In Epic Games Early Access MOBA Paragon, the first of many weekends is approaching where you can also sneak in for free without access. What you need to do to participate will be detailed below.
The 1st Stress Test…
Since March 18, the MOBA Paragon from developer Epic Games, known for, among other things, the Gears of War series (1-3) and distributing the in-house Unreal Engine, has been in Early Access phase. So far, only players who purchased one of the three founder packs have been able to take a look.
This is changing now with the first ‘open beta’ weekend. This will take place from Thursday, April 28, to Sunday, May 1, on PC and PlayStation 4 simultaneously. For this server stress test, the first 500,000 interested players who registered for the open beta on the official Paragon homepage will be invited. If you are among them, you can expect a corresponding message in your email inbox.
The attack on the servers can begin
…and the Second Follows Immediately
But even if you are not among the half a million who get to take a look at Agora and the currently 15 playable heroes, you shouldn’t be discouraged. Because if you register for the Open Beta by May 1, you will be able to dive into Agora from May 5 to 8, as Epic Games will open the doors to all registered MOBA friends then.
Early Access players can look forward to double XP during these dates. However, this only applies to experience, not to earned reputation. Additionally, applicable boosters are also compatible. So if you want to level up your favorite hero a bit, you should mark these weekends in your calendar.
A retail version for PlayStation 4 has also been announced, which will be available in stores on June 7. This is currently only available for pre-order on the American continent at well-known online retailers and is listed at $60. When and if this will also be available here has not yet been announced.
The Wasteland Skin for Twinblast
For this price, you get the Wasteland Twinblast Skin, which will first be available in this retail version, 5 Mastery Challenges, Reputation Boosters for a total of 15 games, and 6000 Paragon coins. These can be used in-game for skins, boosters, unlocking a hero’s mastery challenge, and other items. Those who pre-order will receive an additional 1000 coins.
Despite everything, Paragon will be a free-to-play title upon its completion and thus completely free to play for everyone.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The Norwegian MMO specialist Funcom has had another eventful year.
Funcom’s 2015 financial report continues to depict a studio in transition. The financial report is huge and provides insight into how one views the present and envisions the future at Funcom.
They have nearly 100 employees in Oslo and North Carolina. In recent months, they have further shifted to a new strategy, aiming to release more titles, more innovative ones, and also smaller games.
Meanwhile, revenues continue to come in from the 3 “aging live games” Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, and The Secret World, even though they decrease year by year. However, they have also cut expenses, so that 2015 resulted in significantly less loss than the previous year. After it looked quite bad in the meantime, the financial situation has stabilized again through a loan extension in the meantime.
“Lego Minifigures Online” performed disappointingly – it has been completely written off and is essentially being abandoned. Due to low revenues, the developers are now working on other titles. The licensing agreement with LEGO for the game is supposed to end in October.
Conan Exiles is expected to be a hit
The biggest hopes are clearly placed on the survival MMO “Conan Exiles.” It is expected to be a hit. Funcom is counting on playing a significant role in this “Open World Survival Online” market.
Additionally, a “smaller game” in the world of The Secret World is also in the works, following “The Park” last year. It is being developed in North Carolina, building on the Unreal Engine 4 expertise of the team.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The Early Access version of Naval Action has turned into a surprise hit.
About 70,000 copies have been sold of the historical military MMO, with between 2,000 and 3,000 players simultaneously engaging in the naval battles of the 18th century. The developers are very proud of what they have created and feel validated in their commitment to realism. In a conversation with Polygon, they discuss their secret to success for maintaining order in the game: an ancient codex and realism.
Realism that does not interfere with fun
Realism comes into play when steering the ships, where the wind must be considered. This, in turn, affects the battles because, to deliver a proper broadside to an enemy, the ship must be positioned correctly. However, this realism should not hinder the enjoyment of the game. While in the true 18th century, sailing ships were on long, dull patrols, the MMO focuses on battles. Players should constantly set out to join their guild in war against other guilds and experience tactical and exciting naval battles.
Additionally, you travel across an overland map. On this map, you steer your ship from port to port to trade. This earns you money with which you can upgrade and improve your ships or acquire new ones. It is even possible for you and your guild to conquer entire territories, thus taking over and controlling the market in certain regions. PvP plays a central role in Naval Action, with the developers explaining that everything is still in an early phase and balancing needs much work, so that smaller guilds also have a chance against larger ones.
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Anyone who wants to play Naval Action must adhere to a codex of the British Navy corresponding to that of the 18th century. Insults and obscenities are completely forbidden, just as they were on board the ships back then. Those who violate this are not keelhauled but will be mercilessly banned.
Naval Action is described as a mix of EVE Online and World of Tanks. Anyone who enjoys the PvP, the guild and player-driven economy of EVE Online, and the tactical group battles of World of Tanks will find satisfaction with this MMO.
In The Division, a “game networking” expert discusses the servers of Massive’s MMO shooter and answers the question of whether cheats and hacks can ever be avoided.
Many agents have been complaining about glitches, exploits, and cheats in The Division since its launch. This is especially true for the PC version.
This raises the question: Will Massive ever be able to eliminate all the exploits and cheats?
Networking expert looks skeptically at the cheat issues of The Division
This question has been addressed by Glenn Fiedler, a former lead network programmer at Sony Computer Entertainment. As he himself states, he can view exploit videos from games as a networking expert and relatively quickly determine what they are about.
He has seen numerous exploit and cheat videos from The Division on YouTube and can reassure agents that most can be fixed relatively easily; it’s “not the end of the world”.
However, he has also found videos that would mean “super bad news“, such as the following:
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This concerns a client-side cheat program that can give users infinite health and ammunition and teleport them across the game world.
This would suggest that The Division is most likely using a “Trusted Client Network Model”. And if that is the case, Glenn Fiedler’s answer to the question of whether cheats can ever be completely fixed is: “No!” At least not on PC. Unless the developers rewrite most of the net and game code completely.
At the end of his remarks, he states that he hopes the developers of The Division do not use a “Trusted Client Network Model” and still have an ace up their sleeve. He hopes they have an adequate networking solution based on server-side checks that can somehow address the issues. However, he concludes:
But unfortunately, all signs point to No.
Fiedler predicts a bleak future for the PC version of The Division regarding cheats and hacks. At least not unless Massive makes major changes. But who knows, perhaps the networking expert is wrong with his analysis.
Nexon has unveiled a new MMO. “Project A1” focuses on graphical beauty. Can the gameplay keep up with the visuals?
Update: In a later presentation, “Project A1” was described as a science fiction MOBA, set to release before 2020.
Project A1 – Graphic Splendor Thanks to Unreal Engine 4
At the “Nexon Developer Conference 2016” or short “NDC2016”, Nexon conjured up a new MMO – at least in the initial stages. Even though not many details about the game are known, one thing has already been made clear: Stunning graphics are the focus of this title, and especially the rendering of characters is expected to blow players away. This is made possible, among other things, by Unreal Engine 4.
According to the developers, the game will also require a high-end PC, as the graphics are meant to be a unique selling point that players cannot experience elsewhere to such an extent. In a short video, one can see initial details of character animation and – as expected – a bit of wobbly body parts of ladies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk2hgdN0cpc
Otherwise, not much is known about “Project A1” so far – hopefully, more will be revealed in the coming days.
Mein-MMO says: Especially in the MMO sector, it is quite rare for developers to declare that they are only producing for “high-end” machines. However, taking detailed graphics as the hook for a complete game is something usually seen in shooters or other single-player titles. Whether it will turn out to be more than just nice effects will likely be revealed in the coming months.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
An event with a special challenge awaits you this weekend at League of Legends (LoL).
After the popular URF mode was once again well received by League of Legends players, this time they are also relying on a mode that LoL players already appreciate. Starting Friday, the maximum multi-kill will no longer be called Pentakill, but Hexakill!
The special thing about the Hexakill mode in LoL
In this special game mode, it is possible to achieve a Hexakill. Each team gets one additional player in this mode – thus, the maximum number of players per team is increased from 5 to 6. To achieve a Hexakill, you must kill 6 opponents in quick succession with your own champion.
In this mode, the gold and experience rewards are also increased, so you can dive into the fun of the game faster. The Hexakill mode in LoL has previously been available on both the 5v5 map “Summoner’s Rift” and the 3v3 map “Twisted Treeline”. Whether you create a 6-man Wombo Combo, play with 2 Junglers, or have an extra supporter that constantly roams the map is entirely up to you.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In The Division, a video has been released that thoroughly examines the assault rifles. The aim is to find an answer to the question: Which is the best assault rifle in The Division?
In The Division, everything revolves around weapons and armor pieces: The agents roam through the post-apocalyptic New York, always on the lookout for fresh, better items. Presumably, every agent has once asked themselves which weapon is the best. After all, no one really believes that all weapons should be equally powerful.
This question was addressed by the YouTuber WOBO: He thoroughly examined which assault rifle stands out in The Division. He describes his video as the “ultimate guide to assault rifles in The Division”. The comments and opinions below the video and in the Reddit forum are overwhelmingly positive; every agent must have seen this video. Apparently, the YouTuber has done a great job. We present his results.
These are the assault rifles in The Division
First, WOBO lists all the assault rifles in The Division. These can be categorized into six types:
ACR, AK, FAL, P416, M4, and SCAR [Update: And G36]
What are the differences among these assault rifles?
What makes the ACR assault rifles in The Division special
Among the ACR assault rifles, there are the ACR, the Enhanced ACR-E, and the Tactical ACR. All three weapons have the same stats:
Rate of fire: 760
Mag: 30
Precision: 55
Reload speed: 2.7s
Range: 27m
Stability: 34
The ACRs exhibit high vertical and horizontal stability; however, the reticle quickly spreads, making multiple headshots in succession nearly impossible. Although the sound of these weapons is promising, the base damage is low compared to the other assault rifles.
What makes the AK assault rifles in The Division special
Here we find the AK-74 – Black Market version, the Classic AK-47, and the Military AK-47M. All three weapons have the same stats, but the Classic AK-47 has a different character than the others. First, the stats:
Rate of fire: 600
Mag: 30
Precision: 54
Reload speed: 3.0s
Range: 26m
Stability: 37
The Classic AK-74 is the version on which the Warlord in The Division is based. It has been regarded as a disappointment by many agents. The Classic AK-74 seems to have a mind of its own; it is very difficult to control, and the bullets scatter wildly towards enemies. Precise shots are hardly possible. The other two AKs have fewer stability issues and are much more popular among agents.
Compared to the other assault rifles, the AKs have a lower optimal range and the longest reload time.
What makes the FAL assault rifles in The Division special
Among the FALs, you will find the Classic FAL, the Military SA-58, and the Tactical SA-58. All three have the same stats:
Rate of fire: 650
Mag: 20
Precision: 47
Reload speed: 2.8s
Range: 32m
Stability: 29
The FAL assault rifles have the best optimal range of all “assault rifles” and boast the highest base damage. However, mastering these weapons is quite challenging. They tend to pull upwards, making it hard to fire multiple shots in a row before you have to awkwardly realign the weapon at the enemies. The FALs do not allow for sustained fire; here it requires reactive shooting, which results in a realistic DPS value being lower than stated.
What makes the P416 assault rifles in The Division special
Here are the Custom P416 G3 and the Military P146. According to statistics, this type of assault rifle is the worst on the list: They have low damage and a low optimal range. Here are the stats:
Rate of fire: 750
Mag: 30
Precision: 46
Reload speed: 2.75s
Range: 26m
Stability: 39
Moreover, the P416 assault rifles tend to pull left when firing continuously, the YouTuber states, regardless of how much horizontal stability you add to the weapon. This type of assault rifle is likely to be regarded as mediocre; compared to the other featured weapons, the P416 assault rifles do not excel in any stats.
What makes the M4 assault rifles in The Division special
Among the M4 assault rifles, you will find the Lightweight M4, the Police M4, and the LVOA-C. These assault rifles differ significantly from one another. Here are the base stats:
Rate of fire: 850
Mag: 30
Precision: 61
Reload speed: 2.9s
Range: 28m
Stability: 38
The Lightweight M4 varies slightly in these stats, having a precision of only 60 and a stability of 37.
The M4 assault rifles have high base damage; however, their stability leaves much to be desired. At range, it is nearly impossible to land multiple hits in succession, even with appropriate mods. And since submachine guns perform better at short distances, the M4s do not impress significantly. With one exception:
The LVOA-C does not pull horizontally at all, but it has extreme vertical instability. The YouTuber claims that this weapon pulls upwards more than any other weapon in the game he has used so far. If you can control this, however, the LVOA-C is the best assault rifle of the M4 type.
What makes the SCAR assault rifles in The Division special
This type of assault rifle includes the SCAR-L, the SOCOM SCAR-L, and the Tactical MK 16. All have the same character, only the Tactical Mk 16 has a lower precision of 52. Otherwise, the stats are:
Rate of fire: 625
Mag: 30
Precision: 59
Reload speed: 2.7s
Range: 28m
Stability: 33
The SCARs have a high optimal range, fast reload speed, and good base damage. Stability is also remarkable. However, the rapidly opening reticle does not allow for precise shots in succession, which is a significant downside to this otherwise excellent type of assault rifle. However, this can be addressed.
Which is the best assault rifle in PvE and PvP in The Division?
As the YouTuber mentions, the submachine guns are superior to the assault rifles in The Division when enemies are no further than 20 meters away. Assault rifles need to shine at medium range, around 20-40 meters. However, all the presented assault rifles struggle in this regard, as either stability is wildly poor, or the reticle does not permit precise shots. So should we completely avoid assault rifles in The Division?
The YouTuber’s answer is: No! There is hope for the assault rifles in the form of a weapon talent that only two types of assault rifles can benefit from.
This talent is called Balanced: The weapon reaches maximum precision faster when shouldered. This effect means that the reticles of the weapons no longer spread apart, making precise kills possible even at range. Thus, you can turn your assault rifle into a precise weapon of mass destruction, as the spread is significantly reduced even at distance.
The two types of assault rifles that can benefit from this are the slowly firing AKs and the SCARs, with the YouTuber excluding the Classic AK-47 for the aforementioned reasons.
Compared to the AKs, the SCAR assault rifles are somewhat more stable and deal more base damage, which is why the YouTuber concludes:
The SCAR assault rifles are the best assault rifles in PvE in The Division, provided they have the Balanced talent.
In PvP, in the Dark Zone, the YouTuber recommends the LVOA-C, an M4 assault rifle. In PvP, it’s all about headshots and burst damage, where the LVOA-C can shine. Don’t forget to utilize mods to maximize the effectiveness of your assault rifles.
You can watch the YouTuber’s video below:
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With the expansion Legion, the gold cap in World of Warcraft is significantly increased – along with the maximum amounts for bids in the auction house.
The cap for gold possession rises in Legion
In addition to the numerous quality-of-life changes that the next expansion of World of Warcraft, Legion, brings, the heroes of the auction house can breathe a sigh of relief. The current currency cap, which is currently set at 999,999 gold coins, will be raised.
With the pre-patch for Legion, each character can now hold over 9,999,999 gold coins – provided they can accumulate that much.
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For most players, such a change will be insignificant, as such sums are difficult to reach anyway. Collectors of rare mounts and pets are likely to groan under the new gold limit. Prices for particularly sought-after pets, especially from the former WoW Trading Card Game, were comfortably capped at 999,999 gold as the maximum price – simply because the auction house did not allow higher prices. Since the increase also affects prices in the auction house, owners of the coveted items can now demand even more gold, up to ten times the current price.
The gold hoarding will get even worse with Legion – at least for the few auction house professionals.
On the other hand, it is questionable whether the inflation of gold in World of Warcraft with Legion will rise as rapidly as it did in Warlords of Draenor. Garrisons will no longer be a source of income with the pre-patch, as there will be no more gold from follower missions. Class halls in Legion are not expected to be as prominent, so it is unlikely that you can rake in gold in the same way while just standing there “afk”.
For more news and articles about the upcoming expansion Legion, you can find them on our World of Warcraft game page.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Today on April 27th, Blade and Soul will receive a significant patch. The maintenance work will last for hours.
Starting at 1 PM on April 27th, the servers of Blade & Soul will be taken down for maintenance. During this time, the servers will be unreachable. They will be down.
It is expected that the maintenance will take 4 hours and 20 minutes. The servers should be back up around 5:30 PM. Then, Blade and Soul will be playable again if everything goes smoothly.
Blade & Soul has been released in Korea for several years, while it has only been available in the West since the beginning of the year. They have a fast pace with new game content, bringing numerous patches from Korea live here. And they don’t seem to be slowing down.
In the MMO shooter Destiny , the gunsmith Banshee-44 is making friends again on Weapon Day, but he is overshadowed by the Iron Banner.
It is important to be on good terms with Banshee-44 in Destiny. Then he will give out quests that lead to exotic weapons. And he brings new guns to Weapon Day that Guardians have ordered.
These are the 5 test weapons in Destiny this week
If you want to gain reputation with Banshee-44, you should test these prototype weapons for him:
A pulse rifle from Suros wants to enter the Crucible
Another pulse rifle from Suros needs precision skills
A hand cannon from Häkke needs Crucible kills
A second hand cannon from Häkke craves double kills
Omolon provides a hand cannon that must be used against Vex.
These 5 weapons can be ordered this week
You can order this week:
The auto rifle Suros Ari-41. Medium speed, high stability, good choice.
The other auto rifle Suros Ari-45. Slow speed, not quite as good stability, but fairly high range. An unusual weapon, quite interesting if you want to play auto rifles at a bit longer distance.
The Lyudmila-D returns, an old acquaintance. Pulse rifle with potential.
The PDX-45 is also a pulse rifle, but with high fire rate and stability resembles more a laser.
The rocket launcher JLB-42 has chosen the worst week to make an appearance. At least Lord Saladin offers an incredibly good rocket launcher.
Unfortunately, it currently looks really bleak at the front. Maybe next week or later, more Guardians will be interested in poor Banshee … he certainly looks quite sad and lonely at the moment.
At least 3 rolls from last week we have with the auto rifles: Arminius-D, Zarinea-D, Suros Ari-41.
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This Thursday, April 28th, Release 29 of the selective multiplayer RPG Shroud of the Avatar will be released.
Shroud of the Avatar is still in early access because many game systems are not finished, balancing needs to be optimized, and the story and associated areas have not been finalized. A new version is released every month, bringing additional features, areas, and story elements. Therefore, Release 29 will go live on April 28th.
New Control Method
Along with new story scenes and additional player cities, as well as optimizations to performance, one of the biggest changes is the control system. Previously, you had to hold down the right mouse button to look around in the game. Without holding the button, you were in an interaction mode and could interact with objects and NPCs with the mouse cursor. Starting with Release 29, the camera will rotate without holding down the mouse button, and you can interact with objects and NPCs using a crosshair. By pressing a key, you can activate the familiar interaction mode when desired.
It will be interesting to see how the combat system works, as you need to click skills in a hotbar. In general, the developers want to make combat more active with Release 29. You now have to aim and dodge more.
When is the release of Shroud of the Avatar?
Andreas says: There is currently a discussion about the release in the official Shroud of the Avatar forum. The developer studio Portalarium does not want to officially release the online game in principle, at least not in the way one would expect from other games.
Rather, the final wipe will take place at the end of July, after which the world will maintain its persistence. Neither player houses nor characters will be reset. This would make the game essentially “live.” However, not all content will be included yet. The story and quests of Episode 1 will not be fully implemented until at least the end of the year, and from then on, they aim to continuously provide new features and deliver a new story episode each year.
Thus, they are moving away from a traditional release model, which does not please everyone. At some point, one should leave early access, and eventually, there should also be a complete game. In addition, this provides a good excuse for developers to avoid reviews and ratings, as they can always say that the game is not finished. Nevertheless, they still want to charge money for it, even if you get to play an unfinished product for many years.
Since Release 28, the offline mode is also playable, in which Shroud of the Avatar is eventually supposed to play like a complete single-player RPG. However, there is currently almost nothing to show for it. Shroud of the Avatar feels like an MMORPG and plays like one. Even the quests do not give the impression of a single-player RPG. The developers still have an enormous amount of work ahead of them because at some point the offline mode of Shroud of the Avatar will have to measure up to other single-player RPGs, and currently, the game has absolutely no chance in this aspect.
Even though Shroud of the Avatar gets more and more structured month by month, the planned release model and the offline mode are met with skepticism. Because one cannot shake the feeling that there is no focus on these aspects and that they are merely treated as an add-on. The developers urgently need to dispel these concerns!
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
It is the night from Tuesday to Wednesday and I actually wanted to play the latest Hearthstone expansion “Whispers of the Old Gods” all night. But as it is with every big release, the servers crash and the game won’t let me. Instead, I take a look at Heroes of the Storm and am a bit happy: because Tracer is now available for non-preorder customers of Overwatch.
To keep it brief: In the Nether, I hate Tracer!
Or to summarize it longer: Tracer breaks pretty much every norm that has existed in Heroes of the Storm so far. Not only does she have her ultimate ability at level 1, but it also does not have a fixed cooldown, but is refreshed by Tracer through dealt damage. This poses quite a problem for me personally. I cannot rely on the elapsed round time when she used her Ultimate last.
Boom – usually Cortyn flies over the screen.
You can point at me and laugh, but I’m really upset about this. Tracer is one of those characters that very clearly shows me where the limits are that I can reach in Heroes of the Storm. Blizzard announced that they will introduce more characters with a high “skill cap” and Tracer fits this bill perfectly. While a “bad Tracer” usually dies in two to three seconds, a “good Tracer” annoys me so much virtually and in real life that I no longer want to play the game.
Don’t grin so much, you… you terrible character, you.
Basically, I should be satisfied with Blizzard. They achieved what they wanted with Tracer. She is annoying, as a melee fighter you can never (and I mean really NEVER) reach her range, and if you do, her joyful laughter sounds as she teleports or rewinds time. And do you know what annoys me even more? I can’t handle her. I’m too dumb for Tracer. And this self-awareness bothers me. But it doesn’t matter – Hearthstone is working again. I’ll serve the Old Gods instead.
What were your first experiences with Tracer? Do you also have problems with her or are you such an upper skill that you just chew her away? Let me know in the comments.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Nintendo plans to launch the new console NX in March 2017.
There have been rumors about Nintendo and their new console “NX” for some time now. No one knows for sure what it will be. Will it surpass the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One technically? Will it be a “Next Gen” console? Or will it, like in the past, take a completely different direction, perhaps mixing “home console” with “mobile gaming?”
Now we are at least a bit wiser: In March 2017, “Nintendo NX” is supposed to launch worldwide. Nintendo did not reveal any further details.
A new “Legend of Zelda” title is set to be released in 2017 for both the Wii U and the NX. This new Zelda, and not the NX, will be the focus of Nintendo’s attention at this year’s E3.
We reported here about a rumor that involves both Destiny and Nintendo:
Currently, rumors about the next installment of the series in 2016 are circulating regarding Call of Duty.
The rumor mill is churning for the next installment of the shooter series Call of Duty: A retailer hint has been published online, supposedly revealing the alleged reveal date of the upcoming “Call of Duty” title, which is being developed by Infinity Ward.
The following image was published by the YouTuber Jim Sterling via Twitter:
According to this, the upcoming Call of Duty is supposed to be revealed next Tuesday, May 3rd. However, this is just an unconfirmed rumor. Nevertheless, new Call of Dutys are usually announced at the end of April or beginning of May, making the rumor at least plausible.
The next CoD title is reported to be “Infinite Warfare” according to the PSN store
This hint about the next CoD title seems to be more substantial: For a brief period, a new Call of Duty was listed in the PlayStation 4 store, named Infinite Warfare. This is the first hint regarding the possible title of this year’s CoD, which is considered very likely.
However, no further information was disclosed in the PlayStation Store; only a tab in the left overview list displayed the expected title of the new Call of Duty.
Blizzard’s online card game Hearthstone boasts new player numbers.
If a colleague greets you in the morning with jumbled babble and refuses to engage in small talk, stating that the old gods must be honored, then a new Hearthstone expansion is out.
Blizzard is using this opportunity to announce new player numbers. They now have 50 million registered users. The last figure they shared was 40 million. That was in November during Blizzcon. In half a year, they added 10 million players.
Not bad for a project that started as an exercise and was planned to be “extra small.” They wanted to see if they could still do something “small” after WoW and the other giant franchises. They can.
The 50 million refer to Mac, PC, iOS, and Android. This is not about “active players,” but about registered ones.
According to fans, the level 5 horse from the founder packages of Black Desert is too weak. How does Daum respond to the criticism?
Everything Remains the Same – No Compensation for Pre-Orders
Horses have a quite high status in Black Desert. They are not only loyal companions that transport heroes from point A to B, but also play an important role in trading and the distribution of goods. Moreover, the level (the tier) of a horse determines how many special properties it has, how suitable it is for breeding, and thus how “valuable” the offspring of this horse will be – and this is exactly where many players feel cheated.
As part of the “founder packages”, buyers of a “Conqueror’s Package” were promised a level 5 horse – which the players did receive, but it seems to deviate drastically from what was expected. For although the horse is technically level 5, it has – according to player criticism – exceptionally poor stats, is poorly suited for breeding and would thus actually only be a “level 3 horse with a great skin”. In the official game forum, players promptly demanded a statement from Daum or at least some compensation to make up for the “false advertising”. The reaction from community manager CM_Jouska came a few days ago.
“After we presented your feedback and concerns to the developers, they looked into the matter and concluded that there will be no compensation in this case. The pre-order horse has overall better stats and more HP. Additionally, they clarified that the pre-order horse has a higher chance of learning new skills while leveling up.”
For comparison, Jouska provided a screenshot:
The criticism in the forum continues, as they didn’t even address the point that the horse is less suitable for breeding than it should be.
Throughout tomorrow (April 27, 2016), the latest expansion for Hearthstone finally arrives. “Whispers of the Old Gods” brings 134 new cards that will turn the meta upside down, but it also offers many possibilities for pure “fun decks” that allow you to enjoy yourself without worrying too much about performance. Here I present my personal top 10.
Cabalist’s Tome – The Surprise Egg of Mages
A spell that gives the Mage 3 additional spells? Yogg-Saron would do somersaults with its tentacles if it could. I like cards that are absolute “surprise eggs.” However, since Mages don’t generally have any truly “bad” spells, this card can save your life at times, like when you draw a “Frost Nova” first and then have a Fireball for the next turn. And all of this feeds the power of Yogg-Saron, who is ready to unleash chaos and death – for whoever.
Yogg-Saron – A Spell for Everyone, Whether Good or Bad
Yeah, I know. It was predictable that this card would make the list, but why shouldn’t it? Yogg-Saron, Hope’s End is certainly not the card to build a deck if you want to reach “Legend” rank. But you know what? I don’t even want to do that with him. When I build a deck around Yogg-Saron, it will just be for fun. Utter, pure chaos. Win or lose, Yogg-Saron will provide fun in either case. Random spells with random targets are glorious. Everyone will hate it and yet love it at the same time. Just for that, I will definitely make a deck with him, if only to compete against friends and acquaintances.
Hallazeal the Ascended – The Reno Jackson for Shaman Casters
I’ve never really gotten warm with the Shaman class, but Hallazeal the Ascended could bring me the big change. Strictly speaking, the card is a possible Reno Jackson, just much funnier. Combined with a Storm, you can easily restore up to 21 health points. In my opinion, it is one of the strongest effects in the game, as it also adds healing to every damage spell. This card alone justifies keeping silence effects in the deck.
Evolve – All Minions Leave a “+1” in the Channel
A second Shaman card that makes my fingers tingle. A spell for only 1 mana that transforms all my minions on the field into random minions that each cost 1 mana more. Like so many of my favorites, Evolve is associated with a high degree of randomness, but it will sometimes take an exciting turn. I will definitely sometimes kick myself when one of my cards becomes a Doomcaller – but hey, that’s just Hearthstone.
Eater of Secrets – Could Also Be “Eater of Paladins”
Finally, there’s a universal weapon against Mages, Paladins, and Hunters. The Eater of Secrets is the end of all Secret Paladins and will finally put an end to this plague, both in “Wild” and Standard game modes. Of course, this is also a direct devaluation of secrets, but such hard counters against specific strategies should ensure that the meta of Hearthstone remains in flux for a longer time. For me, already one of my favorite cards.
On the second page, you will find the remaining 5 favorite cards from “Whispers of the Old Gods.”
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the MMO shooter Destiny the April Iron Banner brings two top weapons. And a strange rank glitch occurs.
Today at 19:00 the April Iron Banner 2016 started in the Conflict mode. The two weapons that Lord Saladin offers both come with excellent rolls.
The important thing is: These weapons can be purchased directly from Lord Saladin at rank 4 (Rocket Launcher) and 5 (Auto Rifle). The “dropped weapons” after matches can have different properties. The weapons purchased from Saladin have the perks that we present here.
Tormod’s Bellows – Rocket Launcher of Dreams
At rank 4 with Saladin, there is the rocket launcher Tormod’s Bellows.
It comes with Void Damage.
The perk Grenades and Horseshoes is applied – rockets from this weapon explode prematurely, depending on the distance to the target.
Also Tripod – The barrel of this launcher holds three rounds.
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When logging into the Iron Banner, many Guardians reported that they received Iron Banner Rank 5. Apparently, this rank was not reset correctly before the event this time. So, some Guardians were able to go shopping right at the beginning if they had enough tokens.
However, Guardians report that after the first matches, they were back at Rank 0. No one received Rank 5 reward packages. Very mysterious.
Update:At 19:59, one hour after the start of the Iron Banner, Bungie tweeted that they had reset the reputation. They apologize for the delay.
Previous Iron Banner Reputation Gains have been reset. We apologize for the delay: https://t.co/Zy6tKSLy0P
Master X Master is supposed to be NCSoft’s version of Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm. Because in the MOBA of the Korean publisher, numerous heroes from their own game repertoire are also gathering.
“What Blizzard can do, we can do long ago,” the executives at NCSoft must have thought when the concept for Master X Master was created. Because both games are MOBAs that take their heroes from their own portfolio. Instead of Diablo, World of Warcraft and Starcraft, the Korean publisher can rely on titles like Lineage II, WildStar, Blade & Soul and Aion and use heroes like rogues in the MOBA as characters. But does the concept work or is Master X Master just a lame copy of HotS? We were able to take an exclusive look at the beta and get an impression of the game.
Coop-MOBA?
A big difference to Blizzard’s MOBA struck us right at the beginning of our demo session. Because NCSoft employee Christian Vestol presented us with the exciting coop mode of Master X Master. Wait, a coop mode in a MOBA? Yep, Master X Master has that!
Every Blade-&-Soul player who has played the Blackram Supply Depot recognizes this place.
And it’s also fun, because together with Christian we start into the “Blackram Supply Depot”. Anyone who has played the Asian MMO Blade & Soul will know the instance well, as it comes directly from that game. And indeed, the area is really laid out as the template from the MMORPG, so that familiar things – like the boss arena – catch my eye again and again.
But before we reach the final boss, we have to fight through hordes of enemies and collect various power-ups. Because only then can we survive the sometimes tough battles, and during the final battle against Vice Admiral Poharan we also have to pay attention to the special boss mechanics known from Blade & Soul.
The boss mechanic against Poharan is also identical to Blade & Soul.
Thanks to the intuitive controls, Master X Master plays comfortably: We control our heroes with WASD and trigger actions with the Q and E keys, while we attack with left clicks and perform defensive actions with right clicks. The game almost reminds me of classic top-down shooters like Hotline Miami.
Take two
But the amusing coop mode is not the only unique feature of Master X Master. Because unlike the usual MOBA competition, we do not choose one hero at the start of a round (coop or PvP), but two.
The space soldier Taejin plays a bit like Raynor from Heroes of the Storm.
At the push of a button, we then switch protagonists in the middle of battle and have both the hit points of the second character and completely new abilities. This allows for extremely cool tactics: If we unexpectedly get hit with a fragile assassin hero and then quickly switch to an ultra-tough tank character who can easily withstand the damage and thus escape. Only a cooldown prevents us from switching too often.
Odd giant creatures, like Cagnazzo here, are also in the game.
The hero selection needs to be thoughtful, and since there are 30 different characters – the so-called “Masters” – the choice is not easy. Unfortunately, NCSoft does not have as many characters from its own franchises as one might expect. Only 8 heroes come from NCSoft games, the rest are characters developed specifically for the game. That’s a shame because the recognition value of figures like Diablo, Thrall, Illidan, and Kerrigan made the special appeal of Heroes of the Storm.
The assassin Sizuka is a typical representative of her kind.
The known heroes from the NCSoft universe (and yes, there are only seven, the eighth hero could unfortunately not be determined for the time being) are:
Do you know the map “Garden of Terror” from Heroes of the Storm, where you collect seed pods and summon a huge, playable plant golem? Master X Master also has such a game mechanic, because in the PvP map we played (where we faced off against some really nasty bots), we could also collect resources and summon a huge battle robot called “Titan”.
In PvP MOBA mode, hard battles often occur in such bottlenecks.
We could then control the Titan in battle and with its powerful attacks and skills we swept away the enemies in rows. At least until we met the Titan of the opposing team, who set a trap for us with a few bots and smashed us to bits. But we still had fun, and a well-planned Titan deployment can definitely decide the game.
Is it all just stolen?
Master X Master strongly resembles Heroes of the Storm, but that’s not a bad thing! After all, Blizzard’s MOBA is not a bad game. However, Master X Master is by no means a clone of the competition. Because the NCSoft MOBA has enough of its own ideas and a unique roster of cool heroes that can easily compete with most Blizzard heroes.
Only the (still) limited selection of known heroes struck me as rather negative. However, I really liked the controls and especially the system of switchable heroes. And the coop mode was even my secret highlight of the preview session. I’m really looking forward to more matches in NCSoft’s version of the Nexus!
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Tonight, the Whisper of the Old Gods begins in Hearthstone. But when exactly does the kickoff happen? At what time does it start?
Maintenance after midnight in Hearthstone on April 27.
After Blizzard has gradually introduced the new cards of the expansion “Whisper of the Old Gods” for Hearthstone in the past weeks, the expected kickoff will likely happen tonight. Initially, the release date was set for April 26, but it was later corrected to April 27. A look into the Battle.net launcher seems to provide the answer now.
Maintenance is scheduled for tonight from 12:30 AM to 1:30 AM (this is already Wednesday, April 27). It is therefore likely that with the completion of this maintenance, the new expansion will be unlocked, and the card packs can then be opened. At the same time, the new mode “Standard” will be introduced, and many old cards will disappear, being usable only in the “wild” play mode. Additionally, some adventures will no longer be available for purchase – anyone who wants the cards from Naxxramas will have to craft them with Arcane Dust.
However, Blizzard rewards players for a limited time with a small promo campaign. 3 card packs from “Whisper of the Old Gods” are completely free, and they also throw in the Old God C’thun. But that’s not all: 10 more card packs can be earned through 2 one-time quests, where you have to win a total of 9 games in the “Standard” mode. Thus, all players can already have 66 cards of the expansion without spending hard euros or gold.
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