A ton of screenshots and concepts have been released that show you what to expect in Destiny 2 .
You decide: Either lean back and enjoy the following screenshots of Destiny 2 in all their glory, or lean forward and meticulously inspect each image to spot even the tiniest detail.
Activision has released a lot of imagery for Destiny 2, including screenshots and concepts of weapons, landscapes, guardians, Ghaul, vehicles, and PlayStation-exclusive content.
We embed all of them for you.
Concept Art for Destiny 2
Let’s start with four images of different locations in Destiny 2. In the first, you see the Saturn moon Titan. It consists of a “methane sea.” There is no land mass. You move on buildings from the Golden Age:
This concept is titled “Waterway.” The area looks like the asteroid Nessus, transformed by the Vex. Here, vegetation with red leaves thrives:
This concept is named “schoi eden” (a term I cannot make sense of). Perhaps we are on the sulfur moon of Jupiter named Io:
Here you see a location in the European Dead Zone:
Next up are weapons. This is a fusion rifle by Veist. Veist is a new weapon manufacturer in Destiny 2. It might be a linear fusion rifle?
Here is a stylish hand cannon:
This is a “Gunship” – a heavily armed vehicle. In Destiny 2, guardians can ride various vehicles, but this looks more like a war machine of the Cabal:
Speaking of Cabal – here is Ghaul. A size comparison with a guardian is shown:
The online shooter Overwatch (PS4, PC, Xbox One) keeps running and running. Even a year after the release, the interest is high. Unusual for a full-price title. The interest in For Honor, Horizon Zero Dawn, or Destiny has developed differently.
We have seen it repeatedly in recent years. A game launches with a lot of hype, then loses its way, there come horrifying reports about dwindling player numbers and one reads : “Does anyone still play this? It’s dead” or, if you like it short, “Dead Game.”
The medieval fantasy brawler “Samurai versus Knights versus Vikings”, For Honor, was the latest example of such a downward spiral.
If you look at the Google interest in Germany in For Honor, you see the clear trend: In February at release, the peak is reached, it is at 100. But just a month and a half later, the interest has dropped to a tenth. Only a hardcore group plays “For Honor”, a month later that is halved, now only one in twenty who was interested at release is still interested in the game.
For Honor serves as a striking example of how interest wanes: In principle, this is typical. Even an outstanding single-player game like “Horizon Zero Dawn” quickly shrinks to a tenth of the interest, after two months.
Indeed, Overwatch forms an exception here. Even with Overwatch, interest in the title waned after the initial hype, but the hardcore group still interested in Overwatch after 6 weeks is surprisingly large. About one in four players who were there at the release is still interested in the game. These are excellent values.
Under “20%” of the initial hype, interest has not declined in more than a year, sometimes during major events it even rises back to 40. In this year, only three new heroes were added to Overwatch – but the events with changed loot boxes, skins, and emotes drive the player numbers up.
Such a positive trend as in Overwatch is rare among full-price titles. Even the MMO shooter Destiny, a constant presence in international media, has shrunk to a sixth of its interest in Germany in March 2015, about half a year after release.
In the disappointing years 2016 and 2017 it fell to a tenth and then to a twelfth. And Destiny is already considered an incredible success hit that the industry looks up to.
So we see: Almost every game collapses after 6 weeks or at the latest one like a soufflé. Overwatch, on the other hand, runs at the same pace as the cursed Duracell bunny.
These are good news for Blizzard, who found a game with Overwatch that works throughout the year and generates revenue. But these are also bad news for potential competitors: Competing in this market against Blizzard and Overwatch will be as hard for newcomers as establishing a MOBA against League of Legends – although LoL has indeed weakened a bit in the last year, but that’s another story.
If you enjoy this kind of analysis, then this article will be interesting for you:
Strong action by Take-Two against the developers of a GTA 5 cheat. They must now donate their earnings for a good cause.
The battle of Take-Two and Rockstar against mod developers continues to the next round. This time, however, for the benefit of the community, as the developers of the Force Hax mod are in the crosshairs.
This mod is a paid cheat for GTA 5 Online, that users could use to kill and kick other online players. But that should now come to an end. The tool has not only been banned, but Take-Two also enforced that all earnings from the cheat must be donated to charity.
Force Hax discontinued – earnings will be donated
The Force Hax cheating tool gave players in GTA 5 Online the ability to give themselves a lot of money or annoy other players by kicking or freezing them. It was especially dangerous when users employed the tool to steal money from other players.
The Force Hax tool was very popular among cheaters in GTA 5 Online.
Now Take-Two and Rockstar have not only ensured the shutdown of the tool, but also provided an interesting apology. The earnings that the developers made from selling the cheat tool must be donated to a charitable cause.
On the official website of Force Hax, it says: After discussions with Take-Two, all work on the Force Hax cheat menu will be immediately discontinued. The earnings will be donated to charitable purposes, and the developers apologize for all problems caused with the Grand Theft Auto Online community that arose from the Force Hax services.
It is unclear how much the amount to be donated will be. Force Hax cost 15 dollars per month and an estimated thousands of players regularly used this service.
Beacon of hope for the community
The shutdown of cheating tools like Force Hax should not come as a surprise to the community, as Rockstar made it clear that they do not want such dangerous modifications in the game anymore.
Due to such security risks, the developers of the OpenIV mod already received a cease-and-desist order. However, the community does not agree with this, as OpenIV was actually only intended for single-player, where no other players are at risk. To save OpenIV, the community is currently collecting signatures on Change.org
The ban on the OpenIV mod has led to harsh criticism and many negative reviews for GTA 5. The game is now rated “extremely negative” on Steam.
The shutdown of a true cheating tool is viewed positively in the community.
Players are pleased that “the right ones” have finally been hit. But this is just a small beacon of hope in the generally poor mood of the GTA 5 fans.
Players want mods, but no cheats
The ban on dangerous mods that can harm other players is welcomed by many players in the community. However, the fact that single-player mods are also suffering from this is a bad aftertaste that fans do not take well.
On one hand, they wish for a cheat-free online session, but on the other hand, many also want to try cool mods. Therefore, they wish that Rockstar and Take-Two would differentiate better and distinguish which mods are truly dangerous.
It is currently difficult to assess what the modding future of GTA 5 will look like. Perhaps the developers will be able to differentiate better and can allow mods like OpenIV again in the future.
In Far Cry 5, you will be rewarded for stunts that you can perform with the popular wingsuit. However, in the new game, towers are omitted.
The wingsuits were popular in previous installments of the Far Cry series and were often used by players to get from point A to point B. Whether the wingsuits will also be present in the fifth installment was initially unclear, as gameplay scenes did not show the cool flying aid.
During an interview, it was revealed that the wingsuit will indeed be present in Far Cry 5. However, you will not find the typical towers.
Wingsuit? Yes. Towers? No!
We have been prepared for the release of Far Cry 5 for a few weeks now. Initially with short trailers, then with gameplay material from E3. In the video, we already saw a little selection of weapons and cool NPC companions who support you on your adventures from the air or on the ground.
However, wingsuits were not seen in the trailers. They were already present in Far Cry 3 and 4, and fans were wondering if they would make a comeback in the fifth installment. This question from the community was posed by YouTuber RajmanGaming to Executive Producer Dan Hay in an interview.
Initially, he wasn’t sure if he could even talk about the feature. But then he said “Fuck it! Yes, the wingsuits are coming back!”
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In addition, Hay hints at a connection between stunts with the wingsuit and a famous stuntman from Montana. Through the stunts, you can pay tribute to the mentioned stuntman. It likely refers to Evel Knievel.
Towers will not be present in Far Cry 5. Dan Hay explained in an interview with Gamespot that they want to deviate from the “norm” and show that not all Ubisoft games must always have the same base functions.
Fans are now wondering how the maps will function without getting the information from the towers. Bell towers in the fourth installment revealed parts of the map or unlocked new missions.
For Far Cry 5, the developers must have thought of an interesting alternative. We look forward to more news on this!
Teleporting enemies in the Crucible of Destiny are a major annoyance for the player base. Calls for better servers are repeatedly heard. We take a closer look at the servers and the Destiny network.
Why this is not so simple with the servers has been clearly and informatively written by Redditor nessus42. Our author Shin summarizes the information for you and gives an outlook on what Bungie wants to improve with Destiny 2.
“Look how he teleports around”
“You can’t possibly hit him”
“I’m dead, and I didn’t even see him”
“Bungie please, fix your servers”
I assert that every Destiny player has had such a conversation at least once. These situations are a major annoyance as we often find ourselves powerless against them. This will not change in the future.
The Holy (Server) Trinity
Even though Bungie avoids the term, there are actually dedicated servers in Destiny. However, Bungie does not want to call them that because they only manage a small part of very important information, the so-called “critical mission status.” They control activity scripts that, for example, open doors when you place certain artifacts in the appropriate spots.
These servers are housed in Bungie’s server cloud and are called activity servers. There are two of these servers: the instance host and the mission host. The third one is the physical host, which we will talk about later.
The host responsible for the instance (you could also call it a “zone” in the game) regulates, for instance, how many enemies spawn in a certain location or what happens when players stand on a platform to trigger certain events.
The mission host is comparable to the instance host but manages different information, such as the progress of a cooperative mission, a strike, or a raid checkpoint.
It is often the case that your console communicates with both servers simultaneously. A good example of this is the Glass Chamber. The starting area of the raid is also a public patrol area. Random players can help you open the chamber but do not participate in the raid instance itself.
For each instance, there is also a physical host. This host manages billions of small details that are not covered by the instance host. Basically, all calculations relevant to the physical host are performed independently on each console that is part of an instance. However, the final say goes to the physical host of the instance (for example, the console of the fireteam leader).
Let’s illustrate this with an example. You start a raid with five other players. Player 1 is the fireteam leader and the physical host of the instance. Player 1’s console always has the final word when it comes to the current state of the instance. All consoles of players 2-6 perform their own calculations. However, the “reality” is determined by player 1. Any discrepancies that occur between the servers must be corrected by your consoles.
This explains, for example, why enemies teleport around. Conflicts between the servers occur due to poor connections that need to be corrected, resulting in erratic behavior of the enemies.
If the physical host leaves the instance, another console is immediately selected as the new physical host, which now represents the new “reality”. This circumstance ensures that changing the fireteam leader in a raid makes absolutely no difference as long as the former fireteam leader is still in the instance. If you want to designate a specific console as the physical host, the owner of that console must be the first to enter the instance (e.g., a raid). Since he is the only player in this instance, he will naturally also be the physical host.
However, nowhere in the documentation published by Bungie does it state that this host is permanently fixed, nor whether it can change during the further progress of an instance.
This technique also allowed Crota to be defeated with a little trick. The physical host removes its LAN cable before transitioning to another console can occur. Now there was enough time to kill Crota before a transition took place.
Dedicated Servers – Yay or Nay?
Bungie emphasized again in its weekly update on 25.05.2017 that it will introduce no dedicated servers. This statement seems surprising, as there are clearly servers operating in Bungie’s spheres. Bungie itself provides the answer to this terminology:
“We do not use this terminology because “Dedicated Servers” in the perception of the player base refers to a purely client-server model. Destiny 2, on the other hand, uses a hybrid of client-server model and P2P model (console as physical host) similar to Destiny 1 (we will talk about the exact differences later). The servers are responsible for game progress, each console for movements and abilities. This allows us to give players the feeling that everything they do happens instantly, be it the shooting behavior of a weapon or the movements, no matter where they live in the world, and regardless of with whom they play in the world.”
A statement we can confirm. No matter what you do with your character, you see the effect immediately on your screen, regardless of what kind of connection the opponent has. This is how Bungie intended, with the goal of creating an experience for players that feels like a single-player shooter.
What would it mean if Bungie actually used a purely client-server model and could therefore actually talk about dedicated servers? Let’s consider this using a trivial example. You fire your weapon at an enemy. In a pure client-server model, where your console really only takes on the part of displaying the game, the following happens:
You fire your weapon. You then have to wait for this information to be transmitted to the servers. The server now calculates whether you hit your target. If that’s the case, the server calculates the damage you inflicted. The server then sends this information along with the remaining health bar of your opponent back to the console. Only after all this has happened can your console display the damage on your screen. This logic applies to everything you do with your character. Every movement must first be calculated by the server and reported back to the console.
Unless you have a truly very fast internet connection, your gaming experience will not feel as immediate as it does in Destiny.
At this point, it should be mentioned that no known first-person shooter has implemented a pure client-server model in the last 15 years. Instead, mechanics are used that predict players’ movements, thereby simplifying server-side calculations.
What about cheaters?
Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is ranked number one among eSports games in terms of revenue. The developer takes a different approach than Destiny and is much closer to a pure client-server model. This is what Valve says about their client-server model:
Network latencies and lags can create paradoxes that seem illogical. For example, you can be hit by an opponent even though you have already taken cover. The server has moved the hitbox of the player to the last known point where they could still be hit. This inconsistency cannot be resolved, especially with poor internet connections.
In this example described by Valve, a lagging player can be hit even though they have already taken cover, as the server (which dictates the “truth”) has not yet received this information.
In comparison to CS:GO, a player in Destiny with a poor connection has an advantage. This is because the respective console dictates the “truth” regarding the player’s position. If lags occur here, it appears as if players are not moving, are invulnerable, or shoot you from nowhere.
From the opponent’s perspective, he simply walked around you and shot you in the back. This movement, however, did not register with you due to the opponent’s poor connection, so your console cannot represent that movement.
The great weakness of Destiny’s architecture is the so-called “Lag-Switch.” These are simple mechanical switches that temporarily disconnect the outgoing network connection from the game (the incoming connection remains intact). As a result, these cheaters can see your movements, but the data packets from the cheaters do not reach you consistently, leading to teleporting enemies.
CS:GO is also not immune to cheaters. However, instead of using lag switches, they work with so-called denial-of-service attacks. The router of another player is bombarded with requests, significantly degrading his connection and causing a disadvantage in the game.
When it comes to purely PvE, Bungie’s approach is clearly the better one. AI enemies do not have a lag switch, so the gaming experience is significantly better. And these are the very levers Bungie wants to continue to pull with Destiny 2.
In summary, it can be said: Even if Bungie were to implement a pure client-server model, it would not eliminate the possibility of cheaters. Only the tools would change to ruin the gaming experience for other players. The gaming experience for the PvP mode would not necessarily improve.
Will everything be better with Destiny 2?
This question can be answered clearly with a yes and no. What changes specifically? In Destiny 1, the function of the physical host is taken on by a console. In Destiny 2, this part will also move to Bungie’s servers. The final word lies with Bungie and not with a console that potentially has a poor internet connection. Nevertheless, every single console will still perform its own calculations regarding shooting behavior, movements, and abilities and reconcile them with Bungie’s servers.
With regard to PvE, the gaming experience will continue to improve. In PvP, Destiny 2 will still be susceptible to cheating through a lag switch or poor connections of your opponents. Of course, it is also possible that Bungie will pursue different approaches between PvE and PvP for Destiny 2. However, this is very unlikely due to the resources required for that.
Ultimately, it can be concluded that Bungie now uses “dedicated servers.” However, they do not use this term because the console still plays an important role in various calculations.
The summary:
In Destiny 1, there are three different server types: the mission host, the instance host, and the physical host. The first two are housed in Bungie’s sphere, while the physical host is a randomly selected console in an instance. This was implemented for cost reasons, as the physical host performs a multitude of calculations.
In Destiny 2, the physical host will also transition into Bungie’s sphere. Nevertheless, many calculations will continue to take place on each console and will be reconciled with the host. However, no console will be the host anymore.
If you enjoyed the story of Wrath of the Lich King, you will love this WoW cinematic. A nearly two-hour machinima about the sad tale of “Crusader Bridenbrad”.
After more than two years that Cstyle12 has dedicated to Light’s Champions, the big release of the finished film finally took place last Friday (March 16, 2017).
Light’s Champions takes place during the time of Wrath of the Lich King. Horde and Alliance have ventured to Northrend to finally extinguish the undead life lights of the Scourge and the Lich King Arthas. However, there is no talk of peace between the Alliance and Horde – smaller and bigger battles break out repeatedly, and only the Scourge benefits from the new dead. It was amidst this chaos that Crusader Bridenbrad was lost, a long-time friend of the video’s protagonist.
WoW Machinima Light’s Champions has a runtime of nearly 2 hours
But not everything is serious in Light’s Champions – a blood knight and a rogue from the Forsaken constantly argue about which weapon and viewpoint is the best. The elf is usually the loser.
Now, without further ado, here is the “main program”. Here you can watch the full version of Light’s Champions with English subtitles.
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Cstyle12 feels honored by the comparisons to Tales From the Past, as it was one of his biggest sources of inspiration.
What do you think of the film? Damn good work that has been delivered? Or do you find it incomprehensible why someone would create a 2-hour “play” movie for which they are not even paid?
Girl crush, wonder boy, and berserker. The new god in SMITE has to live up to quite a few stories.
The developers of SMITE seem to have no intention of slowing down the release of new gods. After a few weeks have passed, Hi-Rez is now introducing the next hero who will intervene in the eternal conflict of the deities: Cu Chulainn appears with patch 4.11.
Cu Chulainn comes from Celtic mythology and resembles the stereotypical wonder boy who could take on 150 peers at just five years old. This gave him an easy time impressing the ladies and he quickly became a great warrior – not least because he had a ability called “Fury Distortion”. His body reshaped in anger – a typical “berserker form”.
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In SMITE, Cu Chulainn is a warrior and thus a mix of a protective tank and an aggressive hunter. Let’s take a look at Cu Chulainn’s abilities:
His passive ability Berserk ensures that Cu Chulainn has a modified mana bar that works like “rage” in other games. Attacks, abilities (that hit gods), and damage taken refill his mana. If he is over 85 mana for more than 3 seconds, he enters a berserker mode. Here he gains new abilities, is stronger, and has more health points.
Barbed Spear thrusts in a straight line and deals damage to all hit targets. Minions are briefly stunned, and hit gods receive less healing for a short time. In berserker form, the ability turns into Ground Slam and deals damage in a straight line. Hit enemies are rooted.
Vent Anger increases Cu Chulainn’s movement speed and continuously deals damage to all enemies in the area. Additionally, mana is consumed – perfect to keep “rage” below 85 if you don’t want to enter berserker mode yet. In berserker form, Vent Anger is permanently active.
His mobility ability is Salmon’s Leap. He jumps to a target location and damages all enemies in the target area. In berserker form, the ability turns into Furious Charge. The god charges straight ahead, hitting all enemies and carrying them a short distance before briefly stunning them.
Cu Chulainn’s ultimate Spear of Mortal Pain deals damage to all enemies around the god and briefly launches them into the air. In berserker form, this turns into Warcry. Cu Chulainn damages all enemies in the area, causing them to flee in fear for a short while.
The art of mastering Cu Chulainn will be to time the abilities so that one only enters berserker mode at the crucial moment and can thus decide a battle. The difference between “good” and “bad” Cu Chulainns will be very easy to recognize.
It is now clear: You have only a few days left until the arena shutdown in Pokémon GO. Remember your coin rewards!
In the coming days, Niantic will deactivate the arenas in Pokémon GO to prepare the game for the arena overhaul. A specific date has now been set. You have only a few days left until the gyms are deactivated.
Update Monday 11:50 AM: The arenas are still active. If you haven’t collected your defender bonuses yet, you should hurry.
Pokémon GO arenas will close on June 19
As part of the one-year anniversary of Pokémon GO, there will be some changes in the game. One of these changes is the overhaul of the arenas in Pokémon GO. A few days ago, the developers explained that the arenas will be temporarily closed for this rework. However, they could not provide a specific date at the announcement.
On social media channels, Niantic announced today, on June 17, that the arenas will close on June 19. By Monday, you should have collected your defender rewards.
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Niantic did not specify a exact time for the shutdown. To “be safe,” you should collect your defender bonuses from the arenas by Sunday evening at the latest.
Typically, events in Pokémon GO start in Germany at 10:00 PM, but we cannot guarantee that the arena shutdown will start this late for us.
When the arenas are shut down, your Pokémon will be sent to your accounts. You cannot collect your defender bonuses during the shutdown; you must do that before the shutdown begins.
When is the arena rework coming?
Niantic is shutting down the arenas to prepare for the overhaul of the gyms. One can assume that shortly after the shutdown, the arena rework will be announced or incorporated into the game. The developers have not yet provided a specific date.
The Xbox One X is on everyone’s lips after the announcement at the E3 2017. “The most powerful console in the world,” as Microsoft describes it, could become a bestseller on Amazon.
The Xbox One X will be released worldwide on November 7, 2017, and was perhaps the biggest topic at the world’s largest gaming fair, E3. Some even speculate that the Xbox is back. Statistics on Google confirm this.
This interest seems to be translating to Amazon as well. Whether on Amazon.de, Amazon.uk, or Amazon.com – the same picture everywhere: The Xbox One X is the most wished-for product in the “Games” category.
This data comes from various shopping lists of Amazon users. While it does not equate to a purchase, it is at least an indicator.
This is indeed surprising, especially since Microsoft has not announced any AAA exclusive titles yet. Only titles like Sea of Thieves or State of Decay 2 are currently on the release list.
Exclusive titles are actually an important reason to buy for many players, perhaps the biggest after performance and the “my friends have this console too” factor. Innovative approaches, like those found with the Switch, are sadly lacking in the Xbox One X. The sheer power and the performance of the console take center stage.
Xbox One X – High interest in pre-orders according to Google
If you take a look at Google Trends, when combined with the search term “Xbox One X,” pre-orders are by far the most popular choice.
The interest is thus linked to a clear purchase intention. The interest goes beyond mere curiosity about the specs of the next-gen console or how many exclusive titles Xbox One has.
The nearly €500 seems like a hefty price for a console at first glance, but as shown in the following video, the Xbox One X is indeed fairly priced. Microsoft even claims that the Xbox One X is a loss-making venture. The real money comes from games, according to Xbox head Phil Spencer. So far, it is also assumed that the Xbox One X will primarily appeal to enthusiasts looking for a premium product.
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The SF shooter Destiny 2 (PC, PS4, Xbox One) is still a few months away, but the chief strategist already has plans for the next installment, Destiny 3. But why is there actually Destiny 2? Why isn’t the first part continued?
Luke Smith was the Creative Director of “The Taken King” and is now the Game Director of “Destiny 2.” He worked his way up at Bungie from 2007, utilizing his years of experience as a passionate fan of World of Warcraft.
In an interview with the men’s magazine GQ, Smith spills the beans. An intriguing question: “Why is there actually Destiny 2?” Why didn’t Bungie just continue the existing Destiny with expansions, just like Blizzard has been doing with WoW for years.
Why Destiny 2?
The question of “Why a Destiny 2” has different answers according to Smith.
The boring and unsexy answer is “We have a contract” – that’s the business side of it.
The creative answer to the question “Why a Destiny 2?” gave Smith more headaches.
They were at a crossroads. They could have continued Destiny with expansions like “The Taken King” indefinitely. Smith discussed this extensively with the director of Destiny 1, Jason Jones. There were tables full of “Plus” and “Minus” points and quite a few sleepless nights.
A number on the box means: opportunity for a fresh start
Ultimately, one idea was crucial: “If we put a number on the box, that means: Now is a good time to start fresh with Destiny.”
If they had continued with expansions, the audience would have gotten smaller and smaller.
The great thing about Destiny is creating a world that brings players together. But that’s difficult when some players already have hundreds of hours of head start.
Then you tell a friend: “Come, play with me.”
And he thinks: “Come on, get lost. You have thousands of hours of head start, I could never play with you!”
Destiny 3: More social
Smith was also asked about the time after Destiny 2. He and the team worked on making statements like “Other players matter too” or “The social action shooter.” If a Destiny 3 were to be released, that would be the direction they want to go.
In another statement to the site Kotaku, Smith says that in the long run, he and the team can imagine fulfilling “support classes” or similar role fantasies – for instance in the raids.
Destiny 2 – “Endless MMORPGs” don’t do much different
Mein MMO says: Why Destiny 2? Because the gaming market was different 5 or 6 years ago.
And back then, the contract between Activision and Bungie was forged, not today. At that time, one could hardly imagine Destiny on PS4 and Xbox One and effectively wanted the next Call of Duty: a full-price title released biannually for the console market with expansions and DLCs. Back then, no one wanted a game that lasts forever – because how could you make money with that?
If they were to draft the contract today, there might only be one Destiny that would have been continued annually following the WoW model. But that’s speculation.
Smith is indeed right about this. What he describes is truly a problem facing “endless titles”: The audience tends to get smaller with every expansion.
MMORPGs struggle to attract new players after 5 or 10 years because they think “The veterans have such a lead – I won’t start that.” So, the “endless titles” like WoW, ESO, or Final Fantasy XIV deal with hard resets, level boosts, “everyone is equally strong” and new player campaigns.
What many fans complain about in Destiny is also an issue in endless MMORPGs: Old content from years ago becomes largely irrelevant with each new expansion. A game like WoW has 13 years of content, but everything older than 2016 is no longer useful to players and is therefore largely ignored.
It leaves the question of price: Maybe one couldn’t charge as much for an expansion as for a “full sequel.” There are about 20€ missing in that case. But publishers have long invented microtransactions. The main reason is certainly the opportunity to attract new players, especially when moving to PC as a new platform.
What do you think? Would it have made a difference for you if there hadn’t been a “2” on the box?
More information about Destiny 2 can be found here:
In Challenge Rifts in Diablo 3, you need to complete Greater Nephalem Rifts with builds from other players. For this difficult task, you will be rewarded.
With new gameplay, the developers of Diablo 3 want to offer the community more variety in the game. Therefore, Challenge Rifts will be introduced in Patch 2.6.0.
In Challenge Rifts, you need to complete a Greater Nephalem Rift within a certain time and use the build (including equipment and skills) of another player. If you succeed, you will be rewarded. In the video, the developers give an insight into what this is all about.
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The new Patch 2.6.0 is expected between the end of Season 10 and the start of Season 11. A special feature of this update is the new Challenge Rifts, where you can compete against other players.
Every Monday, a new Challenge Rift is released, which is an exact copy of a completed Greater Nephalem Rift of a player.
An “exact copy” means: Map, pylons, enemies, and dungeons in the portal look exactly like in the original run of the copied portal.
In addition, an exact copy of the character who completed this copied Greater Nephalem Rift will be created. The items, skills, Paragon levels, and equipment of the character will be copied and must be used to complete the Challenge Rift.
If you manage to beat the original player’s time, you will receive loot, crafting materials, and blood shards as a reward.
The Unique Aspect of Challenge Rifts – Explanation
Randomness plays an important role in Diablo 3. It determines what loot, monsters, or environments you will encounter in the game. Challenge Rifts are somewhat “abnormal” for Diablo 3, as they don’t involve as much randomness. On the contrary: All players get the same conditions for this new type of competition.
To succeed in Challenge Rifts, you must be able to handle many classes and prove your knowledge in the game. It is not enough to know every meta build of a class, as your task is to be adaptable. Unusual builds may also come into play, to which you will first need to acclimate.
Familiarize yourself with the map and memorize where certain groups of enemies are located and which ones you should skip. Knowing where the pylons are can help you plan an effective route, thus gaining a time advantage. This way, you can succeed in the challenge.
Handling New Builds
As previously mentioned, Challenge Rifts do not only use copies of characters with meta builds. Sometimes you will see something completely different that has nothing to do with the meta or popular builds on Icy Veins.
If the build is from the beginning of a season, you may have a mix of average legendary items that do not synergize. All players must then cope with this build and complete the portal while beating the time. Whether you play as a Whirlwind Barbarian or as a “crazy chicken“.
What Are Challenge Rifts? Summary
Here are the key points of Challenge Rifts summarized:
Challenge Rift Rotation: Challenge Rifts change once a week (Every Monday)
Loot: Once a week, you will be rewarded with a pouch for successfully completing a Challenge Rift. It contains equipment, blood shards, and crafting materials.
Practice: Before you enter a portal, you can try out the character on mobs. There are single-target and AOE targets.
Multiple Chances and Leaderboard: If you successfully complete the portal and beat the time, you can continue. If you like the portal and the character build, you can keep going to try to set an even better time. A leaderboard will keep track of the best players of the weekly Challenge Rift.
Same Chance for All: The skills and equipment of a character cannot be altered. While you can assign different keys to the skills, the abilities remain the same.
By banning the modding tool “OpenIV”, Rockstar is drawing the wrath of the GTA 5 community. Petitions demand the saving of mods.
The people behind the action game Grand Theft Auto V (Take-Two and Rockstar Games) have faced harsh criticism in recent days. For security reasons, they have banned the modding tool “OpenIV” and are taking away players’ chance to try out modified content in the game.
Now the community is fighting against this ban, collecting online signatures and showing their dissatisfaction with the decision against mods through negative user reviews on Steam.
GTA 5 “extremely negative” on Steam
Modifications in GTA 5 are a major feature for the community. This allows for texture changes or entirely new game modes to be played in GTA 5. Take-Two and Rockstar recently decided to ban one of the most popular tools and sent a cease and desist letter to the developers of OpenIV.
Since the ban became public, there has been a flood of negative Steam reviews from the community.
Originally, GTA 5 had been rated “mostly positive” since its release. The day before yesterday, the reviews were “mixed” with about 48% thumbs up. Since then, the ratings have become “extremely negative” with about 82% of over 26,000 ratings being negative. A harsh blow to the image of the otherwise popular online game GTA 5.
Petitions for the Saving of OpenIV
Negative reviews are not the only way the community shows how important mods are to them. With a petition on Change.org, they want to express their passion for these special features. There are now more than 28,000 signatures there in favor of the savings of OpenIV.
The user “tOy is cool” addresses the petition to Rockstar Games and Take-Two. In the description, it states that the ban on OpenIV takes away access to their modified games from over 10,000 players and prevents players from continuing their hobby. The OpenIV mods are for the single-player mode of GTA 5 and were never used for the multiplayer mode. “Therefore, they harm no one,” it says in the petition.
The petition aims to allow the use and work on OpenIV to be permitted again and to declare modding of Grand Theft Auto (San Andreas, IV and V) as “legal” once more.
The Free2Play action game Dauntless was supposed to be a substitute for Monster Hunter, but now the original is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC. How does one deal with that?
The Monster Hunter franchise is usually at home in Asia and on handheld consoles. The studio Phoenix Labs wants to bring a similar monster hunt to PC with “Dauntless”. The game was introduced in December 2016 as a mix of Monster Hunter, WoW, and Dark Souls.
Many fans thought: This must be an incredibly bad news for Phoenix Labs. Who wants the substitute now that the original exists?
But Phoenix Labs sees it casually. In an interview with Polygon, the producer of the game, Jesse Houston, said he is really looking forward to Monster Hunter World and does not see it as competition. After all, they are Free2Play themselves.
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The more AAA games come into the genre, the better it is for everyone. The action-hunting genre has previously been a niche in the West. Now it will be exciting to observe what happens when more than one title comes to the stationary platforms.
Dauntless says: There are many differences to Monster Hunter – we have different competitors
Houston also believes that there are further differences: Monster Hunter is a single-player game, Dauntless is more oriented towards Destiny, emphasizing Coop.
As competition, Dauntless sees more games like Warframe or Path of Exile. These Free2Play titles are often mentioned in the “What I am currently playing” field in the alpha applications.
For more information about Dauntless and how you can get a spot in the alpha, read this article:
The PvP in Destiny 2 should offer something for everyone: Casual players and hardcore gamers can choose appropriate playlists.
During E3 2017, new information about the PvP aspect of Destiny 2 came to light. Both game director Luke Smith (via GameInformer) and community manager DeeJ (via PlayStation interview) announced that the Crucible will be split into two areas: In Quickplay modes and in Competitive modes.
DeeJ emphasizes that there will be suitable game modes for every player in Destiny 2. The PvP should become “more varied” here.
If you want a major challenge for your own fireteam, for your “Dream Team”, and compete against other hardcore players, then there are playlists for that, according to DeeJ. However, if you just want to play a few relaxed rounds where fun is the priority, there are playlists that are “easier and more casual”.
According to DeeJ, they will talk more specifically in the future about how these playlists will work, how matchmaking and progression will happen. He concludes: If you love the Crucible, then you have more options in Destiny 2.
Luke Smith has already provided more detailed information.
Do you want to sweat or have fun?
Smith names the playlists and reveals which modes can be expected:
Quickplay: In this “Quick Play” playlist, there should be several “party games”, like the standard PvP modes Control, Clash, and Domination.
Competitive Play: This playlist contains two objective-based modes. One is Countdown and about the other one, we cannot talk yet. Teamplay is particularly important here.
In Countdown, two teams of four players each face off, alternating between offensive and defensive roles. After each round, the roles switch. The objective of the offensive round is to plant a bomb in the enemy base. The defenders try to prevent this. Once the bomb is planted, it must be defended until it explodes.
The new competitive system is likely to be of interest to many PvP pros among you. In what connection it stands with the ladder-like feature that Smith mentioned is unknown.
What do you think of this division?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The Elder Scrolls Online introduced the Warden as a new class with the new chapter Morrowind. But how does the hero play? Which races are ideal and which builds are recommended? We have gathered numerous infos about the Warden for you.
When the beta for Morrowind, the first new chapter of The Elder Scrolls Online, started, they were everywhere: Grim warriors roaming the lands with bears, erecting icy shields, or handling strange mushrooms. We’re talking about the Wardens, the new class in ESO.
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But how does the Warden play? What should you pay attention to in its gameplay and which skills are ideal? Here you will find answers!
The Elder Scrolls Online – How the Warden class plays
The Warden is a very special class in ESO, as it can cover all roles in the game alone with its class skills. The skill tree “Winter’s Embrace” makes it a tank, “Green Balance” heals allies, and with “Animal Companions” the Warden unleashes wild animals upon its enemies as a damage dealer.
In the following paragraphs, you will learn more about the respective roles of the Warden.
The Warden as a Tank – Gameplay Guide and Skills
The Warden always has a place in every group as a tank. Because even though it may not match the sheer power of a Dragonknight, it offers enough cool shield and support skills that make it a welcome group member. Like all Warden skill trees, the Warden in the “Winter’s Embrace” area has a good mix of offensive, defensive, and healing skills.
With the “Frost Cloak” you can protect yourself and your friends from damage, and the “CrystallizedShield” absorbs ranged attacks. With “PiercingShard” you deal damage and slow down your enemies. “Arctic Wind” on the other hand heals you and even your friends if you develop the skill accordingly.
Winter’s Embrace Warden – A Good Support Tank
And if you don’t want to let your opponents escape in PvP, you can summon a Rune that teleports the opponent to you as soon as they walk over it. As the ultimate skill, the Warden unleashes a “Hailstorm” that hinders and damages enemies. Allies, on the other hand, are protected.
With this mix of useful skills, the Winter’s Embrace Warden is an ideal support tank that absorbs damage and makes the entire group tougher. So if you’re looking for an alternative to the Templar tank or the classic Dragonknight bulwark, you should definitely try out the Warden!
The Warden as a Healer – Gameplay Guide and Skills
A Warden that enjoys healing should choose the skill tree “Green Balance”. It contains numerous healing skills that provide decent area healing. This makes the Warden more of a group healer, while the previous main healer, the Templar, specializes in single healing. Such group healing skills are “Mushroom Growth” and “HealingSeed”, which respectively heal a larger area. The “Healing Seed” is somewhat tricky to time, as it only activates after 6 seconds, but it heals much better as a result.
For single healing, the Warden uses “LivingVines”, which provide good healing over time. When things get particularly tight, the Warden can immediately go to a needy ally with “GripofNature” and heal them, just like healer Mercy in the hero shooter Overwatch.
Wardens of Green Balance – Optimal Group Healing
If you want to use your Warden a bit more offensively, you should pack the skill “Lotus Flower”. This allows you to heal by attacking. As an ultimate ability, the Warden can grow a “HiddenGrove” in the Green Balance skill tree. This strong area healing skill heals all friends standing in it.
Unlike the similar skill “Rite of Passage” from the Templar, the grove lasts longer and you can move while casting, while the Templar has to stand still. However, the healing with the Templar is a bit better than in the grove.
The Warden as a Damage Dealer – Gameplay Guide and Skills
The Warden does not only shine as a healer and a tank. Like all hero classes, it also excels as a damage dealer. Its specialty is various animals that it sends against enemies or that fight by its side and support it. Typical pet attacks include the “Dive”, which lets one of the dreaded Cliffstriders crash down on the opponent.
Skilled players summon a horde of beetles with “Scorching”, which require some timing but hit much harder. Also cool: With “Swarm” you unleash nasty fireflies on the enemy, which slowly devour it and cause damage over time.
Animal Companions Warden – Rocks with Magicka and Stamina
One of the strongest skills of the Warden is the “Netch–Cow”, which regenerates either Magicka or, in its male form, stamina as “Netch–Bull”. An advantage that is also gladly used by other roles of the Warden. Another good support skill is the “SwiftnessoftheHawk”, which makes you faster and stronger.
The ultimate ability of the Animal Companions Warden is called “UntamedGuardian”. With it, you summon a big, shaggy battle bear that stays with you until it gets hit. The bear is an excellent additional source of damage and, if necessary, even serves as a tank. Since many of the Warden’s skills from this tree can also be converted to stamina, the Warden is equally suitable for builds with Magicka or Stamina.
ESO Warden Guide – Races and Builds
If you are wondering which of the many races from The Elder Scrolls Online fit particularly well with the Warden and which builds are optimal for each role, we have an answer for you under the following links.
Blizzard is already planning the next balance changes for World of Warcraft (WoW). We reveal to you who the winner and who the loser of the patch is.
The 7.2.5 patch of World of Warcraft brought many adjustments to the classes. Not all of them were calculated as perfectly as the developers would have liked. For this reason, there will be some changes on June 21, along with the opening of the raid “Tomb of Sargeras.” We have listed and translated all (planned) changes for you.
Demon Hunter
Vengeance
All ability damage is reduced by 5%.
The damage of Soul Bomb is reduced by 33%.
Hunter
Survival
All ability damage is increased by 3.
Mage
Arcane
All ability damage is increased by 3%.
Fire
All ability damage is increased by 3%
Monk
Brewmaster
Seasons now only affects magical damage with 40% effectiveness (previously 50%).
Paladin
Retribution
All ability damage is increased by 3.5%.
Priest
Discipline
The duration of Evangelist has been reduced to 6 seconds (previously 7)
Shaman
Elemental
All ability damage has been increased by 3%.
The legendary item Smoldering Heart now has a trigger chance of 10% per 100 spent Maelstrom (previously 20%).
Warlock
Affliction
All ability damage is reduced by 5%.
Destruction
All ability damage is reduced by 5%.
Warrior
Arms
Trauma can no longer trigger critical hits.
All ability damage is reduced by 4%.
Keep in mind that these changes are not live yet. They will only be implemented in the game on June 21.
Has your class been negatively impacted this time? Or are you happy about a little damage spike that should make monster slaying easier?
The developers talked about the targeted FPS numbers for Monster Hunter World. PC gamers were somewhat shocked.
For all games that are released not only on consoles but also on PC, the frame rate is always a critical value. How well will the game run on consoles? Does the game achieve a solid 30 frames per second on consoles? And what about the PC version of the game? Is it just a port of the console version, throttled to 30 frames per second?
In general, modern computers can render significantly more frames than consoles, whose hardware must last for several years. While PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are often capped at 30 FPS, PCs easily break into the triple digits.
On Twitter, a community manager from Capcom caused confusion by stating “We are aiming for 30 FPS on all platforms.”
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The colleagues at PC Gamer then inquired with Capcom and requested clarification, as PC owners were quite upset.
“The comments regarding the frame rate referred to the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game.”
The producer Ryozo Tsujimoto has also clarified to PC Gamer that the PC version of Monster Hunter World will not be “just an outsourced port.” They will ensure that the game is optimized and fine-tuned for PC.
For this reason, Monster Hunter World will also be released later for PC. They want to take the time to make the implementation as good as possible, adapting the game to the specific conditions of the PC.
In general, they are now almost at the point in the development of the game where they have completed the “general gameplay” and will soon begin to make optimizations and adjustments to round it all off.
In Pokémon GO, there are some Pokémon that appear more frequently in the wild at night than during the day. Which monsters these are, we show you here.
The day and night rhythm of the game affects the spawning of wild monsters in Pokémon GO. It happens that some Pokémon appear even more frequently in the wild at night than during the day. The team from PokémonGOHub has noted in its research that there are at least 14 different species of Pokémon that are apparently nocturnal.
These Pokémon spawn more often at night
The basis of the GOHub team’s research was an overview of nocturnal Pokémon from the 1st and 2nd generations on Bulbapedia (You can find the original list here on Bulbagarden.net).
The monsters from this list were observed for research in Pokémon GO. Trainers noted that some monsters spawn significantly more at night than during the day.
In the study, “at night” refers to the time from about 8:00 PM to about 8:00 AM. The following Pokémon are considered nocturnal according to the results:
1st Generation
Zubat and Golbat
Nebulak and Alpollo
Myrapla
Mauzi
2nd Generation
Hunduster
Ariados
Sniebel
Morlord
Hoot-Hoot and Noctuh
Kramurx
Traunfugil
A few Pokémon, such as Duflor, could not be definitively included in this list because the trainers’ research results were not clear. A definite result can be seen in the observations of Hoot-Hoot, which you can see in the following screenshot:
Nocturnal does not mean “exclusive”
The listed results do not mean that these Pokémon spawn exclusively at night, but rather that they are more frequently found during these times. Of course, you can encounter many Hoot-Hoot during the day, but even more at night.
Kramurx is noticed by many trainers very frequently during the day. However, this does not exclude higher spawn behavior at night. An interesting overview of the research results has been compiled by Reddit user KazanTheMan in the following image:
It is clear here that Hoot-Hoot and Murkrow (Kramurx) generally spawn very frequently per hour. However, between 8:00 PM and 8:00 AM, the rates are even significantly higher.
In Destiny 2, Bungie discusses the enemies. New units are being added, many are being reworked.
In Destiny 1, there are four different enemy races: The Fallen, the Cabal, the Hive, and the Vex. With “The Taken King”, the Taken were also introduced, but they – just like the Splicers – do not represent a separate race but are merely “alternatives” of the existing races.
All these enemy races will return in Destiny 2 – including the Taken. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, as Destiny 2 is set in the same universe as Destiny 1.
But many Guardians wonder: Are there no new alien races coming with Destiny 2 that you can shoot in the face?
Are completely new enemy races coming in Destiny 2?
In an interview with GameSpot, Project Lead Mark Noseworthy discusses the enemies in Destiny 2. So far, everything points to the fact that indeed no new enemy races will be introduced.
Neither in the currently available gameplay material nor in Noseworthy’s statements is there any indication of a new race. Noseworthy emphasizes, however, that the units of the Cabal will receive reinforcements.
Three new Cabal units and developments of the races
In Destiny 2, the Cabal sends the Red Legion. This includes previous units such as Psions, Legionnaires, and Phalanxes, but also three new units. Noseworthy speaks of “War Beast”, “Incendiary”, and “Gladiator” as “brand new Cabal units”.
We searched through the gameplay material – here are screenshots of these classes:
These are the War Beasts – the nasty creatures on four legs:
This is a Gladiator – a Cabal unit with two thick swords in hand:
And the Incendiary (here: Incendior) shoots fire projectiles. If you shoot at the canister on his back, he will explode:
Noseworthy states that Bungie has not yet spoken in detail about the changes that will be made to the Vex, the Fallen, and the Hive. Because all of these have been reworked.
They have tried to make improvements to all existing races. They will also behave differently; for example, some can now jump or take cover in various ways.
In the gameplay material, various reworked races were already visible. Here is apparently a new Fallen House:
And this is a Hive Knight with wings:
According to Noseworthy, there will definitely be plenty of new enemies.
What is your opinion on this? Do you think Destiny definitely needs new enemy races, or do you believe the existing races still have so much potential that new races would be unnecessary?
In Final Fantasy XIV , long queues when logging in are currently normal. But queues in the game?
Since yesterday morning, early access to “Stormblood”, the new expansion for Final Fantasy XIV, is open. The rush for the MMORPG is evidently huge. Players have been waiting a long time for this and now want to explore the new areas, test the jobs Red Mage and Samurai, and experience fresh adventures.
The influx makes the game quite strained. On my home server Phoenix, there were queues that could sometimes reach four digits. Currently, however, the situation has at least calmed down on this server by Saturday morning.
But queues when logging in are somewhat normal in MMORPGs during peak times. For the biannual expansions for WoW, long queues are common.
Always in order
However, the US site Kotaku is now reporting a new phenomenon in Final Fantasy XIV: queues in the game. In front of a quest NPC who opens a quest that takes place in an instanced area, a long queue of players has formed.
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The background: If too many players log in to the instanced area at once, none of them can join, and the game displays an error message. The hope is that gradually people can complete their quests, and it will ultimately continue for everyone.
Normally, we Germans are known for forming such queues quite organically and are often mocked for it by others. However, these are images from international servers, so it’s not a German phenomenon.
Beware of line-cutters
However, it doesn’t always go so orderly; on the Neogaf forum, people are discussing this strange phenomenon of queueing. One person said: “Someone pulled a mob into the queue, causing chaos, and I was able to cut in line and accept the quest. Ha.“
Just yesterday, we reported on the “Stop and Go” in Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood. A few hours after the expansion began, around 12 or 1 PM our time, the content search failed and had to be temporarily deactivated. Square Enix is apparently bravely fighting against the influx of players. Hopefully, everything will be under control by the “actual start” on June 20th. Stormblood is being released for PS4 and PC.
Mein MMO believes: The current overcrowding also has its good side. The world feels incredibly alive, and FATES, the dynamic events, practically take care of themselves!
Not the only peculiarity in FF14 right now – soon you might become the manager of a sports team there:
