Nevertheless, Lineage Eternal is indeed long overdue for a beta test. NCSoft has high hopes for the action MMORPG. A few years ago, they even talked about a “simultaneous global release.” But here in the West, people react to such things skeptically. After all, it took years for us to get Blade & Soul.
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Each game will cost $45 individually, BUT: If you buy one, you can purchase the other for $15. So, while there is a price increase for players who want both, it’s not as bad as critics thought beforehand.
However: The price is expected to go up as the release approaches.
This week the Warpriest was the challenge mode in the raid. A well-coordinated and fully equipped group of Guardians took him on in hard mode and brought him down in no time. This is what kills that have the potential to be record-breaking in Destiny look like:
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Everyone does their job, everyone deals significant damage – and with that, the team is able to take down the Warpriest in just one aura. As seen, they utilize the synergies of the various abilities like the Titan bubble, thereby increasing their damage and executing their strategy.
The action RPG Lost Ark could enter a closed beta in April. It is considered one of the interesting games of the coming years.
As the major Chinese gaming site 1337 reportedly found out, the action RPG hope Lost Ark is set to enter a closed beta in April. There is no official confirmation of this rumor yet. However, it aligns with the already known plans of the developers: A beta is scheduled for the first half of 2016.
The community of the selective multiplayer RPG Shroud of the Avatar is simply lovable, because emotions tend to run high there. This has now prompted Ultima creator “Richard Lord British” Garriott to speak out about the criticism.
The trigger was actually the announcement of the Final Wipe, which takes place at the end of July and essentially marks the start of the online part of the game. The game itself is still not finished – especially the story and offline part, which the developers will only start to address from now on. This stirred up some emotions. And as is often the case with such things, one thing led to another, and there was criticism of some game elements.
Only Fedex quests?
Among those are the quests. Some of the first quests are already integrated into the game, allowing players to test them and get a taste of the game’s story. However, this is a rather bitter taste. Because all quests are solely about delivering letters or items from one NPC to another or killing a certain number of enemies. After Richard Garriott and bestselling author Tracy Hickman have always talked so grandly about the story and quests, this is a harsh disappointment for many.
Additionally, most towns feel empty. The streets lack details, barely any NPCs are wandering around, and many buildings are yawningly empty. The towns also lack personality; they feel like hubs where players meet and build their houses. For a game that aims to offer an exciting single-player part, this is clearly not enough. Furthermore, people are currently upset about the dialogue system, which takes place in the regular chat and presents unformatted text like in a chat log. Many wish for a truly atmospheric, organized dialogue window that is separate from the rest of the chat and presents the text in a readable way.
The boss himself speaks up
Now, of course, Shroud of the Avatar is still in pre-alpha. This means a lot is still being worked on. The fact that the Final Wipe is approaching and little has been done on the single-player part and the story makes emotions run high. The developers have also noticed this, which is why Richard Garriott addressed this criticism in the forum on Thursday.
On the one hand, the creator of the Ultima series announced that there will be a live chat on Friday evening at 9 PM, where he will discuss these issues. Furthermore, the team is well aware of these issues. They know that they currently only have Fedex quests in the game and that the towns currently appear lifeless and empty. In addition, they are aware that there are some problems between the multiplayer features and the single-player features that do not always go hand in hand.
They will also be thinking about this. In general, he agrees with the criticisms fans have raised so far and assures that they will address these issues. Many fans are still skeptical but now have renewed hope that Shroud of the Avatar will indeed become a good game that can also convince in terms of story and single player.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the upcoming MMO shooter The Division , players will not see the entire endgame at launch.
Although we are now hearing a lot about skills and gameplay, nothing is known about the endgame in The Division. This may be because the endgame is not considered part of the initial package.
By endgame, it usually refers to what you can do at max level and after completing the campaign – things like particularly challenging group challenges, repeatable missions, dungeons, or even raids. The developers have not made extensive comments on any of these matters in the past.
As the Creative Director of Massive, Magnus Jansen, says now, they have indeed spent an enormous amount of time on the PvE endgame, but not everything will be there when The Division launches on March 8. They want to roll it out slowly and for free at the beginning. Jansen does not specify details on what will actually be available at launch.
There will be a PvE endgame with group content
But the Creative Director reassures: No worries, there is a PvE endgame, there will be goals and challenges for you and your group. There will be difficult tasks that you can take on and tackle.
My MMO thinks: Yes, an MMO will be very difficult to evaluate if you don’t know when the endgame will come and what it will look like. It’s a bit like writing a movie review without seeing the last 45 minutes.
It is “normal” for established games to withhold game content, to then add more after the release. Thus, entire raids in WoW are kept back for longer, and in Destiny, raid modes or challenges were also locked for a while. The thinking is: Players should not rush, but enjoy the journey. In reality, the motive is: Well, otherwise the hardcore players would be finished after two weeks, and we don’t want that; we want them to engage with our game longer and come back after two months.
In these cases, however, every purchaser knows what to generally expect later. Because players from previous expansions know what the endgame looks like in Destiny or World of Warcraft.
However, since at The Division, there is still no idea of how the endgame will even be, players who place great value on an endgame could end up disappointed when making a purchase decision. Because if there is (still) no endgame, it cannot be part of tests or reporting.
Usually, the endgame is crucial for forming an opinion about a game with a level and loot system. Does the game only provide fun as long as it tells a story? Or does it motivate players long after that?
At the moment, it seems like you have to buy The Division sight unseen – or wait longer than usual until solid tests and reports arrive.
Skepticism remains: If you have such a great endgame – when do you finally start talking about it?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
For a few days now, Jhin, the newest champion in the MOBA League of Legends (LoL), has been on the live servers and is often a source of frustration.
Especially in ranked matches the new champ Jhin is not well-received. Many of the players who play him there lack experience with this champion. Nevertheless, they think that Jhin is a good choice for a ranked game. One can only shake their head… or hit it!
I too had the experience when I signed up for the support role to play a ranked match. On the positive side, it became a very fast game. After Jhin had achieved a 0/5/0 in 10 minutes, the famous phrase “I’m done” followed, leading directly to tilt mode. Similar to a typical Vayne player, my teammates were, of course, to blame.
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Tricks for Jhin from the pros of League of Legends to copy? Uh …
If you are planning to play Jhin yourself, but want to see the gameplay first with the people who “really know how to do it,” then the following video is just right for you.
On the YouTube channel of Nebu, there is now a video where you can see how “Faker”, “Sneaky”, “Gankbymom”, and “Imaqtpie” play the new champion. I would like to mention the word frustration once again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1KBq8ETUzs
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
RIFT is celebrating its 5th birthday and is starting the year of technology – especially in terms of performance, there will be many improvements.
Rift gets 64 Bit and a lot of cores
Meanwhile, RIFT is in the home stretch of its fifth year, which it plans to celebrate appropriately. For this purpose, the producer of the game, known as “Archonix”, has reached out to players and fans in an open letter. He looks back at the past years and shares what the year 2016 has in store for the MMORPG.
The year 2016 aims to primarily modernize the technology in Rift and adapt it to newer computers. Therefore, the developers are currently feverishly working on a 64-bit client and want to optimize the game to ensure full support for multiple processor cores – a feature that has become standard for many other games and is desperately needed. With these modernizations, they hope to keep Rift stable for the next 5 years.
Performance is set to improve – hence new CPU support and a 64-bit client are on the way.
To keep players engaged, they are also working on the next big content update, which is set to be released at the beginning of April – at least the first part. Patch 3.6 “The Festival of the Chosen – Part 1” brings the Carnival of the Chosen and aims to feature a multitude of quests and rewards. At the same time, a new system for daily login rewards will be implemented, new souls will be unlocked for each calling, and a lot of adjustments in PvP will be made.
The second part of the update will then be released (if all goes according to plan) at the end of May, bringing a new Fearless Instant Adventure and allowing players to face the Tenebrian deities – further content will be announced later.
In World of Warcraft: Legion, Sylvanas Windrunner gets a new model – and this is being hotly debated. Did the Banshee Queen fall victim to censorship?
The Midriff-Baring Banshee
With the next expansion of World of Warcraft, some main characters in the story are getting a visual upgrade, including Sylvanas Windrunner, the leader of the Forsaken. A large part of the community is currently divided over her new look, as the Banshee Queen is no longer dressed as sparsely as in the current live version.
Instead of her midriff-baring armor that she received with “Cataclysm,” she now wears ranger attire inspired by Heroes of the Storm – albeit with a small addition, as her stomach is now also covered by leather. For many in the official forum, it’s clear: this must be censorship! Especially since the brown of the belly protection does not quite match the rest of the outfit, there are numerous speculations that this was rather hastily integrated than thoughtfully crafted.
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As an argument, people often refer to a speech by Chris Metzen at BlizzCon, where he had to explain to his daughter why the women in a WoW cinematic all wore bikinis. He had no answer for that and questioned himself why the characters were actually portrayed that way. Fans now conclude from this: The fantasy is being lost, and they are trying to accommodate the ‘screaming feminists’ in some way.
The arguments are not always particularly coherent. In response to the statement that Sylvanas’ model had “never been altered so drastically and that it is clearly a sign of censorship,” a user posted the following image showing the Banshee Queen over the years.
Sylvanas over the years – so, which image stands out?
Although community manager Nethaera tried to smooth things over and explain that it was merely an evolution, and models change over the years, it did not help. Ultimately, the thread was closed due to too many outbursts.
Also in the forums of various fan sites, such as on mmo-champion, emotions are running high. While many players rate the changes positively, for another similarly large group it is clear: The “guilt” for this obvious censorship lies with the “Social Justice Warriors” (SJW) and the “Feminazis” who are only happy when no skin is depicted at all.
Even in Heroes of the Storm, they wanted to “cover” Sylvanas – fan criticism stopped that at the time.
Mein-MMO says: Well, it can happen so quickly. Blizzard covers a belly button, and fans go completely off the virtual deep end. While some accusations are understandable – such as the inappropriate colors of the additional armor – others are already quite ridiculous to judge. Especially the “parenting tips” given to Metzen for his daughter are presumptuous and far from the topic.
What one makes of the “new” Sylvanas is subjective – she now resembles her appearance from Heroes of the Storm much more – just without a belly button. Was all the excitement, discussion, and forum bans worth it? We think: Definitely not.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Korea, developers are already diligently working on new content for Blade & Soul, which is set to be released in 2016. We will reveal what is being created for the players.
New Class and More Solo Content
Blade & Soul has finally launched for us a few weeks ago and is already on the verge of deploying the first major patch, which will bring about the Tower of Mushin. The plans for the rest of the year have largely already been revealed.
But while we primarily receive “catch-up” content that has long been available in the game’s original country, developers in Korea are already hard at work on new content to keep fans engaged. At least the Korean players can look forward to a new tower, the “Infinite Tower”, which is supposed to offer exciting solo content. Unlike Mushin, you do not have to conquer each floor individually here – those who act particularly quickly and effectively will receive a bonus that allows them to skip floors. This is also urgently needed, as more than 100 floors await those who want to take on the challenge.
After the hybrid class is released, a completely new, standalone class is also expected, which should bring a completely new gaming experience – specific details about this are yet to come.
In addition to the tower and class, numerous small changes are also on the way, such as the ability to retroactively adjust the gender and race of your character. Lastly, a large load of balance changes must not be missing to keep the PvP community satisfied throughout 2016.
In The Division, console players will be able to choose in the graphics settings whether to forgo light effects in favor of a higher frame rate.
For PC players, it has long been standard to choose in the graphics settings how many details should be active. They are looking for a balance between “How good does the game look?” and “How smoothly does it run?” It is now known that console players will have such a choice in The Division as well.
As a developer revealed in a conversation with YouTubers, players will indeed be able to turn off light effects to improve their frame rate.
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We have already reported on other settings options on consoles, but it was not known whether this would affect the frame rate. It was assumed that it would have no impact:
The Dino-Survival ARK releases a new patch that introduces players to grappling hooks and a new species: the Terror Birds.
Get Ready for the Grappling Hook!
In the latest update of ARK: Survival Evolved, the developers introduce a new species. The “Terror Bird“, or technically correct “Phorusrhacidae Rapidesultor” (honestly, they’re just stringing letters together randomly now, aren’t they?), is an aggressive bird that can fly despite its chick-like appearance.
Unlike most creatures in ARK, it uses small, repeated thrusts to stay in the air. While this is neither particularly fast nor effective, it looks hilarious when a whole group of people flutters towards their own tribe camp.
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The second highlight is a new piece of equipment, the grappling hook. As the name suggests, players can use it to explore the world vertically, making mountains and cliffs no longer a challenge. But the grappling hook can do even more:
Skilled shooters can use it to be carried away by a flying dinosaur, and annoying teammates can be dragged along behind them. The gameplay possibilities that arise from the grappling hook significantly enhance the gaming experience.
In the MMO shooter The Division, the tech tree is designed for damage dealers. A video shows why this is the right choice through turrets, mines, and grenades.
A video has now been released on the US site iGN that deals with the skills in the tech tree. Recently, Ubisoft presented a video about skills in general. Now there is one with all the abilities of the tech tree. There are basically 4, of which 3 can be varied further with 3 mods each – and a master ability can also be added.
The four basic abilities are a sticky grenade, a turret, and a mine with a tracking device, along with the “Signature Skill”, which increases your damage and that of your teammates. This cannot be modified.
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In Dragon Nest , one of the worst imaginable scenarios occurs: data loss. Everything that players have earned over the last years is gone.
As MMO-Culture reports, there was a catastrophe at the servers of Dragon Nest Europe, from Shanda Games. On the last day of January, the servers went down due to technical issues. After a few days, they came back online – but it did not go as expected.
Players were told: a lot of data is missing, titles, achievements, gear, cash shop items, and more. All of that has been deleted.
The official cause stated is a technical failure, but some speculated that there were hackers involved, as MMO Culture knows.
In World of Tanks , there were already a million players gathered on Playstation 4 in just 5 days. However, the crossplay function for Xbox One doesn’t look good.
World of Tanks proudly announced that it reached the 1 million players milestone on Playstation 4 within 5 days. It was launched on January 19 , and after 5 days, they had gathered their army of players.
The Playstation 4 port was significantly more difficult than Xbox versions
Wargaming is quite proud of the port. In a lengthy interview with Gamespot, Lead Designer Jeff Gregg explains the difficulties. When they worked with Microsoft two or three years ago to get the Xbox 360 version off the ground, they were already in a partnership and had full access along with many tips.
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With Sony, everything was a bit more challenging, especially the integration into PSN remained tricky for a long time because they had to adapt to the system through trial and error.
No crossplay because Sony and Microsoft do not communicate
As revealed, the difficult relationship between Microsoft and Sony is responsible for there being no crossplay between the versions, meaning players on different consoles will not be able to play against or with each other, even though the versions are so similar. Wargaming would love to offer this: but Microsoft and Sony simply do not talk to each other. And that would be necessary to offer crossplay.
In the superhero and supervillain MMO DC Universe Online, a lot is happening in February. Crossplay for PC, PS3, and PS4 is coming.
DC Universe Online caused a stir in January with the announcement of going to Xbox after 5 years. Consequently, the January Episode 20 has taken a bit of a back seat. Last month, it concluded the War of the Light saga with “Blackest Night”. “Wasteland Wonderlands” took players into the sewer beneath Gotham.
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Now Episode 21 is out, the latest content update. This brings the possibility, that players can game together on PC, PS3, and PS4. Crossplay is active. Additionally, with “The First Piece” a new duo mission is introduced, Prison Break is an 8-player operation.
The episode has been available for members since yesterday, on the 10th the February episode will be available for purchase in the shop.
For the rest of February, the Valentine’s Day event “Love Conquers All” is still active. The event leads into a 4-player instance.
DC Universe Online used to receive quarterly big updates, but for a while now, smaller monthly updates have been provided. These episodically continue various storylines – as if you had subscribed to a batch of comics.
In this article we took a look at the Free2Play action-MMO DCUO:
One of the best PvP players in Destiny is probably Ramblinnn. His latest hobby: Taking on three-man teams in the Trials of Osiris all by himself.
The trick is: Ramblinnn goes into the Trials of Osiris with a 3-man team, then his two friends back out and he faces a 3-man team alone. We showcased this handicap mode last time and the readers were thrilled.
This is not a montage where someone just cuts together their best moments, but a whole match. And Ramblinn plays really fantastic, is constantly on the move, is hard to hit, aims incredibly well and is unbelievably fast.
Even the experts on reddit are excited about this playstyle. Especially his coolness and the blind knowledge of the map are recognized by the hard-to-impress audience.
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The expansion “Knights of the Fallen Empire” for Star Wars: The Old Republic has fundamentally reshaped the game. A video summarizes the key innovations.
SWTOR: KotFE reviewed in the video
Since the release of the first chapters of Knights of the Fallen Empire, the major story expansion of SWTOR, several months have passed, but potential returnees keep asking: Is SWTOR still worth it in 2016? Is the expansion worth a subscription? The YouTuber Refaser takes a closer look at the expansion, explains spoiler-free and understandably for newcomers and veterans what to expect, which hopes will be fulfilled, but also does not overlook the weaknesses.
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The survival MMO H1Z1 will become 2 titles. One of them is set to be released in the summer on PS4, PC, and Xbox One.
In 2014, Sony Online Entertainment developed a zombie survival MMO as a side project, based on Planetside 2. Originally, they were working on a MOBA, but the team and especially the fans liked H1Z1 so much that priorities shifted.
H1Z1 was originally designed as a survival game
The game was atmospherically inspired by the then prevalent “Walking Dead” virus. It was supposed to focus heavily on crafting and survival. In early 2015, it entered Early Access on Steam and was a surprise hit for a brief period. Later in 2015, the development shifted away from the “MMO parts” towards an arena shooter. This worked better for viewers, as developer DGC attempted to reach a new audience through popular Twitch streamers.
H1Z1: King of the Kill, the shooter, will be released in summer for PC, PS4, Xbox One
This development now acknowledges the situation at H1Z1. Starting February 17, H1Z1 will become “H1Z1 King of the Kill“, an arena shooter with Battle Royale and other modes. The remainder will become H1Z1: Just Survive, the MMO with crafting elements. Both games will cost €20 each. Those who purchase the current H1Z1 before February 17 or have already bought it will have access to both games.
The special thing is: the shooter part is expected to exit Early Access in the summer and will be released for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The MMO part will remain in Early Access on PC for the foreseeable future. However, it is still planned for a console release.
Two games, two teams, two microtransaction models
According to the US magazine Polygon, this separation is beneficial for H1Z1. They can now bring the shooter part to consoles, which are eagerly awaited. Furthermore, they can let different teams develop both games and monetize them differently: the MMO part will feature microtransactions, keys to open crates, or to order air drops. In King of the Kill, players will be able to purchase certain game modes. Both games will launch with different launchers.
The idea of Free2Play has been definitively abandoned. Both games will cost money after release.
The H1Z1 community is reacting… not very positively. The kindest criticism is regarding the generic names.
A round of Hearthstone with the heroes from Kung Fu Panda? Sounds like a cool fan mod, but it’s bitter reality.
The young brewmaster would be proud
Since the release of Blizzard’s extremely successful online card game Hearthstone, copies of it are popping up everywhere in the virtual world. Often, these are so blatant that entire animations from the original have been adopted – similar in this case as well. In Kung Fu Panda: Battles of Destiny, players take on the roles of various characters from the film, draw a starting hand, and receive more Mana Chi each round to play stronger cards.
Of course, one might say that this is the case in every card game, but that’s exactly why we let the pictures speak for themselves.
From various freely playable heroes, to booster packs for gold (and real money), to daily quests, the game has pretty much all the features that also make Hearthstone successful.
