It’s official now. After the terrible duckface wave has invaded the real world, it will now also strike the virtual worlds. The first stop will likely be Azeroth in World of Warcraft, as the upcoming Patch 6.1 will introduce a new item via follower missions: the “S.E.L.F.I.E.-Camera.”
The name says it all, as the item allows you to closely examine your character’s face, freely adjust the angle, and then hit the shutter at the right moment to create the most appealing image. Don’t worry, you won’t have to type emotes while in camera perspective; your character automatically makes faces, and the interface will be hidden. Afterwards, the image will be saved as a screenshot in the associated folder of your WoW directory.
If that’s not enough, you can still upgrade your camera! Through another follower mission, the portrait tool can be enhanced with additional filters, giving you more customization options without having to rely on Photoshop.
This new feature could become particularly interesting with the Twitter connection that you will soon be able to make in World of Warcraft. To what extent this will be possible, and whether you can directly upload images with it, remains to be seen, as it is currently not available on the test server. As soon as it becomes possible, we will of course keep you updated – if the tweet flood from your friends hasn’t taken care of that yet.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Blizzard’s online card game Hearthstone , there’s a new trend: Similar to chess puzzles, players are now supposed to figure out if they can see the decisive move in a certain situation.
Newspapers often have chess problems alongside crosswords and sudokus on their puzzle pages. Usually, it’s about how many moves it takes to win from a given position. Someone has put in the effort to create and present such a scenario in Hearthstone.
The situation is tricky. The priest has stolen some cards from the opposing druid. The druid is only at 6 HP, and the priest has a 6/6 minion ready to attack on the field, but the druid has two hefty taunts … hmmm! Can you find the right card sequence for “checkmate in one move?”
The Korean MMO specialist NCSoft has a new president at the helm, and she seems to be setting her sights on the West. This could have implications for NCSoft’s Western games such as Guild Wars 2 or WildStar – and affect the chances of potential Asia imports like Blade and Soul.
As reported by koreatimes and the Asia-MMO site mmoculture, there is a leadership change at the Korean publisher NCSoft (Guild Wars 2, WildStar, Blade and Soul, Lineage).
The new president is Yoon Song-yee (40), who was previously vice president of NCSoft and is said to have been responsible for the successful launch of strategically important titles in Europe and the USA, including Guild Wars. Now she is also expected to focus on the West and advance NCSoft’s “globalization strategy.”
Her promotion is seen as a sign that NCSoft will place greater emphasis on the West.
Hm … what could this mean for WildStar?
Wonder Child, Wife of the Founder, Inspiration for a TV Series
According to reports, she was a kind of wonder child, graduated from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and also met her husband there, NCSoft founder and current CEO, Kim Taek-jin. Later, she earned her PhD from MIT in the USA with a degree in artificial intelligence.
Her story is so extraordinary that she serves as an inspiration for the South Korean television series “Kaist” (which is the abbreviation of the university she also attended).
With WildStar and Guild Wars 2, NCSoft has several irons in the fire in the West. In 2015, fans are certainly most eagerly awaiting the port of Blade and Soul. Chances for this may have been further enhanced by this news.
The Fantasy MMO The Elder Scrolls Online is set to release Update 6 on the public test server tomorrow, Tuesday, January 27.
The update is expected to be 14 GB in size, which will be played on the test server tomorrow. And for those who are wondering what on earth they are bringing? A whole lot. The patch notes will be released tomorrow, but as a rough guideline:
The Justice System, which gives TESO the “murder and robbery” component that so many are longing for
The new Champion System, which is supposed to completely change endgame progression
The maintenance work for the public test server is scheduled to begin at 2:00 PM German time. It is expected to take several hours, as the patch is indeed that huge.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
A noteworthy fan trailer has been released for Destiny, cutting promotional material this time with current gameplay from Crota’s End.
There is something about the world of Destiny that inspires such excellent fan art. Whether people stand and pull one of the iconic weapons from the 3D printer or recreate it from Lego, whether one of the biggest comic stars online engages with the backstory of the Traveler, or someone comes up with the crazy idea to fire exotic weapons in such a way that a cool sound is produced: it is always truly remarkable what Destiny’s story and aesthetics provoke in the minds of creatives.
We have already featured several fan trailers: some were hilarious (like the 8-pixel version), others clever (the mashup with Guardians of the Galaxy), and some were a bit mean, but quite accurate (the Honest Trailer).
This time a YouTuber seems to have been inspired by the last EVE trailer that was so well received. Amidst the bombastic story of Destiny, players now find space for their joyful feelings and cheers when they take down Crota.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In World of Tanks, the Winter Showdown, the pixel tank event, has begun. Until February 9, tankers can try their luck in 8-bit.
Starting today, Monday, January 26, Wargaming’s World of Tanks is embracing Pixel Season.
The event “The Winter Showdown” puts tankers in the cockpit of 8-bit versions of the vehicles T110E5, AMX 50 Foch (155), and LTTB. The game is played on a special map.
The three tanks each take on a different role. The T110E5 is considered a mammoth, as a heavy tank. The polar bear is a tank destroyer (LTTB), a ranged fighter, and the arctic fox (AMX 50 Foch) is a nimble, light tank.
The event lasts until February 9 at 6:10 AM. A battle is expected to last about 7 minutes. For all the rewards and special features, you can read about it on the official page.
Definitely an unusual idea, it will be interesting to see how the players receive it. This evening, January 26, from 11:00 PM to midnight, there will be a presentation and Q&A about the event on the Wargaming Twitch channel.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Developers of the zombie MMO H1Z1 provided some insights in an interview about why the loot system is so damn difficult to balance and what the next steps in the development of the game will be.
The US site mmorpg.com found two of the minds behind H1Z1 in Texas for an interview: Adam Clegg and Jimmy Whisenhunt.
The loot system considers many factors, which is why so much can go wrong
First, it was about the loot. The journalist remarked that it shouldn’t be so hard to get more loot into the world.
However, it is really challenging, it turned out. The loot system in H1Z1 consists of a whole series of interlocking systems. Containers (such as cabinets, trunks, lockers, or desks) generate loot depending on how many players are on the server, how many are nearby, how quickly they die, and how good their gear is. Thus, 200 newcomers need very different gear and loot than 200 veterans.
The loot system of H1Z1 is designed to adapt to players and their needs. All these triggers, conditions, and probabilities caused recurring issues in the early phase of the game: At first, there was no loot in the containers, then there was some, but it disappeared if not picked up quickly, and then everything was okay, but it didn’t work when too many players were near the container.
In doing so, they always wanted to avoid giving players “too much” loot: That would ruin the survival aspect of H1Z1.
H1Z1 is gaining traction
Otherwise, the team of H1Z1 seems to be in good spirits. Jimmy Whisenhunt reported that he has never been approached about a game he was working on as often in his career.
Even people who don’t like the zombie genre approach him about it.
At Pax South, H1Z1 seems to be a big topic. It appears that they have a game with significant hit potential in the making. At SOE, they believe this is due to the cross-genre nature of the game. The journalist from mmorpg.com cites the surprising accessibility of H1Z1 as a reason for its popularity.
These are the next steps
As the next step, H1Z1 plans to introduce a so-called “roadmap”, a structure that will allow the community to influence the development of the game.
On the technical side, it’s currently about finding solutions for handling many players, especially when wanting to grow the world as intended. Here, the strategy has also changed: One must respond to the many players. Their sheer number is probably the main source of current issues.
Furthermore, there are big plans for the game. For instance, they can envision that at some point every abandoned vehicle not only serves as decoration or loot but can also be repaired and made drivable . However, they will be cautious about this: The last thing one wants in a survival game is for everyone to be sitting in cars.
In Guild Wars 2, the expansion Heart of Thorns does not squeeze players into the new area, Heart of Maguuma, as is common in other games, but instead allows them to return to the “old” world.
At massively, they discussed the “Masteries,” the new way to further develop a character after level 80.
These “Mastery Points” will NOT only be able to be acquired in the new area “Heart of Maguuma,” but they are supposed to be distributed throughout the entire world of Guild Wars 2.
You need to do “really hard things that you have never done before” on your account, said ArenaNet co-founder Mike O’Brien.
“The way that you earn mastery points is, I think, a very Guild Wars 2 way to earn mastery points: You do really really hard things that you on your account have never done before.”
The expansion pack should not leave the old zones deserted
Guild Wars 2 is simply different, and if they had presented a typical expansion pack, O’Brien continued, the fans would probably have stormed the stage.
While a “typical” expansion pack raises the level cap, devalues old content, and sends all players to the new areas, it looks different in Guild Wars 2. And that is exactly the plan.
“We are evolving the world and have purposely chosen a strategy that does not turn the old zones into empty wastelands,” said O’Brien.
The developers also did not want to let go of further details from massively. There is a small glimmer of hope for members of smaller guilds who were afraid that the “Guild Halls” would remain out of reach. As Game Director Colin Johanson says: “It is important for us that every guild knows how important they are to our world. We will ensure that every guild feels treated with respect.”
Additionally, it is clear: We have now presented the main features of the expansion. There will be no more surprises from us, such as introducing features that affect crafting non-legendary items.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The MMO shooter Planetside 2 was on a record hunt: They wanted to snatch the record for the most players involved in a battle in a first-person shooter. They have achieved it, but are still waiting for confirmation from the Guinness World Records.
With 999 players in an FPS battle, the record from 2012 stood, as reported by Polygon. This record was set in the browser game Man vs. Machine. And they aimed to take this record with Planetside 2.
Apparently, it was successful. With 1,158 players in a first-person shooter, this would likely be a record that lasts for a while. You have the recap from the Planetside 2 Twitch channel for you:
However, it must be said that 1,158 players is “only” the record for an FPS game. As Polygon notes, an MMO like EVE reaches different dimensions in this regard. In a space battle there, 7,500 players were involved. And as an MMORPG player, you already feel like you’re in an overcrowded elevator with 80 players in Alterac Valley.
Update 4:00 PM:It is now official. Planetside 2 holds the world record for “Largest online first-person shooter battle.” Here is the official page about it. Congratulations, PS2 and all involved!
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Destiny, a player has finally found the Crux of Crota and thus the Necrochasm. And the exotic weapon is indeed as special as thought.
It has been a long journey that came to an end on Sunday. For about two months, Guardians have been longing to finally get their hands on the “Necrochasm”, the latest and probably rarest exotic weapon in Destiny. Back then, Bungie had already teased us with a trailer.
The path to the exotic auto rifle Necrochasm is arduous …
To obtain the Necrochasm, Guardians first need the “Mantle of the Pit“, a white auto rifle. It then must be treated with care, players need to ingratiate themselves with Eris Morn and achieve rank 3 there. Then the white auto rifle will become a legendary auto rifle, the Eidolon Ally. Many have made it this far. This was where the road ended for a long time.
Only at Crota himself and in “Hard Mode” should the “Crux of Crota” drop, the crucial part that would turn the Eidolon Ally into the Necrochasm.
Guardians speculated if there was some trick involved. The prophet (in this case Bungie’s Community Manager) was asked, but after a brief consultation with the developers, he said: Nope, everything is fine. It’s in the loot table. No bug, everything fits. But no one wanted to believe him.
Yesterday, a video circulated on US sites and YouTube that apparently showed a tester who had simply “conjured” the weapon. He certainly hadn’t stepped into the end of Crota, let alone caused it.
This is the intermediate stage
German Warlock finds Crux of Crota, German YouTube channel reports first
But today is the day, today the first Necrochasm has actually appeared – or at least the first we know of. And the finder is a German. The YouTube channel ProNDC was alerted by a fan and provided with a screen. They made a video about it, and the Necrochasm went on a world tour. In 4 hours, the video was viewed over 7000 times, English YouTubers replicated it, it landed on Reddit, and now the English-speaking Destiny fan sites are also reporting on it.
First somewhat skeptical, but then increasingly confident, the Guardians accepted: The Necrochasm does exist. It is just damn rare.
It is also not entirely clear whether the German Warlock oSkyallo is the first finder of the Necrochasm, but whatever, he is the first one we know for sure.
And here is the thing.
These are the features of the Necrochasm
As befits an exotic weapon for which you must defeat the final boss of a raid, the Necrochasm has some unique features:
It starts fully upgraded: When the Eidolon Ally is upgraded to it, it simply takes on its properties.
The Necrochasm reaches a maximum damage value of 339 – that’s 8 points more than the “normal cap” of 331, which all other new exotic and legendary weapons reach – except for one special case, the last raid exotic, the Vex Mythoclast. That one also falls outside the damage frame.
The Guardian oSkyallo did nothing exciting to obtain the weapon. He “only” completed the hard raid 4 times across his 3 characters. The second time, as he told the YouTubers from ProNDC, it is said to have dropped. Currently, it is speculated that the Crux of Crota also drops if the Guardian has already killed Crota (HC) this week, as it is outside the normal loot table. But that is not yet certain.
It was previously suspected that the Crux of Crota could NOT drop at the same time as the shader Glüh-Hüü, which every Guardian receives on the first kill of Crota in hard mode. Therefore, Guardians probably have to kill Crota at least twice to have a chance at the Crux. Now, however, it’s said by the lucky finders that there is also a chance for the Crux of Crota to drop simultaneously with the shader Glüh-Hüü. In any case, the Crux of Crota seems to have a tiny drop probability. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so much fuss about it. If there are more drops from Tuesday, the 2nd checkpoint, we will know that there is a connection.
The weapon deals Arc damage.
When defeating “normal” foes with a headshot (precision shot), they explode like servant burst.
And here is the video with the first gameplay scenes in Destiny for the Necrochasm from the German YouTubers from ProNDC, who – as fate would have it – are also friends of our site:
The MMORPG Everquest Next is supposed to be created not only by the developers of SOE but also by the players.
It seems to be the trend of the hour in MMOs. Although MMOs are late to the game. Because it is actually the hallmark of Internet 2.0, in which we have all been living for 10 years or longer: “User-generated Content.”
Everyone is an artist; anyone can upload a video, paint a picture, write a text, and then others, the neighbors, friends and colleagues, strangers, enemies, and competitors, mom, dad, and the attractive dream girl can see it, talk about it, share it, like it, ignore it, or criticize it. And maybe even buy it.
The line between consumer and producer is blurring.
Everyone can upload a Youtube video; why shouldn’t that also work with an MMO adventure?
The provider, the industry, is leaning back. They have created the environment, set the parameters, and now watch how the surroundings develop. This can be quite exciting. While any consumer can be creative, not everyone wants to be, and of those who do, not everyone has the talent.
Players create the content themselves. Sometimes there are true masterpieces among them.
The more popular ones stand out, the less popular ones fade back and disappear. The provider only creates the environment, sets the parameters in which the users move, and no longer intervenes in the process.
This is known as user-generated content. This is, for example, the principle behind Youtube.
And isn’t it, from a gaming studio’s perspective, a fantastic idea for an MMO as well? You give the players the tools to invent their own stories and adventures, sell these to other players, and after creating the tools, you do not have to contribute anything to this game content anymore?
The delicate seedling of sandbox
With the tools from Landmark, you can unleash your creativity. In the open world.
In classic “theme park” MMOs, that would be unthinkable. A player cannot create anything in World of Warcraft that others could enjoy. Sure, with their own corpse and those of their friends, they can leave a mysterious message, but that’s about it.
In modern games like WildStar, there are at least attempts: Come by and see how I have set up my house. I have selected from a thousand items and built my own villa. For this, I have combined all the options I had in a unique way.
Niche games like Star Trek Online or Neverwinter even allow players to design their own missions, often with only relatively crude, primitive tools and within narrow confines. The idea has not really taken off in MMOs yet.
SOE is already profiting from the idea in another context
At the forefront of this development is Sony Online Entertainment, SOE, who have been at it for quite a while. In Planetside 2, players can design their own cosmetic items and skins. These designs go into a player shop and other players can buy them for real money.
SOE takes a cut and gives the creators 40%. The system has proven to be lucrative and gave SOE Studio a breakthrough idea: Apparently, players know best what other players want. Why not take advantage of that talent?
Everquest Next is to be collaboratively designed by players and developers
With Everquest Next, they are taking a step further and allowing players not only to design cosmetic items for the shop but parts of the world as well. Currently, not just parts of the Everquest Next world but also from other scenarios that could work in this engine: It doesn’t always have to be fantasy; with the tools, a space opera would also be possible.
Not only fantasy or a space opera would be possible, but also the Wild West.
In an interview with VentureBeat , Dave Georgeson, one of the minds behind Everquest Next, explains the idea. It began, long before thinking of Landmark, with the fact that they relied on voxels in EQNext, so the world would be changeable and destructible. With this idea, they wanted to usher in a new era of MMOs.
Then someone threw out the idea: “Wouldn’t it be great if we gave the players the tools two months before the release of Everquest Next, with which we are also creating the game?” Then they could already build their own guild halls in advance, before EQN appears.
The motto of Everquest Next: Everything we can do; the players should be able to do as well
Quickly, this developed further: Why wait so long? Now they wanted to give all Everquest Next players almost simultaneously the same tools they would use to create the world. SOE believes, according to Gregson, that it is better for a game to be developed by developers and players rather than just the studio alone. They even made it their motto: “Everything we can do; the players should also be able to do.”
From this point on, “Landmark” took shape, the sister project of Everquest Next, in which players would receive the same tools as the developers.
Landmark: Still soulless in the sandbox
At the moment, in the closed beta of Landmark, there are still some tools missing for players to breathe life into the world. So far, players have primarily built in Landmark with voxels. And they dug with their shovel voxel away. Currently, it seems as if players were just creating sites without the stories and people that would give them life. But that is supposed to change soon when players also receive the “Gamemaster Tools.”
When that happens, we will slowly see if the future of MMOs really lies in user-generated content. At the moment, these are ambitious theories that need to be put to the test in practice.
An interesting side aspect crystallizes from this trend also in offline games: This kind of “user-generated” content is increasingly serving as a recruitment tool for software studios. Why shouldn’t a person, who can create better stories, more fantastic buildings, and more exciting adventures than the developers themselves with the developers’ tools, be hired? Some talented modders or level designers are now on the payroll of companies.
Perhaps some developer is currently working to make himself unemployed, or at least drawing in talented competition.
[intense_blockquote color=”#f0f0f0″] Further articles on the topic:
In the Dark Fantasy MMORPG Rift , the first content patch of the expansion “Nightmare Tide” arrives on January 28 with version 3.1. It introduces the Tyrant’s Forge, a new 20-player raid.
With patch 3.1, players can access the “Tyrant’s Throne” island in Rift. Trion Worlds speaks of “gigantic zone events” waiting for players there. After a week of acclimatization on the island (if they survive), players will then enter the 20-player raid “Tyrant’s Forge.” There, the servants of the Storm Legion, under the supervision of their tyrannical ruler Crucia, are working on completing a metal dragon.
If the heroes want to take on Crucia (in a new mechanical version), they must first get past the tormented creature “Johann” and the GOLDJUNGEN, a deep-sea mech; according to the interdimensional rules that Rift adheres to, such things are always written in all caps.
The first expansion for the fantasy MMORPG Guild Wars 2, Heart of Thorns, still doesn’t have an official release date, but it should be coming soon.
In the presentation for the GW2 add-on Heart of Thorns, nothing was missing except a concrete date. In ArenaNet’s typical fashion, they didn’t want to give any dates until they were 100% sure. However, it seems it won’t be long now.
In an interview after the event with the US magazine Polygon, Guild Wars Game Director Colin Johanson said: “We waited until the announcement until things took shape, from here it will move quickly.“
In six weeks at PAX East in Boston, on March 6, there will already be a playable demo of Heart of Thorns.
Shortly after, ArenaNet plans to invite players to a beta test. According to Johanson, it’s mainly about finding out whether they have laid a solid foundation to build upon later:
It’s going to get released when beta testing says it’s ready to get released. We want to involve our players in that. It’ll be a process of beta testing the game and making sure that this fundamental groundwork that we’re laying is the groundwork that we want to build on top of growing forward.
The expansion Heart of Thorns will be released when the beta test shows that the add-on is ready for release.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
2015: Star Wars: The Old Republic will receive 2 expansions
This year, they want to release two new expansions, although they do not want to provide exact details about the scope and contents yet. Such predictions should be taken with caution, as BioWare has often postponed patches and expansions in the past when they deemed it necessary.
April: A new planet, a new species, and the costume designer
Already in April, the story of SWTOR will be continued, at least on a small scale, as players can expect the new planet “Ziost,” where the story will progress further. Additionally, the Togruta will be added as a playable species, which will likely be unlocked again using cartel credits, just like the Cathar were before.
Cartel packs, promotional images, backgrounds, and more
So that fans can express themselves on social media, a range of promotional images, Facebook profile backgrounds, and various animations have also been released, which you can access in our sources. At the same time, a new cartel pack will arrive in the game world, filled to the brim with decorations, clothing items, and exclusive mounts – if you have a fair bit of luck.
In Destiny, the aim is to learn from the mistakes made in item balance in the DLC “Darkness Awaits.” This is now announced by a post from Raid Lead Designer Luke Smith. In particular, the resetting of an exotic item after upgrading and the legendary vendor items, which were stronger than previous raid gear, have been identified as sources of error.
Clear information is rare at Bungie. Once a week, there is the “Weekly Update,” which often consists of a retrospective and rarely looks concrete into the future. Interviews or clear statements from the responsible developers are almost never seen. They don’t show their cards. However, yesterday was an exception.
Most of the time, the communication from players to Bungie is quite one-sided. Players complain, and the community manager tells them they are being heard and that he will pass their complaints on to the developers. Much more happens, apart from planned announcements, actually not.
Upgrading exotic items will work differently in Destiny
Yesterday there was a rare exception. On Neo-Gaf, a huge English-speaking gaming forum, a Destiny player wrote: “As soon as it becomes clear how to upgrade exotic items in the DLC House of Wolves and how to buy vendor legendaries there, there will be real trouble again.“
This is a frequently expressed concern that boils down to “With the next DLC, everything starts over again! Why should I bother now?” Countless times, this has been read before.
But this time, the complaint brought Bungie’s Lead Raid Designer, Luke Smith, to the forefront: “No, it won’t anger the fans (when we announce it).”
They made two mistakes with Darkness Awaits that they will not repeat:
Crota’s End was a reaction to complaints about the base game
The philosophy of how to reward players in Destiny has evolved. Bungie’s goal is to reduce the grind aspects of loot, improve the frequency of drops and their stories, and bring players to the fun part with their arsenal faster.
The aim of the adjustments in “Darkness Awaits” was:
to increase the drop rates of items in Crota’s End so that frequent players are either at level 32 or just before when the hard mode comes.
to diversify the gear so that players at level 32 are focused on creating the perfect set with different attributes.
Until that thing is upgraded …
Players should equip found items in Destiny faster
As Smith sees it, this has been fundamentally successful. The drop rate in Crota’s End has markedly improved compared to the Glass Chamber.
However, he sees problems with the “Shard Economy” (the availability of shards). That is an obstacle that stands between guardians and the immediate use of fresh drops.
In this balance, they will now not interfere in “Darkness Awaits” to avoid undermining the achievements of the guardians. In the next DLC “House of Wolves,” this should be different.
They want fewer hurdles between the moment a player finds a new item and the moment they equip it and make it part of their arsenal.
Destiny and the entire industry are still refining the perfect loot system
Mein MMO believes: This item philosophy is a major topic in MMO design, and even though Destiny is seen by many as not an MMO – it has the item design of an MMO and with it the same problems.
World of Warcraft had these hurdles as well that Smith speaks of. Players did not have to level an item, but they had to insert a fresh drop into their “gear,” ensuring that no stats were too high and none too low.
They had to buy gems and socket the item, enchant it, resort to a 3rd-party tool to calculate and readjust the perfect balance of the entire gear. This had built up over the years, becoming increasingly complex until it was almost completely abolished in November. WoW should aim for something similar: A player finds an item, is happy, equips it immediately, and feels stronger.
This is a psychologically important feeling that game designers aim for, and Destiny does not evoke. Here, with a new item, the feeling is: Oh dear, now I have to upgrade and level it too. And how long will it last? Starting over in 6 weeks?
A change in the ideal direction occurred a few weeks ago: Thus, the new raid armors were raised to a naked value of 30 light, so that players could equip them immediately upon finding the new raid armor without dropping in light level. Even the upgraded exotic armors and weapons are “naked” stronger than their fully upgraded predecessors.
It seems that Bungie wants to quickly bring all items to a high level and then let players fine-tune the last few percent. The next challenge will probably be whether they take away the fun of the game from players by handing out items “too easily”.
For exactly such things, MMO designers have been thinking for decades, searching for the golden path.
Only two players have defeated the final boss Crota in Destiny in the 6-player raid Crota’s End. This raid has only been accessible since Wednesday evening.
Not too long ago, we presented videos from the normal raid Crota’s End showcasing damage records and various methods of how Guardians took down Crota while imposing handicaps: only with 5 players, with 4, with 3, with 2, solo, solo with the weakest exotic in the game.
Back then we wrote: It’s about time the hard mode comes, so these players receive a new challenge. How foolish we were!
Instead, the videos and achievements of the Guardians have seemingly set a trend in Destiny, with more and more Guardians trying to set such records as early as possible.
Two Guardians Discover Safe Tactic for Hard Crota
Two players have now managed to achieve what so many six-man teams have failed to do in recent days: They have defeated Crota in hard mode. This took just over 9 minutes, requires perfect timing, and whether it’s intended that the sword bearers can be taken down so easily as shown in the videos remains questionable.
As early as Wednesday evening, a clan came up with a tactic that allowed them to work around most of the “difficulties” that Bungie intended to spice up hard mode.
Now, it seems to be a quite safe tactic that the two Guardians have devised. They are rarely in real danger. The video of the kill shows that a mixture of sheer firepower, good timing, and above all the right strategy were necessary to take down Crota so confidently.
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The impressive moments always occur when the sword bearer confronts Crota and he is still standing. One needs a lot of trust in their partner and their Gjallarhorn. But it is probably mainly patience and time, not the sniper rifle, but the actual virtues that contribute to this success. Who knows how many times things went wrong before, and how often the flawless ballet we see ended abruptly?
Well, one has some idea. In Destiny, everything is logged, and if we roughly estimate the death statistics of the players, each should be around 250 deaths (and as mentioned, the raid has only been open since Wednesday evening).
The equipment of the Hunter and sword bearer seems to be revolving around Fatebringer, Black Hammer, and Gjallarhorn. His partner, the Titan, is also essential for the strategy, especially due to the bubble. Furthermore, some syntheses for heavy ammo are necessary.
We have the complete video for you here. The duo has also uploaded strategies for the other encounters in Crota’s End hard mode. Even solo players have managed to reach Crota himself by now.
What do you think about the hard mode Crota’s End? Are you disappointed that with the right tactic, the perfect talents of the correct classes, and top-notch equipment, it seems to be so easy? After all, this is the first ID in Destiny where hard mode is available. Should future bosses perhaps prove to be a bit tougher, even leaning more towards “unfair”? Or do you find Crota tough enough and these are just exceptional players who have little to do with the day-to-day in Destiny?
All news, guides, videos, and articles about the MMO shooter from Bungie can be found collected, well-tempered, and clearly on our Destiny topic page.
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In World of Warcraft, Patch 6.1 is now available on the test server. A lot of new details are now clear.
Patch 6.1 has been discussed for a while, and some details were already known. Now the full patch notes are available on the test server, bringing a lot of new changes to the world of Azeroth. Not everything will go live exactly as it is, but – as experience shows – most of it will.
Some details were still missing. These can now be added, here is a selection of the highlights:
The legendary ring quest will provide a new epic follower.
Anyone who completes the daily challenge dungeon will receive an item with iLvl 660.
The new bosses that can be summoned to your garrison are designed for 10-40 players and scale with the group size. Items they summon are obtained from quests given by new visitors to the garrison.
The new platinum rank, which allows you to complete invasions of your garrison in World of Warcraft, grants another 660 item.
The follower missions that grant raid items provide a chance for 665, 680, and 695 items in the new raid of Blackrock Foundry. More details on the system currently in Highmaul can be found here, it can be assumed that it will be accordingly adjusted for Blackrock Foundry.
The jukebox in World of Warcraft needs to be assembled first, which works through parts obtained from follower missions. Songs will be found later in the world.
The tertiary stats will be significantly buffed. Life steal, speed, and avoidance are now supposed to be four times stronger on items. Previously, those were only modest amounts.
A massive balancing of talents across the classes is taking place. Most of the changes are aimed at avoiding an “ideal build.” Instead of one talent being clearly the best, Blizzard wants to ensure that all 3 talents you can choose from at a level are reasonably viable. The talent changes are extremely extensive. You can read them here in the patch notes.
Other things coming with 6.1 have already been addressed:
In Guild Wars 2, there will be a new expansion called “Heart of Thorns”. Here is the trailer for it.
The expansion for Guild Wars 2 is live and was just announced a few minutes ago (January 24; 6:15 PM) live. An impressive trailer was shown during the live stream. The main character is Rytlock. He had disappeared into the “Mists” during the storyline of GW2 to search for his incredibly powerful sword.
What he experienced in the Mists has remained hidden from players so far. However, he was seen wearing an eyepatch and a completely unknown armor. During our exclusive giveaway of GW2 T-shirts, Rytlock served as the motif. It was already said then that he would play an important role in the next chapter of GW2, and that is set to be proved true.
With the launch of the expansion “Heart of Thorns”, Rytlock will return from the Mists heavily scarred and become the progenitor of a new class. He will be the first Revenant in Guild Wars 2.
This new class is supposed to wear heavy armor and summon the legends of the past from Guild Wars to gain new abilities. They command otherworldly powers.
The official trailer for the “Heart of Thorns” expansion from GW2 was released shortly after the event. We have embedded it directly above.
And for those who discover classes in the trailer wielding weapons that they technically should not be using: That is one of the new features of the expansion. There are new specializations (so to speak, secondary classes) that grant access to weapons that were previously forbidden to the classes: For example, the Ranger will wield a staff as a Druid, and the Necromancer will be able to use a greatsword.
P.S.: We know that “Revenant” sounds funny and the mythological “Revenant” is often spelled with “ie”. But GW2 has opted for this spelling. And it is indeed possible.
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In the fantasy MMORPG World of Warcraft, the bots are rampant, especially in PvP and here in the battleground “The Eye of the Storm.”
It is no longer a secret or a taboo, but something that has become normalized in World of Warcraft: PvP is crawling with bots.
What caused outrage in a fresh MMORPG like The Elder Scrolls Online, ArcheAge, or WildStar last year, and was seen as a clear sign that the developers are incompetent, has somehow become the norm for WoW over the years.
But a blatant example like in this video is also rare. A YouTuber is in “The Eye of the Storm” in World of Warcraft, until he notices the strange behavior of fellow players and opponents…
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Will a bot-versus-bot tournament be announced soon?
The assumption that the players may all be users of a very specific bot, which is the most widespread in the scene, is notably dismissed in a comment under the video by one of the developers of this bot, who finds it dishonorable. His bot is not that obvious, it even attacks players on a mount, it must be a competing product…
Perhaps soon there will be the first pure bot battlegrounds in World of Warcraft – or do they already exist and no one is left to report it? Maybe we could even turn it into a tournament? After all, the best programs compete against each other in chess to determine the winner.
The causes run deeper
And now seriously: The PvP in World of Warcraft has had a design problem for a long time, or at least it is perceived that way. The “exciting” arena matches and rated battlegrounds are accepted by players. The way there, in the eyes of many, involves more or less tedious grinding in “older” battlegrounds that no longer excite anyone.
Or players who have nothing to do with PvP go in to complete specific achievements.
The PvP, especially in battlegrounds, is a topic that Blizzard should seriously reconsider. In today’s game design, it is assumed that a bot problem cannot be solved with the banhammer but rather through design decisions, as bots indicate that there are lucrative parts of the game that can be performed without any spirit and thus also without any fun.
In PvE, the famous mining bots, which used to endlessly circle the world until they spotted a vein, have been rendered obsolete with some changes. In PvP, however, it seems not yet. And when you look at it that way, the thought comes to mind: They’re riding again.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the fantasy MMO Guild Wars 2, a major announcement is set to take place today in Texas. The exact details are still unknown, but all signs point to the announcement of an expansion.
There hasn’t been this much activity around ArenaNet’s fantasy MMO Guild Wars 2 in a while. Today, they’ve rented a hall at a convention in Texas, advertised worldwide, launched a special discount event, and even promoted the event in-game at the end of the last episode of the Living World. One would have to be living under a rock (or in an area without internet) to not be aware that something “special” is happening in GW2 today.
Much is known, but not what it is
So what is it really about? No one knows for sure yet. With all the hype, anything less than a full-fledged expansion would be a disappointment. Fans of GW2 are longing for such an expansion, as the initial momentum of the game, the exploration of new zones, and all the fresh ideas have noticeably waned after two years.
The initial concept of bringing fleeting content to the game for a short time has now been abandoned. That didn’t work out. But what plans do they have next?
What we know: The name and the story line
At least we already know the name of what is to be announced tonight at 5:30 PM our time: Heart of Thorns.
We also know what this is all about. The storyline is clear since the last episode of the Living World. One-fifth of the hero population of Tyria has been in an identity crisis since then. Have they acted against their nature and were actually created to serve the upcoming “Big Bad”?
What we don’t know: Everything else
We know the name, and also the storyline: but much more is still unknown. The key questions revolve around everything else.
Will it be a full-fledged expansion of Guild Wars 2, and if so, what features will be new to the game?
Will there be new races and classes?
Will some of the fundamental game concepts be broken?
Will there be new zones, a new continent, new endgame content?
What does GW2 have in store to give fans a breath of fresh air?
ArenaNet has chosen a German live stream for the event this evening. The German fan site Guildnews and the YouTuber Honeyball will host.
Action in Texas starts at 5 PM. First information is to be expected at 5:30 PM.
We will accompany the live event with a live ticker.
http://www.twitch.tv/honeyballgames
4:30 PM: Good evening everyone and welcome to the GW2 live ticker! Just half an hour to go until the show starts.
4:40 PM: The streamers are currently discussing with the German Guild Wars 2 community manager. He lets Honeyball and Guildnews speculate about today’s announcement and is obviously having fun with it. There’s already reassurance: Guild Wars 1 will not be discontinued, despite “No Return” and such.
4:45 PM: Everyone is hyped. The wildest addon dreams are flooding the chats. Will elves and goblins come? Some suspect simply a massive continuation of the Living World, with new features. They apparently don’t want to be too disappointed later, should no expansion be announced.
5:00 PM: It should start any moment now, how exciting! By the way, anyone who has never played GW2 should take advantage of this now: The MMO is currently available for €9.99 on the official website.
5:10 PM: Phew, interest is huge. Almost 50,000 people are watching the announcement across all streams.
5:15 PM: A dragon awakens. The show has begun, everyone is cheering in Texas!
5:17 PM: Is only a cute Quaggan coming as a new race into the game? They do already have a backpack! That’s probably not the case, but Honeyball would be happy.
5:20 PM: In the audience, people are holding up commander tags made of cardboard above their heads. Is a battle about to begin? There are enough participants 😉
5:25 PM: Only 5 minutes until the announcement!
5:29 PM: A new soundtrack featuring the “Heart of Thorns” logo is being presented in the background. Things are looking good.
5:30 PM: ArenaNet President and Co-Founder Mike O’Brien enters the field.
Heart of Thorns confirmed as the first expansion to Guild Wars 2.
5:35 PM: Now we know: Heart of Thorns is the first expansion to Guild Wars 2, it is official! A really cool trailer just played. A lot of new content is coming our way! New wings! New zones! Rytlock with a new staff!
5:42 PM: There will be no level increase! The current armor remains valuable.
5:45 PM: Endgame progression will be more extensive and deeper! There will be a new system called “Masteries” which means mastery system. You will be able to further develop your abilities here. Specializations for classes were also mentioned. Apparently, there will be challenging content that is tough. Many fans have demanded that. And there will be more content for guilds and groups. We speculate raids here.
5:50 PM: Colin Johanson, the game director, announces a new zone. It goes into the jungle.
5:52 PM: In the new zone, Heart of Aguuma, there will of course be new stories, civilizations, and monsters, as well as new dynamic events, etc. According to Johanson, it will be better than ever before. Special skills will be needed to defeat enemies in the new zone, which will be obtained with the mastery system. The areas look fantastic and very detailed.
5:54 PM: The mastery system is a PvE progression system in the endgame that is account-bound. For all characters. You will be able to collect points in many ways!
5:55 PM: As hinted at in the trailer, with the new addon, you will be able to glide – this is called dragon flying and is a capability from the mastery system.
With our new mastery system, we will reshape character progression. Discover new training opportunities for your characters beyond level 80 and master abilities like dragon flying in the jungle and shredding the tough bark armor of the Mordrem, or complete new collections that provide precursors for a legendary weapon.
5:57 PM: The lore seems profound. Will we need to decipher languages?
6:00 PM: New legendaries and precursors are coming!
6:02 PM: Back to the class specializations:
Develop your playstyle. With class specializations, you’ll unlock not only a weapon that your class previously couldn’t use but also new traits, skills, and unique mechanics. All this allows you to completely reorient your class.
The ranger will, for example, use a staff and heal through a secondary class, the “Druid”. In the coming weeks, more information will come. All classes will receive new weapons.
6:05 PM: New class announced, “The Revenant“, will it confuse opponents with the powers of the mist?
6:07 PM: New WvW-PvP map Borderlands, where it will be even more important to hold fortresses and complete objectives. Even better: Players can look forward to a brand-new GvG map. 6:13 PM: The Stronghold mode offers guild rankings, and in general, it’s all about features that should strengthen guild cohesion. Guild teams, guild lords… Ay, now the old Guild Wars players are ecstatic.
Gather supplies to recruit soldiers. Battle for control of heroes. Man trebuchets to defend your fortress and storm the enemy fortress gates to defeat the opposing guild lord! Use the new guild team feature to form a group and fight your way to the top of the rankings. “Fortress” offers a completely new player experience for competitive PvP in Guild Wars 2!
6:15 PM: Guild halls, which can be expanded or built! So soon guilds will feel at home.
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