The latest hero for Overwatch is currently being crafted by Efi Oladele. A shopping list reveals more details about the upcoming robot hero.
Although Blizzard has learned from the endless ARG of Sombra, they are not tired of teasing the next hero of Overwatch again and again. Through Twitter, the developers have now released a new image, which obviously shows a shopping list from Efi Oladele. Efi is technically gifted and is regarded as a child prodigy – and everyone suspects that she will “build” the next hero.
On the list are some items we have heard about in the past repeatedly. The OR-15 robots were stationed to protect the airport in Numbani and were destroyed during a robbery (that’s where Doomfist was stolen). Since Efi was present on site, it should have been easy for her to obtain the first item on the list, the “case of an OR-15”.
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Also interesting is the color that Efi wants to procure, as it gives us some insight into how her creation will look later on. The chosen colors would fit relatively well with the robot seen in Numbani on some posters.
Although I have absolutely no idea where a young girl could get a “Fusion Driver” or a “Miniature Tolbelstein Reactor” (or what that even is), Efi will undoubtedly know what she is doing.
The item “Axiom Vocal Processor” is already crossed out and marked with the small note “Got it” – I wonder where she got it from?
As a final item, the Lucio-Oh’s cannot be missing from the list – the perfect breakfast for young and old. At least in the Overwatch universe.
Today, February 28th, there will be a server maintenance for The Division. The reason: Update 1.6 and the DLC “Last Stand” are being applied. It bears version number 1.12.
Update 11:40 AM: Massive just announced that the servers will be down longer than expected. Complications occurred. The servers are expected to be back online by 3 PM.
Update 10:40 AM: The update can now be downloaded. On PS4 it carries version number 1.12.
Today, on the last day of February 2017, the last content of the “Year 1” plan of The Division is released. Update 1.6 and the paid DLC “Last Stand” go live.
Prior to this, there will be several hours of maintenance:
At 9:30 AM the servers will be shut down. The expected downtime is four hours, so you can start playing the new content around 1:30 PM.
This afternoon, a 24-hour charity livestream by Massive starts, in which they will play their own game. So if you can’t jump in right away, you can check it out.
The DLC introduces a standalone PvP mode where you compete in 8v8 battles. The fight takes place in the Dark Zone, but is separated from the actual Dark Zone experience. Additionally, with the DLC, you gain access to a new raid called “Stolen Signal.” The Rikers have taken control of a TV broadcast building. You need to drive them out and rescue the hostages.
By the way: During a livestream, a reddit user caught the info that the download on PS4 is supposed to be 11 GB and on PC and Xbox One 8.5 GB. Update: The download on PS4 is also 8.5 GB.
The MMORPG The Secret World is getting another chance. The MMORPG from 2012 is set to receive a relaunch, which should bring in new paying customers. A significant amount of work will go into the MMORPG for this.
Things look bleak for the MMORPG classics Anarchy Online and Age of Conan
Things don’t look so good for Funcom’s two older MMORPGs, Age of Conan (2008) and Anarchy Online (2001).
In the annual report for both MMORPG classics, it is noted that Funcom no longer expects to invest “significant work” into the projects in the future.
For Anarchy Online, the Steam launch, a cash shop overhaul, and some events are listed as “what we did in Q4 2016.” The balance for Age of Conan looks similar for the last quarter.
Mein-MMO says: For years it has been stated that while the MMORPGs are still profitable, the profits have been declining year by year. Therefore, this news is not a surprise but rather a documentation of a trend that has been seen coming for a long time.
However, it is not the end, and that has not been announced either. Other MMORPGs have at some point switched to a “maintenance mode”, no longer receiving updates, but could still be played for several more years.
Perhaps Funcom is planning something similar for its MMORPGs.
Have you ever played any of these MMORPGs and do you have memories associated with Anarchy Online or Age of Conan?
Just last month, at the end of January, a classic was affected with “Asheron’s Call”:
The Dark Fantasy MMORPG The Secret World wants to make another attempt. A relaunch is planned for 2017.
Funcom has released quarterly figures: Conan Exiles is a hit, two additional projects are underway, but the surprise: The Secret World is set to get a relaunch. The MMORPG has been relatively quiet for the past few months. Now we also know why: Funcom is planning something big.
The relaunch is set to take place in the coming months, in the first half of 2017. The relaunch activities are planned to begin by the end of March.
The goal of the relaunch of The Secret World is to reach more players. Plans include the following:
making the entry into the game easier
improving gameplay, including the combat system
Funcom wants to introduce new systems to keep players engaged, such as daily rewards
The business model will be revised. Currently, DLCs are paid, Funcom is discussing offering story content for free
The Secret World was released in 2012 between Guild Wars 2 and Diablo 3. It is considered a well-written MMORPG with a unique atmosphere and great stories. However, the gameplay and combat system have been criticized from the start. The Secret World does not have traditional classes, but rather a skill wheel through which players develop their characters.
Unlike most MMORPGs, The Secret World features a contemporary setting – the basic idea is: “What would our world be like if all conspiracy theories and urban legends were true?”
The focus of the game is on story elements and unusual quests that require players to solve puzzles and approach tasks with much thought compared to other MMORPGs.
Change in the payment model of The Secret World hinted at
The Secret World was never a huge success, but it has a loyal fan base and is considered a hidden gem among MMORPG enthusiasts, focusing on story and an extraordinary setting. Already in spring 2015, The Secret World tried to “become more beginner-friendly.” Apparently, Funcom is now seriously planning to tackle this again.
It could be interesting to see what the new payment model will look like. Currently, The Secret World is “Buy2Play” – the base game is often available at a bargain price. The main sources of income are likely purchaseable DLCs – the same model is used by The Elder Scrolls Online.
A switch to a Free2Play model with a more pronounced cash shop is possible.
Hearthstone continues. The new expansion “Journey to Un’Goro” brings quest cards, new mechanics, and card types to Hearthstone. We have all the info.
As previously threatened, the Hearthstone team today, on February 27, 2017, unveiled the new expansion. It is titled “Journey to Un’Goro” and aligns with the leaks that have already been known in the last few weeks.
Here is the trailer for Journey to Un’Goro, the new Hearthstone expansion
A fresh trailer is, of course, a must. Watch the trailer for Journey to Un’Goro here:
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Un’Goro is a land full of primal elemental magic, and the dinosaurs of Un’Goro have adapted to this wilderness. The new keyword is therefore “Adapt” and is executed as a Battlecry. The player can choose from different effects when playing the minion to adapt a Dino. Should it have a Divine Shield? Or perhaps +3 attack? Or should it not be targeted by spells?
In total, there are 6 different adaptations, but only 3 will be offered to the player in Hearthstone for each card.
Quests – the super rewards during a match
A new legendary card type is the Quests. They are always in the player’s starting hand and cost 1 Mana to activate. An example was also provided by the developers. The Quest “Awaken the Makers” requires the player to play 7 minions with Deathrattle. As a reward, the most powerful cards Hearthstone has ever seen await, such as “Amara, Warden of Hope”. An 8/8 minion with Taunt and the Battlecry: Set your hero’s health to 40.
Besides that, Blizzard is introducing a new “type” of minions. In addition to demons, murlocs, pirates, and mechs, there are now elementals with Un’Goro. Older minions, like Ragnaros or the Fire Elemental, are retroactively categorized into this category. So be prepared for new synergy effects.
No specific release date has been announced yet, only that Journey to Un’Goro is expected to launch “early April”. Starting March 17, Blizzard plans to release additional cards, so that by the release, all new cards in Hearthstone will be known.
According to Matt Firor, the head of The Elder Scrolls Online, ESO is a game where the endgame “works like FIFA”. But what do EA’s football spectacle and ZeniMax’s online role-playing game have in common?
Matt Firor, the lead developer of The Elder Scrolls Online, was recently asked in an interview whether he is worried that there will be no noticeable progress in the game due to the One Tamriel concept. After all, levels have become largely irrelevant since the update. Whether you are level 1 or 50 doesn’t matter much anymore, since you are always scaled up to the maximum level.
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In response, Firor offered an initially curious analogy.
„[…] I play FIFA every year, even though there’s no real progression – I win, I lose, I have fun! We take the same concept for ESO.“
That sounds quite strange at first. How can a football game and sports simulator like FIFA have anything in common with a fantasy online role-playing game from the Elder Scrolls universe? What is Matt Firor trying to tell us? Will there soon be Manuel Neuer as a Dark Elf in Morrowind?
ESO-FIFA-Endgame – Fun before Progression
With his statement, Firor means the kick-off mode in FIFA, where you choose a team – for example, FC Bayern Munich – and just play. Unlike in FUT mode, where you start with a shabby amateur team and eventually get legends like Lewandowski, Müller, or Neuer, you immediately play with the mentioned top players in kick-off mode and have a blast.
The Elder Scrolls Online plays out similarly. Thanks to One Tamriel, your hero is suitable for almost all challenges from the beginning, and you can dive right in. No desire to play in the Daggerfall starting region Glenumbra? Off to the Gold Coast or to Skyrim in the north! No matter what level you are, you can go anywhere and play with any other player. Only veteran dungeons and raids may have some limits.
The Elder Scrolls Online – Progress, but Different
A little progress is there, after all. Your FIFA players do not improve, but you strengthen your team by improving the interplay of the individual players. Your ESO hero becomes stronger by equipping better gear and adapting talents and skill morphs optimally to his role and your playstyle.
This is, of course, a completely different feeling of progress compared to games like World of Warcraft, where you as a level-110 endgame hero are worlds better than a level-10 character. However, the endgame hero can experience completely different content of the game than the beginner at level 10.
Both players would remain separated until the newbie reaches level 110 or the veteran creates a twink and starts again. In ESO, both characters would be quite similar in power level and could therefore experience adventures together all over the world.
A Matter of Priority
For Matt Firor, this design decision is optimal for an Elder Scrolls game:
„We want you to feel rewarded and stronger, but we don’t want to achieve this at the cost of separating you from other players. I think the sacrifice of leveling feeling less important is more than worth it when you gain the freedom of exploring and playing together in the One Tamriel system.”
Jürgen says: I have not found ESO as a classic MMORPG optimal since the beta. The classic MMORPG progression ruined the typical Elder Scrolls feeling of free exploration and divided – as Matt Firor aptly puts it – the players artificially. On one hand with the overly eager phasing at the time, and on the other hand with faction constraints and various level requirements in areas and instances.
Since One Tamriel, all of this has changed, and The Elder Scrolls Online finally deserves the “The Elder Scrolls” in the title. That’s why I’m fully in line with Matt Firor’s opinion on progression. It’s just nice not to constantly chase the next level but to develop broadly and just have fun. Just like colleague Ttime in FIFA!
What do you think? Do you share my and Matt Firor’s opinion, or is the lack of progression in ESO the devil, Lucifer, and Beelzebub all together? Let us know and write it in the comments!
The Division can soon be played for free. A trial version will go live for Xbox One, PC, and PS4.
On February 28, update 1.6 and “Last Stand” will be released for Ubisoft’s MMO shooter. The developers are celebrating this event with a free trial version of The Division, which all interested players can download and play.
The trial version will be available tomorrow, on February 28, on Xbox One and PC.
On PS4, the “free trial” starts on March 9.
With this, you can explore the campaign and the Dark Zone with your friends for free. However, the fun ends after six hours. Your progress will then be transferred to the main game, provided you purchase it afterwards.
How long the Division trial version can be downloaded and installed is not known. An “end date” has not been specified.
In FIFA 17 FUT, the Ratings Refresh is happening. Now the Rest of the World has received upgrades and downgrades. Here are the players.
Today, on February 27th, the “Ratings Refresh” phase in FUT 17 ends. In the last few days, hundreds of players from the major leagues have received fresh overall ratings and attributes. Today, it is the Rest of the World's turn.
Ratings Refresh – Rest of the World Players
These players will be updated today:
Danilo Luís Hélio Pereira – FC Porto – CDM: 82 → 83
Among the videos of the week from Destiny is a parody of the documentary series “Planet Earth”. Strong!
Bungie’s community manager Cozmo serves up delicious Guardian creations from the worldwide community this week as well. On the Creations page, you can submit your works, and Bungie will take a look and crown the “Movies of the Week” once a week. One might almost speak of an Oscar ceremony for Destiny players, where the winners receive this beautiful emblem instead of a golden statue:
The title “Video of the Week” was awarded this time to a parody of the BBC documentary series “Planet Earth”. In it, you see Guardians in the wild and their “natural” behavior. You will also get an answer to the question of how a Titan reacts when he encounters a pack of Warlocks:
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What happens in this short video is difficult to explain. It’s best just to see for yourself. The creator writes that it was pure coincidence. In any case: Great timing!
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A video from our community reached us from I am Vxres, who sees no future in the current Destiny. He will henceforth wait for Destiny 2. In this montage, he has compiled his favorite clips:
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That’s it for the videos this week. How did you find them?
Do you also want to see your works here in the future? Then there’s good news: You just have to send them to us via Facebook. You can find us there under “Mein-MMO.de”. Write us a nice private message where you send us the link to your YouTube video. We will definitely watch the video. We cannot promise anything more.
Battlecrew Space Pirates is a fast-paced 2D action game in the style of Overwatch. If you want to enjoy the unusual and fun game for free, you can win one of 20 keys for Steam here.
At Gamescom 2016, we had the opportunity to try out Battlecrew Space Pirates and the unusual game mechanics of a sidescroller with the team-oriented shooter gameplay of Overwatch immediately convinced us. It was just a blast to blast other players into oblivion as a sword-swinging tiger, a tough cyber pirate, or a money-hungry fish and steal their loot.
Battlecrew Space Pirates – Win Free Access
Meanwhile, you can purchase and play Battlecrew Space Pirates on Steam, but why buy something when the same thing is available for free? We have organized 20 Steam keys for the pirate spectacle for you and would love to share them.
To enter, you just need to sign up through the embedded form here, and with a little luck, you might win one of the codes. Those who activate multiple entries increase their chances of winning. Participation in the competition is possible until March 3, 2017, at 4 PM, and the lucky winners will be notified as soon as possible via the provided addresses. Good luck!
Patch notes for the update 1.6 of The Division have been released. The launch trailer is also available.
One day before the release of 1.6 and “Last Stand”, Massive announced the patch notes for the upcoming content delivery. Most of the new features were already known in advance, as they could be extensively tested on the PTS.
While the “Last Stand” DLC introduces the 8v8 game mode and a new raid, update 1.6 comes with a Dark Zone expansion, exotic items, the legendary difficulty level, microtransactions, and numerous adjustments and bug fixes. You can find the 5 most important changes of 1.6 at the provided link.
The Division 1.6 and Last Stand – Launch Trailer
Ubisoft has just released the launch trailer for Last Stand and 1.6. It showcases the new features mentioned above with moving images:
Patch Notes for Update 1.6
We will embed the full patch notes from the Ubisoft website here. Over 3000 words await you:
Game mode “Last Stand”
SHD tech data relays with operational information have been left in the Dark Zone after the JTF had to withdraw. Rogues are after this data relay and are trying to gain access to them. Engage in PvP battles with 8 against 8 players and secure the data before they fall into rogue hands.
Fight for three tactical key positions on one of the 4 Dark Zone maps.
To gain a tactical position, the group must control three objectives at the operation site. Once the tactical position is secured, the group earns points.
The first group to achieve the required results wins.
To lead your group to victory, you can activate powerful fortifications and use tactical boosters.
New Raid – Signal Lost
Signal Lost takes place in a civilian television studio that has been taken over by the Rikers.
Here, you will venture into three different wings and face unique combat scenarios. Each encounter is designed to encourage the group to play tactically and make the best use of character builds.
Each wing features its own challenges and rewards. Completing all of them will unlock the boss fight where you can prepare for the strongest resistance.
Update 1.6
The following content, changes, and bug fixes are available for free. Update 1.6 will be released on February 28 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Gameplay Adjustments
Dark Zone Map Expansion
Explore three new areas in the north of the Dark Zone. Face powerful enemies and explore the dangers that lurk around every corner.
Dark Zone Leaderboard
Earn rewards in the Dark Zone by participating in weekly and monthly activities that are tracked for the Dark Zone leaderboard.
See how you rank compared to other players in the Dark Zone based on your performance in leaderboard activities. They change every week and month and are reset thereafter. All tracked weekly and monthly activities count towards your total score. The higher your score, the better the rewards when the leaderboard resets.
Dark Zone Contamination Events
Virus contamination in the subway under the Dark Zone is rising, making the areas even deadlier. The Cleaners have been attracted by the rising contamination. Players must keep an eye on their health as the virus ravages them in the battle against the powerful Cleaners. Clear each subway station in the Dark Zone of the Cleaners to receive additional rewards.
Legendary Difficulty
Face the elite LMB operatives armed with superior gear and advanced tactics.
The legendary operations remove all narrative options and focus only on the combat interaction.
Each legendary operation features a single checkpoint approximately halfway through.
The legendary difficulty is only available in world rank 5.
Available Operations: Napalm Production Site, WarrenGate Power Plant, Times Square Power Relay.
Additional options for character customization (microtransactions)
Discover more ways to customize your agent with new weapon skins, backpack skins, new clothing, and new emotes.
Visit the premium vendor in the terminal to unlock premium prestige items. The inventory is restocked weekly.
Combat
The time to revive a teammate has been extended from 3s to 5s.
Bleeding no longer prevents sprinting. Instead, movement speed is reduced by 20%. Further effects will restart the timer.
First Aid Kits can now be used while at full health, clearing the character of all status effects.
Stability when hip-firing has been drastically reduced while moving.
Increased penalties for hip-firing: weapon spread is increased. Stability and recoil are also affected.
The player camera is now influenced by hip-firing, reducing the field of view the longer you shoot.
There is now a short cooldown between combat roles.
Damage for body shots has been slightly increased in PvP (the change does not affect PvE. Headshot damage remains unchanged).
Visual feedback was added when the player uses a First Aid Kit.
The PvP damage multiplier is 0.42. This applies to Last Stand and the Dark Zone.
Last Stand: Gear Normalization
Upon entering a match in Last Stand, the values of the characters are modified to ensure better balance in player versus player combat.
Gear items:
Automatic upgrade to gear score 256.
The main attributes (firearms, stamina, electronics) are upgraded to the maximum value of the equipped items’ existing attributes.
All bonuses from gear and performance mods are raised to their maximum.
Weapons:
Automatic upgrade to gear score 256.
The talents are unlocked based on the normalized main attributes.
All bonuses (including mods), damage, and attributes are increased to maximum values.
All players are set to an armor reduction of 35%. This armor reduction is influenced by talents and skills.
Player talents, gear bonuses, and weapon set bonuses work as usual.
Dark Zone
Players can now fast travel between the roadblocks in the Dark Zone.
Players no longer lose Dark Zone experience and currency when they are killed in the Dark Zone unless they are rogue.
Supply drops now reward Dark Zone experience as well.
Koreatown is no longer a landmark.
Armor and Resistances
Armor is no longer a major bonus to gear and has been replaced by health.
A base health has been added. Depending on the world rank, you will automatically receive a certain base health.
A new bonus “Resistance to All” has been added, granting the character resistance to all status effects.
Older items (pre-1.6) with health bonuses will be replaced with a resistance to all.
Resistance to all caps at 60%.
Resistance to status effects now reduces the effect instead of granting a chance to resist the effect. This means that 10% bleed resistance reduces the damage from bleeding and the duration by 10% instead of granting a 10% chance to negate the effect.
If the status effect is applied repeatedly at short intervals, the character builds a natural resistance to that status effect. In other words, status effects now have diminishing returns when applied to a player more frequently.
If a player manages to achieve 100% resistance to a status effect, they are fully immune to it.
Gear Talents
Renewal now grants 40% resistance to all status effects for 10 seconds when a First Aid Kit is used.
Gear Stats
The gear bonuses have now been shifted on various gear items.
– Bonus has been removed
+ Bonus has been added
= Bonus remains
Chest
– Damage to elite
– Damage from elite
+ Skill haste
+ Enemy armor damage
= Health
= Health on kill
= Exotic damage mitigation
= Total resistance
Backpack
– Skill haste
– Resource gain from individual skills
+ Weapon stability
= Health
= Critical hit damage
= Skill power
Mask
– Damage to elite
+ Enemy armor damage
= Critical hit chance
= Health on kill
= Exotic damage mitigation
= Skill power
= Total resistance
Gloves
– Damage to elite
+ Enemy armor damage
+ Skill haste
= Critical hit chance
= Critical hit damage
= Health on kill
= Assault rifle damage
= LMG damage
= Marksman rifle damage
= Shotgun damage
= SMG damage
= Pistol damage
Kneepads
– Damage to elite
– Damage from elite
+ Enemy armor damage
+ Skill power
= Health
= Critical hit damage
= Exotic damage mitigation
= Total resistance
Holster
– Damage from elite
= Pistol damage
+ Critical hit chance
+ Reload speed
= Health
= Skill haste
Further changes to stats:
Enemy armor damage is now a major bonus rather than a minor one.
Damage to elite is now a minor bonus rather than a major one.
The damage from elite units has been halved.
Pistol damage on gloves has been doubled.
Improvement
Due to all these changes to gear stats, here are the details on how existing gear will change following this update.
If you had a (non-improved) armor bonus, it will be converted to health.
If you had an improved armor bonus, the improvement will be reset and you will receive the bonus that the item had when you equipped it.
If you had a (non-improved) health bonus, it will be converted to resistance to all.
If you had an improved health bonus on knee pads, the health will remain.
If you had an improved health bonus on a chest piece and did not have an armor roll on that piece, you can re-roll the health.
If you had an improved health bonus on the chest piece and an armor roll on that piece, the improvement will be reset to avoid having 2 health bonuses.
If you had an improved health bonus on another gear piece, the improvement will be reset.
If you had an improved skill haste bonus on your backpack, the improvement will be reset.
If you had an improved pistol damage bonus on your holster and the holster was acquired after update 1.5, the improvement will be reset.
If you have an improved enemy armor damage or damage to elite enemies and the item was obtained after update 1.5, the improvement will be reset.
Improvements to exotic weapons will be reset.
Unique talents on exotic weapons cannot be improved.
Free talents on exotic weapons that do not have a unique talent (Liberator, Centurion, Eir, and Hildr) can be improved.
Note that if an improvement is reset, the money spent on it will be refunded based on the costs in update 1.6. Since the improvement now has a cost cap, you may receive less money back than the original cost of the improvement.
Character Talents
In motion has been reduced to 15%.
Combat buddy has been reduced to 30%.
Rescue Med has been reduced to 20%.
Adrenaline no longer causes overhealing. Instead, the immediate healing from First Aid Kits is replaced with a healing over time effect that continues to work when damage is taken.
Skills
Changes to skill power:
The skill power curve has been altered, resulting in less efficient skills at low skill power, but more efficient skills at high skill power.
Skills now scale with the world rank you are currently playing in, as we have implemented an “expected skill power”.
A reduction in returns does not occur until skill power reaches 450,000.
All skills have been adjusted to this new scaling.
The gear bonuses from skill haste have been increased by 100%.
Skill haste now has a maximum of 50%.
Sticky Grenade
The mod Flashbang has been changed to create only a flash effect.
The mod Proximity Fuse has been replaced with Disruptor, which has an EMP effect. The explosion radius has been increased to 9 meters.
A delay and warning have been added for the application of the sticky grenade. This means that sticky grenades, aside from the Disruptor, no longer explode immediately but after a short delay.
First Aid
The defibrillator now heals in 2 stages. First, a strong heal occurs, followed by a healing over time effect.
Doping Syringe: The damage reduction bonus has been reduced from 50% to 15%.
Turrret
The Taser Turret will no longer deal damage and will only stun the enemy.
Basic Skill and Active Sensor: Range has been reduced from 35m to 25m.
All mods except Taser: Base health has been reduced by 25%.
All mods: The influence of skill power on health has been reduced.
Mobile Cover
All mods: Base cooldown has been increased by 33%.
Impulse Device
The influence of skill power on critical hit chance and critical hit damage has been reduced.
Tactical Scanner
Critical hit chance increased by 20%.
Critical hit damage reduced by -11%.
Fortification
Damage reduction increased by 33%.
Reduced impact of skill power on damage reduction.
All mods: Base cooldown has been increased by 9%.
Seeker Mine
All mods: A damage modifier has been added in PvP that weakens the effectiveness of all PvP activities. The multiplier is set to 40%.
The base cooldown is at 17%.
Multi-Mine
The wobble effect has been removed. Explosion damage has been reduced, but bleed damage has increased.
Supply Station
All mods: The radius has been reduced from 8m to 7.5m.
Life Saver: Revive time has been extended from 3 to 5 seconds.
The healing triggers of the Supply Station have a cooldown of 1 second.
Individual skills:
The exhaustion effect that sets in after using an individual skill has been extended from 30 to 60 seconds.
Players can no longer activate an individual skill while still under the effect of the previous application.
The cooldown of individual skills is now influenced by skill haste.
Tactic Link
The damage bonus is reduced to 10% in Last Stand. (This change is not effective outside of Last Stand where the bonus remains at 30%).
Weapon stability will now be influenced by the fire rate bonus.
Gear Sets
D3-FNC
4-piece bonus: When used, the ballistic shield no longer has an active skill mod. The weapon is no longer deprived of critical hit chance.
The character automatically switches to the sidearm when the SMG runs out of ammunition.
Reclaimer
2-piece bonus: +30% more range for the Supply Station.
3-piece bonus: +50% longer duration of the Supply Station.
4-piece bonus: All mods of the Supply Station activate simultaneously.
AlphaBridge
4-piece bonus: Now grants only the third (free) talent of the unequipped weapon instead of all three. All talents ignore the unlocking bonuses.
Tactician’s Authority
2-piece bonus: +15% skill power
4-piece bonus: Now uses the skill power buff when using the skill instead of after 10 seconds.
Banshee
4-piece bonus:
As a rogue, ammunition is fully replenished every 30 seconds. Damage from non-rogue players is reduced by 10%. (no change)
If not rogue, damage to rogue players is increased by 10%. The bonus increases by 20% for 10 minutes after a kill by a rogue agent.
Deadeye
4-piece bonus: Now only works with scoped view.
Loot
Named high-end items are now exotic:
The quality now comes with a new color.
Exotic weapons have been removed from the vendor’s high-end weapon inventory.
Updated sources for exotic items: Some sources have been moved. We have also added more sources for the acquisition of exotic items.
Exotic containers have been added to the game. They guarantee an exotic item when opened.
The maximum for Phoenix Credits has been increased from 2,000 to 5,000.
The rag collector’s crate in the operations base now scales with your world rank.
The weekly assignment containers now guarantee an exotic item.
The exotic items available at vendors have become slightly more expensive.
Parts of gear sets have become slightly cheaper to align with high-end item prices.
Crafting
Improvements are now no longer limited. This means that a stat for improvement can now be improved as many times as the player is willing to spend money on it. The costs will initially increase until they reach the maximum.
Weapons
The base damage of all weapons has been reduced to accommodate the reduced damage mitigation resulting from the armor changes. (Note that the health and damage of NPCs have also been adjusted to maintain the time to kill and the time to be killed before 1.6)
SMGs now have a critical hit chance with a maximum of about 22%.
Cool Head has a short cooldown to prevent it from being triggered repeatedly by automatic weapons.
L86
The base damage has been increased by 4%.
The damage drop-off at longer ranges has been reduced by 40%.
Talent Thrifty: The last bullet of a magazine deals 10% more damage. (instead of 60%)
Named Weapons
All named weapons are now of exotic quality.
Exotic weapons now feature a unique talent in the 3rd free slot. The other two talents are randomly chosen from the talent pool for that weapon type.
Exotic weapons obtained before update 1.6 will now receive the unique talent, and the remaining talents will be randomly rolled.
Exotic weapon talents will not transfer over with AlphaBridge to the other weapon.
Exotic talents cannot be improved. Please refer to this information if you need more information on improving older items.
Exotic weapons have received a unique item description.
Some exotic weapons now function as gear sets: the unique talent unlocks when two specific weapons are equipped.
FAMAS is now an exotic weapon and Uncomplicated is now the unique talent. It has been renamed from Bullfrog.
The base damage has increased by 11.7%.
Tommy Gun
Carefree: Damage while shooting from the hip is increased by 11%.
Medved
Focus: Fires heavy rounds instead of shotgun shells.
Hungry Hog
Greedy: Killing a target increases damage by 10% until fire is ceased. Multiple kills can increase the bonus up to 5 times.
Tenebrae
Lights Out: Destroying a weak point on an enemy resets the cooldown of skills for you and your group members. The talent has a cooldown of 10 seconds.
Pakhan
Pakhan: Each kill increases the next reload by 20% more bullets available.
Liberator & Centurion (Weapon Set)
Free Republic: Each shot with the Liberator grants +5% headshot damage with the Centurion. The maximum is 200%. Kills with the Centurion grant +10% more fire rate for all weapons for 10 seconds.
Valkyria becomes Hildr & Eir (Weapon Set)
Valkyria: Each hit with Hildr increases critical hit damage by 1% up to a maximum of 30%. The bonus decreases by 1% every second. This bonus applies only to Eir.
Hildr cannot land critical hits.
Cassidy
Dual Barrel: The double trigger fires both barrels in quick succession.
Urban-MDR
Base damage has been increased by 65%.
Distracted: Damage is increased against targets affected by status effects by 18%.
Warlord
Hard Bandages: Damage taken while shooting is reduced by 20%. Damage is applied after fire is ceased.
Thompson M1928
Carefree: Damage while shooting from the hip is increased by 11%.
Damascus
Quick Draw: When the weapon is drawn, weapon damage is increased by 20% for 2 seconds. Then, weapon damage is reduced by 20%.
Golden Rhino
Golden Rhino: Increases wobble by 200%.
Historian
History repeats itself: Each bullet burns into the target and detonates 2 seconds later for 700% of the weapon’s damage.
Caduceus
Caduceus: Every critical hit heals you and your group for 1% of the user’s skill power. This talent has a cooldown of 2 seconds. A player can only be healed by one Caduceus at a time.
Midas
Midas: Each bullet you hit reduces your damage by 1% and the damage of your target by 1% up to a maximum of 20%. The effect reduces by 5% each second.
Showstopper
The base damage has been increased by 11%.
Open World
Civilians now always offer reconnaissance data when you help them.
Collectibles now reward players with more XP when picked up from level 30 onwards.
Survival
Crafting high-end pistols no longer costs Division Tech.
Contents of the Survival container updated: It no longer contains an item weighted towards weapons from Survival, but a more general reward. Exotic items can now also be included as a bonus with low probability.
Reviving fallen players now costs a First Aid Kit.
When searching for players in PvP Survival, players are now guaranteed to land in a solo instance if grouping is not possible.
Players can no longer “loot and kill” other fallen players in PvE Survival.
Supply near various hideouts has been rebalanced.
Underground
Killing NPCs now grants Underground XP instead of normal XP. This means players no longer earn normal XP while playing underground.
Underground containers now guarantee two items instead of one. Exotic items can also be included as a bonus with low probability.
Raids
The weekly reward for all challenging and heroic raids has been increased.
Gameplay
[PC Only] Some improvements and bug fixes have been made on PC for gamepad support.
Fixed Bugs
A bug where consumables were not consumed in Survival mode or in normal gameplay has been fixed.
A bug where the game displayed the error outside of the playable area in DZ06 has been fixed.
A bug where the BO did not properly display the protection bonus of the Hunter’s Loyalty set when two or more players activated the 4-piece bonus in close proximity has been fixed.
A bug where players accidentally consumed consumables while scrolling through the emote wheel has been fixed.
A bug where the Impulse Master skill did not always trigger an alert for enemy opponents has been fixed.
Some situations where the ballistic shield became unusable have been corrected.
A bug where the Recovery Link did not trigger correctly has been fixed.
A bug where players were unable to do anything for several seconds after using a skill has been fixed.
A bug where UI QuickNav function did not work properly has been fixed.
A bug where the quality of crafting materials did not properly scale with the world rank has been fixed.
A bug where players got stuck in an endless loading screen on PlayStation®4 has been fixed.
A bug where weapon talents did not activate when the character’s attribute values were equal but not higher than the requirements has been fixed.
Some lag issues when using First Aid have been fixed.
A bug where the talent Energetic did not function properly has been fixed.
A bug where players were able to take consumables endlessly has been fixed.
A bug where the weapon talent Competent did not function with some skills has been fixed.
A bug where the weapon talent “Cool Head” shortened the duration of consumables has been fixed.
A bug where NPC audio no longer worked after a Survival match was completed has been fixed.
A bug where a favored item was mistakenly marked as junk has been fixed.
A bug where NPCs often aimed perfectly has been fixed.
A bug where mods were randomly removed when logging back into the game has been fixed.
A bug with Mobile Cover where the talents Specialist, Competent, and Able remained active even when the cover was destroyed or the player switched covers has been fixed.
A bug where the player lost input function when closing the inventory has been fixed.
A bug where the cooldown of individual skills did not update in the UI of group members when outside range has been fixed.
A bug in the Chroma Shift setting has been fixed.
A bug where the crafted enhanced magazines of level 34 had lower values than intended has been fixed.
A bug where the talent Agile could not revive a fallen player has been fixed.
A bug where enemies were stuck behind a door in a mission in the Garment District has been fixed.
A bug where Brycce Thompson randomly repeated one of his lines even when the player had completed the respective mission has been fixed.
Some occurrences of FPS drops and freezes have been resolved.
The update 1.6 and “Last Stand” will go live tomorrow around noon. Expected around 1:30 PM (not 12:30 PM).
With the new release 39, the developers of the selective multiplayer RPG Shroud of the Avatar introduced quest markers, which did not please every fan. Even Richard “Lord British” Garriott had to get involved in the discussion.
Richard Garriott, creator of the Ultima series, is not a fan of hand-holding in games. He has repeatedly stated that quest markers like exclamation points over NPCs and automaps spoil the fun of the game and prevent players from exploring the world and figuring things out for themselves. For this reason, he did not want such features in his new game Shroud of the Avatar.
Blue glowing quest markers spark heated discussions
However, with the release 39 of the RPG, which was released on February 23, (optional) quest markers found their way into the game. Not in the form of exclamation points over the heads, but through blue glowing NPCs. This led to criticism from some players and heated discussions, as not everyone found this new game element bad. Accordingly, the forum was quite lively. Until Richard Garriott personally responded. He would still stand by his statement that he does not think such aids are good. However, he himself noticed while playing SotA how difficult it is to follow the quests.
It is necessary to show players where they would receive quests. However, he also admits that such a method with the blue glowing NPCs is not the ideal solution. He is an advocate of “immersion,” atmosphere takes priority for him and he understands that blue glowing NPCs can ruin that atmosphere. Even though the system is only optional and can be turned off at any time, the team is now working on a new solution. NPCs should in the future attract attention by waving and pointing at the player.
However, this is not so easy to implement, as it should still be clear in online mode that the player is the one meant and not another player running past them. Apparently, some kind of phasing is to be used here. The waving will then only be visible to the player who has this quest active – or who has not completed the quest yet.
A phasing system is coming
This phasing could also be used in other areas of the game, for example, to make NPCs disappear or appear. If you save a child, you will see it standing next to its mother, while another player will not see the child if they could not save it. In this way, the development team aims to provide better solutions and a satisfying conclusion for quests. If a murderer is caught, he can be hanged for the players who completed this quest, while the NPC remains available for all those who have not yet taken on this mission.
When this phasing system will be introduced in Shroud of the Avatar is not yet clear. However, the fact that such a thing is planned should reassure all those who are waiting for exciting stories with satisfying conclusions. Episode 1 “Forsaken Virtues” of Shroud of the Avatar is expected to be released in the second half of 2017.
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Evie is Paladins‘ crazy winter witch who floats above worldly matters with her ice staff. Leya wants to introduce you to the frosty whirlwind.
Ice and snow are her element. Evie is known as the winter witch who fires powerful ice projectiles from her staff. Her staff serves as her fire weapon and witch’s broom, allowing her to zip away from her enemies. From the very beginning, Evie has been my favorite champion. That’s why I want to introduce her to you.
Evie is a sinful winter witch – Her backstory
Evie was a true prodigy among mages. With her rebellious spirit, she defied the archmage of Stonebriar and bound the ice spirit “Xerses” to herself forever through soul magic. This gave her the power of frost and immortality. For this sin, she was cast out and wandered further north. No one knows why she ultimately arrived at Crosswind Hold, and no one dares to ask.
Evie is completely insane and wants to blow everything and everyone up
Evie is an absolutely crazy character and quickly became my great love in Paladins. By crazy, I mean that she doesn’t have all her marbles. At least that’s what her wacky voice lines suggest: “I just want a normal life, without blowing everyone up… whatever!“
This bubbly witch is simply fun to play,but she is not one of the easiest champions. Her ice staff triggers an explosion in the impact area that deals immense damage. However, the projectiles are sluggish and snake in a zigzag towards their target. Intuitively, her ice weapon does not work. It took me a while to get used to her wobbly shots.
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With glide flight, you swing onto the staff and fly into the air for a few seconds. Together with her teleport ability “Blink,” the winter witch is incredibly hard to catch. When it gets particularly tight, you can wrap yourself in Evie’s “Ice Block” and think of an escape strategy.
I have had many situations with Evie where I thought: “I really shouldn’t have survived this.” It’s not uncommon for the witch to escape with just a few health points and bring herself to safety. Evie tempts me to play way too risky. Sometimes it goes wrong, but I can’t help it. It’s too much fun to peek into the chaos, shoot the support, and blink away again. Or just hop on the broom and glide away.
Paladins without the crazy winter witch? Not on my watch!
I prefer to enhance Evie’s flying abilities and give her more speed and flight duration with my Loadout Deck.
I like to keep an eye on the battlefield from above and dive into the enemy team by unleashing Evie’s ultimate “Ice Storm.” A powerful ice tornado that deals damage to enemies and slows them down. However, I have often been taken out because I didn’t keep a good eye on the cooldowns of the escape abilities and thoughtlessly dove into enemies. Evie has low health, and with the ultimate, you need to get quite close to the enemies.
Evie’s design is just clever, both aesthetically and in terms of gameplay. It took me a while to get the hang of her and not just rush into suicide. But it was worth it for me to stick with it. And now I can’t imagine Paladins without the crazy ice queen.
Do you also have champions that truly make you swoon?
In the action MMORPG Marvel Heroes, the 61st hero Black Bolt appears – additionally, there are numerous changes to the superhero spectacle.
Black Bolt is a genetically modified superbeing from the cosmos of the Fantastic Four. He is the king of the Inhumans and first appeared in 1965. Black Bolt has superhuman powers and a kind of “death scream” that he can hardly control. Therefore, he is bound to silence. If he unleashes his voice at full power, it can destroy planets.
In Marvel Heroes, his incarnation looks like this:
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Marvel Heroes received numerous changes with the last patch:
the hero and team-up unlock process now only runs through the unlock window, no longer through the vendor Adam Warlock. However, this does not change the functionality or prices. Players can still unlock heroes using the in-game currency Eternity Splinters.
summoned allies have been completely revamped, drawing their powers now more from the stats of the player who summons them – no longer from specific “Summoned Ally” bonuses
there are changes in story chapters 4, 7, and 8 – the chapters have been revised
item slots 1-5 and the entire itemization of Marvel Heroes have been adjusted – for example, it concerns which item class gets how many affixes
numerous costumes have been revised and redesigned
furthermore, numerous other adjustments to game mechanics have been made – especially the animation time of many abilities has been reduced and can now be canceled earlier
You can find the complete patch notes for Marvel Heroes in English in our sources. There are long, long patch notes
Marvel Heroes has recently received “the biggest update yet” and is still dealing with the aftermath. Especially veterans had quite a few things to complain about regarding the details. We haven’t heard anything recently about a potential port to PlayStation 4 of Marvel Heroes:
Now the first player has reached level 62. At least the first one in our version for Europe and North America. The character’s name is “Bigandshiny.”
Here you can experience the moment in the video:
In the corresponding “Isn’t it crazy, he made it” thread on reddit, players discuss how he did it.
The answer is unremarkable: He grinded the “Pirates” spot endlessly. This is also the spot that is described in popular leveling guides as “From level 55, you live there”.
Grinding, Grinding, Grinding – and then a little more grinding
The player himself says it took about 2000 hours. Leveling from 61 to 62 alone took five months. He has “hardcapped” 2676 skill points. The highest player in the Korean original version is also level 62.
When asked, why he did it, he answered that he enjoys setting difficult tasks for himself and accomplishing them. So the classic “I climb mountains because they are there.”
He has of course set a next goal: level 63. And he has already reached 0.74% of the required EXP for the new level. The rest will be a walk in the park.
Bigandshiny is a Wizard by the way.
A change of place and spot will probably not happen. The experts in the thread say: Even with the new region Kamasylvia, which is supposed to come soon, the “Pirates” remain the best farming spot. We wish: Good luck!
How things are going with Black Desert and four other MMORPGs at the moment, you can read in our State of Play. There we feel the MMORPGs out:
Last week, the gaming world turned its attention to the open beta of Ghost Recon Wildlands. What else has happened in the world of online gaming? In our video news, you will get an overview.
From February 23 until this Monday, the open beta of Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon Wildlands was live. Many curious fans took a look at the open-world game, where you must face the Santa Blanca drug cartel. However, the beta did not run smoothly. Connection drops and error messages plagued the players.
Ghost Recon Wildlands is not the only topic in our video news: Life is Feudal has started its closed beta, Black Desert is getting a new class, Albion Online has a release date, and in For Honor, we take a look at possible new heroes. Refaser has prepared the news in the video for you:
Here you can find timestamps and links to the reports for further reading:
The indie studio Zero Gravity has launched the Early Access version of the online space survival game Hellion.
In Hellion, you arrive as a colonist in a solar system and find that some catastrophe has destroyed all preparations for colonization upon arrival. You have no choice but to try to stay alive somehow. Unlike other survival games, you are exploring in the vacuum of space here and must try to build your own station and a spaceship from debris. You will find useful items everywhere that help you create everything you need to survive.
Exploration, Building, and Survival
In the Early Access version, your task is to salvage destroyed modules from space stations to convert them into a functioning base. You need to mine resources that you can turn into fuel, food, water, or air, as well as components for crafting. Additionally, you will set out to search the destroyed stations and ships for information on what has happened in the solar system before your arrival. You will also find useful items during your explorations.
However, you must contend with the hostile conditions in space. Your air supply runs low quickly, and moving in the weightlessness of space is also not easy. Alone, you will find it hard to survive, which is why you should team up with other players. But be careful, not everyone is friendly, and PvP is possible everywhere.
Many Updates Planned
The Early Access version of Hellion is set to be continuously developed. Updates are already in the works, allowing you to build your own spaceships from modules and customize your equipment. Space battles are also planned, and you will be able to mine resources on gas giants. Hacking to bypass security systems and much more is also in development.
The Early Access version of the online game Hellion is now available for the price of 22.99 Euros on Steam.
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Gigantic, the already quite bizarre MOBA from Perfect World, gets even weirder with the current update. You will receive a new pink heroine and purple-pink special weapons among other things.
Today, on Rose Monday, it is Carnival everywhere in Germany and in the MOBA Gigantic, the new update “Eternal Dawn” also has a certain Carnival flair. Both the new heroine Zandora and the fresh “Eternal Light Weapons” are brightly colored and shine in pink, fuchsia, and purple! While these colors actually refer to the colors of dawn, a pink overkill would also be perfectly suited for a carnival parade in Cologne.
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The queen of Pink Power is undoubtedly the new heroine Zandora. This strong warrior is supposed to be an immortal fighter, yet somehow she resembles more of a mix between a paladin and a pony from “My Little Pony”.
But do not be fooled! Zandora is a strong support fighter, who not only deals damage but maintains one of three useful auras with each hit. Each aura helps her and her allies in the vicinity. The three auras are:
Speed Boost
Damage Boost
Healing
If Zandora isn’t colorful enough for you yet, you can acquire an “Eternal Light Weapon” from level 10 with the respective hero, which will shine in bright purple and pink and enable particularly spectacular kills.
Damage Preview with the Giant Beast and Other Changes
In Gigantic, the goal is to slay the enemy giant beast. This is only possible if you unleash your own creature on the enemy’s monster, inflicting wounds. Until now, it wasn’t clear whether an attack would cause enough damage for a wound. With the current patch, the health and wound indicators now flicker appropriately when a wound is possible.
Additional changes from the update include:
Changes to the user interface. Additionally, there are various crosshair variants
Teams that suffer a player loss in battle due to disconnect or leaving now receive a permanent honor bonus for more prestige and crowns
Health regenerates faster now
Focus builds up slightly faster for heroes with low HP and slightly slower for tanky characters
The guardians now act smarter and more strategically
Creatures like cyclopes and cerberuses received numerous bug fixes and adjustments
Lastly, most heroes in the game also received adjustments, including a fix for Pakko’s Ice Breath, where the last breath attack could cause a wound on a guardian.
One of the most successful German Hearthstone players has had enough. Blizzard simply does nothing for the competitive players, he claims.
Among the most famous German Hearthstone experts is certainly Adrian Koy, who is known to most as Lifecoach. In every match, he meticulously analyzes the many possibilities and counter-options available before making his decision at the last moment.
Lifecoach is indeed a phenomenon in his own right. He earned a large part of his wealth first as a professional poker player and later in the real estate market. Then he switched to things that he enjoys more: Hearthstone. Here, too, he has a solid record, having earned over $130,000 in tournaments, placing him 9th worldwide.
However, Lifecoach has “had enough” of Hearthstone, as he himself puts it. In his view, Blizzard has been working against the competitive scene for three years and is removing mechanics that allowed for strong combos.
“Either Blizzard is unable to change it, or they simply do not want to change it.”
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However, he has already found an alternative: Gwent from the Witcher developers. In this game, it would be different. If you lose a game, it’s not due to RNG factors but simply because you played poorly. Mistakes are punished more severely, and good moves are rewarded.
“I want a mental challenge. When I develop a passion for something, I want to be able to improve at it. With Hearthstone, that’s simply not possible anymore.”
It is worth mentioning that Lifecoach has announced his retirement from Hearthstone several times before. Although this time it does sound more serious.
The RNG factor in Hearthstone constantly leads to wild discussions. For some players, it is a nightmare as it undermines strategy and sometimes turns the game into a coin toss. Other players love Hearthstone precisely because of these random factors, which always create exciting, absurd, and unforeseen situations.
The background download for Overwatch has begun and the PTR is closing. Are we getting a new hero now?
If you started your Battle.net launcher today, you will have inevitably noticed that Overwatch has begun downloading a future update. The PTR, the test server for Overwatch, has now been closed.
At the same time, maintenance work has been announced for Tuesday, February 28, 2017, between 7:00 AM and 7:30 AM – the perfect time to roll out the new patch.
Along with patch 1.8, most players expect that the next hero will be implemented in Overwatch. Although Blizzard has not made any official announcement about this, the teasers and hints strongly suggest that. However, the next hero will not be Doomfist – this has already been confirmed by Jeff Kaplan – which shifts the focus to the young inventor Efi Oladele and one of her robots. According to a leak that had predicted much before, the robot lady is named “Anchora” and is a quadruped tank.
Other hints indicate a more “human” appearing robot resembling a mecha suit from anime series. The posters in Numbani speak of a “Fashion Week” that is held in “Numbani, New York and Paris”. And – oh what a coincidence – on February 28 in real-time, the Fashion Week in Paris begins. Coinciding with the date of the patch. Perhaps “Aetria” is also a new character that will soon see the digital light of day.