a graphical overhaul of the classic real-time strategy game. All mechanics and game elements are exactly as they were experienced in 1998.
This also means that the difficulty level of StarCraft in the campaign is relatively high, as most RTS games back then were significantly tougher than today. So if you’re looking for a little challenge or simply tired of 480×640 pixels, you can confidently grab it and secure an upgraded piece of video game history.
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6 extensive, challenging story campaigns in SC Remastered
StarCraft Remastered also includes the Brood War expansion, delivering 6 playable campaigns (2 for each race: Terran, Zerg, and Protoss) and showcases the beginnings of the StarCraft universe. How did Kerrigan become the Queen of Blades? Why is Jim Raynor an outcast? What about the Dark Templars?
Are you excited about StarCraft Remastered and will you play it? Or should one simply leave an old game to the passage of time and not artificially resurrect it?
Prices for a “PS Plus” membership will soon increase. A discount promotion has started in the PlayStation Store in advance.
If you want to play online on your PlayStation 4, you need a “PlayStation Plus” membership (PS Plus) for most games. This has cost 49.99 euros per year for some time now. If you renew the subscription monthly, the total price per year is higher.
As of August 31, 2017 at 01:01 AM, you will have to pay more for this online service. Because then the prices will increase. The annual fee will be 59.99 euros. If you plan to be online on your PS4 for a longer time, it makes sense to extend your membership before August 31.
The prices starting August 31:
1 Year: 59.99 euros instead of 49.99 euros
3 Months: 24.99 euros instead of 19.99 euros
1 Month: 7.99 euros instead of 6.99 euros
15 Months for the Price of 12
Since today, as of August 14, it is even more worthwhile to purchase PS Plus early. A discount promotion went live in the PlayStation Store: If you buy a “PS Plus” membership for 49.99 euros now, you will get not 12 months, but 15 months of PS Plus. You will receive three extra months – that is about 20 euros in savings.
This promotional price is valid until August 29, 2017.
You can access this offer by opening the PlayStation Store on your PS4 console and then selecting either the “PS Plus” tab or the “Offers” tab. The offer is advertised as “15 Months for the Price of 12”. Otherwise, here is the link to the offer in the PlayStation Store.
What Does PlayStation Plus Offer Me?
PS Plus offers these benefits:
PS4 Online Multiplayer: Most games require PS Plus to be played online
Monthly Games: Every month you receive at least 2 PS4 games that you can download for free
“PS Plus” members receive exclusive discounts in the PlayStation Store
The MMORPG God Slayer aims to appeal primarily to players who enjoy a lot of action. The alpha started in China is currently going well.
God Slayer aims to become a kind of Vindictus, but it does not play in narrow tube levels, but in a large world, which is however not completely “open”. Rather, it consists of large maps that are connected by loading times. Nevertheless, you will be able to travel freely through the game world and marvel at the detailed graphics, which allow particularly spectacular scenes and effects through the CryEngine 3.
The engine dramatically showcases dynamic weather and allows you to destroy your surroundings. This is important in battles. For example, if enemies destroy your cover, you must quickly come up with a new tactic.
Action-Packed Battles
Fights are at the forefront in God Slayer. Together as a team, you take on hordes of monsters and must defeat gigantic bosses. The battles are meant to be cinematic. Boss enemies will appear in cutscenes that are meant to be thrillingly presented. This creates an exciting atmosphere.
The battles will be fought actively and like in an action game. You will need to actively aim and strike and quickly dodge. In conjunction with various classes, tactics should also come into play.
An alpha of the MMORPG recently started in China, which is going quite well. When we will be able to play in the West is still not determined.
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The Division continues to struggle with lag in year 2. Massive is investigating this issue thoroughly.
Since its launch in March 2016, The Division has faced lag issues. Players complain that the game stutters, that the agent responds too slowly, and that the movements of other players are displayed choppily.
The developers at Massive have been tracking this lag issue for a year and a half now – and it seems that the lags are getting worse. In recent weeks and months, complaint posts have appeared frequently in the Division forums, leading to heated discussions. The chat during the weekly “State of the Game” livestreams is flooded with statements like “fix the lag!”.
A few weeks ago, Massive responded to all the complaints from recent times: Yes, lag, latency, and server issues are currently among the top priorities. A major investigation is underway to address these irritations.
Show Your Lag
However, Massive also points out that statements like “Fix the lag” are not very helpful. Because lag is a symptom of many causes. Since the launch, The Division has grown significantly, and every new feature could cause performance issues that manifest as lag.
In short: Lag is a very complex problem. Therefore, Massive needs your help. For almost two weeks now, a thread has been pinned in the reddit forum, where agents can and should showcase their lag experiences. This way, they want to pass the information to the developers in a bundled and efficient manner.
As Massive announced a few days ago, they have since identified a common lag issue. It is a server-client desynchronization. This means that you see or do something in the game, and the other players see something completely different. Many such cases have been recognized, and they are now specifically working on fixes.
However, the lag investigation is still ongoing. Therefore, they will provide more details in the future about where the problems specifically lie and how they will be addressed.
At the launch of Update 1.7, all lag issues will not yet be resolved. But at least we know: Massive is on the case.
How do we get our powers back in Destiny 2? Hawthorne will be important for that.
Destiny 2 begins with the nasty Ghaul robbing us of our Light and thus our power. Right from the start of the sequel, things look bleak for the Guardians – after all, we could only fend off all the previous dangers in Destiny 1 thanks to the Light of the Traveler.
As already known from the Destiny 2 beta, the Guardians do not remain without Light for long. Over the course of the campaign, they regain their powers and can confront the Red Legion.
But: How do the Guardians manage to get the Light of the Traveler back?
Attention: Spoilers ahead!
Hawthorne and a Shard of the Traveler
The Edge magazine was able to play the entire campaign of Destiny 2 for a cover story. Some exciting information has leaked via Reddit and YouTube. Among other things, how the Guardians get their Light back.
After Ghaul kicks you off his ship, you wake up in the European Dead Zone. This is a new area in Destiny 2, which is supposed to be larger than any other “world” that Bungie has ever created.
In the Dead Zone, the Farm, the new social space, where the character Hawthorne welcomes you (see title image). This woman is said to have a sarcastic tone and be good with a sniper.
That Hawthorne will be important for Destiny 2 has been known since the introduction of the Collector’s Edition of Destiny 2. The additional contents of this edition, such as the backpack, the sunshade blanket, or the paracord rope, are said to belong to Hawthorne.
Information about Hawthorne: According to the Amazon description, Hawthorne was born in the Last City, which she left as a teenager to lead a life of freedom in the wilderness. Outside the city, she provides protection for people. Apparently, she now also offers the Guardians a refuge on the Farm.
Early in the campaign, Hawthorne points out to the Guardians that a Shard of the Traveler is nearby. According to the new information, this shard broke off during the Cabal attack; according to a DeeJ interview a few months ago, this shard has been lying around in the European Dead Zone since the fall of the Golden Age.
The Shard of the Traveler
In any case: Thanks to this shard, you will get your Light back. This has already been speculated in the community when the first news about this shard emerged. Now this assumption has been confirmed.
Once at the Shard of the Traveler, you must first defeat several enemies that are snooping around there. After that, you will regain your powers and your mission to reclaim the Last City begins.
The DDOS attacks on the MMORPG Albion Online are really annoying the players. However, the developers have now announced compensation.
Albion Online has been suffering from DDOS attacks for a few days. As the developers explained, the DDOS attacks were apparently reactions to the measures taken against gold sellers. There was even a ransom demand. The attacks were supposed to continue until a certain amount, around €18,000, was paid.
The team behind Albion Online has decided not to pay the extortionists.
DDOS attacks continue but are not as severe
In the meantime, it seems that the worst is over. The attacks are still ongoing, but the effects are not as drastic as at the beginning. It is at least better possible to log in and also to play.
Nevertheless, the developers advise all players to be cautious in-game as there may still be connection interruptions. The fans of the MMORPG have been the ones suffering in this whole situation as they could not or barely play.
There are compensations!
Therefore, the development team has now announced compensation for the DDOS attacks. Anyone who had trouble playing Albion Online due to the DDOS attacks between July 17 and August 11 will receive one week of playtime credited to their account. This week is in addition to the free week that players receive due to launch issues.
Meanwhile, the team continues to work on fully controlling the situation. They are already developing appropriate measures with experts to further contain the DDOS attacks. There is currently no date for when these measures will go live.
Recent measures have already achieved successes. The servers held up. The game’s performance is still suffering from the attacks and there are still connection interruptions; however, the situation has improved and is expected to improve further shortly.
Mewtwo is now available as a Pokémon GO-Stadium Raid Boss in Japan. First images of the legendary monster can be found here.
That was quick. This morning we reported that Shiny Mewtwo is in the code of Pokémon GO and that the stats of this monster have been changed. Now Mewtwo can already be found as a Raid Boss at the Pokémon Stadium event in Japan. We have the first images of the Pokémon, which has nearly 50,000 CP.
Just a few minutes ago, we received the first images of Mewtwo at the Pokémon GO event in Yokohama. The Pokémon GO Stadium event is taking place there and offers a special surprise for the trainers on site. Mewtwo has been released as an exclusive Raid Boss for participants of the spectacle.
There are also familiar faces from the Pokémon GO community on site in Japan – the YouTubers Trainer Tips and Mystic 7. Both shared the first encounters with the cool Raid Boss on Twitter. Presumably, their YouTube channels will also soon feature the first videos of the battle. We are very excited about it! Until then, we must be satisfied with the following screenshots.
Whether and when Mewtwo will be released here is currently uncertain. There is no official information from Niantic about this yet. We will closely monitor the topic and inform you when we know more.
In our Overwatch “Play of the Game” moments of the week, a Mercy really goes wild. Also, D.Va loses by winning the game.
Every week, absurd, exciting, or just funny moments happen in Overwatch , often captured in a “Play of the Game.” We searched social media and picked three special highlights for you. Enjoy our three “Play of the Game” moments of the week in Overwatch!
Is Mercy just a friendly healer? Wrong! When Muffinman sees his last teammate die, he tries to heal the corpse two more times before a fuse blows. The friendly Swiss then turns into a berserker and confronts the entire enemy team. Widowmaker, Orisa, and Zenyatta fall like flies before the wrath of the enraged healer.
https://gfycat.com/GrizzledIllHarvestmouse
Our second clip comes from the player Sage, who clears the field as McCree on Watchpoint Gibraltar. Although he has his ultimate ready, luck is not on his side – only one player dies from the hail of bullets. But that doesn’t stop McCree from taking down the rest of the enemy team! All 6 enemies fall to his precise headshots. A Play of the Game he can be proud of for a long time.
Every player knows that glorious moment when all enemies are grouped together by Zarya’s ultimate. Even D.Va, controlled by player Azikiel, sees his chance and has his ultimate ready. And indeed – the dream of every Overwatch gamer comes true: a complete team kill. To put it in the language of general clickbait conventions: “But what happened next, Azikiel simply could not believe!” – He had forgotten the little bar that shows the overtime…
https://gfycat.com/CoarseFantasticDore
Have you also experienced a particularly cool game scene that you captured on video? Then just send us a link to the video (preferably on YouTube) and maybe you’ll see your clip in this post next week!
A Shiny variant of Mewtwo is now in the code of Pokémon GO. At the same time, Mewtwo was nerfed before it even became active in the game.
Significant changes to the code of Pokémon GO have impacted the legendary monster Mewtwo and the grass Pokémon Bellossom. While only the buddy distance for Bellossom was changed, Mewtwo now has a Shiny variant – at least in the code, as the legendary monster is not yet catchable.
As reported by PokémonGOHub, the GAMEMASTER file of Pokémon GO was significantly altered a few hours ago. The changes mainly affect the two Pokémon Mewtwo and Bellossom.
Both monsters have been updated for the game. Mewtwo was apparently too powerful and received a so-called “Nerf“. This means that stats like attack, defense, or stamina are being reduced, making the Pokémon weaker.
In contrast, Bellossom now finds candies less frequently when it is your buddy Pokémon.
Changes to Mewtwo – Nerf:
Attack value:330 300
Defense value:200 182
Stamina:212 193
Apparently, Mewtwo was already too strong for the developers before the release, which is why these values have now been reduced. While this is a good sign that Mewtwo may soon enter the game, you should still temper your hype. So far, there is no base catch value for the Pokémon. Mewtwo is not yet available in Pokémon GO.
When Mewtwo is finally released in the game, it will probably also come with two different variants. The icon for Shiny Mewtwo has already been found in the code of Pokémon GO:
Changes to Bellossom – Nerf:
Buddy distance 1km 3km
With Bellossom, you now have to cover three times the distance before the monster finds candies as your buddy Pokémon.
When will Mewtwo come?
After these changes, players in the Pokémon GO community are wondering when Mewtwo will finally come to the game. Some trainers speculate that it has to do with the Pikachu event in Japan, but there is no evidence for this – only speculation.
The fact that the monster’s stats have now been adjusted certainly indicates that the developers have their eyes on Mewtwo and are ensuring that it does not become too powerful in the game. Additionally, Niantic explained just a few days ago that we should prepare for more legendary adventures.
We are excited to see when there will be news on the topic. Which legendary Pokémon would you like to see next?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
With Twitch Prime, there are big loot rewards again – now legendary items are available in Heroes of the Storm. We will tell you how to get them.
Several months ago, Blizzard began launching various promotions in collaboration with Twitch. After several loot boxes for Overwatch, the next game with loot boxes is now up: Heroes of the Storm!
From August 17 to October 10, there is a legendary loot chest. This chest contains at least one legendary item (hero, skin, mount, or announcer).
From October 10 to November 10, there are 5 regular loot chests.
From December 10 to January 10, there are 5 more regular loot chests.
The contents of all loot chests can be re-rolled on request if you are not satisfied with the result. This is done – as usual – with in-game gold.
How to get the loot chests?
To access the loot chests, you must be a customer of the streaming service Twitch and have a Prime subscription.
If so, you need to select Blizzard Battle.net under Connections in the Twitch settings, set the correct region (Europe), and then follow the on-screen instructions.
By the way: Twitch Prime is automatically included with Amazon Prime. If you are a student (and trying out the trial period) or already using Amazon Prime, then Twitch Prime is automatically included. Then you can easily collect the rewards!
