Category: News

Level In TERA, Unlock Another Character Slot


TERA’s latest class is here, the male brawler, and they’re giving people a reason to log back in and give him a chance. The male brawler carries the same fighting capabilities as his female counterpart. To mark the occasion, En Masse Entertainment is hosting a series of events. Log in between March 13 and 20 to obtain a free character slot, level the male brawler up to 15 by April 10 and receive a box of goodies to get you started, and take part in weekend events over the next month.

The male brawler has the same amazing moves, uses the same massive powerfists, delivers the same punch-and-counter combat rhythm, and embodies the same fighting fury as the female version. Human females have had the spotlight long enough! It’s time to let human males do some of the fighting.

More information on the male brawler can be found at the link below.

(Source: TERA)

The Story Continues: Funcom Announces Secret World Legends Expansion


The secret world of The Secret World just got bigger as Funcom today announced the first story expansion since the game went free to play last year. Continuing the main story, Dawn of the Morninglight leads players to investigate the faction of the same name.

The Morninglight began in The Secret World’s story as seemingly insignificant threats with the player finding bodies of their agents present seemingly wherever a disaster occurred. As the story went on, the Morninglight’s insidious nature began to show itself, and in Dawn of the Morninglight players will finally get the opportunity to infiltrate the secretive organization and see how it ticks.

“This is it, this is the next chapter every Secret World player have been waiting for,” says Josh Mills, Producer for Secret World Legends. “Ever since we left off in Tokyo before going free-to-play, players have been wanting to know what happens next. The whole team is really excited to finally be able to provide some answers to that and taking the story into a location such as South Africa has been an absolute blast. This is Secret World Legends unlike you’ve ever seen it before.”

(Source: Funcom)

 

H1Z1 Goes Free To Play Following Population Drop


In the past four years, H1Z1 has been announced, launched into early access, promised as a free to play title, converted into a pay to play game, split into two products, rebranded, and now Daybreak Game Company is going back on its original decision to go back on its decision to launch the game as part of their “Free to Play Your Way” library, and will be making the game free to play. H1Z1 officially launched earlier this month as it also deals with a major drop in concurrent player count.

Excited gamers can get their hands on the  Battle Royale mode for H1Z1 while current owners can look forward to a bundle of free goodies. Daybreak Game Company has also directed players to Steam’s refund policy which allows them to refund purchases within two weeks or two hours of game time, whichever comes first.

It is also worth noting that this does not affect the survival mode of H1Z1, dubbed “Just Survive,” which has not announced a free to play transition.

(Source: H1Z1)

Guild Wars 2 Launches Season 4 Episode 2: A Bug in the System


Today marks the launch date of the latest Guild Wars 2 Living World Episode: A Bug in the System. In this episode, the Commander continues his search to find the source of and shut down the attacks on Tyria by Palawa Joko’s minions. In order to save the world once again, the Commander must infiltrate an Asuran Inquest laboratory and combat the horrors found inside.

Episode 2, A Bug in the System, introduces: 

  • A new storyline 
  • A new map to explore 
  • A brutal legendary dagger 
  • A new mastery in the max-level progression system 

A Bug in the System is free to owners of Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire.

(Source: Arenanet Press Release)

RuneScape Slams Clue Scroll Exploiters With Banhammer


Jagex has dropped the banhammer hard on six accounts found to be exploiting a bug in this past week’s clue scroll overhaul. Jagex posted on the RuneScape Subreddit to note that while six accounts were banned for utilizing the exploit, more than 50 other accounts were banned for attempting to trade said exploited goods for real money. The exploit involved a very specific set of circumstances and led to rewards being duplicated and then distributed around the economy.

In the post, Mod Infinity noted that Jagex is confident that most of the items have been swept up, that the impact on the economy would be negligible, and that items that were sold to other players will be removed with the gold reimbursed to the buyer.

It was indeed much harder to reproduce than just having a full inventory, that just sends excess loot to the bank. This required you to have a specific inventory set-up, a specific final clue step, and a specific final clue challenge. Those exact circumstances sadly did not manifest in testing.

(Source: Reddit #1, Reddit #2)

H1Z1 Officially Launches As Its Player Base Dwindles


H1Z1 has officially launched after three years of early access, and its launch has brought with it a brand new game mode and the prospect of a coming pro league ala Overwatch’s recently launched venture. The official launch comes alongside a new content patch officially launching season one as well as introducing tactical drops (choosing your deployment area), an overhauled user interface, as well as Auto Royale, a new game mode that sticks players in vehicles and locks them there.

First, a BRAND NEW GAME MODE! This was one hard secret to keep, but we are excited to bring you Auto Royale™, a new team-based, vehicular battle royale game mode. We’ve seen how entertaining driving around can be in H1Z1, so we decided to run with the idea and have a little fun. In Auto Royale, we lock you and your teammates into a vehicle, launch you into the map with up to 29 other teams and watch the mayhem unfold.

That said, H1Z1 may be facing an uphill battle now that it is fully launched as Steam Charts show that the base has dwindled by about 91% since its peak last year. Last March, Kotaku waxed poetic about how King of the Kill had managed to pull its way into the top 10 most active Steam games despite the fact that the reviews were relatively negative for such a popular title. In fact, King of the Kill saw exponential growth between August 2016 and its peak in July 2017 and despite a review of just 57% positive at the time, managed to peak at over 150,000 concurrent players.

And then that number plummeted. By September that figure was down to 105 thousand and by November that number more than halved to 42 thousand. As of the last month, King of the Kill has dropped to about 14,000 peak concurrent players. How this drop in players will affect the viability of King of the Kill’s planned pro league is unclear, as the game’s Twitch viewership has also seen a major drop in attention in favor of PUBG and Fortnite Battle Royale.

Guild Wars 2: Season 4 Episode 2 Hits March 6


Guild Wars 2 is gearing up to release the next part in its living story, Season 4 Episode 2, this coming Tuesday. Picking up where the series left off, the death of Balthazar at the end of Path of Fire led to his power being absorbed by the dragons Kralkatorrik and Aurene. The Commander (the player) and their allies must deal with an empowered dragon and the ongoing assaults on the land of Tyria by Palawa Joko.

Episode 2 introduces a handful of new content to Guild Wars 2, including:

  • An exciting new storyline
  • A new map to explore
  • A brutal legendary dagger players can add to their line of legendary weapons
  • A new mastery—part of Guild Wars 2’s max-level horizontal progression system

Keep an eye out for Episode 2: A Bug in the System on March 6.

RuneScape Overhauls Clue Scroll System This Week


As part of its ongoing quality of life updates, this week RuneScape players see the launch of an overhauled treasure trails mini-game. Treasure Trails are RuneScape’s answer to scavenger hunts, players are given a series of clues and are tasked with following coordinates, performing emotes, wearing specific items, and solving puzzles with the possibility of obtaining rare, much sought after rewards.

The update introduces a new master tier level along with 60 new rewards while also improving the experience for users on all levels. While the system previously restricted players to having one scroll of each tier at any given time, players can now collect unopened scrolls and complete them at their leisure with the knowledge that they are not missing potential opportunities. In addition, hidey-holes have popped up around the land offering players the opportunity to stash away items required for clue solutions in those areas.

Senior product manager Matt Casey had the following to say on the update:

“When we spoke to our players at RuneFest 2017, we wanted to make it clear that we would be delivering some of their most desired updates to RuneScape throughout 2018. With the full launch of the Clue Scroll rework we’re beginning to do just that, whether it’s the hardcore challenge of the Master Tier, or the incredibly desirable rewards at the end of the trails.”

Eager collectors will also find that an in-game book that tracks their entire collection, along with new highscores to compete toward and a reward point system for completing clue scrolls.

(Source: RuneScape)

Hi-Rez To Roll Back Card Unbound


Hi-Rez Studios this week announced that the controversial, albeit apparently successful, Cards Unbound updated will be removed from Paladins over the next major release cycle.

Cards Unbound is a controversial update that changed the way that cards (which can affect power) are collected. The update was criticized by long-term players who saw the update as a method of shoehoring players into the game’s cash shop by pushing the card leveling system to random loot boxes.

“Our team will be working over the next major release cycle to remove Cards Unbound from the game. We will be replacing it with a new system that I believe the community will be really excited about — including the re-introduction of the deck building point system, and a method for obtaining cards that will be way less grindy.”

Some points on how the new system will work are as follows. This list subject to change.

  • Legendary Cards will now be called Talents.
  • Talents will only have a single level.
  • Talents will be unlocked for free by earning XP and gaining Champion levels (for example; level 1,5,10,15).
  • All Champion Cards will now be free (No cost or grind).
  • Deck creation will return to a point system where players can distribute 15 points across the five cards they select for their loadout. Each Champion Card will have five ranks to choose from.
  • Talents will not have ranks, and are not included in the loadout point cap.
  • Talents and Decks will continue to be chosen at match start to allow players to tailor their playstyles based on their opponents.
  • New Talents will be added over time and give further varied playstyles.
  • Champion Mastery will no longer be capped at level 25. Instead, it will work similarly to Player Account leveling (which has no cap).
  • Card chests will be removed from the game.
  • We are evaluating the best options to compensate players for their previously earned cards, and hope to share details soon.

More information can be found at the link below.

(Source: Google Docs)