Many players in Elden Ring have joked about having to walk through the Lands Between without a Maiden, but few knew why that is the case. Fans have now uncovered this secret by looking up for the first time.
What is a Maiden and why is she important in Elden Ring? The Maiden, also known as the Finger Maiden, is a key figure for the Befleckten in Elden Ring. She is supposed to accompany you on your journeys, convert your runes into power, and help you in your quest to become the next Elden Lord on behalf of the two Fingers.
So in theory, but in practice, players start as Maidenless Befleckten. Even NPCs make fun of you, but why are you Maidenless? There is a good reason for that, and it lies in the tutorial area.
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Elden Ring shows first trailer for the new DLC ‘Shadow of the Erdtree’
“Why is no one looking up?” – Players unveil the secret
What have players discovered? After creating your character, you awaken in the Chapel of Anticipation. Before you lies a Recusant Finger held by a Finger Maiden, who, however, is dead. Players believe that this Maiden is the Maiden of your Befleckten.
Fans have wondered why she is deceased, but the reason lies directly above you.
Your dead Finger MaidenThe gaping hole in the ceiling above your Maiden
What you see is a massive gaping hole, which at first does not seem unusual, but considering where you are and what enemy is lurking, it quickly becomes clear that the demise of your Maiden was no “accident.”
Fans believe that the Planted Sprout, the tutorial boss in this area, stormed the chapel, took care of your Maiden, and left you behind. This is especially supported by the size of the hole and the damage that such an action would have caused. The beams and boards are directed inward, as if someone or something had come down through the roof from above.
The funny thing is that the solution to the puzzle lay above the players’ heads, yet few looked up to arrive at this theory.
Did you notice this hint and come to this conclusion, or did you also miss the gaping hole at the beginning of your journey because you didn’t look up? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments!
In Helldivers 2 there are currently two enemy factions. The Termites, also known as bugs, and the Automatons, or robots. Now the community is really angry at the Automatons because they are better than humans.
Which enemy is annoying? In a Reddit post, a player shared his experience from Helldivers 2. In it, he was taken out by a rocket from a robot. The curious thing: He couldn’t see the robot due to the bad weather conditions.
The robots seem to be able to see the players despite the bad weather, at least when they shoot their rockets. Some of the robots are so powerful that they can kill players with a rocket if they don’t dodge. A heated debate emerged in the post about the robots and their balancing shortly after.
Here you can see the new war bond “On a Knife’s Edge” in a trailer.
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Helldivers 2 shows the new war bond ‘On the Edge of the Knife’ in a trailer
Bug or missing skill? The Helldivers 2 community is arguing
Why is the community arguing? The community is divided. The majority says under the Reddit post that the rocket ability of the “Rocket Devastators” robots is bugged. If you throw a smoke grenade at the robots, the lasers would hit randomly, but the rockets would always hit their target.
Hexdoctor writes: “[…] You can observe this with smoke grenades. Attack a Rocket Devastator and then use smoke to blind them. They will fire their laser randomly in your general direction and miss about ~95% of their shots, but the rockets will be perfectly aimed.”
The problem seems to only affect a certain type of enemy. Bluenosedcoop writes: “Hard to hit something you can’t see, but that can see and track you through everything.”
Users also frequently report issues that rockets are deadly even when hiding behind cover. However, we could not verify this.
This is what the deadly devastators look like.
What do other players say? Some believe, however, that most players do not understand how to play against the robots. Unlike the bugs, you really have to take cover and try not to get hit.
Kadge11 writes: “Yes, the rocket is deadly, but brother, you stood there three times and begged it to kill you, what the hell.”
“It’s not fair that bots can see you through an ion storm”
What do players say about the balancing? The top comment under the post on Reddit comes from Basic-Focus2164, who writes: “Damn Rocket Devastators. The only way to protect yourself is the shield backpack, cover, and explosive protection armor.”
WestLUL also finds the enemies unfair: “The enemies have to share the visibility impediment with Helldivers, it’s not fair that bots aren’t affected by the ion storm and can see you through the fog on Draupnir when you can’t see five feet ahead.”
The user CandidGeologist1523 writes: “And yet there are actually people out there who say bugs are harder than bots.” Under his post, there are some dissenting voices who still prefer the robots.
One example is zarjin1234, who writes: “Bots are at least easier for me. I can take out most bots, even hulks, with two shots without having to worry about a rush of trash mobs. At the moment, however, I don’t have the gear to properly deal with Chargers or Titans.”
The developers of World of Warcraft have announced extensive class changes and a long maintenance period for the upcoming ID change. Some players criticize the poor communication. Others speculate that update 10.2.6 could be coming soon.
What exactly have the Blizzard developers announced? On Wednesday, March 13, 2024, there will be maintenance for the World of Warcraft servers from 3:00 AM to 11:00 AM.
Additionally, Community Manager Kaivax revealed in the WoW forum that significant changes for nearly all classes will land on the live servers of Dragonflight with the ID change.
You can find the translated summary of the class changes below.
Why are some WoW fans upset? Under Blizzard’s announcement post, there are now more than 290 posts in which players criticize the class changes in particular and the developers’ communication policy in general.
The criticism of the communication problem is by no means new. Just a few days ago, Cyrios from the Community Council asked in the WoW forum why the small Classic team does a much better job regarding announcements, answers to player questions, and insights into design decisions than those responsible for Dragonflight. Other council members supported the criticism.
Why such a long maintenance period? One example of the poor communication from the large WoW team concerns the upcoming maintenance. Nowadays, it is not really necessary to take the servers offline for so many hours to implement a few class changes.
However, due to the lack of an official explanation, players are left with only patience and speculation. On WowHead, some fans discuss whether Blizzard will surprisingly release WoW Patch 10.2.6 this week. Alternatively, the developers could also be preparing a release for the coming week with the maintenance.
WoW Patch 10.2.6 is just a short stop before The War Within – here again is the cinematic trailer for the upcoming expansion:
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World of Warcraft: The War Within – Cinematic Trailer
All buffs and nerfs from March 13, 2024
As promised, here is the translated summary of the upcoming class changes:
Restoration Druid: Rejuvenation healing will increase by 12 percent. Does not affect PvP battles.
Preservation Evoker: The total healing of the clone from Time of Need will increase by 100 percent. The healing of the clone from Living Flame will increase by 16 percent. The Flame of Life will heal for 40/80 percent of the damage dealt (previously 35/70 percent). Born Resilience also reduces the magical damage taken by 4/8 percent (previously 2/4 percent). Dream Weaver, in turn, increases both dealt and received healing by 3/6 percent (previously 2/4 percent).
Marksmanship and Survival Hunter: The total damage done by you and your companions will increase by 3 percent.
Frost Mage: The damage of Ice Shard, Water Bolt, and Water Jet will each increase by 25 percent. The damage of Frostbolt will increase by 10 percent, and the damage of Ice Lance by 5 percent.
Windwalker Monk: All healing will decrease by 6 percent. Does not affect PvP battles. As compensation, the healing (and damage) of Sheilun’s Gift, Damage Redirect, and Jade Fire Smash will each be increased by 6 percent.
Subtlety Rogue: The damage of Riposte will decrease by 6 percent. Does not affect PvP battles.
Elemental Shaman: All damage will increase by 3 percent. Does not affect PvP battles.
PvP – General: A problem is fixed where the Light’s Protection, Soul Rend: Bloodsucker, the snare effect of Icy Feet, Master of Elements, and Wrath of Elune were susceptible to enemy cleansing effects.
Devastation Demon Hunter in PvP: The reduction of physical damage by Demon Skin is now 3 percent (previously 5 percent). Scars of Suffering grant you an additional 2 percent versatility (previously 4 percent). Illidari Knowledge and Illidari Ferocity now grant you a bonus of three percent for magical damage reduction and health, respectively (previously 5 percent). The damage bonus of Essence Break for Chaos Strike/Blade Dance is reduced to 40 percent (previously 50 percent). Lastly, a problem is fixed that prevented the 50 percent PvP reduction for Glaive Toss from being applied through the Brutality of the Screaming Torch Demon set.
Druid in PvP: Adaptive Swarm can no longer be cast while preparing for arenas or battlegrounds. A problem is still being fixed that caused the debuff from Sharpened Instincts not to be removed at the beginning of a PvP match.
Feral Druid in PvP: Frenzied Regeneration will no longer be reduced by 37.5 percent for Feral and Balance Druids in PvP combat. Wild Attunement will no longer activate when Whirlwind is cast on an immune target.
Restoration Druid in PvP: A problem is fixed that caused Reforestation stacks to persist beyond the starting area in PvP instances. Another problem is fixed that caused Reactive Resin to be applied to the Restoration Druid when “Healing Over Time” effects were dispelled after a spell steal.
Beast Mastery Hunter: The damage of Kill Shot will be increased by 25 percent in PvP (previously 10 percent).
Survival Hunter: The damage of Raptor Strike and Mongo Bite will be increased by 5 percent in PvP (previously reduced by 11 percent).
Mage in PvP: Fire Ring now deals 18 percent of the target’s health over 6 seconds (previously 24 percent).
Arcane Mage: Prismatic Barrier now reduces magical damage taken in PvP combat by 10 percent (previously 15 percent) and reduces the duration of incoming magical effects by 15 percent (previously 25 percent).
Fire Mage: Feverish Spell Formula now increases critical hit damage in PvP combat by 1 percent (previously 2 percent) per stack. The damage of Fireball will be increased by 35 percent in PvP (previously 18 percent), the damage of Combustion by 300 percent (previously 200 percent), the damage of Fire Strike will be reduced by 8 percent (previously 14 percent), and the damage of Living Bomb will be increased by 800 percent (previously 440 percent).
Windwalker Monk: The healing from Revive will be reduced by 10 percent in PvP (previously 20 percent), the healing from Empowering Mist will be increased by 12 percent, and the healing from Soothing Mist (also from the Jade Serpent Statue) will be increased by 15 percent.
Holy Paladin in PvP: The damage of Denunciation will be increased by 70 percent and the damage of Judgment by 50 percent. The absorption of Greater Judgment will also be increased by 30 percent.
Discipline Priest in PvP: The damage of Holy Pain will be increased by 25 percent, the healing of Atonement by 8 percent.
Outlaw Rogue in PvP: The effectiveness of Float Like a Butterfly has been reduced by 50 percent. The damage reduction from Precision Shot is 3 percent (previously 5 percent). The haste granted by Piece of Cake is now 10 percent (previously 15 percent) and the duration is now 10 seconds (previously 12 seconds).
Enhancement Shaman in PvP: The healing from Healing Wave will be increased by 25 percent.
Warlock in PvP: Soul Rend: Demonic Circle now lasts for 4 seconds (previously 6 seconds) and increases movement speed by 30 percent (previously 50 percent).
Destruction Warlock in PvP: The damage of Conflagrate caused by the 4-piece set bonus from Amirdrassil is reduced by 30 percent.
Warrior in PvP: The damage threshold of Ear Shattering Roar will be increased by 100 percent (previously 200 percent).
Arms Warrior in PvP: The damage of Execute will be increased by 25 percent (previously 15 percent).
Fury Warrior in PvP: The damage of Execute will be increased by 65 percent (previously 50 percent).
In Last Epoch, you can choose 5 classes and a total of 15 “masteries”. MyMMO editor Benedict Grothaus has tried a few of them, but the popular rune master gave him the rest.
The sheer variety of classes in Last Epoch is wonderful. Each class has its own playstyle, different builds, and an identity. And everything is somehow playable; most classes even have an absolute top build – partly really absurd stuff without weapons.
If you don’t know how the classes work: You choose one of 5 heroes with a fixed class, and around level 15 during the campaign, you choose one of 3 masteries – the actual class.
After I was quite satisfied with my falconer on the second try, I wanted to look around a bit more, especially to play some co-op. I chose the Mage. It got a new mastery right before the 1.0 release, the Rune Master.
When it was announced, the class sounded really good:
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Last Epoch introduces new class Runemaster at gamescom – Coming in September
A new spell with a huge list
I don’t know who came up with this. I don’t know if it’s genius, stupid, or crazy. But I know that while playing an ARPG, I rarely had to think so hard about math homework as with the Rune Master.
With the choice of mastery, I get exactly one new spell: Rune Summoning. Even the description of the spell is long. Passively, certain spells create runes when cast, depending on their element.
Rune Summoning then consumes these active runes to cast a new spell. And here it gets tricky, because the order of the runes is also crucial, and each rune can be used multiple times. A lot adds up:
Rune Summoning by itself already works as a spell.
There are 3 elements that can be converted into runes: Fire, Lightning, and Cold.
For each of these elements, Rune Summoning can already use a single rune.
9 more spells are added by combining two different runes (2 to the power of 3).
Another 27 spells are created through the permutations of three runes (3 to the power of 3).
In total, the Rune Master ends up with 1+3+9+27, so 40 spells with just one button!
Here’s even a ten-minute video ONLY about this one spell:
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Last Epoch: The 40 Spells of the Rune Master in the Trailer
Now comes the catch, which is why I eventually gave up: There is no list of spells in the game. That means I have to figure out and remember each of the 40 combinations myself.
As if that wasn’t enough, I can’t just prepare spells. The runes don’t remain “stored” after 3 spells; they rotate when I cast other abilities with corresponding elements.
Do I really need all 40 spells?
I do realize that the Rune Master could be played without this eternally long list of self-created spells. But to be honest: If I only remember 2 spells and do everything with them, I might as well play a wizard.
The Wizard mastery is more focused on strong single spells and is also more pronounced there. With the Rune Master, it doesn’t feel right to not fully utilize the potential – and that’s huge! Rune Masters are currently among the strongest builds overall.
Sure, I could have a list of spells open on the second screen. But… you know ARPGs. No one has the time to look at the second screen to find the right spell for a situation.
Still, I don’t want to speak badly of the class. I think the idea is pretty cool, and it felt a bit like back when I played Magicka with friends and desperately searched for spell combinations.
For the moment, though, I prefer to stick to classes that I can play without having to think about my tax return. Overall, I’m quite satisfied with Last Epoch – and with the year so far in general: 2024 is the best year if you love games like Diablo
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
At the Oscars 2024, there was a beautiful scene on March 11 when the Oscar for Best Visual Effects was awarded. The two stars of the 1988 comedy Twins came on stage: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. They had unfinished business.
That was the appearance of the two: The unlikely pair strolled onto the stage to the standing applause of Hollywood stars. The camera showed John Krasinski and Emily Blunt applauding.
DeVito explained that he was on stage with Arnold for “completely obvious reasons.” Schwarzenegger added, “We both tried to kill Batman”:
De Vito was the supervillain “The Penguin” in Batman Returns (1992)
The two then chatted on stage about how Batman had defeated them: Batman could only overcome Schwarzenegger through his only weakness: Heat?, asked DeVito – “Love,” replied Schwarzenegger.
The Penguin, on the other hand, was unceremoniously thrown out of the window.
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De Vito and Schwarzenegger spot Batman in the audience
That was the highlight: The camera then caught Michael Keaton in the audience, the original Batman who had caught the Penguin. Although Schwarzenegger had dealt with George Clooney in his film, within the context of the sketch, Schwarzenegger also identified the 73-year-old Keaton as the true Batman.
“There he is,” shouted DeVito. “He’s right over there.”
“You really have some nerve showing up here,” said Schwarzenegger. “You son of a bitch.”
Keaton smiled coldly in the audience and made the “Come here” gesture.
DeVito called him “Beakbreaker” and challenged him to a fight after the Governor’s Ball before they moved on to the award ceremony, ending this brief piece of Hollywood history that reminds us that there were superheroes and supervillains even before Iron Man.
These are the comments: The best comment on YouTube is: Why do they call the billionaire Bruce Wayne Batman?
Who won the Oscar then? The Oscar for Best Visual Effects was ultimately awarded by Schwarzenegger and DeVito to “Godzilla Minus One”:
Currently, there is a Prime Gaming partner research in Pokémon GO again. We will show you what rewards await you and how you can redeem them.
What kind of research is this? This research is a partner research from Pokémon GO and Prime Gaming. To redeem this research, you need to be an Amazon Prime member. Such partner researches have existed in the past.
How can you obtain the research? To obtain the research, you need to visit the Prime Gaming page on Amazon. Here, you must log in with your Amazon Prime account. Now, select the Pokémon GO partner research from Prime Gaming and activate it.
Subsequently, a code for the research will be displayed. You copy this code and enter it on the Niantic rewards page. Then the research is redeemed and available to you in the game.
When does the offer and the research end? You have until April 14, 2024, at 8:00 PM to activate the research at Prime Gaming and redeem it at Niantic. To complete the research, you have until May 31, 2024, at 8:00 PM.
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Pokémon GO: This is what the new season ‘World full of Wonders’ looks like in the trailer
Partner Research: Amazon Prime Gaming 1/4
Task
Reward
Land 20 curveball throws
Encounter with Olini
Catch 30 Pokémon
Encounter with Olini
Send 5 gifts with a sticker
Encounter with Olini
Stage Reward: If you complete all 3 tasks, you will additionally receive a smoke, 1 lucky egg, and 2 golden Razz Berries.
Partner Research: Amazon Prime Gaming 2/4
Task
Reward
Use 20 berries when catching Pokémon
Encounter with Bubungus
Catch 12 different Pokémon species
Encounter with Bubungus
Explore 5 kilometers
Encounter with Bubungus
Stage Reward: For successfully completing all 3 tasks, you will also receive a Knursp, 3 revives, and 10 super potions.
Stage Reward: Once you have completed these tasks, you will also receive an incubator, 20 great balls, and 20 ultra balls.
Partner Research: Amazon Prime Gaming 4/4
Task
Reward
Already completed
5 Honweisel stickers
Already completed
5 Folikon stickers
Already completed
5 Pummeluff stickers
Stage Reward: Completing these tasks will additionally reward you with 10,000 stardust, 10,000 experience points, and an encounter with Sen-Long.
What do you think about the rewards? Are you excited about the items and Pokémon encounters? Especially the quite rare Sen-Long? Or is the research irrelevant to you since you are not a Prime member? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments. If you want to know which events are waiting for you in Pokémon GO in March 2024, you will find everything here.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
Many actors become icons in the fan community through their work on Star Wars films. Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn also holds a significant place in the Star Wars community. In an interview with Conan O’Brien, the actor talks about the quirky story of when he first drew a lightsaber.
Despite his few appearances in the Star Wars universe, Qui-Gon Jinn has an iconic standing among fans. Many wish for the return of the Jedi, who only appeared briefly in the Obi-Wan series besides Episode 1.
In an interview with Conan O’Brien on his podcast Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, the two also talked about a quirky situation that occurred when Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan, and Liam Neeson drew a lightsaber for the first time. The two tried to make the iconic sounds with their mouths, which led to a small interruption of the shooting.
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English trailer for Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace
Starting at 0:45, Conan O’Brien asks Liam Neeson if they enjoyed using the lightsabers. The actor then recounts the quirky story. During filming, the lightsabers only consisted of the hilt. The special effects are added later. Most of the time, the hilt still has a little piece of tape on it, as Neeson describes. He jokes about his tape being green because he is an Irish Jedi.
Neeson talks about the first use of the lightsabers and how both actors automatically started making lightsaber sounds with their mouths while swinging the hilt. George Lucas then interrupted the filming and simply said to them: Cut that out, guys, we can add that later. The two actors responded only with: Yes, of course, we knew that.
Son-Goku trains so hard that he learns several Saiyan forms throughout Dragon Ball. One of them is hardly seen in the manga and anime. As the Saiyan himself explains, there is a good reason for that.
Which form is it? It is the Super Saiyan 3, or SSJ3 for short. This is the first level at which the appearance changes drastically:
The Saiyans receive a massive, blonde mane on their heads at this level. However, they lose their eyebrows.
The SSJ3 can only be achieved by those who have previously reached the SSJ and SSJ2. Additionally, they must undergo years of training.
The SSJ3 was rarely seen, even rarer was the Saiyan power. Besides Son-Goku, only Gotenks, the fusion of Son-Goten and Trunks, has used this form. Son-Goku himself explains the reason for the rare usage in manga chapter 476.
The adventures of Son-Goku and Co. continue with Dragon Ball Daima:
Start video
Dragon Ball DAIMA is nostalgic in the new trailer
That’s why SSJ3 is so rarely seen in Dragon Ball
Why is SSJ3 so rarely seen? Son-Goku transforms into SSJ3 during his fight against Majin Boo and tries to stop the villain. But Master Kaio warns that Son-Goku should revert back. He would use up all the time he has left on Earth and should actually teach Son-Goten and Trunks how to fuse.
That is why, after the brief encounter with Boo, Son-Goku is at the Palace of God with Piccolo. Son Goku explains to the Namekian that he does not have much time left because he used SSJ3.
The Super Saiyan 3 is actually intended only for “the other world,” or the afterlife. If SSJ3 were to be used in places like Earth, where time flows, it would consume too much energy. This would leave the fighter completely exhausted.
Therefore, SSJ3 cannot be used on Earth because it consumes too much stamina. In longer battles against stronger opponents, it would be a disadvantage if a Saiyan could only transform briefly. Then the fight could turn against them as time goes on.
Who can use SSJ3? The Super Saiyan 3 is only rarely used:
Son-Goku transforms into SSJ3 three times in his battle against Boo
Gotenks uses SSJ3 twice in the fight against Boo
In Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball GT, the third level appears sporadically
In the Dragon Ball Z movies – The Movie: Fusion, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods, and Dragon Ball Z – The Movie: Dragon Fist, Son-Goku also uses SSJ3
Since there are more forms after SSJ3, Son-Goku and the other Saiyans now transform into different forms. So it is possible that this level will be even rarer to see in the future.
You made it, and together at the event of Helldivers 2, you liberated the planet Tien Kwan. Now you can finally use the new mechs in the battle for democracy. But are they even worth it?
What kind of event is it? On Thursday, March 7, a special event started in Helldivers 2: A new general command sent the entire player base to the planet Tien Kwan, which needed to be liberated.
You were to liberate the planet from the ruling robots. Particularly precarious: Mechs are produced on Tien Kwan – powerful weapons for use in protecting democracy. Regaining these is of utmost priority.
Meanwhile, the community has succeeded in liberating Tien Kwan. A message announced your victory. And now you can use mechs. But what do they really bring? MeinMMO looked into the reactions.
Start video
Helldivers 2 Sign up for Duty trailer shows new mechs in the game
What do the mech stats look like? The new EXO-45 PATRIOT EXOSUIT can now be used in the fight for democracy. Here are its current stats:
Call-In-Time: 0 seconds
Deployments: 2
Cooldown Time: 600 seconds
Stratagem Traits: 1 Explosive, 1 Vehicle
You can call in the mech twice in battle. To use it, you get inside and control it.
The stats of the exosuit. (Screenshot from 11.03.2024)
Is the mech worth it in battle?In a thread on the Helldivers 2 subreddit, players are discussing the mech. User Randomname256478425 posted about their quick test run:
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According to their tests, the mech packs quite a punch. According to the user, the mech can mow down 7 to 8 Bile Titans or Chargers within seconds with proper use. However, the exosuit doesn’t hold up particularly well, and once you’re inside, you also can’t loot.
Randomname256478425’s conclusion is:
Perfect when things go awry, at least against bugs. It is definitely not very tanky. Better used around a squad to be ammunition-efficient. I think the mech will be used a lot against bugs; it’s the better “Oh Shit” button than the orbital lasers.
In the ongoing discussion, players write about their successful mech deployments so far. Included are line defense and choke-point battles where the exosuit had a decisive impact. If you use the exosuit correctly, it can really put pressure on the enemies with its firepower.
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!
