The sand park MMO ArcheAge focuses more on events, the open world, and the relationships between players.
The site PCGamesN was able to conduct an interview with two senior employees of XLGames, the Korean developers of ArcheAge. According to their statements, the development of ArcheAge will focus on “the community and friendship among players.”
The game should move away from “instanced gameplay content” and develop towards the open world. It should not be about players becoming stronger, but about them connecting with each other, forming friendships and communities.
This does not exclude further instances. They contribute to the diversity. However, the focus will lie elsewhere in the future.
My MMO thinks: This is certainly the right way. The strengths of ArcheAge surely lie elsewhere than in dungeon grinding. The systems of ArcheAge are not designed for such power creep through instances.
Every praise of ArcheAge mentions the possibilities that guilds have here and the creative ideas for community projects. Whether guilds build a village together or launch the Black Pearl: These are the great moments in ArcheAge and not some boss kill in a new instance, as would be the case in other MMOs.
The statement is therefore logical, but also actually obvious. A bit like when a 120-kilo athlete says he sees his future more in shot put than in pole vaulting.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Therefore, I would like to give you some tips and tricks in this video to make the beginning or comeback a bit easier. These include tips on equipment, mounts, skills, professions, and much more. Because the game throws you into the cold water more or less, and I as a returning player had to reorient myself.
I want to spare you that. When you come to Tamriel (or return), you should at least be a little better prepared than I was. If you want to learn more about the transition, I recommend watching my previous cast about the Buy2Play version of TESO.
– Darion
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Destiny, an exploit in the Iron Banner caused a spontaneous appearance of Guardians.
The glitch for the current Iron Banner allowed players to circle in orbit until the reset, and then dive down into the Tower 3 minutes after the reset to indulge in Lord Saladin’s item offerings. And this was done without actually playing this version of the Iron Banner. To pull that off, Guardians in Destiny had to hit a specific time window for when they appeared in the Tower. Apparently, a relatively large number of players got wind of this method and chose the exact same moment for the action.
This results in an unusual video showcasing a sudden appearance of numerous Guardians.
It is worth noting: At the time of the video, it was 4:00 AM in the central USA. It was still the middle of the night when the weekly timer hit, and a crowd of Guardians tried to perfectly sync with Lord Saladin and his goods while still holding the old Iron Banner rank. Here in Germany, it was already significantly more humane around 10:03 …
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In World of Warcraft, WoW, theorycrafting sometimes takes on absurd forms. How can one determine who benefits the most from the increase in items from the Blackrock Foundry? Who deals the most damage? And what is the wipe probability of under-equipped raiders against Gruul … on a Tuesday when the sun is again in the sign of the turtle?
“Theorycrafting” is the rocket science for WoW players. Players theoretically calculate what their pixel avatars need to accomplish in the raid.
Theorycrafting in WoW: A long time ago, just a little while ago, and today
Back then, the calculations in WoW (Warning, cliché) were taken over by Korean math students from US elite units in their abundant free time. They tackled the secrets of Blizzard with a calculator. They then posted their findings in elite forums like “Elitist Jerks.” As a mere mortal, one simply had to believe their lengthy explanations about minimal DPS increases – because if you asked, you could get banned.
Those were the days!
Later, there were spreadsheets to fill out yourself with the charm of a tasty tax return. During this time, “Third Party Websites” emerged, which chewed through how to optimize your character to reach the best outcomes.
Today, WoW has shed some of its theoretical quirks. Theorycrafting has long entered the mainstream, even though no one calculates by themselves anymore. It’s similar to mobile phones. People use them much more than before, and much less than they used to but at least roughly know how they work. The offerings are commercialized and tailored to the player. There are easy-to-use websites. Theorycrafting now has an interface that players can actually work with. Everywhere there are little graphics and bars. One almost feels like one is in Azeroth.
Who benefits the most from the increase in Blackrock items?
The challenges theorycrafters face, however, haven’t changed. To name a current issue that theorycrafters in World of Warcraft must deal with: how do you calculate who benefits the most when Blizzard suddenly decides: We are raising the gear from the Blackrock Foundry by 5 item levels?
At the currently trendiest site “Ask Mr. Robot,” they turned it into a spreadsheet and set some assumptions as given. Now you can see who benefits the most from an item increase from 470 to 472 percentage-wise.
#StillWinning
The answer: For DPS, the BM Hunter, for tanks, the monk with two one-handers, and for healers, the Disc Priest. The spreadsheet can be found here.
Who deals the most DPS in 6.1? Depends on whom you ask
Of course, there’s a catch that fans passionately discuss: The underlying mechanics in WoW are not solely mathematics, but often also a matter of faith. And the mathematical formulas that are supposed to represent performance in raids differ among the various purveyors of truth in World of Warcraft as much as the respective secret recipes of Coke and Pepsi.
Depending on whether you value the Crit rating for a class with factor X or Y, completely different results arise. And is what happens on paper really the same under real conditions? Should one not consider latency, personal performance, class complexity, different encounters, synergy effects? Yes, of course. But how? How can all the variables be taken into account?
This eternal question has been disputed by fans in World of Warcraft since theorycrafting began. Who is the strongest DPS now? If you go to this site, it says this, on another site it’s a different class. Sneaky!
I’ll figure it out, but … let me take a selfie first!
Ask Mr. Robot is currently the most user-friendly site for theorycrafting in WoW
On the website of Ask Mr. Robot, you can now find the most user-friendly interface available and also the widest range of offerings. There are precise tables here where you just have to set your gear level and it then graphically shows who is ahead in damage at that level.
You can have the logs of your own character analyzed. And of course, you can also spy on your teammates. This has been the custom in WoW since a few years ago when the “He still needs to pop a flask!” whistleblower add-ons came out. This way, one can observe how your own raid functions, who is struggling in which boss fight, and who is excelling. Even the wipe probability of the entire group at a certain item level can now be calculated and displayed.
Ha! You have a maximum of a 0.23% chance to defeat me. What? You have infinite attempts?! Unfair!
And do the numbers behind it all add up correctly? Who knows? Somehow the numbers are always buggy when they don’t reflect your own raid. And if that damn rogue, who shouldn’t hit at all, ends up ahead of you again, even though you did everything as the nice gentlemen and ladies with calculators said, then … well then – the site is simply bad!
The sandbox MMO Landmark will undergo a character and claim wipe in April. This is likely to be the only one during the beta, even though players will have to say goodbye to their possessions later on.
Wipes are the nightmare of MMO players in an existing world. It means that they lose everything they have worked for until then and must start over. A fate that is often inevitable in Alphas and Betas.
In April, DGC has now announced a wipe for their builder MMO Landmark. The game is still in closed beta. Some have been hoping for over half a year that it would switch to open beta. However, the April wipe will not herald the transition to open beta.
Characters and their claims will be deleted, but not the accounts and items purchased in the marketplace.
The current wipe is intended to be the only one that affects both characters and claims. Later, when transitioning to open beta, there will be another “claim” wipe, but the characters will remain untouched by that.
Team Fortress 2 allows its players to create and sell their own “taunts”, personal insults.
Valve’s team shooter “Team Fortress 2” has a creative and active community and the developers want to support that and also make some money. Next, players will be allowed to create their own “taunts”. For individualists who don’t know what to do with regular “teabagging”, a strong jump over the corpse, or other conventional shooter habits, this is certainly a good idea.
The team will regularly select some of the created animations to offer for sale in the general shop. The actual creators will of course receive money for that.
Valve has provided hobby animators with a FAQ and also briefly shows in this video what they have in mind along with three of their own taunts. In this, the Sniper pulls out the saxophone in a killer solo to celebrate his triumph or marks someone from an astonishingly packed “Most Wanted” list.
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The superhero and supervillain MMO DC Universe Online now introduces the new power set “Ammunition,” providing the possibility to equip superheroes with machine guns or other conventional weapons.
The power sets in DC Universe Online allow players to create their own superheroes or villains while copying a specific “style”: Those who resort to an experimental serum are treading the path of Batman’s nemesis “Bane.” But there are also much “superhero-like” powers in DCUO, enabling one to shoot fire from their hands or to possess telepathic abilities.
The new set of powers would appeal to characters like Punisher, Nick Fury, or Cabal (though they belong to DC’s competitor, Marvel): Here, the power comes from a big gun. In the world of DC, this set is inspired by Sgt. Rock. The new power set “Ammunition” is all about firepower; you can check it out in a one-minute video.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Destiny, the weekly Nightfall strike on March 17 leads to Crota’s Will. It’s the Yoko Ono of Destiny, against Crota’s friend Omnigul.
Did you know that Omnigul was voiced by the same actress as Eris Morn? And that this actress also provided the screams for the Hive witches and even the sounds made by Hive weapons?
Anyway, the Nightfall in Destiny leads to Crota’s Will for the fifth time, resulting in the Strike appearing approximately twice as frequently in the rotation as other strikes. There are four variants with different modifiers. The other strikes only appear in two variants. This week, from now until Tuesday, March 24 at 10:00 AM, the Arc variant of Crota’s Will is the weekly Nightfall strike in Destiny.
The modifiers for the Nightfall strike in Destiny on March 17.
Nightfall – If the entire fireteam falls, it’s back to orbit and the strike must be restarted from the beginning.
Epic – ensures that the enemies in the Nightfall strike hit harder and can withstand more damage than their counterparts in other strikes.
Lightswitch – the enemies deal significantly increased melee damage.
Angry – the enemies are not deterred from their mission to wipe out the Guardians (that’s you) by heavy hits.
Arc Burn – everything that deals Arc damage (like electro stuff) is significantly more effective, also applies to the enemy.
The heroic weekly strike in Destiny also has Arc Burn active.
Which weapons are recommended for the Nightfall in Destiny?
For the primary weapon, the scout rifle Ir Yût’s Fang is definitely worth a look. The classic choice is the Thorn, and the pulse rifle Exotic of the Overmind could also yield good results. And for those who consider the witches and Omnigul herself are worth a special weapon: Abyss Remainer will get them to twitch.
Special weapon: How about “Patience and Time,” the exotic sniper rifle? Or maybe the Sniper LDR 5001 or the Arc shotgun Secret Handshake?
Heavy weapons: The machine gun Thunderlord is definitely the first choice. But other Arc machine guns like Ir Yût’s Song can also clear the field.
Are there guides, tips, or cheese spots for Omnigul and Crota’s Will?
You should all know the Crota’s Will strike by now as well as the back of your hand. It is a relatively tough strike, as certain passages, like the “enemy waves” towards the end, seem never-ending – Omnigul herself is not a particularly popular boss encounter, but rather tough. As always, the fewer players you go into the Nightfall in Destiny, the more cautiously you have to play.
We will post videos of successful runs throughout the day that you can watch for inspiration.
The first video we present is a German run with three players. The perspective holder uses a range of Arc weapons including Thorn, Whisper, Thunderlord, and Existence of the Overmind. The tactics are well explained, with retreating to the first rooms, the dangerous melee fighters, and the patience game with Omnigul later on. She is then dealt with quite unusually at the end with a suicide safe spot, but oh well.
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How the Iron Banner can be worth it for hardcore players is shown in this video. One has created a perfect Radegast Wrath Arc rocket launcher, and with it, one can also solo through Crota’s Will. However, even in fast forward, you can see what a tough endeavor that is and how extremely cautiously you must play and through how many small openings you must fire with Patience and Time to clear the Nightfall in Destiny solo.
The fantasy MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online has switched to the Buy2Play model “Tamriel Unlimited” overnight from Monday to Tuesday. Players can now log in without an active subscription.
Last night, the first players in North America were surprisingly able to log into The Elder Scrolls Online without an active account. It has now added the name “Tamriel Unlimited” and switched to a Buy2Play model. Normally, this was supposed to happen in the USA a few hours later – at that time it was still Monday afternoon there, the changeover was actually announced for Tuesday.
In Germany, the patch 2.0.1., which made this possible in the USA, is scheduled to be rolled out at 3:00 AM. The maintenance work is expected to take a few hours. Then players here will likely be able to log in without a subscription on Tuesday morning as well. They only need to have purchased the game. It has not become Free2Play, as many hoped: players must at least have purchased and activated the base game once.
These are not exactly ceremonial moments for a payment model change. There are no fanfares, confetti, or dancing Khajiits, but so what? Better to get started a few hours earlier, and whether it’s 7:00 AM or 5:00 PM, those few hours don’t matter much anymore.
There seems to be a small error as well: If you do not see your Champion Points after the patch, you should log out and log back in.
And if you still have questions about the transition of TESO to Buy2Play, here is one of the popular TESO-Casts from our YouTube partner Darion, which should answer the questions you still have about the transition to Buy2Play:
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In Destiny it was last possible to purchase the rewards in the Iron Banner, even if you didn’t play it. Is it possible again this time?
On Tuesday, March 17th, at 10:00 AM, the next Iron Banner begins and there is speculation again. Last time, during the February Iron Banner, players were able to purchase rewards as long as they had achieved a high rank in the January Iron Banner, without having to play the Iron Banner again.
It was a trick from last February that hardly anyone thought would work: And then it did. With a relatively simple method, players could exploit Destiny’s “sticky ID switch,” which had cost some players their loot in the Nightfall Strike, to their advantage and stock up on items that they technically weren’t entitled to.
To do this, they had to be in orbit just before the ID switch at 10:00 AM and go to the Tower two or three minutes after the ID switch. Players received a message stating that they did not meet the requirements. However, this seemed to be just a patchy attempt by Bungie to address the issue. By swapping armor pieces, Guardians were still able to enter the Tower. Here, they could purchase heavily from Lord Saladin with the old reputation rank. This allowed Guardians to bypass playing the Iron Banner in Destiny and still purchase the coveted rewards.
An even better and safer method was said to be joining a friend’s instance.
At the moment, Guardians are puzzling on reddit whether this will be possible again this time or if Bungie has fixed this exploit since it became popular in February.
Update 10:10: According to initial reports, the exploit has worked again and players were able to obtain the two current Iron Banner weapons, Silimar’s Wrath and Jolder’s Hammer, without participating in the Iron Banner.
It is time to bring an old format of my column back to life to introduce you to some real gems that, in my opinion, have not received enough attention so far. Here I present every conceivable type of games, regardless of whether they are playable offline or online – in some cases, they are even difficult to classify as “games”, such as “Juniper’s Knot“.
I start anew with “Valkyria Chronicles”, which is available for both the good old PS3 and recently for PC via Steam.
Plot Overview
Valkyria takes place in a semi-fictional world around the year 1935. Currently, the “Second European War” is underway, with the two superpowers, the “Imperial Alliance” and the “Atlantic Federation”, fighting for dominance and the rare resource “Ragnite”. Right between these factions lies the small principality of Gallia, which unfortunately possesses quite large Ragnite reserves. The Empire does not waste any time and attacks the small state.
The player takes on the role of “Welkin Gunther”, a student who returns to his hometown of Bruhl after completing his studies – just in time to witness the destruction of the village by the war. As a result of these atrocities, he and the other survivors join the militia. From this point on, you will get to know new members of “Squad 7”, who will find a place in your heart sooner or later.
Genre Mix: A Dramatic, Turn-Based Strategy Shooter
“Valkyria Chronicles” blends several genres in an intelligent and well-executed way. The narrative is told in chapters – so you always have 5-10 minutes of story sequences before the next military operation takes place. The battles are turn-based, which means: The player commands the units in turn. Each movement of a unit costs 1 command point. Once you control a unit, the game switches from bird’s-eye view to third-person view, so you must manually control the individual soldiers.
The various unit classes have different abilities: Scouts can run especially far per turn, shock troopers can inflict heavy damage, lancers can dismantle entire tanks. Once all command points are used up, it is the enemy’s turn.
Permadeath: No Second Chance
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During the game, you can expand your squad with numerous new recruits if you wish. Aside from a few significant characters, all soldiers can die in battle – and that permanently. If one of your comrades falls, you have 3 turns afterward to reach him with another friendly unit to call a medic.
If you do not succeed, or an enemy touches the fallen first, the character dies – with a brief display of their last words, and then the screen fades to white. Every turn must be well thought out – recklessness can quickly lead to the death of beloved characters.
Every Soldier is a Unique Character
“Squad 7” is a militia unit, and you can tell that by the behavior of its members. Each character has individual strengths and weaknesses, which can come into play in combat. Some women have the disadvantage “Talkative”, which lowers their accuracy if favored friends are nearby. Other characters perform better when loved ones are close – some even sacrifice themselves to save others from death.
Even if not all squad members contribute significantly to the plot, they all have detailed personalities with strengths and weaknesses that come to light in battle!
Many Gruesome Themes, Well Presented
Valkyria Chronicles may have colorful anime characters, but this does not mean that it is always cheerful. In “Squad 7”, there are minors, as the militia from Gallia recruits anyone they can find. This also poses difficult questions to the player: Do I really want to have “child soldiers” in my squad? The fact that characters can die permanently makes this decision even harder.
Elsewhere, you will find labor camps where “inferior” people work themselves to death. This is reminiscent more than a little of the Nazi concentration camps – and that is intentional. The themes are close to reality, but in a fictional context. And they are never trivialized. It is an interesting tightrope walk that succeeds!
In summary, “Valkyria Chronicles” is incredibly well staged. The comic-style graphics may be a bit dated, but they still look good and fit the game perfectly. Dramatic and funny moments balance each other out, as everyday life in the barracks is often addressed. The more horrific are the moments when fate strikes with full force. If you are looking for an exciting, captivating, and challenging game, you might want to consider twenty euros – they are well invested in “Valkyria Chronicles”.
You are new to the world ofHeroes of the Storm and have no idea how to afford a 10,000-gold hero? Then pay attention: I have summarized the most effective methods to become a HotS self-made millionaire.
Account Rewards in Heroes of the Storm
As a newcomer in Heroes of the Storm, your starting capital is exactly 0 gold. However, this is not dramatic for the beginning, as you can earn money relatively quickly through the first ten levels.
Level 2: 1,000 Gold
Level 4: 1,000 Gold
Level 6: Daily Quest (here you get bonus gold depending on the quest task)
Level 8: 2,000 Gold
Level 10: 2,000 Gold
You can either invest your first gold in three 2,000 gold heroes or save it for one of the 10,000 gold heroes. There is no right or wrong.
Daily Quest
Starting from Account Level 6, you unlock daily quests for which you will be rewarded with gold. The quest log can store a maximum of 3 quests. However, these can be kept for an unlimited time. Currently, there are nine different quests:
Complete 2 games with a Diablo hero: 200 gold.
Complete 2 games with a Warcraft hero: 200 gold.
Complete 2 games with a Starcraft hero: 200 gold.
Complete 2 games with an assassin: 300 gold.
Complete 2 games with a specialist: 300 gold.
Complete 2 games with a supporter: 300 gold.
Complete 2 games with a warrior: 300 gold.
Win 3 games: 600 gold.
Complete 8 games: 800 gold.
Which quest you receive is random. However, since most quests are in the 200-300 gold range, the probability of receiving such a quest is higher. The “accumulation tactic” is particularly effective when “questing”.
A small example: Suppose in Daily 1 you need to complete eight games, in Daily 2 three games with a warrior, and in Daily 3 three games with a Diablo hero, then we need a total of 14 games if we complete one quest each day. However, if we accumulate the quests, we can complete all three quests in eight games on day 3, provided we play a Diablo hero who is a warrior.
Hero Rewards
The currently most effective method to earn gold besides daily quests is leveling heroes to level 5. This gives you a hefty bonus of 500 gold in a very short time. It goes even faster if you play in a team with at least one friend. This grants bonus XP, and the hero reaches level 5 after just a few games. With currently 37 different heroes, that results in a total yield of 18,500 gold.
As a nice side effect, you also unlock hero specializations. Therefore, you should play all heroes to level 5 first during each hero rotation before they change again. Of course, the farming method comes to a sudden end once you have leveled all heroes to level 5.
Match Rewards in Heroes of the Storm
As a reward for completing a match in Heroes of the Storm, you receive both experience points and gold. However, the amount is limited:
Coop Match Loss: 0 Gold
Coop Match Win: 10 Gold
Quick Match/Hero League Loss: 20 Gold
Quick Match/Hero League Win: 30 Gold
The only thing that compensates for the amount of rewards received is the fact that an average match lasts around 20 minutes.
Stimpacks
“Only those who sow will also reap.” So or something like that is how it works with the stimpacks available in the shop. For real money, the boosters can be purchased for a duration of 7 or 30 days. Subsequently, the amount of experience points earned per game is increased by 100%, as well as the gold earned by 150%. If you activate a stimpack and earned 100,000 XP and 30 gold for your last match in Heroes, you will additionally receive 100,000 experience points and 45 gold with the stimpack, making a total of 200,000 XP and 75 gold for that game. The 7-day stimpack is already available for €3.99.
Additional Tips for Heroes of the Storm
There are a few additional rules and strategies to make the most out of the opportunities when farming for gold:
The coop mode is not very lucrative in terms of gold. Even a win in this mode is worth less gold than a loss in a quick match against real opponents.
If you play with a buddy who is on your Battle.Net friends list, you receive 50% bonus XP per match. Additionally, as a premade, you can have a greater influence on the game’s events and increase your chances of winning.
If you receive a daily quest with a quest reward of 200 gold, keep it until you have a total of two of that kind in your quest log. This then increases the likelihood of receiving a quest with a reward of 300, 600, or 800 gold. This way, you can earn more gold through daily quests over a longer period.
In Destiny, the Vex Mythoclast holds special significance. The exotic fusion rifle was notorious in the beginning, constantly plagued by bugs later on, and now a YouTuber has recreated it using Lego bricks.
The early days of the Mythoclast: Divine
It must have been a great feeling back then when the first Guardian received this quirky weapon “Vex Mythoclast” from Raid Boss Atheon in Hard Mode. It is a fusion rifle, actually a special weapon, that still functioned in the primary slot. What were they thinking? Back then, there were no wikis or showcase videos, the only way to learn about the weapon was through self-testing.
When the Guardian wanted to try out the weapon in the Crucible, the big surprise came: The thing just obliterated everything. Bungie had made the “Vex Mythoclast”, the only exotic weapon that could drop directly in a raid, way too strong and didn’t consider how much a Guardian would go on a rampage with it in the Crucible.
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By the way, a bit of trivia: Mythoclast is Greek and stands for “The destruction of myths”, and you only receive the Mythoclast if you defeat Atheon. And he wields god-like powers.
And now made from 1500 Lego pieces
The YouTuber ZaziNombies has now recreated the Vex Mythoclast using Lego bricks. He does this quite often. He used 1500 bricks and even managed to get the iconic “red scope” just right. The most interesting part of the video is certainly when he takes the individual pieces off, and you can see how accurately he managed to recreate the look of the famous weapon in Destiny using improvised Lego parts that a layman would never have thought of. He used many tires this time. Impressive.
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A Korean investment firm has analyzed NCSoft and its MMO titles like WildStar and Guild Wars 2.
Daewoo Securities is a Korean investment firm. The last time we heard from them was when they correctly predicted that Guild Wars 2 would get an expansion in 2015. This is significantly less impressive considering they had predicted that in previous years as well, but oh well.
Daewoo Securities sees extremely dark prospects for WildStar when analyzing NCSoft’s portfolio. With only $585,000 left, they see the SF MMO’s monthly revenue. They probably aren’t leaning too far out of the window with that: The last results from the fourth quarter of 2014 were disastrous for WildStar. However, they believe in a rosy future for Guild Wars 2: The release of Heart of Thorns is expected in the third quarter of 2015. They expect the revenue GW2 generates to sextuple compared to the second quarter of 2015.
The future of NCSoft relies on Guild Wars 2, Lineage Eternal, and Mobile Games
Let’s hope not.
Daewoo Securities also comments on the dispute between NCSoft and Nexon. Nexon, as a larger shareholder, plans to take control of NCSoft. According to Daewoo, this has not yet affected the stock price. Overall, the investment firm believes that NCSoft’s situation should significantly improve in the second half of 2015 compared to the first. Major moments are planned here: Besides the Guild Wars 2 expansion, they expect several mobile games to be strong, and they are banking on Lineage Eternal, which is expected to go into beta in the second half of 2015. The Lineage franchise is still NCSoft’s biggest draw despite its old age.
The “Then it went well” number for sold GW2 expansions is set at 3 million, while anything above 2 million sold units is considered “still okay”. Anything below or a delay into 2016 is seen as a bad scenario. In that case, if both the mobile games and Lineage Eternal disappoint, Nexon might gain the support of other shareholders and increase control over NCSoft. In an ideal situation (mobile games do well, Lineage Eternal beta is great; GW2 sells like hotcakes), Nexon could exit instead.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The free-to-play MMO Skyforge is currently in closed beta. The Russian project is seen as a hopeful candidate for the coming years. Our author Schuhmann reports from the closed beta. What is his first impression? What is his opinion.
For about a year, I have been writing about Skyforge, watching many videos, and reading even more about it. Accordingly, I was very excited about the closed beta. Since Wednesday, I finally had the opportunity to really play Skyforge, and I want to provide you with a first impression. This should all be taken with caution. Such first impressions are always personally colored.
I have not played all 6 classes equally or engaged with every aspect equally. But no game can ultimately do that. And of course, Skyforge is still in early closed beta, so everything can still change. Therefore: This is not a review, it is not indisputable, this is not the “truth,” this is an impression. And if you have a different one, we look forward to reading it in the comments.
Be glad that I start the article this way. The alternative was: “Throw yourselves in the dust, mortals, your new god is here”, but since I was recently confused with Cortyn, I decided to refrain from that.
So: To Skyforge.
Skyforge is a lobby MMO, not an MMORPG, as veterans would wish
The first thing everyone should understand: With every new MMORPG come players who long for the freedom and possibilities that earlier games like Ultima Online provided. They can stop reading right away. Skyforge is nothing for them. It probably isn’t a game for MMORPG fans who insist on the “RPG” aspect.
Skyforge is a lobby MMO and has much more in common with Diablo 3 than with “classic role-playing games.” Everything that “purists” have complained about in World of Warcraft in recent years is pushed to the extreme by Skyforge. There is no exploration, no crafting, hardly any classic quest zones, and few social elements (those are supposed to come with the guilds).
Skyforge is the definition of a lobby MMO, where you teleport from a lobby straight into the “relevant instances” without any path in between. It’s a bit like only staying in the city in World of Warcraft and leveling up to 90 through the “group finder.” A nightmare for some, a brief distraction for others.
The gameplay of Skyforge
Partially instances, partially Guild Wars 2 maps
Most of the time, you spend in
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In a trailer, Star Citizen looks into its own future and shows how the space MMO is supposed to be more than the sum of its already enormous parts.
At SXSW, a trade fair in Texas, there was a code, that lets you play Star Citizen for free for a week. But that wasn’t all: There was also a mega trailer for the Kickstarter sensation (it is assumed that the 100 million dollar mark will be surpassed. This much success raises critics: For months they have shown skepticism towards the title, questioning whether the developers will really achieve their visions and whether the extremely ambitious plans already reveal megalomania and overconfidence.
This is also not conclusively answerable according to the trailer. However: If all modules, the space combat, the shooter, and also the social module, eventually work together like shown in the trailer, then… no idea. We could probably all be damn glad.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Destiny it has been achieved after over half a year by the first player to actually solo Atheon, the boss of the first raid.
The next thing that everyone thought was impossible in Destiny is accomplished: Atheon, the raid boss from “The Vault of Glass” was defeated by a single player. It was considered an extraordinary achievement to do it with at least two players. A certain game mechanic required multiple players.
It was of course a “Praise the Sun” Lazarus Warlock. His “super ability” consists of resurrecting from the dead. However, after a successful resurrection, it usually takes too long for it to be possible again. The player needs it quickly enough that he can intentionally die every time Atheon opens the portals, in order to resurrect afterward. Otherwise, he would be pulled into another dimension from which he cannot escape without a partner.
But that is just the rough framework of this idea: The fine details took months for tactical planners to figure out. The player in the video was the first to execute them perfectly. In the video, primarily grenades are used on Atheon, as they enjoy a damage buff during the time streams.
The Warlock also uses as exotic items the “Heart of Praxic Fire” and the exotic pulse rifle “Bad Juju.” The rifle is necessary to generate enough super through kills on the Supplicants or to push the cooldown of the super enough so that the Lazarus “resurrecting from the dead” trick is regularly and timely possible. The chest armor Heart of Praxic Fire allows a hail of grenades after resurrecting. Grenades deal 5 times the damage during the boss encounter.
The strategy to accomplish the impossible in Destiny, when watched, bears a little resemblance to that Tom Cruise movie “Edge of Tomorrow” – which had the subtitle “Live. Die. Repeat.” It is impressive how confidently he takes out the little creatures. If he misses just one, it’s game over.
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When it came to grenades, Bungie was faced with a serious problem: They would have to design the grenade throw with every weapon “in mind.” After all, you would throw a grenade completely differently if you were holding a pistol or a rocket launcher in the other hand. This would require 25 different motion sequences.
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But here, Bungie was simply clever. If you look closely, the first animation preceding every grenade throw is the avatar lowering the weapon first: This turned 25 animations into just one, perfectly executed.
The Field of View: Just Set It a Little Lower
Hesby also revealed another secret: “When designing a shooter, you want to place the crosshair right in the center of the screen first.” However, if you set it a little lower, fields of view above and to the sides open up, allowing for peripheral vision.
The MMO shooter Destiny is facing a lot of criticism. However, the core mechanic, known as gunplay, is beyond any doubt. How did Destiny achieve this?
It is fascinating what game designers have to deal with. They focus on the issues faced by gamers that we feel deeply but cannot articulate, even if they spoil the entire game for us. And they work hard to ensure that we do not encounter these problems.
If you ask hardcore players why they still play Destiny despite all the issues, they will say something like: “It just feels good.” But why does it feel good? This is the responsibility of David Heslby, one of the senior animators at Bungie, who explained some of his tricks at GDC.
The Tricks of the Destiny Developers
Camera Control: Borrowed from Boxers
One of the most sensitive topics in shooters is “camera control.” How does the player’s field of view move when they move and perform actions? If the camera remains static, it feels “wrong,” too “airy.” If the camera mimics the player character’s movements too much, it becomes jerky and unstable. Players do not feel comfortable, but rather get almost motion sick, especially if they are prone to it: “Even if only 10% of players feel uncomfortable, you alienate people when you sell a million games, that’s 100,000 players,” Helsby explains. That’s why camera animation is so critical.
One might think to simply attach a camera to a runner and see how they perceive the world as they move. But according to Helsby, that’s not a solution. And he knows, he tried just that once.
Then they found the answer with boxers. They already know in advance about each of their punches and position their heads accordingly. When a boxer winds up for a punch, they also move their punching hand with their head. However, before making contact with the opponent, the head swings in the opposite direction to maintain balance.
This was the secret that made the animations in Destiny so convincing. According to Helsby, you can see this best in the knife melee of the hunter.
The Grenade Trick: Only One Instead of Twenty-Five Animations
When it came to grenades, Bungie was faced with a serious problem: They would have to design the grenade throw with every weapon “in mind.” After all, you would throw a grenade completely differently if you were holding a pistol or a rocket launcher in the other hand. This would require 25 different motion sequences.
But here, Bungie was simply clever. If you look closely, the first animation preceding every grenade throw is the avatar lowering the weapon first: This turned 25 animations into just one, perfectly executed.
The Field of View: Just Set It a Little Lower
Hesby also revealed another secret: “When designing a shooter, you want to place the crosshair right in the center of the screen first.” However, if you set it a little lower, fields of view above and to the sides open up, allowing for peripheral vision.
The leading MOBA League of Legends must continuously excite the players. In addition to new champions, gameplay changes are of course part of it. Riot has now announced a mastery system that allows you to level up each champion individually – similar to Blizzard’s MOBA Heroes of the Storm.
Motivation outside the Ladder
Players who have sworn off Ranked Games could also say goodbye to progress after reaching level 30. This is exactly where Riot wants to step in and give players motivation for the future. The more you play with a champion, the more experience you gain and level up that champion. Although you won’t receive any improvements in the Summoner’s Rift, you can show your friends how much experience you have with a champion or not. The complete list of new features that you can already try out on the test server can be found on the official Riot page.
Copied from HotS?
The experience for the mastery system is currently only obtained through normal games. The visibility could become problematic: If other players see the mastery level via the Team Builder, it might be difficult to level up new champions, as everyone could leave the lobby and prefer to play with experienced summoners. The system immediately triggered associations for me with Heroes of the Storm. Here, too, you level up with individual champions, gain gold, and even receive a special skin at level 10. The action MOBA SMITE has a similar system.
Heroes of the Storm is still in closed beta, and Blizzard does not see the game as a classic MOBA. However, alongside Dota 2, League of Legends will soon have to compete for customers with HotS.
What do you think of the mastery system: Good adaptation or cheap copy?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
