Two new trailers have been released for the Korean MMO Bless Online. One focuses on the combat between the two factions, while the other highlights the start of the second closed beta phase in Korea.
Bless Online is a South Korean MMO that emphasizes the fight between two factions. We have already introduced the races of the North and those of the South in two articles. Bless is still in development but is expected to become a really big deal. The graphics look breathtaking already. The game is expected to focus on PvP. Currently, preparations are underway for the start of the second beta phase: it is likely to begin in December. And now: enjoy the trailers.
http://youtu.be/x5d_Ybvh500
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In World of Warcraft, the new expansion Warlords of Draenor and patch 6.0.3 have reshuffled the cards. Which class deals the most damage? Which specialization is the strongest for each class?
It’s that time of year again when you see questions like these being asked in every form of WoW chat.
Which DPS is currently the strongest?
Which deals more damage for Mages: Frost or Arcane?
Which Twink should I level to 100 first if I want to deal really good damage?
Which class scales best with gear, who becomes stronger over time?
We have answers to these questions for you, but we didn’t spend eight hours testing with ten different characters; instead, we evaluated the data from a US site that figured out these numbers through simulations.
Death Knights, Monks, and Hunters in the Lead
Which class currently deals the most damage to single targets?
In Single-DPS in World of Warcraft, Monks, Death Knights, and Hunters lead with patch 6.0.3. With heroic gear (iLvl 630), the 1h Monk, the Marksman Hunter, and the Unholy DK are at the top, followed by the 2h Monk, then a long gap, then the Frost 2h DK, now the Retribution Paladin sneaks in, and then the other specs of Death Knights and Hunters. With item level 666, the Death Knight is further ahead, and with 680, the Marksman Hunter takes rank 1, and the Balance Druid, the Boomkin, suddenly appears in the ranking at position 2. With Best-in-Slot items, the best gear obtainable in the upcoming raids, the Marksman Hunter, Unholy DK, and the Boomkin are ahead, while the Monk falls a bit behind – and the Subtlety Rogue and Ret Paladin are slowly establishing themselves in the upper rankings.
How big are the gaps? How much damage do the IMBA specs deal compared to the gimps?
The damage difference at a gear score of 633 between position 1 (Unholy DK) and the middle (Fury 1h) is already 15%. The Fire Mage falls far behind, only achieving 70% of the damage. At a gear score of 666 (full raid gear), the gap to the middle has decreased slightly, the difference between position 1 and 14 is 13%, at 680 (HC gear) and Best-in-Slot it’s around 11%.
Which class deals the most damage to at least 3 targets?
Against three targets, the Unholy Death Knight is far ahead. The Marksman Hunter is also doing well, along with the Destruction Warlock and the Elemental Shaman showing strong performance.
Mages and Warlocks – Little to Laugh About
What about Mages? Frost or Arcane?
Mages are not really strong with WoW patch 6.0.3. This patch probably doesn’t sit well with them. In damage against single targets, the Frost Mage performs best in simulations. Arcane and Fire lag behind. The Frost Mage does move up with better gear, but he can’t really shine.
Warlocks? Affliction, Demonology, or Destruction? How do they perform in terms of damage?
The simulation results probably won’t please Warlocks either. Demonology and Affliction (the plague warlock) are far down the table. Destruction, the destruction warlock, is in the lower midfield. However, in fights against multiple targets, the Warlock performs well, showcasing the Destruction Warlock as one of the best options.
Paladin, Priest, Shaman, and Druid – Where Do the Hybrids Stand?
How is it with the Shaman? Elemental or should they use melee?
Shamans are in the midfield like many other classes, not much is happening here; the switch between Elemental and Enhancement depends on gear score. Both specs don’t pull ahead in terms of theoretical DPS. If it’s any consolation: The Elemental Shaman scales well in fights against multiple targets with gear.
Where does the Retribution stand? How much damage does the Retribution Paladin deal?
The Retribution Paladin has had a good patch standing. With Best-in-Slot gear, he ranks 4th, and with 630 gear as well, it’s just stuck somewhere in between.
What about the Shadow? Where does he stand?
The Shadow is positioned pretty much in the middle of the expansion. There’s not much happening with scaling as well. He’s doing better than some Mages and Warlocks, but not by much.
And what about the kitty? Where does the Feral Druid stand, where is the Laser Owl?
Feral Druids rank quite well after Monks, Death Knights, Retribution Paladins, and Hunters, in the top half of the table, so to speak. However, Balance Druids will surpass them over time with better gear. They probably scale excellently.
Rogues and Warriors, How Does it Look in DPS Land?
Warriors? Arms or Fury?
The Warriors do not play a prominent role in the rankings, they settle in the lower midfield. Here, the Fury with one-handed weapons is ahead of the one with two-handed weapons and the Arms Warrior. Against three targets, the Arms Warrior is also at the forefront and belongs to the top 5.
How are Rogues performing? Which spec is best, where do they stand?
Rogues are currently quite far behind. Combat and Subtlety Rogues are at the lower end of the DPS scale when it comes to single-target damage. Only the Subtlety Rogue is playing in the upper third. Even with better gear, things don’t look particularly bright. In fights against multiple targets, the Combat Rogue is in the upper third, while the Subtlety Rogue is at the end of almost every statistic.
Death Knights, Monks, and Hunters – Welcome to Damage Heaven
Death Knights? I’ve heard they are strong, is that true?
Yes, the Death Knight is one of the stars of the DPS charts of World of Warcraft with the current patch state based on simulations. Especially the Unholy Death Knight is at the forefront at every gear level. However, the lead in theoretical DPS over the middle is not “sooo” massive either. The Unholy DK is at the top in single-target. Frost one-handed and Frost two-handed weapons can also compete well. However, they scale worse at the end. In terms of multi-target DPS, the Unholy DK is currently far ahead.
Monks? One-handed or two-handed?
If you believe the simulations, it’s one-handed, this is slightly ahead at every gear level. Monks can be pleased with the patch state; they are up there but do not scale as well as other classes and drop into a solid midfield in the endgame.
And the Hunter? Marksmanship should be good?
The Marksmanship Hunter lies relatively far ahead in single-target DPS compared with the Unholy Death Knight. The Survival Hunter is also performing well. The Beast Master is positioned in the midfield. In fights against multiple targets, the Marksman Hunter does not need to switch specs; he remains at the top.
Conclusion: These theoretical tables should be taken with caution. That’s clear. Here, it’s also crucial to execute the right rotation, properly adjust gear, and of course, a good internet connection is necessary. And that “skill” thing that strange people sometimes yell about in groups seems to play a role in World of Warcraft after all.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
As a personal protest against the server issues with World of Warcraft a moderator temporarily closed the WoW subforum on reddit.
As reported by the US magazine Polygon, top moderator “Nitesmoke” temporarily closed the hugely popular subreddit /r/wow. This subreddit alone receives a million hits every day. The closure reportedly occurred as a protest, as “Nitesmoke” himself was unable to log into WoW. According to a tweet, he intends to reopen the subreddit when he can log into the game.
From this moment forward, r/WoW will be made private until I am able to log into the game.
Fans reacted, according to Polygon, angrily calling the individual action silly and childish. A community manager from Blizzard also tweeted that he appreciates the moderator of the subreddit, but doesn’t think it’s right for r/wow to be taken hostage. It would be better if such a subreddit belonged to someone who couldn’t simply close it out of frustration. Nitesmoke responded with a tweet that he doesn’t care what people think of him. He will reopen the subreddit when he can log in. That’s just how it is.
@CM_Zarhym It will be back the moment I am able to log into WoW. That is the fact of the matter and everyone’s opinion on me is irrelevant — Nitesmoke (@nitesmoke) November 16, 2014
Meanwhile, Nitesmoke was able to log in and the subreddit is now open again. However, a discussion has arisen about whether one person should be able to use a large community as a “weapon” for their own opinion simply because they founded the sub-platform. It’s the Spiderman problem of whether such a position comes with the obligation for measured and responsible action.
Lonely wolf makes a lonely decision.
Mein MMO thinks: Complicated issue. Essentially, a forum is the sum of its parts, the users. And the thousands of people who visit it every day contribute to its prosperity, growth, and thus also to its power and influence – ideally, everyone should be able to determine how the influence of the forum is used. And with all due respect: A “subreddit wow” owes much of its potential to its very name.
In practice, however, a forum or a site is owned by individual people and is not obligated to a kind of “democracy”. The individuals are then in the tempting position to wield such power, even if they lose integrity in the long run. As long as they don’t commit a crime, they are accountable to no one but themselves.
The key to reddit’s success is precisely not interfering in the decisions of individuals. What should the solution look like? Once a subreddit becomes large and important, is the owner to be stripped of power and replaced by some kind of “collective”? That can’t be the case either.
The best thing would probably have been for Nitesmoke to consult in some form, either letting the community vote or seeking support from his fellow moderators, so that it didn’t look like an “ego” thing. However… many can probably relate to the frustration over the server issues with WoW. And even large YouTubers or “personalities” exploit their influence – but they are also more present and seem more like “individuals”. Their “ego” tours are more easily forgiven.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the MMO shooter Destiny there’s a new trend in the PvP mode of the game, in the Crucible, observed these last days. Instead of using the usual firearms, some players are now using their Sparrows or their fists.
In Destiny, the Guardians spend their time in PvE with ever-new challenges in the raid “The Vault of Glass”: they raid in groups of four, three, or two. Trying to solo individual bosses solo, going for a flawless raid or a record time.
But even in PvP, the Guardians are creative. They keep coming up with new ways to pass the time until next week the Iron Banner starts or in December the new DLC “Darkness Awaits” launches. If the developers don’t keep them entertained, then they’ll do it themselves.
Kickpuncher – his punches are as hard as other people’s kicks
Some Titans, for example, prefer to leave the weapons at home and go with their fists. A full-on hype around punching has emerged in the Titan community, a cult formed, with some deciding to first tackle everything that roams in Destiny with just their fists. One of the Titans was successful in the Crucible and documented his experiences in a video, under the roaring applause of his Titan colleagues. http://youtu.be/WsmuUWWIQTI
With the Sparrow to the map “Bastion”
A brand new video has now surfaced, that misuses the Sparrow on the map “Bastion” (vehicles are allowed here). Bungie has incorporated a somewhat macabre success called “Never Speak of This Again” for these “hit-and-run accidents”. The Guardian in the video suggests focusing on the tight corridors near Hall B. There, the opponents can dodge less effectively. In any case, he has the element of surprise on his side. Hardly any opponent will expect that. http://youtu.be/MYHgWfii_CI
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The fantasy MMO The Elder Scrolls Online faces quite a wave of mockery on the internet, especially in gaming communities. Why is that? Why do so many people hate TESO? Why do so many loudly wish for the game to quickly go Free2Play or even be discontinued?
Last week, a relatively small US site reported the rumor that “The Elder Scrolls Online” will not be released on consoles. The reason is the poor quality of the game. Bethesda pulled the emergency brake here to avoid tarnishing the good reputation of the Elder Scrolls series.
In the USA, this hardly interested anyone. However, in Germany, numerous gaming sites, including the largest ones, picked up the rumor and reported on it. The source situation was thin – and that’s still flattering.
Players are actively discussing the rumors from the gossip press.
What stood out, however, was not the articles on the German gaming sites (which reflected the source with more or less distance), but the reaction of the respective community to it. Readers commented enthusiastically and passionately. And especially with mockery. That there was nothing to the rumor hardly interested anyone. Even when it was denied, it was often said: “Well, they have to say that. It’s still dying. I can feel it.”
The comments under these articles had approximately this tenor: “I knew it. Nothing good was going to come of it. The thing is dead, hopefully Bethesda learns from this and makes a proper Elder Scrolls 6 now.” What is wrong with people that they wish death upon The Elder Scrolls Online? Is it the drinking water, a star constellation, is it simply the internet, just pure coincidence or what is going on?
We have compiled six reasons why so many people hate TESO and take pleasure in its supposed failures.
Reason 1: People really don’t like pay-to-play MMOs
Are they all gathering here because they expect a one-time purchase?
This is a trend that doesn’t necessarily relate to The Elder Scrolls Online, but: Many players cannot relate to the payment model “Pay2Play”, the subscription model. The idea of paying 13 euros a month for a game, whether one plays it or not, is completely incomprehensible to gamers who did not grow up with this. Especially console players have no understanding for it. For example, one often reads a kind of “perceived injustice” that one might only have two hours a day to play and then should pay the same as a student or an unemployed person who can game all day? Many do not understand that.
Just the decision by Bethesda to release a pay-to-play MMO seems like an outrage and a personal insult to some fans of the series. As if the final season of a series that was successful on Pro7 was simply broadcast on Sky and encrypted just to annoy the fans.
Zenimax has often commented on the pay model and announced that a regular cash flow is necessary to create high-quality content at a reasonable pace.
Does switching to the Free2Play model mean death?
Nonetheless, and this afflicts the “Pay2Play” model perhaps more than any other: Non-players often wish for the failure of these models, predict it, and basically will it into existence, partly because they want to play the game themselves when it becomes “Free2Play” and supposedly for free. Almost every biting comment against a “Pay2Play” MMO contains the message: They will take a look once it has become “Free2Play”.
Due to the fact that some pay-for games have had to transition to Free2Play, for some, waiting for Free2Play has become an exercise in patience: One just has to wait long enough until one can obtain an MMO for free. The fact that players often incur higher “hidden” costs through a Free2Play MMO is often not taken into account here. And if one were to buy it a few months after the release, one would be in the wrong. That can’t be right.
Reason 2: Console players really don’t like PC games
A Skyrim console player in an interview: “The Elder Scrolls 5 successor only on PC first? Pah!”
It has been reported many times that Skyrim sold mainly on consoles. While the first parts of “The Elder Scrolls series” were PC games, the last and most successful child of the franchise, “Skyrim”, was a console phenomenon, especially on the Xbox 360. That the “next” game now only appears on PC and then the port takes so long to arrive annoys many.
If someone has a gaming console at home, they want to use it. Some console players don’t understand that at all.
Reason 3: “MMORPGs are finished and dead”
I’m far from dead!
The genre switch from a solo RPG to an MMORPG has not been forgiven by many TESO players. They see MMORPGs as nothing but monotonous gameplay and item grinding, an endless grind in delirium without highlights – they can’t relate to that. MMORPGs have a similar reputation outside the genre as shooters do outside the shooter scene. The fun doesn’t appeal to everyone. Well, it’s like that for golfers too.
Especially pay-to-play MMOs are not a genre where one just casually tries it out. There’s a hurdle to overcome.
Reason 4: “Because of TESO, there’s no Elder Scrolls 6”
The core problem of many angry readers of negative TESO news who then take to their keyboards: Bethesda has only delayed an “Elder Scrolls 6” to develop The Elder Scrolls Online as an MMORPG, going against the wishes of the community.
Players have high expectations for an “Elder Scrolls” game and clear ideas about it. TESO is said to be too linear, lacks an open world, there is no justice system, and the story has no lasting impact – these are criticisms frequently voiced by players who expect, if it’s an MMO, then it should be a Skyrim Online. Already in the first tests, players and testers were annoyed that they were not the only heroes in the world like in the single-player RPGs, but there were other poorly implemented players.
Reason 5: Gameplay reasons
Sand backdrops yes, sandbox no.
This is probably a minority view; one rarely reads truly “factual” reasons in the comments. But of course, as with any game, there are also “good” or at least “better” reasons not to like an MMO. Ultimately, every reason is legitimate. Many miss the sandbox component in The Elder Scrolls. The fact that the world is too linear annoys many. But that’s just one of many criticisms.
The game was and is certainly not perfect, as you can see from the major renovations that Zenimax has begun on TESO.
Reason 6: TESO had a bad launch and then went silent
The sixth reason lies partly in how the media report on an MMO: Very front-loaded. The initial period was accompanied by many gaming magazines. Exactly in those first six weeks, bad news about exploits, problems with the payment system, and a delay of the console port by several months fell. Since then, it has become – as is usual with MMOs – significantly quieter around the game. Some have the feeling of “I don’t hear anything anymore, the game is dying.” That the general vibe among players has changed, that Zenimax now communicates much more openly, regularly adds new content, and that many things (but not everything) have improved, is hardly known “out there”.
Many simply do not belong to the target group
Conclusion: The heavy criticism and mockery directed at TESO is not a unique phenomenon. MMOs have to bear a lot of negativity, especially games that rely on a pay model.
However, the phenomenon is particularly pronounced and severe in the case of TESO. This is certainly exacerbated in this case by the fact that it is a large franchise, a well-known and renowned name. Many associate memories with Elder Scrolls, everyone has an opinion and expectations about the series.
With TESO, it is nonetheless surprising how severe the criticism of the game is, especially from people who don’t play it and probably never have because they don’t belong to the “MMO” target group. And even if they did belong to it, TESO makes it difficult for them with some design decisions. The Elder Scrolls Online is peculiar and especially in PvP and in the endgame anything but “mainstream”.
Clearly, a game not made for one receives even more flak than one belongs to the target audience but then disappoints.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
At World of Warcraft, Blizzard worked through the night from Saturday to Sunday and made progress.
Blizzard took to heart the complaints from fans that too little information was being released. During the night from Saturday to Sunday our time, Community Manager Bashiok posted an hourly status update on what actions are being taken against the issues currently plaguing World of Warcraft. Last night we reported that the server capacity, which had been temporarily reduced, is now back to normal. In the meantime, it is actually above the normal value. It has been increased at least temporarily – currently, it is about double what it was yesterday, although it was below the “normal value” then.
@jmrnet@Warcraft They’re at double the capacity they were yesterday.
Progress has also been made regarding the difficulties with the EU problem servers, and they seem to have tracked down the cause of the crashes in the garrison. Furthermore, additional hotfixes have been deployed on the servers, necessitating “rolling restarts” of all servers overnight.
You can find the hotfixes in English here, they are not yet available in German. At first glance, there is nothing outrageous; rather, some exploit opportunities have been fixed and bugs have been corrected.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In World of Warcraft, the temporarily reduced server capacities have been restored to normal levels.
The first half of the day in World of Warcraft was characterized by maintenance work for us Europeans today. In the morning, the game was unreachable, and around 1 PM there was another server restart. Thanks to some hardware upgrades and a new instancing technique, the server capacity could now be increased back to its normal levels. Temporarily, the population cap had been lowered to cope with the server issues that arose with Warlords of Draenor. This led to unusually long queues on smaller and medium servers, and extremely long queues on the larger servers.
According to community manager Bashiok, Blizzard is satisfied with the new measures and is closely monitoring how things develop while peak values are being reached in Europe on Saturday evening and the action is slowly starting in North America.
Currently, the first results are encouraging and work is ongoing to further stabilize the servers and possibly increase capacity. Additionally, free server transfers are being offered and further ones are being considered.
However, there are problems with a group of servers in Europe. There have been issues with server, instance, and garrison crashes. Which realms exactly this concerns is not disclosed by Blizzard. They do mention, however, that this likely has different causes than sheer population density. The density during Warlords of Draenor is extremely high across all areas. The influx is there. They are now investigating the problems of the European problem realms to ensure that they do not occur elsewhere.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the MMO shooter Destiny players can get the Playstation 4 version for free with every digital Destiny content until January 15 for Playstation 3 users.
On the Playstation Blog there is a notice for owners of a digital version of Destiny on Playstation (PS3). They can switch to the Destiny version on Playstation 4 (PS4) until January 15 and keep their Guardian and their account. All progress, it is stated, will be synchronized and can be continued. The PS3 account is also retained.
The only requirement for this is that players own the digital version of Destiny and have a Playstation 4. They do not need to buy the game for PS4 again but can seamlessly transition to the new generation. This offer is valid for the base game and for the expansion “Darkness Awaits”, which is set to release on December 9.
This so-called “great Digital Upgrade Action” requires that the player logs into the Playstation Store on PS4 and adds the digital version of Destiny to their cart. There are no additional costs.
Here is the FAQ, which also addresses the transition from Xbox 360 to Xbox One. The promotion has already been running since early September; now, with the new DLC around the corner, Sony likely wants to draw attention to it once again with the blog post.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The genre mix Evolve completed its first alpha at the beginning of the month, and the numbers are as impressive as the monster that players can either hunt or play as.
The balance of Evolve between the two parties is already quite good: A little work will still be needed, but perhaps that will settle down as monster players improve. Over 1.3 million matches have been completed, with 57% going to the four hunters.
The monster (22.4%) was the second most popular choice among the “preferred” roles, with only the tough “Assault” guy (22.9%) among the hunters being more preferred. He also has a seemingly simple job: to deal as much damage to the monster as possible, and when it attacks, to mitigate it with a shield. The third place goes to the Medic (19.5%), who tries to keep teammates alive and shows weaknesses on the monster for his comrades to target in a first-person shooter fashion.
The “Trapper” has an important job; he is to track down the creature and secure the combat area. 18.6% of players preferred to take on this responsibility (with harpoons!), while only 16.4% marked the support role as their preference. Everything is still closely clustered percentage-wise.
What the makers of Evolve, Turtle Rock Studio, will likely find as pleasing as the balance is the interest of Twitch viewers. Over 2 million hours of Evolve alpha have already been watched, and that was only over a few days. The fast-paced game seems to hit a nerve with the crucial new medium “Twitch,” which guarantees free PR and high fan engagement.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
It’s like cooking. There are those who prefer to cook their own meals – everything homemade, with vegetables from their own garden and a pot forged by their great-grandfather. And then there are others who prefer to order a pizza. That’s how it is with theme park and sandbox MMOs.
And it holds true:
No matter how much end content there is to discover.
No matter which renowned publisher develops a game.
No matter how many innovative features a new MMO has.
All theme park MMOs have one thing in common: It always tastes the same. You chase quest after quest, following the plot of a story – you follow the red thread with the goal of exploring the end content. Always in sight are the max level, dungeons, and equipment.
IT LACKS SALT
But where is the innovation? The developers dictate exactly what we should and shouldn’t do, how we should approach something and what comes out of it. The current MMOs are all “content-driven” and leave little room for creativity. Time and again, we have to kill a dragon, rescue villagers, and even save princesses. Although – I think the one about the princess was a different genre.
Ultima Online was released in 1997 and is one of the forefathers of the sandbox genre.
In any case, it has become standard that developers not only develop the game but also significantly dictate the gameplay, at least in theme park MMOs. Especially in the European market, these theme park MMOs are at the top of the food chain.
There are only a few exceptions. Games like Ultima Online did not deserve a spring with me. I struggle with games whose graphics cannot keep up with a Gameboy game. But just before I wanted to throw in the towel completely, I discovered ArcheAge and changed my mindset.
TRYING IS BETTER THAN STUDYING
For a long time, no MMO has captivated me like ArcheAge. After trying various MMOs for years, I thought I was too old for computer games. But you’re never too old for something, especially not for computer games. After all, I wanted to spend my last years in front of the PC after retirement or maybe in Thailand? Was it perhaps because I had never played a sandbox MMO before? Ultima Online, Star Wars: Galaxies or EVE Online were all games that did not have their beginnings in my time. But back to ArcheAge.
The release was exactly during my semester break, which made for the most favorable timing. I learned about the game through Twitch. I really hadn’t heard much about the game in advance, even though I browse various magazines daily. I cautiously approached the game.
Especially Asian MMOs have a bit of a bad reputation for me due to the past. Grinding is just too dull for me. On the official ArcheAge site, the game mainly attracted my interest through housing, the strange class system, and the fact that you can breed animals. Man, how I miss Harvest Moon.
I dove right in. I completed one quest after another. The quest system felt well-rounded. Sometimes there were a lot of XP, even though I only had spoken two sentences with the quest giver. I also quickly joined a guild to mingle among my kind on the multilingual EU servers. Upon arriving in Teamspeak, I was overwhelmed by the individual experiences of the players. At first, I was uncertain whether we were playing the same game. One was working on his farm all day, another was hunting for treasures while diving – unfortunately, no one wanted to quest with me. After three days of intense questing, I was level 35. The others were in the same level range, but without having completed any quests. What was going on?
Before the release of a new MMO, I usually study the game thoroughly. With ArcheAge, everything was different. After a good week of playing, I understood where things were going. I was excited about all the freedom and possibilities that a sandbox MMO like ArcheAge offers. Why aren’t there more MMOs like ArcheAge that offer so many possibilities to shape the world yourself? With all that freedom, there should be something for everyone, right?
By now, I no longer play ArcheAge. I was overwhelmed by all the freedoms and possibilities. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I simply need someone to take me by the hand and tell me what to do. Just as the developers do in theme parks, or like my math teacher did.
TASTES VARY
Of course, every player has different preferences and motivations for why they prefer one thing or another. But I would almost argue that it depends on whether I am a casual or a progressive player. A sandbox MMO simply takes more time. In ArcheAge, I was practically “forced” to log in daily, because otherwise, half of my harvest on the farm would spoil.
Because of the Minecraft-like crafting system, it took forever to get that one item, as it consisted of 943 other items. Additionally, the work points you need for crafting were only available in limited quantities – even with a premium status. This certainly binds the player base to a game and makes it harder to rush through, but I am glad if I find one or two hours in the evening to play.
That’s why I appreciate the simplicity of theme park MMOs. That doesn’t mean they can be completed in five minutes. It’s simply easier to catch up due to their not-so-high complexity.
THE RIGHT RECIPE
ArcheAge has whetted my appetite for more with a mix of theme park and sandbox elements. However, I find that the theme park component in the game is still somewhat lacking. Sooner or later, after level 30, you lose the plot, as the main quest line comes to a sudden end. The solution would be a bit of restaurant attitude: after you find your seat at the restaurant, the waiter comes by and recommends the highlight of the day, including suitable wine. However, if I don’t feel like that, I’ll just order a schnitzel with fries. This way, we have the waiter and the menu to provide orientation.
That’s why I would wish for future MMOs to find a balanced mix of theme park and sandbox. With the familiar elements from theme parks that ensure clarity and orientation, and with a healthy dose of freedom to allow players to shape the world individually. Of course, everything must be properly seasoned.
In the MMO shooter Destiny, players in the USA can now get a taste of the first DLC “The Dark Below”. Activision is leveraging the creativity of the community and holding a competition on the microblogging service Twitter.
Players are asked to do specific things in Destiny, capture them as a video or with a screenshot, and post them with a “hashtag” on Twitter. Players should:
show off the coolest tricks they can do with their Sparrows in Destiny.
post pictures with the enemies of Darkness, where their Guardian then “photo-bombs”, meaning jumps into the picture.
find a particularly impressive viewpoint from which they can take a screenshot of the scenery in Destiny – following the motto: make tweets, not war.
Six selected participants of the campaign will be rewarded with a weekend for two in Las Vegas, where they can get a preview of the expansion “The Dark Below”. Unfortunately, to have a chance at this trip, you must be a citizen of the USA.
Mein MMO says: It is to be hoped that something like this will also take place in Europe – we Europeans often miss out on such competitions from US publishers due to legal and organizational reasons. At least Bungie (or rather publisher Activision) has recognized the signs that the Destiny community wants to present themselves on social media and showcase things in Destiny that perhaps the devs wouldn’t have thought of themselves. And surely some interesting clips will come together this way.
We have made a selection of the previous tweets for you:
In the survival MMO H1Z1 a new dev blog has presented the portable items in the game: mainly hats and backpacks. But there was also a helmet, which is for the most successful survivors.
The dev blog of H1Z1 this time focused on the look of portable items. The developers want to ensure that nothing looks like it just came straight from the shelf or the factory. Because the shelf is bent and the factory… well.
The developer blog showed how a basic cowboy hat can become various variants, each with slightly different skins. Here you can see, for example, the standard backpack, which shows signs of wear. “Not pretty, but can be lifesaving in the right situation,” for instance when you find a can of beans, penicillin, a bit of water, or ammunition.
For the first time confirmed: a type of “helmet” against firearms, against ballistic hits. This should be part of the “endgame” equipment and provide much-needed protection to the players. In the video that accompanies the blog, there is also confirmation that players might eventually have a “ghillie suit” in the game, these are full-body camouflage suits with ferns and shapelessness used by snipers to blend in with their surroundings. They look a bit like the “thing from the swamp”.
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The developers of EVE Online have decided that a new patch will be released every month, bringing some changes. With Phoebe, for example, the way of traveling has changed. Players can also expect some changes with the upcoming update Rhea in December.
WASD instead of Mouse Click
One of the biggest changes announced in a Dev Blog is the upcoming keyboard control. Previously, you could control your ship by double-clicking in space or flying directly to specific targets. CCP states that they want to lower the learning curve for the space MMO and give beginners a fair chance. However, one could also argue that EVE Online aims to compete with its upcoming rival Star Citizen in dogfights.
Wormholes… Wormholes are everywhere
A new system called Thera will also be released with Rhea. In this system, there are stations and access to over 100 different wormholes. Players are already discussing in forums that CCP wants to revive PvP and create a sort of arena for casual pirates. But what exactly the EVE community will do with Thera, is always unpredictable.
Some Changes Are Being Made Here and There
The list of changes is long and includes further improvements to the interface, the elimination of Clone Grades, meaning no skill points will be lost upon death, and various graphical adjustments. Additionally, a new ship class is introduced: the T3 Destroyer. It will be exciting to see what surprises Rhea will bring, but it is already clear that EVE will change significantly due to the keyboard controls. The update is expected to arrive on December 9.
The fantasy MMO World of Warcraft will be unavailable on Saturday morning for 6 hours due to maintenance work.
The launch of Warlords of Draenor is also proving to be an exceptional situation even for the veterans at Blizzard. After maintenance was scheduled in Europe on Friday morning from 7 to 9 AM (it was actually planned until 11 AM), further maintenance is now expected to bring solutions or at least get closer to them. The servers are expected to be down from 5 AM on Saturday, November 15th, until 11 AM.
Currently, they are trying to alleviate the massive lag issues by reducing server capacity. This has led to long queues on the busiest servers (Our title image shows Blackrock at 11:45 PM on Friday … and that’s not the end of the queue). Although Blizzard offers a server transfer for the fullest World of Warcraft servers, not everyone wants to take advantage of it. Moreover, a hotfix was already applied on Friday that massively increases the number of mobs or quest items at bottleneck quests, or makes critical mobs “taggable” for everyone. Additionally, things like the toy train have been temporarily disabled, which proved to be quite annoying. Here are the hotfixes from November 14th.
According to a recent announcement from Blizzard, technicians are working on the following issues:
The connection to the instance servers is unstable, which may lead to restricted access to the instances.
There are problems with the continent servers that lead to disconnections and issues with player searches.
There are problems with the garrison servers that lead to phase errors and performance drops.
Here is the tweet announcing the maintenance:
Planned maintenance will begin at 05:00 CET and is expected to be completed by around 11:00 CET. #maint
Meanwhile, fan complaints have taken on bizarre forms; while a petition has been opened in the USA to gather 100,000 signatures for the US government to address Blizzard’s server problems, German fans have started a similar campaign. Their goal: to get consumer protection agencies to pay attention to the issues with World of Warcraft.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Blizzard’s free card game Hearthstone, two players teamed up to see how far they can push the damage points in the game.
Among Hearthstone players, the phrase “That’s why you never go full Northshire” has become established, based on a joke from “Tropic Thunder”. One should never play “fully handicapped” if they want an Oscar, they explain – just a bit handicapped like Rain Man or Forrest Gump. “Northshire Cleric” – the cleric from Northshire usually ensures that the priest can draw cards when a minion is healed on the field. With the 1-mana drop, he gains a card advantage.
However, if you play two of these clerics at the same time and the opponent has a few tricks up their sleeve, they can ensure that the priest draws more cards with the two clerics than is good for him. Then he burns excess cards and ultimately suffers damage.
Pushing the principle of “You never go full Northshire” to the limit, two players have now demonstrated this in this video. 7 Northshire Clerics indeed cause a huge card draw and likely a record damage sum of 312417 so far.
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In the SF-MMO WildStar , the 40-player raids are being replaced with 20-player raids.
It was seen coming: The 40-player raids in WildStar were not embraced by the community and are now being scaled down to 20.
The fact that the 40-man raid Datascape was not accepted was partly due to how difficult it is to find and coordinate 40 players. Secondly, it’s also because the first raid in WildStar, the “Gen-Archive,” is a 20-player raid. Once a group has completed it, they can move on to the next raid, the “Datascapes.” However, that one is designed for 40 men or women or Mechari.
Guilds had to either merge with another guild (difficult) or find another 20 players to join an existing team (likely even more difficult). These issues (along with some frustration from bugs and glitches) have previously caused some progress guilds to break apart.
Alongside this recruitment stress, the combat feel of WildStar did not match such 40-player raids, according to a statement from Carbine regarding the change. Additionally, there were FPS drops, it was too complicated to test with 40 players, and the “irregular” raid sizes would have caused problems for future development.
Experiment “Back to Molten-Core” in WildStar failed
In short: The experiment has failed, and WildStar is moving away from 40-player raids back to 20-player raids. The 40-player raid will remain active for now, and with 1.2.0, there will be a 20-player version of the Datascapes. The 20-player Datascape is supposed to launch together with the next drop on the test server. The bosses will basically remain the same, but will be adjusted. Accomplishments in the 40-player raid will convert to “Galactic Hotshots,” so to speak, into feats.
We have addressed the raid sizes in WildStar twice: Once before the release and once after the release, when it was already becoming clear that the experiment “Back to Molten-Core” would bring about significant problems.
Mein MMO thinks: Perhaps 40-player raids belong more in the rearview mirror, in tales from old days, or in “nostalgia” events. However, within the concept of WildStar, the 40-player raids have been made extremely difficult to shine.
The jumps in WildStar seem to have been quite exhausting and have thrown some players off.
The formula “I level solo, gear up in 5-man groups, raid in 20-player raids, and eventually tackle the PvE and PvP endgame with 40 players” didn’t work out for many. The approach is now changing, with the last branch being cut off (the PvP endgame with the Warplots is also not well received) and a focus being placed more on content for solo players and small groups.
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At WildStar , there was apparently a severe disruption in the economic system. An exploit in the garden caused a spontaneous increase in gold, which then led to rampant inflation. However, the problem has been brought under control by Carbine.
A “exploit” in the “Garden” – there’s not much more to hear from official sources – and we don’t want to fuel this further, caused unrest in WildStar over the last 24-48 hours. On Reddit, players were already screaming disaster: Players allegedly exploited massively, and the C.R.E.D.D. price had risen to 30 Platinum.
How will everything turn out in the future? Players were calling for a rollback – the damage was too great, couldn’t be fixed, the Chua in the well has fallen, now the only solution is to erase the last days.
Carbine responded through the official forum, stating: They are aware of the exploit, will respond, and are giving players who are guilty here a few hours to come forward. Those who do not will face the ban hammer even harder than before. They said a rollback was unnecessary, the dimensions of the exploit were still manageable enough to fix manually – and then the banning likely began. They are preparing a hotfix. In the meantime, gardening is disabled.
Mein MMO states: It is always extremely difficult to assess from the outside how many players have been banned, how great the damage is, and whether all the “counterfeit money” will really disappear from the game. The reaction of fans on social media is not proportional to the actual damage done. This will ultimately only become evident over time. In The Elder Scrolls Online, something very similar took place right at the beginning, and ArcheAge just recently. These are problems that every MMO will eventually face. The “rollback” is often demanded. However, publishers now seem to dread it like the devil fears holy water. Because even all the “innocents” would be directly affected, as well as players who didn’t even notice it: This is a slaughter. Everyone notices it, then there’s no going back anymore.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the fantasy sci-fi MMO Skyforge , the technical beta is running. A one-hour stream also gives insight to those who were not selected into the current status.
Skyforge is the MMO with the slogan “The endgame is about becoming a god.” Much has been said about Skyforge, but there has been little to see. Currently, the game, developed by Team Allods in collaboration with Obsidian, is in a technical beta, to which only a few were invited. This beta is mainly to test the server structure in the West.
The US site mmorpg.com had the opportunity for a live stream with Eric DeMitt, one of the US developers working on the game, which is primarily developed by Team Allods. In the one-hour stream, a look at Skyforge can be taken: one can see the aesthetics of the game in motion from a cross-section, not just static concept art. Numerous details are provided about how the game is intended to feel and play later on. However, the free-to-play MMO is not yet optimized, and streaming issues are evident, leading to crashes.
Skyforge is currently being developed exclusively for PC. It has taken a lot from console action games. In the combat system, they aim to become a real “button masher.” When it comes to the look, it should not matter to players which equipment they are actually wearing. Players can freely choose from a variety of costumes. Skyforge is one of the few new releases in the MMO sector from the tripple-A, the largest weight class, in 2015.
Update: Unfortunately, the stream has been set to “Private,” apparently there are issues or a misunderstanding with the US site mmorpg.com.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the MMO shooter Destiny, with the new Iron Banner, it will also be possible for non-raiders to come very close to the maximum level, the light level 30.
Actually, Friday is reserved for Xur, otherwise there’s not much happening in Destiny. There’s enough excitement, when the old noodle face shows up. But that will change from now on: Bungie has moved the “Weekly Update” forward by one day. There, they talk with the community once a week. The blog will now no longer come (according to our time) in the night from Friday to Saturday, but now already from Thursday to Friday. The reason is that they have now become “global”.
Between the lines, one could suspect it’s because gaming sites were already into the weekend by the time the update came, and the results of the Weekly Update were usually not available on their sites until Monday. However, the Iron Banner could already be followed on the relevant pages on Friday morning.
Anyway: Iron Banner 2.0 is coming.
The new Iron Banner should be as it was meant to be.
What has happened so far: The Iron Banner ran at the beginning of October as a week-long event. It was designed as a highlight for PvP players, a counterpart to the raid, so to speak. In the Crucible, the Guardians’ armor should now fully count, it was said. But that was not the case. There were difficulties in the event, and the equipment only played a slightly more significant role in the normal Crucible. Moreover, what equipment was available was not very appealing. Additionally, the Iron Banner suffered from several process issues: Players who thought they would lose simply left a match and started the next one, as they received no reputation for a defeat but also had nothing to fear in terms of negative consequences.
Bungie then decided to put the event on hold – just like the other major event in Destiny The Queen’s Wrath. They announced extensive changes, which they must have been working on in recent weeks. Actually, the Iron Banner should have returned last week but it was mistakenly active for 3 hours. However, they probably needed a bit longer to make the changes.
The Iron Banner and You: The most important questions about the new Iron Banner in Destiny
When is the new Iron Banner supposed to come? Data for it should be uploaded on Monday. It should start maybe on Thursday, the 20th of November, or Friday, the 21st of November. So far, it has only been mentioned as “by the end of next week”. And only if everything goes smoothly.
Equipment counts this time: Like a boss
Does armor count this time? Yes, they promised. A more heavily equipped player should feel like a “boss” to a weaker one. However, even the less well-equipped players can deal damage. It’s important to bring fully upgraded weapons to the Iron Banner. Players below level 20 can only participate in the mode if they team up with a player above that level (in a fireteam).
What about reputation?
What’s happening with reputation? The reputation from the last time carries over. However, there are now five reputation ranks instead of three. A 12-hour bonus can be activated. During this period, players gain significantly more reputation. The bonus should be used as late in the week as possible, as it brings more, it is said. The bonus is still quite a puzzle, regarding how it will work.
Attention, important: After this event, the reputation will be reset again. One should “forge the iron while it’s hot.” This could cause disappointment and frustration for some.
Running away doesn’t count in Destiny
How does Bungie want to prevent players from just leaving a match when they lose? For a defeat in the Iron Banner, there’s no reputation but a “medal.” In the event of a victory, up to 5 of these medals can be redeemed. Therefore, a defeat can still provide some reputation after the next win. Quitters get nothing.
And now the most important thing? What gifts await? Where’s the loot?
Is it worth it this time? According to Bungie, yes. However, players need to reach higher rank levels. It will therefore be something for frequent players of Destiny or for frequent winners. At a higher rank level (probably 5), there will likely be legendary gloves and boots that, when fully upgraded, will reach the light value of 30. Only exotic armor parts or legendary parts from the raid previously achieved this. Whoever has all 4 armor pieces at light level 30 reaches the light level 30, the current maximum level. This player will deal significantly more damage to level 30 mobs (important for the raid) and their drop chances will improve as well.
In the old system, players had to rely on luck in “The Glassed Chamber” to score some raid gear. This is likely to change now.
After the new Iron Banner: To reach 30: An exotic helmet or chest, 1 raid helmet or raid chest, and then boots and gloves from the Iron Banner.
All items will, of course, need to be upgraded with upgrade materials.
Almost to 30 without a raid, but just almost
This means: You still can’t make it without a raid. But whoever has the raid chest and an exotic helmet from Xur (that should be possible), can likely reach “safely” level 30 with the Iron Banner through effort. Depending on how the new items are distributed, whether randomly or available for purchase – that is still uncertain. It’s also hard to say how long it will take. Up to rank 5 could be quite a long way.
Besides the two armor pieces, there will likely be shaders, emblems, maybe ships, and also some legendary weapons.
Important: Legendary weapons have random “perks,” i.e., attributes. In the new Iron Banner, you should be able to reset them repeatedly until you are completely satisfied with a combination of these attributes.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Last weekend, the 10th anniversary of World of Warcraft was celebrated at BlizzCon in Anaheim. In addition to spectacular highlights like Overwatch, there was plenty of time to chat.
The colleagues from kotaku.com had the opportunity to speak with some Blizzard employees about the future of the Warcraft series.
World of Warcraft Lead Game Designer Ion Hazzikostas once again promised that future expansions will be released faster than before: “I know we have been saying this for years. You can find quotes from 2008 where we talk about how we want to release one expansion per year.” Blizzard wants to avoid long droughts in content, yet the planned rhythm for the last expansion was once again pushed back by a year to ensure the usual Blizzard quality.
Ion Hazzikostas, however, remains optimistic: “We have expanded our team, and I think we are able to work faster than before. Our goal is to get expansions into the hands of players faster.”
They are also already working on a new expansion for World of Warcraft. However, a makeover of the shattered world is not to be expected. WoW has evolved significantly over time, and the shattered world serves as a sort of “contrast program”.
Warcraft IV in development?
With Warcraft III, a new era of the RTS scene (Real Time Strategy) was ushered in. Looking back over the past 10 years, World of Warcraft would thus provide enough material for a Warcraft IV expansion, right? “There’s a lot of cool potential. Everyone from the WoW team sees Warcraft as an inspiration,” said Hazzikostas. Even though the Lead Designer does not want to comment further on Warcraft IV, Blizzard remains “interested”.
Regarding the question of Warcraft IV, they also asked Blizzard’s real-time strategy team. However, they are currently busy developing the last Starcraft II expansion “Legacy Of The Void.” Thus, the focus is clearly on completing the Starcraft II trilogy. After all, next year assets from Warcraft 3 will be added to the mod tools of Starcraft 2. This will allow Warcraft fans to implement their own scenarios in Starcraft II. However, Lead Game Producer Tim Morten added: “A return to the Warcraft universe would be awesome. I wish this would come true.”
If not Warcraft IV, then at least WoW 2?
We probably won’t have to wait for a WoW sequel. In a functioning MMO that’s been running for a decade, you can’t just reinvent or throw out basic game elements. A WoW 2 could be interesting if Blizzard wanted to implement something completely new that couldn’t be realized in World of Warcraft.
Conclusion: Fans have known for years that Blizzard would like to release new content and expansions at shorter intervals to bridge the drought around content. Despite the increase in the team, it doesn’t personally bother me if more time passes between expansions. After all, quality comes before speed.
Warcraft III is still a hit at every LAN party and is what it is: perfect. Sure, I would be very happy about a Warcraft IV, but let’s be honest: If Blizzard had a Warcraft IV alongside Overwatch – even I would find that too much anticipation.
WoW 2? Never! World of Warcraft not only has cult status but has also gone through a 10-year development process. Every player or former player can fill hundreds of books with stories from the past in WoW. If Blizzard were to simply come out with a… They would never do that!
Or what does your crystal ball say?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
