In an MMORPG, it is also essential to improve your hero through skills. The developers of the MMO Crowfall have now introduced the skill system.
Skills in Crowfall, such as “One-Handed Sword” or “Cruelty,” can be enhanced up to a value of 100 – with exceptions that can even increase to a value of 200. These skills influence and improve statistics such as “Attack Power” or “Critical Hit Chance.” Additionally, some skills allow you to utilize specific equipment or unlock powers.
Skills train themselves
To improve skills, you determine in the skill tree which skill you want to enhance. The selected skills automatically improve over time by receiving EXP every few seconds – even when you are offline. So, you don’t have to grind to improve a skill. Once you have enough EXP for a skill, you need to sleep or work for it to improve.
Of course, there are limitations because you can only train one general and one archetypical skill at the same time. Unless you have VIP status. Then the training options are expanded to one general and three different archetypical skills. Currently, there are 600 skills in Crowfall, and there should be around 1,500 by the release.
So, you will need a while to make your hero a master in multiple skills. However, not all skills are available right from the start. Some you will need to unlock by looting, crafting, or winning a campaign.
Skills are inherited
The skills build upon each other, as can be seen in the skill tree and are thematically organized by fields of knowledge. By unlocking certain skills of an archetype, so-called advancement classes are opened, which in turn unlock new skills for you. You also need to ensure that you can only train the archetypical skills that your current archetype can utilize depending on its vessel.
As a Frostweaver, it is, for example, not possible to train a Confessor skill. Unless you switch the vessel. You retain the skills even if you switch to another vessel; they are inherited. Thus, your hero continues to progress with each campaign in the MMORPG.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
It has now been almost 4 years since Riot Games introduced the “Dominion” game mode in the MOBA League of Legends. Soon it will be coming to an end.
Especially in recent years, it has become clear that this game mode no longer fit the current League of Legends. The Summoner’s Rift received its visual update and the champions are gradually being updated as well. However, Dominion is not.
This game mode, which was originally announced as something new or innovative, was unfortunately only able to maintain the hype for a short time. In an official announcement, developer Riot Games has now revealed that the Dominion game mode will be permanently disabled on February 22, 2016. Additionally, the map “The Crystal Scar” will no longer be available in free play.
Dominion – A multitude of reasons led to the deactivation of the unpopular mode in LoL
Dominion is caught in a vicious cycle. On one hand, there are long wait times because hardly any player plays this mode. When a wait time is excessively long, the opponent search expands further, resulting in players facing opponents who have very different skill levels. So if you, as an experienced player, have been in the queue for Dominion for 30 minutes, it could happen that you play against players who have not even reached level 30. This naturally leads to frustration, which in turn results in even fewer players signing up.
In the end, only 0.5% of the League of Legends players played this game mode. However, this 0.5% also included some bots, as stated in the official announcement.
Reward for “Veterans”
For those of you who enjoyed playing Dominion and might have a teary eye at this announcement, there is some good news. If you have achieved over 100 victories in normal Dominion (no cooperative games), you will receive a summoner icon that cannot be obtained in any other way.
If you only have 50 victories and want to quickly reach 100 by February 22, you unfortunately need to put that idea out of your mind. A snapshot of players and their Dominion victories was taken before the official announcement. The icon will be distributed in approximately 2 weeks after this news.
The exclusive Dominion summoner icon
The announcement also states that much has been learned from this game mode. It is now known what to expect when introducing a new game mode. The ARAM queue is an example that these new game modes can also work well. The map may still be used for new game modes, but there are currently no concrete plans for that.
Have you collected 100 wins in Dominion and gotten the exclusive icon?
At this point, we can only say: RIP Dominion
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the MMO shooter Destiny, new story content has been scarce since The Taken King. How will the story of our Guardians continue? We summarize some possibilities.
For several weeks now, there has been a feeling that Bungie does not want to bring any new story to the Destiny universe at all. Basically, we only hear about small PvP events, tinkering with lag in the Crucible, and above all about one thing: the frustration of the Guardians!
So far, there is no official roadmap for where the journey of the MMO shooter will go. On the other hand, this leaves a lot of room for speculation, dreams, and wishes. Will entirely new storylines begin, or will already known ones be continued? Currently, there are still many unanswered questions in the story that many fans are eager to have answered. We discuss some possibilities for the paths the story might take.
Will we learn more about the Hive?
The Hive is an ancient, evil race that we have primarily encountered on the Moon. After we defeated Crota in “The Dark Below” and thus stirred Father’s Wrath, we had to confront the vengeful Oryx in the last expansion. He was revered as the god of the Hive and came from the infinite reaches of the universe to destroy us. That didn’t quite work out.
Basically, the Hive has taken on the dominant role of evil. Even in two out of three raids, we had to face Hive bosses. Therefore, it is quite unlikely that 2016 will also be the year of the Hive. Other races will probably be brought to the forefront.
But: Just because we have learned so much about the Hive, we have heard a lot about things we know almost nothing about. What is the deal with Eir, Xol, Ur, Yul, and all the others?
There are many more leaders of the Hive who could take Oryx’s position and need to be defeated. One hot topic is Nokris. Not much is known about Nokris, except that he is a high-ranking Hive being. There is a statue of this mystery on the Dreadnaught, near Oryx’s altar, next to the statue of Crota and the Taken King. Is Nokris the last Hive god?
If you scan the statue with the Ghost, you will find that Nokris does not appear in anything we know about the Hive. There is not a single mention of him in the Grimoire either. Nevertheless, Nokris has earned a statue next to Crota and Oryx. How come?
Rumor has it that Nokris is the brother, sister, or mother of Crota – the gender of this being is also not known. We simply know nothing about – let’s say – him. As if he never existed, completely torn from space and time. Hence, there is also the speculation that Nokris confronted the Vex and perhaps there is a connection to the Glass Chamber. Perhaps we will have to face this Hive being in the year 2016. Who knows?
The Hive certainly offers enough story. Many more tales can be told about them.
Read on the following pages about which further storylines are conceivable.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Rift, missing artifacts will soon be available for purchase with real money – frustrated players can thus complete their collections.
Fill the final gaps with cash
With the upcoming patch on February 17, 2016, Rift will add a whole load of new artifacts that players can collect on their journeys through the MMORPG. Artifacts are part of certain collections in Rift – once you have all the artifacts in a series, you can trade them for cosmetic items, such as mounts, effect toys, or small companions.
How you get the artifacts varies depending on the collection. Some must simply be picked up from the environment, others drop from enemies, or can be fished. There will soon be more than 8000 artifacts, which corresponds to nearly 1400 collections. It’s frustrating when you can’t find that one artifact that has been missing for years to complete the collection… the developers thought so too.
From now on (that is, with the next patch), it will be possible to specifically purchase missing artifacts from the real money shop to unlock small rewards. This gives players the opportunity to finally help unsuccessful collections, but also fuels criticism that Trion is always desperately trying to squeeze money out of the game. It remains to be seen how this will actually look in the game.
A user has recreated the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, with the extensive character editor of Black Desert.
When you look at the screen, you realize what is possible with the character editor of Black Desert and are amazed: Such a level of detail is unimaginable in almost all other games. The tool has been given to players so they can pass the time, until the MMORPG appears here in the West.
Until February 15, a “Beauty Contest” is being held by the creators, under Beauty and the Beast, players can submit their most beautiful and ugliest creations on the Black Desert site. In addition to Michael Jackson, celebrities like Emma Watson and many others have also been recreated. But there are also original creations. Not everyone wants to walk around with the face of a famous stranger; some prefer their own likeness.
Admittedly, Michael Jackson did not live his entire life, but that is a different topic.
The business figures of NCSoft for the 4th quarter of 2015 are here. Guild Wars 2 has made significant gains thanks to the expansion Heart of Thorns. WildStar, on the other hand, has hardly done so.
The business figures of the MMO giant NCSoft for the 4th quarter of 2015 are here. During this period, the expansion “Heart of Thorns” of Guild Wars 2 was released, and it nearly doubled the revenues in the 4th quarter compared to the previous year. In 2014, revenues were 14.2 million Euros in the fourth quarter; in 2015, it was 27.5 million. According to NCSoft, Guild Wars 2 has solidified its position as one of the major revenue drivers, and this is due to the sale of an expansion pack that will help stabilize in-game purchases.
For the struggling MMO WildStar, the switch to Free2Play did not bring the hoped-for turnaround. Although there was an increase in revenue to nearly 2 million euros in the 4th quarter compared to the third quarter, this is significantly worse than what was earned in the 4th quarter of 2014. Overall, the numbers fall significantly behind the other NCSoft titles. It makes 7 times less revenue than NCSoft’s second smallest title, Aion.
No specific comments on WildStar and Aion are found in the report.
NCSoft fully focuses on MMORPGs on PC, but will likely soon expand its offerings
The classic games from NCSoft that are successful in Asia, such as Lineage (1998), Lineage II (2003), and Aion (2008), continue to be solid sources of profit for the Asian giant. An upward trend is shown by Blade and Soul (2012), which is now also available here in Europe and is performing well.
For NCSoft, the overall figures are positive: The franchises they have have developed well and shown record years. The presented revenue generators are all MMORPGs and PC titles. In the future, they are likely to be unfaithful to this combination.
The manufacturer Symantec, responsible for antivirus software, warns about bots and add-ons related to Hearthstone.
Booted by the Bot
Anyone who regularly engages with streams of Hearthstone will surely have encountered various add-ons that overlay the game. Some streamers use a deck tracker that keeps track of which cards have been played or calculates the probability of drawing card X exactly in the next turn. While such tools remain in a gray area, other programs clearly violate the terms of use.
One should be careful. With the wrong programs, you can quickly lose valuable accounts or even sensitive banking data.
Bots that fully automate arena matches or even “cheat programs” that claim to generate a lot of arcane dust out of nothing. Surely, some of these promises sound too good to be true, but if even one in 1000 people falls for it, the developers of the supposed helper programs have achieved their goal.
The manufacturer Symantec, which sells Norton AntiVirus among other products, has now warned against the use of such add-ons. Many of them would infect the PC with viruses upon installation, read passwords, and capture several online accounts. There have been reports specifically about a program “Hearthstone Hack Tool v 2.1.” It’s a complete scam. Instead of generating more dust and gold as promised, it installs malware that steals the user’s Bitcoins.
The blog post drew special attention as it was adorned with a screenshot of “Hearthbuddy,” a program that is popular among professionals and in the streaming scene. Meanwhile, Symantec has issued a new statement regarding the report and emphasized that they are not aware of any malware associated with Hearthbuddy. They merely wanted to present a well-known bot program. Nonetheless, they continue to warn against the use of any third-party software.
The reintroduction of the beta revealed a completely new game mode in Overwatch: Control. But is it fun as well?
New Game Mode “Control” – Excitement Until the Last Moment
The return to the beta has given Overwatch, Blizzard’s hero shooter, a completely new game mode. Those who have played some shooters will already be familiar with the principle of Control, a slight variation of “King of the Hill”.
At any given time, there is a neutral control point on the map that must be captured by both teams. This is done classically by standing on the point and driving away the opposing team. Once the control point is captured, a percentage display begins to fill up – only when it reaches 100 is the round won. It is also worth mentioning that the display continues to fill even if enemies are on the point – as long as you do not lose control, the number increases incessantly.
Turning the tide at 99% – happens often in this mode.
Incessantly? Well… almost. The crucial point from 99 to 100 can only occur when there is truly no enemy in the control point. This leads to extremely exciting rounds that are often turned around in the last second.
This process repeats itself, the team that secures two points first wins the match.
Mein-MMO says: We have also taken a brief look at “Control” and are convinced by the game mode. It is a meaningful addition and breaks the roles of the other modes where one only needs to concentrate on attacking or defending – here both come into play. At least the first matches have been a lot of fun – although it is still “just” capturing points.
That the Guardians in Destiny have always been creative should be known by now. But now something completely new is coming: Shader Birds.
Destiny is an MMO shooter. You shoot enemies, level up your characters, meet up with friends and clan members. All wonderful. However, for some fans, that is not enough. They extract more from the game than the developers ever suspected. Be it creative dance performances or Crota kills in all conceivable ways. Or this:
Shader Birds!
On Twitter, a user has now created a channel where he shows images of birds. He compares them with the shaders from Destiny. If you’re thinking that this is a strange idea: Definitely! But the result is impressive. See for yourself:
Compared to this snowy owl, the similarity may still be coincidence…
but the similarity of this shader with these feathered friends cannot be denied!
Red-Black always looks good too!
Here both have a nice shiny purple. Who can pull it off!
The team at Sandbox Interactive wants to focus on improving the game world of their MMORPG Albion Online.
Albion Online made a statement in February in a State-of-the-Game letter: It was determined that the world, as it currently is, is too boring and limited. The reason for this is that a very small team had tried to create a huge online world. Now, they are expanding the team with world builders and level designers. These will ensure that the game world is even more diverse and exciting. Additionally, the world is supposed to continue to grow, as they really want to offer players a huge sandbox in which they can let loose.
This can be afforded because Albion Online is said to be a “sustained success.”
The world will become more diverse
The new team members will focus on creating new biomes, making the world even more diverse. Fans can therefore look forward to deserts or icy landscapes, for example. In addition, the landscapes will be visually enhanced, making it more fun to explore the areas. Moreover, they are working on creating strategic depth in the distribution of resources or hotspots in the world. Basically, the world should just get significantly better.
Additional systems will be revised
During the beta, the team also found that they need to work on how to better distribute loot in dungeons. And they are also refining the character development system, as they are still not really satisfied with how heroes develop in the game.
They are also working on the crafting system and want to enable crafters to create rare items. However, they will need resources that can only be found in the most dangerous zones of the world. These include the “Black Zones,” areas where factions fight for control of territories.
High-quality resources can also be found in the “Red Zones,” but players must be aware that they can be attacked by other players at any time.
Currently, it is planned to release the MMORPG Albion Online in the third quarter of this year.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The Closed Beta of The Division has given numerous agents a glimpse into Ubisoft’s upcoming MMO shooter. Now some statistics from this testing phase are known.
Statistics can be either highly interesting or yawningly boring. Whether they are always useful is usually a whole different story. If you belong to the people who can never get enough of numbers: Here are the statistics from the Closed Beta of The Division.
According to the statistics collected by Ubisoft Massive, participants of the beta played a total of 621,653,358 minutes. One person alone spent over 90 hours in the game during the few days the testing phase lasted. That must have been some strong coffee.
A total of 6.9 million games were played and 298 million kills were executed. The agents preferred the M4 to take down enemies. Additionally, 9.3 million grenades were thrown and 15 billion shots were fired.
In the Dark Zone, 4.3 million hours were spent. A lot of loot must have been gathered. You can find all the statistics, even some not-so-serious numbers (for example, over 7 billion car doors were closed), in the graphic below.
In World of Tanks, the PlayStation 4 version is visited by the island. British forces join the Military MMO.
The PlayStation 4 version of World of Tanks has now received significant reinforcements, and they are very British. In the British tech tree, there are now 7 light tanks, 9 medium tanks, 6 heavy tanks, 9 tank destroyers, and 9 artillery – a total of 40 new tanks are added in the version for Sony’s console.
Then you add 8 maps. For fans of British war machinery, it’s certainly an occasion to have some tea and, as tradition dictates, to horribly but passionately butcher “God save the queen.”
World of Tanks is poised to be another successful campaign for Wargaming. They reached 1 million players in just 5 days; why there won’t be any crossplay with the Xbox version is explained in this article:
In Bless, various world bosses are now being revealed, enticing players with their loot – dragons are waiting as mounts!
In the upcoming MMORPG hope Bless, there will traditionally be many world bosses for players to overcome. It’s understood that various creatures, such as dragons, harpies, and giant stone golems, will hit hard and might send some players to their next respawn. However, players will not only be lured with weapons or armor, but also with very special mounts. After all, which hero wouldn’t want to soar through the skies on a dragon?
Soaring through the skies with the dragon – no problem in Bless.
Anyone interested in the game should check out our Bless news page. Otherwise, you can also find information in the following articles:
Biowares Star Wars: The Old Republic releases the 10th story chapter of KotFE. This brings not only new story but also improvements to the professions.
Kaliyo wants to overthrow the Emperor
On the live servers of Star Wars: The Old Republic, the new patch 4.1 has arrived. Players who had an active subscription on February 1st can now enjoy the 10th chapter of the “Knights of the Fallen Empire” saga, where they can meet Kaliyo, a former companion of the Imperial Agent. The (more or less) good woman has completely embraced her anti-authoritarian streak and is openly rebelling against the eternal throne of Zakuul – exactly what makes her the perfect ally for your alliance!
For those who chose Kaliyo as their date back then, the content may be even more exciting – will it be possible to reignite the old flame? Or does the Rattataki only want to see one thing burn: the Eternal Empire?
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Anyone who did not have a subscription at the mentioned time will have to wait until Thursday, as early access for “Anarchy in Paradise” ends then.
However, aside from the new chapter, patch 4.1 brings numerous new enhancements. Players benefit from several quality of life improvements, as the stack size of many items has been increased again – up to 9,999 items now fit in a single slot. In addition, there are improvements to crafting, making it significantly easier to create better armor, allowing solo players to more easily find acceptable gear.
For more information about the game and the latest patch, you can find it on our SWTOR topic page or in these special articles:
Since 1:00 PM the servers for Blade and Soul have been down for maintenance. The maintenance is expected to last about six hours. The servers of Blade & Soul should be back online by 7:00 PM German time.
The patch “Rough Tides” is coming, which brings floors 1-7 of the Tower of Mushin, a dungeon for single players. Group challenges are also coming.
The Open Beta of The Division brings new content and numerous improvements. This is what changes compared to the Closed Beta.
Yesterday it was officially confirmed that The Division will have an Open Beta starting a few weeks before release. The dates for the different platforms are already known. What changes compared to the previous test phase?
While you were able to expand the medical wing in the Closed Beta, in the Open Beta it is the Tech Wing that is up next. As a reward, there is a new skill: “deployable turret”. In the Operations Base, you coordinate your missions and expand the various wings to unlock new skills.
There have also been many adjustments to the Dark Zone
In the first test phase, agents loved to roam in the Dark Zone. In the Open Beta, this PvP area will receive numerous updates and improvements.
There will be new high-end weapons. Previously, only Cassidy and Caduceus were available.
The refresh rate of the Dark Zone crates has been significantly reduced.
There will now be significantly more non-player enemies (i.e., mobs) in the Dark Zone; they will also be slightly buffed.
Some ropes have been removed that previously allowed players to reach places that provided an unfair advantage.
There are also adjustments to the DZ experience points you collect.
Significant changes have been made to life as a Rogue Agent:
If you are Rogue Level 5 and in the middle of a fight, the timer now pauses instead of resetting as before.
Additionally, there is now a bit more reward (1.5x) if you survive as a Rogue.
The health indicator now only turns red when you go Rogue.
A warning has also been implemented that indicates when a player is shooting at another agent but has not dealt enough damage to be considered Rogue.
Moreover, as a Rogue Agent, you cannot change your squad.
Additional changes to The Division
The development team has cleaned up most PC cheats that occurred during the Closed Beta. The Open Beta is also intended to observe discrepancies to address them successfully before release.
There will also be a new tutorial video that can be viewed from the character selection screen.
And a lot of bug fixes have been implemented, such as two bugs that previously allowed players to be invisible to others. Not all bug fixes will be listed here.
Be sure to experience for yourself in the Open Beta what has changed. And play diligently so that Ubisoft Massive can also fix the last bugs and nothing stands in the way of a successful release. The Open Beta is free and open to everyone – so it will also be a real stress test for the servers. Unfortunately, you cannot transfer your progress from the Closed Beta to the Open Beta.
Will there be a Pre-Load for The Division again?
If you still have the Closed Beta on your drive, you can save some GB in downloads. Only an update of 1.6 GB will be applied. Otherwise, you will have to download the 27 GB of the Closed Beta in addition.
A Pre-Load starts on February 16th. That should be enough time for most to get started at the beginning of the Beta.
By the way: The Xbox Store lists a file size of 32.29 GB for the final version of The Division. Compared to the Beta, that’s not too much. Of course, a lot can still change until the release date, but you can expect around 33 GB.
David Gaider, lead writer of the Dragon Age series, has moved from Bioware to Beamdog and is leading a team of writers there. Is a Baldur’s Gate 3 or a Baldur’s Gate Online coming?
How do we come to the conclusion that such a game could be developed? Beamdog owns the rights to the Baldur’s Gate series. They are currently working on a new game titled Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, which is set between the games Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn. Trent Oster, founder of the development studio, has previously stated that he would like to develop a real third installment. Now David Gaider, the former lead writer of the Dragon Age series, joins the team and works there as Creative Director, a position in which he leads a team of writers.
A new Baldur’s Gate?
All of this suggests that a new game in the Baldur’s Gate series could be in planning. However, the suspicion that it is a single-player RPG is very likely. The focus seems to be on story with Gaider on the team. However, there could very well be more behind it. Unless a studio hits a big success or operates on a small budget, which often comes with less impressive graphics, it is particularly difficult for smaller studios to sustain themselves with single-player games. An online component would therefore be quite conceivable and sensible.
Perhaps not an MMO but an online RPG
That it is a true MMORPG is rather doubtful, as the production costs are extremely high, just like the risk. However, there is a possibility of creating a Baldur’s Gate Online similar to Richard Garriott’s Shroud of the Avatar. There would then be a standard single-player mode that could be played offline and alone but also an online mode.
In this mode, friends would take on the role of party members, and there might even be an “open” zone where housing and trading with other players exist. This possibility is conceivable. However, whether there is even a new Baldur’s Gate in planning remains to be announced by Beamdog; until then, everything is speculation.
Andreas thinks: David Gaider at Beamdog can only mean that they are planning a large RPG for me. Gaider is known for his engaging stories in the Dragon Age games, and he is simply someone who enjoys crafting narratives. I also consider it likely that it could be a Baldur’s Gate 3, and that it might even have an online component is absolutely conceivable. I am already excited to see what the future will bring.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Happy Wednesday everyone – it’s time to complain a bit again. But before I get all upset, here’s the good news: I finally got into the Overwatch beta! Okay, that might only be good news for me and not for you all. But you can’t have everything, can you?
While I was casually playing last night and getting used to the game’s new progression system, I quickly leveled up. Fortunately, defeats also give experience points, because my performance with Reaper is not exactly the best (Okay, neither is it with Reinhardt… or Tracer… or McCree… oh, never mind!). For every single level-up, there’s a loot box reward. Yay, loot! I like that!
Devaluing player performance: Randomness and real money
Already in the game, I saw the ominous “Shop” symbol next to the “Open” button of the reward boxes. And indeed, the official announcement states that there’s currently consideration to sell the reward boxes of the level system for real money. And that really bothers me. I accepted that skins have become standard and that even full-priced titles are no longer profitable without cosmetic offerings, but this particularly annoys me in this case.
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The reward boxes are – who would have thought it from the name? – a reward for playing, for progress, and for performance shown in-game. Everything that can be included in them (skins, emotes, profile pictures, etc.) feels significantly devalued in my view if it is also offered in the shop.
It’s bad enough that the rewards are random – but random items that are also purchasable? That’s a bit too much for me and already bothers me a lot – and this is just in planning. I’m against it.
What do you think? Should a progression system be separated from other cosmetic things? Will you buy loot boxes for real money? Or do you not care as long as there’s finally beta access?
P.S.: Now I have to juggle Overwatch and RP – why does a day only have 24 hours?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
![Blade and Soul will be offline for several hours of maintenance on February 10th – Patch coming [Update]](https://images.mein-mmo.de/medien/2016/02/Blade-and-Soul-Down.png)
