With Asker, Project Black Sheep, yet another MMO in Korea is closing its doors.
We have occasionally reported on Asker, a relatively new Korean MMO with a strong action emphasis. The game was introduced as Project Black Sheep in 2013.
According to 2p, the game is already finished. It is set to close in Korea next month, with no plans for a Western release. Asker launched in Korea in August 2015 in an open beta and has reportedly remained below expectations from the beginning. The maximum it ever achieved was a 50th place in the charts, according to 2p.
Asker was marketed in Korea as a “Ultimate Action MMO”, the MMO version of Devil May Cry – apparently, that didn’t help.
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At the moment, many experts are talking about an MMO extinction in Korea. Publishers are withdrawing from the PC market, pushing into mobile. Numerous MMOs from the second and third tiers are being left behind.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The development team of The Division made a significant effort in the graphic design of the MMO shooter. We look at 11 impressive details that you should not overlook.
The world of The Division is developed with great attention to detail. We have already reported on the graphics of this game, with the result that they are quite presentable, but will not set new milestones – not even the ultra-high settings on PC. One thing cannot be denied about the game: There are numerous impressive details that one should at least be made aware of.
Detail 1: Many fictional brands
The Division takes place in a post-apocalyptic New York. Anyone who has been to present-day New York can confirm that this world city is a stronghold for advertising. Not only is Times Square plastered with advertisements, but in every corner of the city, colorful posters and billboards can be found.
In The Division, one finds countless fictional brands that shape the city’s face with their advertisements. These include coffee shops, fast-food chains, soft drink manufacturers, and much more.
There are over 230 different advertisements, and each brand has its own identity, slogan, and advertising campaign that can be found throughout New York. The lead environment artist, Chad Chatterton, mentions that even plastic bags in the game point to certain brands and stores. The brands are meant to feel alive and go beyond simple billboards.
Detail 2: Excellent Graffiti
IGN speculates that the graffiti in The Division might be the best that has ever been seen in games. There are 320 unique graffiti artworks in the city, meaning not just a few were created and then carelessly copied and pasted throughout the city.
It is claimed that graffiti artists were consulted during the design of the city on how they would express their art if Manhattan were abandoned. The following image shows the answer. Thus, deserted scissor lifts can still be found in the city:
Of course, there is also vandalism and scribbles that have nothing to do with art:
Detail 3: Fictional Movies
Similar to the fake brands, there are also many fictional movies promoted in the New York of The Division. For example, there is the movie “Don’t tell Mom”, which looks like fun for the whole family.
The poor mom was disfigured on the following poster. The author of this alteration was probably not a fan of this movie.
Detail 4: Very realistic poster textures
Since we are on the subject of posters: it’s worth taking a closer look at them. When you get close to them, The Division reveals a texture that simulates printed materials. See for yourself:
Discover on the next page how detailed the destruction in The Division looks.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The developers of the upcoming MMORPG Riders of Icarus have revealed new details about their game.
In an interview with MMORPG.com, the developers explained that mounts play a very important role in the game. You can count various creatures that allow you not only to move faster through the world but also to fly. Mounts grant your character access to certain skills.
For example, riding a horse gives access to a special skill that allows you to use spear and shield while mounted. Other mounts provide different abilities that make sense when using the corresponding mount.
On land and in the air
Riders of Icarus aims to enable flying through the air in almost all areas with creatures such as dragons, flying whales, or griffins. The developers ensure that it’s also fun. The controls must work well and be intuitive, and combat on a flying mount must function properly – therefore, there is an auto-targeting feature in the MMO.
However, you will not be flying all the time. There is much to do on the ground as well. You will explore dungeons and complete quests like in any other MMORPG. It also won’t always make sense to take your mount with you, so you’ll have adventures on foot as well.
Beta starting soon in Europe
In the USA and Mexico, a first closed beta of the MMORPG has already ended. According to the developers, they received a lot of positive feedback and some improvement suggestions, which they are now trying to implement. A beta is also set to start soon in Europe.
If you are interested in an MMORPG that represents a kind of “Pokemon meets MMO with aerial combat,” you should keep an eye on Riders of Icarus.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The massive space game Star Citizen is no fake. Chief Chris Roberts would have liked to do a few things differently.
There are people, who say Star Citizen is a total fraud. They claim it is not a game, but just a facade. There are supposedly no studios, but the pictures of ships are put together by Chris Roberts on his laptop while he sips drinks with umbrellas in the Caribbean with his wife and lights his cigar with the crowdfunding money. This is malicious nonsense, as Roberts, his fans, and the team have emphasized often enough.
They challenge people who say such things to come for a studio tour and see the daily work. Exactly that is what a film crew did now. And that a game is being developed and that a lot of effort is behind it is shown in the BBC video. There, they visited the 100-million-dollar project.
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Work on Star Citizen is being done “around the clock”
In 4 studios in 3 countries, in England, Germany, and the USA, designers, technicians, and developers tirelessly work to bring the project to fruition.
This “around-the-clock” work enables some interesting effects. One can give a task to the partner studio across the ocean just before heading home, making them much more flexible than other studios, a staff member explains in the video.
Where one studio is stuck and desperate, the others might find a solution with fresh eyes and approaches.
More money, more game, more time
Chris Roberts himself is addressed about the many controversies surrounding the game, about delays in the plan. Roberts says: Games are constantly being postponed. However, players rarely hear about it because it happens before the official presentation.
One thing he would do differently today, Roberts explains. There is a fundamental contradiction in crowdfunding: The more money you get, the bigger the game becomes, and the longer it takes to develop the game.
If he were to start such a project again today, Roberts says, he would spend more time explaining that.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Overwatch faced a lot of criticism, especially from fans who do not have access yet. Is Blizzard really only inviting streamers and the press to the closed beta?
Are only streamers and press invited to Overwatch?
Although since the resumption of the Overwatch beta significantly more players are hanging out in Blizzard’s hero shooter, the criticism from fans is still high. Only streamers and the press would gain access to the game, it is said. In the forums and on Reddit, frustrated players called the game “OnlyWatch”, meaning “only to watch”. Jeff Kaplan from Blizzard spoke with pcgamesn about these accusations. We have summarized the key points for you.
This assumption that only streamers would have been allowed into the beta is simply incorrect. According to Kaplan, “just under 1% of the approved players” are streamers and press. The perception of it is completely different.
“It’s just that, when you look on the internet and search for the Overwatch beta, what will you find? You will see the streamers playing the game and the assumption is immediately that they are the only people who have access. But that is absolutely not the case.”
Generally, Blizzard was surprised by this wave of outrage. Kaplan last had a beta running in 2008 with “Wrath of the Lich King”. Since then, expectations for a beta test have changed significantly. Players expect when they hear the word “beta” a free, almost finished trial version of a game that anyone can dive into.
Kaplan even retrospectively considers the closed beta a mistake. “In hindsight, I would have been happier if we had just called it alpha and put an NDA (“Non Disclosure Agreement”) on it. Then we could have avoided these negative reactions.”
Finally, he also sees something good in the whole issue. “If fans are angriest about not being able to play the beta themselves? I would prefer that over any other kind of criticism.” That’s understandable, because anyone complaining about not being able to play wants to – and in a few months they will be able to.
What would Hearthstone look like if it were released during the GameBoy Color era? A video provides the answer …
8-bit graphics and catchy tunes as music
When a game achieves such great success as Blizzard’s card game Hearthstone has, it’s not surprising that numerous parodies and fan works start to appear. Some time ago we had Hearthstone with Pokémon cards, and now a video is taking a similar direction – yet somehow entirely different.
The YouTube channel Roflstone has taken on the task and created a “Mobile Version” of Hearthstone – as it would have likely looked more than 10 years ago on the GameBoy Color. Clunky menus, wonderful tunes as music, and numerous funny references included.
Anyone who secretly played the first Pokémon games under the blanket at night will feel right at home …
For more news and articles about the game, you can find them on our Hearthstone topic page.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Evolve a new adaptation is on the way, this time it’s a monster again. The “Elder Kraken” lands on Shear and brings devastating area effects with it.
The Ancestor of the Kraken
At more or less regular intervals, the developers of Evolve release “adaptations” for existing hunters and monsters. This time it’s the Kraken that receives the alternative design “Elder Kraken”. This not only gives the monster a slightly altered appearance but also a change in its abilities. Let’s take a quick look at the changes:
Lightning Strike now covers a larger area than before – however, a target line now reveals where the Kraken activates the ability.
The Banshee Missile is larger and explodes in an area effect when it reaches its target.
Chain Lightning seems to be unchanged at first glance. After a channeling time, the Kraken causes damage to all enemies around it.
The Vortex has been replaced by Death Spiral. A large, tubular area is affected by the ability and causes persistent, low damage.
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Only on Friday, the open beta for PC was launched for Tom Clancy’s The Division. Reports are already piling up that some agents are using cheats.
Currently, numerous agents are roaming the post-apocalypse of New York: the open beta of The Division is live now for all supported platforms. Players can take a sneak peek into the upcoming MMO shooter, test some weapons, and explore the Dark Zone.
For some PC gamers, this is not enough: they have already hacked into the data, specifically the weapon data. It seems that these are stored client-side and not server-side. Both Reddit posts and YouTube videos point out these hacking issues.
In this video, an agent has infinite ammunition available ‒ and he doesn’t even have to reload.
https://youtu.be/lSai7kXiMSA
When asked by Ubisoft, the response was that nearly all PC cheats that appeared during the closed beta have been fixed. All other cheats, including those that occur anew in the open beta, will be addressed by the launch on March 8.
The developers will also be on the lookout for new problems during the open beta and will address them accordingly.
After all, this testing phase is meant to eliminate most potential issues in advance. Therefore, agents can only be advised to try everything possible and test so that nothing stands in the way of the launch of The Division.
Ultimately, we all want to enjoy the game. And no one wants to have their gaming experience ruined by PC cheats.
In the MMO shooter Destiny , the sniper rifle Icebreaker makes a comeback. This surprises Bungie and was not planned.
Two weeks ago, Bungie announced that they would shake up the Crucible. In certain modes, players should start without “special ammunition”. The goal was clear: The Trials of Osiris should no longer be a pure sniper paradise like in the last weeks and months.
At least the first round should take place without special ammunition.
Players bypass ammunition scarcity with Year-1 Icebreaker
But early on, players found a trick to bypass this. They used the Year-1 weapon “Icebreaker.” With the sniper rifle that regenerates its ammunition, sniper shots are possible after just a few seconds. There’s no need to wait for special ammunition. And a Icebreaker round to the head is still deadly. Especially in events like “Crimson Week”, which do not consider Light values, it proves to be absolutely deadly and renders the whole change absurd. Because it can still be “sniped” almost from the start.
http://youtu.be/sGmTj4hkSMQ
Deceptive: Players can regenerate ammunition with the Icebreaker or other weapons and then use it with another sniper rifle. One wonders: If players discovered this possibility just a few minutes after the changes were introduced, what does Bungie think about it?
Icebreaker was not intended
Apparently not much. As PvP guru Jon Weisnewski tweeted on Sunday, it is an “active issue” they are looking into. It was not intended for it to work this way.
@petexnasty hey! It’s an active issue we’re looking into. Definitely not the intended design for ammo economy
The latest trailer for the action MOBA Paragon promises… well… action. And in quite nice visuals, with damn cool effects.
With a fresh trailer, Paragon aims to grab players’ attention and seems to be succeeding. The latest impressions of the game promise exciting action with grand graphics, far from what players have been used to in MOBAs, while also introducing some new characters. Whether the balance between MOBA and shooter really works can probably only be judged when one has tried the game themselves.
Since Paragon relies on a “card system” for character development, comparable to that of Paladins, some fans were concerned that these card packs would be offered for real money. The accompanying worries about “Pay2Win” quickly grew loud. Epic Games reacted quickly and assured that “there will never be card packs for purchase,” as they are “aware that Pay-to-Win is a bad thing for competitive games.”
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Black Desert the quest “Treasure Hunter” presents the first challenge for players. We provide you with a guide on how to proceed at step 5 and complete the quest.
If your experience is somewhat like mine, you’ll get through the first hours of the quests in Black Desert without major difficulties. By using “T” for auto-run and following clear descriptions, you can progress quickly, even though you may take longer for some quests because the enemies don’t drop and spawn as you’d like.
The first stumbling block occurs at the quest “Treasure Hunter.” The first 4 steps go smoothly, but then it gets tricky, and auto-run fails you. You need to place the two pieces of the treasure map side by side in your inventory, then you can combine them. If you right-click on the “new” map, a glow will be shown on your world map in the west of the city, right in Goblin territory. In the game world, this appears as a large beam of light.
If you actually go there, you’ll see that there’s nothing to see. The point you need to reach is underground. Now you need to head north and dive into the cave system at the coast, from there you can complete the 5th step of the quest and climb into a chamber where an NPC marked with a thick golden Q is waiting for you.
This video shows you the exact way:
http://youtu.be/OQ3cWrVwVvM
The 6th and final quest step is similar, you again need to assemble a map and activate it by right-clicking. This time the cave with an enemy and a clickable book is exactly where you expect it to be. On the “highest level”, when you also need to jump down a small ledge onto the plateau. This path is also outlined in the video above.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the MMO shooter The Division, there is a new daily mission from Ubisoft on Sunday, February 21.
Every day, Ubisoft encourages players of the beta of The Division to take on a special mission. Yesterday, players were tasked with taking down elite cleaners. It cost 11.8 million of them. A sign of how popular the beta is. For the effort, all players receive “multiple Dark Zone keys,” which can be collected from the reward vendor.
One player caught 82 of them and receives a unique reward.
The task, this time on the last day of the beta: loot as much gear from the Dark Zone as possible and then get it to safety. At the moment, it doesn’t look like the beta will be extended as it was last time. It ends on Monday at 1:00 PM. But the wait without The Division won’t be too long: the release is on March 8 for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3OHAXz4HKw
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the MMO shooter Destiny , a fan’s video highlights the shooting from a different perspective and extracts new aspects from the event.
80, 90 hours of work went into the montage “True Stories,” says creator Lorenlyr. Upon closer inspection, you can recognize some well-known names from the German-speaking scene. For instance, AUTer Space is involved, who have already drawn attention with their amusing videos.
The video tells small stories from the world of Destiny that one might not come across otherwise. A fan club pays tribute to Eris Morn, the loneliness in the hunt is celebrated, or there is slapstick with the ball.
A beautiful video that we would like to present to you.
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In the Open Beta of The Division, there is a reward vendor that provides you with fresh free items.
The Open Beta of Ubisoft’s upcoming MMO shooter has been running since Thursday or Friday. Most of the story missions have already been completed by most players. Now, the Dark Zone is becoming ruthlessly unsafe. However, it is still worth a visit to the Operations Base from time to time: Because there, the reward vendor is waiting for you.
This vendor has hidden himself quite well, so he is probably waiting in vain for a large part of the agents. When you enter the Operations Base, the Medical Wing is on the left, the Security Wing on the right, and straight ahead, when you go upstairs, is the Tech Wing. If you go straight ahead, past the stairs on the right, the reward vendor is there with some nice free items.
If you ignore or forget this guy, you will miss out on fresh resources. In the main game, you will find Uplay rewards at the reward vendor. According to YouTuber Arekkz, he will probably distribute the following cool skin if you have completed the Alpha and both Betas. However, this has not been confirmed yet.
But even now, in the Open Beta, he is distributing fresh consumables, like grenades or mineral water. And the best part: you get all this stuff for free. This is definitely to your advantage when you fight through the Dark Zone and engage in heated skirmishes.
So far, it is not exactly known how often this vendor restocks. When you pick up all the items, they are initially removed from the list. If you come back at a later time, there will be consumables available again. So make sure to check back in the back corner of the base regularly, as there may be free items. Arekkz speculates that the rewards are renewed about every hour.
You can watch this again in moving images in this video:
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In Heroes of the Storm, there is now talk about how much the matchmaking has improved in recent months. We have the statistics for you.
Fair Matches, but Longer Queues
The creators of Heroes of the Storm are noticeably patting themselves on the back as they published a new blog post a few days ago. They summarize what has changed in matchmaking since BlizzCon 2015 and highlight the most important points.
The most important point is probably the number of “fair” matches that have now occurred. A match is considered “fair” when the algorithm predicts both teams have a win chance between 45% and 55%. “In the past,” only 2 out of 3 games were balanced, now it’s over 97%.
They also attribute this to the special rules that have been introduced for “Quickmatch”. It is now ensured that teams with a support hero almost always face opponents who also have a supporter. The same applies, by the way, for warriors; here too, they focus on more balance.
However, these additional rules also have their drawbacks. The waiting time for a match has increased from an average of 80 to 130 seconds. However, this development is manageable if it means fairer and thus more enjoyable matches.
In the future, they will continue to address the community’s feedback and are currently working on a rule that would limit the appearance of certain heroes within a team. This particularly concerns characters with very low “lane presence” who often gank or fulfill other map objectives. Thus, in the future, a maximum of one of the following heroes could appear in a team:
Abathur
Cho’gall
Lt. Morales
Murky
Nova
The Lost Vikings
Players who team up can still bypass this rule if it goes live.
In Overwatch there was the first major balance patch that significantly weakened two characters. The two fans of turrets, Torbjörn and Bastion, have been targeted.
The era of “Turretwatch” is over
For about two weeks now, all players who have received beta access can once again engage in Blizzard’s hero shooter Overwatch. There have been numerous innovations, such as a new game mode or the progression system, which should keep players entertained in the long run. However, the fun did not last particularly long for most, as two characters seemed almost unbeatable.
Torbjörn and Bastion caused Overwatch to be quickly renamed “Turretwatch” by the testers, as the defending team often only needed a simple strategy: to bring as many Bastions and Torbjörns as possible.
The dwarf Torbjörn can place a turret that can take down many heroes single-handedly – and often from ranges where one cannot even defend oneself.
The robot (or “Omnic”) Bastion can even transform into a turret, becoming stationary, gaining a significant armor bonus, and can still heal itself.
Blizzard has now put a stop to these two heroes and made several balance changes. Instead of just nerfing, they improved the characters in other areas and want to see how the changes will impact gameplay.
For Torbjörn, the following changes occur:
The turret now only deals 14 damage per shot (previously 16).
Each hammer strike now only repairs the turret by 50 hit points (previously 100).
The bolt gun now has only 18 shots (previously 20), but the alternate fire mode now only consumes 3 ammo (instead of 5).
The following changes apply to Bastion:
The spread of the weapon from Configuration: Recon has been reduced by 25%.
Configuration: Sentry no longer grants bonus armor, but the damage in this mode has been increased.
After a few matches with these changes, the game feels much more exciting again. The era of “Turretwatch” is likely over – for now.
For more information about the game, such as our first impressions, check out the Overwatch theme page.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the superhero MMO DC Universe Online, March Episode 22 is all about Superman.
DC Universe Online has outlined Episode 22. It will be released in March and will focus on the man who wears his underwear over his pants.
A 4-player operation “The Phantom Zone” will be the centerpiece of the episode. The “Phantom Zone Projector” has malfunctioned in Superman’s absence … the player-hero must take care of it. And the player-supervillain cannot miss the opportunity to explore the Fortress of Solitude.
In the 1-player challenge “The Science Spire”, a certain villain has escaped with his crew from the “Phantom Zone”. Lois Lane is on the case, and somehow everything revolves around the massive structure that Lex Luthor has erected in the Tomorrow District of Manhattan.
As rewards, DCUO promises helmets; gloves, boots, shoulder pieces and “Face Items” to complete the “Electrostatic” and “Quickstryke” sets.
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The action MMO Devilian has received a new update and introduces a new class. The Tempest Warrior is now available on the live servers!
The Tempest Warriors – Sometimes wild, sometimes protective
Since today the latest patch of Devilian is live and grants players the new class “Tempest Warrior”. As the name suggests, this is an enraged fighter who alternates between two different stances. With her blades, she literally descends upon her enemies like a storm, swiftly jumping from target to target and dealing devastating damage. When she switches to her glaive, her defensive attributes increase and she can block a significant amount of incoming damage.
The new class, however, is not free, unlike many others in the free-to-play game. Currently, it is available at a reduced price of €9.89 on Steam. On February 25, this introductory offer will expire, and the wild lady will cost €14.99 again.
In addition to the Tempest Warrior, the patch also increases the level cap. All characters can now level up to 54, or 30 at Devilian level. Aside from that, there are new dungeons to explore and even a fresh raid for 9 players – which naturally comes with better endgame gear.
For more news and information about the game, you can visit our Devilian topic page.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the MMO shooter The Division , players received a new mission on February 20th, and it leads into the Dark Zone.
Every day, Ubisoft releases a daily mission for the beta of The Division. Yesterday, players were tasked with eliminating “Cleaners,” the crazy exterminators who consider everyone else pests and want to burn them up. Yesterday went the other way: 275 million Cleaners were grilled. As a reward, all players received a “Fire Set” containing incendiary ammunition, explosive ammunition, and fragmentation grenades today.
A player who has eliminated 336 Cleaners will receive a special reward. What that is and whether it can be carried into the release, Ubisoft is still not revealing.
The community task for Saturday is to eliminate notable elite Cleaners in the Dark Zone.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
After an extra long development period, ASTA has now announced a date for a western beta version. We have all the important details for you.
ASTA starts Open Beta in early March
“ASTA: The War of Tears and Winds” was supposed to be released some time ago. However, after receiving positive feedback from fans, the developer Polygon Games took extra time to polish the game for a western release. The long wait will soon be over, as ASTA will begin its Open Beta in the West on March 2, 2016.
ASTA aims to give MMORPG fans exactly what they want and have loved for years. There are two different factions, each with 3 races and a total of 5 different classes. Additionally, there are 7 expansive zones per faction and one starting area per race. Solo players should be kept engaged through exciting quests and storylines, but challenging group content will provide the necessary challenge for veterans.
Although ASTA has already been discontinued in Korea, the developers firmly believe in a successful release here. It is no coincidence that the game is often referred to as the “Korean World of Warcraft,” featuring a similar graphic style.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
