We watched the one-hour live stream about Orsinium and gathered the key facts about the Orc city. Here they are in overview!
Background and many bears
The DLC will thoroughly address the background of the Orcs in the north of Tamriel, the Orsimer, – this will be the first time they are shown in Elder Scrolls since Daggerfall in the 90s
It is said to provide a lot of background, folklore, and story
There will be bear mounts, bear pets, bear hats (which the Zenimax people have already been enticed into some more or less successful bear puns during the presentation…)
The Orsimer’s plan under King Kurog is to establish a fortified capital. For this, alliances are being made, and adventurers are invited. The plan is to establish themselves, grow, and gather strength
The city is growing
ESO players will see Orsinium grow during the storyline and know: I did that – or at least helped
There will be a museum of Orcish history, where players can obtain relics, submit them, and also experience how the museum grows and fills up
The entire DLC will take place in the new zone Wrothgar east of Rivenspire – there will be three biomes in the zone: forest in the south, plains in the middle, and a snow climate in the north, where the city is being built, similar to Skyrim
A number of new enemies will come into play, such as the Riekr, a nasty goblin-like creature, or snow ogres
New sets will be introduced, such as the “Trials by Fire” set that can only be crafted at certain stations
New item sets are also aimed at different types of players – some are for advanced players who might focus their gear on crit; others can also be used by players who don’t worry about such things
Two new public dungeons
Public dungeon: Rkindaleft – Background: A mage wanted to become immortal by transferring his essence into a Dwemer construct – did he succeed?
Public dungeon: Old Orsinium – the first, now destroyed capital of the Orcs
The developers of TESO continually emphasize how “massive and large” everything is – a lot of gameplay content comes with the DLC, many hours of work have gone into the expansion
The new crafting style “Orkahnen” will be found scattered throughout these two public dungeons – one half in Rkindaleft, the other in Old Orsinium
How to get to Orsinium and make a name for yourself as a beginner
How to get to Orsinium? If you are in one of the cities of Daggerfall, Davon’s Watch, or Vulkhel Guard, an Orc will approach you and hand you an invitation. This unlocks the first Wayshrine, and you can simply port there.
Players will find the materials they need for their crafting level in the new area of The Elder Scrolls Online; if they want to collect “older” materials, they should return to the old zones
Orsinium is suitable for players of all levels, newcomers will be “scaled up” to veteran level, similar to entering Cyrodiil
Mahlstrom Arena – challenge for solo artists
The Mahlstrom Arena is a PvE challenge where strong weapons can drop – it will be similar to the Dragonstar Arena, but only for solo players. There will be a normal version and one for veterans. There will be 9 arena rounds. In normal mode, you can exit and re-enter any time. The quest is retained.
Whoever reaches veteran rank 16 can compete in the veteran arena against members of their class for the first 100 places on a leaderboard; if they make it to one of the 100 best spots, they receive a special reward (master weapons in gold)
The arena is intended to be quite challenging for veterans, there will be small buffs that can be triggered
The arena is repeatable indefinitely
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MMORPGs have been developed with the idea that worlds are inhabited not (only) by NPCs, but mainly by players who act together or against each other. However, single-player elements often find their way into games – though not always.
Shroud of the Avatar
With Highvale Village, a new single-player scene has been introduced.
The “Selective Multiplayer RPG” Shroud of the Avatar aims to blend single-player and MMO gaming experiences and even offers an optional offline mode where the game is supposed to play like a regular single-player game. This leads to conflicts within the community as each side believes that their gaming experience could be negatively impacted by the other.
Currently, there is no sign of the actual single-player experience in SotA, but discussions in the forum flared up again last week. Meanwhile, the developers have been working on a new scene for the game, which will be completely playable in single-player mode and only solo, advancing the story: Highvale Village.
Star Citizen
At their own convention, CitizenCon, Cloud Imperium also presented the single-player mode Squadron 42 in Star Citizen. In this, a story similar to that of the old Wing Commander games is presented. Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Gary Oldman (Harry Potter), and Gillian Anderson (The X-Files), along with other well-known actors, portray characters in the story and lend their appearance and (in the English version) also their voices through motion capturing.
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Funcom, known as the developer of the MMOs The Secret World and Age of Conan, is now attempting a single-player game. The Park is a horror game in which you embody a mother who loses her child in an amusement park. Things are not right there. A video has now been released for the first time that explains what it is about – featuring in-game scenes.
The Park is a sort of spin-off to Funcom’s The Secret World and even uses the same engine. This makes sense here: Because TSW is especially praised for its exciting, challenging quests, which is why it received the label “Best Single-Player MMO” in our review. One may not only look forward to the game itself, but also to what Funcom learns from the development and how, for example, the company’s MMOs can benefit from story elements. One can hope that Funcom – after the recent negative reports about the financial situation – will achieve success again.
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Single Player is in the foreground in this sandbox, although it also offers MMO elements. You are one of the few survivors of a global catastrophe on an unknown planet. Survival is therefore the main focus. While you initially start alone and have to struggle through like in a typical survival game to obtain equipment and protection, you can later team up with other players to build fortifications. But who can you really trust?
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This interesting indie MMO is currently in an early access phase and has now been expanded with a ghost mode that allows players to play completely alone – even offline. This shows that the developers place great importance on the single-player aspect.
Crowfall
“Zaleena, unique among the gods, born from the bloodline of Lyessa and not that of the Allfather. Stolen by Malekai, hatched from a dragon egg, and raised as the daughter of the god of deception.”
The MMO Crowfall has nothing to do with single-player and does not hide that fact. Sandbox and PvP are at the forefront. Nevertheless, there is also a story, and with Zaleena, an important NPC has been introduced. She is referred to as the daughter of the serpent and avoids sunlight. What this mysterious person is about will probably be revealed soon. Additionally, the official Crowfall website provides insight into the creation of the castles, which will play an important role in the conquests.
Life is Feudal
You can also venture alone in the sandbox MMORPG Life is Feudal, but it is generally not advisable. The open PvP system makes every lone wolf easy prey for bandits. The latest version of the MMO has now introduced a trading system between players and brings more stability. Cultivating fields and other activities should now be more manageable.
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And what has happened this week predominantly in the indie MMO scene will be revealed next Monday. Because then the new issue of our article series “Respec” will be released.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Slowly, the rumor mill for the new WoW expansion: Legion starts to simmer: Could this be what the login screen looks like?
When the Nether Breaks Loose
The closer BlizzCon gets, the more rumors accumulate about the next expansion for World of Warcraft: Legion. Fans and trolls (two groups that often come close on this topic) have been creating false facts for months, “leaking” false information and supposed images of the upcoming expansion.
After some rather obvious fake attempts from the beta, in which only the portal was colored from red to green, an image of the login screen has now surfaced that could theoretically match what we can expect in a few months.
However, this image is also a fake, as it is already classified as a mock-up in the description. Nonetheless, such a login screen is at least qualitatively much more likely, as it uses its own assets and has been created with significantly more effort than the previous attempts.
Internally, Blizzard is already testing the new expansion, but when – and whether – a Friends&Family alpha is scheduled is still unknown.
This could explain some strange occurrences regarding exotic engrams.
A trick to get Destiny players to part with their strange coins?
That’s why Bungie took the “Three of Coins” so lightly
Now that we know this, it also becomes clear why Bungie reacted so extremely casually to the issue of the “Three of Coins”. Because what seemed like: “Oh God, the Guardians are already acquiring all the exotic armor pieces in the first week”; was taken in stride by Bungie. As Game Director of “The Taken King” Luke Smith said in a podcast interview with Planet Destiny, he knew exactly what would come out of those exotic engrams and especially what would not.
To him, it was rather funny that players were calling it an exploit.
After all, there are only relatively few of the “really new” year-2 exotic weapons and armor obtainable through exotic engrams. Most weapons are tied to quests, while half of the armor is still under lock and key.
What the Three of Coins actually did, according to Smith, was to allow players to “save legendary marks”, so they could directly obtain year-2 versions of year-1 weapons without having to pull them from the weapon designs for expensive marks, Smith explains.
In the podcast, the humorous theory arose that Bungie had intentionally introduced “Draksis” and the “Three of Coins” to melt down the “Strange Coins” mountain, on which Guardians still sat at the beginning of Year 2.
This also explains the many duplicate items from engrams
However, this engram frenzy also caused many players to be disappointed with the results of the engrams: It always turned out the same. As Smith reveals, only one item could come out of chest engrams for Hunters and Titans each. Naturally, players ended up with duplicates.
It should have been made clearer beforehand that players should have sent the chest engrams to their own Warlock instead. There were three possibilities for what the chest engram could decode into.
Dawnbreaker Gauntlets and ATS/8 Tarantella likely only through a bug in the game
Smith’s statement is particularly interesting, as two armor pieces that were supposed to still be locked have been found on occasion.
Apparently, there are no plans for players to receive the two armors yet. At least not through engrams. The isolated finds seem to be more of exceptions or bugs.
Interestingly: In the database, there are still third chest armors with year-2 values recorded for both Titans and Hunters. The year-2 versions of Healing Armor and the Lucky Raspberry. These two items are also likely in the official database, but not yet in the game.
Inventive users have discovered some sound files in the game data of Star Wars Battlefront that hint at a new game mode …
Down with the Rebels!
Last weekend, the open beta version of Star Wars Battlefront was in full swing. Players could blast away as either Republicans or Imperials and occasionally take on the roles of Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker to attack the opposing faction with some Force tricks.
Vader is going on a hero hunt soon … maybe.
However, some users took the time to thoroughly search the game data and came across interesting details: sound files belonging to Princess Leia, Han Solo, Boba Fett, and the Emperor were found. Only Boba Fett has been confirmed as a playable hero of the quartet so far. At the same time, these files carry the suspicious name “herohunt” in their title – could this be a new game mode?
The Reddit user TheRadGamerDan extracted the various voice files and uploaded them to Soundcloud. It seems likely that Hero Hunt is a mode where multiple heroes either compete against each other or the goal is to eliminate those heroes.
It remains to be seen whether this “Hero Hunt mode” will actually be included in the game upon release. Since EA has remained silent about it, it is also possible that this is just preparation for a potential DLC that adds new game modes. As soon as there are updates on this, you will find them here.
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For Battleborn, the team shooter from the creators of Borderlands, is probably slowly entering the hot phase.
Anyone who signed up for the technical beta of Battleborn should check their emails. Gearbox is sending out the NDA, which ensures that no one reveals things they shouldn’t. This is a sure sign that the beta is imminent.
Initial videos and trailers look promising, showing a colorful badass world where various archetypes creatively polish each other’s snouts in martial ways.
A date for the beta has not yet been set. The NDA should ensure that not much is said about it.
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WildStar is hosting its first weekend event. From Thursday evening, there are increased rewards in PvP.
Perfect Time to Join
If you haven’t warmed up to PvP in WildStar yet, now is the time to reconsider during the week. From October 15 to 19, there are double Prestige rewards in the Battlegrounds on Nexus! The starter equipment is already available for a small amount of gold, so no one has to head into battle against their fellow players completely defenseless.
The increased Prestige gain also means that the starter gear can quickly be replaced with more advanced gear. But even if someone isn’t interested in PvP, a few matches are worthwhile: Prestige points not only reward you with PvP gear, but also VIPs, ability points, unique pets, or rare decorative items for housing.
PvP is worth it this coming weekend!
Players at level 50 should also not forget to pick up any contracts from Protostar in their capital (Illium or Thayd) beforehand, which can literally be completed on the side while playing.
For more about the game and the latest changes, check out our WildStar theme page.
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In the MMO shooter Destiny there are reports of a mysterious engram rain.
There are stories about raining frogs. This is scientifically explained and is related to water spouts. An “engram rain” in Destiny remains a puzzle for scholars.
There is only one video that shows a group of players going through the Nexus Strike and suddenly loot raining from the sky at the end. Mainly, these are blue items, but there is also an exotic engram among them.
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What exactly is happening there, we do not know at the moment. The video is posted by some YouTubers as “Infinite Engram Glitch.” But whether this is actually a reproducible glitch or a one-time spectacle is unknown. Very strange, isn’t it?
By the way, there is a relatively banal explanation. At least, this is what suspicious commentators suggest: It is not a “mysterious phenomenon,” but a trick of the original video poster. The team repeatedly did the Nexus Strike using the suicide method and this is now the result of the last run.
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For the upcoming Halloween celebrations, some visual adjustments will be made to the arena map in SMITE: It’s going to be spooky!
When Thanatos Descends from the Sky
The cold season has been blowing its wind around us for a few days now and the spookiest event of the year (right after Oktoberfest) is approaching: Halloween. The makers of the Moba SMITE have taken this as an opportunity to decorate one of their battlefields with pumpkins, corpses, and plenty of creepy drawings of the various gods.
In the coming weeks, the arena will be significantly darker and will collect many a soul for the underworld. A small video aims to prepare players for the spooky event. Here you can see how the poor Cyclops has to face his terrible nightmares (and meanwhile shamelessly advertise many premium skins):
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Apparently, EA doesn’t know the saying “When it’s at its best, you should stop,” but rather adheres to “More is more.” They have taken such a liking to the beta and all the delightful data it provides that they are extending the Battlefront beta on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 by one day until Tuesday, October 13.
The additional time is meant to conduct technical tests on the infrastructure. This may mean that one or the other player will get kicked out of a game.
But all of this serves a higher purpose, they say: They want to ensure that the launch of the game on November 17 will be as smooth as possible.
Speaking of accidents:
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After City State Entertainment (CSE) introduced the first of its ten class archetypes of Camelot Unchained last week, the Devout (Mage/Healer hybrid), this time we learn more about the three classes of the Archers, one of three Stealth archetypes of the RvR MMORPG.
The Archer is intended for players who want to fill the traditional role of a ranger-like class, rather than that of a magical archer as seen in many other MMORPGs. In Camelot Unchained, arrows do not automatically target – like guided missiles – but must be manually aimed considering the field of fire, angle of shot, movement of opponents, and so on.
The Archer is divided into the following three distinct classes:
Blackguard
The Blackguard (Arthurian) are an elite unit of King Arthur, named for their dark clothing. They possess the strongest and furthest shooting bows in the game and can deal devastating damage if they focus on a shot for a long time. The more armored a piece of equipment, the less damage arrows inflict on its wearer. Thus, the Blackguard are specifically trained to find and exploit the weak points in armor, allowing their arrows to penetrate even the thickest armor. Of all three classes, they resemble the classic Archer the most.
Shadow Stalker
For every situation the right arrow. Shadow Stalker in camouflage.
The Shadow Stalker (Tuatha Dé Danann) are masters of camouflage. Therefore, they receive a bonus to the camouflage system in the forests controlled by their realm. As shooters of the forest, they have a close relationship with nature. This is rewarded by always receiving a free supply of new arrows in their native forests and being able to obtain deadly poisons to enhance them. They may not shoot their arrows as far or as hard as their two counterparts, but they do so much faster. Additionally, with the help of plants, they are also capable of ensnaring and damaging their opponents, making them excellent crowd controllers.
Winter’s Shadow
The Winter’s Shadow (Vikings) makes its home in the cold and snow-covered regions of the Vikings. This gives it a movement bonus on snowy terrain, both on foot and while skiing. Unlike the other two archers, it is less focused on long-range combat and more on medium and close-range combat. Although all three archers can use swords, axes, and other weapons as secondary weapons, the Winter’s Shadow also has fitting abilities, such as a shield strike that can keep its opponents at bay. Its speed in weapon swapping and loading new arrows allows it to continuously move while fighting and deal decent damage. This makes it the perfect skirmisher.
Well disguised, but far from invisible!
The trio of Archers is the first of several stealth archetypes that will exist in Camelot Unchained. The three already known stealth mechanics of the game work differently than those in many MMORPGs.
Arturians in Rüstung ohne…
…und mit zusätzlichem Camouflage.
Thus, the camouflage system is not true invisibility, but works more like camouflage in real life. With it, one can walk through forests or other areas in the game without being seen from a distance.
Another use of camouflage is that one can quietly find a spot to hide until the first target passes by. This could provide the three archers with the perfect opportunity for the opening strike. After that, however, camouflage loses its situational usefulness, as one becomes much easier to detect by their opponents after the first attack.
This is how camouflage could be used in the game.
The camouflage system will be available to all classes, but only archers have magical abilities to further perfect the camouflage. This is an important distinction, as camouflage armor – without the magical bonuses of the archers – is essentially just an additional clothing option that can help in the right situation, but it is nothing close to stealth, invisibility, and other stealth types known from other MMORPGs.
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World of Warships knows a ship that is too dangerous to come into play.
In an interview with PCGamesN, the Wargaming leaders spoke about the plans for World of Warships and the rest of their franchises. It seems apparent that content has already been planned for the next 5 to 10 years; they are increasingly working to understand the games as a “shared universe”. But we have already dealt extensively with Wargaming’s big plans.
An interesting detail is revealed about World of Warships. They wanted to bring the “Kitakami” into the game. This is a Japanese cruiser that was characterized by being able to fire 40 torpedoes at once.
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Kitakami – too dangerous for inexperienced captains
The “actual ship”, a Japanese cruiser, was equipped with ten quad torpedo launchers, which allowed it to send out a swarm of torpedoes.
In World of Warships, they tried to create the ship with this “torpedo” swarm. However, during testing, it became clear that players not only sank enemies but also their own teammates. Wargaming considered perhaps reducing the torpedoes. They then decided that it was precisely this torpedo flood that would define the ship and removed the Kitakami for now.
However, they are playing with the idea of bringing her back someday, perhaps as a reward for successful players, to ensure that the Kitakami only falls into the hands of experienced captains.
By the way, they are initially satisfied with the success of World of Warships. It is said to be “sticky”: Those who play World of Warships play it on average three hours a day.
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A former developer from Blizzard talks about game design and changes in the industry: WoW should never be a game for everyone.
The former WoW chief reveals …
For those with negative emotions toward Blizzard games like World of Warcraft, terms like “casual” or “too easy” probably come to mind. However, as Rob Pardo explained in an interview with gameindustry.biz, that was never the goal for the designers and likely never will be. For those unfamiliar with Pardo, he worked at Blizzard until 2014 and was the Vice President of Game Design – essentially overseeing all of World of Warcraft. In 2006, Time Magazine even named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Not everything should be easy – some things need to remain difficult.
Games need edges and corners
“As a game designer, you try to find the right balance between challenge and frustration (…). When players overcome a challenge, it should feel like a great success or a genuine achievement, is one of his key statements. One can only agree, as success without effort in any form (time invested, skill, luck) feels empty. Who would be excited about a Super Mario title where all levels are as easy as the first?
“Sometimes, even in the production of World of Warcraft, the developers try to make the game more accessible. This smooths out the edges and corners. But sometimes, it’s precisely these difficulties that players love about a game. One must be aware of that.” He also does not think that World of Warcraft is perfect: “It’s easy to create a game that is significantly harder, but also one that is significantly more accessible.”
Controversial changes are not made just at the request of the players.
It is important to Pardo that every design decision has a goal in mind, an intention. “Why are we changing this? What do we want to achieve with it?” Some developers would change things just because parts of the community demand it, which would be neither helpful nor purposeful.
There are no games for everyone
Pardo does not delude himself into thinking he ever wanted to create a game for all players. “There is no game that everyone likes. One must abandon that illusion right from the start.” He is still surprised, years later, at how successful World of Warcraft ultimately became: “We wanted to create a game that would at least make Blizzard fans consider trying an MMO.“ At least that is definitely accomplished.
At the same time, he also notes that Blizzard does not have a monopoly on wisdom nor the only successful values in the industry. For example, one could take Valve: “They pursue a completely different philosophy and also have very successful games.”
Pardo has taken a break from the gaming industry since 2014, but now he is contemplating a return.
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In the MMO shooter Destiny , the raid King’s Fall has some of the best rewards. We take a look at the 9 raid weapons from The Taken King.
Fatebringer and Black Spindle, Crota’s End and Praedyth’s Revenge – raid weapons have an excellent reputation in Destiny. In every “generation”, there were exceptional weapons that were only available in that specific raid.
Today we will look at the 9 raid weapons of this generation. What is offered in the “normal mode” of King’s Fall in terms of guns?
Is there a new Fatebringer among them?
Cocoon and Will of Light – what these weapons have in common
A special feature: All weapons have the “Cocoon” trait, which automatically reloads the weapons when stowed away. Additionally, they deal 10% more damage to “The Taken”. That’s a good start!
Commonly, the weapons also have a … “Taken appearance” – not everyone likes that. Some people do not want their gun to look like a (quote) half-eaten fish.
They do look a bit peculiar, don’t they?
A weapon is not just a weapon
The “last perk” of each weapon comes from a pool of 4 possibilities and is determined randomly. So you should keep an eye out, lest you dismantle a better alternative with the thought of “I already have it, I’ll delete it!”
In general: These are more PvE weapons. And they follow Bungie’s new design philosophy that there should not be any truly outstanding weapons. But of course, there are a few gems among them!
And it’s also clear: 10% more damage to The Taken, the raid weapons are also meant for the raid! This could be important when the hard mode launches soon. A lot of “The Taken” are around in everyday life as well.
The winter is coming – who wouldn’t want to have a hot woman on the screen? Take action and grab Sol, the Nordic goddess of the sun!
Fire at will!
Last week, we reported on the new goddess in Smite, the Nordic embodiment of the sun, Sol. With her abilities, she stands out significantly from previous mages, as she neither fully relies on her abilities (like Scylla) nor is completely focused on her auto attacks (like Ao Kuang), but instead requires a skilled mix to emerge victorious from the battle. At the same time, she is one of the few goddesses who can make herself completely invulnerable.
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Do you want to win Sol along with her alternative appearance? No problem! Just leave a comment under this post and you’ll have a chance to win the hot lady. Among all participants, we will raffle a total of 3 codes. Please note that the codes are valid only for the PC version of SMITE and multiple entries will lead to disqualification. The deadline for participation is October 16 at 7 PM. Good luck!
[doptoggle title=”Terms of participation”]By participating in the free raffle, where you can win the new SMITE goddess Sol, you accept the rules of this raffle. Mein MMO has the right to disqualify participants who violate the rules, attempt to manipulate the raffle, or try to do so. Only one entry per person is allowed. We will contact the winners within a week after the end via email (therefore, the correct email addresses should be provided in the comments). The data will not be stored but only used for sending the code. The legal process is excluded.[/doptoggle]
For more information on the current patch and the latest gods, visit our SMITE topic page.
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Since the Free2Play transition of WildStar, the call for a comparison of the two games has grown louder. Like every other game before it, WildStar must measure itself against the unassailable genre leader World of Warcraft. For this reason (and because a certain boss is forcing me), we take a comparative look at both games and search for the biggest strengths as well as the most significant weaknesses of these two MMORPG representatives. Round one for WildStar vs. WoW
The start – too easy and too bumpy?
When starting both games, noticeable differences immediately appear: Aside from the naming, the first levels in World of Warcraft can be played solely with the mouse. The tutorials are functional and brief, the first quests barely deserve their name, as rarely more than one ability is needed to send enemies to their graves – not to mention that you typically only have 1-2 abilities. The game world is colorful, relevant quest-givers stand out clearly from the rest of the world and clearly direct: “Follow this path, and you’ll progress further.”
With WildStar, it’s different. Although arrows can indicate the direction of a quest, the overall design is not very beginner-friendly. Too much information in a short time confuses more than helps, quest-givers hardly stand out from the mass of NPCs, and the sheer number of menus and submenus will leave even some veterans sweating. No, the start is definitely smoother in World of Warcraft than in WildStar.
Presentation of the game world
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In presenting the game world, both games balance out but shine particularly in different areas. World of Warcraft can score with its extensive lore that has matured over 20 years and – despite some fanatical critics – is largely coherent and logical. All this background knowledge oozes from every corner of Azeroth. Some cutscenes in the newer areas have film quality. This creates a dense atmosphere with continuously progressing story, which, due to its scope alone, offers little competition. On the flip side, WoW suffers from a lack of secrets – rarely is anything in the world really hidden or not obvious, leading to players with a penchant for exploration possibly feeling quickly bored.
The lore is fresh and exciting in WildStar – unfortunately not optimally presented.
In WildStar, it’s quite the opposite. The lore is fresh, sometimes lively to absurd, but is hardly noticed by many players. While there are countless codex entries, hardly any player reads them. The short quests in SMS form also do not invite players to study the world, making it hard to connect with Nexus unless one actively seeks it out. However, the world itself shines with many secrets: Countless jumping puzzles are hidden in the expansive areas, many challenges are only found by actively searching, and humorous secrets with interesting puzzles can be stumbled upon at every corner.
Read more on the next page about the combat systems, scope, PvP, and customization…
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The mammoth project Star Citizen has faced its own convention with a series of announcements and demos.
After all the annoying stuff with Star Citizen lately, Cloud Imperium has managed to put the game in the spotlight and let the background noise fade away. At the “CitizenCon” in Manchester, they presented the next milestones. And as is typical for Cloud Imperium, there are not only spreadsheets but also videos and elaborate demos.
Gary Oldman is highlighted among the stars.
Top cast with Hollywood stars has recorded 10 hours of material
Here in this video, you can see star actors who were able to participate for Squadron 42, the single-player campaign. Among them are Gary Oldman (Commissioner Gordon from Batman), Mark Strong (the villain from Sherlock Holmes or Kick-Ass), Gillian Anderson (Scully from The X-Files), John Rhys-Davies (Gimli from The Lord of the Rings), and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker). Achieving a stretch goal during the Kickstarter funding made this possible.
In a video, they show the “filming”, where today’s technology seems to primarily focus on spinning the actors:
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The single-player campaign aims to compete with AAA games
Another demo then shows what all this is good for. The first few minutes from the single-player campaign Squadron 42 from the player’s perspective. They promise that you won’t be acting alongside faceless robots but will encounter strong personalities:
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According to Roberts, Squadron 42, the single-player part, will be able to compete with AAA titles. Players could immerse themselves in the game better than in any other game he has ever made.
Alpha 2.0 is the next big milestone
The next big milestone in the development of Star Citizen will be Alpha 2.0. Here, players will get to know the persistent universe of Star Citizen for the first time. There will be 38 playable missions and a huge area.
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The Xbox One version of the action MMORPG Neverwinter is catching up with the PC. In November, the Strongholds guild add-on is set to be released. Fortresses will be possible.
The Xbox One version of Neverwinter will soon be at the same level as the PC version. Sure, the next update “Underdark” is already in the works, but still: When “Strongholds” is released on November 3rd, as announced, it will have only been out on PC for a few months.
When Strongholds is released, the Xbox One version will then be on the current PC level. This was intended, a small content sprint was specifically added to close the gap to the PC version.
The extensive “Strongholds” module brings a huge MOBA-like map to Neverwinter. Guilds can continuously expand fortifications, gaining their own playground. On our topic page for Neverwinter, we have extensively presented the seventh module.
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Next week, development of the survival mode is expected to pick up speed again. A patch will be released then. A precise date has not yet been given. The patch will bring a fresh vehicle to H1Z1 with the “ATV”. It is off-road capable and easy to control. Two people can take a seat, and the passenger can also shoot. Such features are important in H1Z1.
The inclusion of women zombies adds variety among the biters. They resemble the female player model strongly, receive typical uniforms and outfits for variety: policewoman, park ranger, and a nurse are also included. Practically the Village People among the zombies.
Soon, they also want to create a new zombie type from the previous male player model, “Ivan.”
The biggest addition will surely come with the four-story Kurama building. It is quite a creepy hospital. Later, they want to show moving body bags here.
In the building, they also want to implement a new game idea: “Loops.” These are quest-like sequences. In the hospital, for example, there is a doctor who researches the H1Z1 virus and has infected herself. She needs samples from the world and grants the chance for codes in return, which in turn request special air drops.
Additionally, there is a special zombie who has a key – and this opens a certain container. These are not supposed to be real quests with a quest interface and so on, but merely sequences that arise from the environment and give H1Z1 more personality and background.
http://youtu.be/Z_6QRSLgM_U
In the presentation from the test server, it can be seen that there is still much work to be done before one can speak of a polished version. But many will be pleased that something is happening again. It will likely take a while again until the still raw patch gets live fixes.
For the curious: All game content is already available on the test server.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
