In The Division, the ISAC mission is available. It brings an exclusive item that is supposed to be available only this week.
Since update 1.2, there are now two weekly missions: First, the Strategic Mission, which takes over the role of the previous “Operation ISAC”, consists of four tasks, and rewards 30 Phoenix Credits upon completion.
Additionally, there is now the Weekly ISAC Mission. This consists of only one task and brings new, exclusive rewards. From now on, this is linked to “ISAC Transmission”, for which Ubisoft presents a fresh video every Thursday, meant to convey the seriousness of the situation.
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This week there is a recurring problem in the story involving Simon Keyes: The Division technician made a deal last week with the black market dealer E, who is supposed to be an ally. However, complications arise at the meeting point: Enemies ambush E, and the situation spirals out of control. Your task:
Eliminate 100 experienced enemies: You need to eliminate the enemies approaching E’s position. At least that’s the description in the game. For you, this simply means: Kill all enemies with purple health bars that cross your path.
As a reward, you receive three high-end Division tech and an exclusive ISAC Esmay beanie. The beanie, one of those pom-pom-less hats, is supposed to be available only this week. So get to it!
Since Tuesday, the weekly Strategic Mission in The Division has been ongoing, which allows for 30 Phoenix Credits. Here are the tasks:
Recover 30 contaminated objects: Head into the Dark Zone and extract diligently. But watch out for the rope!
Collect 30 electronic parts
Eliminate 50 looters
Complete 10 missions: Master 10 main missions at the difficulty level “Hard” or “Challenging”.
At Tree of Savior, access for new players is restricted. For now, only existing players can log in.
Access for New Players Restricted to Address Issues
At the beginning of the month, Tree of Savior transitioned from Early Access to the live version and has been available on the gaming platform Steam since then. However, there is now a restriction. For now, no new players will be able to register for the game!
The reasoning for this is provided on the official homepage of the game.
“We plan to temporarily restrict access to the game for new players and have asked Valve to prevent new players from downloading the game. Current players will not be affected.
These restrictions will be implemented so that we can address issues related to server stability, lags, and other obstacles. This decision was made after a heated internal debate on how we can improve the player experience for all players.
These restrictions will be implemented as soon as Valve can enforce them, and they will be removed once the issues have been resolved.”
No exact date for when these restrictions will come into effect has been given. Anyone looking to try the game in the next few days should hurry with their registration and download.
For more news and articles around the MMORPG with the cuddly graphics, check out our Tree of Savior news page.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In an interview with pcgamesn, Game Designer Michael Chu, who is also the “story guy” for Overwatch, spoke about one issue seen in Overwatch: too few villains. While Overwatch has a number of dark characters, such as Widowmaker and Reaper, who also have strong personalities, we have not done a particularly good job explaining their goals and motivations so far.
One way to give these characters more profile is seen in the future of the storylines. There are many possibilities, as additional comics and new cinematics are planned for the coming months; Jeff Kaplan even mentioned a whole “season” in this context – so possibly 4 new cinematics again?
Symmetra is now tending more towards “good”, even though she works for an “evil” corporation.
The other “evil” characters, like Junkrat, Roadhog, and Symmetra, have gained “positive” traits through their comics. Roadhog and Junkrat are now more associated with the “chaotic-neutral” spectrum, and Symmetra’s “evil side” collapses whenever a child suffers. This makes for not very convincing villains.
While no specific announcements have been made yet, it seems obvious that the next heroes for Overwatch will be darker and evil characters. One possibility could be Sombra, Pharah’s deceased mother – she could be the first new hero after the launch.
For more news and articles about Blizzard’s hero shooter, you can find them on our Overwatch game page.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In The Division, there will be maintenance work on PS4, Xbox One, and PC today, on May 26th. The servers will be unavailable at noon.
Today at noon, the servers will be shut down on all platforms. However, there will not be the regular weekly maintenance. This has already been scheduled for Tuesday. Instead, a necessary hotfix will be released today.
The server status will be offline starting at 11 AM. The work will likely take two hours, so you can get back to gaming at 1 PM.
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Annoying: Today is a holiday in many federal states. Some agents surely had “gaming” planned for their day. Unfortunately, during these two hours, you’ll have to find another game.
What changes today?
The spontaneous server downtime has a good reason: After update 1.2, problems with daily missions arise again. They are – even today – not available.
Natchai Stappers informs in the Ubi forum that this problem is now being addressed: A bug is being fixed that affects the daily missions.
Since the launch of The Division, the daily missions have consistently caused frustration: Sometimes they are completely missing, then they only rotate every three days. A patch adjusted the list of daily missions a few weeks ago. Apparently, further adjustments are now necessary.
In Blade & Soul powerful and unreleased items have appeared in the game world. The culprits were NCSoft employees who had used GM tools to cheat these items onto their accounts.
In Blade and Soul, the Kung-Fu MMO from NCSoft, the community was in an uproar. Because previously unreleased items with particularly good stats had suddenly appeared in the game. Of course, hackers and manipulative software were quickly suspected, but it got worse.
Investigations by NCSoft revealed that it was likely two “Support Agents” who had used their available GM tools to cheat items for their personal accounts. Therefore, Community Manager “Rukkirii” also released a statement on the official Blade & Soul forum regarding the issue and announced consequences for the affected culprits. It is against the guidelines to use the tools for personal characters.
Additionally, Rukkiri warned about tools offered online that allegedly allow players to obtain better items or duplicate items and urged the community to be particularly vigilant.
In SMITE a special Viking event is coming up and the game has reached a new milestone in player numbers.
The Jarls Kali and Chaac want your gems
In the god MOBA from HiRez Studios, there is currently a very special event where players can secure exclusive skins. Currently, the Viking invasion is taking place in SMITE, where you can purchase a “starter pack” of the Vikings for 900 gems. This includes some cosmetics: a Nordic music theme, a Ymir announcer pack, a biuerkrug guardian skin, a special pedestal, and a unique loading screen frame.
The most interesting part: The package unlocks a whole series of new quests that can be completed in succession to earn additional rewards. In addition to plenty of favor and numerous chests with random loot, the exclusive skins “Blood Jarl Kali” and “Storm Jarl Chaac” await to be unlocked through these quests.
This is all accompanied by a (rather amusing) new trailer showcasing Kali and Chaac on their plundering tour.
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However, a bit of urgency is required, as the quests can only be completed until July 5th. The objectives of the respective quests are quite manageable: Win 3 games, kill 50 minions, or achieve a “First win of the day” are some of the tasks.
But SMITE has another reason to celebrate, as the game recently surpassed the magical milestone of 20 million players, as announced on Twitter.
These are “only” registered accounts and say little about the actual number of currently playing users, yet it is quite an impressive number that only a few MOBAs achieve in the highly competitive market.
For more news and articles about the god MOBA, you can find them on our SMITE game page.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The mode switches, according to first reports, between Control, Conflict, and Rift. So everything is included, some report. According to Bungie, however, only “Control” should be active.
The May Iron Banner runs until Tuesday, May 31, at 11:00 AM. It should be over by the weekly reset.
The rewards after the match in the May Iron Banner are:
Gloves and PlayStation-exclusive gloves
Chest pieces and handguns
Fusion rifles
These items can be obtained regardless of your rank, starting from rank 0, after a match.
You can buy from Saladin
From rank 3: gloves, chest pieces, and PlayStation-exclusive gloves
Tonight, there will be a livestream from Bungie at Destiny. This time, they are taking the curious Guardians into the Crucible and revealing some secrets.
Today is the last Wednesday in May 2016, and thus the final May livestream that Bungie is holding for their MMO shooter via Twitch. In the last streams, they revealed background information about the art of Destiny and the King’s Fall raid.
At 8 PM our time, the third and final livestream in May starts: This time it is all about the Crucible, the PvP area of Destiny.
Crucible Carpool in the Twitch Livestream
In the Crucible, things usually get intense: It’s Guardians against Guardians here. A moment of inattention and you’re preparing for respawn. There’s little time to leisurely admire the PvP maps.
In the livestream, the developers want to slow down the pace of the Crucible a bit and unpack some concepts and stories from the PvP area. You can watch the Twitch broadcast right here:
https://www.twitch.tv/bungie
The protagonists of the stream are three creators of the Crucible maps: The “World Artists” Mick Buckmiller, Coolie Calihan, and Adam Williams. They will discuss the creation of both fascinating and hostile landscapes.
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After an extensive beta phase, ASTA is just before the launch. It will be celebrated together with the first content expansion.
ASTA – Release of Game and Expansion in May
ASTA: The War of Tears and Winds has been in beta for quite a long time, but now the wait is finally over. The colorful MMORPG, commonly referred to as the “Korean World of Warcraft,” celebrates its release on May 31. However, players will not only enjoy the content that was previously accessible in the beta but can also dive into the new adventures of the first expansion, which will be released simultaneously.
The expansion “Wrath of the Berserkers” raises the level cap to level 55 and introduces both a new race and a new class. Those who wish can soon engage in battle as a Berserker to reach the maximum level and participate in the game’s raids. The Raksa, as the new species is called, look quite cute – a mischievous thought might be of Elin from Tera .
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With Legion, PvP and the rewards in World of Warcraft will be completely different. The developers reveal what they had in mind.
Only one-tenth as strong as before
Legion wants to do many things differently in World of Warcraft than before. One of the biggest areas is PvP, which will receive a complete overhaul with the upcoming expansion. In a “Coffee with the Developers” post, they revealed how the rewards in PvP will be and what they had in mind. We have summarized the most important points for you.
It was already known that there will be “templates” for all classes and specializations that players want to use in PvP. This means that all characters will have certain base values to exhibit at least comparable strength in PvP.
Item levels (also “item level”) will still matter in PvP, but not as much as in previous expansions. Currently, each item level increases the player’s stats by 0.1%. So, if someone with item level 800 faces off against someone with item level 700 in PvP, they have nearly 10% more attributes. For comparison: In Warlords of Draenor, the difference was almost tenfold, where 1 item level provided almost 1% attribute increase.
Another new thing is that PvP gear will not differ from “normal” gear. However, there will be no more vendors selling armor; instead, it will be randomly awarded upon winning a battleground. Just like with questing and raiding, this gear can occasionally get upgraded. However, the basic item level will depend on the player’s rating in arenas and battlegrounds – those with a high rating will also receive items with higher item levels.
PvP also as a PvE player with Legion?
Lastly, concerns were addressed about raid players playing in the arena to easily obtain gear and vice versa. It was emphasized that mythic dungeons and gladiator-level arena are among the most challenging content in World of Warcraft – those who manage to complete them should have a slight advantage.
Overall, it is hoped that these changes will also make PvP interesting for players who have not been able to warm up to it so far. However, those who really do not feel like it will not be forced to participate. The best gear in “Legion” can be obtained from many different sources – PvP is just one of them.
For more news and articles about the upcoming expansion “Legion”, you can find it on our World of Warcraft game page.
In The Division, update 1.2 introduced the new Incursion “Clear Sky.” We show you how to complete this new mission in hard mode.
The “Clear Sky” Incursion pits agents against the Rikers and takes place at Columbus Circle. The streamer and YouTuber Arekkz Gaming has already successfully completed this incursion and provides you with tips and hints on what to look out for in “Clear Sky.”
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Mechanically, the new incursion differs from the previous “Falcon Lost”: You do not have to survive multiple waves to progress, but instead go through three phases at two different locations.
The path to Columbus Circle
In the first part of “Clear Sky,” your task is to reach Columbus Circle. However, there is a problem: The Rikers have set up a blockade. To break through it, follow these steps:
Numerous Rikers defend the area. You will initially encounter enemies with a purple health bar. The types of enemies vary: From shotgun fighters to snipers, there is everything. Take them out.
Over time, elite enemies will appear. After you’ve dealt with them, a foe with an orange diamond above their head will spawn. This enemy carries explosives. Take them out.
An agent must now pick up the explosives and attach them to the marked blockade. Meanwhile, the other agents clear the enemies out of the way.
You need a total of two explosive charges to break through the blockade. To get to the second one, you have to continue sending enemies to the afterlife until the guy with the orange diamond spawns.
Now blow the blockade up completely, kill the remaining enemies, and proceed.
Warning: During this phase, you must avoid mortar fire, similar to “Falcon Lost.”
Columbus Circle – The fight for the fuses
Now you reach the area where the rest of the incursion will take place: Columbus Circle. You can enter it by taking either the left or right entrance. Below is a sketch with important markings:
First, one player must go to the center and activate the laptop. The other agents of the Division provide cover and distract the enemies.
Once you press the button on the laptop, two fuses will appear (marked as “Fuse” on the upper map). Your task is to insert these into the two fuse boxes near the laptop.
Once an agent picks up a fuse, they are heavily restricted in their movement speed. The duty of the other three players is therefore to clear the way for them and protect them by all means. Be aware of numerous enemies and also the mortar fire!
According to Arekkz, it is a good idea for one person to escort the fuse carrier to heal them in case of emergency. It is not possible to take out all enemies beforehand, as new ones keep appearing.
Once you’ve managed to insert both fuses, you need to interact with the laptop again. This will disable the helicopter’s defenses. Now the final phase of the incursion begins.
Columbus Circle – The boss fight
Now the boss of this incursion descends from the helicopter. You must take him down. Additional adds will appear.
The boss is a Riker with a strong shield, accompanied by his “bodyguards.” Here, the tactic is: Shoot everything you have at him.
Since this final boss is not extremely difficult, Arekkz recommends taking him down first. After that, you can focus on the rest.
This completes the “hard” incursion.
As a reward for completing the Incursion Clear Sky in The Division on “Hard,” you will receive:
As Bungie states via Twitter, there will be a patch for Destiny this evening around 7 PM. Guardians will then be required to log in fresh and download the patch. No server downtime is expected. After a successful download, you can directly face the darkness again.
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The developers have not yet shared which issues and bugs they want to fix with this intervention. However, the “Rocket Crisis” in Destiny is a major concern.
This glitch significantly disrupts the balance in the Crucible, as Guardians can generate infinite special and heavy ammunition. The weapon perks Coat and Clown Cartridge are largely involved.
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Due to the Rocket Crisis, Bungie canceled the Trials of Osiris last weekend and put the Iron Banner on hold. Presumably, today’s patch will solve this crisis, allowing Crucible enthusiasts to breathe a sigh of relief. Perhaps the “May Iron Banner” will then start next week with a delay. If so, Bungie may announce which items Saladin will have in store on the night from Thursday to Friday.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
According to a rumor, there will be grappling hooks and larger multiplayer maps in Titanfall 2 than in its predecessor. This leak comes from a user on reddit.
According to the Redditor ilovegoogleglass, there are new details about Titanfall 2. Although he may not say where he got the information from, he claims to have “knowledge” directly from the developer Respawn Entertainment. Along with some details, he also released an artwork that looks “realistic”.
Titanfall 2 with grappling hooks and large maps?
The user reveals that a new feature is the grappling hook: this allows players to enter their Titans. It also supports free-running and tactical gameplay: for example, you can grab enemies that are suspended in mid-air.
Furthermore, ilovegoogleglass reports: There will be significantly larger multiplayer maps than in the predecessor Titanfall. This is also suggested by a poster he released, which shows an expansive setting:
One piece of information the anonymous user shared: Titanfall 2 is expected to be released in October this year. So far, publisher Electronic Arts has announced that the first-person shooter will be released in their third business quarter , which runs from October 1 to December 31, 2016.
Note: These details from the Redditor are not official and should therefore be taken with extreme caution. The reddit post has since been deleted.
On June 12, we can expect official announcements about Titanfall 2 as part of the EA Play Event.
Warcraft: The Beginning premieres tomorrow, but some critics have already seen the film beforehand. Read here what they have to say about the film.
The Warcraft movie comes to theaters tomorrow, and after the endlessly long production time and numerous bits of information, expectations are correspondingly high. Will the film be the new fantasy epic in the style of The Lord of the Rings, or is it just another botched film adaptation in the vein of Uwe Boll (who supposedly wanted to secure the film rights)?
The Reviews at a Glance
We also wanted to know how the film has been received so far and read several German and English-language reviews from preview screenings. In the following paragraphs, we summarize the different reviews.
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Gamestar – “The Most Expensive Fan Film of All Time”
The Gamestar’s film review is like the archetype of the German gamer press review of the film. As a game editor and Warcraft fan, author Michael Graf is torn in his opinion. He finds the film really good as a Warcraft fan because it is bursting with loving details:
“As a Warcraft fan, I am not angry about what Universal and Blizzard have made of the universe, but rather excited to experience an Azeroth on screen that simply looks “real.””
On the other hand, Graf criticizes that Warcraft: The Beginning is likely rather a shallow fantasy flick for the mainstream audience without a Warcraft background, which is unlikely to leave a lasting impression. The Gamestar is not alone in this opinion; other major German gaming sites see it similarly.
IGN
With the words “Otherwise, the adaptation proves to be mediocre. But a wonderfully epic mediocrity,” author Jonas Gössling summarizes the film on IGN right at the beginning of his review.
He found especially the – in his opinion – outrageous dialogues, the miserable script, and the unnecessary love story to be terrible. However, he particularly likes the epic battles and the spectacular visuals.
Moviejones
A similar opinion exists from the movie portal Moviejones. There, the author also praises the wonderful attention to detail of the work and especially the work of director Duncan Jones:
“With Duncan Jones, they found the right man for this video game adaptation. With a lot of love and passion, he brings Azeroth to life.”
However, there is skepticism about whether the film has the same effect on mainstream audiences. A longer film that took more time to explain the world would have been, according to Moviejones, the better choice.
Filmstarts
German mainstream film portals like Filmstarts find the work good. Although the critique by Björn Becher does not compare with the fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings, the Warcraft film is overall described as a “fast-paced and visually powerful start for a new fantasy franchise with room for improvement in sequels…”.
Filmfutter – “A Film by Fans for Fans”
Filmfutter, another movie review site, particularly praises the excellent CGI effects of the film but also criticizes that the film only fully resonates with Warcraft fans and those familiar with the background:
“Warcraft: The Beginning is a film by fans for fans, suffering, however, from somewhat flat dialogues and merely skimming the possible potential, but offering a great look with fascinating locations and could represent a next evolutionary step in computer graphics following Avatar.”
Kotaku – “The Warcraft Movie is not good”
The German press seems to mostly like the film, only criticizing its lack of mainstream accessibility. However, in the English-speaking world, the situation looks quite different! The already 40 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes offers no good omens.
The site Kotaku already reveals in the title of their review that the film is “not good.” It follows a merciless review, and author Jason Schreier – himself a WoW player – doesn’t believe that the film does justice to the game. He criticizes that the film takes itself too seriously; WoW is, after all, a game full of absurdities and exaggerations. His conclusion is therefore particularly brutal:
“I hoped that Warcraft would at least be entertaining, but honestly, I had more fun wiping in Molten Core for two hours.”
Variety
A similarly scathing review also comes from Variety. Critic Geoff Berkshire begins his article with the words, “Hollywood’s habit of turning video game hits into unbearable films continues.”
High Elves in the front row – recognizable by their long ears and their panicked look for Mana cookies.
In his review, he criticizes especially the confusing storytelling – which likely only appeals to true nerds – as well as what he considers the cheap special effects and the ridiculous costume of the half-orc Garona: “It is hard to take… the character seriously, with her Star Trek alien-like green skin and oversized tusks that protrude from her jaw and look like a find from a Hollywood junk store, making it sound as if she has a mouth full of gummy bears.”
The Wrap
The most scathing criticism from abroad so far comes from The Wrap, as the title “Swords, Sorcery and Stupidity” leaves little good to be guessed. Author Alonso Duralde finds the film boring, devoid of fun, and not even unintentionally funny. His conclusion is particularly biting:
“Warcraft promises – or threatens – a sequel, but so did “Super Mario Bros.” And when I think about it, if I were forced to watch one of the two video game movies again, I would probably vote for the plumber.”
Hollywood Reporter
A better opinion of the film is held by Sheri Linden on the site The Hollywood Reporter. She believes that the film is quite a solid fantasy flick and particularly praises the technological implementation of the orcs:
“[…] the characters are well represented, and especially those who are partially digital creations belong to those that are best remembered. They have heart!”
Opinions diverge. But what do you think about the Warcraft film? Have you even managed to see it? And do you share one or the other opinion of the cited reviews? Write it in the comments!
Overwatch is the game of the hour on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. How do the tests and reviews turn out? What does Metacritic say?
The first tests for Overwatch are slowly coming in. Overall, it is a very positive trend, although only a few reviews with ratings have arrived so far. Currently, the PC version stands at 96 out of 100 possible points. This is based on 7 tests. For PS4 and Xbox One, there are still too few individual tests for a score.
Overwatch – easy to learn, hard to master, says Game Informer in the review
One of the most important international publications is Game Informer. They give a full score of 10 points. Overwatch is “incredibly easy” to learn, the entry is extremely simple because each of the characters has only one weapon and a handful of abilities. However, advanced team play and strategies leave a lot of room for development.
Overwatch is already an incredible game, and Blizzard’s promise to continuously develop it gives hope for fun for months and years to come.
Review: “Those who liked Old School Team Fortress 2 will love Overwatch”
Also, The Escapist goes all in and gives 5 out of 5 stars. The review of Overwatch sees strong parallels to Team Fortress 2 and feels like being transported back to the days of “Old School Shooters” by Blizzard’s first fresh IP after 17 years. For those who liked the old TF2, which was balanced, nimble, and streamlined, Overwatch is the right choice.
Also, Destructoid gives a 10 out of 10 and certifies Overwatch a brilliant future perspective for years to come. A game that is already this good at launch can only get better under Blizzard. After the “defeat,” the cancellation of Titan, they have clearly achieved a victory here. They also praise the smooth launch: no error codes, no annoying bugs, everything went smoothly. It works.
The tendency of the tests looks strong for ratings beyond the 90s
Some of the other “big” international sites like IGN or Gamespot are currently still in the “editing phase” with their reviews. But here too, top ratings are taking shape. Gamespot describes it as a “fantastic shooter that deserves the highest praise on so many levels.” IGN has reached a preliminary rating of 9.4.
If you want to read how our author Jürgen Stöffel experienced the first hours of Overwatch:
A mount is not enough! Those who love rides and pets of all kinds will fully enjoy the Asian MMO Riders of Icarus!
“A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!” With these words, the nasty King Richard laments the loss of his steed in battle right before his death in Shakespeare’s historical drama. However, if the scene had taken place in Riders of Icarus, the king would not be asking for such a mundane beast as a “horse.”
Horses are sooo mainstream!
In Riders of Icarus, an online role-playing game freshly imported from Asia to the West, the focus is mainly on mounts and pets. However, horses and donkeys – the unsung stars of Black Desert Online – are far too ordinary for the developers in Riders of Icarus. Because when we recently got to take an exclusive round in the MMO with the developers, our first mount was a brown shaggy bear!
Yes, you read that right: bears are apparently the standard mounts in Riders of Icarus, as Master Petzt wanders around the starting area grunting grumpily. “Activate the ‘Tame Mode’ now and ride a bear!” one of the developers urges us. Aha… riding bears… sounds… interesting.
Bear Rodeo
So we activate the Tame Mode and our hero sneaks up on the unsuspecting bear. Just before he discovers us, we jump onto his back, followed by a funny animation where we turn into a Western rodeo rider bouncing around on the wild bucking shaggy creature.
Soon the bear will be ours!
It’s not just about fun animations; it’s actually a mini-game in which we have to press the right keys in time. Otherwise, the bear throws us off and gives us a few swipes with its paws as a farewell! But after several attempts, we finally figure it out, and our first mount belongs to us!
Bear Tower Jump
“This is just a normal bear mount! However, there are also elite mounts that are much harder to obtain!” the developer whispers to us and leads us up a cliff. “Down there is Trutan, an elite bear mount. If you want to tame him, you can’t just approach him; you need to jump down from up there accurately!”
We can only mount the elite bear “Trutan” if we jump down on him from up there.
For the next few minutes, we try to mount the beast with daring jumps from the cliff, but only one colleague from England manages to do so. Upon request, the developers informed us that there are numerous such elite creatures in the game world, each exhibiting a different complex taming mechanic.
Bear-Power Gear
Through a menu, we can see at any time which creatures and how many we have already tamed. If we have multiple bears, we can convert one of them into a pet, which then helps us in battle – and amusingly shrinks to a third of its original size. Additionally, the creatures level up on their own – both as mounts and pets – making them more enduring and stronger.
Our equipment has been enhanced with numerous bears.
But what do we do if we have caught and tamed more bears than we can ever ride and lead into battle? Quite simple: we turn them into our gear! Because who wouldn’t want the strength of a bear in their sword? Each creature can indeed be permanently transformed into a power-up – similar to runes or gems in other MMOs – which will enhance the stats of our equipment. Depending on the species and the level of the creature, different stats will be added.
King’s Discipline Aerial Combat
The combat system of Riders of Icarus during our session (although an action control has been announced since) was a rather old-fashioned point-and-click system, where we dutifully targeted enemies and unleashed our skills. World of Warcraft or Star Wars: The Old Republic comes to mind. But then the developers showed us aerial battles.
Our killer chicken is a particularly tough flying mount!
Many of our mounts can fly, and air combat is an integral part of the game! The developers had offered us a few dragons and flying snakes – and a big giant chick! “By the way, the chick is pretty tough,” one developer mentioned. And since dragons are super boring, we of course hopped on the chicken!
With the flying mount, we zoomed across the sky, engaging in dramatic battles with flying snakes. We had the choice between a crossbow as a ranged weapon and a spear for close combat. The latter weapon played dynamically and felt more like an action MMO such as Blade and Soul or WildStar.
We also got to tame mounts again, which is even harder in the air than on the ground. To do this, we have to glide over the creature like in the movie Avatar and then jump accurately onto the back of our future mount – and still succeed in the mini-game!
A Game for Collectors
Gameplay-wise, Riders of Icarus does not reinvent the wheel of the MMO. Rather, the game mechanics are conservatively structured with hotkeys and the typical MMO classes. But the wacky mounts, the equipment enhancement system, and the cool taming mechanics are a lot of fun. In addition, the cool aerial battles are much more exciting than the rather static battles on the ground. In Asia, the game is known as Icarus Online and is already successful and popular there.
Anyone interested in the game can sign up for the upcoming beta. More information can be found under the link.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Overwatch finally launched on Tuesday night at 01:00. Enough reason to report on my experiences with the launch.
I love the launch dates of MMOs because everyone is still relatively fresh in the game and everything is still new and exciting. And apart from a few Beta veterans, most players are still total beginners, and the usual “cookie-cutter builds” that everyone pulls from the internet and plays stubbornly haven’t appeared yet.
Therefore, I wanted to be there for the launch of Overwatch on Tuesday night at 01:00 and set an alarm to make sure I wouldn’t forget. Overwatch was already fully loaded and updated, but since half the world was on BattleNet, it took a few minutes before I even got to the startup screen. But then the shock! “No Overwatch license detected!”
What now? I had personally requested activation from Blizzard months ago and also submitted my BattleNet ID along with my email and username! I was already about to write another email to Blizzard and gave up all further plans for Overwatch today, but then I saw it, an automated email from Blizzard had just arrived containing the access key. Well, there we go!
Success Experience Galore!
Finally, it was time to go, and as soon as I was in the game, I knew why I was so excited about Overwatch. Because the game runs exceptionally smoothly! The gameplay mechanics allow for an incredibly easy entry, and before I knew it, I had a massive 9-kill streak with Soldier: 76 and my first victory!
And then it was straight into the next round! The waiting time was only 10 seconds, and then the next match started, which included some cool moments with Widowmaker after about 7 minutes of full action. The map was quite winding, and I was taken out multiple times by Soldier: 76 while we were trying to secure the payload.
So I took Widowmaker, climbed onto a nearby roof, and started shooting at the enemies from there. Shortly after, I had taken out a few enemies, and my team could hold the position and win. The fast-paced gameplay and the easy hero switching just provide so much fun! And every few rounds, I would get a level up and cool loot boxes as a reward!
Who Turned Back the Clock?
Thus, one game followed another, and every time I got stuck with a hero, I would switch to another and try new tactics, sometimes with more and sometimes with less success. But no matter, the respawn times are so low that you can die without instantly costing the victory or – as in Battleborn – giving valuable experience points to the enemy.
I only stopped when the first rays of sunlight were already visible on the horizon and I realized that I not only had to play Overwatch but also – to start writing in about four hours – about this thing! This cursed game extremely tempts you to “just play one more round, it only takes 5 minutes.” Well, luckily, there is espresso, so I was able to stay awake enough to present you this article.
But enough about me, how did the launch of Overwatch go for you? Were you there that night or did you wait – well rested – until after work? Or did it go for you like me, and you got hopelessly lost in Blizzard’s hero shooter and got in trouble from your boss? Write it in the comments!
In the MMO shooter Destiny there’s a new weapon day with Banshee-44 on Wednesday, May 25th.
Banshee-44 has many fans among the Guardians. They want the Exo gunsmith to like them in return. They take on small favors for him in order to raise their reputation and thus gain access to certain missions, which in turn result in exotic weapons.
These are the test weapons this week
As a “favor”, the Guardians are using these five field test weapons this week:
A scout rifle from Häkke is to be used against Fallen.
In the Crucible, an automatic rifle from Suros is featured.
The hand cannon from Häkke wants to collect kills in the Crucible.
Another hand cannon from the manufacturer with the “Ä” wants double kills.
A pulse rifle from Häkke aims for precision shots.
These weapons can be ordered this week
The 5 orders largely fall under Suros. The manufacturer stands for “precision and elegance”; most of the weapons can become more stable and precise with perks.
First up is the automatic rifle Suros Ari-41. This is a “mid-range archetype” which in automatic rifles means: very fast, very low impact, but not the fastest and lowest.
The Suros Ari-45 is a “heavy automatic rifle” with high impact and low rate of fire. The weapon is definitely worth buying and interesting. It has relatively high range, although only moderately stable.
The pulse rifle PDX-41 is stable and has a fairly high rate of fire. With perks like “full auto”, it has earned the nickname “laser” because it is stable and thus the shots are consolidated. Interesting weapon.
The PDX-45 has these properties of the PDX-41 in a reinforced version. Even more stability, even higher rate of fire. However, with a relatively weak range. With a strong roll, it’s an exciting weapon.
The last weapon available is the sniper rifle, Uzume RR4. Rather low impact, reloads quickly. It has yet to make a real name for itself in Destiny.
Recommendation: The two pulse rifles and the Suros Ari-45 could be worth considering.
Collecting strong PDX-45
Suros is also easy to collect this week. There is a PDX-45 with customized stock, balance compensation, and hand-finished stock. Stability monster. And there is another variant with measuring finder, oiled frame/custom stock, hand-finished stock.
In this video, you can see the rolls of the weapons, that Banshee-44 had on offer last week: Arminius-D, Zarinea-D (Roll 3 has crowd control, balance compensation, and small-caliber rifle), Suros Dis-47, Uzume RR4, Cocytus SR4.
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Today, spontaneous maintenance is taking place in The Division. The servers for PC will be shut down.
As Massive announced via Twitter, the servers for the PC version of The Division will be shut down today at 12 PM. The estimated downtime is 30 minutes. If everything goes as planned, PC agents can start playing the MMO shooter again at 12:30.
The maintenance will only take place for PC. PS4 and Xbox users can continue playing normally.
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A community developer from Massive, Yannick Bancherea, writes in the Ubi forum, that for the affected agents there will be a rollback. All game data will be reset to the state before the update.
Massive apologizes for the inconvenience.
Update: The servers are live again. Apparently, the hotfix was successful and players have their agents back.
Ah, I just don’t know. Heroes of the Storm I actually quite like, especially the introduction of Chromie, which I really enjoyed, even though she is the least successful heroine of the game. But every time I read in the patch notes that once again “improvements have been made to matchmaking,” I hold my forehead and shake my head in frustration. It was the same this time, when they tinkered with it again a few weeks ago.
A look at my “Recent Games” image shows quite well what is currently wrong with Heroes of the Storm. Note that the only win was against bots in “Training” because we selected the wrong queue.
Yes, I know that sometimes you have to endure entire series of defeats. Yes, maybe I’m just not particularly good at the game. The fact is, however, that before these changes I had a pretty balanced ratio of 50% wins and 50% losses, which I can live with well. Since then, however, this ratio has shifted “a bit” and is around 85% losses in the last 2 weeks.
If these matches were at least balanced, I could easily live with just losing – but they are (with few exceptions) always such well-coordinated teams that score 20 or even 30 kills more than us and simply roll over us. Fun looks different.
Pewpew. Cortyn is often farmed.
Maybe this is just a hidden marketing campaign by Blizzard to temporarily ruin my fun with Heroes of the Storm so much that I just flee to Overwatch . If that was the big plan – congratulations, it worked. I will then shoot people with Roadhog. And at the cinema. And at the RPC. You guys can manage without me.
What do you think about the whole thing and what have been your experiences in the last few weeks? Are you also affected by these problems or are you on the “winning side,” which continuously claims victories?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
