The Playstation Network (PSN) is currently unavailable. Could the next DDOS attack by the infamous group Lizard Squad be responsible for this?
The Playstation Network PSN has been unavailable for an hour. This makes online activities on the PS4 impossible, affecting MMO shooter Destiny. There is still no official statement regarding this global outage. No maintenance work is planned, and the service is listed as online.
The group claims to want to prove to multimillion-dollar corporations how vulnerable they are and that they do not spend enough money to secure their users. They are attacking popular MMOs, such as Destiny, or services used by millions, like Twitch, with DDOS attacks.
Whether the group is behind the current PSN network outage is still unknown. The Twitter account through which the lizards have previously communicated is closed.
Update 13:15: That was just a brief disturbance; the PS4 network is back up.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The future of The Elder Scrolls Online is currently being negotiated at the headquarters of Zenimax. A “Guild Summit” is taking place there, a guild summit. Fans were presented with details about the combat system and crafting: Two new crafting styles will be introduced. With update 5, there will also be a powerful new item set.
20 guild or community leaders have been invited by Zenimax to the “Guild Summit” at the headquarters. Zenimax wants to be very close to the fans. The leading minds in development are presenting the planned changes and discussing them with the fans. A summary of the presentations from the first day has now appeared on Tamrielfoundry. It is so packed with information about the planned changes coming in the next months that we decided to present it piece by piece.
Combat System in The Elder Scrolls Online: Improve Flow, Give Actions Weight
The planned changes to the combat system in TESO revolve around the flow, the sequence of individual actions. It is intended to be smoother, but with small pauses between combat steps.
The author of Tamrielfoundry, who watched the video presentation, noted that combat with two weapons now looks the coolest and that each staff has received its own combat animation. Moreover, it now seems as if the individual actions really have “weight”.
Two New Crafting Styles: Dwemer and Xivyn
The next section of the presentation focused on the crafting system of Tamriel:
Crafting tutorials are to be introduced.
Crafting quests are coming that will not only provide inspiration and materials but also a type of treasure map that leads to a special resource chest.
Dwemer will soon be available as a new crafting style, with materials obtained from dismantling Dwemer constructs.
With the Imperial City, there comes another new crafting style, named Xivyn – this is the official name for the “Imperial Deadraic” style, which has been announced for some time.
With update 5, a new 5-piece item set will be introduced, allowing two Mundus stones to be active simultaneously when fully worn.
The Imperial City is not expected to arrive with update 5, but rather soon, as was mentioned by community manager Kai Schober in the official TESO forum, though not at the Guild Summit. If all goes well, the Imperial City should be the next major zone added to The Elder Scrolls Online.
We will keep you updated on the latest in The Elder Scrolls Online in the coming hours and days. It looks like we are about to be flooded with information, after the last few weeks have been relatively quiet since Quakecon. There, extensive changes to The Elder Scrolls Online were presented. It seems we are now receiving the details, as if they were connecting some points that have been somewhat lonely in the air.
The god MMO Skyforge aims for a fair payment system; skill should determine victory and defeat, not the size of the wallet.
The MMO Skyforge was the topic of a lengthy interview on mmogames.com with Eric deMilt, the Executive Producer of Skyforge, who, however, does not come from the Russian team Allods, but from the game studio Obsidian, the western partners of Allods.
Skyforge sounds more and more like a modern lobby MMO
In the interview, he discussed some details about the gameplay and the actual game flow. Skyforge increasingly resembles an MMORPG that applies more and more principles of MOBAs and MMOs. Similar to the MMO adaptations of major single-player franchises that aim to keep the “original game” as action-packed and brief as possible while seasoning it with some MMO gimmicks.
In the payment system, they aim for a low entry threshold. There will certainly be no direct “pay to win”; instead, skill should determine who wins or loses in the competitive part of the game – and not the wallet. At the moment, they are not yet thinking too much about what will be in the cash shop. Those are probably topics for later.
“Killing mobs and grabbing their stuff!”
Otherwise, many details in the game system are mentioned that remind one of current lobby shooters like Destiny. There should also be a “Central Hub” in Skyforge, where players can meet, interact, and plan ventures.
While typical kill and fetch quests should also form the backbone of Skyforge, they want to modernize them. Players will no longer need to return to the quest giver but can immediately collect their rewards. Players should be able to move as freely as possible: without checkpoints or rigid paths: “Basically, the games are about killing mobs and grabbing their stuff. That should make it as much fun as possible!”
Currently, Allods and Obsidian are looking forward to the start of the beta at the end of the year. They can’t wait to see what feedback players will give to the world. They are especially proud of the art design.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the dark fantasy MMO Rift, players can now tune in for a week to the expansion “Nightmare Tides.” The open beta is live.
Rift is getting an expansion called “Nightmare Tide” on October 8, which focuses heavily on story, introduces new features like the minion system, and brings more of everything: more instances, raids, mobs. An expansion, indeed. We have introduced it here and here in detail.
To get a taste of the water and breathe in the salty air, Trion Worlds is now offering players the chance to explore “Nightmare Tide” in the open beta. This is done through the Glyph system (which fans of ArcheAge have appreciated and come to love): Simply choose Rift, switch to PTS, the public test server, and off you go.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The expansion “Delta Rising” of the Free2Play SF-MMO Star Trek Online fully relies on the pull of the TV series Voyager.
Before the release of the expansion “Delta Rising“, Star Trek Online is launching a real Voyager offensive. In numerous blog posts, they attempt to remind Star Trek fans of the last Enterprise series that still followed the linear chronology. “Enterprise”, the series that came after Voyager, was set at the beginning of the Federation and long before Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and Janeway.
Star power and sex appeal
Cryptic Studios relies on a kind of nostalgia offensive with star power. Almost every blog post features images of the current Admiral Tuvok, Harry Kim, Neelix, the Doctor, or the still highly impressive Seven of Nine, which should give Star Trek Online, just like the struggling Voyager series, a sense of volume. Back then, Star Trek Voyager replaced the more tomboyish alien catwoman Kes with the Borg drone Seven of Nine, who cultivated a fondness for skin-tight jumpsuits.
In one of the latest blog posts, for example, the role of the Doctor was presented (“State the type of medical emergency.”). In another post explaining how the story developed in the Delta Quadrant, it turns out that a lot depended on which of the Voyager actors they could get to give the world depth. But they are relying not only on the actors but also on the scripts.
Fan fiction or worthy continuation?
The team, as they say, has intensively engaged with the story of the Delta Quadrant based on the Voyager scripts to consider how the quadrant has developed, which races from the series are now interesting, and which stories can be continued. After all, 32 years have passed in the STO universe since the journeys of the Voyager came to an end.
As mainstream Star Trek has completely detached itself from the “old” universe with the reboot of the movies, it seems to give the creators at Cryptic Studios a lot of freedom. One can be curious whether the expansion will maintain the quality of the TV series in its storylines. It is also questionable how much sympathy the fans really have for Voyager and how much nostalgia they feel. The reruns of Voyager air in Germany on Tele 5, making them more of a niche channel. Nonetheless, they are achieving decent ratings.
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In the MMO shooter Destiny , patch 1.02 has been applied, teaching the Cryptarch some manners and changing the loot system perceived as frustrating and unfair in Destiny.
On Wednesday evening around 7 PM our time, the eagerly awaited patch 1.02 was applied. With this patch, several changes to the loot system go live, which players have longed for.
The variance frustrated players, as a blue Engram that was resolved as green felt like a dud. Therefore, with patch 1.02, these “duds” are eliminated.
With the current patch, a rare Engram now yields at least one item of rare quality. From legendary Engrams, at least one legendary quality item will emerge. This only applies to Engrams found after the patch.
With the patch, all legendary Engrams in the possession of players in Destiny will be transformed into blue Engrams. Additionally, the quality level of Ascendant Shards and Ascendant Energy, important upgrade components on the way to level 30, will change from rare to legendary.
And with the patch, there are now more Engrams in Destiny
Thus, the daily heroic missions are sweetened and the weekly heroic missions are enhanced by giving them a chance to drop a blue or purple Engram (which are, as we have learned, now more valuable): This only applies to the first of these missions each day. The Vanguard Strikes in the Tiger Playlist can now also provide these Engrams.
At the moment, there is still a small display bug: In case of increased difficulty for daily heroic missions, no EXP bonus is displayed, but it is being calculated.
Bungie is also adjusting the Crucible
In the Crucible, they are adjusting the time limits for the vehicle missions “Bastion” and “First Light” in Clash and Control modes, reducing them with patch 1.02 from 15 to 12 minutes to match the non-vehicle missions. Additionally, they should now appear less frequently in these playlists.
In the MMO shooter Destiny the event “Queen’s Wrath” is currently running. The first players have now reached the maximum rank level 3. However, the rewards are disappointing.
Ups and downs of emotions in “Queen’s Wrath” in Destiny
Since last week, an event called “Queen’s Wrath” (Queen’s Wrath) has been running in Destiny. Initially, it was viewed with great suspicion (“Boo! There are only Rares!”) but then players discovered that there were actually legendaries in the follow-up missions to the bounties after all (“Yay!”). However, these were only available for the chest and helmet slots, which led to another mini-disappointment (“Boo!”).
However, players then noticed in Destiny that there were six of these legendaries guaranteed every day and could be acquired with minimal effort. They could then dismantle them into their components and secure the Ascendant Shards, which are important in the endgame for squeezing out the last few light points from the items (“Yeah!”).
Disappointment at Reputation Rank 3: Only Rare Weapons
There is still a cool but extremely rare reward with the legendary ship, but this event “Queen’s Wrath” could not really excite many anymore. And with “many” we mean loot-hungry loot vultures, and we say this with the utmost respect.
Today, the first players have reached rank 3 and expected that maybe some special items would show up at the Queen’s vendor, perhaps that they could buy some exotic items or legendaries, but unfortunately that was not the case.
Only a few new rare weapons can be found there (“Boo!”) that don’t really excite anyone. Also, the shader is said to be hardly different from the one at rank 1.
However, an interesting mechanic appears here, as the Queen’s rare weapons can deal more damage at Reputation Rank 3 than is usually intended for rare items. They can reach a maximum of 267 damage points instead of 242. It seems there is already a kind of “item-level” in play, making one level 20 rare significantly better than another. Just like Raid legendaries are better than “non-Raid legendaries.”
However, even the better rare weapons are not really worth it. After all, during the time spent grinding at the Queen, one could have farmed with the Vanguard or elsewhere – and they are much more generous. But perhaps the reputation currently farmed will pay off when the Queen calls for her champions again someday. It seems that she and her brother could play a bigger role in the story of Destiny.
These are the maximum values of the individual quality levels. Whether an item actually achieves that is questionable, especially for rare items it is almost impossible.
And how much Light do I need per level?
To level up to Light level 21, you need 21 Light points, then 11 points for each further level up. The first level up therefore costs 10 Light points more than usual. At level 25, you need 10+5*11= 65 Light points. At level 30, you need 10+10*11= 120 Light points.
This way, you can calculate which gear you need for which Light level. For the maximum level of 30, you need a fully upgraded set of legendary raid items or exotic items.
The thing with upgrading: Potential and reality
Weapons and armor in Destiny can be upgraded further with Ascendant materials and other upgrade items. This also increases their Light value. It is important to note that a fully upgraded blue item may have a higher current Light value than a brand new legendary item, but you may still want to switch it out because the legendary item is better in the long run. It has higher potential.
With upgrading, it’s always a bit of a gamble in Destiny. Generally, items that you think you will use for a long time should be upgraded. Upgrading a rare item and wasting resources on it, which you will swap out just five minutes later, is really frustrating.
Ideal candidates for upgrading are exotic items and legendary items with a high base Light value.
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Let there be Light – How to reach level 30 in Destiny?
The ascent to the first Light levels is still easy for many. A few good rares, eventually a legendary, and you’re already approaching levels 22, 24, and 26. After that, new possibilities open up, you’re busy, collecting gear, upgrading your legendaries, maybe buying an exotic from Xur, and you’re at level 28.
After that, you’ll only proceed in the current raid, the Glass Chamber. There, a special raid set drops, which fully upgraded and complete, provides enough Light to reach the coveted level 30. Thus, a visit to the Vault of Glass is essential for this level.
You should be able to manage your way to legendaries well until then; these two guides will tell you how to obtain them without just mindlessly shooting at any caves:
And also, you get – classically – access to harder content and therefore also better loot with a higher Light level. So the same mechanism is at work as in many MMOs: You need better loot to take down stronger enemies, who then drop better loot.
Recently, a player found out on reddit, that your Light level is crucial for how much damage you deal to higher-level enemies. Against level 28 mobs, a player with Light level 24 deals almost no damage, no matter how good his gear is. The answer is basically: “You will always get stronger.”
The Light level not only represents a “meta value”, it doesn’t just tell you how strong you are, but it precisely determines that strength. And it unlocks additional content. It may well be that upcoming expansions target top-tier players. But don’t worry: usually, with an expansion, there are also ways to level up faster than without it. Such a “catch-up” mechanism is common in MMORPGs.
And this is how you level up in Destiny
Experience points are still available after level 20, but they are used to upgrade weapons or armor, unlock upgrades, and collect Motes of Light. This is a currency that can be exchanged for a few cosmetic items. Or you better wait until Friday at noon. Then Xur, a merchant appears, where you can exchange Motes of Light for an exotic item, but you only find out its stats and class assignment when unboxing.
To move from level 20 and to increase your Light levels, you need rare, epic, or exotic items. Only these can have the “Light” value. Rare items (the blue ones) have only a chance of having that value. Legendary (purple) and exotic (gold) items will have it in any case.
Unfortunately, it does NOT automatically mean: The more powerful an item, the higher its Light value.
It is quite possible that you get a legendary item that is worse in every way than what you’re currently wearing, but has a higher Light value. It is still worth it to wear the new item because of the described advantages.
By the way: Exotic items always have the highest Light value, but you can only equip one weapon and one armor piece at the same time.
How much do the individual item types give?
Light points can only be obtained from four different item slots: from helmet, chest, legs, and feet.
A rare item can give a maximum of 15 Light points.
A legendary item that does not come from the raid can reach a maximum of 27 Light points.
A legendary item that comes from the “Glass Chamber” raid can go up to 30 Light points.
Exotic items always reach the current maximum of 30 Light points.
These are the maximum values of the individual quality levels. Whether an item actually achieves that is questionable, especially for rare items it is almost impossible.
And how much Light do I need per level?
To level up to Light level 21, you need 21 Light points, then 11 points for each further level up. The first level up therefore costs 10 Light points more than usual. At level 25, you need 10+5*11= 65 Light points. At level 30, you need 10+10*11= 120 Light points.
This way, you can calculate which gear you need for which Light level. For the maximum level of 30, you need a fully upgraded set of legendary raid items or exotic items.
The thing with upgrading: Potential and reality
Weapons and armor in Destiny can be upgraded further with Ascendant materials and other upgrade items. This also increases their Light value. It is important to note that a fully upgraded blue item may have a higher current Light value than a brand new legendary item, but you may still want to switch it out because the legendary item is better in the long run. It has higher potential.
With upgrading, it’s always a bit of a gamble in Destiny. Generally, items that you think you will use for a long time should be upgraded. Upgrading a rare item and wasting resources on it, which you will swap out just five minutes later, is really frustrating.
Ideal candidates for upgrading are exotic items and legendary items with a high base Light value.
Let there be Light – How to reach level 30 in Destiny?
The ascent to the first Light levels is still easy for many. A few good rares, eventually a legendary, and you’re already approaching levels 22, 24, and 26. After that, new possibilities open up, you’re busy, collecting gear, upgrading your legendaries, maybe buying an exotic from Xur, and you’re at level 28.
After that, you’ll only proceed in the current raid, the Glass Chamber. There, a special raid set drops, which fully upgraded and complete, provides enough Light to reach the coveted level 30. Thus, a visit to the Vault of Glass is essential for this level.
You should be able to manage your way to legendaries well until then; these two guides will tell you how to obtain them without just mindlessly shooting at any caves:
In the MMO shooter Destiny the path to the maximum level 30 is long and arduous, but not as dependent on luck or nebulous as some might think. It may be madness, but there is a method to it. In our guide, we show you how to increase your Light levels, how much Light you need per level up, and which items you need to collect for that. Everything is hidden in the depths of Destiny.
Tier system in Destiny a bit confusing, raises questions
The level system in Destiny causes confusion and there is a need for clarification for players. Normally, leveling is associated with experience points: once you have enough, you level up to the next tier. That’s how it has always been, that’s how it is, and that’s how it will always be: Well … almost always.
In Destiny, leveling up to level 20 works the same way – through experience gain. However, it changes after that. From level 20, leveling becomes tied to your gear – not all gear, but only the four armor pieces: helmet, chest, legs and boots. You need the “Light” value on each of the armor items to continue climbing the ranks.
Oh, and one more thing: This loot cave, for example works only because even at level 5 or level 8, mobs drop loot that scales with the Guardian’s level. In MMORPGs like World of Warcraft or WildStar, such mobs would only drop “grey” items, which are far below the player’s level. That is not the case in Destiny. At level 24, the same enemies drop better items than at level 20 – so leveling up is even more worthwhile.
And also, you get – classically – access to harder content and therefore also better loot with a higher Light level. So the same mechanism is at work as in many MMOs: You need better loot to take down stronger enemies, who then drop better loot.
Recently, a player found out on reddit, that your Light level is crucial for how much damage you deal to higher-level enemies. Against level 28 mobs, a player with Light level 24 deals almost no damage, no matter how good his gear is. The answer is basically: “You will always get stronger.”
The Light level not only represents a “meta value”, it doesn’t just tell you how strong you are, but it precisely determines that strength. And it unlocks additional content. It may well be that upcoming expansions target top-tier players. But don’t worry: usually, with an expansion, there are also ways to level up faster than without it. Such a “catch-up” mechanism is common in MMORPGs.
And this is how you level up in Destiny
Experience points are still available after level 20, but they are used to upgrade weapons or armor, unlock upgrades, and collect Motes of Light. This is a currency that can be exchanged for a few cosmetic items. Or you better wait until Friday at noon. Then Xur, a merchant appears, where you can exchange Motes of Light for an exotic item, but you only find out its stats and class assignment when unboxing.
To move from level 20 and to increase your Light levels, you need rare, epic, or exotic items. Only these can have the “Light” value. Rare items (the blue ones) have only a chance of having that value. Legendary (purple) and exotic (gold) items will have it in any case.
Unfortunately, it does NOT automatically mean: The more powerful an item, the higher its Light value.
It is quite possible that you get a legendary item that is worse in every way than what you’re currently wearing, but has a higher Light value. It is still worth it to wear the new item because of the described advantages.
By the way: Exotic items always have the highest Light value, but you can only equip one weapon and one armor piece at the same time.
How much do the individual item types give?
Light points can only be obtained from four different item slots: from helmet, chest, legs, and feet.
A rare item can give a maximum of 15 Light points.
A legendary item that does not come from the raid can reach a maximum of 27 Light points.
A legendary item that comes from the “Glass Chamber” raid can go up to 30 Light points.
Exotic items always reach the current maximum of 30 Light points.
These are the maximum values of the individual quality levels. Whether an item actually achieves that is questionable, especially for rare items it is almost impossible.
And how much Light do I need per level?
To level up to Light level 21, you need 21 Light points, then 11 points for each further level up. The first level up therefore costs 10 Light points more than usual. At level 25, you need 10+5*11= 65 Light points. At level 30, you need 10+10*11= 120 Light points.
This way, you can calculate which gear you need for which Light level. For the maximum level of 30, you need a fully upgraded set of legendary raid items or exotic items.
The thing with upgrading: Potential and reality
Weapons and armor in Destiny can be upgraded further with Ascendant materials and other upgrade items. This also increases their Light value. It is important to note that a fully upgraded blue item may have a higher current Light value than a brand new legendary item, but you may still want to switch it out because the legendary item is better in the long run. It has higher potential.
With upgrading, it’s always a bit of a gamble in Destiny. Generally, items that you think you will use for a long time should be upgraded. Upgrading a rare item and wasting resources on it, which you will swap out just five minutes later, is really frustrating.
Ideal candidates for upgrading are exotic items and legendary items with a high base Light value.
Let there be Light – How to reach level 30 in Destiny?
The ascent to the first Light levels is still easy for many. A few good rares, eventually a legendary, and you’re already approaching levels 22, 24, and 26. After that, new possibilities open up, you’re busy, collecting gear, upgrading your legendaries, maybe buying an exotic from Xur, and you’re at level 28.
After that, you’ll only proceed in the current raid, the Glass Chamber. There, a special raid set drops, which fully upgraded and complete, provides enough Light to reach the coveted level 30. Thus, a visit to the Vault of Glass is essential for this level.
You should be able to manage your way to legendaries well until then; these two guides will tell you how to obtain them without just mindlessly shooting at any caves:
The fantasy MMORPG Everquest Next is now really supposed to fulfill all the promises that have been made to us in the MMORPG genre for years.
A truly dynamic world has been the holy grail of MMORPGs for years
Anyone who is a fan of the MMORPG genre has heard it often in recent years: quest hubs are a thing of the past. The times when you would come to a village and there were three people with a question mark above their heads should already be over. No MMO in recent years has promised us anything but a living world where we have an impact on everything. An MMORPG where the stories take center stage, where the world will be vibrant, exciting, and eternally young. So far, no MMO has managed to tackle this Herculean task.
Everquest Next has made this its mission and wants to inspire fans with just that. In addition to a changeable world, this shift away from rigid quests towards a true fantasy world, where mobs and NPCs pursue their own lives and ambitions, is the most important point of Everquest Next.
And what is already known about the game is indeed impressive. In a video that we would like to show you at the end of the article in a brief summary, two developers go into more details of the dynamic quests.
This time it should work: Storybrick AI should provide real stories
In a nutshell: The events or event chains, as we know them from Final Fantasy XIV or Guild Wars 2, are being thought out even further. The goblin gang has always served as an example of this new way of telling stories in MMORPGs and replacing quests with “real” stories, which is dynamic and reacts to player actions, expands its influence, and grows stronger when it succeeds.
In another example that goes even further, the faction of dark elves wants to exploit the natural energy of the neighboring dryads for themselves. Players now have the choice of which side they want to intervene in this conflict. Every decision in Everquest Next is supposed to have consequences. If the dark elves win the conflict, it triggers massive events that lead to a server-wide reputation: an event that can change the history of the entire server forever. This way, over the years, differences between individual worlds are supposed to exist: on one side, players chose the blue pill, while on the other side, they chose the red pill.
The player’s story and therefore also their world are supposed to be recorded in a book called “Rohsong”. This serves as a bestiary, glossary, encyclopedia, logbook, and diary.
Skepticism is warranted, but the goal is too tempting to dismiss
Mein MMO says: We are still skeptical, but the idea of a dynamic world sounds simply too tempting and is too enticing not to keep trying again and again. As a fan of the genre, you just have to believe that the dynamic world is coming, that the game will become freer, that the way stories are told in MMORPGs will change. Because these things – and not slightly better graphics and a few more costumes in the cash shop – will shape the future of the genre.
With the Storybrick AI that EQ Next uses, a milestone could really be achieved. Anyone who follows MMORPGs will know that at such an early stage, a healthy skepticism is warranted. Previous “dynamic events” have turned out more or less to be multi-part scripted quests that quickly lost their appeal over time. And for sure, for ten years, developers have promised us before every game that their world is alive because the blacksmith only stands at the anvil during the day and lies in his bed at night. That alone has long been insufficient for us. One can only hope that EQ Next will be as complex and interesting as it currently seems.
The October season in Blizzard’s free card game Hearthstone is dedicated to Halloween, the “Schlotternächte”.
Every month, Hearthstone reshuffles the cards, and the climb up the ladder starts anew. Anyone who manages to reach at least rank 20 will receive a new card back at the end of the month, thus displaying their participation in the season.
Rank 20 sounds laborious, but it really isn’t – because everyone starts at rank 25 and works their way “down”. Up to rank 20, you can only win; losses do not negatively affect your ranking. Rank 20 is the lowest rank you can later fall to. Higher up, it gets tougher; only a quarter even reaches rank 14 or lower. At the top of the pyramid are the top players and streamers who regularly engage in deck-building. This Hunter deck was played last week by the player ErA and led it to the top rank in North America.
The October season at Hearthstone is now entirely themed around Halloween – the card back is designed accordingly scary. By the way, Halloween in World of Warcraft German is called “Schlotternächte”, which has been retained in Hearthstone. Good luck, and may you instill fear in your enemies.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Another WildStar Nexus report and another unfortunate news. Stephan Frost, the voice of the “DevSpeak” videos and one of the two hosts of the weekly “Nexus report”, is leaving Carbine.
Actually, the Twitch livestream was supposed to be only about the positive things that await us in the future of WildStar – Mike Donatelli was in the studio with well over 100 pages of patch notes to emphasize that the upcoming content drop brings exactly what the players want: countless improvements, bug fixes, and tons of new content. The good mood was completely shattered by a final announcement in the stream: Stephan Frost is leaving Carbine this week. The Twitch chat exploded. He made it clear that this decision has nothing to do with Carbine, WildStar, or his colleagues; he simply received an offer “that he couldn’t refuse” and the decision was difficult for him. He will reveal which project Frost will be working on next through his Twitter account in the coming days.
Stephan Frost is leaving WildStar.
My opinion on this: I can turn it over and over however I want: When I think of WildStar or want to tell people about it, I first send them a DevSpeak video. For me, “Frost” is the person who embodies WildStar through and through. Always friendly, a bit crazy, always up for a laugh, and yet damn competent in pretty much every area.
I’m approaching this very emotionally, but on one hand, I’m damn sad, and on the other hand, angry. How can you leave a game that is so important to you, that you’ve worked on for years, in its hardest hour? I know that this line of thought is quite unjust, but it’s clear to me: Carbine is not just losing an employee but THE face of WildStar and another reason to give the game a chance.
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The SciFi MMORPG WildStar has been on the market for three months. Launched with much anticipation, the development team has faced both highs and lows. A few days ago, we had the opportunity to ask Mike Donatelli, the Product Director from Carbine Studios, a dozen questions.
In WildStar, you rely on a setting with a large portion of science fiction. Both the world and the characters are quite “crazy.” What was the appeal of taking a different path than most other MMORPGs, which largely rely on a conventional fantasy setting? Was it personal preferences or did you simply want to create something entirely new?
Mike Donatelli at PAX East.
Our development teams are really big sci-fi fans, and you can tell that from the game. Regarding the various characters within WildStar, we wanted them to be memorable so that they stay in the players’ minds – I believe we succeeded in that.
WildStar received largely high ratings in the press. Did you expect that, or were you surprised by the positive opinions? Do good reviews motivate you, or are such accolades rather secondary?
I think we tend to be very critical of our work. It is definitely wonderful to be praised for the work, but we cannot just rest on our laurels. One must always look for how to improve. It’s great that some players love the story and the quirky humor. Now, we need to focus on how we can reach a larger audience.
Do you still think it was the right decision to release WildStar in the summer, or would another time have perhaps been better in hindsight?
I would have preferred if the game had launched during the holiday season. At that time, however, there were many new releases, so WildStar would likely have gotten lost in the flood of games.
Is there something in game design that you would do differently today with all the experiences gathered?
I believe we should have focused more on easier accessibility. I don’t think the game is generally too difficult, but we should have better prepared players for the various aspects of the game. That’s why we are adding new “training features” among other things and making changes to the LFG tool. We want to focus on making the game more accessible for all players. At the same time, it should remain challenging.
What led to the decision to discontinue the monthly content drops in the future?
We wanted to maintain an aggressive release policy after the launch to offer players more for their money. The problem was that the quality of the patches suffered under this speed, and that was absolutely not our goal.
Players demanded that we slow down and fix the bugs instead of bringing a patch that is not 100% complete. We agreed to this demand.
“The devs are listening” is one of the principles at Carbine, as repeatedly emphasized in the developer videos. But how can we imagine this process until a community request is not only heard, but ultimately realized?
There are many players who make their voices heard through the forum, and that is really great. We receive useful feedback almost every day. And yes, while we always listen, we use the forum and social media as a starting point to then dig into the data and find out what the problems are, so that we can bring about a positive change.
The language in the forums, on Twitter and Facebook, on all channels where the Carbine developers communicate, is English. How does Carbine ensure that the devs also receive feedback in other languages?
I try to read the forum posts in other languages [than English] as well, but it’s not that easy with Google Translate! Jokes aside, we have a team for other languages, and that helps us make feedback understandable from all countries.
What impression do you have of the feedback from German players or Europeans? Does it align with the feedback from players in America, or are there differences?
I would say that players from different regions often share the same opinions, but we receive significantly more feedback from our German and European players regarding RP and PvP.
The raids in WildStar are well received by the progression guilds, but is the risk not too high to invest a lot of work into parts of the game that might only be used by a small part of the player base? How large is the percentage of players who raid in WildStar?
It carries certain risks, but we really wanted to provide players with challenging dungeon and raid experiences, and I believe we have succeeded beyond that. Roughly speaking, I would say that about 10% of players participate in dungeons and raids.
WildStar and the press have strongly emphasized a distinction between WildStar and today’s World of Warcraft. One of the announcements was to give players a Vanilla WoW feeling when raiding. Now, it appears in some discussions that WildStar might face the same problems World of Warcraft did at the end of Classic and during The Burning Crusade. Does Carbine not fear that the “hardcore” mindset will require the same solutions as Blizzard back then?
We look at everything, but we focus on the feedback from players who are trying to complete the pre-quest and want to raid. We absolutely want people to play our content. So, we will make changes that will largely be based on what the raiders want.
How do you assess the potential for conflict between hardcore and casual players in the long run? After the relaxations regarding the gold runs and the attunement quest, some hardcore players now fear that this is just the beginning. There’s uncertainty about which target audience is being aimed at with WildStar. Would you prefer to appeal to a broad audience or do you still believe in a niche for hardcore gamers?
We want to provide content for both types of players. We wanted to create group content that clearly differentiates itself. Crew missions -> Adventures -> Dungeons -> Raids. We definitely need to work on better communicating the tier of difficulties and already have plans on how to accomplish that. Regarding the “nerfing” of our hardest content: we don’t do that.
Many players have now reached the endgame and are engaging in the different activities available at level 50. You have probably already taken a look at what players enjoy the most. Were you perhaps surprised by anything?
Housing. I knew many would enjoy it, but I couldn’t have anticipated how many players at the level cap would invest so much time and resources to personalize their houses.
What can fans look forward to in the next content drops?
General quality-of-life improvements, the main story, new zones, bug fixes, and of course enhancements regarding content accessibility.
Thank you very much for the interview, Mike Donatelli.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the MMO shooter Destiny, the week starts on Tuesday for professionals with the weekly level 28 Nightfall Strike. These are the so-called weekly Nightfalls, the weekly Nightfall missions. Intended for three players, some pro gamers tackle the Strike in a Han – solo style.
This is a Nightfall, and that’s why you start the week in Destiny
Nightfall is currently the highest difficulty level in Destiny. These special forms of heroic missions can be seen starting at level 24 as a daily story mission or as weekly tasks. And experts begin their Destiny week on Tuesday noon our time with this weekly task when the new ID starts.
Because a successful completion of this weekly Nightfall mission gives Guardians a chance at legendary or exotic items, they can obtain the coveted strange coins or Ascendant materials that they need to upgrade their items, and as a special treat: 20% bonus on everything throughout the week – Exp, reputation, marks. That is why many high-level players start directly with the weekly Nightfall mission, making the week significantly more rewarding.
Brains over brawn required
The Nightfall missions are challenging, among other things, because players do not simply respawn after a death, but must be revived. If the whole team goes down, it means: Back to the start.
When the first players in Destiny started with the Nightfall missions two weeks ago, there was much lamenting. The Guardians struggled with the requirements, and many wipes were the result. However, it has now been understood that the missions are not so difficult if approached cleverly (and that by now everyone has much better gear has likely helped). Some players even set themselves the challenge each week to complete the mission, which is actually designed for three Guardians, completely alone. However, they often exploit bugs, dead angles, and exploits. So it’s not entirely kosher.
In this video, you can see how a YouTuber solos the current Nightfall Strike Cerberus Vae III.
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To survive the Nightfall, it is important to analyze beforehand what modifiers the instance has that week and to adjust one’s equipment accordingly. It is essential to figure out what damage type the enemies are allergic to.
This week in Destiny, it’s on Mars, Thunderlord is needed
Each week, one of six possible strikes is selected as the Nightfall and equipped with random modifiers. This week, the Nightfall leads to Cerberus Vae III on Mars. In the English-speaking Reddit forum, it has already been explained in detail, how to best tackle this Strike.
The current modifiers are: Epic, Juggler, Angry, Nightfall, and Arc Burn.
In this case, the most important of these modifiers is “Arc Burn.” It causes the damage type “Arc” to do 300% more damage than usual. This means for the players: Take weapons that deal this type of damage – like everything electric and charged. In this case, for example, the exotic machine gun “Thunder Lord” is recommended, which is famous for its electric damage. Additionally, the individual subclasses are associated with certain damage elements. We have already discussed this in this article.
A Nightfall Strike is tricky when the mobs in the Strike also deal the type of damage that is enhanced this week. However, this is not the case in Destiny this week: Only one type of mobs in the Strike, the Psions, deal Arc damage at range; no one else does.
Everyone has games that they say are really good. But how do you actually determine if a game is truly “good”?
Ultimately, it is always a subjective feeling whether someone likes a game or not, but there are certainly objective criteria by which one can examine video games. It doesn’t matter if this happens in a review, a “first impression” video, or just in a conversation among friends. If you want to introduce someone to a game, there are a few aspects you should definitely address.
The genre should be mentioned to have a rough categorization of the game, graphics and aesthetics should be described, and the gameplay explained. If you want to go deeper, you can also talk about the narrative, the difficulty level, the quality of the voice acting, or the price. However, this depends heavily on your interlocutor’s time.
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The globally popular MMO World of Warcraft increases its prices in China by 45%.
According to MMO Culture, a site specializing in MMO news from the Far East, NetEase, the provider of WoW in China, is raising its prices. WoW follows a Pay2Play model here – as in the rest of the world – but is billed by the hour in China. This is common in parts of Asia, where the PC gaming café culture has established itself.
According to mmoculture, 2700 minutes of WoW, which is 45 hours, now costs 30 Chinese Yuan, or 0.67 Yuan per hour – that’s about 9 cents.
Before the change, an hour of Chinese World of Warcraft cost 0.45 Yuan – thus about 6 cents.
Some fans protested loudly against this increase, according to mmoculture, stating that World of Warcraft is already on a downward trend in Asia. There are fears that the price increase could accelerate this decline.
In the UK, the subscription price for WoW was recently lowered, and the costs for Mists of Pandaria were adjusted downward. New players were even lured with a free basic package.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The rock band Cage The Elephant now has the coolest Playstation 4 bundle with the MMO Destiny in the history of mankind.
Cage The Elephant may be known to video game fans through their song “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” from the first Borderlands. Right now, the guys are on tour and received a gift from Red Bull that will make every Destiny fan’s eyes light up.
A “Steel Case,” which – as dualshockers writes – could also probably fit thick tour equipment, contains a white Playstation 4, a controller, a copy of Destiny, and some cans of Red Bull, so the band can make it through the session on stage and the gaming binge on the PS4. But the really impressive part is the inside of the steel case, where the Destiny logo is astonishingly displayed.
Us ordinary mortals can only hope that somewhere out there is a Destiny case with our name on it. But probably… not.
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Gamification is a new trend where companies use reward systems and comparison models from computer and video games to motivate employees.
Maybe some of you are familiar with the play and later film “Glengarry Glen Ross”. A competition is announced among real estate agents: The first gets a car, the second a knife set, and the last one gets fired. In ancient Rome, it was quite similar for gladiators – just with lions.
Work, work.
Even earlier, in the analog world, corporations rewarded their employees with bonuses, “Salesperson of the Month” plaques, and similar incentives to motivate them for better performance. One could perhaps buy a bicycle with their success points at the company or save for a cruise. Now, clever managers, like Michael Ameling at SAP, have discovered the computer game culture and are transferring the ways in which players are motivated and rewarded for special achievements to the structures of their companies.
On high score tables, players – pardon, employees can see where they stand performance-wise. Some companies even use interactive world maps, as an article on n24.de shows.
However, the results of this gaming motivation, as mentioned in the article on n24.de, are also culturally different. Not every country reacts the same; different models are needed: In Germany, a pure points system would quickly become boring. Here, it would need to be about something meaningful, like a meeting with the CEO. In India, however, employees proudly show their badges and budges for special achievements and wear them on their T-shirts.
One thing has changed compared to earlier times: Gamification is supposed to reward only positive behavior and not punish negative behavior. So, if you believe the corporations, you don’t have to worry about the last on the leaderboard being eaten by lions. At least not yet.
As a small comment from us: Especially MMOs are now struggling to find methods to motivate their players. The first developers are already starting to treat players like employees, involving them in the game’s development, letting them create content and test games. And here, they are also learning from the industry and starting to pay players. Perhaps we will soon not only see a “Gamification” of business corporations but also a “Businessfication” of games? On the other hand – maybe we have already had that with bots, gold sellers, and eBay account sales.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The Brawler’s Guild in World of Warcraft will be adjusted to level 100 with the Pre-Patch 6.02 for Warlords of Draenor, but no new bosses are coming.
The Brawler’s Guild in World of Warcraft – equipped with many references to “Fight Club” – is an extremely skill-intensive activity for solo players in WoW. The opponents have special abilities, and sequences must be memorized, and tricks applied to overcome the challenges within a tight time limit.
With Warlords of Draenor, player level and strength will increase, so it would be silly to leave the Brawler’s Guild as it is. Therefore, Blizz outlines some changes in a Dev Blog that will go live in World of Warcraft with the Pre-Patch 6.02, which is expected in two weeks:
The old achievements will become heroic feats and can no longer be obtained again. Instead, new ones are coming. (Yes, that means the AV points for this will be lost too, as always)
The fights will be scaled to level 100.
There will be some changes in balancing, with Bruce now becoming a rank-5 boss.
The ring rewards will be stronger and should also be attractive for level 100 with 6.02.
Progress will be spread over 8 ranks again.
However, at least for the foreseeable future, there will not be new bosses or challenges for the Brawler’s Guild. However, you can take Meatball with you to your Garrison after defeating him. That’s something too. And maybe something will happen in the Brawler’s Guild during the patch cycle.
For those who have no idea at all what the Brawler’s Guild is, we have selected a video, but a) you probably need to know how the boss mechanics work to understand how incredibly difficult everything is and b) should turn the sound off:
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The Sparrow in the luxury MMO Destiny can be used for certain stunts and tricks. A video shows the creativity of the Sparrow boarders.
The Sparrow in Destiny, a kind of hover bike and the preferred means of transportation for the Guardians, has already triggered clear associations with Star Wars in the live action trailer. This thing is simply iconic. And according to lore, it can reach speeds of up to 220 kilometers per hour and rests in its owner’s jumpship when not in use. The status symbols of a Guardian aren’t too shabby: My spaceship, my Sparrow, my exotic fusion rifle.
Many Destiny players think, when they sit on the machine, probably not of Star Wars or bling-bling, but rather of Tony Hawk and other legends of the half-pipe. In a video, a particularly creative Sparrow boarder presents his best tricks and stunts. This surely belongs to the cooler things one can do to pass time in Destiny, don’t you think?
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ArcheAge, the Korean sandbox adventure, has recently launched turbulently. This makes it a good time to take a closer look at the latest developments surrounding the free-to-play MMO. Even better, it helps when a representative joins the conversation. We had the opportunity for an interview with Victoria Voss, the producer of ArcheAge.
Whether it will become a long-term success is still uncertain. One thing is for sure: a hell of a lot of people are currently following the game, and it’s not due to any marketing tricks; there’s no Pied Piper of Hamelin luring with music. No, people want to explore the sandbox, and who knows? Maybe some will settle here and carve out their own path?
ArcheAge – Light at the End of the Tunnel
People are constantly saying that MMORPGs are running out of steam – the market is apparently oversaturated. But isn’t ArcheAge the online role-playing game that is currently making headlines?
Especially the endlessly long queues at the beginning show, although they were extremely annoying, that players are yearning for something new and that the genre is not coming to an end.
According to Trion Worlds, ArcheAge is 10 times more popular than expected. The extreme hype surrounding a Korean MMO has not escaped us either. Yes, it’s downright puzzling to us. We wanted to know from Victoria whether the age of classical theme park MMOs is actually over and if players are looking for a completely new gameplay experience. Unfortunately, she didn’t reveal whether that is truly the case. But Victoria provides her own reasons for thinking that it is being so well received.
“In ArcheAge, you can do what you want”
The unique aspect of ArcheAge is clearly the diversity that she explicitly emphasizes. During the conversation, it quickly becomes clear that she is not just selling a product, but that she is also a passionate player herself.
“I spend most of my time with farming. I enjoy creating things and supporting my guildies. But I also enjoy sailing the ocean and protecting others during a traderun on a ship.” Then she takes a breath and adds dryly, “or also finding other players to steal their stuff. Maybe I have a few entries in my criminal record.” In ArcheAge, you even have to fear the authorities. Here I wanted to know more and jumped in with a seemingly incredulous, “How can you even?”
After she had to laugh about it herself, she somewhat qualified her statement: “I’m not really good at killing other people. But you know, it’s fun to be able to do multiple things at the same level.” Referencing our interview with Scott Hartsmann, she praised the unique dynamics that even pure PvE players suddenly started to enjoy the PvP in ArcheAge: “It brings a certain thrill to the game without frustrating people too much.”
The game has a crafting focus, but there’s still so much more to do in the open world, including PvP or questing. However, there’s no pressure involved. Players are given the choice of how they want to spend their time. She illustrates this with a personal anecdote: “My husband prefers PvE and kills monsters, while I am addicted to crafting.” The two of them can thus play an MMO together because it “supports multiple play styles.”
ArcheAge is a game supported by the community
To steer the interview in a new direction, I directed the conversation towards the community, which also impresses us at Mein MMO. There have been truly many comments about ArcheAge in the past weeks, lively discussions, and guilds supporting us with insider information. We haven’t experienced that in any MMO before.
This didn’t just happen by chance but is largely due to the game design of the MMORPG.
In ArcheAge, players significantly shape the world – from territorial wars to a justice system to a player-driven economy and housing in the open world. I asked whether she doesn’t find it remarkable that players are suddenly interacting with each other so much. Most games in recent times have taken a different path, moving more towards a model where players play together but more superficially – for example, through automated grouping functions.
“The current trend in the gaming segment suggests that you can suddenly land in space from some location and be part of a group. Then you do something together that is fun, and that is cool. But there can also be another side where players really engage with each other, communicate, work on a solution, and not just run alongside each other. In ArcheAge, we particularly observe this in building areas. There are neighborhoods where people talk a lot and farm together. In PvP zones, they even help each other by warning about nearby “bad” players. And they consider going against them together.”
Such situations characterized MMORPGs in the past and made them so appealing. That is currently widespread in ArcheAge and something that characterizes this sandbox game and sets it apart from others. Even though ArcheAge is not perfect, it gives hope for the future. So one can still build on player-driven features, provided they are well thought out.
“We are surprised by player behavior”
No, the subtitle does not refer to the free-to-play community, which is said to have a questionable reputation. Admittedly, ArcheAge can be rough.
Overall, what surprises Victoria the most is the behavior of players concerning what is currently happening on the high seas. They knew, of course, what the harpoons on the ships could do. However, they never dreamed that many groups would board enemy ships with harpoons to pull them all the way to land. And all just to have a party on the conquered ship. More than a horrified “Really?” crossed my mind. “Yes, that is truly unexpected, we now call them the Land Party Boats.” Give players tools in hand, and unexpected things happen.
When Victoria spoke about regional differences and mentioned that there are not only different play styles between Korea and the West but also within Europe and America, I was interested in details. Unfortunately, I only got a small insight that it is fun to observe the player behavior from some countries. Some focus more on crafting, while others fully commit to PvP. And the American servers are progresstechnically ahead of the European ones. However, the Black Pearl, the most powerful ship in the game, has still not been completed by anyone.
It had a bumpy start…
As amusing or quirky as player behavior may sometimes be, it must be said that the launch was unfortunate from a technical point of view. As mentioned at the beginning, the start – and that is a mild way of putting it – was suboptimal. Excruciatingly long queues, issues with VIP status, barely any leftover building spaces, and much more.
Even before the launch, a community outcry caused a lot of commotion. We remember: There were changes in the shop and in the work points, which were heavily criticized. If it had remained that way, high spenders could have gained a significant advantage – even over subscribers. They probably took that back due to the criticism. The situation has noticeably relaxed since then. When I asked whether further changes were planned, Victoria replied: “We are still looking at the situation with ArcheAge, but I think we are quite happy with how it is currently. There seems to be a good balance regarding the work points.”
They had to play around with the work points a bit. Players should get to know the system to see how it influences gameplay. For players in the West, this mechanism is unfamiliar, which is why many statements from the community were initially negatively inclined.
When asked about the long queues, Victoria said, “It’s really interesting to plan how many servers you want to have ready for launch. It’s a big question of balance.” After all, many numbers play a role, whether registered players or similar indicators. From the beginning, they kept 4 servers as a backup, but the number of players far exceeded expectations. For example, many players from Russia also joined the servers. That was not anticipated.
ArcheAge is not suitable for server merges
There are now 21 servers worldwide, and Trion will continue to monitor player numbers and queues to see if further adjustments are needed. However, more servers are unlikely, as they want to avoid having to reduce the number of servers at some point. When asked about an emergency plan for empty servers in the future: “We have already seen server mergers in other regions, and we have talked with XLGames about various tools to prevent this.” That would be the absolute last resort, as ArcheAge is not really suitable for that. No one likes to lose the house they have worked hard for. Those who want to switch servers will be able to do so with server transfers in the future. She advises new players to settle on the new servers. There is still plenty of land available to place a farm or house.
Generally, most technical problems have now been resolved and the queues have become more manageable. It’s running more smoothly. What about the coming weeks?
The Future: Auroria is Coming Soon, Expected to Solve Building Problems
“The next big update will be Auroria.” Honestly, that felt a bit vague to me – wouldn’t it to you? Believe me, I’ve tried to find out the date and even promised, “I might not tell anyone (except for the readers on Mein MMO).”
She still mentioned a few more details in closing:
It won’t take long, just a little while, they will announce it in time (probably in a few weeks).
Trion wants to ensure that enough guilds reach the end game level. Otherwise, there is too great a risk that a single guild secures all castles on Auroria. That would ruin the fun of the game.
The new continent Auroria will open at different times in Europe and America, each during primetime.
Trion expects that the problems with the limited building areas on the most popular servers will resolve with Auroria, as many will typically move to the new areas. Some will also lose interest in housing over time, which is why they ask for patience.
“When it’s done, it’s done” is the motto for content updates. There is no fixed schedule. The reasons for this lie in localization.
Costumes, pets, and other items are coming soon in the item shop, e.g., for Halloween and winter.
Along with XLGames, they are planning events, and there will be a preview around Halloween.
Thank you to Victoria Voss from Trion Worlds for the nice interview.
Trion is also developing a new game. Unfortunately, she couldn’t reveal more. However, it didn’t sound like a new MMORPG.
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