Paladins HRX-Invitational, these teams are in the semifinals, the livestream and all important information you will get here.
The group stages are over and today, January 7th, 4 teams will head to the semifinals of the HRX Invitational. There, they will fight for a prize pool of 150,000 dollars at the Hi-rez EXPO 2017. Paladins is a promising eSports title.
The livestream of the semifinals starts tonight at 7:30 PM – We will keep you updated
Esports Burrito and District 69 particularly stood out in the group stages and are strong contenders for the victory. However, they still have to prove themselves today, January 7th, in the semifinals against Matchpoint and Abyss. These two teams also performed brilliantly in the group stages.
These teams are competing in the Paladins HRX Invitational semifinals
These four teams have made it to the semifinals and will continue to compete for the title and the prize pool of 150,000 dollars.
Abyss (Australia) – Abyss represents Australia and has also formed a team for League of Legends. They made it to the semifinals with a 2-1 record.
Burrito Esports (Europe) – Burrito Esports is an organization that aims to change the world one burrito at a time. Burrito Esports enters the semifinals undefeated.
District 69 (Europe) – So far, District 69 has won every major eSports event of Paladins. In the previous ESL tournaments, they remain undefeated as well. They continue to be consistent winners throughout the group stage of the HRX Invitational 2017, advancing to the semifinals with a 3-0 record.
Matchpoint (US) Matchpoint achieved third place in Dreamhack Summer 2016. Will they be able to secure first place this year?
Update (January 8) – The winners of the semifinals are set – Here are the finalists
These two teams from the Paladins HRX Invitational have secured a spot in the finals: District 69 vs Esports Burrito. District 69 had some very exciting moments where they could have lost their spot in the finals. Esports Burrito overwhelmed their opponents and secured their place in the finals with a 4-0.
These teams will play tonight for a spot in the finals
The winners of the semifinals will be updated as soon as the matches are completed. The lineup of the teams will look as follows tonight.
Esports Burrito vs Matchpoint: Winner: Esports Burrito
Abyss vs District 69: Winner: District 69
The times of the semifinals
The first match will start at 7:30 PM and the second match will start at 8:45 PM. These times may shift slightly throughout the tournament.
Livestream: Paladins-HRX-Invitational – Watch the semifinals here
Unlike before, it will no longer be possible to pull enemy players “around corners” with the hook, making it significantly easier to dodge the hook. In return, Roadhog will have much more certainty about where the pulled target lands – namely right in front of his nose.
In the official forum, it was announced that Roadhog would not be able to “turn 180° after throwing the hook to drop someone directly into the abyss.”
Players tested this and concluded: Um, yes. That actually works, as the following example shows.
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Moreover, Roadhog’s hook seems to have a second strange effect. Whenever he stuns a target – just before he would pull the target to him – the victim seems to be charged with kinetic energy. If, for instance, a rocket hits near the target, it will be sent flying like a New Year’s rocket.
https://gfycat.com/HelplessLegalBuzzard
Presumably, Blizzard will change some details before the patch’s release, so that Roadhog is not only used to make it easier for people to take the last step off the cliff.
Cortyn says: I’m not completely convinced by the new hook yet. But in general, I find it strange that the hook now breaks when the victim runs behind a wall. If I attach something to a string and place the object behind a wall and then pull on it… it still comes to me. But let’s wait and see. The patch is not final yet and with the complaints that are currently being made, a lot will surely be refined.
ARK: Survival Evolved is getting a new 1.05 update right after its patch 1.04. The patch is intended to fix the issues of the last one, which caused even more crashes.
On Friday, Studio Wildcard quickly rolled out update 1.05 for Ark PS4 to address the issues of the last patch. This seems to actually fix the problem with the many crashes, but it also causes even more lags.
In FIFA 17, the winter upgrades are coming in Ultimate Team mode. Which players will be given better ratings and what do I need to know about the upgrades? All information in English!
Unlike other game modes in FIFA 17, player attributes in FUT 17 are not continuously updated and adjusted to the real performances of the respective professional players. In FUT 17, players have cards with fixed attributes that remain constant throughout the year (except for Ones-to-Watch cards).
Some players do receive “in-form” cards (IF cards) during the season, but the stats of the regular cards remain unchanged. With one exception: The winter upgrades in February.
What are the winter upgrades in FUT 17?
Twice a year, the regular player cards in FUT are updated: When a new FIFA installment is released (in autumn) and after the winter transfers, that is, in February. These upgrades (and downgrades) are meant to reflect the real performances of the players they displayed consistently on the pitch in the months prior.
Each player receiving a winter upgrade will receive a new regular card in FUT 17. These are the “normal” cards, which are classified as bronze, silver, and gold:
Typically, gold cards are upgraded by 1-2 points in rating. Silver and bronze players receive upgrades of about 4 points. In rare cases, improvements for bronze players can reach a whopping 15 points.
How do I get a winter upgrade card with improved overall rating?
Once the winter upgrade cards are released, they can be pulled in sets. The only requirement is that the set contains players. The “old” cards of the respective players will no longer be found in the sets from that moment on.
If you already possess a card of a player who is upgraded, it remains unchanged. It will not be automatically updated. If you want the player’s card with improved attributes, you must pull it from a set. It is also possible to acquire the winter upgrade cards from other players on the transfer market.
In other words: From now on, two versions of regular cards for each player coexist in FUT: With the values at the launch of FIFA 17 and with the values after the winter upgrade.
When do the winter upgrades come out? Release
The winter upgrade cards do not all appear at once. They will be released gradually by EA Sports in “batches”. A look at the past shows that over 400 players receive an upgrade, released in four batches throughout February.
This is not yet known. There can now be much speculation about it. We will report on this promptly and keep this article updated.
Bundesliga predictions for the winter upgrades
Especially interesting for us in Germany: Which Bundesliga professionals receive an upgrade? In the following link, you will find predictions for possible Bundesliga winter upgrades:
How do the IF cards behave during the winter upgrades?
The “in-form” cards are a bit complicated during the winter upgrades.
In short: If a player’s winter upgrade card is better rated than or equal to the existing IF card(s), the IF cards are automatically upgraded. These should continue to be better than the regular cards.
However: If a player changes their rank during the winter upgrade (for example, from silver to gold) and the existing IF card was a silver card, it remains unchanged.
An example of Aguero’s IF cards from the past:
The regular card at launch had a rating of 87. After the winter upgrade, Aguero received a regular card with 88. Since one of his IF cards already had 88, it is increased to 89. His TOTW card, which was 89, two points better than 87, will become 90, to again be 2 points better than the new regular card.
By the way: IF cards include not only TOTW cards but also Hero and other special cards.
General questions about the winter upgrades?
Are the winter upgrades the winter transfers? No, the winter transfers take place before the winter upgrades. With the upgrades, neither the club nor the league changes.
Can the winter upgrade cards have position changes? In rare cases, yes, if the player showed strong performances in recent months in a different position.
How do the prices change on the transfer market? Usually, the upgraded players are more expensive than the original cards. The prices of the “old” regular cards decrease.
Who determines/chooses the winter upgrades? A team from EA Sports.
How long are the winter upgrades in packs? Until the end of FIFA 17.
Can players rank up (from bronze to silver, from silver to gold)? Yes.
Are there also winter downgrades? No. Only with new FIFA installments can players receive cards with worse ratings.
Can I have both regular versions of the player in my team? Yes, but only one can be on the field.
Can a player who switched clubs during the winter transfers receive an upgrade? Yes.
We show you all the new tier sets from the Nighthold, the new raid from World of Warcraft.
With the opening of the Nighthold, there are finally proper “sets” for players in World of Warcraft: Legion. The now 19th tier set is dropped by various bosses in the Nighthold and comes in different color and effect variations and the popular set bonuses, which adapt according to the character’s specialization. We have listed the sets for all classes and noted the respective set bonuses. For quicker navigation, simply use the following links or click through all the pages individually.
The graphics and videos used are from wowhead (see sources).
(2) Heart Strike and Mark of the Damned generate 10% more Runic Power. (4) Death Strike has a 25% chance to generate a Rune.
Set bonuses for Frost Death Knights
(2) Obliterate has a 20% increased chance to trigger Frost Fever. (4) While Frost Fever is active, Howling Gale now generates 10 Runic Power.
Set bonuses for Unholy Death Knights
(2) When a Festering Wound is ruptured, there is a 10% chance that Rune Corruption is triggered. (4) There is a 50% chance that Death’s Grasp causes a Festering Wound on the target.
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If you are experiencing FPS issues while playing Diablo 3? Or are the lags occurring during group play. We will show you what you can do about it.
Last night, Season 9 started in Diablo III. Many players embarked on their adventure and began leveling up to Level 70 quickly. While playing in a group, many noticed that the game’s performance had decreased.
In the general chat and on Reddit, players often complain about FPS issues, even though they haven’t changed anything in their hardware. Players who previously had no problems achieving 140 FPS or more are now getting only about 20 FPS in group matches. There are already a few solutions to fix the frame issues.
Diablo 3: FPS Drops
With Patch 2.4.3, the developers worked on the game’s performance. A new 64-bit client is supposed to better support strong systems and lead to shorter loading times. However, many players often experience FPS drops instead of improvements.
These problems often occur in groups and make gaming a frustrating experience. While Blizzard is working on an official solution that will likely be implemented as a hotfix in the game, you can try the following two solutions to achieve more FPS in Diablo III.
Leaving communities: The simplest solution is to leave large communities. Obviously, the Diablo III client has problems working with other players or their profiles. If you are in larger communities, you should leave these for now until the FPS issue is resolved. If this method does not work, you should switch clients.
Play Diablo 3 with 32-Bit Client: In some cases, the issues occur due to the new 64-bit client. Switching to the old 32-bit client seems to resolve the FPS drops for many players. To start the 32-bit client, you need to follow these steps:
Start your Battle.Net client.
Select Diablo 3 from the left menu.
Click on “Options” under the game title.
In the options, click on “Game Settings“
Select Start 32-Bit Client (instead of 64-Bit) for Diablo 3
Then, start your game normally.
With the 32-Bit mode, Diablo III should now run more stable.
At its core, it’s always a question for marketing: Do we want this “label” for our game or do we have our own that is stronger?
A World of Tanks wanted the label to assure the target audience: We are deep and evolving. Notice the name of the game – “World of Tanks” is not called that by coincidence, but because it wanted to imply similarity to “World of Warcraft.” Fun fact: World of Tanks holds the Guinness World Record for “the most players simultaneously on one MMO server.”
“The Elder Scrolls Online” doesn’t need the MMO term, because the brand “The Elder Scrolls” is so strong that no one asks: And what is this now? People should think of their experiences with “Skyrim” when they hear “The Elder Scrolls Online.” The term “Online” has long stood for “We are the MMO version of a well-known brand” – Star Trek Online, Final Fantasy XIV Online.
Some browser titles without a strong name wish to shine a little through the MMO label.
A game like Destiny fears that the term “MMO” would remind them of WoW and thus scare off Halo fans. Therefore, Destiny prefers to be known as a “co-op shooter” or shared-world shooter. The main thing is that “shooter” is at the forefront of the label.
A “The Division” is not called “The Division Online” or “World of The Division”, but decorates itself elegantly with “Tom Clancy’s The Division,” emphasizes the shooter roots and the franchise name, the good pedigree. When Ubisoft presented the game, they sought closeness to games like Destiny, because the target group already knew that.
In general, action-oriented titles tend to shy away from the “MMO” term, while RPGs or strategy titles happily embrace it. This has marketing reasons: “MMO” has taken on a connotation of RPG due to the power of MMORPGs like WoW.
If we leave the interpretation power to the developers, we end up with a patchwork. One game calls itself MMO, the next with exactly the same characteristics prefers not to. We have seen this with MOBA, where LoL grabbed the genre label and the others now don’t want it because with MOBA everyone thinks of LoL and not of them.
That’s why it’s so difficult to leave it to the developers themselves to decide what to call an MMO and what not to.
In practice, however, the media, industry, and players want a clear label to summarize the various games that share these particular commonalities, even if many games would rather be unique snowflakes.
What is an MMO nowadays? The Games-as-a-service definition
The correct label would actually be “Multiplayer online games that are maintained and developed as Games as a Service products.” But instead of this word monster, in practice today, “MMO” has stepped in.
Because very different games like EVE Online (the purest MMO) or games like Hearthstone or FIFA ultimately share commonalities:
they are multiplayer games, the focus is clearly on multiplayer
theoretically all players are online with each other – it is a “huge” community. Even if everyone is playing in their little rooms, the shared lobby is still vast.
they are regularly renewed by the developer with patches, updates, expansions, DLCs, or even new titles in the franchise, making them relevant from the start.
Due to these numerous commonalities, it makes sense to summarize this type of game under an overarching term. The modified overarching term “MMO” introduced by WoW and various subgenres such as MMORPG, MMO shooter, Military MMO, hack-and-slash with MMO elements, or (with one and a half eyes closed) also MOBA and hero shooter serve this purpose.
This way, these games can at least be distinguished from games clearly designed as “single-player titles”, even if they often offer a multiplayer mode.
But certainly: no one will go ahead and want to call games like Hearthstone a “card game MMO” or turn FIFA into a “soccer MMO”. That would go too far. But in a general consideration of the MMO genre, in statistics and research, both titles play a role. They function with the same mechanisms. Statisticians make no distinction between World of Warcraft, World of Tanks, or LoL.
In a perfect world, with the trend toward “instancing” ten years ago and particularly with the ubiquitous “Games as a service” trend of modern times, a suitable term could have been found and established. But the world is simply not perfect.
We consider the term “MMO.” What games are included under this term? What does MMO mean today and what are “Games-as-a-service?”
MMO – Massively Multiplayer Online Game. Our site is called “My MMO,” so we should know what MMO truly is and what it is not anymore. But that’s not so easy. We keep hearing complaints: Warframe is not an MMO and SWOTR hasn’t been one since the latest expansions, and LoL is certainly not.
Today we want to look at why it is so hard to define an MMO.
With the largest MMO, the MMO died
When I was young and innocent, MMOs were still MMOs. They were multiplayer games, you were always online, and there were masses of players simultaneously in-game and on-screen.
So Massively, Multiplayer, and Online – Check, check, and check. Three ticks in the box, the world was fine.
200 against 300 in PvP
I played Dark Age of Camelot back then. It wasn’t the first MMO nor the most important, but it was mine. Before that, there was Everquest and Ultima Online. There were already MMOs before those, but I started with Dark Age of Camelot.
In PvP there, the three different realms brought as many players to battle as they could muster. Fights of 200 against 300 men were quite normal. Maybe the third realm brought another 50 men, and they were crushed. When that happened, we called it “Tuesday.” The PvP of DAOC was “open” – there were no number restrictions.
It was unfair, it was laggy, and chaotic. It was an MMO.
In PvE there were three huge dragons – one for each realm. The dragon in our realm could not be killed for a long time. He was simply too strong. Then, everyone in the realm came together on our server to take him down with hundreds of people. 200, 300 heroes brought the beast down purely through overwhelming numbers. It was a huge lag, the server was about to crash, and then the dragon was dead and the celebration was grand: Our realm was the first worldwide to take him down.
This video, by the way, does not show our dragon, but a French one, but the principle is the same – everyone on it.
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Even the PvE was laggy and chaotic. It wasn’t about strategy or skill or perfect execution, but purely about the mass. It was an MMO. There were truly “masses” of people simultaneously on the screen and involved in the action.
But that was over 15 years ago. DAOC was a niche title back then, and the whole MMO genre was too. Because even if many nostalgics tell otherwise: That never really worked in this “anarchy.”
World of Warcraft tamed the MMO and abolished it
When World of Warcraft became successful later, it was also because Blizzard limited this “anarchy.” Blizzard tamed and restricted the “Massively” in MMO. For that, some still resent them today.
Now you could no longer fight a boss with “as many people as possible,” but groups were limited to 5, 10, 20, or 40 players. PvP was the same. The realms could no longer “bring as many players as there were,” but both sides had equal numbers of players in the battlegrounds.
In addition, there was no longer “one single” world, but the world was divided into “instances”, into small segments. The WoW player no longer dealt with the entire realm and the 2000 players of his faction, but only with his guild. Admittedly, this concept was not invented by WoW, but it was established.
Although you could still meet many players in WoW, you couldn’t really do anything like that. Except for raiding enemy capitals. What was normal in DAOC, on Tuesday, became an extraordinary event in WoW: a capital raid.
WoW turns the MMORPG into the lobby RPG
All relevant things in WoW: arena fights, raids, battlegrounds, even the “normal” instances could be done with a small group of people. That was essentially the end of the first “M”, the end of “Massively” in the MMO term. There was no longer an “open world,” but only a lobby from where you could disappear into individual instances, into small rooms.
WoW had become from MMORPG to lobby RPG.
Nihilium World-First C’Thun: April 25, 2006.
Everything was now fair, comparable, and went legitimately. Anyone could fight a raid boss on their server and had the same conditions as guilds on other servers. You no longer needed “the whole realm” to kill a dragon. Your own guild was enough. More simply did not fit into the instance – otherwise it would be unfair to the dragon.
The performance and the graphics of MMOs became much better because of that. Today, you can’t even imagine how “bad” a game would have to look for it to display 200 people simultaneously without completely breaking down.
And in the rooms, there were also boss fights possible that required tactics other than “everyone attack at once”.
How the “Massively” in MMO died
Because WoW was such a success, almost all other “MMOs” copied these ideas. EVE Online solved it differently, still managing to cram these massive player numbers onto one screen, but EVE and games like Planetside 2 were more the exception than the rule.
In principle, after WoW, the “Massively” was so diluted that even games originally conceived very differently could now don the label “MMO”. Games like World of Tanks.
MMO as a label for Games as a service
But why should a game like “World of Tanks” call itself MMO? And why do browser games or completely different titles do so? Because they need a label. The term “MMO” was already established through WoW and other games. It was a label that promised something many customers were looking for: A game that is “constantly” being developed. A game that remains relevant and enjoyable for years.
In English, this is termed “Games as a service.” This means: A game is not finished at some point, and you don’t just place the box on the shelf after completing it. Rather, the title continues to be developed, with patches, expansions, updates, and DLCs. The game is “further” maintained by the developer.
For this, the title doesn’t have to be an RPG, no role-playing game at its core, like World of Warcraft, but it can also be an action game like World of Tanks.
“Shooters with MMO elements” are among the most successful games worldwide
Games like these have been on the rise for several years now. Franchises that were once purely single-player games are now integrating such elements into their DNA because it brings in real money: Such a game earns not only once with the release, but over the years the cash register keeps ringing.
For such titles, there is no commonly accepted label: “Games as a service” is neither clearly understandable, nor established, or particularly appealing. Here “MMO” has essentially taken on this function. MMO has seeped into this gap in language.
Games that rely on such “Games as a service” elements are said to have “MMO elements.”
A multiplayer online game designed to be regularly developed and supported by the developer. That is today, in practice, the definition of “MMO.” And when you look at it this way, even “MOBA” falls under this overarching label and is summarized under it.
I am an MMO because I want to be one
At its core, it’s always a question for marketing: Do we want this “label” for our game or do we have our own that is stronger?
A World of Tanks wanted the label to assure the target audience: We are deep and evolving. Notice the name of the game – “World of Tanks” is not called that by coincidence, but because it wanted to imply similarity to “World of Warcraft.” Fun fact: World of Tanks holds the Guinness World Record for “the most players simultaneously on one MMO server.”
“The Elder Scrolls Online” doesn’t need the MMO term, because the brand “The Elder Scrolls” is so strong that no one asks: And what is this now? People should think of their experiences with “Skyrim” when they hear “The Elder Scrolls Online.” The term “Online” has long stood for “We are the MMO version of a well-known brand” – Star Trek Online, Final Fantasy XIV Online.
Some browser titles without a strong name wish to shine a little through the MMO label.
A game like Destiny fears that the term “MMO” would remind them of WoW and thus scare off Halo fans. Therefore, Destiny prefers to be known as a “co-op shooter” or shared-world shooter. The main thing is that “shooter” is at the forefront of the label.
A “The Division” is not called “The Division Online” or “World of The Division”, but decorates itself elegantly with “Tom Clancy’s The Division,” emphasizes the shooter roots and the franchise name, the good pedigree. When Ubisoft presented the game, they sought closeness to games like Destiny, because the target group already knew that.
In general, action-oriented titles tend to shy away from the “MMO” term, while RPGs or strategy titles happily embrace it. This has marketing reasons: “MMO” has taken on a connotation of RPG due to the power of MMORPGs like WoW.
If we leave the interpretation power to the developers, we end up with a patchwork. One game calls itself MMO, the next with exactly the same characteristics prefers not to. We have seen this with MOBA, where LoL grabbed the genre label and the others now don’t want it because with MOBA everyone thinks of LoL and not of them.
That’s why it’s so difficult to leave it to the developers themselves to decide what to call an MMO and what not to.
In practice, however, the media, industry, and players want a clear label to summarize the various games that share these particular commonalities, even if many games would rather be unique snowflakes.
What is an MMO nowadays? The Games-as-a-service definition
The correct label would actually be “Multiplayer online games that are maintained and developed as Games as a Service products.” But instead of this word monster, in practice today, “MMO” has stepped in.
Because very different games like EVE Online (the purest MMO) or games like Hearthstone or FIFA ultimately share commonalities:
they are multiplayer games, the focus is clearly on multiplayer
theoretically all players are online with each other – it is a “huge” community. Even if everyone is playing in their little rooms, the shared lobby is still vast.
they are regularly renewed by the developer with patches, updates, expansions, DLCs, or even new titles in the franchise, making them relevant from the start.
Due to these numerous commonalities, it makes sense to summarize this type of game under an overarching term. The modified overarching term “MMO” introduced by WoW and various subgenres such as MMORPG, MMO shooter, Military MMO, hack-and-slash with MMO elements, or (with one and a half eyes closed) also MOBA and hero shooter serve this purpose.
This way, these games can at least be distinguished from games clearly designed as “single-player titles”, even if they often offer a multiplayer mode.
But certainly: no one will go ahead and want to call games like Hearthstone a “card game MMO” or turn FIFA into a “soccer MMO”. That would go too far. But in a general consideration of the MMO genre, in statistics and research, both titles play a role. They function with the same mechanisms. Statisticians make no distinction between World of Warcraft, World of Tanks, or LoL.
In a perfect world, with the trend toward “instancing” ten years ago and particularly with the ubiquitous “Games as a service” trend of modern times, a suitable term could have been found and established. But the world is simply not perfect.
In the MMO shooter Destiny, official eSports rules have been established by ESL, making ESL the first major eSports league to do so.
The eSports scene is growing increasingly larger – including here in Germany. A significant contributor to this is the Electronic Sports League (ESL), a globally significant platform for professional gaming that is likely well-known to many gamers in this country.
While games like League of Legends, Starcraft II, DOTA 2, or Counterstrike have long established themselves in the eSports scene, new games are making tentative attempts in this area. The foundation has now been laid to introduce the MMO shooter Destiny into professional gaming. ESL has established official eSports rules.
Official tournaments need official rules
A loot game like Destiny struggles to gain a foothold in eSports: There is an enormous variety of armor pieces and weapons with special abilities, along with various subclasses, which undermine one important aspect of eSports: fairness and equal chances for all tournament participants.
Therefore, clear rules are necessary to exclude unfair disadvantages. The “sweats” community, the “sweats”, have already established their own rules to host proper tournaments. ESL has now oriented itself to these rules: The official ESL rule set for Destiny comes from the fans. Thanks are given to FarCognitions and his team.
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The rule set contains some surprises – especially for those new to eSports: In ESL tournaments, different multiplayer modes are played in rotation, and not in Destiny’s typical three or six-member teams. Instead, 4v4 is to be established, which is the standard in most eSports shooters.
For Destiny tournaments, a separate point system for armor is used, with a maximum value of seven points per player. Exotic armor is completely excluded. Also, all “Iron Lord” artifacts (except for Jolder) and heavy ammunition are forbidden. Furthermore, each subclass may only occur once per team.
Must stay out of ESL tournaments: Falkenmond
Most exotic weapons, however, are allowed, except for:
Falkenmond
No Land Beyond
Universal Remote
Icebreaker
Complaint
Queenbreaker Bow
Additionally, some perks are forbidden, such as Roulette. The complete rule set can be found on the ESL website.
By the way: With “Rise of Iron,” the developers introduced private matches in the autumn of 2016, a feature the community had been requesting since the launch of Destiny (autumn 2014). It was only with this step that the door to tournaments was opened. Information about private matches can be found here.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street (WoW, LoL) shares how he experienced death threats and FBI investigations – because players were not satisfied.
A few days ago, Ben Brode, one of the lead developers of Hearthstone, sparked a discussion about the community’s behavior towards game designers. After Brode explained that not all developers can handle the pressure, massive criticism, or even extreme hostilities, there were many reactions from the community.
The statements ranged from “You have my sympathy, no one should endure this” to “Don’t be so dramatic, it’s just your job, you have to deal with it” – a polarizing topic.
Now Greg Street has also spoken out, many might know him as “Ghostcrawler”. He was formerly involved with Ensemble on the “Age of Empires” series, then worked for Blizzard on World of Warcraft and StarCraft 2, and now for Riot on League of Legends. In his blog, he explains what he thinks about this topic.
“I don’t think you can be a good game developer if you are thin-skinned. You have to put your ideas to the test of reviews, which happens either internally or when players get to see the design.
I believe that you can be a good developer if you have thick skin, but not enough to open yourself up to direct communication with players. Some of my favorite games were made by people who could hardly start a conversation with others – not to mention the public of the internet.”
Greg Street worked at Blizzard for a long time, now he is at Riot – they also know well about player insults.
Later, Street also addresses his own experiences with this topic because he has also felt the consequences:
“I received strange phone calls in the middle of the night. I received death threats. During my time at Blizzard, my house was monitored by security. I had some developers who had to work with the FBI because of threats.”
Street also hints that he is actually in a good “baseline position” and others have it much harder:
“I belong to the upper class and am a white, heterosexual guy and know developers who are not and have had much, much worse things done to them by players. There is no reason for it. We all love games. Just because of that, we already have a lot in common.”
Cortyn says: No matter how much anger, emotions, and negative energy one has bottled up, everyone should think a little more about their actions and not forget that there is also a person on the other side. I don’t want to come across as preachy, but the principle that everyone should have learned as a child should perhaps come back into consciousness a bit more: Do not do unto others what you do not want done to you.
The next patch for World of Warcraft is approaching. We will tell you when update 7.1.5 will be released and what it brings.
For several weeks now, the Battle.net launcher has started downloading data for the next patch of World of Warcraft in the background. Now Blizzard has finally announced a date on which patch 7.1.5 will be released to the players.
Patch 7.1.5 will be released on January 11 in Europe, while in America it will come on January 10 due to earlier maintenance.
The patch is not a “full update” with new dungeons or raids, but just a small interim patch that aims to address the main issues of the player base.
The focus of the new features is on comprehensive changes to class balance. Especially shadow priests and hunters can expect some changes to their core mechanics. For all classes, the weighting of secondary stats will also change. Critical strike chance, mastery, and haste should now be in much better balance, so that not only one combination of stats per class is attractive.
Furthermore, the patch brings many small quality of life improvements, such as easier artifact knowledge for twinks or a new timewalking event for Mists of Pandaria. Finally, there is the newly established Brawler’s Guild and the introduction of micro-holidays, which can be considered mere fun.
In line with the release of the newest patch, the developers at Blizzard have released a new “Survival Guide” update that briefly informs you about the most important changes:
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Today, on January 7th, is vendor reset at The Division. What items are on offer this week?
Today, the vendors are reset for the first time in 2017. Once again this year, every vendor in the game has at least one relevant item in terms of gear score. We will take a look at the inventory of the main vendors.
Offer from the special equipment vendor on January 7th.
This vendor with the most extensive offer is located at the terminal. At score 256, his weapons cost 1248 Phoenix Credits:
The weapon mods are High-Speed Magazine, Muzzle Brake, Short Grip, T2 Micro Laser Sight. There are also two jackets and Sealed Caches.
Special Blueprint Vendor – Inventory
This Blueprint Vendor is also waiting at the terminal. The following blueprints have the maximum score:
M9 – Military Version (Pistol): 749 PCs
MG5 (LMG): 915 PCs
Electronics Vest: 582 PCs
Firearms Gloves: 499 PCs
The mods are High-Speed Magazine, Quick Release Magazine, Performance Equipment Mod, and Firearms Equipment Mod.
The Vendor of Advanced Weapons on PS4, Xbox One, and PC
In the security wing of the base, you can visit this vendor. He requires credits. The primary weapons cost 1669320 credits each at World Tier 5 and score 256:
The Division: The Inventory of the Dark Zone Specialty Vendor
This vendor is patiently waiting in DZ06 in the safe room. She sells the items from DZ Rank 35 at maximum score. They cost 277440 DZ. Each armor piece sells one gear set piece.
Mask: FireCrest
Armor: D3-FNC
Backpack: Shield’s Calling
Knee Pads: Authority of the Tactician
Holster: Nomad
Gloves: Authority of the Tactician
Additionally, starting from rank 30, you can buy a Sealed Dark Zone Cache for 100000 DZ.
The promising sound of a stealthy character in WoW is actually a bug. The reason it still exists today is quite old.
World of Warcraft is arguably one of the longest-lasting and largest MMORPGs on the market with its 12 years. Given such a vast amount of data and a large game world, it’s hardly surprising that some bugs existed in the game and still persist today. But did you also know that some bugs were retroactively explained as mechanics because they turned out to be fitting?
One of these bugs is the sound effect you hear when a character in Stealth passes close to your own character. It is the same sound that is used when the corresponding player (Rogue or Druid) activates their Stealth.
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Chris Bratt from Eurogamer explains in his video why the Stealth sound that we still hear today was originally a bug. The client on the player’s PC only learns at the last moment from the WoW server that a stealthy character is nearby – exactly at the moment when the player can see the sneaky character, for example, because they are dropping Stealth or coming into line of sight.
This led to an annoying effect during the Alpha of World of Warcraft: Since the character was “loaded for the first time” on the player’s PC, their equipment, appearance, and current buffs had to be loaded as well. This meant that all current buffs played their sound effect again and the “going into Stealth” sound effect was also heard: This is the “Woosh” sound.
It should actually only appear when transitioning into Stealth, but due to the bug, it is also heard when a stealthy player “comes near.”
However, when this bug was fixed, they decided to continue playing the sneaking sound to give players an audio signal of the proximity of a Rogue or Druid. And this “bug,” which quickly became a feature, still exists today.
The new patch 1.04 ofARK: Survival Evolved for PS4 brings new servers for PlayStation players, but also new bugs. Players are frustrated.
Since the release of ARK on PlayStation 4 players have complained not only about full servers but also about poor server performance. Studio WildCard has not overlooked the problem and played Update 1.04, which allows players to join new servers. No official patch notes for the ARK update 1.04 have been released yet. However, not only new servers have been introduced, but also a lot of new bugs.
What is known so far about the ARK PS4 Patch 1.04
There are still no official patch notes from Studio Wildcard regarding Update 1.04. However, it can already be noted that the PS4 version of ARK now seems to be running worse. But there are also more servers that were urgently needed due to overcrowding.
There are more servers for PS4
With Update 1.04, new servers are coming for the survival fighters on PlayStation. This should make it easier for players to join a game. Since the release on PS4, ARK has been nearly unusable for many players because the servers were completely congested. Servers 735-766 are now live. There are both new PvE servers and new PvP servers.
New bugs have appeared with patch 1.04
Actually, the update was supposed to reduce crashes and performance issues. However, it seems that due to new bugs, there are now even more crashes. Players are reporting on Reddit mainly about graphical issues and crashes of the game whenever they send invites to friends to play.
The bugs that came with ARK along with patch 1.04 currently make the new servers unfortunately unusable. Hopefully, Studio Wildcard can fix these quickly.
Final Fantasy XIV in the theater and without leaving the house? A player’s acting group makes it possible.
Video games are simply a complete waste of time and do not get you anywhere in life! At least, that is what the Federal Employment Agency claims. Steve Pederzani, however, sees it quite differently and is convinced that video games can make a valuable contribution to society.
Steve Pederzani is currently studying law and also plays Final Fantasy XIV in his free time. Last December, he organized a special kind of role-playing game there with his character “Wanderer Sakabu”, which motivated players to create new accounts and wander to his game server “Diabolos”.
Wanderer Sakabu
Final Fantasy XIV becomes a stage with actors and audience
When playing on “Diabolos” in Final Fantasy XIV, you can find the most diverse player-run events. There, colorful life flourishes with theaters, cabarets, haunted houses, parties, and many other experiences that role-players of the server provide for others.
Steve Pederzani is one of those role-players who has dedicated himself entirely to theater. With his character “Wanderer Sabaku,” the student rehearsed a script based on Final Fantasy IX with a virtual theater group. The script “I Want to Be Your Canary” is about a princess and her commoner lover.
Pederzani coordinated over a dozen players who participated as actors with their characters. He was also the director, stage designer, and played a role in the piece as “Wanderer Sakabu”. The virtual theater can accommodate over 50 players, who as audience members have the opportunity to react with emotes like clapping or laughing.
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With the online theater, Final Fantasy becomes a cultural asset for the acting group
Pederzani has a theater background himself and has acted in several plays during his school years – later also professionally for a while. When he began to play the first Final Fantasy MMO (FFXI), he felt inspired by the plots in the game and started to write small scripts based on the lore of Final Fantasy. With “I Want to Be Your Canary,” Pederzani performed his largest piece online to date.
Sometimes the actors had to be a bit crafty – like their colleagues in real life. In Final Fantasy XIV, players cannot simply kill each other, but there were a few death scenes in the play. For these, the group placed beds under the stage, where the actors could lay their characters down to “sleep” on stage.
Pederzani and his group see themselves as artists and prefer not to be called role-players. They are actors and a theater group. They want to bring theater closer to as many people as possible around the globe, while connecting their passions – Final Fantasy and acting. For them, Final Fantasy is not just about gaming; they find stories, culture, and art in it.
For the past few weeks, the performance of Battlefield 1 on consoles has improved. Have you noticed the differences shown in the video?
In December, there was a major update for Battlefield 1 that was meant to improve the game’s performance. As the video from Digital Foundry shows, the patch fulfills its performance promises. In comparison, you can see the FPS of a Battlefield version before the December update and a Battlefield version with patch 1.05.
More FPS on Consoles
Achieving strong performance of Battlefield 1 on consoles seems to be important to the developers. The interesting part about this performance improvement is that the graphics have not degraded significantly to increase the FPS. Usually, one has to take some visual steps back to improve performance. In this case, there is barely any noticeable graphic downgrade.
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In the video comparison, you can see that the Battlefield version with the current patch 1.05 is significantly more stable at 60 FPS than the older version. Although there are noticeably fewer stutters, the dynamic resolution is hardly noticeable. There were previously issues with an accidental graphic downgrade, but those were fixed shortly after.
With the performance patch, the developers have done a great job stabilizing the framerate of Battlefield 1 on consoles.
In the MMO shooter Destiny, the Trials of Osiris start today, on January 6th. On which map will it be played?
At least the Trials of Osiris are reliable: This weekly PvP event starts today at 6 PM and ends next Tuesday with the weekly reset at 10 AM. When the monthly PvP event, the Iron Banner, will begin is still uncertain.
It is possible that the weekly ritual refers to the Trials of Osiris. Will there be changes in the future? We will find out next week.
This week, the Trials will be played on the map The Burning Shrine.
What are the Trials of Osiris?
In the Trials, you engage in thrilling PvP battles in the “Elimination” mode. You compete in teams of three and try to fill your points card with victories. When the opposing team is completely defeated, you win a round. Fallen team members can be revived. Here, not only strong equipment matters, but also communication among the Guardians. A good knowledge of the map is advantageous.
With 5 and 7 victories, there are random rewards from the loot of Osiris. Additionally, you should keep an eye on Brother Vance’s bounties for extra rewards. If you’re in top form, you can reach Mercury with a “flawless” ticket and loot the chest with valuable loot.
This new trailer for the co-op adventure Ghost Recon Wildlands focuses on cats and red dots.
In Ghost Recon Wildlands, you can choose whether to complete missions “loudly” or in “stealth mode.” While explosive actions or bulldozers are part of the loud gameplay, you try to remain undetected and avoid triggering alarms in stealth mode. With both playstyles, you can fight the Santa Blanca drug cartel. As you can see in the new trailer, sniper rifles play an important role in this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag0YKzpTvDs
Ghost Recon Wildlands: Fight against the drug cartel and the military
On March 7, the new installment of the Tom Clancy series will be released for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. In this action game, you can play in co-op mode with up to four players and complete missions together. You have great freedom of action and decide which targets to attack. You can also choose whether you want more action and play “loudly” or silently eliminate the targets. There are multiple ways to accomplish mission objectives.
Paladins HRX Invitational, you can find the livestream and all important information here. Today we go into group stage 2.
Yesterday, on January 5th, the Hi-rez EXPO 2017 started, and with it the biggest eSports event that Paladins has ever organized: The HRX Invitational.Paladins is a promising eSports title. The winner of the HRX Invitational will receive a prize pool of $150,000.
Update (January 7): The winning teams have been added after the first matches, further down the post.
The livestream of the second group stage starts tonight at 6:00 PM – We will keep you updated
These 4 teams will compete against each other today, January 6th, in the second group stage and fight for a place in the semifinals.
Paladins Teams – Group Stage 2:
These four teams will compete in the second group stage:
Team Eager (North America) – Team Eager not only has a Paladins team but also a Smite team and a Hearthstone player. The Paladins players are: coOkie, Reptile, Shades, Bitey, and Awry.
Abyss (Australia) – Abyss represents Australia and has also formed a team for League of Legends.
Burrito Esports (Europe) – Burrito Esports is an organization that aims to change the world one burrito at a time. They have also formed a Smite team.
Nocturns Gaming (LatAm) – Nocturns Gaming is the first Latin American team to become a champion in Paladins. They achieved this with a 3-0 against Apple Lovers in Colombia.
Paladins Group Stage 2
The winners will be updated as soon as the matches are finished. The specified times may vary slightly during the tournament.
Update (January 7) – The winners of Group Stage 2 of the HRX Invitational are now confirmed
The winners of the second group stage of the Paladins tournament are confirmed. Especially Burrito Esports has stood out.
Teams of the second group stage of the HRX Invitational
These teams will compete in the second group stage of the Paladins HRX Invitational.
6:00 PM: Team Eager vs Abyss: Winner: Abyss
7:45 PM: Abyss vs Nocturns Gaming: Winner: Abyss
9:30 PM: Burrito Esports vs Nocturns Gaming: Winner: Burrito Esports
11:15 PM: Burrito Esports vs Abyss: Winner: Burrito Esports
1:00 AM: Team Eager vs Nocturns Gaming: Winner: Nocturne Gaming
2:45 AM: Burrito Esports vs Team Eager: Winner: Burrito Esports
Point table for Group Stage 2 HRX Invitational
The point table shows that especially Burrito Esports has stood out and enters the semifinals undefeated.
Burrito Esports – Won: 3 / Lost: 0
Abyss – Won: 2 / Lost: 1
Team Eager – Won: 1 / Lost: 2
Nocturne Gaming – Won: 0 / Lost: 3
Livestream: Paladins HRX Invitational – Watch the matches here
Terry Crews as the voice of the next Overwatch hero “Doomfist”? It is becoming more likely.
In relation to Overwatch, there has been quite a hype surrounding Terry Crews in recent months. After Crews announced on Reddit that he would love to voice a character in Overwatch, it has taken off like wildfire.
As he is a big fan of many games – especially Overwatch – he recently visited Blizzard to pay his favorite developers a visit. However, fans and conspiracy theorists immediately suspected “There is more to this!” and believe that Crews is already in talks with Blizzard to voice a future character.
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Overwatch: New Hero Doomfist and Terry Crews Voices Him – The Rock Thinks So
On Facebook, a post by Crews received a lot of support – in just six hours, there were over 3,000 comments welcoming the idea of Crews voicing a hero. While a few fans have also demanded that Blizzard simply add Terry Crews as a hero in Overwatch, that seems rather unlikely.
Via Twitter, Crews announced how much he enjoyed his visit to Blizzard and ended the post with a “Let’s go!” – Let’s get to it! This again leads to wild speculation about whether Crews might be referring to a confirmed voice role.
The wrestling star and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shares this view. Terry Crews’ voice is extremely muscular.
? Co-sign. Known TC for years and this man’s voice even has bad ass muscles. ??? Fans would love it. #Doomfisthttps://t.co/d2Kni3MJbn
Cortyn says: Since Blizzard has been quite receptive to community ideas and Overwatch is supposed to be the “game of the community”, it is quite likely that they will fulfill this wish for the fans and Terry Crews. If that is the case, Crews will probably be required to keep quiet. Either way, we will definitely find out over the course of the year.
In FIFA 17, we summarize the information on winter transfers. Many players switch their clubs in January – including in FUT 17.
The winter transfer period is running. Many professional players have already changed their clubs, a prominent example is Julian Draxler, who will now play for PSG. The transfer window for German clubs is still open until January 31.
In FIFA 17’s “Ultimate Team” mode, EA Sports responds to events in the real transfer market. Throughout January and early February, the winter transfer cards will be released in FUT 17. Players are not only changing their clubs in reality, but also in virtual football.
What are the winter transfers in FUT 17?
In FIFA’s Ultimate Team, there are two periods during which the clubs and leagues of the player cards are updated: After the summer transfers, when a new FIFA installment is released, and during the winter transfers, which take place in January and early February. This keeps FUT up to date. The ingame winter transfers reflect the transfers in real football transactions.
The transferred players receive fresh cards: the winter transfer cards. The only difference between the new and old cards is that the club and possibly the league will be updated. Everything else remains identical: The overall rating and stats stay unchanged.
When do the winter transfer cards get released? – Release
The winter transfer cards will not all be released at the same time in FUT 17. EA Sports releases these gradually in “batches.” The first winter transfer cards are already in the game, which we will mention at the end of the article.
Since the transfer window closes at the end of January, most transfer cards will appear in early February. In previous years, more than 1000 players were transferred during the winter.
The first “batch” was released on January 5. The next big batches are expected to be on January 13, January 20, January 27, and February 3. However, these release times are not confirmed.
How can I get a winter transfer card?
Once a player receives a winter transfer card, it can be drawn in packs. The “old” cards of that player will no longer be available in the sets from this moment on.
You can also purchase a winter transfer card on the transfer market from other players.
Important: If you already own a card of a player who changes clubs, this card remains unchanged. The cards in your possession will not be updated.
An example: If you have a card of Julian Draxler, his club remains Wolfsburg and his league remains Bundesliga. However, from now on, all Draxler cards that you pull from the sets will be marked with PSG and the French league.
General questions about the winter transfers
Do loan players also receive new cards? Yes.
How long are the winter transfer cards available in the sets? Until the end of FIFA 17.
Are the winter transfers the winter upgrades? No. The ratings for the winter transfers remain unchanged. The winter upgrades will be released at a later time – after the winter transfers.
What happens to the “in form” cards of the transferred players? The previous IF cards remain unchanged. Future IF cards will come with the new club.
What about the Ones-to-Watch cards? These remain unaffected by the winter transfers. However, once an OtW player receives a TOTW card in the future, the OtW card will be updated with the new club.
Can you own both player cards, one with the old club and one with the new club? Yes, but only one of them can play in a team.
If you can’t find some winter transfer players in the sets: The player might have transferred to a club that is not licensed in FIFA 17. If a player switches from a non-licensed club to a licensed club, he will also be missing.
The chance of a winter transfer player in the sets remains the same as the chance of the card of the player before.
What advantages do the winter transfers offer me? With the new player cards, new combinations for your Ultimate Team are possible. The chemistry developments are exciting.
These players have already been transferred in the winter
On January 5, 73 cards were transferred, including:
