As already known, the new expansion of World of Warcraft will also overhaul the races of the game. Some of them really need it, especially when looking at the current Orcs . For this particular race of the online role-playing game, the revision for Warlords of Draenor seems to have already been completed, as it is now officially integrated into the so-called character viewer.
Overall view of the Orcs
In clear terms, this means that you can now view the newly designed and refined Orcs in the character viewer on Blizzard’s official website. By the way, all races of World of Warcraft will receive such a facelift if they were included as basic races or races up to The Burning Crusade in the game.
Some time ago, Blizzard already presented the revised version of the Orcs to the public and the fans. This time we can view the green-skinned ladies and gentlemen not only as images but also directly in the viewer as an animated character.
The Humans Are Next
To introduce the revamped characters for World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor in more detail, Blizzard publishes so-called artcraft posts. Here you can find not only plenty of images but also information about the race and the revision. According to Senior Art Director Craig Robinson, humans are up next to receive a corresponding post from Blizzard. Recently, the Night Elves were introduced in May 2014. This Alliance race is not yet represented in the character viewer – currently, only Orcs, Tauren, Dwarves, and Gnomes can be admired in animated form.
The expansion Warlords of Draenor will officially kick off in Fall 2014, assuming everything goes well! If you have some time left in August, you might want to check out the gamescom 2014 and try out the WoW expansion for yourself.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The SF-MMO WildStar has been out for a while and has been generally well received, and in our review, WildStar performed excellently. Today, it’s not about the big picture, but rather the smaller aspects that may not be as important in a review, which may surface later or apply differently for everyone.
Many gags in the audio track, but eye pain due to FPS issues
I’m usually an audio grouch; I normally mute the game and have Teamspeak or the TV on. To my surprise: Not with WildStar. The gags hidden in the audio track are a highlight for me. Whether I recognize a “The Sims” melody when I visit the housing vendor or the Protostar money bag greets me with an “Ahoy-hoi” like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons, the game excels here. The announcer saying “I don’t know what happened, but I have to change my pants” is great; there are gags hidden that I’m sure I’ll find or overlook even months later.
My favorite is the hyperactive Chua Mondo Zax. I can’t help but grin when he huffs and puffs insults. They’ve done a great job with that, just like the countless winks to pop culture references. Well done.
The FPS. I don’t suffer from memory leaks or faulty processors like others, but for me, the game could run a bit smoother. I experience very few hiccups, only when facing certain mobs (an AE ability of the snails always kills my game for 2 seconds). But now and then the FPS drops significantly, and I get headaches from it. From 60 FPS, I’m far off with medium settings; 30 has to suffice for me. The game doesn’t look so great that I’d find that acceptable. I’m also not fond of the hardcore fans’ solution (“Just buy a new PC”); other games still run well for me – maybe I just need one of those yellow gamer glasses like the sponsored guys on Twitch.
Start a bit sluggish, inventory problems, but a new favorite zone
The start is sluggish and doesn’t get better with repeated play. I don’t know why that is, whether the zones are too large or scattered too much, but I had a motivational pit as in beta around level 12 and then again from 17 until the end of 20. You get skills early, but there are still few opportunities to customize your character. The zones drag on, without a mount the travel times are long, and the inventory is always on the verge of bursting. I don’t like it.
The zone Farside is a revelation from level 20 onwards. A fantastic zone that I loved during beta and is even better at launch. The smaller zones and the straightforward storylines benefit the game. The lower gravity brings variety, and the new Drusera missions at launch are fantastic. They give the game a certain heft, a gravitas. I absolutely want to know how it continues, and I’m looking forward to the next content. From level 20 onwards, the game and thus the world opens up, there is much to do, I am more mobile, housing works, the zones are great: From level 20 with Farside, WildStar begins for me.
A clear plus for me: the combat system. Entire novels have already been written about it, yes it is clicky, but it’s fun if the class suits you. They play quite differently. The assassin was too clicky for me in beta; I prefer the tech pioneer. The nice thing about the combat system: You get a feeling for your own power and frailty. And I find the two A’s of the combat system refreshing: dodging and noticing. When you then play another MMO, it feels like slow motion. Bonus points for the “Confused” and “Blindness” status effects and, of course, when you frantically look for where the weapon lies after being “disarmed”.
The overly strong AddOns are a problem I create for myself. There are color puzzles in WildStar that are sometimes frustrating and personally annoy me on my 8th run (especially the Puzzle Master quest, where I sit in front of the monitor like RainMan murmuring green-green-blue-yellow). But that would be neither a weakness nor a strength for me. Everyone has to deal with it. And if a Draken next to me jumps off the ledge due to the wrong color code and I get the next console all to myself, that’s fair. However, there is one AddOn that solves all the color puzzles for me automatically. So the AddOn Draken next to me is eight times faster than me. That’s why I use that AddOn (and I’m not proud of it). If you allow those AddOns, why not give the option in-game to skip these color puzzles?
There’s also an AddOn that allows for quicker clicking, enabling you to roll out of stuns and such. I don’t like overly strong AddOns that entice you to use them if you want to keep up.
Already got two free months out, but hell is somehow other people
The trading system is fantastic. That’s also my passion in MMOs. Before I was even level 50, I had already bought 2 C.R.E.D.D.s in-game. The crafting is great. Currently, everything is complex and opaque, and there is an unbelievable amount to buy and create; you really have to dive deep into it, and it will still take some time to really say whether Carbine did everything right. At the moment, it looks that way. The C.R.E.D.D. price has already doubled on my server – and for those worried that there are too few gold sinks in the game: expert riding costs 76 platinum or so.
In WildStar, you sometimes view fellow players as opponents. It’s not always like that, and for group bosses in open zones, you’re glad to meet someone, but especially when it comes to challenges or picking up items, you get annoyed with every player who snatches something from you. I thought with the changes in WoW’s Mists of Pandaria or through Guild Wars 2 the problem would be solved forever, but it’s back – and I don’t like it. Especially since many challenges, if you want to achieve gold, are tight, it leads to frustration. It doesn’t bother me much, but I know people who have quit for that reason: For completionists who want every AV and to complete every challenge for gold before moving on, WildStar is probably a nightmare.
Good community, solo PvE in endgame is still lacking
At level 50, I’m currently a bit stuck as a solo player. I’ve gone through the solo island, where the dailies are, a few times now, but I still need a few gems for the attunement key. There’s a pretty boring crafter daily that consists of a silly delivery quest. I know I probably need to start going into groups at level 50 to tackle adventures or dungeons (in veteran ranks if I want to progress), but the threshold feels a bit too high for me right now. I’m currently waiting for new zones to come or for me to overcome my fear and finally start some PvP or group PvE; otherwise, it’s just twinking or a dead end.
A clear plus for me so far: The community. No cursing, no spamming in chat, little dumb chatter, no silly pick-up lines. People are polite to each other, as far as I can tell, generally a nice community. It could also be due to the carebear server I’m on (PvE), but compared to other MMOs, it feels like a vacation.
A highlight for me so far: In the housing zone, someone invited me to visit him. When I arrived, I was really blown away by what he had done with the housing tool. Overall, housing is a really great thing. When you beam over to friends to check out how they did it. I’m neither talented nor particularly diligent and end up hearing comments about some eye being supposedly crooked or some mysterious “oven” somehow “hanging in the wall,” but whatever. I like the idea of the house as a “hearthstone”; I port there when I need to be afk for 10 minutes and can then jump back in right away. I log in there, I log out there, great thing.
My biggest problem so far, though I’m sure the problem is in front of the screen: Please, please, Carbine, let me protect items. I don’t know how often I’ve broken a decoration item in a salvage frenzy. I will never know how my house could look without all these clicking casualties. And those quest rewards that you select under stress in the field and then choose the wrong one… okay, it happens less often now, but I still manage once a day to click on something and miss the item selection. Please make the game fool-proof in these areas. Protect my items from me; they’re just objects like you and me!
In conclusion: The game is already, in my opinion, very strong and has a lot of potential. All the systems they have work and are designed to allow for further expansion. I’m curious to see what will happen in the next few weeks, what will be added to the four-layer cake that WildStar already is. [intense_icon type=”thumbs-up” size=”2″ color=”#7cbc14″ /]
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This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Guild Wars 2 is using the Gamescom as an opportunity to host an international All-Stars tournament in Cologne. Fans can join either live or on Twitch.
ArenaNet announces on the Guild Wars 2 website that they will bring the best players from around the world to Gamescom in Cologne. This will be the first time players from Europe, North America, and also from China will have the chance to compete against each other in e-sport competitions. They will team up with Twitch for the first PvP major event of this kind.
Additionally, fans can play Guild Wars 2 at the ArenaNet booth, chat with developers, or participate in “exciting activities.” What this entails and further details about the tournament will be revealed as Gamescom approaches. It takes place from August 13 to 17.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In an interview, the Creative Director of the fantasy online game The Elder Scrolls Online, Paul Sage, confirmed that TESO will continue to stick to its paid model. He also spoke about details regarding the console version of The Elder Scrolls Online for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
In the interview with the console-focused online magazine Gamingbolt, Paul Sage was confronted with some uncomfortable questions. The paid model had often been criticized by fans since its release. The interviewer wanted to know if they might consider a change here.
However, Sage immediately dismissed that idea. There are no plans to change the business model, at least none that he knows of. “The business model remains the business model,” Sage continued. After all, it allows them to deliver regular content at a high level.
No more speculation about the console release date
Perhaps concerning for console fans: When asked if there was a more precise date for the PS4 and Xbox One version, Sage replied that they do not want to engage in speculation at the moment.
When asked if they would aim for 1080p at 60 FPS on consoles, Sage answered evasively. They will strive to get the best possible performance out of the console systems to ensure high quality. Internally, the game is already running at 30 FPS. For the console adaptation, they want to focus especially on smooth performance, which is crucial for PvP in Cyrodiil.
Expansions possible, but not a topic at the moment
One of the biggest attractions for console players in the MMO is that they find a vibrant world that grows, lives, and expands gradually. Therefore, Sage also addressed the changes that are about to happen in TESO soon.
In the short term, the new content will be the veteran version of the Heart of the Crypt. In the medium term, another veteran dungeon is planned, this time it will be possible to revisit the “City of Ash”. In terms of features that should be introduced in the long term, Sage mentions the popular guilt & redemption system from the single-player titles.
Possible expansions of the content in the form of add-ons are not a topic internally, but Sage did not want to completely rule out something like that for the future either.
Paul Sage invited players who have not yet visited Tamriel to take a detour: “It always gets better. That’s the great thing about an MMO; it continuously improves, especially through player feedback.”
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
SOE chief John Smedley speaks in an interview about the MMO business. As one of the leading minds, he is listened to attentively. Especially what he has to say about players’ earning opportunities in his MMOs should alert anyone with a creative streak.
In an interview with Fortune magazine, John Smedley talks about all things MMO-related. His studio, Sony Online Entertainment, has some hot irons in the fire with DCUO, Planetside 2, and the upcoming titles Everquest Next, Everquest Landmark, and H1Z1. The interview touches on numerous topics.
$10,000 checks go out to Planetside 2 players.
Smedley firmly believes that content, meaning game content, should and must be created by the players themselves in the future. Players are motivated by being involved in the revenue from their creative work. 40% goes to the part-time designers when their creations are purchased in the in-game shops of other players. In Planetside 2, players have created “camouflage” that has generated over $100,000.
“We are now regularly writing checks over ten thousand dollars,” Smedley said. “That will become quite normal.”
Furthermore, player feedback is immensely important. In Planetside 2, a complex “implant” feature was planned that would have required at least six months of effort. However, when asked for player feedback, they found the very idea of such a feature to be terrible. So, they quickly forgot the idea and moved on to something else instead of wasting resources.
DC Universe Online earns the most money on Playstation 3 and 4
Smedley revealed another astonishing detail in the interview. It is not Planetside 2 that earns the highest revenue on consoles, but the superhero MMO DC Universe Online leads on PS3 and PS4. Here, too, Smedley feels confirmed: The advantages of a free-to-play model based on microtransactions are superior to the conventional subscription model. That belongs to the past.
On consoles, the idea of free-to-play titles had a harder time gaining traction than on PC. But now, seeing the immense revenues generated through microtransactions, other parts of Sony, SECA, and SCEE are also interested in the free-to-play model.
The future belongs to an open model, where games benefit from community feedback during their development, and later produce and deliver content in collaboration with players, ultimately funded through microtransactions.
Mein MMO says: If one imagines that in Everquest Next and Everquest Landmark, the sandbox is emphasized and that items designed for Player’s Studio become even more important than in Planetside 2, this could turn into a respectable side income for passionate players, provided they have good ideas, creative skills, and a sense of player demand.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Sony Online Entertainment will end its collaboration with ProSiebenSat.1 Games on July 1 of this year. The German company operates games such as EverQuest 2, Planetside 2, and DC Universe Online. However, all data, characters, levels, account balances, etc. will remain intact.
In World of Warcraft, there are always people who claim that the game is too easy. This was probably also thought by the player “Doubleagent”, who has made it his task to level a character to the maximum level without joining either of the two factions. Such a “neutral” character has been possible since the last expansion “Mists of Pandaria”, as one only has to choose a side after completing the starting area.
Just last fall, the latest iteration of the Battlefield series was released, but already there is a beta for the next one, this time from DICE. Until Thursday at 9 PM, all players can try out the new Battlefield Hardline for free and engage in battles of police against criminals.
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As soon as this year’s E3 is over, gaming enthusiasts from the German-speaking region are already looking forward to the next fair: gamescom 2014 is just around the corner! The gaming fair takes place in the cathedral city of Cologne from August 13 to 17, 2014, inviting thousands of fans to check out the booths of game companies, participate in exciting events, grab goodies, try out games, and much more.
Blizzard is in da house!
Of course, game developer and publisher Blizzard is also on site and joins the many other exhibitors. This time, the show and the activities Blizzard offers during gamescom 2014 are said to be quite extensive.
The Blizzard booth is expected to be bigger than ever before in 2014. The company also claims to have a “fantastic array of entertaining activities”. During the four open visitor days, you can try out the following games, for example:
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor
Heroes of the Storm
Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls – Ultimate Evil Edition for PlayStation 4
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Besides that, a large stage is a must. Here you can expect both musical performances and a competition in the dance and costume category, which must not be missing.
Quiz and Birthday
Additionally, you can also look forward to quiz games at regular intervals during gamescom 2014, where you can win “great prizes”, as they say. Soon there will be more information about the costume competition.
But that’s not all. Blizzard is also celebrating the tenth anniversary of World of Warcraft this year. Therefore, a splendid gallery must also be included, where the company has compiled official and also fan-created artworks. When this gallery will be released is still uncertain. In general, Blizzard will announce many more details about gamescom 2014 in the coming weeks, including the schedule at the fair, so you know exactly when which actions and events take place.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
ArcheAge, the MMO with sandbox elements, will be launching in Europe with a patch emphasizing sandbox elements that were left out of the Korean version.
ArcheAge launched in 2012 in Korea to great attention. Players, including those from Europe and North America, saw in the game a return to sandbox ideas they had missed in the genre since Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies. However, with Update 1.0, a “theme park” update, the game moved away from these sandbox roots: Crafting became less significant, while the daily and instance craze known from theme parks made its way into ArcheAge. Some say it lost a bit of its drive because of this. Others say that it had already been missing shortly before. Anyway – the game never regained its initial significance afterwards.
What remains of the sand
Trion Worlds is now bringing the game to Europe and is surprised by the ongoing success. Access to the Alpha via a “founder pack” is exorbitantly expensive, yet it is being purchased so frequently that they had to expand the server to three times its size. For players, a sensitive topic: Which version of ArcheAge will we get? The dreaded theme park update 1.0, which would be a “logical” but unwanted starting point?
No, Trion Worlds has made a deal with the Korean publisher XLGames. As massively reported, both Trion Worlds and XLGames have recognized that ArcheAge has taken an “unintended” direction. Both publishers now value the sandbox elements and want to emphasize them.
Back to the Future? Orphan Black? Alternate Realities? Sounds all exciting!
For Trion Worlds, this means: They will not be launching with the theme park update 1.0, but with 1.2, which emphasizes the sandbox features more strongly. It will be very interesting to observe whether the European ArcheAge distances itself from the Korean ArcheAge and what happens with the hybrid ArcheAge being developed by mail.ru for the Russian market.
[intense_testimonies][intense_testimony][intense_testimony_text]This is really an exciting direction being taken here, where localization chooses a path into an alternate reality. It somewhat reminds me of the clone show Orphan Black.
This has happened before with localization from the Asian to the European market (WoW skeletons in China must have flesh because bones are taboo there; also, there are 2 lockouts per week instead of one) and there are changes in game mechanics with the GW2 port as well, but here it seems that the philosophy behind the game is also being changed.[/intense_testimony_text][intense_testimony_author image=”https://images.mein-mmo.de/magazin/medien/2014/01/Logo-022.png”][/intense_testimony_author][/intense_testimony][/intense_testimonies]
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the buy-to-play online role-playing game Guild Wars 2, the transition from a conventional server structure to mega-servers was made two months ago. This was rejected by a loud majority of players. How does it look today?
In mid-April, Guild Wars 2 was supposed to receive a feature update to be well-prepared against WildStar and The Elder Scrolls Online. However, ArenaNet also introduced the mega-servers with this patch, which provoked discontent among non-English speaking European players. We reported on this in several articles.
Most press statements and news refer to the English-speaking region (and recently to the Chinese one). The issue was not as present there as in small, “old” Europe. Here, an unwanted server change also means crossing language barriers, which can lead to unpleasant experiences.
In an interview on the sidelines of E3, massively addressed the developers on the topic – however, without mentioning the language problem and from an English-speaking perspective. Even massively sees the mega-server as ambiguous. On one hand, it has led to areas in the mid and lower level range being better visited, while on the other hand, they have observed a dissolution of server communities and difficulties for roleplayers when they are mixed with non-roleplayers in an area. Associate Game Director Stephen Waller responded that they are aware of the difficulties and have already been working on them. In the future, they will also listen to player feedback and make corresponding changes.
In the German community, the mega-server issue has become quieter. Some players have noticed that even in Europe, the mega-server is slowly sorting itself better. More and more often, one reads German again and sees people from their own server.
[intense_testimonies][intense_testimony][intense_testimony_text]Well, when you look at the situation like this, you have to see it soberly as a player. The shitstorm has subsided, and there have not really been any statements about it; behind the scenes, they have continued to work quietly. Now, the positively received changes to the Living World overshadow this approximately month-long negative mood. And it has gotten better. “So what’s all the fuss about?” some may ask.
A sour aftertaste remains: As a German player, it is a strange situation. Although you are a “significant” market, consider yourself so, and have German-speaking websites and community managers, ultimately, you hold a subordinate place in the grand scheme of things, in the corporate strategy. The focus is on other markets. The strategic decisions are oriented towards their needs. This is rarely as clear as in the case of the mega-servers – but it applies to almost every publisher; fans of Asian MMOs can sing a song about it.
The transition to mega-servers took little account of the peculiarities of Europe and was oriented towards North America and Asia. When you look at the business reports, it is also quite clear why this is the case.[/intense_testimony_text][intense_testimony_author image=”https://images.mein-mmo.de/magazin/medien/2014/01/Logo-022.png”][/intense_testimony_author][/intense_testimony][/intense_testimonies]
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The factionless Panda Doubleagent on the World of Warcraft server Mannoroth finally reached level 90 last night.
It’s probably the craziest way to level a character that the factionless Panda Doubleagent has chosen: he gathered low-level ores and herbs in the starting area of the Pandaren, which only give tiny amounts of experience compared to the millions he needs. But: Hard work nourishes the Panda.
For months he has been tweeting about his march to 90 at regular intervals. It has progressed in “5%-per-day” steps lately. We reported last week about the probably most unusual and toughest WoW player. He stayed on schedule and finally reached level 90 last night our time. Some fans followed the spectacle live and even created their own Panda on Mannoroth to watch it.
“Bad gear? That’s Wandering Isles Best-in-Slot!”
When asked if he would finally leave the island at level 90 to play “normally”, the Panda shook his head. With Warlords of Draenor, it goes further to level 100. Back on the island, again with herbs and ores. Then with a bit smaller progress than 5% per day. He needed almost 4 months for the stretch from 85 to 90. In total, his playtime is just under half a year.
When asked about his “bad” gear, “Double-Agent” has a gear score of 11 at level 90, he replied: “That’s Wandering Isles Best-in-Slot.” And for those wondering how much exp there is on the island: For a copper vein, a peacebloom bush, and silverleaf, he gets 20 exp. For an earthroot bush, 30 exp. For the last 2000 exp, Doubleagent needed about half an hour.
By the way: Even though some were curious whether Blizzard would come up with something to reward the most unusual level 90 in the world with a special title: no.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In an interview with CNN, Stephen Gilett, the CEO of Symantec, amazes with an unusual statement in the business world. In his job application, he naturally included his World of Warcraft character as part of his professional achievements.
According to Gilett, he attached his achievements in the virtual world of Azeroth to the application documents, which helped him secure a steep career. This is not just about role-playing games; for a successful WoW career as a guild leader, several skills are required that are also needed in high-paying managerial jobs.
As the leader of a successful guild, he demonstrated virtual leadership skills. It also shows that he can understand the current enthusiasm of society for the struggle for points.
Guild Master organizes, manages, and recruits – experiences are transferable
As a guild leader, he organized raids, kept an eye on the guild bank, and demonstrated a knack for spotting and recruiting promising talents. Even though this does not involve young applicants, but rather mages and warlocks.
Of course, there are some interviewers, Gilett continued, who rolled their eyes and asked when viewing his WoW characters in the application documents, “What the hell is that?” But some also said, “That’s exactly what we’re looking for.”
Learning from World of Warcraft means learning to win?
This unusual part of his resume has brought Gilett a job at Corbis, a digital media company, and later at the coffee giant Starbucks. Here, it was Gilett’s experience with the reward system of World of Warcraft that inspired the “Starbucks Reward” system, a form of loyalty program.
Now at Symantec, the company behind the Norton antivirus program, Gilett believes that “gamification” can also be applied to business.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the SF-MMO WildStar, the first raid lasted for three weeks before it had to bow to the guild Enigma from the US-PVE server Avatus.
The guild had started similarly strong with the progression and had already defeated the first two bosses, Kuralak and the Experiment X-89, on June 9. The Phagetech Prototypes were due on June 10, followed by Phagemaw the next day. The Phagemaw Convergences then lasted two days longer, until June 13.
[pull_quote_right]The best raid content in an MMO at launch by far[/pull_quote_right]
The final boss Dreadphage Ohmna proved to be a challenge for the players of Enigma. Only at half-past midnight in local USA time did he finally stretch out his limbs – most likely for the first time worldwide, unless some other guild killed him earlier but decided to keep the world-first kill secret (quite, quite unlikely).
The guild explicitly praises Carbine for delivering “by far the best raid content that an MMO has launched with.” A hotfix was deployed on Friday, which included numerous changes to Dreadphage Ohmna. It is quite possible that the kill was expedited as a result.
Ex-WoW guild raids five days a week and whenever enough people are online
The guild Enigma plays – unusually for hardcore raiding guilds – on a PvE server. According to their recruiting thread, they were active in World of Warcraft for four years, quite successfully, until they disbanded two years ago after the T13 tier (with the end of Cataclysm). They are now fully committed to WildStar and plan to remain loyal to this game.
Carbine itself speculated before release that the first raid groups would need four weeks to clear the 20-man content; Enigma has stayed roughly on schedule, perhaps three days early.
What will be difficult for Enigma and all other guilds to push through the 20-man raid is either finding a partner guild that wants to raid at a high level or getting a second raid group through the gene archives. After all, the next raid, Datascape, is designed for 40 players.
Progression is not for mama’s boys
Therefore, Enigma is already starting interviews for players of the second raid group. Anyone who wants to take this on should be prepared to invest a lot of time. Official raid times are between 8 PM and 12 AM, five days a week, but the rule is: “If enough people are online, we will raid.”
Players should be flexible and prioritize raiding highly. If someone has a job, school, or university and cannot take a week off, they have a problem. Furthermore, it is hardly compatible with raiding if mom pulls the plug out of fear that her son is suffering from internet addiction.
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This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The SF-MMO WildStar is reportedly performing much better than Carbine expected. There are now 4 to 5 times as many players on Nexus as there were in the Open Beta.
On the sidelines of E3, the English-language online magazine craveonline managed to catch the talkative president of Carbine, Jeremy Gaffney. He stated in an interview with the magazine that they were surprised by the success of the launch. Although the Open Beta was already incredibly popular, expectations have been exceeded even further. Four times as many players are now in Nexus.
Are a million people playing WildStar?
Craveonline concludes that the number of currently active players could be in the millions, meaning over a million.
Gaffney has confirmed his statement again on reddit, but also limited it at the same time: “At the moment we don’t have any subscribers yet because everyone is in the free month.” However, it seems that box sales have gone extremely positively.
[pull_quote_center]It’s strange when more people are playing for pay than for free. But we can handle it.[/pull_quote_center]
Gaffney believes that the increase from the Open Beta to the Live version is due to the fact that players are now playing characters that they will keep and not have deleted at the end of the beta. Some of the devs are also more excited about the game at release than they were during beta times.
[intense_testimonies][intense_testimony][intense_testimony_text]These numbers are – like the last ones – only indicators of success. Especially since no numbers are known regarding how many players were in the Open Beta. Official numbers are expected in the NCSoft quarterly report in about two months.
Before that, the Carbine devs cannot and must not reveal any “sales figures.” Discussions have already occurred regarding the original source since Carveonline speaks of “sales” and “subscribers,” which Gaffney is not supposed to report on. Gaffney has since corrected this and has “pedantically” referred to server load, but he has thanked Carveonline for the good interview.[/intense_testimony_text][intense_testimony_author image=”https://images.mein-mmo.de/magazin/medien/2014/01/Logo-022.png”][/intense_testimony_author][/intense_testimony][/intense_testimonies]
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
You know how it is. As soon as a new online role-playing game hits the market, countless hackers, cheaters, botters, gold spammers, and the like are magically drawn to the new game world. This is of course no different in the case of WildStar, so it’s no wonder that the creative minds behind the game are going through the ranks with a hammer.
The Carbine Studios officially announce that suddenly thousands of accounts in WildStar have been banned! In general, the developers are not only keeping an eye out for unlawful activities, but are also implementing appropriate control measures to track down cheaters, bots, and the like.
Thousands of Accounts are Just the Beginning
If you think that a few thousand banned accounts are all the Carbine Studios can do, you are mistaken. A few more thousand player accounts from WildStar are already on the watchlist. If activities are detected here that violate the rules of WildStar, the developers will also kick those accounts out of the game.
Of course, it can always happen that with so many banned accounts, some players slip through the cracks who actually should not be banned. If a player finds themselves in this situation, they can at least reach out to the developers, who will manually review the case.
How Things Will Continue in the Future
In the future, the developers of the online role-playing game WildStar will definitely not stand still, but will continue to ban cheaters, hackers, and the like from the game. There will even be very convenient options to report “suspicious player activities” with a simple click. The corresponding tools and records will also be improved in this regard to keep the game world and the MMORPG itself as fair as possible.
Warlords of Draenor, the expansion of Blizzard’s MMO World of Warcraft, continues to evolve. Gradually, there is information about the gameplay. It seems Blizzard has closely examined the group finder add-on OQueue and is integrating some components of the popular tool into the game. Soon, players will also be able to search specifically for gear score.
Already at the end of December, Blizzard had revised the old raid finder with 5.2. However, they communicated back then that these were only some improvements to the “crappy, old raid finder” and that major changes were ahead for Warlords of Draenor, i.e., patch 6.0. These are now slowly coming to light.
Group finder to become more nuanced
The new group finder of Warlords of Draenor is, according to wowhead, currently distinguished in arenas, “Legacy Raids”, Mists of Pandaria raids, and quests. Players can – like with OQueue – specify exactly what item level the other players should have and whether any voice program is to be used, and if so, which one. The item level being sought cannot exceed the player’s own. “Legacy Raids” refer to older raids from Cataclysm or even earlier.
Will OQueue remain the PvP alternative?
The crucial question will be how extensive the group finder is and whether it also leads rated BGs to form a meaningful alternative to OQueue. The add-on was mostly used to find players across server borders who are enthusiastic about rated battlegrounds. For many players, a selection based on voice chat, gear score, and PvP rating was important, as only victory matters in rated battlegrounds.
[intense_testimonies][intense_testimony][intense_testimony_text]Mein MMO says: Many players are already complaining that the requirements for gear score, i.e., item quality, are exaggerated, and one is only taken along if they no longer need anything from a raid. It will be interesting to see how these changes to the group finder will be received by players.[/intense_testimony_text][intense_testimony_author image=”https://images.mein-mmo.de/magazin/medien/2014/01/Logo-022.png”][/intense_testimony_author][/intense_testimony][/intense_testimonies]
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In the fantasy MMO The Elder Scrolls Online, a change to the PvP campaigns is coming. The Zenimax team has let fans discuss what these changes should look like. Now, an initial date has been mentioned.
Brian Wheeler, the PvP lead of TESO, has spoken up in the official forum and announced for the first time a date for when the planned changes should take place. With the third update, which Matt Firor had dated for the end of July in his letter to fans, the campaigns will also change.
There will not be a “clean” transition where the 90-day campaigns “naturally” expire and are then replaced by the likely 5 new campaigns. Instead, there will be an intermediate phase where the current campaigns will restart but then be terminated early. However, Wheeler promises that the campaigns will be ended in an orderly fashion, so that players will be awarded and rewarded based on their position on the leaderboards and their merits. This was not achieved in the only campaign that ended early, “Scourge”.
Duration of the campaigns significantly shortened
Currently, it is still being discussed to launch 5 new campaigns each for the EU and US megaserver, which have different rule systems. We have covered the backgrounds of the change in a major special at Mein MMO. The proposed rules for the 5 campaigns currently look like this:
Bow of Shadows – Campaign for veterans – 5 days duration
Blackwater Blade – Campaign for players who have not yet reached veteran level – 5 days duration
Haderus and Chillrend – Campaigns for everyone – 7 days duration
Thornblade – Campaign for everyone – 30 days duration
The duration of the campaigns is thus significantly reduced.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Although the zombie MMO H1Z1 still has no date for early access, this does not stop SOE head John Smedley from heating up the fans’ mood.
This afternoon our time, Smedley posted a pic on the microblogging service Twitter of a Steam gaming list, which showed “H1Z1” among titles like “Global Agenda” and “Half-Life.” This sent fans into a tizzy: Could this mean that early access via Steam is coming soon?
This evening, a post by Smedley on the unofficial homepage of the game, in the H1Z1 sub-Reddit, provided clarity. Smedley himself was able to play H1Z1 via Steam for the first time today, but for the fans, it will take a bit longer. The version that they initially wanted to bring to early access was one that SOE was proud of, but: “Deep in our hearts, we knew that we wanted to bring even more features into the game.”
Early access date not confirmed for late June
We are not aiming for a date, but for a version that has all the features on our internal list.
As an example of such features, Smedley mentions bow crafting and the ability to shoot a deer in the eye. This morning, it was also reported that players could harvest grains to create ethanol for vehicles or moonshine for lonely nights.
The alleged late June date for early access, which other gaming magazines have already published, was not confirmed by Smedley.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Are you among the players of the online role-playing game Guild Wars 2? If so, you’re surely familiar with the problem of not knowing what appearance to give your alter ego after the Xth character. To bring some variety back into character design, the developers are now offering a few new hairstyles and eye colors.
New Look for Characters
If you think black hair for a character is cool, then you should take a look at the new bright colors for characters in Guild Wars 2. Neon green isn’t your thing? No problem: a bright pink tone is also a must-have in the summer offer to elevate your MMO character.
To adopt the new look, visit the Guild Wars 2 shop and acquire a hairstyle styling kit or alternatively a complete makeover kit. By the way, you can not only style the characters’ hair in neon green or ultra pink, but also change the eye colors to these rather unconventional shades. Contact lenses, here we come!
Dragonjade Weapons
If you prefer not to have pink and green hair, you should alternatively check out the Black Lion Weapons Specialist. Here, an old favorite awaits you in the form of the coveted skins for Dragonjade weapons. You can acquire these skins for an introductory price of just one Black Lion Ticket.
Bonus Chests and Packs
In the next two weeks, a visit to Guild Wars 2 is worth it in three ways. Not only new visual changes await you or your character, but when opening a Black Lion chest in-game, you will also receive a Dragon chest as a bonus. For a limited time, the Tequatl Awakening Mini-Pack, the Dreambreaker Lumberjack Axe, and the Minis Scarlet’s Champions 3-Pack are also available in the game.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The flight simulation War Thunder was supposed to be handled by the air output of the major competitor World of Tanks. However, War Thunder triumphed against World of Airplanes in the air and is now pushing into the core territory of the competitor with Ground Forces, into tank combat.
In a report by the English gaming magazine Polygon.com, the 33-year-old CEO of War Thunder, Anton Yudintsev, talks about the success story of the free-to-play game. A few years ago, it didn’t look like he would even have a game at all. Only three months after War Thunder was released on PC in 2012, the major competitor Wargaming announced their own air combat simulator “World of Airplanes”. Yudintsev said, according to the article on polygon.com: “People asked us if we even had a chance. They are such a big company. They have so many players, so much money, so many resources. They told us we would fail. Wargaming publicly stated that we would go under as soon as they released their game.”
Yudintsev: You cannot buy players. Even if you have a lot of money and great resources, that doesn’t necessarily mean you will be successful. You still need a good game.
Today, according to the article, War Thunder has ten times as many players on their servers as World of Warplanes at any time. Now, with Ground Forces, the tank expansion of War Thunder is on the horizon. Yudintsev is turning the tables and going on the counter-offensive. Although Ground Forces is currently still in beta with only 60,000 users, the author of the Polygon article believes in the success of the underdog.
When asked about the rivalry with Wargaming, Yudintsev downplays it: “We don’t pay attention to our competitors and try to do what they do or don’t do. We are making the game that feels good for us.”
Civilization as an MMO – can it work? Watch the video and judge for yourself.
Civilization Online does not work like some might think, like Age of Empires Online, which simply plays as a normal game of Civ against multiple players, but rather as an MMO, where you control a character in the world of Civ. Of course, the MMO has numerous sandbox elements and relies on collaboration among players. The gameplay video at the end of the first phase of a closed beta in Korea now shows you how players build a city together – and how others come to destroy it.
Granted, the whole thing is quite exotic and visually does not impress like the videos of Black Desert or Black Gold Online… but still. What could be better suited for a sandbox MMO than Civilization? You can’t build much more than humanity.
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