The MMO SciFi shooter Defiance is still alive and receiving new updates. Therefore, a new event is currently online where you face a plague with flamethrowers.
For centuries, humanity has known an effective remedy against all kinds of plagues: fire! And what worked wonderfully in the Middle Ages works just as well in the future of Defiance. In the current ArkFall event “Outbreak,” an epidemic is spreading that unleashes disgusting plague mutants upon us.
To deal with the contaminated minions, Defiance provides us with a bunch of napalm weapons.
You’ll burn everything that even remotely looks like a plague servant until May 22nd. One of the coolest new weapons is the “Calamity Rocket Launcher” from the new weapon manufacturer CDC. It fires several rockets at once, incinerating everything. There’s also the new napalm synergy that deals more damage – including over time.
The Elder Scrolls Online receives a new class, the Warden, with the new chapter expansion Morrowind. The developers at Zenimax have now explained how this came about and what its prerequisites were.
The Elder Scrolls Online Morrowind – “The Warden is intended to be new”
In an internal interview, Lead Combat Designer Eric Wrobel, Senior Animator Silvia Littlefield, and Lead VFX Artist Cambria Blaize spoke about the work on the new class. It was important to the developers from the beginning that the Warden becomes something new and unique. A nature class with pets was already a good start. The animations emphasized fluid, natural movements, and to ensure clear distinction, the Warden’s effects are teal and dark blue.
Many skills were considered for a long time and many were changed during development. For instance, the current tank tree “Winter’s Embrace” was originally intended to be responsible for damage. However, since the other two trees for animal companions and nature magic were not suitable for tanking, Winter’s Embrace was chosen while animal companions became the damage-dealing tree. According to Eric Wrobel, there came a point where there were simply no further skill ideas on the topic of “Mudcrab Armor”.
The Elder Scrolls Online Morrowind – Warden – Easy to learn, hard to master
The Elder Scrolls Online Morrowind can also be played by complete newcomers without prior knowledge of ESO. Therefore, the new class should not become a hero only for professionals but should also appeal to beginners. Thus, the Warden is suitable for all three roles: tank, damage dealer, and healer. The trick, according to Wrobel, is that the Warden can be easily learned, but skilled players will be able to get even more out of it.
To ensure that the Warden is neither too strong nor too weak, it is constantly monitored and player feedback is evaluated. This allows developers to quickly determine where there are inconsistencies and make changes. This was already done during the design process.
The Warden’s bear was just a boring follower without its own activated abilities; there was no team spirit with the shaggy creature. However, since the bear now has activatable skills, it deals more damage and genuinely feels like a loyal friend and companion.
In a Q&A session, Blizzard updates the community on the Necromancer in Diablo 3. Here’s what you should know.
In January, there was already a Q&A session about the Necromancer in Diablo 3. It provided a rough overview of what we can look forward to and which skills the Necro will use.
In yesterday’s Q&A session, the Blizzard team spoke about the current state of affairs and what challenges the Necromancer faces. They also addressed feedback from many testers who can already play the Summoner on the PTR servers.
Pets, Skills, Mechanics, and Reworks – The Q&A Summary
At the beginning, the team, consisting of Community Manager Brandy Camel, Lead FX Artist Julian Love, and Senior Game Designer Travis Day, introduced the Necromancer pack. The Summoner comes with two additional character slots, two extra stash slots, a pet, cosmetic wings, a portrait frame, a banner, a banner sigil, and a flag. Once again, there was no new information about the price and release date of the Summoner.
Sets and Portals: There will be four class sets and set portals for the Summoner.
Number of Set Pieces: Sets will not consist of seven or more pieces.
Damage Type: Primarily, the Necro kit consists of physical damage. Cold and poison damage are also part of the kit, but are not as frequently represented.
Melee Set: The Saint set is more aimed at players who prefer the “melemancer” playstyle.
Curse Mechanics: To get ideas for the curses, the team looked at Diablo II mechanics. Not all curses are designed to “just increase damage,” but they all have slight differences.
Thorns Build? There is no specific thorns set for the Necro. However, there are smaller “things” that are beneficial for this playstyle.
Resource Cost Reduction on Life Points? Players asked if the resource cost reduction would also affect the cost of life points. The designers were close to incorporating this mechanic but ultimately decided against it. Given the many interactions with legendary items, this mechanic would be too risky.
Pets, Plague Set, and Necro Expectations
More Pets? Currently, there are no items that increase the timers or the limit of pets. Instead, items are on the way that will allow you to reach the pet limit faster or further buff the companions.
Plague Set Synergy: The Plague Set will receive cool legendary items next week that harmonize particularly well with the set.
Expectations: The Summoner was designed based on the expectations of players with curses, pets, blood, and bones. The developers did not specifically focus on 2-, 3-, or 4-player rifts during the design.
Summoners are squishy! Travis Day paid attention during testing to how players perform with the Necro in high rifts. It was noticeable that Summoners are squishy and take a lot of damage. More legendary items and skill changes are on the way to compensate for this.
Blood is Power Skill is Being Reworked – Was Broken
Originally, “Blood is Power” did: Every time you lose 5% health, all remaining cooldowns are reduced by 1%.
This ability now needs to be reworked because players could exploit the skill to become invincible and have a massive damage output.
The theme of this ability will not change but is intended to be less “broken.” Additionally, the invulnerability rune of the Bone Armor will be altered so that the cooldown starts only after the skill ends.
Weapons, Resources, New Legendary Items
Weapons, but no Armor: Summoners will get scythes as weapons. Similar unique armors are not planned.
Automatic Regeneration: Automatic regeneration of essence was internally tested but felt unsatisfying. Instead, generator skills have been made more efficient.
All Legendary Items: All new legendary items are expected to be available next Tuesday.
Changes to the Blood Set: The Blood Set will undergo fine-tuning: healing mechanics should not consume stacks too quickly. The playstyle of the set will not change, but there will generally be more healing.
Two-Minute Skills Should Feel Really Strong, Reviving Allies: Interesting, But No
More Power: All two-minute skills from the Summoner should feel truly strong. Currently, the developers are observing how the sets and legendary items interact with the skills. Precise adjustments will follow based on these observations.
Reviving was a major challenge: In the game, there are over 1100 different monsters that had to be adjusted for revives.
Reviving Allies: Reviving allies would be an interesting idea. However, there are currently no plans to implement such a mechanic.
Iron Golem? The Iron Golem from Diablo 2 will not be present. The interaction of players would focus on items and less on gameplay, which felt “not right” to the developers.
Set Dungeon Rewards: Summoners will receive two flags as rewards. There will be no interaction with old achievements for set dungeons, so you will not need to complete these Necro dungeons for the wing reward.
Console and PC Need Separate Versions of Rise of the Necromancer
The Necromancer pack does not transfer to another platform. If you want to play the Summoner on PC and Xbox, you need to purchase the packs separately.
We show you in this post which budget decks can help you succeed in the Un’Goro expansion of Hearthstone . With these starter decks, you can get into Hearthstone!
If you want to play at the top level in Hearthstone, you either need to own a lot of cards or be a pretty good player – normally, both criteria must be met. However, to have fun even as a free-to-play player who only occasionally plays a few matches, solid decks are required.
If the money for card packs is not enough and you want to see how far you can go without spending much, then the best option is to go for inexpensive budget decks. The colleagues from Hearthpwn have selected 9 decks for this purpose, which we want to briefly introduce to you in this post.
All presented decks do not include epic and legendary cards and have – if you do not own any of the cards – a crafting cost between 1000 and 1600 Arcane Dust. Even penny-pinchers should have that much saved up.
The druid deck relies on fast, crisp rounds, which ideally are quickly dealt with by a malevolent beastie with appropriate mutations. Essentially, the deck is based on the plan to flood the board with as many minions as possible to then swiftly defeat the opponent with a Roar of the Wild.
With the Hunter, the popular Rush technique is also employed. The game board is quickly flooded with numerous wild animals, which are then enhanced by the Master Hound. Classics like Cask! and the Animal Companion are spiced up with some new cards – here too, the Malevolent Beastie makes a great appearance. Face is the place!
For Mages, a Tempo Mage was also chosen, who maintains control long enough with strong spells and some frost effects to annihilate the opponent in just a few turns. Major threats are eliminated by the Shatter card or through a Portal: Firelands, which subsequently brings a powerful minion.
The Kickstarter campaign for the MMORPG Ashes of Creation is going very well. After reaching the funding goal within just 12 hours, it has now surpassed the 1 million dollar mark.
Ashes of Creation seems to have hit a nerve with MMORPG fans. While other Kickstarter campaigns for online role-playing games have not fared so well, the interest in the game from Intrepid Studios appears to be significant. This is likely due to the team’s truly good and interesting ideas. Additionally, Ashes of Creation has already shown material from the game. And it looks good.
More than a million dollars!
By reaching the 1 million dollar mark within just 36 hours, the first stretch goal was unlocked. This allows gambling to make its way into the taverns, which you can play together with other players.
In addition, the developers presented some of the mounts from Ashes of Creation, which will be exclusively available to backers of the Kickstarter campaign. These include particularly ornate and decorated horses, the Moonstrider Mule, which is slow but can carry a lot, and the Dawnbreaker Mount, which allows you to fly through the air.
Stretch Goals within Reach
If 6,500 supporters are reached for the campaign, then every backer will receive a kitten and a puppy as pets. The next two stretch goals seem to be within reach given the speed with which the campaign is progressing. These include group mounts that can only be driven by groups of players and ships and sea voyages.
Ashes of Creation shows how great the interest in MMORPGs is – as long as they develop in a direction that many fans desire. The online role-playing game is expected to be released in late 2018. An alpha could start later this year.
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With the new theme “Sci-Fi”, Wootbox is teaming up with the future next month! Since the Guardians of the Galaxy are back in cinemas, it’s about time for an update. The June Wootbox makes this possible, taking you to the heart of distant galaxies and yet unknown technologies.
To transcend space and time… what could be better than doing it in the company of Marty McFly or Doctor Who? And if you prefer to wander exotic planets, then the Guardians of the Galaxy and the soldiers from Mass Effect are also there to support you. No doubt: this new Wootbox brings everything together to leave the present behind and take off into the future.
Wootbox June – SciFi goodies worth 60 euros!
The new Wootbox is guaranteed to inject a little future into your present, it is available from 25.99 € and has a value of more than 60 €. Even the most experienced time travelers can’t be fast enough to benefit from this offer, with which all futurists among you will find their fortune.
By the way: time travelers from Austria can now also subscribe to the Wootbox and join the Wooter community!
Another good piece of news is that payment via SEPA is now also possible. We are very happy to be able to offer you this option.
The VR “Online RPG” Age of Heroes could be a step towards Sword Art Online. But this future is still a long way off.
In the anime “Sword Art Online”, the virtual reality of an MMORPG becomes reality for its players. The popular anime revolves around the “Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game” Sword Art Online.
Players immerse themselves in this fantasy world, become the heroes and characters they play, experience adventures there, and can no longer log out. Those who die in the game are also dead in real life. The complete virtual experience.
Sword Art Online – the dream
For some, what is described in the anime is the complete merging with a character in a fantasy world, a beautiful dream, an ideal concept. Escapism in its purest form to escape the banalities of everyday life.
When IBM announced in 2016 as part of a promotional campaign that they would create a kind of demo for “Sword Art Online”, a fan said he would give 100 years of his life just to spend 1 year in Sword Art Online.
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Yet Sword Art Online was written in 2002 and takes place in the then-distant future, in the year 2022.
In the real year 2017, virtual reality is still in its infancy. Most “Virtual Reality” games are experiments and simulate movements or simple activities. We are still some way from an immersive world. But: There are advances.
Age of Heroes Greenlight on Steam
The Chinese developer Omnigames has presented a “Multiplayer Co-Op RPG”. It’s called Age of Heroes. There are four classes. With Mage, Warlock, Archer or Priest, players explore a fantasy world. There are dungeon crawls, spells and battles.
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In a video about the game, you can see how the player performs gestures in the real world and then casts spells, draws the bow, or strikes with their character. The developer estimates the gameplay duration of his game at 90 minutes.
Still a good way from “Sword Art Online”, but it is a step in that direction that fans yearn for. Age of Heroes has at least received Greenlight on Steam. Here is the Greenlight page for Age of Heroes.
Age of Heroes is being developed for Oculus Rift, Vive and PlayStation VR.
What you can currently play on the relatively inexpensive PSVR, we demonstrate here:
Which weapons are the best in the Trials of Osiris from Destiny? These six weapons stand out.
It has been a good month since the end of March 2017, we are in the Age of Triumph. The biggest novelty of this last content update for Destiny was the return of the old raids, which is why PvE clearly took center stage in the following weeks. How do the new challenge modes work, where can you find which raid loot, what else is new?
In addition to the raids, the story missions and the Trials of the Elders challenge were also upgraded as PvE content. PvP lagged behind a bit.
Although Lord Shaxx now brings more bounties and the Crucible quartermaster has new quests with delicious rewards for you – making the Crucible overall “more generous” – the PvP area has been trimmed down. Each week there are only a few playlists that rotate. Only one mode is fixed: Elimination, which turns into the Trials of Osiris over the weekend.
In these weeks, more guardians are considering taking a peek into the Trials, which represent the toughest PvP challenge in Destiny. Because a whole page of the Triumphs book is dedicated solely to this mode. And even PvP skeptics want to achieve many of these milestones.
But which weapons are particularly well-suited for engaging in the Trials of Osiris? We present six weapons that have been dominating the Trials since the Age of Triumph. With these weapons, most kills are achieved.
Important: It always depends on the map which weapons you should rely on. Are weapons for close range or long range required? Regardless, these six weapons have consistently held the top spots in recent weeks.
No Land Beyond – A Unique Weapon
No Land Beyond has gone through an interesting development. It was introduced with “Darkness Lurks” and was immediately regarded as the weakest exotic. Guardians even joked that there was no greater humiliation in PvP than to be taken down by this weapon. Over time, however, it established itself as a secret tip and gradually became more present in PvP.
Its best time was during the weeks following update 2.5.0.2, which was released in February 2017. The reason for this was the changes to the special ammo: In elimination matches, including trials, you now only start the first round with special ammo. In the beginning of each subsequent round, the “special ammo” is removed.
Over time, No Land Beyond benefited. It has the unique property of being a sniper rifle that is equipped in the primary slot and therefore does not depend on special ammo. Statistically, it corresponds to the Icebreaker archetype:
The statistics of this weapon skyrocketed. It accounted for over 14% of all kills in the Trials with just this weapon. It was by far the leading primary weapon for weeks. The second place had not even half as many kills.
With the Age of Triumph, however, No Land Beyond was nerfed. The flinch was increased and the recoil became less predictable. Thus, the huge hype around this special weapon is over.
We list it here as the current third-best primary weapon in the Trials. However, on some weekends, the MIDA Multi-Tool was able to push No Land Beyond off the podium. The exotic sniper and the exotic scout rifle are currently quite similar. Both account for about 5-6% of all kills in the Trials since the Age of Triumph.
Patch 1.7.1 for WildStar is live and brings some relief to the game. This includes the PvE leaderboards and a shared bank for all heroes on the server. New dungeons on the highest difficulty level and more rewards at Madame Fey are also included.
WildStar – Patch 1.7.1 – PvE Leaderboards and More Dungeons in Hard
The new patch expands the instance rotation for the “Overwhelming” difficulty. With “Fire Skull Island”, “Raging Logic”, and “Outpost M-13”, there is now one dungeon and two expeditions more in the repertoire. The overwhelming difficulty brings a special challenge and better loot.
So you can properly celebrate and show off your achievements, there are now leaderboards for PvE. They show how well you perform compared to other players. Group comparisons are also possible.
WildStar – Patch 1.7.1 – New Items Against Glitzies and Global Bank Slots
The patch also brings a new offering in Madame Fey’s lottery booth. The greedy Lopp fortune-teller now offers cool dinosaurs as mounts among her other stuff. So you can manage the many items from the lottery shed and the loot from the instances properly and hand them over to the right heroes, there are now finally global realm bank slots.
These can be used by all your heroes on the server. Just unlock them in the in-game shop. There you can also expand them if the space is not sufficient.
The “Officer D.Va” skin leads to numerous matches with absent players in HotS. The outcry from fans is loud.
Well, in hindsight, Blizzard’s concept with the “Nexus Challenge 2.0” doesn’t seem very well thought out. Since yesterday, the players of Heroes of the Storm have been loudly complaining in the official forums and on Reddit that their matches are repeatedly sabotaged by players who are essentially not participating in the match properly.
The reason for this is the new “Officer D.Va” skin that all Overwatch players want. However, they need to complete a total of 10 matches in Heroes of the Storm, 5 of them against human opponents.
While most Overwatch fans are really excited about the new skin, they are less so about Heroes of the Storm. The result: Almost every match has a player afk who usually doesn’t hide the fact that he is “only here for the skins and doesn’t want to properly play this crappy game.” One feels “forced by Blizzard to play this shitty game to get a skin.”
The demand from the players is relatively clear: Anyone who behaves like a complete idiot in Heroes of the Storm by being afk or repeatedly running into the enemy’s blade should have D.Va’s skin taken away from them. Better yet: Anyone who misbehaves so much that they receive an account penalty in HotS should also be excluded from Overwatch for a while.
So far, Blizzard has not commented on this issue. But even there, the developers are likely dissatisfied that some Overwatch players are ruining the experience for the many newcomers who are currently exploring Heroes of the Storm.
Jaina is the Top AFK Hero
There’s a little tip at the end: If you want to avoid these AFK players, it helps to choose Jaina as your hero. Most saboteurs also choose Jaina because she is the free hero after the tutorial. Since there can only be one Jaina per team, this eliminates a risk factor.
How do you see the whole thing? Have you spent more time afk than actually participating in your matches? Or do you always give your best because 9 other players also want to have their fun?
The pink gnomes have always run against breast cancer in WoW according to their own rules. Now Blizzard is helping.
For nearly 7 years, there has been a nice tradition on the American server Scarlet Crusade in World of Warcraft . Once a year, players create a small level-1 gnome with pink hair and preferably pink clothing to participate in the official “Running of the Gnomes” event.
In this rather cute pink run, the course from Dun Morogh to Booty Bay must be completed. However, it’s not just done for the fun of pink joy; it has a serious background. Donations are collected, which are paid 100% to the Cleveland Clinic to advance the research on the Tuohy vaccine, which aims to combat breast cancer. Donations come from various individuals, and there were no set guidelines – some donate a fixed amount, while others donate a sum X multiplied by the number of participating gnomes.
Blizzard expands event to in-game event
This year, the event – which takes place again in October – is expected to receive special attention because Blizzard is turning it into its own in-game event. The original course will be marked with appropriate flags, and at the start and end point, there will even be a quest. This alone is likely to ensure that more participants than ever before will take part in the gnome run this year.
In an interview with colleagues from PVP Live, Dravvie, one of the founders of the event, revealed that he feels very honored by this gesture from Blizzard:
“I feel honored that this small, fun charity event, which I started years ago with some friends, has turned into such a large event that Blizzard saw fit to make it its own holiday.”
We can only hope that this support from Blizzard will lead to even more donations being collected. In any case, it’s a lovely thing when the community’s efforts are so supported by the developers.
In GTA 5 Online, strange things happen. Cashiers disappear from the stores and no one knows where they are hiding.
The online mode of GTA 5 always provides entertainment. It becomes particularly amusing, for example, when a glitch causes the police to be locked out of their vehicles. Currently, the community is on the trail of a mysterious disappearance. In the shopping and liquor stores of the online world, suddenly the cashiers are missing.
Update: The cashiers are back in place now. There was no explanation for their deactivation. However, Rockstar confirmed that the issue has been resolved and the cashiers are back in the stores on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Ghost Stores in GTA 5 Online
Is Los Santos turning into a ghost town? For a few days now, players have noticed that some stores have no cashiers behind the counter. After giving the game a few hours to possibly fix a glitch, there is still no sign of the NPCs. The community does not understand what is happening and is trying to get to the bottom of it.
If you play GTA 5 Online, you know that the stores where you can buy snacks have an NPC seller. While working behind the counter, cashiers have to witness some questionable things, like blood-soaked customers. It gets worse when the customers want to steal instead of buy. Then a day at the store can quickly become stressful. Was this stress perhaps too much?
There are now no cashiers in the 24/7 stores across the map; customers in liquor stores are also not being served. In fact, NPC customers approach the counter wanting to pay, but then stand there “like ordered and not picked up”. After a while, they leave the store confused.
Hairdressers and clothing stores do not have this problem; there is still someone behind the counter to receive your money.
Daily Goals are now Problematic
While this game bug sounds funny at first, it quickly becomes a problem. One of the daily goals in GTA 5 Online is to rob stores. Since there is now no cashier present to aim your weapon at, these robberies are not possible. You cannot complete the daily goal and must therefore forfeit your reward.
Not the Only Problems in GTA 5 Online
In addition to the disappeared cashiers, there are other issues in the online world of Grand Theft Auto V. Players are complaining on Reddit that they cannot sort garage spaces. Others cannot place bounties on other players in the online lobbies. What causes the missing functions?
In the past, Rockstar has fixed bugs and exploits by temporarily disabling the corresponding functions. This would at least explain the missing garage organization, as there was reportedly an exploit that allowed players to cheat money.
It’s possible that the cashiers have also disappeared for exploit reasons. However, this disappearance may also announce a new event. Since there has not yet been an official statement from Rockstar Games, we have no choice but to wait.
Today we celebrate in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Because the unofficial Star Wars Day “May the 4th” is happening again and brings you free goodies and more experience points in Bioware’s online role-playing game.
The 4th of May has been considered the unofficial Star Wars holiday since at least 2011 and has been celebrated every year by many fans worldwide. Naturally, this year the 4th of May will also be celebrated in Star Wars: The Old Republic with gifts and events.
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Star Wars: The Old Republic – Free Droids and XP Boost for Star Wars Day
For the holiday, SWTOR is giving you a free little astromech droid as a mini-pet. Log in by May 8 at the latest to receive the little rascal. Additionally, until May 14, you will receive a huge experience points booster that will grant you double XP.
SWTOR – Patch 5.2.1 is here
If you prefer to complete raids and missions, you can also be happy. Because Bioware has fixed various bugs and issues with Patch 5.2.1 that have plagued the game since the Iokath Update.
You can now correctly recruit the companions Quinn and Dorne, and there is now better loot for daily Iokath missions. Additionally, there are loot improvements in veteran and master flashpoints in the level 51 to 64 range, alongside bug fixes in the new raid.
Why is May 4th actually the Star Wars Day?
Fun facts about Star Wars Day: The 4th of May was chosen because the British Conservative Party booked an advertisement in a newspaper on May 4, 1979, for the electoral victory of “The Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher and printed the pun “May the 4th be with you, Maggie. Congratulations!”
In the German-speaking area, an unsuspecting interpreter made people laugh in 2005 during the release of Episode 3 by mistakenly translating George Lucas’s greeting “May the Force be with you” as “On the fourth of May, we are with them”. However, the day has only been celebrated worldwide since 2011. Less known is the “evil brother” of Star Wars Day, “Revenge of the 5th,” on May 5…
The PTR carousel of Overwatch is turning again. The latest patch 1.11 brings significant changes for many heroes. We have the PTR notes for Overwatch for the new update.
Just a few days ago, the “Uprising” event ended in Overwatch, but the developers are clearly not wasting a minute to develop new patches. Fresh on the PTR, the public test server of Overwatch, a new update has been deployed for testing. This patch mainly targets balance and is likely to bring tears of joy to some fans – especially Hanzo mains will be happier.
Buffs for Hanzo, Genji, and Reaper
Previously, characters with the ability to climb walls had a small delay after completing the climb before they could attack again. This will now be removed for Hanzo.
The charge speed of Hanzo’s arrows has been increased by 10%, allowing arrows to be fired at maximum damage at a faster rate.
Hanzo’s arrows retain their charge while climbing a wall if the button is held down continuously.
Genji will receive a similar change. The cooldown on his attacks after climbing a wall will also be removed, resulting in even faster ninja action.
Reaper’s ability Phantom fully replenishes Reaper’s ammunition. This is intended to give Reaper a chance to defend himself when fleeing using Phantom.
Nerfs for Reinhardt and Soldier: 76
Things look worse for our German knight Reinhardt and Soldier: 76. Both are experiencing significant nerfs.
Reinhardt’s Earthshatter will now only hit enemies that are a maximum of 2 meters above the ground (previously 3 meters). Additionally, the Earthshatter will only climb up objects that are 2 meters or smaller (previously 3 meters).
The damage of each shot from Soldier: 76 is reduced from 20 to 19 – weakened by 5%.
Adjustments for Orisa and Bug Fixes
The tanking robot lady Orisa is still not fully satisfactory. Therefore, the values of her abilities are being further adjusted.
Orisa’s Fusion Cannon now deals 15% less damage.
Orisa’s Fortification will receive a reduced cooldown. It will be decreased from 12 seconds to 8, which should significantly increase its usage.
Aside from that, there are a handful of bug fixes and comfort changes. For example, it is now possible to see in the kill feed how many players were revived by Mercy, and “environmental kills,” such as being pushed or pulled into a pit, are also displayed with a new symbol.
Please note that the changes are only provisional and may change before the release in the live version of the game.
Currently, on The Division, the servers are down today, on 4th May. Interested players can look forward to a free trial period.
Today, everything is a bit different in The Division: Normally, extended maintenance takes place on Thursday mornings, but today, on 4th May, it will be significantly shorter.
Already at 8 AM our time, the servers will be shut down. The maintenance will last for one hour, so you can start playing again around 9 AM.
The maintenance today does not bring any changes that will affect the gaming experience. A changelog will not be provided.
By the way: There is no information regarding downtime for the PTS.
Tonight, around 5 PM, we expect the “State of the Game,” where the developers will discuss the game and possibly make announcements. We will report on this promptly.
Final Fantasy XIV: You have to live there – Not for tourists
I have, of course, also done gear farming in earlier MMORPGs that I played passionately, but only to raid later. I have only farmed gear in MMORPGs that I “really wanted to play every day seriously” – games that I was practically married to, where I lived.
In games where I was just visiting, I never thought about engaging with these game mechanics and farming.
In Final Fantasy XIV, I don’t have that option of just “visiting” – if I want to experience the story, I have to pull myself together and farm tokens. Playing Final Fantasy XIV just as a “casual”, doing a bit of twinking and looking around is virtually not possible. You have to deal with the endgame of Heavensward.
Okay … then I’ll just play it right
So at some point, I decided: Okay, then I’ll play it “right.”
Only in one thing do I draw the line: In a fit of enthusiasm, I once looked at what I would have to do to start the quest for the relic weapons, the anima weapons.But the grimace of grind smiled so hideously at me that I trembled and collapsed during the quest acceptance and deleted the quest from the log.
And Stormblood is coming soon…
I admit: Even though the story and world of Final Fantasy are highly praised everywhere – I actually don’t want to experience the story. After listening to cutscenes for minutes after every quest, I am just too much of an MMORPG tourist, no matter how well done they are.
But: I’m excited for the next expansion of Final Fantasy XIV and the Asia setting!
To play the next expansion “Stormblood,” I have to complete the story! Because to get to Stormblood, you have to have finished the main story in Heavensward. Because: “Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood will also be story-locked.”
I am really curious to see how the colleague testers will manage this time.
After an estimated 300 hours of playtime, I can recommend Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward – especially for MMORPG veterans who want to engage deeply and thoroughly with a game.
It’s ideal for me to unwind. Spending two or three hours in the evening with the MMORPG to tackle an instance in a group or farm alone. The combat system seems a bit sluggish at first, but gets really fun over time. Especially the boss fights and instances are much more varied than what I experienced as a solo player in the base game.
Everything that an MMORPG offers besides combat, Heavensward does really well. Crafting and gathering I’ve enjoyed more in any MMORPG than in Final Fantasy XIV. Even fishing is cool. The card game “Triple Triad” is fun and ignites the collector spirit. Other activities like “Pet Battles” I haven’t tested yet in my playtime – a sign of how much there is to discover in Final Fantasy XIV.
So many features and activities
There are an incredible number of features: Like in WoW, you can collect “companions” and send them on missions. However, this part of the game is still not very complex at the moment.
When leveling up, there are bounties you can hunt. Dynamic FATEs work like events spread across all game zones. Or you go into the endless dungeon and blast through 10 levels at a time like in a dungeon crawler.
For Final Fantasy XIV, you also need to have a certain resistance to grind. Those who engage in this “anima weapon grind” must be hardcore. I wouldn’t enjoy that.
Those who prefer action and “something quick and new” might be better off with other MMORPGs.
You need to commit to Final Fantasy XIV. Just a quick visit – that hardly makes sense here. Those who invest in Final Fantasy XIV can expect an adventure.
The crafting in Final Fantasy XIV deserves its own article:
Why are there so few reviews of Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward? Is the game worth it? We took a look at that.
Two years after the release, still no review on Mein-MMO for Final Fantasy Heavensward? How is that possible?
Well, gaming journalists and Final Fantasy XIV: That’s a different story. The MMORPG is almost impossible to review.
Final Fantasy XIV: Story-locked – A nightmare for journalists
When “Heavensward,” the latest expansion for the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV (PC, PS3, PS4), was released in June 2015, Kotaku’s MMORPG author, Mike Fahey, wanted to write a review of Heavensward. He prepared a testing diary, which he would end up failing.
The problem: To play the new expansion in FF14, you have to quest through the story of the original game. And that’s no easy task, as the main quest keeps growing with patches. You not only have to “normal quest” like in other games, but also go into instances and complete endgame content.
Because Final Fantasy XIV is indeed “story-locked.”
Fahey started a “log” on Kotaku for his Final Fantasy Heavensward review:
Heavensward was released on June 23, 2015. With early access, players could go in as early as Friday, June 19.
In the first entry on June 20, the tester wrote: “Oh no, I can’t even test it, I have to catch up first.” But don’t worry, I’ll catch up now!
In the second entry, on July 13, – almost 3 weeks later – it said: “Well, I started a new character to be a new class in Heavensward. The machinist started at level 30 and is now level 46.” – So he hadn’t played anything of Heavensward yet.
In the third entry, released two weeks later, on July 26, Fahey reported again: Yeah, I’m now level 54 and it’s pretty cool so far. I’m taking a break now and will check in again.
Final Fantasy XIV: Machinist
And that ended the review by the US site Kotaku on Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward. More than 1 month Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward – and he reached level 54 before he had to give up.
I can understand Fahey because I felt the same way.
Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward – What Metacritic says
Okay, to be fair, there were reviews for Heavensward on other sites. Metacritic lists 14 reviews for the PC version with an average score of 84%, while the PS4 version received 86% in 20 reviews.
The reviews presented the game, also stating how to assess the general quality – summarizing the most important points and that was it.
The verdict was: “Above average, strong story, good quests – maybe a bit monotonous.”
How many hours each tester spent on Heavensward, how far they got, whether they really reached level 60 and could fully test the MMORPG, we do not know.
Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward – A review – 2 years after the expansion’s release
I admit: I felt the same as the author from Kotaku. I also quit Heavensward the first time at level 54. I quested through the first zone – nibbled on the second, and checked out a third. That’s as far as I got in the summer of 2015.
In preparation for Heavensward, I had diligently completed the “old” main quests, defeated all Primals, and rushed through the quests to reach the new areas, but at level 54, the drive was gone. I was stuck somewhere in Heavensward.
Seeing nothing of flying at the beginning, quests are endless
I hadn’t seen anything of the awesome flying that was talked about beforehand.
Flying is unlocked in Heavensward for each zone separately as you explore and quest through it.
Heavensward felt like an endless series of quests that… well, just didn’t seem to end. Final Fantasy XIV is an old-school MMORPG. The quests often involve steps like “Go there and talk to him, then come back to me and I’ll tell you how it continues” or “Go there and kill 5 of those and then come back and I’ll send you back there, but 10 meters further left and then you kill 3 of the others.”
I persevered in 2017
Only at the beginning of 2017 did I get back into it and persevere. I put off questing at max level for a month, tried out various jobs for ages, did two or three mid-level instances with each class, got all jobs and classes to level 30 first to get into the Final Fantasy XIV groove.
Then I bit the bullet, went into Heavensward as a bard, and in a kind of trance state completed 400 or 600 quests, ran through a dozen instances, unlocked flying, and almost reached the endgame of Heavensward.
And yes: I’m pretty proud of myself.
It was actually quite nice, even if I felt like a noob the whole time.
Life as a noob at level 60
It’s a strange feeling to lag so far behind in an MMORPG as I do in Final Fantasy XIV. Because the game forces me into groups with players who are doing everything for the eight-hundredth time that is “new territory” for me.
Through the instance system of Final Fantasy XIV, the normal “level” and “quest” instances that one visits as a newcomer are also the grind instances for players who are already deep into the endgame and routinely complete a handful of them every day to get tokens.
That means for me:
In each instance I’m the “smallest” – other DDs have almost double my hit points
The often complex instances are barely explained to me as a newcomer, as everyone assumes I know them too, and maybe I’m just on a secondary account. Sometimes someone just mumbles “Do what everyone else is doing” or I get res’d in combat when I messed up some boss mechanic and looked at the rogue when I should have looked away. However, I’ve learned to inform myself beforehand through guides about the most important challenges.
At least I am welcomed as a newcomer in these groups, as my presence secures the veterans bonus tokens – I’ve never been scolded or treated unkindly, but I did feel like the guy under the healer in the forbidden DPS meters.
I notice my status as a noob not only in instances but also in the wallet of my heroine, a neat catgirl. In the auction house, there are certainly items I could buy that would help me, but they are too expensive and out of my reach. In the world of Eorzea, I’m a poor sucker.
Currently, I have almost completed the solo content and group instances, but I still lack the last quests that came with the newest patches. Because: Even after the release of Heavensward, the story continued to develop steadily. And: “Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward is story-locked.”
To enter the “last story instances,” you need ilvl 230 – the “standard token gear” fully equipped on all slots. Currently, I still lack 2 pieces – and that even though I have already been playing regularly for 3 months. Admittedly, not as long as when I was leveling up, but I’m still completing some daily tasks.
You can tell that Final Fantasy XIV is designed to give players something to do over the entire duration of the expansion, over 2 years. Those who only look in at the end have quite a mountain of content ahead of them.
Final Fantasy XIV is hardcore
I haven’t seen everything in Heavensward, but I’m not the only one. Because Final Fantasy XIV is hardcore. To experience the new main quests, you have to complete the previous ones. And to do them, you really have to “farm gear,” have a sufficiently high item level to complete the quests. Because the quests are tied to instances.
To reach the appropriate gear level, it’s all about farming tokens and exchanging them for gear.
Even after intensive play and daily routines in trials and quests, I still need another 2-3 days for the final steps.
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Final Fantasy XIV: You have to live there – Not for tourists
I have, of course, also done gear farming in earlier MMORPGs that I played passionately, but only to raid later. I have only farmed gear in MMORPGs that I “really wanted to play every day seriously” – games that I was practically married to, where I lived.
In games where I was just visiting, I never thought about engaging with these game mechanics and farming.
In Final Fantasy XIV, I don’t have that option of just “visiting” – if I want to experience the story, I have to pull myself together and farm tokens. Playing Final Fantasy XIV just as a “casual”, doing a bit of twinking and looking around is virtually not possible. You have to deal with the endgame of Heavensward.
Okay … then I’ll just play it right
So at some point, I decided: Okay, then I’ll play it “right.”
Only in one thing do I draw the line: In a fit of enthusiasm, I once looked at what I would have to do to start the quest for the relic weapons, the anima weapons.But the grimace of grind smiled so hideously at me that I trembled and collapsed during the quest acceptance and deleted the quest from the log.
And Stormblood is coming soon…
I admit: Even though the story and world of Final Fantasy are highly praised everywhere – I actually don’t want to experience the story. After listening to cutscenes for minutes after every quest, I am just too much of an MMORPG tourist, no matter how well done they are.
But: I’m excited for the next expansion of Final Fantasy XIV and the Asia setting!
To play the next expansion “Stormblood,” I have to complete the story! Because to get to Stormblood, you have to have finished the main story in Heavensward. Because: “Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood will also be story-locked.”
I am really curious to see how the colleague testers will manage this time.
After an estimated 300 hours of playtime, I can recommend Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward – especially for MMORPG veterans who want to engage deeply and thoroughly with a game.
It’s ideal for me to unwind. Spending two or three hours in the evening with the MMORPG to tackle an instance in a group or farm alone. The combat system seems a bit sluggish at first, but gets really fun over time. Especially the boss fights and instances are much more varied than what I experienced as a solo player in the base game.
Everything that an MMORPG offers besides combat, Heavensward does really well. Crafting and gathering I’ve enjoyed more in any MMORPG than in Final Fantasy XIV. Even fishing is cool. The card game “Triple Triad” is fun and ignites the collector spirit. Other activities like “Pet Battles” I haven’t tested yet in my playtime – a sign of how much there is to discover in Final Fantasy XIV.
So many features and activities
There are an incredible number of features: Like in WoW, you can collect “companions” and send them on missions. However, this part of the game is still not very complex at the moment.
When leveling up, there are bounties you can hunt. Dynamic FATEs work like events spread across all game zones. Or you go into the endless dungeon and blast through 10 levels at a time like in a dungeon crawler.
For Final Fantasy XIV, you also need to have a certain resistance to grind. Those who engage in this “anima weapon grind” must be hardcore. I wouldn’t enjoy that.
Those who prefer action and “something quick and new” might be better off with other MMORPGs.
You need to commit to Final Fantasy XIV. Just a quick visit – that hardly makes sense here. Those who invest in Final Fantasy XIV can expect an adventure.
The crafting in Final Fantasy XIV deserves its own article:
For the Pulsefire fans among you, there is exciting news: A new Caitlyn skin is coming to LoL and Pulsefire Ezreal is getting an overhaul.
In the past few days, there have been initial teasers for a possible Pulsefire Caitlyn skin. On the PBE servers, Ezreal first pointed out that the developers are planning something. Many players were already suspecting that it would be a Pulsefire Caitlyn skin.
In a video preview, Riot shows you what to expect from the new skin.
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Although the preview shown is only 18 seconds long, you get a good impression of the new Pulsefire skin. The weapon looks futuristic and shows its full size during the ultimate.
Before she disappears into the portal at the end of the video, she puts on a new hat. She usually wears a headgear that is much larger. This small hat seen in the video gives many fans reason to believe that a rework is imminent. Apparently, something has changed about Caitlyn, but is the hat really a teaser for another new feature for this champion? In Caitlyn’s lower skin spotlight, you also see that she puts on different hats when she uses the backport.
Source: Surrenderat20
The Pulsefire Caitlyn skin has the Legendary status on the PBE servers and currently costs 1820 RP. Content from PBE servers (prices, balance changes, etc.) may change before being transferred to the live servers.
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When the teaser for the new Caitlyn skin was released, many fans feared that Pulsefire Ezreal would be ignored. The skin for Ezreal is a few years old already and would need some visual updates to fit better into the Summoner’s Rift. Of course, the developers at Riot are also aware of these issues and can alleviate the fans’ fears. Pulsefire Ezreal is getting an update.
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During these days, the contents of the Standard Edition will be freely available to you. Ubisoft promotes the coop features, the Dark Zone, which is the only PvP area in the Standard Edition, and all the tweaks and improvements that The Division has undergone during the first year.
To access this free trial, you just need to download the digital demo on your platform. More info in the link.
You cannot test the content from the paid Season Pass – that is, Underground, Survival, Last Stand, and two Raids.
65% Discount on the Main Game
With the start of this trial period and beyond, you can purchase The Division at a discounted price.
On PS4, from May 4 to May 15, the Standard Edition is available for $19.99 and the Gold Edition for $31.49
On Xbox One, from May 4 to May 15 (until May 8 for non-Gold players), the Standard Edition is available for $19.99 and the Gold Edition for $35.49
For PC, the promotion runs from May 4 to May 15. The Standard Edition costs $19.99 and the Gold Edition $31.49
All your progress from the Free Weekend will carry over to the full version if you decide to purchase it.
Starting today, Paladins is free to download on PS4 and Xbox One. To celebrate the console launch, we have 3000 exclusive skins of Sha Lin for you.
Paladins is officially in open beta on PS4 and Xbox One. Previously, the team-based hero shooter was in closed beta. Paladins features an intricate card system, allowing you to customize your heroesas you like. Depending on your deck build, the skills of the heroes will be adjusted according to your preferences.
In line with Paladins console release, we have a Sha Lin skin giveaway for you.
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Vol’jin is gone for good – and probably completely. At least that is what the game director of WoW said, who is now facing criticism for it.
At the past BlizzCon 2016, the developers of World of Warcraft talked about many details of the current expansion “Legion.” Many fans were already wondering what had happened to Vol’jin and whether there would be more to see of their favorite troll. Blizzard answered the question somewhat evasively at the time but announced that we “haven’t heard the last of Vol’jin yet” – the Troll fans were eager.
Would their former Warchief return from the dead again? Perhaps as a ghostly form or as a powerful Loa?
But in the recent Q&A with Ion Hazzikostas, the game director of World of Warcraft, came the bitter disappointment. In response to a fan’s question about when there would be another update on the story of the Horde – and particularly about Vol’jin’s condition – Hazzikostas answered relatively quickly: “Vol’jin is dead, what update do you want?”
No tomb and no future for Vol’jin
This statement has led to a huge outcry. Fans are now even mocking in videos that the Alliance has a cool tomb with its own music for Varian while the Horde… has nothing.
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In general, many fans are not particularly satisfied with the story surrounding Vol’jin and Sylvanas. So far, there has still been no valid reason why the “spirits” would have spoken to Vol’jin, that Sylvanas must be the next leader – especially since the Loa despise undead creatures.
And that Sylvanas is basically just following her own agenda and leaving the Order Halls to fight against the Legion has not made her particularly popular on either side.
Cortyn says: If you take a close look at how Hazzikostas tackles the topic in the stream, it should be relatively obvious that he is phrasing it a bit sarcastically. Moreover, the fact that the Horde has no great memorial for Vol’jin is probably more of a hint that the troll will return.
Blizzard probably just wanted to save resources and not build a grand tomb that they would have to tear down 2-3 patches later because the troll suddenly resurrected. Therefore, I find it unlikely that Vol’jin and his death are simply “forgotten” – but perhaps we will soon receive an official statement from Blizzard on this.
