World of Warcraft had many raids – and even more mechanics. Here we present to you the 5 best among them.
Over the course of more than 20 years, World of Warcraft has released a lot of raids – more than 40 in total and several hundred bosses, each of which had dozens of mechanics that had to be played correctly. Although many mechanics have repeated themselves over the years or function very similarly, there are a few that have remained memorable due to their creativity or entertainment value.
In this article, we want to take a look back at 5 very special raid mechanics from the history of World of Warcraft that have remained memorable due to their creativity.
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3 NPCs mit seltsamen Realvorbildern in WoW
Class Calls in Blackwing Lair
One of the first bosses in World of Warcraft was the great dragon Nefarian, who could be found at the end of Blackwing Lair. Not only was this one of the few bosses with clearly separated phases that differed drastically, but also the owner of one of the most interesting raid mechanics ever, the so-called “Class Calls”.
During the fight, Nefarian called forth individual classes repeatedly, forcing the respective characters to take action:
When Nefarian, for example, called the “Mages”, they began to transform their own allies into various animals using Polymorph.
If Paladins were called, they suddenly granted Nefarian a blessing, making him untouchable for a few seconds.
Warlocks suddenly summoned Infernal beasts that stunned player characters and then dealt high damage.
Nefarian was one of the most creative bosses from Classic.
This way, all classes had their own mechanic – a tradition that Blizzard continued even after introducing new classes (like Death Knights or Monks).
With Dragonflight, Blizzard wanted to bring this mechanic back in the renewed fight against Nefarian, but it proved to be difficult in terms of balance, as raids would then tend to leave the “worst” classes out of the fight.
Even today, Nefarian’s “Class Calls” hold a special place in the hearts of many WoW fans. It’s also one of the few Classic mechanics that was exceptionally complex and versatile.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
A short time ago, Star Citizen achieved the milestone of 800 million US dollars in crowdfunding revenue. This is made possible in part by the continuously new spaceships that are sold for real money. In this special, MeinMMO takes a look at the most expensive ships of the SciFi MMO.
Although Star Citizen has still not officially launched after 14 years of development, the MMO continues to enjoy steady millions in revenue in 2025. Recently, it even managed to surpass the historical threshold of 800 million US dollars.
The impetus for the uninterrupted flow of money that continues to this day was the Kickstarter campaign launched in 2012, which aimed to raise 500,000 US dollars but ended up bringing in 2,134,374 million US dollars. Since then, it has primarily been starter packs and spaceships from the store that have been contributing to the cash flow.
The Polaris was introduced in November 2024, is supposed to cost nearly 1,000 euros, and still does not make it into the top 5 of the most expensive ships from Star Citizen. Here is the trailer:
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Star Citizen: The new capital ship Polaris in trailer
The developers are naturally aware of this and therefore seize every opportunity to offer new spaceships or special variants of well-known ships at sometimes enormous prices, and in return, remove older ships from the store. The five most expensive spaceships in Star Citizen’s history are presented to you by MeinMMO below.
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Rank 5: Idris-P
The Idris-P from Star Citizen.
Price: 1,500 euros
Ship Type: Frigate (Combat)
Size: Capital / 240 meters long
Crew: Maximum 28 people
The Idris-P is a slightly more expensive version of the Idris-M, which costs 1,000 euros and is more suited for military operations. The P variant does not include “ship-to-ship guns” and the spine mounts instead features increased cargo capacity and speed.
The frigate is currently not available in the Star Citizen shop and is still in the production and testing phase before being implemented into the game. The last update apparently occurred three months ago.
Next up on the next page with ranks 4 and 3.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The influencer and host Simon Krätschmer is firmly rooted in German gaming and someone whom many gamers around 30 associate with their youth. In the 2000s, the now 46-year-old was a host at GIGA and later created the show GameOne. Since 2015, he has been with RocketBeans TV on and off. But now he is addressing the fans in a video.
Krätschmer earned well in previous years but did not immediately settle the tax bill back then.
In recent years, his income has significantly decreased.
Now the tax office is demanding a huge tax payment for the “good years”, which Krätschmer cannot easily pay.
Simon Krätschmer has about 440 viewers on Twitch – in 2021, it was an average of 2,000:
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These are the 5 most relevant German streamers on Twitch in 2024, according to Google
He has the money, but doesn’t want to sell at a loss
This is what he says about his situation: Krätschmer says (via youtube) that while he has the money the tax wants, that money is tied up in investments, cryptocurrencies, stocks, and ETFs, in which he is currently at a loss because everything is crashing. Therefore, he is reluctant to sell the investments at this time.
The high demand from the tax office has caught him off guard and it weighs heavily on him; he hasn’t been able to sleep either. Although he names some individuals who have acted poorly and are involved in his current financial difficulties, he also says that ultimately, it was his mistake.
Therefore, he asks his community that if they ever wanted to buy something from him to support him, now is the ideal time for that:
You don’t have to help me, but right now I could really use some money. If you ever wanted to buy anything, now is a good time.
The 46-year-old says he thought: if others ask their fans for money, why shouldn’t he?
Then he talks about the “good years” when he earned €300,000. Times when he still had 4,000 viewers and plenty of advertising deals.
How is this being discussed? In the comments on YouTube, Krätschmer has to hear quite a bit, and on Reddit, his video is discussed critically. It is often read that he is begging for money. A post on Reddit about Rocketbeans is titled “BeggarMon”.
In one YouTube comment, there is talk of a “steep fall”. Many say they have followed Krätschmer for 20 years, have been big fans, but the video and his behavior in recent years come off as unsympathetic. He, as someone with a lot of money, is asking his fans for support.
Some viewers in the comments on YouTube express their annoyance at the audacity of the influencer to ask his fans for money because he refuses to liquidate his assets. One says: “If I can live on €500, you can do it too.”
Another user states: “I don’t even know what’s worse. Rich people living off donations or the people who donate money to rich people.”
A consequence to save money is something Krätschmer is already doing:
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Krätschmer feels misunderstood and says on Twitter that it was not meant that way. His video is being used as a template to “trash talk about his life”. It is too exhausting for him. He is also a person. Several years ago, we reported about a colleague of Simon Krätschmer from RocketBeans on MeinMMO: German gaming influencer causes a shitstorm on Twitter
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Ubisoft is reportedly planning a new installment of its most successful game, according to an insider report. Rainbow Six Siege is set to receive a completely new gameplay perspective.
Which game is it? The financially most successful game of Ubisoft is the tactical shooter Rainbow Six: Siege. This was revealed in a financial report on October 30, 2024.
It was stated that the company has earned over 3.5 billion euros with Rainbow Six Siege since its release in December 2015. This made the shooter almost as much as the entire Assassin’s Creed series, which at that time had earned Ubisoft 4 billion euros.
Game series such as Far Cry (2 billion €), Ghost Recon, and The Division (both 1 billion €) lag behind Rainbow Six: Siege, even though they released several new games during that period.
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Rainbow Six Siege X – Trailer shows the biggest update to the Ubisoft shooter
New game for Rainbow Six with a new perspective
What kind of idea is it to earn even more money? As the well-connected industry insider Tom Henderson reports on his website Insider-Gaming, Ubisoft is currently developing a new game in the Universe of Rainbow Six, which could be released in one to two years.
The new game is supposed to be a turn-based strategy game from a top-down perspective. This means you look at the played character from above. According to Henderson, various operators from Rainbow Six: Siege will be available to you as playable characters. The gameplay loop is also said to resemble that of the tactical shooter. Players would choose operators with different abilities to storm buildings and complete objectives such as rescuing a hostage.
A source compared the game to the popular strategy game XCOM to Henderson. The insider quotes: “Just look at some XCOM games if you want to get a picture. I would say it’s an updated version of that, with cinematic cutscenes and so on.”
The new game is being developed for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC and may also be released for the Nintendo Switch 2, for which Nintendo recently revealed the release date.
Has Ubisoft ever attempted such a spin-off before? The upcoming game for Rainbow Six is already the second attempt to leverage the success of Rainbow Six: Siege for a new game. In January 2022, they released the PvE shooter Rainbow Six: Extraction, which never really resonated well with players. In the meantime, the shooter is stagnating. The last major announcement regarding the game was the roadmap for the year 2023 (via ubisoft.com).
According to various industry experts and insiders, Ubisoft has been in a financial crisis for some time. A new game for Rainbow Six: Siege is likely to provide relief.
The tactical shooter is also part of the newly formed partnership between Ubisoft and the Chinese mega-corporation Tencent, which both companies first announced on March 27. They are establishing a subsidiary responsible for the development of Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six. Tencent invested around 1.16 billion US dollars for a 25 percent stake: Ubisoft is now collaborating with Tencent, selling shares in 3 important game series for 1 billion euros.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
On April 5, 2025, the death of William ‘Bill’ Petras was announced. A close friend and long-time colleague of the deceased made this known. Petras was the artistic director of World of Warcraft and Overwatch at Blizzard.
Who was Petras? Bill Petras was the artistic director of World of Warcraft at Blizzard Entertainment for 8 years, from 1997 to 2005, significantly influencing the style of WoW. Before that, Petras worked on Starcraft at Blizzard.
In 2005, Petras left Blizzard to work as a co-founder of the developer studio Red5 on the MMO Firefall. In 2010, Petras returned to Blizzard and was the artistic director of Overwatch and Overwatch 2 until 2021.
Former Employees Mourn
The news of Petras’s unexpected death reached the public through a LinkedIn post by Harley D. Huggins, a long-time friend and colleague of Petras. They had been good friends for about 28 years and started at Blizzard in the same week. Huggins writes:
“I will miss our regular, long, rambling conversations about life, game development, games, art, comics, toys, monster movies, and Conan. He will be greatly missed by me and all who knew him.“
Many other former employees of Petras are mourning their former colleague. Petras’s former companion at Blizzard, James Waugh, finds emotional words:
“The loss of William Petras breaks my heart. Billy was someone I worked closely with during the transition from Titan to Overwatch, and he was an important partner in the short films and comics and building the world and all those things. He was incredible. Kind. Generous and sincere. He was the kind of person who built trust immediately, and you knew he really cared. […]. The industry has lost one of its masters, and the world has lost a great person.” – via LinkedIn
In Path of Exile 2 the new season started on April 4. This is now receiving sharp criticism from players. The game is no longer fun. One player even says: He would rather go to work than play.
What are the players criticizing? Path of Exile 2 has nerfed numerous skills and items with the new season “Dawn of the Hunt”. The patch notes make it clear: All the strongest builds have been destroyed. A part of the community is now criticizing this.
After the nerfs, the combat system no longer feels good, no longer fun, and the newly added or extended cooldowns do not help. And without the powerful builds, the game is too difficult for some players.
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Path of Exile 2 presents gameplay trailer with the new Hunter class
“It feels like they forgot what makes a spear fun”
What exactly are the players saying about the nerfs? One player is so disappointed that he even canceled the vacation he had taken for the update, he explains on Reddit:
“I actually wanted to take a day or two off to play the game. But I canceled my vacation that I had submitted. I would rather go to work than play the game. […] Path of Exile should have exciting abilities that feel great when you use them. The fights should feel good. This does not feel good. Not at all. Every single nerf you made needs to be reversed.”
The post received over 7,000 upvotes and more than 1,400 comments within a day. Many players agree with him. One commenter says: “It feels like they forgot what makes a spear fun.”
Another says: “Jonathan [Note: Jonathan Rogers, game director of PoE 2] said he wanted the fights to be fun, but I just don’t see how any of this is supposed to be really fun. Zero damage, the areas are way too large, the movement speed is way too low.”
This is the latest status: Since the update on April 4, Path of Exile has received many angry reviews on Steam. 64% of all reviews since the start of the new season are negative.
The developers responded to some of the criticism and reduced the health points of numerous enemies. This is supposed to help make defeating the respective monsters easier despite the many damage nerfs.
The current situation of Path of Exile 2 is reminiscent of the developments of the co-op shooter Helldivers 2. After an impressive release, it was heavily criticized by players when several of the most popular weapons were nerfed. The community complained that the developers were patching the fun out of the game, and they responded with an elaborate plan to save the game: Head of Helldivers 2 promises to fix the game within 60 days
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In December 2024, a young developer asked in a forum on reddit if he might be jeopardizing his chances of success with his abstract name. Because the name of his game refers to a term from US law. Today we know: no. Because Schedule 1 became a massive hit on Steam.
That was the question: On December 12, 2024, the developer Tyler from “Tyler’s Video Game Studio” asked on reddit GameDev:
I’m a little worried that the name “Schedule 1” is too niche and vague and may limit my audience too much. Most games similar to it have “drugs” or “narco” in the title. I’m considering changing the name.
He was very grateful for feedback.
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Schedule I shows in the trailer what the simulation of criminal life looks like
How important is a name for the success of a game on Steam?
What were the answers? The developer’s question sparked lively discussion on reddit. The responses were friendly but not particularly conclusive:
The answer with the most upvotes was: He thinks too much about this. The title isn’t that important; it only appears at the end of trailers.
Another said: Really bad names could harm games; particularly very long names are difficult.
Another one said: He likes the name “Schedule I,” he doesn’t even know what it means, but when he saw pictures of it, he could immediately associate the name with the game.
A fourth reddit user explicitly advised the developer to avoid something like “Drug Dealer Simulator.” That makes him yawn. Especially the images of his game are good. He will succeed with it.
Where does the name come from? “Schedule 1” is a name from US law. The drug agency DEA classifies under “Schedule 1” all drugs that have the highest potential for abuse, so to speak, drugs of the highest hazard level.
In total, there are 5 different levels of danger.
One of the reddit users warned the Australian developer to take the name. It is very “US-specific.”
Another responded ironically that “Grand Theft Auto – GTA” also refers to a US law.
But the developer said that is true. The name is US-centric, but he hopes it can work if the name is established.
Developer is very successful with his game on Steam
Microsoft is turning 50 years old and celebrated its anniversary with an event in Redmond, Washington. However, an employee of the company, Ibtihal Aboussand, crashed the celebration with a political protest and was removed from the event. She accused Microsoft of having blood on its hands.
This was the situation: The head of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, was just giving a presentation about the long-term vision of “Copilot,” Microsoft’s artificial intelligence.
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer were also in the audience at the event at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington.
An employee approached Suleyman and shouted, “Mustafa, shame on you.” She was escorted out of the building.
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Why do tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg keep wearing the same clothes?
Employee protests and is removed from the event
This was the employee’s protest: The employee shouted at the CEO of the AI department:
You claim that you use AI for good, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli army. 50,000 people have died, and Microsoft is enabling genocide in our country.
Suleyman said from the stage, “Thank you for the protest, I hear you.”
As the employee was pushed out of the room, she shouted that Suleyman and everyone at Microsoft had blood on their hands. She threw a scarf onto the stage, which serves as a supportive symbol for the people in Gaza.
As she was being escorted out, she shouted: How dare you celebrate here when Microsoft is killing children?
Suleyman stood visibly moved on stage, looking down and repeatedly said that they could hear her.
Here you can see how the situation unfolds:
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Employee saw no other way to articulate her protest
Who is the woman? She is an employee of Microsoft, Ibithal Aboussad. As The Verge learned from sources, the employee reached out to “hundreds or thousands” of employees at Microsoft in an email after the event.
She has been working at Microsoft for three and a half years as a Software Engineer in AI and decided to protest when she learned that her company was supporting the genocide of her people.
The employee writes that Microsoft has suppressed dissent from her colleagues, and there was no other way for her to make her voice heard than through public protest.
She writes that initially she was glad to be working on AI at Microsoft. However, she was not informed that Microsoft would sell her work to the Israeli military, intending to spy on and kill journalists, doctors, aid workers, and entire families. If she had known that her work would be used to better target Palestinians, she would not have joined the company. She did not sign up to code that violates human rights.
This is what Microsoft says: In a statement to PC Gamer, Microsoft stated:
We provide many avenues for all voices to be heard. It’s important that this happens in a way that does not disrupt business operations. If this occurs, we ask participants to relocate. We are committed to conducting our business practices to the highest standards.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The third-person shooter Marvel Rivals (PC, PS5, Xbox) is one of the most successful recent games on Steam. The hero shooter features heroes from the Marvel superhero universe. Compared to earlier hero shooters like Overwatch, Marvel Rivals has a wide selection of characters with already 37 playable heroes; the 38th is now attracting particularly much attention. On April 11, with Season 2, the new character Emma Frost will join Marvel Rivals.
This is the new heroine: With Season 2 of Marvel Rivals, the character Emma Frost, known as the White Queen, will arrive.
In the comics and films, Emma Frost is mostly an antagonist of the X-Men, belonging to the Hellfire Club. Even in the comics, she is explicitly sexualized, wearing a white corset that shows a lot of skin and using her effect on men to her advantage.
She is a powerful telepath, a capable close-combat fighter, and can transform herself into an almost unbreakable diamond form.
The idea for the character Emma Frost comes from the British series “The Avengers”: Diana Rigg, who played the agent Emma Peel in the series, is considered a worldwide sex symbol of the 1960s.
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Marvel Rivals presents its second season in an action-packed trailer
Fans are excited about Emma Frost’s thighs
This is how she appears in Marvel Rivals: In Marvel Rivals, Emma Frost will be played as Vanguard, as a tank. She will appear as the 38th character in Marvel Rivals with Season 2; later in Season 2, Ultron will become playable.
The discussion around Emma Frost mainly revolves around her character design, less about her skills.
This is Emma Frost’s standard skin. In the title image, you see the Revolution-X skin.
In the film X-Men: First Class (2011), Emma Frost was played by January Jones. Compared to the actress, the character was further sexualized in the video game, and, as many fans notice, made “thicc,” meaning fuller. Especially her thighs are generating a lot of comments:
“As a power creep, she changes the balance of the whole universe in the leg area.”
“I can’t decide if I want to play as her or if I want an opposing Emma Frost to crush me between her thighs.”
“I feel like I can just use her thighs to win and don’t even need her diamond form.”
Is this being discussed critically as well? The only criticism is that Marvel Rivals now has 3 female heroes who are blonde and whose color schemes are based on blue and white.
Besides Emma Frost, Dagger and the Invisible Woman, Sue Storm are also designed this way. There are fears of confusion. At the same time, there is a belief that the designers have similar preferences for women.
This is behind it: This tendency to sexualize female characters in hero shooters was also very strong in Overwatch 2016, where Blizzard planned the game to be especially family-friendly and didn’t actually want that. But fans fantasized about the heroes in Overwatch and created fan fiction. In Marvel Rivals, however, the sexualization of the characters seems to be fully planned, and fan service reaches a new level with Emma Frost: Overwatch: Sex – About Porn, Waifus, and Penis Controllers
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In 2025, there will be no CitizenCon for Star Citizen in the form that fans are used to, but rather a digital event on October 11. The developers say they want to focus on the work on Squadron 42, which is finally set to release in 2026.
This is what CIG says: In a forum post on April 4, a CIG employee says (via rsi):
No traditional CitizenCon will take place in 2025, but rather a one-day “CitizenCon Direct,” a special showcase that will show players something to look forward to.
The event is being promoted with “reveals, exciting surprises” and hints at “Bar Citizen” events, watch parties for fans.
CIG states that the reason for the change is to maintain development momentum and focus on delivering meaningful updates and improvements.
Start video
Star Citizen: The new capital ship Polaris in trailer
Players of Star Citizen react cautiously to the announcement
This is how it’s being discussed: Under the forum post, there are some people who cynically react to the announcement because they wish for a pure focus on an imminent release. It is then stated:
“Please cancel all CitizenCons until 1.0 is released.”
“Hopefully, the excuse will be gone now that they can’t work on the game because everyone is working on CitizenCon.”
Some also say: It would be even better to hold such an event in Star Citizen itself and to make the game so stable by then that the servers can handle it. This is ultimately the “ultimate goal” – but it is pointed out to people that Star Citizen currently cannot handle nearly that many players.
However, there are also people who say: The shift to a digital event will change nothing. The developers will still neglect working on the game and will work on the DigitalCon instead.
This is why it’s important: The “CitizenCon” is the event for Star Citizen that raises the most money for crowdfunding. Here, new ships are showcased, which supporters then buy for sometimes very high amounts:
It is an important factor for development to keep the huge project financially afloat.
At the same time, it draws resources away from development, causing further delays.
With such “live” events, something often goes wrong. The PC crashed during the presentation in 2024. This casts a poor light on such a project, especially for a technology-focused company.
If such an event is held digitally, the presentation can definitely be made clean and the execution can be more organized.
However, this does not necessarily mean that the developers will spend less time on the “digital event” if it is long prepared than with a live event. The statement “We are focusing on the release” is in any case the justification that Star Citizen knows the fans and supporters want to hear.
It is time for our MeinMMO format “MMORPG News in Two Minutes.” We summarize the most important news related to the best genre in the world. Look forward toa historic premiere in Tibia, many Easter events, new updates, and informative roadmaps.
The highlights of the week:
For Throne and Liberty, Patch 2.4.0 went live on April 3, 2025. New is a system for managing runes, there were also adjustments to loot from guilds and Discord Stone bosses. You can find all the details in the German patch notes at playthroneandliberty.com. Don’t miss: The next castle siege will take place on April 6 (via X).
On April 4, 2025, the next chapter of the third phase of WoW Classic started on the Anniversary servers. You can now dive into the Arathi Basin and celebrate Battleground Holidays (via worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com).
Additionally, on April 4, the Arena World Championship of WoW opened its doors (via worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com).
What else has happened? Did you know that the MMORPG Tibia has not received a single new class since its release in January 1997? That will change on April 8, 2025. Because then the Monk will be the fifth so-called vocation landing on the live servers. You can find more information about the Monk at tibia.com. You can find the first gameplay trailer below.
Start video
Tibia: Teaser Trailer Shows Gameplay of the New Monk Class
Easter is around the corner
This is what happened with the major MMORPGs:
On Wednesday, April 9, 2025, the Wonders Egg Hunt will begin in Final Fantasy XIV. You can find all the details about the in-game event at finalfantasyxiv.com.
When you are part of a guild in an MMORPG like WoW for many years, you might eventually look at a long list of characters that haven’t been online in ages. But that doesn’t mean you’re really alone. That’s exactly what a nice community story from Azeroth shows.
For April 2025, there are new Golden Endeavors in Elder Scrolls Online. You can find all the details at elderscrollsonline.com. Additionally, the celebrations for the 10th anniversary have started (via elderscrollsonline.com). Until April 22, 2025, gifts, buffs, and quests will lure players to the servers.
On April 16, 2025, Albion Online will be released for the first time via the Epic Games Store. You can find a detailed FAQ at epicgames.com.
For Dungeons & Dragons Online, Update 73 was released on April 2, 2025. Included are fresh quests around Tavern Tales. You can find the official patch notes at ddo.com.
For EverQuest (via everquest.com) and EverQuest 2 (via everquest2.com), there was a community letter from the Head of Studio Jenn Chan at the beginning of April. The lead developer looked back on the past months and provided a glimpse into upcoming updates.
The Executive Producer of Star Wars: The Old Republic was also in a writing mood. He looked back at swtor.com on the first quarter and announced that there will be a livestream for Update 7.7 in early May.
The developers of DC Universe Online provided a new 64-bit server for the PC version of the MMORPG on April 2, 2025 (via facebook.com).
On March 28, 2025, the MMORPG PlayM2M started Early Access on Steam. The reviews are currently only at 40 percent positive. So save yourself the download.
Guild Wars turns 20 years old and will kick off the associated celebrations on April 15, 2025 (via xcancel.com).
This is what happened with the MMORPGs in development:
At the Game Developers Conference 2025, a new MMORPG was shown behind closed doors, which you probably haven’t heard of yet – behind it is probably the most lucrative game in the world: Honor of Kings.
With Star Resonance, there is reportedly a spinoff MMORPG to the prematurely discontinued Blue Protocol. In a first test of the PC version, there was apparently so much negative feedback that the developers have announced comprehensive improvements compared to the mobile version (via X).
On April 2, 2025, a new update for Quinfall went live. There were again countless adjustments and fixes for quests, gameplay, UI, and more. You can find the official patch notes at Steam.
From April 2 to April 30, 2025, the Easter event in Brighter Shores will run. The related announcement can be found at Steam.
MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz is not only an MMORPG enthusiast, he has been playing games of all kinds for nearly 38 years. It all started back then with Nintendo. Accordingly, the anticipation for the Nintendo Switch 2 was huge. But that is history.
My love for gaming began nearly 38 years ago when my good friend Andi proudly presented his new Nintendo Entertainment System to me. He inserted the cartridge of Super Mario Bros. and it was all over for me. We played the jumping adventure for weeks on end. What a blast!
Even today, a warm, nostalgic veil of satisfaction surrounds my heart when I hear one of the Mario music themes from the first part. The same goes for the soundtracks of Tetris or The Legend of Zelda. Nintendo World Cup, Duck Tales, Metroid … what a great console for the first contact.
Start video
Nintendo presents the Switch 2 in the overview trailer and shows the comparison to its predecessor
With the SNES my relationship with Nintendo intensified. A Zelda: A Link to the Past is still clearly one of the best games of all time for me. In addition, I discovered my love for Japanese (action) role-playing games on the successor of the NES. Secret of Mana, Terranigma, Illusion of Time, Secret of Evermore … I have played almost all of them.
Still Nintendo in my heart
This connection to Nintendo consoles has lasted until today. Although I play much more on PC and PlayStation 5 today, I have also spent many great hours with the Switch. Often with the guys or my wife, for example in Mario Kart 8, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Mario Party, or Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Occasionally alone with Xenoblade Chronicles 3 or the Super Mario RPG.
Accordingly, I was very excited about the details of the Switch 2. And yes, I admit it: when I see the trailers of Mario Kart World or think of the new Metroid, certain synapses in my brain get activated that are really excited about the new generation of Nintendo games.
Start video
Nintendo Switch 2 becomes more social thanks to new features
New pricing policy kills any anticipation
However, since this week, my anticipation has evaporated into thin air. 469.99 euros for the cheaper version of the Nintendo Switch 2. Additionally, a smooth 90 euros for the physical version of Mario Kart World. That makes 560 euros for the minimal package. Other games, memory cards, and additional controllers are not even included (you would quickly be at almost 800 euros).
Honestly: In a time when everything is getting more expensive and less money is left over from the salary, that is a price that is far too high for a console that will certainly get great and fun games for the whole family, but will already be technically outdated at the time of release. And it is likely to remain only in 3rd place behind PC and PS5.
And even in the families around me, which do not have countless gaming platforms at home, I hardly see any potential buyers for the Switch 2. The standard there is rather that one buys a used PlayStation (often even rather a PS4 than a PS5) or Switch for little money to play a bit with the kids.
The price of the Switch 2 is miles away from what they can or want to afford for something like that. For me personally, it is definitely clear that I will not be among the early buyers of the Switch 2 – unlike the Nintendo Switch.
One of the most influential games of all time is probably Dark Souls. After Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls was not only the beginning of a successful series for From Software but also the start of a new sub-genre. Nowadays, they dominate the action genre, but MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes finds it annoying by now.
Dark Souls had a significant impact on the gaming industry. While it wasn’t the first game of its kind, as From Software even released Demon’s Souls, the spiritual predecessor, back in 2009, Dark Souls was different. With its ruthless yet beautifully designed world, slow and impactful gameplay, and cryptic story, the game hit the gaming world like a bomb.
From Software itself released 2 sequels and with Elden Ring and Bloodborne, two titles that strike a similar chord.
But even outside of From Software, the influence of the game was noticeable. The Soulslike sub-genre emerged. Games like The Surge, Mortal Shell, or more recently The First Berzerker: Khazan rely on a similar gameplay principle.
Almost weekly, a new Soulslike is released, and it annoys me by now, as another action genre has been pushed to the background.
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The First Berserker: Khazan – The Dark Opening Cinematic of the Action RPG
The Neglected Action Genre
Before the Soulslikes, there were the so-called character-action games. Games like the Devil May Cry series focus primarily on two aspects: style and combos. With multiple weapons that can usually be switched quickly, you launch enemies into the air and try to perform the most stylish combos possible. The best representatives of this genre are probably Bayonetta, which received its third installment in 2022, and Devil May Cry, which had a new release with its 5th installment in 2019.
I wish for more titles like these.
During the PS2 era, the gameplay principle of Devil May Cry was also utilized by other studios, primarily God of War. The Greek saga of Kratos differed not only in the character of the main figure but also in gameplay. It was less impactful, faster, and much more combo-based.
Even licensed games relied on this gameplay principle. Who would have thought that Nightmare Before Christmas would make a good character-action game, but in 2004, we were surprised with Oogie’s Revenge.
These games rewarded players for long and creative combos.
Soulslikes thrive on interesting weapons, but the combinations are lacking. One does not play to master the weapons but rather the bosses and enemies. It offers a different kind of fascination.
You can see how to unleash combos in this video of Devil May Cry 5:
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This genre took a different approach than Soulslikes. Many of the Devil May Cry-clones were significantly shorter than today’s Soulslikes. This was primarily because they were designed to be played through more often. There are multiple difficulty levels and countless combo possibilities. It resembles another Capcom series: Resident Evil. The focus is on gameplay and replayability.
The Soulslikes have pushed this action genre out of the spotlight. I really like Soulslikes; Lies of P is fantastic and even The First Berzerker: Khazan piqued my interest, given how well it’s received.
But even games that aren’t actually Soulslikes rely on the slow Souls gameplay. I would love to see a more playful God of War again, and as much as I enjoy the Jedi games from Respawn, I really miss the madness in them.
Everything has to be a Soulslike, and that’s really a shame. A remake from 2025 recently showed me how much fun one can have outside of that.
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black showed me that sometimes things were truly better in the past
With Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, a remake of an action classic was released at the beginning of the year. With Ninja Ryu Hayabusa, you have to slash your way through linear levels full of demons. And honestly: It’s been a long time since I had this much fun with an action game.
It plays fast but never chaotically. The combos work well, and as a player, you can experiment with the various enemy types. Who wouldn’t want to launch an enemy into the air, grab them, and slam their head to the ground?
Similar to Souls titles, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is also very challenging. At higher difficulty levels, you must master the combos and the handling of the many tools to have a chance. If you manage that, there are few games that are more satisfying.
Another very personal point is the story. In Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, the story is complete nonsense and it can’t get any better than that.
Many Soulslikes aim to be mysterious and cryptic, but unfortunately, that doesn’t always work
Devil May Cry, God of War, or even Bayonetta often had a silly story in the past, which was so edgy that it particularly appealed to my 14-year-old self, who loved watching anime AMVs with rock music on YouTube. But that is incredibly entertaining.
There are cutscenes that are so absurd that not even the Fast and Furious series can keep up. Due to the short length of the games, it was never tedious.
Soulslikes often orient themselves to the lore of Dark Souls. A cryptic world and story that can only be experienced if you think outside the box. In Dark Souls, Bloodborne, or Lies of P, this works perfectly, but some games overreach.
The problem with such a story structure is that the hinted content can be quite dull. Often, an attempt is made to create a certain significance within the world, which can be annoying. Games like Stellar Blade are really cool in terms of gameplay, but the story didn’t work for me at all.
This often leads to players ignoring everything to focus solely on the gameplay.
Should there be fewer Soulslikes? Yes and no. It could be that the market is oversaturated and many representatives of the genre will eventually disappear into obscurity. I mean, even From Software tried different approaches with Armored Core 6 and Sekiro.
However, the constant Soulslikes that don’t bring anything special to the genre really annoy me after 14 years.
I wish there was finally more variety in the action genre. Unfortunately, even Assassin’s Creed has played out similarly since Assassin’s Creed Origins. But at least in 2025, you can indulge in a new entry in the Ninja Gaiden series.
In numerous games, there is a boss enemy at the end of a level section. It usually presents a greater challenge that players must face. But what are the origins of this concept? Who was the first boss enemy?
We are accustomed to defeating entire hordes of standard enemies in games. Especially notable are the big bosses, who like to wait for us at the end of a level or even in the wild.
Boss enemies are usually significantly stronger than normal foes. They test the players’ skills and can often be defeated using newly learned mechanics.
The idea of incorporating this type of enemy into a game is somewhat older. In fact, the first boss in video game history came to light 51 years ago.
Not entirely blameless for its creation was, as is often the case with games, Dungeons & Dragons.
One of the most popular games based on D&D is Baldur’s Gate 3:
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Baldur’s Gate 3: The release teaser for the new role-playing game for PS5 and Steam
A Dragon as a Pioneer
What does D&D have to do with it? In 1974, the first version of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons was released. Later that same year, two students, Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood, created the video game “DND”. It was essentially a hobby project that the two developed on a PLATO computer at their university.
In DND, players could create their own character and explore a dungeon with multiple sections. The goal was to find two treasures and escape from the dungeon. The game borrowed some concepts from Dungeons & Dragons.
Among other things, one of the treasures to be found was guarded by a golden dragon. This dragon had to be defeated to access a valuable orb.
This is what an epic boss fight looked like in 1974. (via radiotimes.com)
Gary Whisenhunt describes the thought behind the boss in the book “50 Years of Boss Fights” as follows:
We decided that we needed a special monster to guard the orb, something that was extremely hard to defeat and that only a character with a lot of experience and collected material would have a chance against. And even then, we wanted there to be a fair chance that even the strongest could fail, because if one grabs the orb and escapes, they will be returned to the Elysian Fields – a kind of hall of fame.
The developers wanted to ensure that players could also fail and not achieve the goal too easily. The special thing about it: The computer on which the game initially ran exclusively was located at the university, so it could always be checked which students had reached the hall of fame with their own characters.
Over time, the developers improved and expanded their game. The dragon was also made significantly stronger, as some players defeated it way too easily – thanks to excessive gaming. DND quickly spread and became known outside the university campus.
The main idea that remained from DND was the notion of presenting players with a boss enemy. Unknowingly, Whisenhunt and Wood thus changed the medium. From then on, bosses became nearly inseparable from games.
What happened next with the bosses? Since then, a lot has happened. Video games have gone through numerous developments. Boss enemies have always somehow been present. They have also changed over time.
While the first bosses like the golden dragon were still relatively simple, developers have continually tried out new ideas over the years to surprise players.
Boss enemies should present a challenge and test the players’ skills. This led to very different approaches. While some fights were simply brutally hard, others required creative solutions and a rethink in tactical matters. The presentation of the big bosses also became more elaborate and effect-rich with more graphical power.
Below is a selection of iconic bosses that will be remembered for a long time:
Bowser from Super Mario Bros.: Surely not a difficult boss, but all the more iconic – also because you usually defeat him in the same way.
Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda: He is also an icon who has terrorized Hyrule for over 30 years.
Psycho Mantis: The boss from Metal Gear Solid speaks directly to the player and anticipates the player’s attacks. The solution: Connect the controller to a different port.
Ornstein & Smough: The duo from Dark Souls was the decisive hurdle for many. Those who can withstand here will also conquer the rest of the game.
Malenia from Elden Ring: She caused frustration among countless players, provoked with her line upon death, and led to the rise of a YouTube legend.
Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII: An epic battle against a legendary opponent, filled with emotion and testing all of the player’s skills.
The Lich King from World of Warcraft: A boss with a lot of lore attached and one that many players have waited a long time for. The fight is divided into several phases and can only be accomplished if the group works well together.
Mr. Freeze from Batman Arkham City: A boss who becomes virtually immune to the strategy used after each attack. Thus, it is important to utilize the full range of Batman’s abilities.
Currently, you can secure three really great Batman games for just 6 instead of 60 € on PS4 and PS5.
Which games are we talking about? Of course, it refers to the Batman: Arkham Trilogy by developer Rocksteady Studios. This consists of:
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Arkham Knight
In the PS Store, you can get the entire Arkham Collection for only 5.99 € instead of 59.99 €. It is playable on both PS4 and PS5.
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Batman: Return to Arkham Launch Trailer
Batman Stories with Unparalleled Combat Feel
What are the games about? As a player, you are the man in the bat suit. Each part of the series tells a largely self-contained story:
In the first part, the action is still confined to Arkham Asylum, where a variety of supervillains are held captive.
Part 2 takes place in Arkham City – a large, closed-off area in Gotham City where the villains live “freely” among themselves.
In the finale of the trilogy, all of Gotham is open to you. You can now even traverse the city with the Batmobile.
By the way: Paul Dini, the creator of Batman: The Animated Series, contributed to the story of the first two games. In the English voiceover, Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill return as the voices of Batman and the Joker.
Additionally, you’ll find one of the best combat systems in action games here: Batman’s movements feel fluid and every punch has impact. You can also attack criminals from the shadows and hear how fear spreads among them.
In between, you’ll also be doing some detective work as Batman. For instance, you investigate crime scenes for clues and reconstruct what has happened there. You are also allowed to glide through the air, which is especially fun in the open worlds of Arkham City and Knight.
In Monster Hunter Wilds there are some NPCs who can assist you in obtaining important materials. A player has unknowingly ignored this for a long time and made his life unnecessarily difficult.
What problem did the player have? User Scoutain faced the problem that he urgently needed the material “Oricalcite” for the items he wanted to craft. This ore of rarity 6 is mainly needed for Artian weapons.
The player struggled for 40 hours to find the required material when he just needed to talk to the right NPCs. He shares his experience in a thread on Reddit.
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So findet ihr das flauschige Huhn in Monster Hunter Wilds
Do not ignore the NPCs, you might regret it
What should the player have done to obtain the ore? In addition to specific quests you can complete that grant you Oricalcite, there are also other, time-saving ways to get the material. Scoutain painfully realized this when he finally spoke to the NPC Nata after around 40 hours of gameplay, who then handed him a considerable amount of Festival tickets from Azuz – including a bunch of Oricalcite.
Nata serves as a kind of “administrator” in the endgame and allows you to access material procurement from various areas, engage in trading, and periodically collect valuable ores from the blacksmith village of Azuz.
Besides Nata, there is also the option to smelt all unnecessary materials in the village of Suja. In doing so, you also receive Oricalcite, which you can then use again for your Artian weapons.
The comments under his thread show that he is by no means alone in this. Many players seem to overlook the smelting without recognizing its value, and many hunters seem to ignore Nata as well.
In the comments of the thread, players also advise using parts from Arkveld for smelting, as they are the easiest to farm – considering how many points they would yield when smelted. The commentators also remind to disassemble unused Artian weapons, as this approach saves a lot of material as well.
MMORPGs like World of Warcraft are potentially much more than just a game. This is beautifully illustrated by a report from the WoW community right now.
What kind of report is this? The WoW player thetinker86 uses his post on Reddit to sincerely thank Blizzard for WoW Classic. Because even though his wife never really cared for games, he was able to get her excited about the remaster of World of Warcraft.
So much so that the two suddenly had a shared hobby for years that they both loved and spent thousands of wonderful hours enjoying. They leveled up numerous characters and were part of a raid for several years that visited raid instances multiple times a week.
With pride, thetinker86 shares that his wife, who was never a gamer, even ranked among the world’s top DPS elemental shamans in the Black Temple of Burning Crusade Classic.
Currently, the progressive servers of WoW Classic are at the Cataclysm expansion:
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WoW: Assault on the Firelands – Trailer for Cataclysm Classic unleashes Ragnaros
History Repeats Itself
Where’s the “but”? The reason why thetinker86 is thanking the developers of WoW Classic right now and sharing his experiences with his wife with the community is simple. With the currently running Cataclysm Classic, the excitement has faded. They might want to check out Mists of Pandaria Classic together in the spring. But by then, the wife of thetinker86 won’t be logging in anymore.
She, like many other WoW players, is experiencing this wonderful cycle that many have already gone through with the original World of Warcraft: After great years in Vanilla, TBC, and WotLK, using the destructive Cataclysm as a good point to say goodbye to Azeroth.
How does the community react to this? With over 800 upvotes and more than 90 comments.
ShaqeNau jokes on Reddit: “Anniversary! The Battle of the Dragons has just started, so it’s the perfect time to experience everything once more.”
Square-Hedgehog-6714 warns on Reddit: “My wife, whom I was married to for 20 years, left me for the best DPS warrior in our guild. Be careful.”
The_London_Badger writes on Reddit: “Tell her that it’s completely okay to take a break. If she wants to try an RPG, Baldur’s Gate 3 is worth a shot. There are a number of co-op games that are currently cheap. It’s worth trying them out.”
The German development studio Aesir Interactive is developing a game that will offer certain players an alternative to Red Dead Redemption 2 – and is achieving incredible success on Kickstarter with its idea.
What kind of game is the studio developing? Horse fans often resort to Rockstar’s action game due to a lack of suitable options, even though they actually want a simulator. Therefore, they use the western game more as a horse and riding simulation because the game feel and the animations of the animals are so well done.
The new game from the Munich studio Aesir Interactive incorporates all the aspects that players who enjoy a good time in the saddle love. The developers combine them with survival elements, deeper mechanics around the horses, and a touch of Death Stranding – as you take on the role of a courier in 13th century Mongolia.
Their game named “Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori” will be released for Steam, Epic Games Store, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and even the Nintendo Switch 2, and they plan to launch an Early Access on Steam early in 2025.
Their idea is so well-received that their Kickstarter campaign they launched for it has achieved incredible success – as they have now raised 8 times their originally set funding goal (as of April 5, 2025, 12:30 PM).
You can get a first impression in the short trailer:
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Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori – an alternative for horse fans without gunfire to Red Dead Redemption in the trailer
On horseback as a courier through Mongolia – a concept that convinces
How did the campaign go? On March 4, 2025, the Kickstarter campaign was launched to give the game more depth. Previously, the studio had received around €1.47 million in funding from the Federal Ministry of Economics in 2023 (via Gameswirtschaft). Now they wanted to raise money from interested players to bring even more features into the game.
Already after 19 hours, the funding goal of around €60,000 was reached. So far, with €481,668, more than 8 times the amount has been raised (as of April 5, 2025, 12:30 PM). With around 8,550 backers, meaning people who have financially supported the project, Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori has achieved a success that is only surpassed in Germany by the Bremen studio King Art with their game Iron Harvest, which raised over a million euros in 2018 (via Gameswirtschaft).
With their idea, Aesir Interactive has clearly struck a chord. Although the campaign itself is over, interested parties can still participate until April 11, 2025, to enable additional features.
What can you do in the game? In Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori, you take on the role of a young girl who travels through the wilderness on horseback as a courier for her people and seeks to uncover the legend of a mysterious “wind horse.” In doing so, you can travel through various biomes and must consider some survival aspects, meaning you’ll need to plan your route wisely.
Additionally, you can take extensive care of your horses, tame, train, and breed them. Various quests will also provide you with tasks: whether delivering freight or herding animals – you will immerse yourself in the life of your people. You will also be able to expand and design your camp. There is also supposed to be a crafting system.
Kickstarter has long established itself as a common method for raising funds for exciting game concepts to bring them to fruition. Not infrequently, the games are much more successful than their teams could previously anticipate, such as in the case of Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori or in another case where a well-known director feared for his game: He feared his role-playing game would fail on Kickstarter – But it funded itself in 27 hours and became a big success
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the latest update of Monster Hunter Wilds, new challenges have been included, bringing an official leaderboard and exclusive rewards. Unfortunately, this also attracts players who do not play fairly. The community is therefore frustrated.
Why is the community frustrated? In the 1st free title update of Monster Hunter Wilds on April 4, 2025, new challenges were added with the new meeting point “The Great Site”. In the so-called arena quests, interested hunters can compete against the clock with set equipment and earn a spot on the official leaderboard.
Just one day after the launch of the new challenges, the leaderboard seems to be full of players who have cheated their way to the top. The community is questioning whether Capcom’s approach is the right one.
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Monster Hunter Wilds shows its first title update with a new monster
“It will be almost impossible to get a challenge pendant”
Why are fans questioning Capcom’s approach? As user deddonekku points out in his thread on Reddit, the leaderboard is already full of numerous players whose completion times for the challenge are anything but credible.
The top positions all show times around 10 seconds. Any player who has hunted a monster in Monster Hunter Wilds should understand that it is impossible to achieve such times fairly. According to the player, the extent is so immense that he questions whether Capcom can manage this in the long run:
I already feel like an idiot trying to get a good rank for the pendant. The first few thousand ranks are cheated. The idea that the top 10,000 players will receive the pendant sounds great, but in practice, it doesn’t work. Hopefully, they will change the way to obtain it, or actually implement their promise to act quickly against cheaters.
In the comments, there are almost exclusively players agreeing with him. They are therefore calling for rewards not to be limited to placement but also to specific times achieved. This way, the problem could be avoided, and fair-playing hunters could still receive their rewards. They would even be willing to accept that cheaters also receive these rewards.
According to them, cheaters would always keep coming back and are fundamentally a big problem in Monster Hunter Wilds, since Capcom generally allows mods and cheats and only takes action against them in rare cases. Therefore, a second solution approach from the community to generally ban mods and cheats seems very unlikely.
In the case of the arena quests, they want to take action against it, but the community doubts whether this will be a sensible solution in the long run, not to mention whether it is even feasible, considering the number of players who behave this way.
Capcom is already aware of this situation and is working on a solution, as stated in a post via x.com. They obviously still want to try – how well that works will be seen in the future.
inZOI, the big new competitor to The Sims, has already broken the sales record of PUBG publisher Krafton after about a week. The game is still at the beginning of its journey.
What kind of record is this? The life simulation has sold over 1 million copies since its release on March 28, 2025. This is announced by the inZOI team through a post made on their channel on X (formerly Twitter).
You can see a trailer for the game here:
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inZOI: The new trailer for the Early Access of the life simulation on Steam
This breaks the previous sales record of publisher Krafton. They are especially known for the battle royale shooter PUBG: Battlegrounds (short PUBG). No game from Krafton has reached the million mark this quickly, reports Eurogamer.
For the developers, this milestone still feels “unreal,” they say in the post. They thank the community for their great support:
Your enthusiasm, creativity, feedback, content, and support have brought inZOI to life in a way we could have never imagined.
inZOI launches successfully, but not without flaws
