“Write something!” – “Anything?” – “Yeah.” And thanks to this super clear assignment, I am now back with a new variant of my column, the “Mecker-Mittwoch”.
From now on, I will vent the gaming frustration of the current week to you, while in return, you can read the wonderful anecdotes of my suffering.I’ll start today with my current favorite game, WildStar.
This is roughly what it looks like when I let myself be tempted to play a round of PvP again. Everything sounded so good and played very nicely on the test realm. [quote_right]But he who laughs last, laughs best.[/quote_right]The new PvP values enable healers to heal more effectively, and Spellslingers have been slightly toned down so they can’t take down everyone in four seconds. But he who laughs last, laughs best, and so the opposite has effectively occurred.
Healers are significantly weaker in PvP than before the patch, even though healing now scales with the new value “PvP Power”. The result is nearly a 40% reduction in healing power, which sometimes brings me close to tears. But I could live with that, since other classes should no longer be able to deal extreme amounts of damage so quickly, giving me two or three seconds longer to help wounded players.
But if there’s a problem, then it brings its entire family, all adopted and in-law relatives, and even invites its holiday acquaintance along. The major “Spellslinger Nerf” turned out to be a buff, and currently, it is possible for pistoleers to deal up to 24,000 damage points with a single ability. In extreme cases, even higher numbers are reached, as this video shows:
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Since my Cortyn just reaches 28,000 hit points, you can imagine how long these fights last (Spoiler: Not long!). I don’t even have time to type a desperate “/cry” or “/hug”. Every single match today was decided by which team brought the most Spellslingers to the battle, but hey! They should have their fun too. After the next patch – which is sure to come very, very soon – I will hug and squeeze these little mean pistol Chua. Squeeze them tight. Really tight.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
From the beta of Warlords of Draenor, the expansion to Blizzard’s MMO giant World of Warcraft, images of one of the most popular characters have now surfaced. Gul’Dan is preparing for a return to World of Warcraft.
The story of Warlords of Draenor, the new expansion to World of Warcraft, is complicated. Players will travel back to the past of a parallel world (similar to the Caverns of Time, but as a whole expansion – okay, that wasn’t too complicated to explain). Anyone who has watched five minutes of a mystery or science fiction series on television or read a comic knows what that means: characters appear who actually died a long time ago.
In World of Warcraft, Gul’Dan is one of the most legendary characters. He was the first warlock of the Horde and involved in almost all major misdeeds and events in the WoW lore. The dataminers from mmo-champion now allow us the first look at the new Gul’Dan. His last appearance in WoW had his skull as loot from Ilidian. In the new expansion, he will be one of the namesake warlords of Draenor. In this role, he contends with the other warlords and the players’ allies for dominance in Draenor.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In an interview with mmogames.com, Gabrielle “Gabe” Helland, the product manager of Swordsman, discussed the plans for the free-to-play MMO. The aim is to populate the cash shop cautiously since Swordsman is a skill-based game. Therefore, the shop will mainly feature cosmetic items or mounts that help players stand out from the crowd. Additionally, there are some items that ease gameplay, such as XP bonuses or energy pills. Everything that influences the combat power of characters can, however, be found in the game or acquired from other players.
Looking ahead, plans include several events such as live streams or dungeon runs together with the players. The arena is also suited for holding PvP tournaments. Furthermore, attentive players on social media can expect gifts and prizes.
By the end of the year, Helland stated, they aim to raise the level cap; bring new instances and a fresh endgame raid to Swordsman Online and improve numerous key systems within the game.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The MMORPG “Guild Wars 2” relies on its regular updates, the “Living World.” As the name suggests, these small expansions gradually advance the story of Tyria, and recently the second season began, which will celebrate a little highlight with the upcoming Episode 4 and send the players into a brief summer break.
The centerpiece of the expansion will be the deeper exploration of the DryTop, as a new area will open up for players, which will be teeming with new enemies.
But also story-wise, there are significant issues: All leaders of the world were summoned to discuss their strategy against the mighty dragon Mordremoth – however, some have no interest in this meeting. It is now up to the players to convince the leaders so that the threat can be averted. As the political tensions and intrigues already became evident in the main story during leveling, one can be curious about what course the developers will devise this time!
You can view a short trailer for the latest episode of the world story here:
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Perfect World Entertainment, the publisher of the free MMO Neverwinter, has released a trailer that showcases the new module “Tyranny of Dragons” in just under three minutes.
The “Tyranny of Dragons” (for some reason, it can be understood without translation) is already the fourth module for the free MMO Neverwinter. They have now unleashed a trailer that introduces the new class, the devastating Warlock (for some reason, it is translated here), and the new race, the Dragonborn (no comment). Additionally, there are a whole lot of dragons to admire in the video.
The announcement of the new module has been overshadowed in recent weeks by news that the new race, Dragonborn, can only be purchased in a package and only at a significant price. Aside from that, the module has a lot to offer, including new skirmishes, enemies, items, pets, and mounts. It is set to be released in a good week on August 14.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In yesterday’s “Nexus Report”, the Twitch stream of the WildStar developers, the lead class designer Hugh Shelton was present and actively answered the viewers’ questions, providing insights into the future of the MMO.
First of all, PvP enthusiasts can breathe a sigh of relief: The current “Burst” issue is known to the developers, and they are particularly dissatisfied with the Arcane Shooter and its “Charged Shot”. This will be changed soon, so that part of the damage will be dealt over time instead of dealing up to 20,000 damage points spontaneously. With this change, the PvE viability of the Arcane Shooter remains largely intact, as the overall damage amount does not change, but in PvP it creates an opportunity to respond with healing.
Speaking of healing: It is acknowledged that they have constrained healers too much with the current patch, and they see that healing currently does not provide much joy; therefore, the values will be corrected upwards again. As soon as they arrive at a satisfactory outcome, they want to focus on Esper abilities, as many of them currently have no use in PvP.
But also beyond that, discussions about class changes have already been fervent: The differing conversion rate of primary attribute to secondary value will be eliminated, meaning: Each primary attribute will always bring 0.61 attack power for damage dealers, which was previously calculated differently for each class. Simultaneously, all weapons in the game will be adjusted, so starting from Content Drop 4 (approximately early October), all weapon types will have the same amount of attack and support power, primarily to make weapon assessment easier for players. Lastly, the various stances of Warrior, Assassin, and Tech Pioneer will lose their bonus damage – this will be compensated in other ways.
Towards the end of the stream, Stephan Frost (the voice of “DevSpeak”) addressed the viewers with a more serious tone: They apologize for not being able to fix bugs and errors immediately and for sometimes major issues only becoming visible after a patch is released. They are also aware that an MMO like WildStar can never be perfectly balanced, as that doesn’t exist – but a very good balance is always aimed for.
Anyone who wants can also watch the stream afterwards:
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the MMO Black Desert, it seems that one follows a strict schedule. In an interview, the creators of the game aim for the first months of 2015 as the date for an initial Closed Beta.
In a conversation with mmosite.com, the developers of Black Desert talked about their future plans for the game. Since it is based on the European Middle Ages, they believe that it is tailored for the Western market. Therefore, they assume that it will not need to be adjusted too much to the needs of Western players. However, the developers would do so if appropriate feedback comes in. The NA/EU servers are supposed to launch at least in an Alpha phase sometime after November. An initial Closed Beta is planned for “early 2015”, for the first months of 2015.
The Open Beta is scheduled for November in Korea, shortly after that, the Alpha/Beta/Open Beta cycle should begin in Europe and North America. This way, local players will get to enjoy Black Desert before the Chinese.
Gender Lock is likely to remain in Black Desert
One of the main points of criticism from Western players is the “Gender Lock”. This refers to when certain classes are either female or male. The developers defend this design decision. In their response, the ideological differences are evident.
For the developers, individual male and female “Gender Locked” classes are considered two variations of an “original” class. A male warrior and a female warrior, who only differ in appearance, would be too boring for the developers. With “Gender Locked” classes, they believe they offer players more choice and thus more fun, in the eyes of the Eastern developers. Local MMO players see it the exact opposite way. They feel deprived of a decision and choice without the possibility of gender selection.
Next up, the MMO is set for another Closed Beta phase in Korea, this time the third (CBT 3). New features planned for this phase include an armor color system; some new fashion styles and costumes that can be purchased in the cash shop or unlocked through achievements, and a new “swimming model”. Every character can swim, but can acquire new swimming styles like breaststroke, freestyle, or butterfly.
Mein MMO says: No, the swimming styles are no joke, even though we have to chuckle. While the new patch in Korea is delivering quite exactly what local players received a few days ago in The Elder Scrolls Online, various swimming styles are typical for the Korea MMO. Black Desert impressed a few months ago with a video showcasing an incredibly detailed character creation. It is currently considered one of the hottest MMO titles in the upcoming period, alongside Bless Online. Such a swift schedule should delight fans.
As the date approaches, we will delve deeper into the game and its gameplay. The Free2Play MMO is currently somewhat plagued by the reputation of prolonging fights due to the lack of a Holy Trinity. We have an 11-minute video from the last Closed Beta by steparu ready for you, so you can form your own opinion about the combat system in Black Desert.
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In The Elder Scrolls Online, the guild features that have been disabled will return to the game with a hotfix early Thursday morning.
Update Thursday 12 PM: The Elder Scrolls Online servers were maintained in the USA and in Europe. The maintenance went smoothly. The guild features are active again.
The last content expansion fundamentally revised the guild features in The Elder Scrolls Online. A guild leader now has nine ranks to assign – they occupy the tenth rank themselves. This allows them to carefully balance which officer rank or which normal member rank grants access to the guild bank or provides other privileges. Unfortunately, the new feature could not be integrated without difficulties. After initial problems on the US server on Monday night, Zenimax decided to temporarily disable the guild features.
A time is now known for when they will be reactivated. In Europe, the servers will be shut down early Thursday morning at 4:00 AM. During the maintenance, a hotfix is expected to be implemented. Zenimax anticipates that the server will be down for several hours before restarting with fully activated guild features.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Blizzard’s MMO World of Warcraft loses 800,000 players in the ongoing content drought and is now down to 6.8 million subscribers. This marks WoW’s lowest point in eight years.
World of Warcraft loses 800,000 players
According to wow.joystiq.com, which cites Activision’s financial report, the fantasy MMO World of Warcraft lost 800,000 subscribers compared to the previous quarter. The company reported that these losses were mainly experienced in the Asian market. This brings World of Warcraft to 6.8 million subscribers.
There has been no new content (new gameplay) for World of Warcraft for almost a year. During these so-called content drought periods, the MMO traditionally loses the most players. However, an event is scheduled for August 14, where the release date for the next expansion, Warlords of Draenor, is expected to be announced. It is anticipated that the player count will rise again with the expansion.
With 6.8 million, the game has reached its lowest point since the third quarter of 2006, so for about 8 years.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The rumor mill for the SF-MMO Star Trek Online is bubbling – and apparently, colleague Neelix is cooking there. Because the expansion is said to lead into the Delta Quadrant, on Voyager territory. It brings new ships, new equipment, a higher level cap, and is supposed to be planned for October.
It is said to have happened at the Comic Con in Las Vegas – that famous Comic Con, where the nerds from The Big Bang Theory regularly pilgrimage. Fans were invited to a special developer panel for STO and were probably told, under the seal of confidentiality, some details about the new expansion. However, these details are now leaking out.
On reddit it is that time again and someone spills the beans – the information should be enjoyed about as much as a glass of Klingon bloodwine on an empty stomach – with utmost caution.
The new expansion is rumored to be called “Delta Rising” and will increase the maximum level to 60. It is already planned for October. There will be new ships (Tier 6 this time) and new equipment (Mark XIV). An “Alternative Advancement” system is supposed to come, providing another way to become stronger in the game and improve oneself, which will be enabled for captains through new skill trees. A new class of bridge officers is also intended to be integrated into the game. The trip to the Delta Quadrant will also bring new races into focus, including the Kazon, the Ocampa, and the Talaxians.
From the original crew of Voyager, they have been able to enlist Tuvok and Ensign Kim, or rather their actors as voice actors.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
At the end of last week, the second major content patch for WildStar was released. “Sabotage” offers players of the sci-fi MMO a new 15v15 battleground, new equipment, bug fixes, and balancing improvements. Shortly after the patch went live, there was also news about the future of the game.
Today, on Tuesday, the “Guilds” patch hits the servers of The Elder Scrolls Online. The third major content update, with the catchy name 1.3.3, brings not only some bug fixes and minor balance improvements but also a lot of significant changes.
The planet exploration game No Man’s Sky will also be released for PC. This was confirmed by the managing director of the developer Hello Games in an interview with the English magazine EDGE. Sean Murray stated that the studio had aimed for a PC version from the beginning, but would first release the game for PlayStation 4.
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The free fantasy MMO Lord of the Rings Online has made it to university curriculum. At Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee, an English seminar is dealing with it.
“Online Games: Literature, New Media, and Narrative” – this is the name of a new course at Vanderbilt University. In the course, the MMO is not simply going to be played – contrary to rumors, humanities scholars at the university also do something else. Instead, the course intends to explore what happens to Tolkien’s material when it serves as the basis for an MMO. Students will engage with the changes in narrative pace and structure: How does the material need to function in an MMO, compared to The Lord of the Rings as a film or book?
In the accompanying text to the seminar, the university states that today, MMOs must be viewed as part of our narrative culture due to their economic significance, and one must engage with this if one wants to keep up with the times. Vanderbilt sees itself in a pioneering role here. The MMOs have changed our narrative culture, the way we experience and share stories. In doing so, classic romantic and fantasy materials served as their foundation.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Last weekend, our tester Schuhmann had the opportunity to try out the sandbox MMO “ArcheAge” in beta.
Warning, opinion: This report reflects the subjective impressions of our tester Schuhmann from the first 23 levels in ArcheAge. This is neither a review nor any objective report. We are aware that it is too early for general statements about the game. The text refers only to the first 10-15 hours in the game, the so-called “Early Game”, specifically in the Free2Play experience, without spending money on the game, without a “Founder” or “Patron” status.
Negatives upfront: ArcheAge is not much of a theme park
The early game in ArcheAge is nothing special, at least. It has to be put bluntly. After many previews of the game, you expect “something different”, a new flavor, something that excites you. But you get “exactly the same thing”.
The combat system is a decent tab+hotkey affair. I haven’t spotted any telegraphs, and the mobs in the early game had no abilities (at least none notable, one spat poison and one was a ranged fighter… but, coming straight from WildStar, that’s not worth mentioning). This means you fight through the kill quests with the same key combinations, play your course, and don’t need to pay attention to your surroundings or the enemies. The quests are, to put it bluntly, uninspired.
World and storyline have some quirky elements: were-sharks or a few sunbathing tourists in a hot spring. That’s well done and has a certain irritation effect. The presentation of the game is otherwise “solid” to “okay”, I would say, rather subdued and unobtrusive; functional and nice.
The much-praised class system did not convince me during the first 23 levels (that’s how far I got over the weekend). While you can assemble your class and choose 3 from 10 skill lines and the combination class has its own name, I had so few skill points in beta that very little was possible. Maybe it will open up later.
The item system is poorly designed. Sometimes you get 3 items to choose from in quests and pick what fits your playstyle, while in other quests you immediately receive 3 armor pieces at once. I didn’t notice random drops or any selection in the first 23 levels. The weight of items is supposed to shift to crafting, or so they say. Good and well, but as a Free2Play player, you unfortunately have no proper access to that.
Glimmer of hope: Innovations and good ideas
Some things ArcheAge does differently, and that is commendable. In quests, you have the option to hand them in early for less reward. However, you can also “overachieve” them and receive a bit more experience for it. I thought that was a nice idea.
Also, that you can “breed” the mount yourself, gaining experience over time and having armor slots available, is one of the few early “aha, this might be good” experiences during my weekend excursion.
A nice moment as well: the glider, the flying mount of ArcheAge, and when you first swing off a mountain with it for paragliding.
Big problems: Griefplay, the chat, the atmosphere
What becomes apparent early on in ArcheAge: the game attracts a certain clientele of players – at least it did in beta. There were already reports in forums where the “special” beta community was discussed and ridiculed. On Massively, they even created a thread to discuss whether the community is really as horrible as they hear. Sort of. The barren land chat in WoW was worse, but not by much.
The game shows that not the same players gather here as in The Elder Scrolls Online or WildStar, in their betas. The tone is rough. I have found for myself: When I enter a game and the first thing I read are any “Alt+F4” “tips” or – … let’s say – a slang that you wouldn’t exactly want to use in public, I find it difficult. If players behave like that with their guilds, that’s their business. In a public chat, I find it inappropriate – somewhat like public urination or when a guy sits next to me on the subway and rests his head on my shoulder. Since I have read about this phenomenon everywhere, I assume it is not restricted to the server and the area where I played.
What do people talk about in an MMO chat? About all other MMOs
It’s not constantly the case that people are shouting at each other, putting each other down, or showing off. But it probably stands out more in ArcheAge because of the faction-wide chat when they do. In the last MMOs I’ve played, it was different. Particularly in Final Fantasy XIV, I always feel I have to be ashamed when I enter a room without showering the other players with three lines of polite phrases. In ArcheAge, bots are discussed (which will surely ruin ArcheAge, as heard in chat). They’re talking about Asia F2P, which must be quite unknown here. Hacker forums are recommended; everyone apparently has played 15 “failed” F2P games in the last year and comments on them extensively. The majority loudly dreams of becoming a great pirate to crush and subjugate everyone else. Guild recruiters lure with a free round at the guild hall… (that’s exactly the slang I mean).
About events and the good sides of griefplay
The possibilities for griefplay are already evident in the early phase. With the bulky pets and mounts, you can block access (Yay! Collision detection!), which will surely cause trouble. There is – as before – a day system: You can snatch the “mob” from another player. The most annoying part was a type of “event” where you had to kill 25 creatures as a raid group. However, two groups were simultaneously involved, stealing each other’s mobs, so no one could complete the event. And since the event was time-dependent, it meant that several hours would pass until the next attempt. You can imagine how well that goes over. What shocked me in this regard: When the event ended, half of all players murmured “Oh God, again” – that seems to happen more often – not a good sign.
The “griefplay”, or whatever you want to call it, is an important part of a sandbox. That’s clear. You can steal opponents’ painstakingly grown trees and plants, milk the livestock of strangers, and later you wait for others to ambush them. In a sandbox, it’s about lying, cheating, and messing around. Totally clear. But it also attracts a certain clientele of players, at least in beta. That’s actually logical. I must have forgotten that for a moment.
And what’s now with the sandbox?
This may be my biggest disappointment of recent days: Everything that would make ArcheAge special lies behind a paygate and is associated with “Patron” status. For all the “interesting” things in the game, you need labor points and a “Patron” status, which you have to buy for real money already in beta.
Only then can you properly grow anything and buy access to the sandbox elements of the game. Otherwise, it often means “That’s not possible for free accounts” or the labor points are simply used up. You only regenerate those as a “freebie” when you are in the game and then at a rather slow and constant rate, while the consumption increases with each level. Without labor points, you cannot disassemble items; you cannot harvest resources; you can’t even open the small cash boxes that mobs sometimes drop. Time and again, I found myself pausing in the game, going to the desktop to do something else while ArcheAge kept running in the background, spitting out the damn labor points until I could continue with what I actually wanted to do. I know a system like that from browser games and… well, if I liked those, I’d probably write for my-browsergame.de.
This clearly means for me: “Pay – even in beta – your money, otherwise you will see a maximum of 50% of the game here”. My problem is: These 50% that I see, the theme park elements, simply do not justify, especially in a beta, the price for the rest. It’s like someone gives me a rotten bun and says: “Well, was it tasty, or? If you pay me something, you’ll also get the meat with it.” Wouldn’t it be smarter to show me the tasty burger first and have me pay for a crispy bun? Or even better: Just let me take a bite and then decide if I like it?
The game’s attractions, the sandbox elements, the crafting system are clear to me because I’ve read about them. But I can’t experience them in beta. Nothing in the first levels indicates that this will ever come. Instead, it’s just reports from the late game and from Korea as a promise that “it will be different and good”.
Conclusion: Beta weekend in ArcheAge to level 23 and left disappointed
What’s left is a sobering experience with ArcheAge – at least in the early game. If I hadn’t heard about the game, I would hardly see why I should continue playing the MMO and not some other.
However, since I have heard of ArcheAge and know the advantages of the game, I will continue playing the beta and hope that it picks up in the mid-game and end-game. But I think: Trion Worlds is not doing itself any favors with this type of beta.
[pullquote]With the Free2Play experience, I think you spoil the appetite for the game.[/pullquote]
Those who wanted to enter the game before had to do so through founder packages and had the “Patron” status. They could get an early glimpse into the crafting, farming, trading, and housing aspects of the game. That’s surely a completely different experience. As a Free2Play “theme park” game, ArcheAge is, in my eyes, nothing, at least in the early game.
Anyone who intends to familiarize themselves with the game should probably consider getting a founder account. With the Free2Play experience, they spoil their appetite for the game, in my eyes.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the Free2Play MMO shooter Planetside 2, there is a large content update available starting today. The new patch brings, in addition to bug fixes and minor adjustments, a fresh achievement element to the game with the “Directives”.
The “Directives” introduce a new progression system to Planetside 2 that is not just for show but also grants players access to exclusive Auraxium prestige weapons and allows them some decorative items. Well, it is excellent for boasting and showing off.
The system is meant to provide new players guidance and recommendations on which direction they can take and what goals they should aim for, while experienced players simply have a lot to do.
The “Directive” achievements have various rank levels, with the lowest being Bronze and the highest being Auraxium. As you fight your way through the individual ranks of an achievement, you unlock rewards and also something to show off. The ranks must be completed individually with each character, while some rewards count account-wide.
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Since last night, the new patch for The Elder Scrolls Online, TESO, is live on the US server; European players will get it only today.
Once again, Americans are being used as guinea pigs for us European players. They have had the 1.3.3 patch since last night, and as this is a major content patch, problems have predictably arisen. A thread on the topic in the English-speaking subreddit for TESO cleverly quoted Murphy’s Law with, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.”
Not all achievements are displayed, and there are also problems with accessing the guild bank
The new armor dyeing is linked to achievements. Some of these achievements were newly introduced with the patch and should actually be credited retroactively to players. However, this is not functioning properly. Issues arise: players do not have the achievements they should have, and therefore also do not have the correct colors. Zenimax is working on it and provides a current list of the status here.
The second problem is due to the new guild ranks. Players are complaining that they can no longer access the guild bank, regardless of their rank. This issue particularly affects guilds whose guild leader is inactive. These were rather isolated cases until the evening, but then they multiplied. Eventually, Zenimax decided to temporarily disable all guild functions. It is still unknown what impact this will have and whether European guilds will be affected as well.
Problems since the server migration
A major topic once again is lags and delays – since the migration of the European mega server from Austin, Texas, to Frankfurt am Main, some are struggling. Social media is filled with complaints from TESO players: gameplay frequently stutters and there are small rollbacks. Other players cannot log in at all and have not been able to play for days. Zenimax advises to reset the graphic settings and to write a ticket to support. There seems to be no universal solution for this.
Undocumented changes in the patch: There is a two-week campaign in The Elder Scrolls Online after all
Contrary to what was originally intended, Zenimax has decided to introduce a medium-length campaign after all. One of the 7-day campaigns has been turned into a 14-day one. Now campaigns of 5, 7, 14, and 30 days are active. There are two 5-day campaigns, divided into veteran and non-veteran.
According to reddit, the patch also brought other undocumented changes for The Elder Scrolls Online. For instance, the “fishing achievements” for the starter zones are now reportedly fixed, invites pop up in the middle of the screen, and silently replaced old with new map icons for public dungeons, trials, and delves.
Update 11:00 AM: The patch is now also live for us; the maintenance was fairly quick. Zenimax has also temporarily disabled the guild functions in Europe. The technicians of The Elder Scrolls Online have identified the cause of the problem and are working on a fix. Once that is settled, the guild ranks should be reverted to their status before the update. Good news in the end: On the US server, the colors are well received. Apparently, the level of detail of the system is convincing: it offers a lot of possibilities to experiment and create the perfect look.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the Arachnid quarter, you face Maexxna, a “large spider” and the third boss in this wing. She must return 2 enemy minions from the field to the hand each turn due to her hero ability, which is both a curse and a blessing for players. I tried to exploit this by relying on many minions with “Charge” and healing effects. With Alexstrasza or Leeroy Jenkins, the fight would probably have been a bit easier, but unfortunately, I do not have those two cards.
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Blizzard announces that on August 14th, it wants to reveal the release date of Warlords of Draenor. The next expansion of their MMO flagship World of Warcraft is highly anticipated.
On August 14th in Los Angeles, it should be time. Then they want to reveal when it will finally be back to Draenor, at least to the past of a parallel world (regardless, it’s complicated). In addition, they will present one of Blizzard’s renowned cinematic trailers, which are universally acclaimed.
Furthermore, at WoW, they are pulling out all the stops. But there’s no reason for heightened panic. In the real world, those are not Thrall, Proudmoore, and Vol’jin, but Chris Metzen, Mike Morhaime, and Ion Hazzikostas. Developers and specialists known from interviews or under their aliases in the WoW forums and not as heads of a pillaging army.
After the cinematic trailer, there should also be an opportunity for a developer interview. The interview will likely frame a major announcement with a show and the ever-popular bullet-point graphics.
By the way, the whole thing takes place parallel to the Gamescom in Cologne, where a live stream should be broadcasted. This happens around 6:30 PM our time, while the Hollywood stars in Los Angeles are still asleep, as it is just after 9 AM there. Blizzard seems to be indeed aiming for Cologne.
Hardcore fans can already pack their bags and travel to L.A. Because the early bird gets the worm, and they can attend the announcement. The first visitors will also receive a Warlords of Draenor beta key.
Mein MMO says: This can only happen at World of Warcraft, that even the announcement of an announcement delights the fans, and it becomes the most important news of the day, at least in the MMO and gaming sector.
We don’t want to bother you much with speculation about the release date. We actually guessed September/October from the beginning and haven’t bored anyone with “Oh my God, it could come as early as June” rumors, because … hand on heart, it’s Blizzard. They are not exactly known for staying ahead of schedule. But since a few things shifted in the beta, it could indeed slide to November. But well, we don’t need to speculate much longer. It’s soon enough.
The first reactions from the beta are unfortunately a bit mixed. The spark does not seem to have jumped over to the journalists testing it. The big new feature is missing so far, and some are disappointed with the Garrison. But many fans are also looking forward to returning home, to Azeroth. The content drought has certainly lasted long enough. The last patch in WoW that brought something new, “The Siege of Orgrimmar,” was released almost a year ago.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the god MMO Skyforge, the class system has now been explained in more detail. Apparently, the free class system was inspired by MOBAs like League of Legends, where players are not locked into a single class.
Recently, a detailed press release from Team Allods was published, which shed light on the class system in Skyforge. They indicated that the decision to abandon rigid classes was inspired by the MOBA trend. Today, it is no longer up-to-date for players to be fixed on a single class. In MOBAs, they can change their heroes and thus their playstyle from match to match. This is what they also want to represent in Skyforge.
Classes fall under a three-tier hierarchy: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced
The Team Allods also revealed that the classes in Skyforge are not equal. Players start as one of only three “Basic” classes. As they continue to play, they unlock “Intermediate” classes and finally “Advanced” classes.
The three “Basic” classes are Lightbinder (a healer), Paladin (a tank), and Cyromancer (a DPS). After that, there are supposed to be five “Intermediate” classes and five “Advanced” classes. The press release does not specify how this will be distributed. So far, besides these three basic classes, only two others are known, which were also fixed in the press release: The Gunner (Ranged DPS) has been classified as “Advanced” and the Berserker (Melee DPS) as an “Intermediate” class.
To quote Team Allods: “The class-switching system is designed so that upon the first switch, the new class is developed to the same extent as the previous class. This is possible because the main attributes are linked to the character and not to the class.”
From 10 to 13 classes at launch?
My MMO states: A three-tier hierarchy among the classes is something new. Final Fantasy XIV has a two-tier hierarchy. There, the “Jobs” serve as prestige classes starting from the mid-game and unite two basic classes.
The class system in Skyforge will depend on the extent to which “skills” from one class can also be utilized by the other classes. So: Is my Cyromancer stronger if I have also unlocked and developed the Berserker? Since Skyforge will not have a “level” system, but rather operates on the Ascension Atlas as a kind of huge skill map, where classes are developed gradually and also on two levels, the whole concept is relatively hard to imagine. And since only five classes have been introduced so far, it seems some time away before the system becomes experiential. At Gamescom in Cologne, further classes are to be introduced, and there will be a possibility to test Skyforge. Hopefully, we will know more in a few weeks.
It is definitely interesting that the press release now assumes 13 classes: 3 basic, 5 intermediate, 5 advanced. So far, only 10 classes for release have been mentioned.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The eSports management platform “Battlefly” has now released statistics on the top 10 most popular eSports games for 2013. Even though MMOs have recently started to discover the eSports field for themselves, MOBAs remain dominant, with the top spots far ahead.
The first two games on the list are reserved for “League of Legends” and DOTA 2 – both games are also at the forefront on raptr or Twitch. At the moment, MOBAs are on top. Following them are two outliers, Fifa and Pokemon 2, whose success is due to their exceptional status in their respective genres. In positions 5 to 9, you find the usual suspects: renowned shooter franchises like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Counterstrike. The former champion Starcraft 2 has aged a bit and is in 6th place, while the Street Fighter series is in 8th place.
The only one that is at least “a bit MMO” is the lagging World of Tanks trundling to the finish, although a fan base has formed around it in Eastern Europe.
Even without MMOs, the number of eSports tournaments in North America is steadily increasing. This year, estimates suggest there will be nearly 48,000 tournaments held in North America. In 2011, there were still 8,809 tournaments. Perhaps Hearthstone will also appear in the list for 2014, as it is gaining popularity in eSports.
Other MMOs like World of Warcraft have often toyed with the idea of an “eSports” tournament, but want to regulate it internally through specific tournament and arena formats, which apparently never quite worked out.
Apparently, most existing MMOs with their advantages through items, different skill trees, and frequent balance changes are not suitable for eSports. Especially since combat systems are often not skill-based. Also, WildStar, with a skill-based combat system, does not seem to attract eSports players or competitive PvPers in droves. Recently, it was announced that due to a lack of interest, they want to reduce the endgame PvP, the war bases, from 40 players per team to 30.
What do you think? Can the item and character progression of an MMO be reconciled with the equal opportunities of eSports? Or does every MMO that looks towards eSports handicap itself too much?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The survival MMO H1Z1 from Sony Online Entertainment has been on the verge of launching into Early Access for months. Fan interest peaked in April and May, but is now fading.
The MMO H1Z1 has been heavily discussed by the press and by SOE itself several times. It was supposed to enter Early Access in May. Then in June, it was said it would be by July at the latest. Dates kept coming up. Dates kept being pushed back. Now we are in August and still no date is announced. The “soon” or “very soon” remains unchanged.
The problem here: When it is officially stated that “it starts in June,” any small detail later is enough to stir new rumors in the press. Every time some online retailer lists a date for the game, it’s seen as the new major information. But even the concern “Now I’ve heard a release date!” that many chased in June seems to be out of fashion by now. Fans appear a bit burned out. Interest is simmering on low flame.
SOE suffers from these “misfires.” Google Trends, a sentiment barometer based on search queries, clearly shows how hard it is to keep interest in H1Z1 simmering after a peak already in April and May:
SOE was not satisfied with the version they had for the planned Early Access release date. The game, it was said later, did not meet player expectations, not even for an Early Alpha. Therefore, they decided to first implement all “minimal” features into the game, so as not to scare away players who expected more from H1Z1 with the Early Access.
In less than two weeks, SOE Live, the in-house convention of Sony Online Entertainment – similar to BlizzCon – will start. Various “keynotes” and “panels” for H1Z1 are planned. On Friday afternoon, August 15, a H1Z1 keynote panel is scheduled.
Then would be a good time and place to announce an Early Access. SOE has stated that they would notify a week before the Early Access starts when it would be ready. For the game and its fans, we can only hope that a start into Early Access will be announced during SOE Live for late August. Otherwise, fan interest could fall even further. And unlike zombies, there is no guarantee that it will come back.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
