In World of Warcraft, the loot system is changed back to the “new” personal loot after just one day.
Just yesterday, the loot system for 5-man instances was switched back to the proven “Need before Greed” system that has been in place for years. Now, it is changed back again to the new “Personal Loot” after some fans complained in the last 24 hours. Apparently, when switching back to the proven system, the number of players who embraced the new personal loot system was underestimated.
The standard loot system will again be the personal loot system, but it will be more generous in the future. The final boss of each instance will ALWAYS drop an item for every player.
Fully premade groups can switch to the “Need before Greed” system and will see three guaranteed drops from the final boss instead of two items. They can, however, also switch to “Personal Loot”.
Mein MMO says: One has to say, it takes courage to react so quickly and come to a compromise. The “shitstorm” that Blizzard received was probably quite large. Loot tends to divide the community of an MMO.
Realistically speaking: Drops from HC dungeons are only relevant for a few weeks; after that, everyone has better gear and runs the instances for other reasons, like now, to gather 50 garrison resources. Drops from HC instances seem important right now. However, this should be resolved fairly quickly in the first weeks of December – at least for the majority of players. That’s why it was also good that Blizzard reacted so quickly. Now the drops are still relevant; with each passing day, they become less important.
If it had been about loot distribution in raids, one would surely be much more cautious in making such concessions to players. In MMOs, it is important not to give players too much too quickly, otherwise they lose motivation.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Until Sunday, the black market dealer Xur in Destiny has the MIDA Multi-Tool on offer, an exotic scout rifle. But is the hefty expenditure of 23 strange coins worth it?
Only until Sunday at 10 AM can you find the Xur, the Agent of the Nine, selling the MIDA Multi-Tool. Is the scout rifle worth it? The answer, as can be gleaned from the discussion on reddit, is a resounding “It depends.” The MIDA Multi-Tool is suitable for a specific playstyle where control of the map and faster movement is prioritized over firepower.
PvE: Inferior to the firepower of the Vision of Confluence
In terms of pure firepower, the “Vision of Confluence” is superior, which can be obtained from the final boss Atheon in the raid ‘The Glassed Chamber’ on normal. It deals solar damage and hits really hard. Alternatively, one can opt for an auto rifle. In the predominantly stationary PvE battles in Destiny, the MIDA does not convince. The single “exotic slot” for weapons can be better utilized elsewhere.
According to experts, the MIDA Multi-Tool in Destiny is mainly used in PvE to farm resources and materials with increased speed. These are known as “Chest Runs”. Here, the increased running speed becomes noticeably beneficial, and this currently unique advantage is a nice plus for “farmers”.
PvP: Supports a specific playstyle in Destiny’s Crucible
The MIDA Multi-Tool truly shines in the Crucible, the PvP mode of Destiny. However, this is not due to its firepower, but rather its speed and the radar advantages granted by “Third Eye.” With Third Eye, the radar remains active even when looking through the MIDA’s sights.
Especially through speed, particularly advanced and agile players can choose their battles, surprising and attacking opponents strategically. Bladedancer, a Hunter subclass, and Striker, Titan variants, find success with this.
They utilize the MIDA in combination with their knife skills or shoulder charge, achieving remarkable results. However, this requires a wide field of view and a certain level of composure and experience. Those who develop tunnel vision in a shooter and focus only on aiming and shooting may struggle with it.
Bladedancer in Action
Conclusion: Those who play conventionally and prefer stationary battles are better off with other weapons. However, for those wanting to try a different playstyle or wanting to engage in close combat more often, the MIDA Multi-Tool is an interesting choice. The playstyle is quite skill-intensive. We have included a video of a Bladerunner showcasing the MIDA Multi-Tool and a sharpened knife in action.
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If I have to explain to my friends what EVE Online actually is, I often struggle to find the words. The MMO is too much to summarize in just a few sentences. Thankfully, CCP takes on this task with a new and very emotional trailer.
Real Players, Real Emotions
For the new trailer “This is EVE,” CCP asked players for recordings from Teamspeak or other voice programs. From the submissions, the Cinematic team edited an almost four-minute long trailer with in-game footage. It shows not only the experiences during a large fleet battle but also the lives of traders or miners. The video was first presented at EVE Online Down Under in Sydney. The special thing about EVE is that once a ship is destroyed, it remains destroyed. There is no resurrection like in other games, so hours of work can dissolve in a short time – emotions, whether positive or negative, are guaranteed!
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On December 9, EVE Online Rhea will be released. The patch includes new ships, graphical improvements, new wormhole systems, and control of the ship via keyboard. One can be curious about what CCP still has planned for the future. The upcoming release of Star Citizen probably plays a role in this.
The sandbox MMO ArcheAge consumed as many hours in October as no other MMO besides World of Warcraft.
The Raptr numbers are in. They reflect how much time PC users with an installed Raptr program spent on individual games. The numbers are a “reasonable” approximation, as they indicate a trend and are relatively constant. They are not absolutely valid. It is important to note that hours are counted, not logged-in players or revenue, as is common with other statistics.
World of Warcraft increases, ArcheAge sensationally in the top 5
World of Warcraft has settled in at position 2 in October, the month before the release of Warlords of Draenor. The hours increased by 16.8% compared to September. In November, the numbers are expected to take another significant jump, maybe even explode. Whether that will be enough to close the massive lead of League of Legends is another question, especially since the “hype” around the release will spread over two months.
The release took place in the middle of the month. And in December, many will be playing WoW less again. In MMOs, the leveling phase is particularly time-consuming, as players want to reach the maximum level as quickly as possible and therefore invest significantly more time than in “normal” mode.
ArcheAge has shot up after a strong September. October was the first “full” month for the game. Certain game mechanics surely contributed to players spending so much time in ArcheAge. The Asian import has some Korean game elements in its DNA. These significantly increase the hours per person. Players receive more labor points when they stay logged in. After the controversies in November and the commotion around the game, it would be a big surprise if ArcheAge could hold a place in the top 10 in November. After 6 weeks, the invested playtime of gamers usually declines a bit anyway.
Nice success for the Jedi: Star Wars: The Old Republic benefits from huge EXP bonus
Star Wars: The Old Republic records a nice success. There has been an upward trend observed in recent months, which is certainly somewhat related to the upcoming expansion “Shadow of Revan“, but much more with a clever move. Before the expansion, pre-order players were given a twelvefold experience bonus. Many probably took advantage of this limited-time “too good to refuse” offer and therefore spent more time in Star Wars than in previous months.
However, this is a trick that can only be used sparingly; eventually, everyone has every character at max level, and then something new has to be thought up.
In November, things remain relatively quiet in SWTOR; only in December will there be some action again.
Final Fantasy stable, Guild Wars 2 not so much
Final Fantasy XIV is relatively stable, just before entering the top 10. The game not only focuses on PC but has long extended its feelers to other platforms, although this is still difficult with the Xbox. The next major patch has now been released, and the numbers could rise again in November. With trial versions, free days for returners, fan festivals, marketing campaigns, and trailers, Square Enix is definitely stirring up the promotional pot: They are proud of FF XIV and want to attract as many people to the game as possible, hoping that the quality will convince them.
The future for FF XIV is clearly outlined, with the next patch 2.5 in the works and the next expansion 3.0 announced.
Guild Wars 2 had a calm phase in October. Little was felt from the last patch, which was supposed to influence the experience of newcomers. These changes are expected to show more of a long-term effect. In November, the Living World will kick off again. A PvP patch is expected in December.
Whether these measures can halt the slight downward trend that the game is experiencing, which is also supported by official numbers, is an interesting question. The Living World is interesting for many, but it is not really time-consuming content. The changes in PvP scheduled for December will likely only interest a part of the player base. Nonetheless, there is still the popular battle between servers, which is more for the “mass” of players.
Overall, GW2 is probably the game that urgently needs an expansion.
Changes are coming to World of Warcraft. They want to change the loot system for mixed groups and also increase the availability of garrison resources.
As Blizzard reports, many players are not satisfied with the “Personal Loot” system in 5-man instances that was introduced with Warlords of Draenor. They tried the new system, but players complain that it doesn’t feel good and is unsatisfactory.
Currently, loot is rolled separately for each player after a boss is defeated in an instance. There are times when you might run through an instance in World of Warcraft and not see a single item. In the past, it was the case that you might not need an item from a run, but at least you could see them. Apparently, psychologically players prefer to be able to pull a visible “loser” rather than feel like nothing drops at all.
Due to player complaints against the system, they are returning to the old “Need for Greed” method. An item will soon drop from the boss that everyone can see and roll for. Players who sign up in a full five-man group for an instance can also stick to the old system.
And what many will surely appreciate: For the first heroic instance completed in a day, you will receive 50 garrison resources as soon as the change is active.
The garrison resources are important for further expanding the new player garrison, and you also need them to send followers on missions. Over time, the garrison automatically regenerates some resources, and players can also obtain them through the lumber mill. However, for those actively playing World of Warcraft, sending followers out and building diligently, they can quickly become scarce. Once you have consumed the initial resource boost from quests, rare mobs, and treasures, the stream from natural regeneration, mission rewards, and the lumber mill trickles down. Therefore, 50 a day can make a significant difference.
When the changes will become active is still unknown. They are still in the testing stage. But likely soon.
Update: Both systems are now active.
The “new” old loot system may still need a bit of fine-tuning.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
And there is also an exotic helm engram available, which costs 23 Light particles, the Motes of Light, which are also needed for the Iron Banner. One of 9 different helmets will result, which one it is and whether it is for the respective class, remains unknown.
In Destiny, Xur, the Agent of the Nine and black market dealer, appears in the Tower on Fridays, bringing Guardians a selection of exotic weapons and armor. What does he have this weekend from November 21 to November 23?
Xur is the most important man for armament in Destiny
But one thing does not change in Destiny: Xur, the Agent of the Nine, appears in the Tower on Fridays, and everyone wants to know immediately: “What does Xur have to offer?” Because it can upset the entire power structure in the Crucible. Last week, he had the exotic revolver “The Last Word“, a feared weapon, on display for the first time. Since then, the hand cannon has been much more common in the game.
Warlocks are currently waiting not just for a weapon, but for the chest armor “Heart of Praxic Fire“. It has not been available yet. Hunters and Titans are longing for weapons like Gjallarhorn or Icebreaker, if they missed them the first time around. And there are also weapons like the Mida Multi-Tool or the Thunderlord, which have not been available yet, but he might have – as known through the Xur glitch.
The star of last week: The Last Word.
All about Xur, the Agent of the Nine, this weekend
When does Xur come to the Tower and how long will he stay?
Xur appears on Friday, November 21, at 10 AM German time in the Tower and stays until Sunday, November 23, also at 10:00 AM.
What is Xur’s position? Where is his location?
Xur is probably in the bar. Our friends from Ziro.tv made a video about it, where you can also see the entire offer in German, by the way. http://youtu.be/r7jz-EHf5WM What does Xur have to offer? What armor pieces are available for Titans, Hunters, and Warlocks? What weapon does he have?
For 13 strange coins, he is selling this week the gloves “No Backup Plan“, “No Plan B” for Titans. After “Breast” day was particularly popular recently (with numerous armories), the guys might be happy that they can punch with exotic gloves this time.
He also has gloves for Hunters this time, namely the “Young Ahamkara’s Spine”. They cost 13 strange coins. This is something new as gloves have primarily been in abundance for Warlocks up to now.
For Warlocks, he once again has the armor “Voidfang Vestments“, the “Voidfang Armor” available this week. He parts with it for 13 strange coins. This is not so great, as the Voidfang Vestments have been available more frequently lately. This will confirm Warlocks’ belief that Xur simply does not like them. Well, at least there were no Sunbreakers this week.
The highlight of this week is surely the MIDA-Multi-Tool, an exotic scout rifle, for 23 strange coins. In the voting for the best exotic weapons, the MIDA Multi-Tool ranked in the middle. However, it is a weapon that many Guardians still lack in their collection.
And there is also an exotic helm engram available, which costs 23 Light particles, the Motes of Light, which are also needed for the Iron Banner. One of 9 different helmets will result, which one it is and whether it is for the respective class, remains unknown.
In the MMO shooter Destiny , exotic weapons such as Thorn, Bad Mojo, or the Vex Mythoclast are expected to be changed in the coming weeks. The strikes have become harder for solo players. Additionally, there is more information about the new Sparrow, an exploit with heavy ammunition, and the damage of low-level players in the Iron Banner.
Weekly Update brings the Guardians of Destiny up to date
Last night, the Weekly Update was released: a blog from Bungie, where the community manager acts as a sort of bridge between the players and the devs. The blog provides insight into what is happening at Bungie and exercises itself in cryptic hints. Solid information with numbers and dates is rarely available. The uncertainties are too significant, according to the community manager on reddit. Predicting a specific release date for a change is about as easy as predicting an earthquake.
The most important topic this week was the patch 1.0.3, the largest in Destiny so far. Not everything went smoothly here. The damage of the exotic weapon “Thorn,” which is already fairly weak, was further reduced.
Upgrade candidates and downgrade candidates among the exotic weapons in Destiny
But that should not last long. In the coming weeks, before the DLC “The Darkness Rises“, exotic weapons are to be revised. It is already known that Thorn, Bad Mojo, and Vex Mythoclast are to be improved. An image was released by Bungie featuring these three weapons, but also with four more.
Furthermore, the Super Good Advice and Red Death were on the picture. Both weapons are considered “rather weak” and might also be upgraded.
The Suros Regime and Pocket Infinity, which are included in the picture, are rather strong, according to a survey, ranking among the best exotic weapons in Destiny and might be toned down.
Soon, they plan to release more details on how they envision the exact changes. There is no specific date yet for the changes.
Solo players have it harder in the strike, fireteams easier
Another announcement concerns the strikes, from the entry-level to the king class, the Nightfall, a weekly twilight strike. Strikes, the instances of Destiny, are actually designed for three players. Since the release, players have preferred to complete them solo because they are easier, explains James Tsai, the designer responsible for Destiny. In a group of three, the strikes are quite challenging. As a result, some Guardians have opted out of tackling the strikes as a team.
Bungie does not want this, and therefore made the strikes a bit easier for three players, while making them a bit harder for solo players. This aims to welcome every additional player rather than making them feel suspicious. That the strikes have become a little tougher for solo players seems to be an unintended side effect. This does not have to stay that way and could still change.
Since the patch, there has been discussion among fans about whether the solo strikes have really become harder or if it was just a difficult twilight strike this week with a dangerous damage modifier.
New Sparrow, Iron Banner, and exploit with heavy ammunition
The Sparrow S-30-Tumbler will be received by players who order the next expansion “The Dark Below” only on the release date, December 9. Buyers of an expansion pass, however, will receive it immediately. The Sparrow was created when the designers got wind of how much players of Destiny enjoy Sparrow stunts.
There is an interesting graphic about the damage in the new Iron Banner. Damage drops significantly when the level difference is too great. A small difference hardly makes a difference. However, if you target an enemy that is six, seven, or more levels above you, it will feel like you are shooting with blanks: This time equipment matters, but with a small level difference, you hardly notice it.
And as the last Destiny news: In the meantime, there was an exploit that allowed players in the Crucible to acquire unlimited heavy ammunition. The exploit has since been fixed, players were temporarily banned but have since been unbanned and warned.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
A cinematic trailer for the first DLC of Destiny “The Dark Below” has reportedly surfaced on YouTube due to an error.
You’d better hurry: Who knows how long the video will be online. The DLC “The Dark Below” is set to be released on December 9 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4. Just about an hour ago, the cinematic trailer has already appeared. This is likely not intentional; the uploader of the video states that he was only able to upload the trailer due to an error.
You are hearing the voice in the video: Eris Morn.
What will happen gameplay-wise is already somewhat known, even if one has to rely partly on datamining: With the DLC “The Dark Below” the maximum light level in Destiny will increase from 30 to 32. A new raid will be introduced and two fresh strikes, one of which will be exclusive for PlayStation players. Some PvP maps will also be added.
There will be tons of new epics and perhaps ways to upgrade the old ones. Now begins the “maybe” part: Maybe there will be new shaders and new toys.
A stunt-sparrow for all pre-orders and with Eris Morn a new NPC will definitely be available. With Eris Morn, a quest line will start, where there will be (the last “maybe”) upgradable wonder weapons.
So far, relatively little was known about the story. It was known that it would be about the “Hive”, the swarm, an alien race that seems to have a penchant for the occult. At least that was shown in the concept art, which was seen in Destiny’s first DLC.
There was already talk of a dark shrine where the witches of the swarm perform dark rituals. And when you watch the trailer, it goes down into the hellmouth, the giant hole on the moon, into the dark – as expected.
The ominous female voice that can be heard in the trailer seems to belong to the vendor Eris Morn. The subject of her address is the “god” of the swarm: Crota. He must be stopped at all costs: He has now set his eyes on Earth.
Six descended into the dark. Only one managed to escape. She saw what the swarm calls a “god”: Crota, son of Oryx.
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The fantasy MMO Guild Wars 2 has now introduced details about the planned changes to PvP, which strongly resemble the rules of MOBAs like League of Legends.
Yesterday, we reported in a more general way about how Guild Wars 2 wants to move towards eSports. Today, a blog post was released on the GW2 site, where details were revealed about their vision.
Quite a bit of math: Ranking and matchmaking
Behind the scenes, there is likely heavy mathematical work going on before and after a match starts. For the rankings, the ladder aims to create fair conditions for a competitive sport. Therefore, there should be numerous special rules especially regarding matchmaking (Who plays against whom?) and ranking (How many points are awarded for a win, how much is lost in a defeat?): Who is in a pre-defined group? Who plays against whom? This is to ensure that the system is as fair as possible. There is also attention on map rotation and punishing “bad” behavior, and an AFK check will also be implemented before the match starts.
Since not everyone in PvP wants to play “all or nothing” and always be rated and assessed, practice modes will also be introduced.
Testing under the Christmas tree
From Tuesday, December 16, to January 13, 2015 (also a Tuesday), a test season will take place at GW2. At the end of the month, the top 20 will receive a piece of the special PvP equipment, the top 5 will receive two. And the top 250 will get a mini llama.
On December 2, they will part ways with the current ranking system; here too, they want to reward players with mini llamas and pieces of armor.
Anyone wanting to get an idea of PvP in GW2 can check out this “practice match” between two top teams. It took place at a convention in London. http://youtu.be/uxxDdT3hLRg?t=10m32s
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the fantasy MMO The Elder Scrolls Online, European players can now test with their familiar characters what is coming to Tamriel soon.
So far, EU players had to settle for pre-made characters if they wanted to help Zenimax test the extensive content changes. North Americans could play with their own characters. This changes today: The database with the characters from the European Megaserver has been copied to the test server. However, they remain at their current state for now. So, players traveling to the test server will encounter an earlier version of their own self.
At the moment, nothing spectacular is happening on the test server. That will change with Update 6. When exactly it will arrive on the test server and what new features it will bring is not known. Last time, Update 5 was presented in the show “ESO Live”, which went well, and this way, the responsible developers want to continue giving fans the opportunity to speak directly about their expertise.
Update 6 could go in the direction of: Cyrodiil Imperial City, but these are purely speculations. In any case: From now on, Europeans can face these challenges with their familiar characters.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the MMO shooter Destiny, the next expansion “Darkness Lurks” could bring exotic weapons that start as gray items.
A few weeks ago, the new expansion of Destiny, the DLC “Darkness Lurks“, was presented in an interview. At that time, it was said that they wanted to come up with something new for the quests and revise the storytelling. The stories and quests in Destiny are supposed to focus more on items, much like the current bounties. An “adventure” that ends with the Guardian standing there with a new weapon. In subsequent communications from Bungie, they spoke ambiguously about the further upgrading of weapons and new materials.
At that time, no one quite knew what to make of this statement. Further information came: A new vendor, Eris Morn, is said to be coming to the Tower. Some new upgrade materials were discovered in the database. But how does it all fit together?
Data miners from Planetdestiny now believe they have figured out how everything will be: With “Darkness Lurks” for a story quest at the new vendor Eris Morn (featured image), you will receive a “gray”, an ordinary, weapon. Over time and with your progress, you can further upgrade it until you end up with an exotic weapon in your hands that is supposed to hit as hard as the “Vex Mythoclast” before its nerf – and that was only available from the raid boss Atheon on the “hard” difficulty level.
Exotic Auto Rifle Necrochasm becomes stronger over time
It’s about the auto rifle “Necrochasm“, a new primary weapon with arc damage. It starts as a “normal”, gray weapon “Husk of the Pit“, before it will likely be promoted to “legendary” status after the first story quests. Then it is known as “Eidolon Ally“. To refine the weapon to “legendary”, the Guardians need specific items that they must collect. These are the “Black Wax Idols”, which are already available from the Swarm. It might be a good idea to hold onto them. Unless they change it in Destiny or these are just placeholders or only items dropped after the DLC count – all of that is possible, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to keep at least fifteen of these idols in reserve.
You then take ten of those to Eris Morn. In return, you receive a new item that turns the gray auto rifle into a legendary one. The weapon then makes the next jump from “legendary” to “exotic” with a special legendary upgrade item that will likely be available in the new raid “Crota’s End” from the boss there.
In addition to these items, you must also level the weapons and invest EXP into a special perk: Cannibalism. The weapon “feeds” as it were and evolves.
Is the Suros Regime about to be replaced as the best auto rifle in Destiny?
All variants of these weapons start with a maximum rate of fire of 100. They will surely be in high demand. Anyone who doesn’t understand why there is so much fuss about this weapon can check out the stats: Destinytracker has prepared them for you here. They already compare it with the Suros Regime or the Vex Mythoclast.
Even a legendary fusion rifle starts slow
But there is not only a new auto rifle, but also a fusion rifle. “Murmur” has a similar development path as the Necrochasm. It also starts off smaller. Initially, it is “rare”, so blue. However, it can be upgraded to legendary (purple) by Eris Morn. For this, you need 5 of the “Black Wax Idols.” The special twist about Murmur: The weapon apparently starts with arc damage, but with a later perk it can also unlock solar damage. This has not been available before. Here are the stats.
Planetdestiny also suspects that this trend will continue and could also take hold in the Crucible. Guardians would then initially receive new weapons as “rare” specimens and could later upgrade them to legendary and further enhance them.
As always with data miner results: These are not official. Someone found hints in the database that Bungie has already loaded onto the consoles for space-saving reasons, but nothing is set in stone yet.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the superhero and supervillain MMO DC Universe Online, the “War of Lights” enters its second round. The middle part of a trilogy tells a story about Green Lantern and his adversary Sinestro.
In DC Universe Online, new game content is regularly added through DLC. At the moment, the “War of Lights” trilogy is unfolding, currently in the middle part. The superhero universe of DC is widely branched. At this moment, the focus is on “The Green Lantern,” a type of cosmic police officer with an esoteric touch. We have already delved into the background of the current story in this article. The DLC, now the twelfth, is active and brings a range of new content: six more skill points, six fresh adventures, and with “Skimming” an unusual mode of transportation.
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Thanks to the latest expansion, World of Warcraft again surpasses the 10-million subscriber mark. As the company announced, Warlords of Draenor sold a total of 3.3 million copies within the first 24 hours.
The release of the fifth addon brings Blizzard a massive influx of users, after previously complaining about declining subscriber numbers. The 10 million mark was last surpassed in 2012 with the release of Mists of Pandaria. Already in September, the number of subscribers rose from 6.8 million to 7.4 million.
Furthermore, Warlords of Draenor is also being released today in South Korea, mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
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Conclusion: After receiving criticism over the past 7 days due to the ongoing server issues, those responsible at Blizzard can now breathe a sigh of relief. That player numbers would rise is not surprising – this happens with every expansion. Nevertheless, the sentiment is different than during Mists of Pandaria. Overall, according to our research – aside from the technical problems, which are gradually decreasing – there is very positive feedback in the communication channels. Many players are calling it the best expansion in recent years. Do you agree?
World of Warcraft had reached up to 12 million subscribers at its peak – is this record value, set by the second highly praised addon “Wrath of the Lich King”, now at risk?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The MMO shooter Defiance is now finally free to play on Xbox 360, 5 months after the Free2Play transition on PC. The transition on PlayStation 3 took place in mid-August.
It did not go as planned. In May, we reported that Defiance, developed by Trion Worlds, would switch to Free2Play. The Defiance team got tips from the Rift team: they work under one roof. Rift had already switched from a payment model to Free2Play in June 2013.
In early June 2014, the transition of Defiance on PC took place; mid-July was scheduled for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. However, that didn’t work, an “unstable” patch ruined it. Then there was a long silence. In August, the transition for PlayStation 3 occurred, and only now is it finally happening for Xbox 360. To participate, one needs a Gold membership for Xbox Live.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The Korean MMO Kingdom under Fire II is set to create a stir next summer as a Free2Play title on the Playstation 4. The game will be playable in Korea at the G-Star 2014 fair at the Sony booth on the PS4.
Kingdom under Fire II focuses on a mix of action and strategy, with the action likely dominating. As a hero leading an army, you engage in the chaos of battle and lead your men by example. The next three days, until November 23, a fair called G-Star 2014 is taking place in Korea. Here, Kingdom under Fire II will be playable at the Sony booth. There are no updates yet regarding the XBox One version, reports mmoculture. http://youtu.be/lNlr4jxRrTM The game has not yet gained significant recognition in the West, but the well-known YouTuber “AngryJoe” declared it his discovery of the last E3. http://youtu.be/YIu8FwPAU4g
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
World of Warcraft has new character models. Blizzard now shows how they were created.
At Blizzard, you can laugh at yourself or at least chuckle. In the world of Draenor, alongside tragic war stories filled with pathos and drama, there are also many small Easter eggs hidden, pop culture references, or little homages. Science fiction has also captured the developers’ interest (just pay attention to what “Croman” says, a wild mix of all Schwarzenegger action roles, or the numerous references to Star Trek and Ghostbusters.)
In a dev video, the developers now present themselves as aliens who abduct poor residents of Azeroth to give them a “makeover”, whether they like it or not. They decided to go for a makeover because some of the now ten-year-old models no longer fit into the increasingly elaborate world. With Warlords of Draenor, many models were therefore revamped. The attempt was made to keep the soul of the original characters intact. Only the models of the Blood Elves are still on hold for now. They were quite presentable before as well.
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In the MMO shooter Destiny, an official trailer for the Sparrow S-30-Tumbler has now been released, which some Guardians have been riding since Tuesday. It is available as a treat for pre-order customers of the next DLC, “Darkness Awaits”.
It initially seemed like understatement, a small thank you to the fans, something not meant to be broadcast: Tuesday morning after the weekly reset, some received a new Sparrow in the mail, with which extraordinary things were possible. Someone then pieced together: This must be for pre-order customers of the next expansion or for owners of an expansion pass. However, there was still no word from Bungie, so fans got on their Sparrows and hit the gas.
Now, two days late, it’s official: Anyone who purchases and redeems “The Dark Below” or an expansion pass by January 15th will receive the Sparrow. And fan videos and a few stunts aside, Destiny is officially going all out, and they’re indeed putting the Sparrow on a big stage, on a very, very big one.
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Recently, it has been a bit quiet around the Sci-Fi MMO “WildStar“, even though the big content drop 3 finally brought the long-awaited changes and improvements.
In order to generate new players, they have now reduced the price of the game by 33%, but also those who already have an account and may not be playing anymore should be brought back: Today, all former players received an email in their inbox granting them 7 days of free playtime. The developers are convinced that the latest patch meets completely new quality standards and offers the content “that they have always wanted to deliver to players”.
If you said goodbye to Nexus some time ago, you might want to reconsider and take a second look – not much can go wrong when it’s free. The time is definitely enough to check out the new area and the associated story about Drusera and the Eldan, and the housing improvements are also worth seeing. We have gathered more information about the big update for you in this article.
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It’s Wednesday again, and anyone who has accessed the internet at least once last week has probably noticed the biggest annoyance of the week in the gaming world: The launch of World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor.
There’s no secret about it: Whatever could go wrong did go wrong. Partly, I attribute this directly to Blizzard, but on the other hand, there were indeed some factors that were unforeseen. But let’s start from the very beginning…
The most sought-after person in Azeroth: Khadgar
I really had to laugh when I realized that all players had to gather at a fixed point to get started when the expansion launched. They had previously said after “The Burning Crusade” that they want to split the player masses into at least two groups to keep performance and player experience consistent.
What happened at midnight at the “Dark Portal” took on proportions that reminded me strongly of the opening of the gates of Ahn’Qiraj – thousands of players tried to click on poor Khadgar and then push through the portal into the new world. Disconnects every minute and a lot of burned-out graphics cards were the result of this action. At least: A few hours later, they multiplied the good gentleman and placed him in other locations in the game world. Blizzard responded quickly and well, but this does not hide the fact that this rush was already foreseeable in advance.
First click, first serve
If you survived the intro intact, you were released back into the big world with all the players again. Here, there was the usual problem: Too few enemies for way too many players. But well, I expect that with a new expansion, I don’t want to blame Blizzard for that – if you want to jump right in on launch day, you just have to be prepared that everything goes a bit bumpier, a bit greedier, and less friendly. I don’t even want to know how many people’s mobs I “took away” just because I applied my “Shadow Word: Pain” a fraction of a second earlier than they could use their abilities.
Continuous frustration: The Garrison
Of course, there were occasionally lags, server crashes, or brief “rollbacks,” but absolutely nothing was as terrible as visiting your own garrison. Or no, let me rephrase that: Nothing was as terrible as the attempt to visit your own garrison.
Since every player has their own main base, a separate instance is set up for each player – and the servers couldn’t handle that, making no difference whether you were playing on a small or large realm. Masses of players formed in front of the garrison, unable to enter their home base, receiving the error message “Instance not found: Transfer aborted” every time. But well, then you just keep away from the garrison and do a few other things, right? Not at all! This problem caused many other aspects of the game to suffer: Pet battles couldn’t be started, the various story scenarios of the addon couldn’t be completed, and I don’t even want to begin with all the phasing on Draenor.
Even though Blizzard was probably also battling strong DDoS attacks, this doesn’t change the fact that these problems with the garrison are still occurring even now, almost a week later, and you occasionally find yourself standing in front of your own base unable to get in. The launch of this expansion went thoroughly wrong, and even the five days of free game time that will be gifted to all players as compensation can only slightly alleviate the situation. At least I was spared from the queues… which is probably mainly due to the fact that I’m practically never logged out (thanks to my roommate’s spacebar-pressing slave). It’s more than disappointing what has happened because the expansion itself has many wonderful things to offer, but you will read about that in my detailed review this coming weekend.
What was your biggest annoyance at the launch of Warlords of Draenor? Let me know in the comments!
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
