There are hints that the South Korean gaming company Netmarble is working on a new game in the fantasy world of Game of Thrones. A recent job posting seeks a translator with knowledge of the world of Game of Thrones. The game is tentatively titled Project T (Game of Thrones).
What kind of company is this?
Netmarble is one of the largest South Korean gaming companies. They specialize in MMORPGs and mobile games.
Netmarble is known for taking large pop culturally relevant brands and creating games for them: The most famous is the action RPG Marvel Future Fights. The mobile MMORPG Lineage 2 Revolution was also very successful – it is based on an MMORPG brand from NCSoft.
What was the announcement back then? In February 2022, it was stated that the new game would be developed together with HBO Max and Warner Bros. The trailer showed scenes reminiscent of the HBO series, such as the antagonist “The Night King” or the Wall in the north of the country.
After 2 years of silence, a job posting was discovered
These are the new hints: After 2 years without concrete information, Netmarble has now published a job posting (via catch.co-kr) seeking an in-house translator for Project T (Game of Thrones). This is obviously the MMORPG that was introduced 2 years ago.
The job posting reveals that it is a game for the Unreal Engine 5.
Can we look forward to the game? Only to a limited extent. On one hand, this appears to be a game for “PC and Mobile.” While these games are the norm in South Korea, they are still viewed critically in the West. Many European MMORPG players prefer pure PC or console games and dismiss games with mobile ports as inferior games.
On the other hand, Netmarble has a reputation for implementing very aggressive monetization in these games. Games like Marvel Future Fights are well thought out and quite complex, but they also have layers upon layers of microtransactions and purchasable resources.
One of the reasons for this action is that a bill could ban TikTok in the United States. This could force TikTok’s owner, the Chinese technology company ByteDance, to sell the service. At least then, if the service is to continue being used in the USA.
Start video
Fortnite victory on a moving truck creates viral hit on TikTok – Here’s what it’s about
TikTok could be banned in the USA, Kotick wants to buy the service because of this
What kind of ban is this? Recently, legislation was passed in the House of Representatives in the USA that could ban TikTok. The USA fears that the Chinese government could gain too much influence over the users. This is reported by the New York Times.
What does this have to do with Kotick? According to US media, the entrepreneur is looking for partners to help him buy the company. Reports indicate that he “proposed the idea of a partnership to buy TikTok to a group of people, including Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.”
The company of ChatGPT could also benefit from the deal: OpenAI could use TikTok to train its AI models if a partner like Kotick could raise the capital for such an acquisition.
After all, we’re talking about 170 million American users that TikTok could lose in the event of a ban in the USA. But the price could also be high: The Chinese technology company ByteDance is said to have a market value of 140 billion US dollars and is one of the most valuable companies in the world.
Is buying really an alternative? Yes, for the American government, this would be an alternative since then the law would no longer apply. For instance, Senator Lindsey Graham stated in a conversation, “Banning TikTok may be necessary to protect American data from China. But if a way can be found to avoid that, it would be good too.”
You can craft or upgrade really strong items for yourself in Last Epoch. This is done through the game’s crafting system. However, it is quite opaque – as a player almost at the end of their journey has realized.
How does crafting work in Last Epoch?
Items in Last Epoch come with affixes (prefixes and suffixes) that determine their properties, such as: attributes, damage, and defense.
Through crafting, you can remove unwanted affixes and add new ones or improve desired affixes. This is important for increasing the necessary resistances.
Another important choice you have to make is the right faction in Last Epoch – here too, you’ll get better items in any case:
Start video
Last Epoch: Faction of the Merchant Guild or Circle of Fate – These are the advantages
This mistake was made by the player: In order to upgrade an item for your build, the affixes must be right. Items typically have up to 4 slots that you can fill with the appropriate properties.
On Reddit, a player only noticed at level 91 that they can simply add desired affixes directly. All you need to do is click on the ‘+’ on the left (prefixes) or right (suffixes) and choose an appropriate shard.
The player says: Until now, they had filled a random affix into a slot using a Rune of Discovery and then hoped for something suitable using a Glyph of Chaos. They did not know they could choose a value directly:
“I get a lot of questions about how I overlooked this huge plus. Definitely foolish of me, but for everyone wondering: It didn’t look like a button to me. When I first started crafting, I saw the rune and thought it was meant to fill these slots. […] Now I know better.”
More Tips for Crafting in Last Epoch
Chaos Runes are rather rare, especially compared to the number of shards you find. This alone makes it almost necessary to add properties directly to the items. Players are still discussing other tips. We have summarized some of them here and expanded them with our own experience:
Smashing Runes do not guarantee every shard contained in the item – only Removal Runes do that, but with a random affix
Removal Runes create an empty affix slot that you can fill again yourself
If an item is already nearly perfect, you can also “seal” an unwanted affix with a Glyph of Despair to free up the slot – but the glyphs are very rare
Experimental affixes can also be directly sealed with a Rune of Research, thus giving you the slot back
With the extremely rare Glyph of Insight, you can even convert an existing affix into an experimental one. One user has created a useful website that calculates the probabilities for you beforehand.
The goal of crafting is always to find the best possible item for your build. Depending on what you play, you will need different properties on your equipment. But remember to always include defensive values – in Last Epoch, attack alone is not enough.
Most loot filters you find in guides have already incorporated a corresponding color code for useful affixes. This way, you can quickly see which affixes are useful for you, either for direct use or for extraction. For a quick overview, you can find the best builds for Last Epoch in our tier list along with links to the corresponding builds with loot filters.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Recently, leaderboards have arrived in Diablo 4 and players are climbing the rankings of the five classes. You can find out which builds are at the top here on MeinMMO.
With patch 1.3.3, leaderboards came to Diablo 4 along with the “Gauntlets”. There, you can compete with other players in a dungeon that changes weekly.
In addition to strategy and pace, your builds also play an important role in gathering points and climbing the leaderboard. We will take a look at which builds players are using in solo runs and list the best ones for each class.
Diablo 4: The developers talk about the leaderboards and how to climb up there
The best builds for each class in the Gauntlet
Below, we list the builds that are at the top of the leaderboards for each class. The order is the same as the rankings in the game. There are two things to keep in mind:
Some profiles are private, meaning we have to rely on builds from players in lower ranks.
While equipment and skills can be viewed, that does not mean that this exact build was used in the Gauntlet.
Barbarian: Hammer of the Ancients (HotA)
In the upper places of the leaderboards, both in softcore and hardcore mode, mostly HotA builds can be found. With Hammer of the Ancients (HotA), you deal damage to groups as well as to single targets. You focus everything on this one skill, which you enhance with buffs and shouts until it deals damage in the billions.
“MASA”, the currently best player on the list, plays a HotA build with the following skills:
Hammer of the Ancients
Charge
Battle Cry
War Cry
Wrath of the Berserker
Whirlwind
Necromancer: Blood Surge
Many necromancer players at the top use a Blood Surge build in both softcore and hardcore, which they combine with skills from the Infinimist build. The Blood Surge build focuses on AoE attacks and overpowering and allows for huge damage and continuous healing, even without the “Endless Blood Mist” from the Infinimist build.
The second-ranked SC player on the list (“Vega”) uses the following skills:
Blood Surge
Corpse Explosion
Corpse Tendrils
Bone Storm
Altars
Plague
Sorceress: Arc Lash/Lightning Spear
The profile of the currently highest-ranked softcore player, “Mekuna”, is set to private. In an interview, he mentioned that he believes one will be most successful if one focuses on the most popular lightning skills: Arc Lash, Lightning Spear, or a mix of both. He also advises to bet on a seemingly “useless stat” in the Gauntlets .
With the Arc Lash build, you summon arc lightning that circles around you and then simply walk through enemies that are grilled by the lightning.
The top-ranked hardcore player (“powerPL”) uses the following skills:
Arc Lightning
Unstable Current
Flame Shield
Ice Armor
Teleportation
Ice Armor
Rogue: Barrage
In the upper ranks of the Rogues, mostly Barrage builds can be found. With this build, you have the choice to attack enemies from a distance with many arrows or to rush to an enemy and attack it. The top three players on the softcore list also use a Shadow Clone and various Infusions to enhance attacks with cold or shadow.
The currently top-ranked SC player uses the following skills:
Barrage
Rush
Camouflage
Shadow Step
Shadow Clone
Cold Infusion
Druid: Shred/Pulverize
Among the Druids, Shred builds can be found predominantly among the top players in both softcore and hardcore, using skills from the Pulverize build, thus playing a combination of both builds. Pulverize has been one of the best builds in every season so far. With it, you transform into a Werebear and make the earth tremble, literally.
Of course, there are also differences among the classes regarding total points in the Gauntlet. Below, we list the classes in a current ranking (as of March 9) in softcore and hardcore:
Softcore Ranking:
Sorceress: 1,243,304 points
Barbarian: 1,082,550 points
Druid: 993,600 points
Rogue: 988,240 points
Necromancer: 945,393 points
Hardcore Ranking:
Sorceress: 1,205,555 points
Barbarian: 960,112 points
Necromancer: 864,596 points
Rogue: 802,612 points
Druid: 778,762 points
How this develops in the coming days until the dungeon switch and also in the next weeks in the Gauntlets remains to be seen. However, it is exciting to note that several classes seem to share the strongest builds for the Gauntlets. You can find the strongest builds in our tier list for the endgame in season 3 of Diablo 4.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
A person has their iPhone stolen. A little later, the device reappears 3200 km away. The thief had the clever idea of handing in the iPhone at a repair shop.
A user had his phone stolen after sending it for repair to an eBay dealer. The thief broke into the dealer’s mailbox and stole the device. However, the thief made a mistake: he took the iPhone to a repair shop that helped the rightful owner get his phone back.
Thief brings the phone for repair and does not disable the location tracking
The user explained on reddit that he bought an old iPhone from a friend, but it was damaged on the back. Since the repair at Apple was too expensive for him, he chose a recommended eBay shop. But on the way there by post, the iPhone disappeared.
Now the thief made two mistakes:
Firstly, the thief brought the stolen device to a repair dealer.
Secondly, the owner had activated the “Find My” function from Apple, and the thief did not disable it.
This made it easy to locate the shop where the thief had taken his phone. He himself explains in his reddit post (via dexerto.com):
The location indicated that it was in a ‘Fix it’ shop in Brooklyn, NY, but I found out that the shop was not reliable and often sold stolen phones. I tried to file a police report by phone, but the Brooklyn police were not very helpful and said I could not file a report about the phone.
Instead, he contacted the repair shop directly and explained the theft to them. Then he sent a friend who worked at Apple to confirm his identity. This way, he was able to get his phone back.
The current event in Pokémon GO is running until Monday. A great opportunity to secure a powerful monster.
What kind of event is currently happening?This is the Horizonte event. It features the Paldea starters, among others, but some monsters are also spawning.
The event has been running for a few days now and ends on March 11 at 8:00 PM. So you still have time until Monday evening to take advantage of the bonuses and spawns of the event.
And you should catch one of the currently active monsters as often as possible: Tanhel.
Start video
Pokémon GO: This is what the new season ‘World full of Wonders’ looks like in the trailer
Tanhel is currently appearing often in Pokémon GO, and every single catch is worth it
How do I get Tanhel? Tanhel is a Steel-Psychic type Pokémon and is listed as a possible rare spawn in the event announcement. However, you quickly realize while playing that the monster is not that rare at all. Tanhel can appear repeatedly while the event is running.
And this gives you the chance to secure a really top Pokémon. Because otherwise, you don’t get it that often, that easily.
Tanhel and its evolutions
Why should I keep catching the monster? Tanhel evolves into Metang and then into Metagross. And Metagross is simply one of the best Pokémon in the game. In raids, it is always a solid choice unless the boss is particularly resistant to Steel, and in PvP it at least has a place in the Master League. As a Steel attacker, Metagross is generally the top choice, only surpassed by its own Crypto variant.
Metagross offers high stats and can deal brutal damage, especially with its special move Meteor Mash. One downside: You can only get this move during certain events when evolving or by using a Charged TM. Nevertheless, securing strong Tanhel now and evolving them at such a time is a good strategy.
Because you should keep in mind: You need 25 candies to evolve Tanhel into Metang, and another 100 from Metang to Metagross. And if you want to level it up, you should have as many candies as possible available – especially if you want to power up multiple specimens.
So, in short: Click on every Tanhel you find, throw a Berry, and catch it to get as many candies as possible. And with a bit of luck, you might also find a really strong specimen with good stats.
By the way, currently, you can do even more during the event:
What’s going on otherwise? In Pokémon GO, the new season “World Full of Wonders” has just begun. It started with the Horizonte event, but that is not the only event coming up soon. In March, there will be numerous spotlight hours, raid hours, and various events where you can gather bonuses. A Community Day, different Raid Days, and a Crypto event are already known.
Palworld is in Early Access. Accordingly, it is completely normal to find a few bugs here and there. Due to one of these bugs, a player accidentally blew up his entire map.
What exactly happened to the player? The reddit user Falisanda_ posted his story on reddit. According to the screenshot, he is already level 45 and has the flying mount Faleris. According to his statement, he called the Pal and mounted it.
Once in the air, he let Faleris initiate an attack. However, this not only hit the intended targets but triggered a firestorm that apparently affected the entire map of Palworld.
You can get a glimpse of the extent in the screenshot of his post:
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What was the consequence? The attack of the fire pal decimated the entire visible map: According to the event list on the left edge of the image, the attack hits many Lamballs, Chikipis, and even kills at least one Mammorest. Additionally, at least one Pal trader and one traveling merchant are also affected by the attack.
According to the screenshot, Falisanda_ only received 1,179 experience points. Based on the damage indicators in the image, this is probably just the first wave of points.
However, it is impossible to say how many experience points Falisanda would ultimately have earned: The game crashed shortly after the outbreak of the devastating fire.
Start video
Palworld: How you can level up quickly
What kind of Pal is Faleris? The fire pal Faleris is one of the Pals that you can use as a flying mount. Its riding speeds are 150 slow, 1000 normal, and even 1400 in sprint.
If you take Faleris into battle, defeated ice Pals drop more loot. It should be noted that all of Faleris’s active abilities are exclusively fire attacks. While they do deal significant damage, they are less effective against water Pals.
The bird is also useful in the base, as it is level 3 in Kindling and Transport.
Unfortunately, you can only catch Faleris at higher levels in Palworld. However, if you want it earlier, you can also breed it with enough patience and time:
How did the community react? The post on reddit gathered 567 comments within two days, most of which are jokes and references to pop culture. Here are a few selections:
MrShad0wzz: But then the fire nation declared us war and everything changed
Unfortunately, it is unclear whether the player was able to restore his save later. Falisanda_ has only posted the screenshot so far and did not respond to comments. However, we hope that the grind to level 45 was not in vain and that a return to a pre-firestorm save is possible.
Warhammer is one of the absolute favorite universes of MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus today. Behind the brutal (and somewhat absurd) world is Games Workshop, a company from the UK that actually started quite differently.
No other fantasy setting combines the dirty, brutal reality of a world marked by war and hatred with the diversity of peoples and cultures that fantastic ideas bring with them.
The world fascinates me and millions of others, including notable figures like acting legend Henry Cavill. He not only plays Warhammer himself (and not Warcraft!), but will soon fulfill his dream and play the lead role in a Warhammer series.
We owe all of this to Games Workshop today, a publicly-traded company based in Nottingham – and with an astonishing history. The company’s journey sounds exactly like the dream of every nerd.
This is how Warhammer became great: game figures:
Start video
Warhammer: The Old World shows how the gameplay returns to its roots
From Dungeons & Dragons to Success
Games Workshop (often just referred to as “GW”) was founded in 1975 in London by three friends: John Peake, Ian Livingston, and Steve Jackson. At that time, the plan was to sell classic wooden board games, such as Backgammon, Nine Men’s Morris, or Go.
The idea behind the name: The board games were meant to be handcrafted, something special. There was a dedicated newsletter for advertising, the “Owl and Weasel,” later taken over by the legendary “White Dwarf.”
Later that same year, TSR, the predecessor of Wizards of the Coast, offered Games Workshop the exclusive right to distribute Dungeons & Dragons in Europe. This kickstart would later evolve into a whole genre of role-playing games, including The Lord of the Rings and Call of Cthulhu.
In 1978, the first Games Workshop store opened, shortly followed by a partnership with Citadel Miniatures, whose paints are still available in GW stores worldwide. The reason for this was the miniatures for war games, which were already on offer at that time – and which laid the foundation for the future of Games Workshop.
Games Workshop and HeroQuest – Still the classic of cooperative board games: By the way, Games Workshop played a significant role in HeroQuest, one of the oldest and best-known board games where you play together against the game. HeroQuest was created by author Stephen Baker and published by the companies Milton Bradley and Games Workshop in 1989. You can read more about it in our special on cooperative games that don’t even require the internet.
Skaven are a well-known and popular pest in fantasy.Greenskins, or Orks (with a K!), are represented in both fantasy and 40k.The Adepta Sororitas are the warrior-priestesses of the future.Undead mummy-robots also exist.Ogres are famous mercenaries in fantasy.The most well-known adversary is Chaos.Warhammer is primarily known for the Space Marines.
Back then wooden games, today superhumans in space
Today, Games Workshop is primarily or almost exclusively known for Warhammer. Warhammer is a world where war reigns continuously and with full force. The universe roughly comes in 3 versions:
Warhammer Fantasy, where dwarfs, elves, humans, and orcs fight with magic, swords, and armor
Warhammer 40k, a dark future where genetically modified humans are bred into super-soldiers
The Age of Sigmar, which… well, somehow mixes the boring parts of both worlds: a medieval fantasy setting combined with power armor and pumped-up super-humans
Warhammer first appeared in the form of Fantasy Battles in 1983. In 1986, Blood Bowl was released, a kind of … sports game? Definitely football with blood and violence. More than usual. Warhammer 40k was first released in 1987.
Originally, Warhammer was a “wargame”: you build your own army from miniatures and play on a battlefield against other players. Instead of cannons and swords, the battles are fought with measuring tape and dice.
Warhammer is still a popular, albeit expensive hobby today. Almost everywhere, there are tournaments or friendly games against each other, and the community is huge.
Today, however, Warhammer is much more than just a game with very expensive toy soldiers for adults with too much money. Games Workshop, with their idea, is responsible for dozens of video games.
Now with Rogue Trader, a CRPG in the style of Baldur’s Gate 3 has even been released and turned out really well – apart from the bugs that still plague the game. I’ve played it and it’s the first RPG that I really play through completely multiple times:
However, the sheer amount of games is not necessarily a blessing, especially not for fans like me. Games Workshop has a reputation for diluting the Warhammer license and simply giving it to anyone who submits a somewhat logically sounding idea. This has resulted in numerous bad Warhammer games in the past, from which you have to somehow pick out the good ones.
By the way, only two of the founders had the idea of making video games early on. The third, John Peake, was a proponent of traditional board games. He left Games Workshop already in 1976, just a year after its founding.
In WoW Classic you can currently face a new raid: Gnomeregan. However, players on reddit are already arguing about the difficulty. Is the raid too easy or even too hard?
Which raid is it about? The raid currently causing headaches for players is Gnomeregan. It was originally a level 29 to 38 dungeon, which is becoming a raid in the currently ongoing second phase of the Season of Discovery.
Here are the key facts about the raid summarized:
The raid has a total of 6 different bosses
Here there is the new world buff Spark of Inspiration
You can obtain level 45 weapons, accessories, and armor here
Item sets of level 45 can also drop
Start video
WoW Classic: The Devs on the Season of Discovery in Interview
Why is the community discussing the raid?On reddit, user GamesGunsGadgets accuses many players of wanting Gnomeregan to be a mindless, free loot simulator. Many players would just want to run in and clear all fights without even trying to understand the mechanics.
The post sparked a wave of over 1,100 comments and 765 upvotes. However, most posters do not address the complaint that Gnomeregan is too hard.
The discussion expands in a comment by user javilla: People literally want LFR. A raid that is very easy and where the raid group is available at any time and every class is accepted. This way, Redditor javilla accuses players who would want a nerf that their problem does not lie in the dungeon but in the organization.
HandsomeMartin claims, on the other hand, that WoW Classic is fundamentally made for bad players. That is part of the appeal. User MemeWindu has a similar opinion: Gnomer[egan] is super easy, but I find it funny that Classic players complain about complexity. I mean, brother, did you not leave Retail WoW for that reason?
What is the validity of the criticism? The majority of comments in the post agree: Gnomeregan is already an easy raid. However, there seem to be a few actual problems. According to the community, they have little to do with the raid itself.
Among other things, it seems to be simply difficult for some players to find raid groups. Others are reportedly primarily playing meme builds, which obviously does not make serious raids any easier.
Further down in the thread, some commentators reassess the raid itself. Reddit user rawrizardz writes: I have raided Mythic. This is not as hard as Heroic, but also not LFR-easy.
What is LFR?
LFR is a term for the raid finder introduced in Shadowlands. This enabled players to quickly and easily participate in raid content. All you had to do was sign up.
All in all, Gnomeregan is probably an easier raid on average, but it does require some brainpower. Of course, you can wish for it to be even easier. But loot should be earned, right?
A hacker destroys the days-long work of the Twitch– streamers Trymacs and Rumathra. But they are lucky, as with the community they restore a lot of content.
What kind of stream is it? The two streamers Trymacs and Rumathra started a 5-day stream of the game Satisfactory on March 7. They want to set a new record and achieve the fastest run in the world. Satisfactory is considered a huge hit on Steam and has already captivated thousands of players, and Trymacs and Rumathra also want to get involved. Recently, he had given the German game Enshrouded a chance.
But after two days, the two are surprised by a hacker. At first, it looked like a stupid prank, but the hacker not only causes mischief in the game but also deletes save files and backups. Trymacs explained that they had to restart the server to get rid of the hacker. But then everything was really gone. The server provider (GPORTAL) could no longer help either.
What happened next? However, Trymacs and Rumathra realized that Satisfactory can be played with up to 10 people. They then recruited 8 people from the community to help them rebuild the game. In a short video on YouTube, he explains that they have now almost reached the level they had lost due to the hack. We have embedded the YouTube video here for you:
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Trymacs explains that the helpers will leave the game as soon as they reach the old status again. Because he and his streamer colleague still have the goal of achieving the world record as a duo.
The Internet has changed drastically over the past 20 years, and this has also affected how we experience online role-playing games like World of Warcraft. Unfortunately, the genre has lost some of its appeal over the decades. MyMMO editor Karsten remembers his beginnings.
The world is changing. I feel it on the Internet, I feel it in MMORPGs. Much of what once was is lost. Fortunately, one or two who remember still live on. And with this famous quote from Leipzig, long known as Middle-earth (“ahem”), he begins my nostalgic trip into the past. Our goal: the late 1990s.
Close your eyes and imagine a time when most people on the planet had never or only very rarely been online – according to the State Media Center, in 1997 only 6.5 percent of Germans aged 14 and over regularly used any online service.
No wonder: There was no Facebook, no Twitter, no TikTok, no MyMMO. Good PCs were expensive. The same was true for the Internet itself due to the lack of flat-rate offers. Every online minute drove the monthly phone bill up. Not fun with a slow telephone modem from back then (DSL or even fiber optics were still pure fiction).
Tactile Analog Multiplayer
Back then, I still played games together or against my friends on various platforms and at every opportunity. In my case, a multiplayer game back then was equivalent to couch or desktop co-op: We sat together in front of a screen and shared the often sparingly available joysticks and controllers.
Later, we regularly held small LAN parties in a friend’s basement on weekends to play Diablo 2, Command & Conquer: Generals, or Warcraft 3 up and down. But even then we were always offline.
My first online experience with games must have been sometime after 2002, with the partly fantastic content created by players in the powerful editor of Warcraft 3 and made available through Battle.net. Defense of the Ancients, anyone?!
In Meridian 59, the MMORPG genre ticked differently than it does today.
The First Online Worlds Lure
The genre of online role-playing games gained momentum here in the West with classics like Meridian 59, The Realm Online (both 1996), or Ultima Online (1997) (I will certainly discuss exotic games like the roguelike Island of Kesmai from 1985 or Don Daglow’s Neverwinter Nights from 1991, as well as the various hits from Asia, in more detail elsewhere).
Further important milestones followed, such as EverQuest, Asheron’s Call (both 1999), Dark Age of Camelot (with us in 2002), or EVE Online and Star Wars Galaxies (both 2003). What do all these games have in common? Well, although they were gradually played by more and more players, they continued to appeal to only a very niche audience due to the aforementioned conditions.
The widespread proliferation of faster and cheaper Internet access in German households only grew in the mid-2000s, from which then mainly World of Warcraft, but also subsequent MMORPGs like Lord of the Rings Online or Guild Wars would benefit. Accordingly, many fans of the genre experienced their personal “first time” with this generation.
Start video
5 old MMORPGs that are still actively played
A Magical Moment That Imprints
Entering the world of an online role-playing game for the first time during this pioneering era was unforgettable. Of course, because you were online and could meet other player characters everywhere to embark on adventures together, fight, or just chat (MMORPG chats were essentially the precursors to today’s social networks). What other games allowed that back then?
But also because often a huge, persistent world was waiting to be explored by adventurers, at a time when games with large, open worlds were something special across genres (and if there was something like that, it was often in randomly generated form, like in Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall).
In my first time, there was another component: As a big fan of Warcraft 3, it was eye-opening to experience the well-known universe from the real-time strategy series – with all its races, classes, and spells – for the first time from a third-person perspective in World of Warcraft. My jaw just wouldn’t close.
By the way, I didn’t have a flat rate at that time. Instead, a tool called Smartsurfer searched for me around the clock for the cheapest Internet tariff. Thus, the new, time-consuming hobby was also affordable for a poorly paid trainee with a small apartment.
World of Warcraft was, thanks to the increasing spread of the Internet, the first MMORPG for many players.
Jump to the Present
Follow me back to the 2020s. Today, the Internet is significantly faster, cheaper, and ubiquitous. Kids grow up with smartphones and tablets, and with online games like Roblox, Minecraft, Pokémon Go, or Fortnite.
Moreover, huge, open worlds now exist across almost all genres. The same goes for the interplay of RPG-typical character progression, social features like chats or guilds, and group challenges like dungeons and raids.
Just take any modern service game, and you will find various elements in it that for several years were only present in online role-playing games.
Although MMORPGs still potentially offer a unique gaming experience today, such as the feeling of being part of a large community that can develop a wonderful social dynamic on its home server and thereby create numerous memorable moments.
However, at this point, you have to invest a lot of time. Time that you could also spend on other multiplayer games that unleash their allure much faster. If my sons try their first MMORPGs in a few years, their “first time” will probably go quite differently than mine. Simply without the magic of the past.
The younger generation is being socialized today with online titles like Roblox.
That makes me somewhat sad in a way because I like to remember that time – and I know that many other MMORPG fans feel the same way who started back then with DaoC, UO, HdRO, and Co. At the same time, I am also aware that the younger generation is experiencing their own first times that are special and magical for them (and that I, as an old fart, look at with a furrowed brow).
Memories of the Golden Era
As a nostalgic kick, I have a humorous post for you on Reddit in which an MMORPG fan has published a picture with numerous original packaging of old classics. Everquest appears, as do Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, Final Fantasy XI, Lord of the Rings Online, Star Wars Galaxies, and many others.
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In the comments below the post, there are all sorts of exciting anecdotes. One player remembers his time in the first Everquest: Quests were sometimes triggered by typing the right sentence into the chat in front of NPC characters. Sounds absurd from today’s perspective, right?
Another Reddit user raves: “Star Wars Galaxies is still the most immersive game I have ever played. That makes me nostalgic right away. The game deserves a remake.” Hey, I’m totally in!
In Fortnitenew weapons have been added with Chapter 5 Season 2. However, one weapon is so powerful that it has already received a significant nerf. Reactions to this are very mixed.
What kind of weapon is this? With the “Wings of Icarus,” players can rise into the sky and dive onto their enemies. The weapon allows for simultaneous flying and bombing enemies in a dive to knock them down while dealing damage.
However, the combination was apparently far too strong, so Epic made significant adjustments to the weapon.
Wings of Icarus now require a significantly higher minimum altitude
What was changed? Within less than 24 hours of the season’s start, the wings were already nerfed. They were simply too strong – Epic must have realized this too.
As iFireMonkey reported in a X-post, this nerf affected the required minimum altitude of the item to activate the dive bomb, which has now increased. They raised it from 64 to 800. That’s a change of 1250%:
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What are the reactions? The community is divided on whether they really like the nerf (via reddit.com). Some explain that the wings had such a large hitbox anyway that it was almost impossible not to hit the player in the air. Others retort that the wings could easily destroy entire regions in a matter of moments, with no counter possible.
An Indian developer has finally released her game after many years and made it into the trends on Steam – but then Electronic Arts (EA) came along.
What game is it? On March 7, 2024, Potions: A Curious Tale was released on Steam. The game was developed by indie developer Renee Gittins and is reportedly an adventure-crafting game.
You take on the role of the young witch Luna, who solves puzzles with her homemade potions and gathers further ingredients from various monsters. The fantasy game is rated for ages 6 and can certainly be understood as a so-called cozy game.
As Gittins revealed in an interview with comfycozygames.com, she actually started the development of Potions: A Curious Tale as a portfolio project about 10 years ago. However, when the game gained interest and support in her circle, she launched a Kickstarter campaign 8 years ago, in 2016.
Here you can see a trailer for Potions: A Curious Tale:
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The indie game Potions: A Curious Tale presents itself in the launch trailer
EA knocks indie game out of trends with shadow drop
On Steam, there is a list of popular new releases. It lists games that have just been released and are already well-received by players. The higher a game appears on the list, the more popular it is.
On X.com, Gittins reported in a post that Potions: A Curious Tale was pushed out of the list of popular new releases shortly after the game’s release by EA.
In addition, EA released the strategy games “Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri” and “Sim City 3000 Unlimited” as well as the role-playing game Dungeon Keeper Gold.
In total, these are 11 well-known and quite popular titles that originally released years ago and now all positioned themselves above the indie game in the popular new releases.
EA did not announce the release of the 11 games significantly in advance – thus, the developer had no chance to move her release forward or backward to avoid EA’s Steam offensive.
Gittins consequently had very bad luck with her release, and her indie game got overshadowed by 11 well-known competitors.
With the update 29.00, there were some changes for Fortnite. Epic apparently removed the EP bonus when you play in LEGO mode. Many players are now complaining about this, as it makes the game mode almost useless in the eyes of many users, at least if you want to level up the Battle Pass.
The Battle Pass is one of the core elements in Fortnite. With all the tasks and things you do in the game, you collect experience points that allow you to unlock new skins or items. Players are always looking for suitable ways to quickly gain experience.
But Epic has apparently adjusted the LEGO mode now. At least many players are complaining that they no longer receive experience in LEGO Fortnite. MeinMMO explains what is behind this.
Did Epic intentionally remove the EP bonus or is it just a bug?
What kind of trick was that? Players report on reddit and in a further post on reddit that they can no longer collect experience points for the Battle Pass when playing LEGO Fortnite. Until now, there were always steady experience points the longer you played the game mode. Many are surprised why this opportunity has now disappeared and hope that it’s just a mistake by Epic.
After a test in the editorial team, we can confirm that we can no longer collect experience in LEGO mode just by standing around.
What could be the reason for the removal? Some took advantage of the trick very intensely, standing AFK in LEGO mode for 3 hours and thereby earning several levels for their Battle Pass – and that completely without effort. Some now speculate that Epic removed this “glitch” so that it is no longer so easy to gather EP for the Battle Pass. After all, that’s not the point of exploiting the game mode in this way.
However, others believe that the LEGO mode would be almost useless, as it is hardly possible to make any meaningful progress for the Battle Pass in this mode. Aside from the tasks that only bring 2,000 EP each, which hardly seem worth it anyway.
Has Epic commented on this so far? No, so far there is no indication regarding experience points in LEGO mode. In the current patch notes, they only mentioned the new LEGO sets and the fixed bugs (via fortnite.com).
More trouble with LEGO: By the way, this is not the only trouble that the LEGO mode is currently causing. The new paid sets are also not well received by players. What’s behind it and why you would have to pay over 50 euros for them, you can read directly on MeinMMO:
The developers of Helldivers 2 have received a lot of criticism for nerfing the best weapons in the game. MeinMMO editor Dariusz Müller, however, believes that this was the right decision.
The Railgun can no longer break heavy armor in safe mode
The shield generator backpack now has a noticeably longer delay after the shield has been temporarily deactivated due to incoming damage.
In short, Arrowhead has massively nerfed the meta loadout, maybe even destroyed it. This frustrates many players, some are even really angry and cannot forgive the developers for this interference in the balancing. Instead of nerfing the good weapons, the bad ones should have been improved.
I also had a lot of fun with the loadout, especially with the shield generator backpack and the Railgun. Nevertheless, I firmly believe: these nerfs are really good for the game and the right decision!
The right mix of challenge and fun
To understand why the nerf is so important for the game, you need to take a closer look at the name of the game: HELL – DIVER. The gameplay of the co-op shooter is meant to be challenging. Especially at higher difficulty levels, you should feel like the hell is collapsing above you.
That’s why you don’t simply respawn after dying or get magically revived. Each time your Helldiver falls victim to bugs or robots and dies, a new Helldiver is sent into battle as a replacement by the destroyer. The Over-Earth sends one brave soldier after another to their death.
It is therefore important for the game’s principle and lore that the difficulty level “Helldive” truly feels like a trip to hell. You must face a seemingly insurmountable challenge. When you successfully complete a mission, it is the best and most liberating feeling ever.
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Helldivers 2 shows the new war bond ‘On the Edge of the Knife’ in a trailer
With the meta that dominated the shooter in recent weeks, the high difficulty levels were no longer a major challenge. Even on level 8 or 9, the missions were not so difficult to manage in a 4-man squad. We sometimes split into 2-man teams and tackled the various objectives and side missions in parallel to finish the 40-minute missions even faster.
However, that’s nonsense and harms long-term motivation when we can complete the hardest missions in pairs. What mattered was simply carrying the right loadout – Breaker, Railgun, shield generator backpack, railgun strike.
At level 7, no one in our team regularly died with the loadout, and even the syringes were hardly used. At level 8, we only gathered deaths when we split into 2-man teams and triggered a bug outbreak at a nest, lost control, and fought against 8 rushers and 3 acid titans at the same time while slowly running out of Railgun ammunition.
The Railgun was a fly swatter for rushers and acid titans
Rushers are nasty armored bugs that attack you head-on like a bull. Acid titans are huge and also armored. They can easily trample you to death or wipe you out with a single acid attack.
These powerful opponents are meant to teach Helldivers to fear and make your life a literal hell at the highest difficulty levels. But with the Railgun, even these elite enemies were just small flies that we squashed while passing.
You could break the armor on the legs of 10 rushers with the Railgun. Fighting against 3-4 rushers at the same time was therefore not a big problem. Even 1-2 acid titans could each Helldiver crush alone.
That should not be the case. I should not be able to take out the strongest enemies in the game at the highest difficulty levels with a single weapon – especially since I couldn’t even handle the unsafe mode of the Railgun particularly well and just used the weaker, safe mode.
If you can’t beat level 9 without the old Railgun, you’re just not good enough
We shooter players can rarely admit in PvP when someone else is better. I understand that. Really. But in a PvE game, it is perfectly okay to lower the difficulty level when the challenge is too high.
If you can’t make level 9 after the nerfs, it is not because the developers messed up the balancing. If you can’t make level 9 without an OP Railgun, then you are simply not good enough for level 9.
This is, of course, in no way disrespectful or insulting. We gamers simply need to admit where our gaming limits are. Difficulty levels are not campaigns that you have to complete.
Overpowered weapons make the game too easy for good players
It’s okay if I can’t make level 9 anymore. For other players who are better than me, the difficulty level is still manageable. It is not the developers’ job to give me weapons that are so strong that even I can achieve a difficulty level that should be too high for me.
The moment a loadout is so powerful that players can overcome challenges above their abilities, the game becomes boring for the best players. They then need new, stronger enemies, higher difficulty levels, or other solutions to have fun. And then the worse players would be frustrated again and demand buffs so that they too can complete these new missions.
If we only buff and do not nerf, even though a weapon is simply too strong, we harm the balancing and end up going in circles in the long run. Arrowhead made the right decision with the nerf, even if the loadout that I enjoyed the most is not as good as it used to be.
Diablo 4 established itself as the new leading title in the hack’n’slay genre with huge success last year. However, there are now 2 contenders vying for the throne: Last Epoch and Path of Exile 2. MyMMO ARPG expert Benedict Grothaus explains why players will experience the best year since the early 2000s in 2024.
Do you remember back in the day when all the great games came out? Shortly after the groundbreaking success of Diablo, Diablo 2, Sacred, Dungeon Siege, and later Divine Divinity, Titan Quest, and Torchlight were released. All wonderful titles that provided countless hours of fun. And then? Suddenly nothing.
Before Diablo 4, there was quite a drought in the ARPG sector, at least regarding classic isometric hack’n’slays in the style of Diablo. The reason for this might be that new technologies became more popular. There was more 3D, and the ARPG genre shifted towards games like Dark Souls and Monster Hunter.
Only a few games managed to hold their ground. Diablo 3 and Path of Exile dominated the market for years. Only Wolcen was somewhat of a major outlier, which however faded quite quickly. Most hack’n’slays never made a significant impact.
Now it’s 2024, and within not even 3 months, we already have the best announcements that a fan of Diablo and the like could wish for. This year is already excellent and will only get better.
Last Epoch is currently the hero of the hour. Here’s the trailer:
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Last Epoch: The ARPG Showcases Classes, Battles, and Challenges in the Launch Trailer
3 strong games worth your time for every ARPG fan
This year, 3 new promising hack’n’slays are releasing, receiving new expansions, or have already launched. You’ll have so much to play throughout the year like never before:
Path of Exile 2 is currently the big hope for many fans. The predecessor is regarded as THE competitor to Diablo, although considerably too difficult for most casual players. Part 2 is just as dark as Diablo according to early playtests, but not as complex as Part 1. A specific release is still pending, but you can already play the beta in July 2024.
Last Epoch has already been released and is currently dominating the genre on Steam. Hundreds of thousands are playing the new ARPG and are thrilled. For many, Last Epoch is the perfect middle ground between the too complex Path of Exile and the too easy Diablo 4. It has now released in version 1.0 and promises patches and changes in the near future to get even better. There are even already plans to become the best game in the genre.
The “big player” Diablo 4 is currently going through Season 3 and has been refining improvements since its release. In 2024, the first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, is finally on the way with new areas, new skills, and a new class. Despite all the criticism, Diablo is still the king of the genre with millions of players, who traditionally flood the servers especially during new seasons and expansions.
I was able to speak live with the heads about the future of Diablo 4 at BlizzCon:
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BlizzCon 2023: Diablo 4 leaders talk to us about the development and future of the game
Consistently good content, if everything goes right
What makes 2024 so special is that Path of Exile, Last Epoch, and Diablo 4 will be competing for players. Unlike 20 years ago, these games won’t just be sold and perhaps supplemented with expansions later.
All 3 titles are service games that want to function over the years and provide you with new content to keep you engaged. Typically, that’s about 3 months per season plus some events or patches in between.
In this case, you can almost only win:
In the best case, there is a sort of rotation where seasons only overlap to a limited extent, and you can spend a month each on the latest content before the next game calls.
In the worst case, two of the three games are so dull that you have a third to switch to until the competition catches up.
Of course, it can happen that the 3 games will cause so much mutual damage that in the end nothing good will come out for players. However, I find that highly unlikely. Path of Exile and Diablo have previously shown that they can learn a lot from each other and continuously improve. With Last Epoch, there is now even more incentive for that.
Unlike what discussions on Reddit and similar platforms might suggest, the genre doesn’t really need a single king. With the 3 titles, there is so much diverse content available that you can always play exactly what you feel like. It couldn’t get much better than this. But the year still has more to offer: New MMOs and multiplayer games in 2024: The big release list
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
We have compiled a list of series that are similar to The Walking Dead. We present 7 titles that might appeal to you if you enjoyed the drama and zombie series.
What series are these? The selection of titles was made by the editorial team. We deliberately left out the spin-offs of The Walking Dead to introduce you to series outside the well-known zombie universe.
In doing so, we aimed not only to present zombie series but to have a colorful mix by introducing a blend of post-apocalyptic and drama series.
The new trailer for The Last of Us series shows: It will break our hearts over and over again
The series The Last of Us follows the storyline of the video game of the same name. There, Joel embarks on a journey to bring 14-year-old Ellie to a quarantine zone while aggressive mutants make the area unsafe.
Watch The Last of Us if you like the following about The Walking Dead:
Post-apocalyptic setting
Struggle for survival in a dangerous world
Zombie-like threat
Focus on interpersonal relationships
Character development throughout the series
People in extreme situations who are willing to do cruel things
What IMDb ratings say: The series achieves an average of 8.7 stars with a total of 504,271 user ratings on IMDb.
Fun Fact: Pedro Pascal once completely forgot that he had already received the lead role in the HBO series. The reason was a sleeping pill that had him a bit dazed at the time. You can read more about it here:
Official Trailer for Season 1 of the zombie series Black Summer
This is a spin-off series of Z Nation. While the latter comes with a large dose of humor and creative ways of killing zombies, Black Summer is more serious in tone and thus a bit closer to The Walking Dead.
Black Summer tells the beginnings of a zombie apocalypse in the city of Denver. Fear and panic reign among the population, and people try to snag one of the contested spots on a military truck that brings them to safety. In the chaos, mother Rose is separated from her daughter and does everything to see her again.
Watch Black Summer if you like the following about The Walking Dead:
Zombie apocalypse
Human struggle for survival
Human conflicts triggered by morals, resources, and power
What IMDb ratings say: On IMDb, Black Summer gets an average of 6.6 stars from 34,091 ratings.
Fun Fact: In the first episode, the woman Barbara meets a man named Ben. This was a reference to Night of the Living Dead, as there, two of the main characters were named Barbara and Ben. (via IMDb)
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
A popular but very cowardly strategy will no longer earn you Ranked Points in Fortnite if you stay out of all fights.
What about the bushes? In Fortnite, it has been a popular but quite cowardly strategy to hide in bushes and trees instead of actively participating in the combat.
Why are there no Ranked Points for bush camping now?On March 8, there was a server down in Fortnite, which marked the start of Season 2 Chapter 5. The new season, as usual, came with an update that brought new content but also some changes.
As revealed by the patch notes of Update 29.00, two adjustments were made to the Ranked mode among these changes. On one hand, Epic Games has revised the progress to make it more difficult for players to achieve the highest rank “Unreal.” On the other hand, there are now no Ranked Points if you survive without taking damage.
You can no longer simply hide in a bush or tree at the beginning of a round and snatch points without engaging in a single battle.
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Fortnite Battle Royale Chapter 5 Season 2: Myths & Mortals showcases battles with gods
“Finally, it’s over for campers”
How is the community reacting? On X.com, some players are happy that bush camping has come to an end and that they will no longer get team members who reached the Unreal rank just by hiding.
tourensexe via X: “Finally, it’s over for campers lmao.”
Safyy via X: “Now I can finally get good teammates and not drones.”
Other players state that this change will directly weaken the streamer bushcampdad:
Some players also explained that it wouldn’t change anything. They would find ways to camp their way through the matches. One player suggested trying with fall damage.
bushcampdad himself also commented on X.com about the change and wrote: “I got nerfed! Don’t worry, chat, I’ve come up with some new strategies.” It remains to be seen what strategies he will use in the future to obtain the highest ranks.
In Pokémon GO, your bag can quickly burst with items. When clearing out, there are items that you should preferably not throw away.
The capacity in your item bag is limited in Pokémon GO. Increasing capacity costs PokéCoins, for which you must either invest time or money. Therefore, most trainers probably frequently hit the limit of the bag and are well aware of the message Your bag is full.
Therefore, it is necessary to clean out the item bag more often and free it from unnecessary items. After we have already explained which items you can throw away without any concerns, we now list which items you should rather not throw away.
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Pokémon GO: This is what the new season ‘World full of Wonders’ looks like in the trailer
These items belong in every item bag!
Max Revives: Max revives have a significant advantage over regular revives. They not only revive your Pokémon but also heal all hit points at the same time. This way, you can save time and space.
If you need to quickly make your Pokémon fit again in the middle of a raid, the max revive is the best and fastest item for this purpose. And since the max revive is essentially a normal revive and a max potion in one, you only need one space in the item bag instead of two.
Golden Razz Berry: The golden razz berry is the best berry in the game to increase the chances of a successful catch. They are especially useful when you have successfully defeated a raid boss and the successful catch is important to you.
Golden razz berries are also comparatively difficult to obtain in Pokémon GO. You can receive them through raids and in the battle league, but not by spinning PokéStops or through gifts from friends. Therefore, you should use them wisely and not throw them away when cleaning out.
Silver Pinap Berry: Similar to the golden razz berry, you should also better not throw away the silver pinap berry. It increases the catch chance more than the regular razz berry and also gives you more candies than the regular pinap berry.
The silver pinap berry is also, like the golden razz berry, harder to get in the game. Since you can also save space with it compared to regular razz and pinap berries, you should not do without it. More on the bonuses of the silver pinap berry.
Fast and Charged TMs: With these two items, you can teach your Pokémon other moves. Since you have no way of determining the new moves during this, it may sometimes take several of these items until you get the desired move.
Therefore, you should always have some of these TMs to quickly teach desired moves to new Pokémon.
Rare Candies and XL Rare Candies: You should also not throw away rare candies. They are hard to come by and very powerful, as you can also convert them to candies for legendary Pokémon that are otherwise very hard to obtain.
Which items should I also not throw away? Of course, you should also not throw away the items that you almost exclusively get for PokéCoins from your bag. This includes items like incense, lure modules, star pieces, raid passes, or Poffins. You should also never throw away the max TMs.
For these items, however, the question of whether they should be thrown away or not is probably not a question for most.
What do you think about the topic? Which items do you always have in your bag and never throw away? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments. You can also find an overview of the upcoming events in March 2024 in Pokémon GO with us.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
With the update 29.00, Lego Fortnite has received a comprehensive update. It includes stylish new sets and decorative elements. However, you will have to pay quite a bit for some of these.Many players are far from enthusiastic about this and are calling for a boycott of the high prices.
With the new Chapter 5 Season 2, Fortnite has also introduced new content for LEGO Fortnite. However, the excitement among fans is limited: All new building components are paid content, and there is no chance to earn them for free.
Three new sets for LEGO, but the prices are quite steep
What are the prices of the new sets? There are a total of three sets with new parts and objects that are expected to appear in the shop in the coming weeks (via fortnite.com):
Boardwalk Package: Includes 7 building components and 44 decorative objects. The cost is 1,900 V-Bucks.
Durrr Burger Package: Includes 3 building components and 42 decorative objects. The cost is 2,000 V-Bucks.
“Lion Knight Castle” Package: Includes 10 building components and 64 decorative objects. The price is 2,500 V-Bucks.
The first two sets are expected to be available in the shop by March 10, while the third set, the Knight’s Castle, is expected to be available from March 17.
How much does the fun cost in euros? If you definitely want all three sets, you will need to spend 5,400 V-Bucks. That equates to about 55 euros if you cleverly combine the V-Bucks bundles.
Can you earn the LEGO sets for free? No, there is no other option to obtain the mentioned sets.
Players react angrily and complain about the high prices
How are the players reacting?On Reddit, discussions about the new content are already taking place, and the reactions are far from positive. Many state that such content should be boycotted until LEGO Fortnite is in an acceptable state. LEGO Fortnite is fun, but it simply lacks too much as of now. One person explains:
There aren’t even close to enough contents, and the game [LEGO Fortnite] is still buggy. This is honestly an insult. They should have spent the time and resources they are putting into these monetary kits to give us more free content that the game desperately needs.
What happens next? Many hope that Fortnite will get back on track with LEGO. For many, LEGO Fortnite is a game mode that can still be fun even when one is not in the mood for Fortnite itself. This is also the opinion of our MeinMMO editor Dariusz:
