In the Fantasy MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, Turbine has unveiled plans for 2015. A new PvM map is coming, heading to Minas Tirith, and episodic adventures will be introduced.
The producer of The Lord of the Rings Online, Athena Peters, spoke out in the forum and explained the plans for 2015.
In The Lord of the Rings Online, players can look forward to:
A new “PvM” map is set to arrive in the summer. “Player versus Monsters”, also known as Ettenmoors, is the game’s “PvP”. Since it would be pointless for the “good races” to fight against each other in The Lord of the Rings Online, it is arranged that half of the players remain with their heroes, while the other half takes on the role of monsters. The new map will be set in the ruins of the city of Osgiliath.
Also in the summer, the adventures of the Hobbit “Bingo Boffin” will be told – these will be episodic, with a new one unlocking each week.
And for the late autumn (which should be around November/December), Minas Tirith is planned. The producer promises an exciting and surprising approach to the siege of Gondor – something that players have never seen before.
In the MMO shooter Destiny, Bungie has come up with something special. Those who achieve a flawless record in the new event Trials of Osiris will be richly rewarded: They can go to Mercury.
This is how the Trials of Osiris work
Yesterday, the Trials of Osiris went live. Much was already known about the event before, now probably almost everything. For those who are asking: What is this? And much more importantly: What loot is there? Here’s a brief summary:
Trials of Osiris is a PvP event
It runs weekly from Friday evening at 7:00 PM to Tuesday at 11:00 AM
As with Iron Banner, the level advantages are activated
It is PvP for pre-made teams of 3 players; there is no matchmaking; Bungie finds your enemies, not your friends
The 3-person teams compete in the elimination mode against other teams in a best-of-9 format. Think of it like a tennis match: the first to win 5 sets wins the entire match – where a “set” in the Trials of Osiris lasts only between 30 seconds and a few minutes, while a match usually finds a winner after about 10 minutes
The goal is to win as many matches as possible before losing 3
You can buy buffs for Passage Coins from Brother Vance that help achieve the goals
This is the Egyptian armor that so many are excited about.
And these are the rewards
There’s a chance for rewards while playing after a match: legendary weapons and armor, but they are from a “different pool of items.”
The actual Trials of Osiris loot works such that each player receives a “scorecard” for 100 Glimmer from Brother Vance. On this “card,” wins and losses are noted. If you have 3 “losses” on the card, you are out of the tournament but can go shopping with the card. Depending on how many wins you have, there are different rewards. You can buy up to and including the win rank, which means that if you win 8 times, you can enjoy all of these rewards.
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Our reader Lightningsoul summarized this; we have added a bit:
2 – Light Particles + Passage Coins
3 – Light Particles + Passage Coins
5 – Armor piece Light 42 for your own class (these are the ones with the Egyptian look, for anyone asking: Where can I find the Egyptian armors?)
6 – Ethereal Light + Passage Coins, there’s also a chance for Exotics
7 – Legendary weapon 365 – there are a total of 9, but this is not sure at the moment
8 – Ethereal Light + Light Particles, there’s also a chance for Exotics and legendary Trials of Osiris gear
The image shows the inventory of Brother Vance from a player who goes to him with a full card and is just opening the reward on level 8.
It’s important to note that the rewards for levels 5 and 7 will change weekly. However, the two guaranteed “Ethereal Lights” are worth it. They are the key to Light Level 34.
You can also buy back into the tournament for 100 Glimmer. This can be done as often as the players want.
Only the tough get into the garden: The Lighthouse
It was clear in advance: something would happen at “9 Wins”. The catch: nothing happens at 9 Wins alone. Players must actually achieve “9 Wins without a loss” for this banner to appear:
Then players can select an “exclusive zone on Mercury” and can travel there: The Lighthouse, Caloris Spires on Mercury. This is the “secret” social space, which the dataminers have already found. The image was sent to us by a reader:
The first players to discover this and travel there were, to put it mildly, on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
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The rewards for the flawless players are impressive: there’s also Ethereal Light, Passage Coins, Light Particles, a chance for Exotics, and special emblems, as well as special editions of the legendary weapons.
It is important that players have room for the emblem before they open the chest. There have been complaints about this: it will not be sent afterwards, but simply disappear.
The weapons that can be contained in the chest with the “Master” perk are similar to “Prison of Elders” special variants of the weapons sold by Brother Vance. Here, the elemental damage is rolled when “looting the chest.”
The exotic scout rifle “Fate of All Fools” has not yet been found by anyone in the game. It seems that this will come later, if at all, and is currently not obtainable. Some had speculated that it would be tied to the 9 Wins … doesn’t seem to be the case at the moment.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The Korean MMORPG “Echo of Soul” will transition to Open Beta on May 28. Although the game is officially still in Closed Beta, there are essentially no more restrictions: Everyone can now take their first steps as a Soulkeeper in the world of EoS.
For those who haven’t checked out this action-packed F2P MMO from the creators of Lineage 2, the ongoing stress test offers a chance to do so. Players who reach level 45 in Closed Beta will also be rewarded with the unique costume accessory “Pioneer Feather”. However, achieving this milestone requires constant sprinting. Because on Monday, the servers will go offline to prepare the game for the soft launch next Thursday. You can sign up and get started on the official website.
Note that all progress from the Closed Beta will otherwise be deleted. Starting from the Open Beta, there will be no worries about losses: server wipes will be a thing of the past. In that sense, it can be equated with a normal release.
Still unsure about what kind of game this is? Then we recommend our first impression of Echo of Soul and whether there is a suitable class for you, you can read here. Echo of Soul relies on a wide range of tried-and-tested content. In summary: It is a classic theme park MMO that aims to attract players with high accessibility and some new impulses. For example, there is the possibility to level up through PvP or PvE and randomly generated dungeons that promise variety.
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Now ArenaNet has announced what these drops entitled players to: There are a total of 6 hours spread over three two-hour blocks in the evening and at night from Tuesday, May 26th to May 27th.
May 26th, from 8:30 PM to 10:30 PM CEST
May 27th, from 12:30 AM to 2:30 AM CEST
May 27th, from 4:30 AM to 6:30 AM CEST
In the beta, players can already play the new Revenant, parts of the new story are available, as well as the outpost on the map “Green Gates” and a partially completed version of the meta-event in this zone.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The fantasy MMO Skyforge presents a new location with the city of Veines.
It must be really terrible to endure existence as a mortal on the planet Aelion. They must reproduce like rabbits there, as low as the life expectancy is, and as high the chances of falling victim to some monsters, aliens or divine outbursts of rage.
This time Skyforge introduces the city “Veines”: Again it is said, “The once peaceful city.” By now, one could describe any spot in the world like this: “Once it was peaceful here, now gigantic, flesh-eating plants; crazed mechs; humanoid killer rats; insane sea creatures lurk for the players.”
Veines has reapers of death, the rat-like Vrid and new creatures that sound quite snakelike: vipers, hydras, gorgonids (that’s the scientific name of the Medusa).
In the MMO shooter Destiny , the new endgame activity “The Prison of Elders” lasted a little over two and a half hours before the first players defeated it.
On Wednesday evening around 7:00 PM, House of Wolves went live. It took a few hours, and the first prominent Destiny players reported “Mission Accomplished.” Someone from Invigorate-Gaming finished around 12:09 and tweeted that, although without video. It’s always a thing. Of course, that didn’t stop Invigorate from letting out a little cheer.
Among the streamers, The HM05 was likely at the forefront, as he had previously delivered special raid performances and worked tirelessly on how to defeat Crota with this or that handicap.
Due to his celebrity status and the video, it was assumed that he and his team were the first to defeat Skolas at level 35 . Among known Destiny players, they were the fastest and allowed themselves to be celebrated as winners for a couple of days. US sites reported on the same evening about the alleged first in the World-First race. 12:18 was given as the time, and a video was provided to prove it.
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“We had more than half an hour lead over the next streamers,” it says on reddit. However, it couldn’t be said if someone faster was not streaming.
So, did one of the usual suspects with a large fan base or the ambition to achieve something like this win? No.
The tactic was: Omission
Because the announcement of the winner in the World-First race is now up to Bungie. They have determined the fastest team.
They were neither streamers nor players who had made a name for themselves so far, but they must have planned and executed this very well. At 21:24, the kill had already occurred. That should be according to our time. It would have taken about 2 hours and 20 minutes after the content “House of Wolves” started until the hardest part was already over. Everything must have gone according to plan or even better for the three.
According to Bungie User Research, this team successfully completed the Level 35 Prison of Elders Challenge first: https://t.co/XYTufmB5by
At 8:00 PM, the Nightfall was completed, at 8:13 the story was wrapped up quickly, at 8:25 the 28 version of Prison of Elders, at 8:50 the 32 version, then they skipped the 34 version and went straight for the 35 version. Logically: In the 32 version you get an armor core, allowing the players to reach level 33, assuming the upgrade of an exotic. With 32, the 35 boss would not have been feasible: The damage penalty would have been too high.
Apparently, they accomplished this with three Titans. It was already said beforehand that they could prove to be very strong in the Prison of Elders due to their bubble. It seems that this held true. However, due to Bungie’s system, it cannot be determined afterwards which specialization the players had. So it could also have been one or more Punchbros… although the Bubblebro variant is more likely.
Currently, there are no major details or a kill video available. But it seems like an outsider has triumphed or… the Titan power has struck again.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
As hardcore Starcraft fans will notice, Tychus becomes a non-smoker in Blizzard’s MOBA “Heroes of the Storm”. Blizzard cuts off his cigar.
It is one of the iconic images from Starcraft: The visor of a Space Marine lifts and a cloud of cigar smoke wafts out. The distinctive cigar gave “Tychus Findlay”, an avid cigar smoker, a personality, as some fans believe.
In the MOBA “Heroes of the Storm”, Blizzard reuses all heroes. Here, Tychus, a Gatling gunner, is depicted as a non-smoker. This was seen in a new skin “Prisoner Tychus”, which was briefly visible in a trailer. Ironically, the act of smoking a cigar was prominently featured in the now 8-year-old teaser trailer for Starcraft 2, clearly used as a stylistic element and identifying feature. Something that cool tough guys do. But times change.
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The idea that one could do without a cigar must have only recently occurred to Blizzard. Apparently, a cigar was initially planned for Tychus in this skin. It was later removed. At Kotaku, an expert in such pop culturally significant questions, they believe it might be because Blizzard does not want a “tobacco reference” in the ESRB rating and therefore opted out.
In a thematically closely related news, the absurdly large nipple rings of Azmodan stand out: They have clearly been enlarged compared to D3.
All of this sounds amusing, but for some it is indeed a reason for excitement. The related thread on reddit has been quite active. There is even an official statement from Blizzard. It states that showing this cigar would be banned in some “countries”. So, they would have to make “two versions” of Tychus to make everything fit. They didn’t want that. Therefore, they removed it. The “multi-nationality” of the game has thus led to the need to pay attention to the different regulations here.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
That TERA has seen a great influx since its release on Steam has already been mentioned. However, an interesting side story illustrates how essential individual items in the cash shops of free-to-play games often are. And how could it be different in a game with a lot of bare skin? Of course, it’s about swimsuits.
Japan’s Influence in the Ingame Shop
The former producer of Bluehole Studios, Kim Nak Heong, has revealed a bit about TERA’s past. Originally, the intention was to present the Castanic as a “beautiful” race to appeal to a broad audience in many countries. For this reason, the horned women are also in the spotlight of most trailers. The developers were relatively surprised that the Elin prevailed as the most popular race, which is also reflected in the sales of swimsuits in the ingame shop: The revenue from Elin swimsuits is greater than that of all other races combined. Curiously: Only a few months before release the Elin were not even planned as a separate race.
In fact, Elins weren’t supposed to be its own separate race. It was just a female Popori. We only changed it two months before the release of the game. When we received feedback from those in North America, they were asking “How do these guys reproduce?” They didn’t really understand how animal-like Popori and human-like Elins could mate. We didn’t really think this through either. So ultimately, we decided to separate Elins from Poporis in the race selection screen. Even the name “Elin” was decided during that time. They were just going to be female Poporis.
Other outfits, whose design motivations often came from Japan, are said to be responsible for TERA’s persistence. In particular, the typical maid outfits have been a big bestseller and have ensured that TERA could easily transition from a subscription model to a free-to-play model.
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Who would have thought that a race originally designed as a filler race would one day save an entire game? So that is the story behind why the action MMO is in such good shape today, regularly receiving large content updates, and ranks among the most successful MMORPGs worldwide. By the way, the game is doing particularly well in the West. So well, in fact, that it is performing better in NA/EU than in Asia.
If we didn’t bother with Elin school swimsuits because Tera was unpopular in Japan back then, Tera right now would be in a completely different state.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Changes and improvements keep an MMORPG alive and ensure that it remains interesting. Therefore, developers periodically introduce major updates, altering some features.
The MMORPG Guild Wars 2 will introduce some changes to the WvW system with the upcoming expansion Heart of Thorns. These changes include:
No supplies are required for upgrades anymore.
The storage capacity for supplies and the size of supply deliveries will be reduced.
Upgrading no longer costs any gold.
Individual upgrade options are now grouped into ranks.
Upgrading to the next rank occurs automatically after a certain period of time.
There are two ranks for storage and three for all other objectives.
The higher the rank to which one wishes to upgrade, the longer the upgrade will take.
With each delivery from a Dolyak caravan, the remaining time will be reduced by a certain amount.
The time required for a complete upgrade of an objective remains approximately the same.
Additionally, there are these improvements to the WvW upgrade system:
The number of trait ranks for “Brawler” and “Defense Against Guards” has been reduced from 10 to 5.
“Applied Valor” and “Applied Strength” have been removed from the trait lines “Defense Against Guards” and “Brawler”.
Trait lines with a bonus of 1% to 5% now receive a bonus of 2% to 10%.
The total cost of siege weapon trait lines has been reduced from 75 points to 60 points.
The total cost of the trait line “Supply Carrying Capacity” has been reduced from 300 points to 145 points.
“Supply Master” and “Terror of Mercenaries” remain unchanged at 15 points.
All progress paths for traits with five ranks have been unified and now include 35 points.
All progress paths for traits with four ranks have been unified and now include 15 points.
So, anyone who enjoys playing in the WvW of the MMORPG Guild Wars 2 and wishes for a little more flair can look forward to the release of the add-on Heart of Thorns, which is set to be released later this year. According to Amazon, this could be the case by the end of June.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
As every Friday (if we don’t forget *cough*), we want to ask you a question again today and are curious about your opinions! The question is quite simple, but the answer might not be: Do you play MMOs solo or in fixed groups?
The more, the better
Little break by the campfire after questing together? That evokes nostalgia.
In the early days of the MMO genre, many things were unwritten laws: Anyone who wanted to have fun with World of Warcraft or the first Guild Wars had to act in groups. Social interaction made MMOs truly appealing, because if we are honest for a moment: Almost every single-player RPG would have entertained us better than a vacant online world ten years ago. Story was minimal in the quests, exciting boss fights were a rarity during the leveling phase, and the environments were often so expansive that after many minutes of walking, one would frequently wonder if they couldn’t better spend their time.
And yet, MMOs captivated for many hours, if not even months or years, because you could experience them with others. Raids for 40 people or a player-driven economy created incentives to interact with other characters. When there were no game contents, people just created their own (like PvP in Hillsbrad – Tarren Mill vs Southshore).
Many games in one
Nowadays, MMORPGs are often many games in one. There are extensive solo quest lines with cutscenes and decision options, often numerous mini-games (Triple Triad, Pet Battles, etc.) and plenty of content that can be tackled alone. The latest MMOs are also increasingly showcasing so-called dynamic events, where groups are formed automatically. However, the heroes mostly complete tasks “anonymously”, without saying a word to a fellow player.
Many MMOs have now become solid single-player titles, and to have fun, you often don’t need other players at all. The needs of players have changed significantly in recent years. And so, I now come to our question through long detours: How do you consume MMOs; in groups or alone?
“Can we play together?” – “???”
Cortyn says: In the past, there was little I could do alone in WoW, except perhaps raise my reputation with Darnassus. Nowadays, there are many contents specifically tailored for solo players, such as the personal progress bar in WildStar. Essentially, this is a good expansion and allows many MMOs to reach a larger audience, although they are drifting further away from their original justification for existence: social contacts. WildStar, TESO, WoW, GW2 or TERA can now be played alone without problems, and one can have fun for many hours. However, these games can’t really keep me engaged for long if I can’t gather players around me. Still, I keep encountering people who only occasionally visit the auction house, but otherwise want their peace.
How do you play MMOs? Do you have fixed groups and can’t have fun without them? Or do you often enjoy such games alone and find the other players disturbing? And above all: Why? Let us know in the comments!
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the action MMO “Neverwinter”, guilds will soon have the opportunity to claim a stronghold. This means guild PvP and lord tower.
In Neverwinter, players will soon fulfill their childhood dream of being a knight residing in a stronghold. With the announced seventh expansion “Strongholds”, guilds will be able to seize their own stronghold and defend it.
However, they will not just move into a ready-made nest and find everything superb, but they will have to get the castle in shape first. They will need to “pacify” the surrounding area (meaning defeat monsters), then reinforce the castle and finally defend it against attacking monsters or other players.
The Executive Producer describes the expansion as a step towards players being able to write and develop “their own stories”. It involves them liberating a land overrun by orcs with their guild, and then defending their little patch of earth against all invaders.
In the MMO shooter Destiny on Friday, May 22nd, Xur, the Agent of the Nine, will make his first appearance in the Tower or the Reef after the DLC. Does he already have new exotic weapons and armor? Where is he located? What does he have to offer?
Little is known about Xur so far. Whether he will appear in the new Reef is uncertain, but it is considered possible. What he will have to offer cannot be predicted at this point. However, much should become clear soon: His arrival is imminent.
Could Xur have the new exotic weapons and armor for sale?
It seems that the 5 new exotic weapons found in the database are likely out of his reach. He probably won’t sell any of them, not just this Friday, but never. The three “Fallen weapons”: the pistol Dreg’s Promise, the shotgun Lord of the Wolves, and the fusion rifle Queenbreakers’ Bow are Raid weapons, that much is known. Xur typically does not sell those.
Also, no one has randomly found the last new exotic weapon, the “347 Vesta Dynasty” in the game. It is even assumed that it never truly made it to Destiny, but was an early version of the hand cannon “Vestian Dynasty” and was left behind as data residue.
However, there are increasing reports of guardians randomly finding exotic armor pieces. This means: These 9 new exotic armor pieces could be gradually sold by Xur.
All about Xur, the Agent of the Nine, on May 22nd, 23rd, and 24th in Destiny
When does Xur come and when does he leave again?
Xur arrives on May 22nd at 11:00 AM; he leaves again on Sunday, May 24th at 11:00 AM CEST.
Where is Xur located?
Xur is somewhat hidden in a doorway in the Reef. Our friends from ProNDC will show you exactly where he is hiding.
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These are the values that the armor piece reaches in this edition. We do not yet know new parameters for the values in Strength, Intellect, and Discipline.
What does Xur have for sale this week?
Xur has the exotic hand cannon “The Last Word” for sale this week. It can be acquired for 23 strange coins. It certainly comes just in time for the Trials of Osiris, which start this evening.
For Titans, he sells the gloves “No Plan B” (106/111). The armor pieces cost 13 strange coins each.
For Warlocks, the chest armor “Starfire Protocol” (166/175).
This is likely to be quite disappointing, as there are no new DLC items on offer.
The helm engram might be really attractive to players. Anyone wanting to try their luck here might receive one of the 3 new helms. However, the likelihood of getting the exact right one seems to decrease further. As a new “exchange option,” Xur offers to exchange 2 strange coins for a light particle.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
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.
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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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.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
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
Skolas
They then have concrete numbers for other activities:
Skolas has already been captured 900,000 times, so many Guardians have already completed the new story missions
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.
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.
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.
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.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
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.”
If you want us to even consider your apology a public YouTube apology is necessary. No personal information please. Email me the link
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.”
ok. that’s it. 5 people. no more. some think that’s 5 too many, but I’ll trade the attention on the subject of cheating for that any day.
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.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
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.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
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.
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.
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.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
