Final Fantasy XIV: The Dungeons of Heavensward in the Video

Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward will be released in a few weeks. Starting June 19, players can storm the new content through an Early Access, of which there will be more than enough. Everyone else will have to wait until June 23.

To shorten the waiting time, Square Enix has released a video overview showcasing the magnificent settings of the new dungeons. In total, the residents of Eorzea can expect 8 substantial, entirely new instances. In addition to the classic dungeons, two new primal battles with Ravena and Bismarck, along with a raid featuring Alexander, will be introduced.

Final Fantasy XIV Dungeons Heavensward

Recently, an emotional video featuring the title song “Dragonsong” – the main theme of Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward – was also released. You can find more information about the expansion on our FFXIV topic page.

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Overwatch: McCree brings justice!

In the latest gameplay video from Blizzard, the developer studio behind Overwatch, all hungry fans get a pretty impressive impression of the future cowboy McCree.

As befits a true western hero, McCree primarily delivers devastating headshots with his revolver. His combat role provides tactical depth, allowing him to move in any direction while reloading his magazine. To avoid being hopelessly outmatched in heated battles, the good man also has a flashbang that temporarily blinds enemies. If that’s not enough, he can still activate his “Deadeye shot”, targeting all foes within range to empty his entire magazine on them in the blink of an eye.

In the shown match, it’s again about escorting a “Payload” cart, and this round is among the most exciting that have been released so far. The player controlling McCree demonstrates quite impressively how to “casually” pull off a 10-kill streak.

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FFXIV Heavensward: Captivating title song with new trailer released

It won’t be long until the very extensive expansion for Final Fantasy XIV: Online for PC, PS4, and PS3 is released. With a video, the creators from Square Enix musically prepare for “Heavensward”, accompanied by conflict-laden scenes that evoke emotions.

The title song “Dragonsong”, composed by the star musician Nobuo Uematsu and heard in the background, is fully in line with the main scenario.

The main quest “The Dragonsong War” is set to include more than 50 hours of gameplay, which seems quite impressive for a story quest series. The expansion “Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward” will be officially released on June 23 and brings a large number of new quests, 3 new jobs, numerous zones, airships, the Au Ra race, tons of dungeons, flying mounts, and much more.


By the way, we from Mein-MMO have been in France over the last few days and were able to take a look at the expansion. In the coming days, you can expect a flood of information.

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Destiny: Bungie is excited about record attendance for House of Wolves, announces Trials of Osiris

In the MMO shooter Destiny , the developers at Bungie are pleased with the influx caused by the DLC “House of Wolves.” They also announce the “Trials of Osiris.”

In the Weekly Update, Bungie speaks to the community. This time, they have only good news to announce. The influx for House of Wolves was impressive. Not even the arrival of the many “Kinderguardians” (Christmas newcomers) could compete with it, which happened on May 19. So many wanted to hear the “Howl of the Wolves.” They do not specify concrete numbers but mention “millions.”

Impressive Numbers: 900,000 Story completions, 9,000 Endgame activities finished in House of Wolves

Destiny-Skolas
Skolas

They then have concrete numbers for other activities:

Only a few hours left until “House of Wolves” starts for PvP players with the Trials of Osiris

And even though the Guardians have been so eagerly enjoying the PvE activities of “House of Wolves,” not all battles have been fought yet, and some have not even started. For Friday, May 22, they announce at 7:00 PM our time the first round in the “Trials of Osiris”. As an event, they accompany four major streamers on Twitch, each entering the field for a charitable cause.

Destiny-Trials-of-Osiris

There seems to be a supposed problem with the Speaker: Some complain that he does not exchange materials, as promised to 1.2.0.1. Bungie explains: You really need to have the materials.

As for the “Video of the Week”, it is no surprise that the dance performance on Venus was awarded.


Even before the Trials of Osiris open, Xur will appear – either in the Tower or in the Reef. We will welcome him at 11:00 AM and report on his inventory. Who knows, maybe there will be some new exotic armor pieces.

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Source(s):
  1. Bungie

Destiny: Skolas has sunburn, drops new elemental primary weapons

In the MMO shooter Destiny , the final boss of the current DLC “Skolas” has a critical weakness this week: He is susceptible to Solar damage.

Every week, the modifiers in the different difficulty levels of “Prison of Elders” are supposed to change. This week, a Solar Flare is active on the final boss of the 35-level variant, “Skolas”.

Oh, if only there were an exotic weapon that deals insane damage and does Solar damage… Wait?

Yes, exactly. Like the two previous bosses Atheon and Crota, Skolas was done in by the weapon whose name shall not be spoken. In just 40 seconds, three Guardians boosted to level 34 defeated the Kell of Kells on Tuesday using everyone’s favorite rocket launcher.

http://youtu.be/-rNe2jbD6BQ

Of course, not every run goes as perfectly as this one. Skolas has his quirks and tricks: The new Prison proves to be adaptable and is currently leaving Guardians puzzled. It involves taking out Servitors, passing on debuffs, and defusing mines. The fight takes its time.

Destiny-Wolves-Leash

Surely we will revisit Skolas in the coming days and shed more light on the fight.

And the special reward is… Raid primary weapons

However, there is already a secret that has been revealed. It concerns the “four new primary weapons that deal elemental damage.” Such rewards were also present in the two previous raids: Weapons like the Fatebringer or the Soul’s Release were quite popular. Where the elemental primary weapons should come from this time was not entirely clear beforehand. However, data miners had already found some.

They are primary weapons that Variks also offers in exchange for weapon cores. However, these do not contain “elemental damage” in the basic version. With Skolas, the weapons can drop with a “Roman II” in the name.

Guardians are already reporting that they have received several “elemental versions” of a single weapon from him. The scout rifle “Wolves’ Leash II”, for instance, drops as a Void weapon as shown above; images of an Arc version also exist. However, the likelihood of a drop of the II weapons is said to be relatively low.

These could thus become the new “catch them all” elements in Destiny. This is also clearly referenced in the flavor text of the “Wolves’ Leash II”. The tricky part: Right now it looks like there are different random elements with the primary weapons: It could lead to particularly strong or weak variants of the weapon, and the “Prison of Elders” weapons cannot be reforged.  It seems like the new carrot is hidden here, which Bungie is dangling in front of the Guardians. Once more of these rare weapons are found, a more accurate pattern can surely be discerned.

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H1Z1 Column: Those who get virtually lynched get a second chance

In the survival MMO H1Z1 , studio president John Smedley is making headlines again: Banned hackers must publicly apologize if they want to play again.

The studio “Daybreak Gaming Company”, formerly SOE, doesn’t need advertising or a marketing department. The boss takes care of the press, hype, and excitement himself. With bold words, Everquest co-creator and current studio president John Smedley declared war on the hackers and cheaters plaguing the shooter H1Z1: They wanted to take nuclear action against these scumbags, it was said at the beginning. Since then he has regularly announced his successes with pleasure to reassure fans and show: We care. This is necessary as H1Z1 is considered infested with cheaters.

In the announcements, Smedley has sometimes gone a bit too far in the past, as he mentioned a hacker site in one post. He suggested players check out how much they complained about the harsh measures of H1Z1. The hacker forum was pleased with such attention: all this new clientele. Smedley later deleted that part from his post to fans. This time, Smedley seems to stretch the bow a little further.

If you want to play, you must be humiliated

After the last, particularly large ban wave against wall hackers, many reached out to him, apologized, begged, and pleaded for forgiveness. They wanted to be allowed to play again; they would never do it again. Smedley’s idea: “The minimum for us to consider this is that a public apology comes via YouTube.”

A few took up the offer: they recorded apology videos with their face cam, trying to justify their actions with “everyone does it.” Smedley prominently linked the apologies on his Twitter channel. When it became known that the first would be pardoned, the community reacted: “This is not acceptable. We don’t want cheaters anymore. They should stay away.”

Smedley’s response: “We have unbanned 3 out of 20,000. And with one, we will probably revert it because they set their video to private.”

The virtual pillory

Why did he do that? Because it probably doesn’t please everyone to be confronted with the hate and frustration of H1Z1 players under the video. They are not gentle at all. Jokes about the character of the cheater, personal insults, or anything else are common. Alongside some scattered comments that it takes guts to apologize this way, players are sometimes wished cancer or a violent death. The cheater must show their face, while the insulting crowd remains anonymous. One of the videos has already garnered 47,000 clicks. The creator has since disabled the comments. For good reason: they were less about his actions and more about his appearance.

http://youtu.be/gtYxFKDfN48

Five players emerged and were pardoned. That’s it. The offer has now expired. According to Smedley, the controversial action was mainly about bringing more attention to “the cheating issue.”

Furthermore, Smedley states in a post on Reddit that the war against cheaters has been going on for so long and is quite hopeless. Banned players create a new Steam account, use hacks to bypass the hardware ban and just continue. That is the ugly reality, but it is reality. It was time to try something new.

Mein MMO says: Now one could say Smedley is just providing the pillory. He forces no one to stand before it. And he doesn’t give rotten fruits to the angry crowd. But at least Smedley has booked the marketplace, set up the pillory, and summoned the angry mob. That the H1Z1 community would react to such apology videos harshly, mercilessly, and more than a bit hurtfully was predictable.

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Source(s):
  1. Kotaku

Tera says: We are the #1 MMORPG on Steam

The action MMORPG Tera seems to feel right at home on Steam. It claims the first place for itself, wanting to be the most played MMORPG, and that after just two weeks.

Since Tera launched on Steam on May 5, the action MMO has exploded. This is shared by the US publisher En Masse Entertainment. The game now has 4.5 million registered accounts in North America and 20 million worldwide.

And they are quite active, as shown in an infographic. Every day, 6 million of the famous “BAMs”, the “Big Ass Monsters” are killed. And if one received a dollar for every gold piece looted since the Steam launch, they would be worth 10 Gabe Newells. Tera claims the title of “most played MMORPG” for itself because it ranks very high in the Steam charts for “concurrent numbers”, the number of players logged in simultaneously.

It seems that TERA has found fertile ground in Steam with its action-oriented approach.

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Source(s):
  1. MO

MMO Trends: April is not a good month for MMORPGs – WoW, GW2, FF 14 lose playtime

In April, the gaming trends from Raptr show a rather sobering picture for the classic MMORPGs World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, and Final Fantasy: the big three are losing playtime.

Every month, Raptr analyzes its data and reveals how much playtime PC gamers using their program have spent in each game. These are of course not official figures, as there are none, but merely a trend indicator. The best way to read the numbers is in relation to the previous months, as one can see how the “core audience” of Raptr users behaves and reacts to the developments in the games.

The blockbuster GTA V made a big splash this month. The game came to PC and it was significant. For the “classic” MMORPGs and for the online long-runners that usually dominate the list, it went downhill instead.

Quartet of MMORPGs takes a significant hit

World of Warcraft lost 30% of playtime in the content-poor April. Guild Wars 2 lost 34%, Final Fantasy XIV 24%. The sandpark MMORPG ArcheAge also lost 10% playtime, but managed to gain positions, as it lost overall less than its competitors. For the MMORPG classic SWTOR it is also going downhill in terms of Raptr hours. It is one of the games that lost more than 20% of its hours in April.

We make a little prediction: WoW will likely continue to lose in May, as nothing new has come yet, perhaps it will recover in June with the 6.2 patch.

For Final Fantasy XIV and Guild Wars 2 expansions are coming this year, so it should soon go up. For FF14 likely from June, for GW2 in the second half of the year. Probably there will be events and actions in advance of the expansion to create buzz and increase playtime.

Further content patches are also planned for ArcheAge in the near future. Yesterday in Korea, patch 2.0 was released, which is supposed to give the game a second wind. We’ll see how that impacts in the distant future.

Final-Fantasy-XIV-Heavensward

Things are going mediocre at Blizzard

Other games that we cover at mein MMO are doing fairly mediocre. Hearthstone and Diablo 3 are doing well. Hearthstone benefits from the new adventure “Blackrock Depths” in April and increases by 7.4%; Diablo 3 can even increase by 11% thanks to the new season.

Blizzard’s MOBA Heroes of the Storm however lost some steam in April, shrinking by 5%. World of Tanks saw playtime increase by 6%.

It seems that overall, April was rather a month of stagnation for MMOs, and little will change in May. There were no major upheavals recorded here. On the contrary: the blockbuster The Witcher 3 could play the role in May that GTA V took in April.

The larger patches, expansions, and upheavals that should bind PC players back to their online favorites will not come until June.

Raptr-Trends-April
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Source(s):
  1. Raptr

Guild Wars 2 brings about the world peace bug

In the fantasy MMORPG Guild Wars 2, a bug has caused peace to reign among ostensibly hostile players.

“We are currently investigating an issue with world peace in WvWvW,” it was stated on the Guild Wars 2 Facebook page yesterday. “Yes, you read that right, players from rival realms are being friendly to each other. The team is calling the bug W<3W.”

However, the friendship between the 3 servers Gunnar’s Hold, Riverside, and Elona Reach didn’t last long. The bug was quickly brought under control. The Eternal Battleground lived up to its name again.

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We can already see the next headline in the feuilleton of German weekly magazines: Warmongering company does not grant players pacifist peace – Is this still funny?

We think: In this case, it absolutely is.

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Source(s):
  1. PcGamesN

Destiny Guide: How to Handle the Wanted Loot Activities by Petra Venj [Update]

In the MMO shooter Destiny there are new bounties. We are showing you video guides for the 3 Wanted Bounties.

In the MMO shooter Destiny the DLC “House of Wolves” aims to give players the feeling of being on a “bounty hunt”. This makes patrols more important again. Already in the last week before the launch, players got a taste of bounties that led to public events and treasure hunts. Now Petra Venj has two types of bounties on offer, the ones that work like last week and also grant an Ether key. And the “new” type that directs players to clear objectives.

PetraVenjBounties

But all bounties from Petra Venj lead hunters, Titans, or Warlocks out into the already familiar world to find and eliminate key enemies. It’s not always that easy to find the sought locations in Destiny, and video guides can help with the annoying question: “And where is that now?”

Here are the objectives for the Wanted Bounties

Our friend Nexxos Gaming has accompanied the Wanted Bounties with video guides:

The howling raider

The “Howling Raiders” can be found on Venus, in the “Chamber of Whispers”.

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The queen’s breakers of the Vandals

The “Queen’s Breakers of the Vandals” can also be found on Venus, in the Slag.

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The Wolf looters

The “Wolf Looters” are on the Moon and here in the Halls of Wisdom.

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Queen Breaker Captain

The bounty “Queen Breaker Captain” first appeared on May 26 in Destiny, located on Earth in the Cosmodrome, in Dock 13.

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Ether Runner

The second new Wanted bounty from Petra Venj, which was added on May 26, revolves around the Ether Runner on Venus in the area Endless Steps.

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Wolves’ Guardian

The third new Wanted bounty was added on June 2. Here you hunt the Wolves’ Guardian on Venus, in Campus 9.

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Mecher Orbiks 11

In this bounty “Mecher Orbiks”, it is like those from last week during the event “The Great Wolf Hunt”: You have to go to the point shown in the video and then wait for the event to start. This will be initiated by the message “A wolf pack is on a bounty hunt”. After that, it’s back to “treasure hunting” with the Ether key to Ether chests. If you are looking for information with specific objectives, maps, and hints on the map, we recommend our guide to the event “The Great Wolf Hunt”: The bounties Drevis, Kaliks-12, Peekis, Peltrik, Saviks, and Weksis are covered.

In the bounty “Mecher Orbiks-11” you go to the Ishtar Cliffs on Venus.

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The developers of the dinosaur MMO ARK are taking care of fans of The Stomping Land

The dino MMORPG The Stomping Land (TSL) looked very promising. However, after the project manager disappeared and there was no further information about the game, the disappointment and anger of the customers were great. Now the developers of the MMORPG ARK: Survival Evolved want to take care of the fans of TSL.

Stomping Land
…and suddenly the dino game “The Stomping Land” became history. Silently.

You can say it openly: It is a mess what happened with The Stomping Land. The game was added to the download platform via Steam Greenlight and many were looking forward to the promising MMO about dinosaurs. But suddenly there was silence, the project manager disappeared, and the game was removed from Steam’s program.

The disappointment and anger of the fans were great – especially from those who had already spent money on the game. But now the developers of ARK: Survival Evolved want to step in. They are offering the fans of TSL to switch to ARK. On June 2nd, early access on Steam begins, and a first – albeit still very early – version can then be played.

A little gift for scammed The Stomping Land customers

If you, as a buyer of TSL, decide to participate in ARK, you will be pleased with the “Stomped Land Bling Shades” package. This includes a cosmetic outfit (which does not provide any gameplay advantages), allowing you to ride stylishly on your Tyrannosaurus Rex in ARK: Survival Evolved through the vast game world. This is a nice move by the ARK developers.

Of course, all others can dive into the MMO starting June 2nd and engage in the prehistoric world with dinos and other players. You can read a more detailed report on ARK: Survival Evolved here.

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Destiny: The Cryptarch’s Big Day – so many Engrams were decrypted

In the MMO shooter Destiny the Cryptarch Rahool had his big day on Wednesday evening. He and his new colleagues decrypted like mad.

There was an engram backlog in Destiny: Some of the engrams dropped last week could not be decrypted at all. Many Guardians saved the legendary engrams before to decrypt them only after “House of Wolves” to gain new packages through reputation increase, where also “new engrams” would be contained, which would bring new rewards. So the plan. For the uninitiated: Engrams are basically the loot surprise eggs of Destiny.

In practice, the engram backlog and its resolution caused the Cryptarch in the Tower, the most hated person in Destiny Master Rahool, and his somewhat younger colleague in the Reef, Master Ives, to have their big appearance.

Destiny-Master-Ives

100 million engrams are not enough for Master Rahool

Activision has now revealed to IGN how many engrams were decrypted during the HdW launch on May 19 and how much glimmer the Cryptarch pair produced. The numbers are impressive:

  • 105 million blue and purple engrams were decrypted
  • 11.2 billion glimmer were produced by the Cryptarchs.

A Bungie employee commented tersely: Still not enough for Master Rahool.

Destiny-Event-Wolfsjagd

There are also some numbers available in the Destiny subreddit:

On launch day, the number of page views skyrocketed to unprecedented heights. There were 2.8 million page views on Wednesday from nearly 250,000 “unique” users.

Admittedly, for most people, the numbers mean little without reference points. It’s hard to compare users and clicks with football fields. Therefore: It is just insanely much. About as if all citizens of Braunschweig had visited the site that day and spent some time there reading a lot.

Okay, that doesn’t sound so impressive now. As I said … comparisons are difficult here.

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Source(s):
  1. ign
  2. reddit Clicks

Guild Wars 2: The expansion Heart of Thorns has an estimated release date by Amazon

In the fantasy MMORPG Guild Wars 2 , the expansion “Heart of Thorns” is approaching. Amazon has now ventured a guess on the release date.

US sites are reporting hot off the press about the hottest of all information sources, the German Amazon. They have roughly dated the expansion “Heart of Thorns” to June 30. This is also the end of the second quarter, so estimates Amazon in Germany and retailers worldwide. At The Division one knows “approximately Q1/2015” thus Gamestop assumed February 28. This was also worth a brief excitement for our English-speaking friends, at least on reddit. Only unfortunate that February 28, 2016 is a Sunday.

GW2-Release-Date

US MMO sites turned Amazon’s estimate into “release rumors” – perhaps they know more in the land where dumplings and sauerkraut bloom. Well. June 30 seems a bit too optimistic when considering the current planning, but probably not too far off. At Guild Wars 2 they point out that no release date has been announced. When retailers provide such dates, they are based on speculation.

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Source(s):
  1. mmorpg.com

Overwatch: The smartest gorilla ever – The Winston Analysis

The beta for Blizzard’s upcoming shooter Overwatch is set to begin this fall. To shorten the wait a bit, I’ve already taken a closer look at some of the characters and analyzed them as far as is currently possible.

Overwatch is indeed a first-person shooter, but the individual heroes share clear similarities with those from MOBAs. They not only have a personal backstory but also their own set of abilities that goes far beyond the standard shooting with a weapon.

The first one is the hyper-intelligent gorilla Winston, who previously belonged to Overwatch as a scientist. Now he has taken up his armored high-tech suit and a Tesla cannon to charge into battle.

– Darion

Overwatch Winston Screenshot
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World of Warcraft: 3 major changes to loot with 6.2.

In the fantasy MMORPG World of Warcraft the developers are now talking about what really matters to players: the loot.

In a dev blog, the developers of WoW discuss the topic of “loot” and present three major changes for the next patch 6.2.

Personal loot will be better

WoW-Beute-2

At the moment, “Personal Loot” seems too weak compared to the loot master, so they want to address this and significantly increase the yield. Players should generally receive more items in raids with personal loot than they do today – and particularly more set pieces than at present.

Additionally, for players with personal loot, it should be more visible what others in the raid receive. They want to highlight this more clearly.

Secondary stats should become more extreme in WoW

WoW-Beute

In the new raid of Hellfire Citadel, coming with 6.2, the “secondary stats” should play a greater role again. They have worked a lot to align their value, and now they are ready to give them more significance.

In the last patches, items felt too similar. The developers often opted for a 50/50 distribution of the secondary stats on items. With 6.2, they want to change this and make the secondary stats significantly higher or lower: create more extreme distributions. Players should more often feel as if they have found the ultimate item for their class.

The deeper the raid, the better the loot in World of Warcraft

WoW Hellfire Citadel

The third change in World of Warcraft will be to move away from the “flat item level” in raids. The deeper players progress into the Hellfire Citadel , the stronger the loot they receive will be.

The peak of item rewards will occur at the final boss Archimonde.

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Source(s):
  1. Battle.net

Funcom continues to shrink – Age of Conan, The Secret World remain the largest sources of income

The Norwegian software studio Funcom, a specialist in MMOs, is also shrinking in Q1 2015, although they have reduced both expenses and earnings.

“Shrink yourself healthy,” seems to be the credo at Funcom. Compared to Q1 2014, they have significantly earned less. The games in the portfolio are aging and generate less revenue.

Funcom revenues

However, they have also lowered costs and are now spending less than in previous quarters.

Funcom expenses
lego

From the last major project “The Secret World”, Funcom has learned not to put too many chips on one field. They are now developing “mid-core online games” with budgets between 3 and 6 million dollars. This requires a different corporate structure: the restructuring takes time. “The Secret World” is performing according to expectations; even with the older “Age of Conan,” they report that fans have positively received the new achievement system.

For the future, Funcom anticipates that the existing games will generate less revenue as they age.

As the next major point, they have planned to switch Lego Minifigures Online from its current free-to-play model to a buy-to-play model. There are some issues, and the switch is intended to create momentum.

Information about the planned next major project, for which Funcom has already reassigned employees from existing games, is not found in the report.

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Source(s):
  1. newsweb.no

Guild Wars 2: Lion’s Arch – Rebuild what builds you up

In the fantasy MMORPG Guild Wars 2, resourceful architects are working on the reconstruction of Lion’s Arch, which lay in ruins after a terror attack. Players are being asked for name suggestions.

“Rebuild what builds you up,” goes a song by Madsen and that is also the idea behind Lion’s Arch. As ArenaNet announces in a blog post, the residents are working to rebuild the city more beautifully, safely, and better than it was before Scarlet Briar attacked with an airship.

GW2-Reconstruction

Lion’s Arch is said to be the heart and soul of Tyria, it is proclaimed, and it calls upon the righteous citizens to consider what buildings, important places, and areas should be named. Until May 26, players have time to voice their opinions in a survey.

For the grand “reopening” event of Lion’s Arch, Guild Wars 2 will come up with something. It must be celebrated properly. Players should also discuss the nature of the celebrations, whether intimate and reflective or pompous and ecstatic.

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Source(s):
  1. GW2
  2. mmorpg

Are the quests from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt MMORPGs?

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is not a MMORPG, but according to the press and first voices from players, it is an excellent game. Especially the quests stand out.

We have also spent several hours diving into the fantasy world of the witcher Geralt to compare the quests offered there with those of MMORPGs. It may not be a particularly fair comparison, after all, The Witcher 3 is a single-player RPG. Nevertheless, single-player RPGs and MMORPGs have much in common. Especially theme park MMOs also want to tell an exciting story, score points with good content, and create a believable world.

However, MMORPGs have a fundamental problem: The player is not THE hero who saves the world. If you consider it pedantically and perhaps even a little cynically, then the character in an MMO doesn’t really save anything at all, as the darkest dragon always returns through respawning, kidnaps the princess again, and burns down the village once more. MMORPGs have a problem presenting quests that truly have a lasting impact on the game world and make the character a true hero. This is different in single-player RPGs. Here, every decision can have significant consequences. An NPC could die, an entire village could be destroyed – permanently.

Great Narrative Art

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However, what The Witcher 3 does exceptionally well and from which MMORPGs can take a large slice, is the storytelling of quests that offer different levels. You start with a regular mission, which, however, develops into something completely different over time. There are twists and surprises in which the NPCs always play an important role. You learn something about these NPCs, get to know them, and then have to decide how the quest should proceed.

A young man is missing on the battlefield, and together with his brother, you search for him. You find him wounded, rescued by a soldier of the opposing army. Do you turn him in now, or do you hide him because he has saved the wounded man’s life? A hunter tells why he fell from grace because he loved a man instead of a woman. These things give the characters and thus the world a depth that is rarely achieved in MMORPGs.

The Witcher 3 Story

Now one might say that quests in MMORPGs and single-player RPGs must differ because the gameplay styles of both genres are different. MMORPGs emphasize quickly reaping the rewards to improve your hero, while single-player RPGs thrive on stories. But is that really the case? Would it hurt an MMORPG if quests offered more depth, brought surprises and twists?

Many MMORPGs could learn a lot from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in this respect. There is no need for permanent, world-changing decisions to be made, but even quests in MMORPGs can be more exciting and varied.

Of course, games like SWTOR and TESO also show that good and complex quests with exciting stories can be told in online RPGs. However, The Witcher 3 proves that there is still much room for improvement, as it makes many single-player RPGs look outdated.

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Destiny: Everyone’s new favorite stapler

In the MMO shooter Destiny , the Vestian Dynasty pistol is taking the Guardians by storm. Previously, it had been dismissed as a useless pea shooter.

Vesta-Destiny-Nachladen

“Oh, Lord of the Wolves – the new shotgun, I need to have that, it looks great. It will definitely pack a punch. 30 shots in the magazine” or: “This fusion rifle with incredible range. Once I get my hands on that, it will be my new Icebreaker” or: “The Gjallarhorn finally back at max level, I will never need another weapon!” This is what Guardians could be heard reminiscing about their new “treasures” right before the new DLC, the weapons that would soon wreak havoc in “The House of Wolves”.

Hardly noticed in advance: The “Vestian Dynasty.” This belongs to the pistols, a new class of weapons that came into play with “The House of Wolves”. Unlike the “hand cannons”, also a type of pistol, the “Vestian Dynasty” fits into the special weapon slot, firing faster and lighter instead of slowly and hard. Just yesterday at noon, no Dreg was drawn to it: “What were they thinking? This is completely useless,” was the opinion on the weapon. Maybe it was a joke, maybe you could carry two of these things or something? Otherwise, it seemed completely absurd.

Guardian’s Dream, Fallen’s Nightmare

Destiny-Vestianische-Dynastie

Then the first surprise: EVERYONE received the legendary weapon as a quest reward for the first story mission. And so some Guardians then decided to try out the new Arc weapon and … just like falling in love with Mila Kunis, they fell for the “Tacker” within seconds.

For some, it reminds them of the “best weapon from Halo 2, the Bolt-Shocker”, for others it is a Phaser from Star Trek, for the next it is their new “Space Clock”. One raves about the sound, another about the handling of the pistol, and suddenly the damage isn’t weak at all:

Thanks to the Arc modifier, it quickly proves to be useful, the shields of the Fallen are allergic to this type of damage. And that is primarily what the new DLC “The House of Wolves” is about. In any case, the Vestian Dynasty is designed specifically for combating them. All perks are directed against the Fallen, and here especially against the pesky Captains.

Beware of Double Purchase

This weapon also has its place in PvP. Whoever starts with it can rely on two weapons from the get-go, as the pistol brings the rare special ammunition along with it.

However, there’s a catch … Guardians tend to buy it twice. Because Petra Venj offers it again, and some overly enthusiastic spontaneous buyers simply can’t resist.

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And There Is Also an Exotic Version

In the reddit forum, everyone agrees: This is the most fun I’ve had in the game in ages. But to not put any silly ideas into Bungie’s head, one denies the love for the weapon that comes with the rapid “Pew Pew.”

Destiny-Dregs-Promise

And no one can really explain what is so great about the Vestian Dynasty. It just feels right, it’s simply fun, it captivates the Guardians. The new exotic weapons can only look on enviously … except for one, perhaps: The “Dreg’s Promise” is also a “pistol.” As it is heard, the only one in this class besides the “Vestian Dynasty” – seems like it has become the most coveted exotic in Destiny overnight.

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DC Universe Online: “Halls of Power II” has been released, brings new heroes, new adventures

In the action MMO DC Universe Online (PC, PS3, PS4), the new DLC “Halls of Power II” has now been released. It is about the fate of “New Genesis.”

In the trailer, the sinister recruitment machinery can be seen. In a bizarre area, potential recruits are subjected to brainwashing to fight for the dark Darkseid. Superman has also been brought under control, or at least they are working on it. This is, of course, not acceptable.

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DC Halls of Power II

With “Halls of Power II” come new gods, new villains. It’s a large DLC that brings content for every team size: solo missions, duo missions, operations for four players, and an additional raid for eight.

This will be either the last or the second to last DLC to be released in this scope and pattern. In the future, DC Universe Online will shift from a quarterly schedule to a monthly one. The “DLCs” will then be called episodes and will be smaller.

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