Category: News

Heroes & Generals Update 4.5 Adds New Guns


Luchs_Factory_1920px

Heroes & Generals deploys update 4.5 this week, introducing multiple new guns and skins. The US faction receives the US M1941 machine gun while the Germans have the P38 Parabellum pistol. The machine gun unlocks at level 12 infantry and the pistol unlocks at level 12 handgun.

The German faction now has the P38 Parabellum, which is widely regarded as the first modern handgun and pistols today are still being built on its design principles. This outstanding handgun is known from Inglorious Basterds as Oberst Hans Landa’s personal pistol. The top tier pistol has a high damage output, which makes it even better than its iconic little brother, the P08.

The full changelog can be found here, or watch the videolog below.

Line of Defense Leaving Steam


LOD_3

3000AD has announced that Line of Defense is leaving Steam, citing trolling and harassment from the community. In a post on the Steam forums, Derek Smart points to the lack of developer control when it comes to review bombing, the lack of proper moderators employed by Valve, and a lack of control over ratings and comments.

“You can flag a comment that blatantly breaks the guidelines. Then you get to hope that any action is taken. As I type this, there are a few of those on the LOD store page which not only have personal attacks, external attack links, entire essays attacking me – and NOTHING about the game.”

As a result, Line of Defense will no longer be sold on Steam in the coming future. Players who already bought the game will receive a second copy to be used since the Steam version will stop being updated. Instead, customers will access the game via Playfab.

According to Smart, this is not a guarantee that Line of Defense will never return to the platform.

“We won’t be the first developer or publisher to pull a game from Steam. And others have pulled a game, then brought it back later.”

Line of Defense is currently in Steam Early Access. It carries a “mostly negative” rating and is played by an average of .4 players in the last month [Source: Steam Charts].

(Source: Steam)

ArcheAge: Buy Credits, Get Backlash


EupTwji

It must be Monday, because Trion Worlds is once again gating controversy over allegations of pay to win in ArcheAge. Last week, the company introduced a perk for the $100 cash shop pack that comes with a free hot tub (pictured above, courtesy of Reddit). So what’s the problem? Companies give these incentives all the time.

Well, the issue is twofold: First, the hot tub is more than just a cosmetic addition to your property. The pool allows you to remove the “clear mind” debuff given by beds, allowing the player to regain labor from sleeping for a second time in one day. You also receive plant decorations, but people don’t seem too angry about those.

Second, this appears to be the only way that players can obtain the hot tub, putting players who are unwilling to pony up the $100 within the next week at a disadvantage. The buff only applies to the owner, it is account-bound upon purchase, and cannot be obtained any other way.

I’ve contacted Trion Worlds for a response on whether the pool will be available in some other fashion.

(Source: ArcheAge)

Old School RuneScape Teases April Updates


scapesold

April is set to be a busy month for Old School RuneScape, and players should probably take a look at what is in store for them in the month ahead. For avid clue hunters, April will introduce a new tier of clue scroll introducing new puzzles, challenges, and rewards.

Player ID is a topic generally only discussed by the more long-time fans. It is an unseen number that determines where your actions sit on the server’s priority list when it comes to dealing damage, picking up items, pretty much anything. A player with a low PID has their actions processed first, and can give some players an unfair advantage.

In the update later this month, the game will begin to prioritize player clicks much less frequently, allowing for more consistent fights.

April will also see more content from poll #41 added into the game. Players voted in said content poll to introduce bank placeholders, permanent daily spellbook swap, unlimited teleports with the quest cape, and more. Another poll will be released later this month asking players how Jagex should prioritize development going forward.

(Source: RuneScape)

RuneScape Shuttering Perpetually Busted Mini-Game


scapefix

Say goodbye to your underground cat-fighting ring because it is being removed from RuneScape this week. Rat Pits, a mini-game first introduced in 2005, is widely regarded as RuneScape’s worst mini-game and has been mostly abandoned for years. The premise is simple: Cats were the first pets introduced to RuneScape, so players could take them to rat pits and compete against other cat owners in whose pet could kill the most rats within a certain amount of time.

How do you make such a simple concept unappealing? Allow your cats to die. For what was a pretty significant time investment, your cat could die and unlike players would die permanently. That meant going back to Gertrude and starting all over from the kitten stage. The rewards were almost nonexistent, a paltry sum of coins, with the possible penalty for losing being grinding out another cat.

It also doesn’t help that Rat Pits has been the cause of several game-breaking bugs in the past, from allowing players to massacre the pets of others unimpeded, to duplicate items, and more.

Mod Kelpie posted on Twitter to tell players to get in before tomorrow’s update.

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

(Source: Twitter)

Nosgoth Shutting Down Next Month


Image2

Nosgoth will shut down its servers at the end of May, according to a post on the official website. Anyone who made a purchase after March 1st will be automatically refunded as soon as possible, likely within the next two weeks.

It is with a heavy heart and an immense sense of sadness that we must announce the end of Nosgoth’s development. Servers will continue to run until 31st May 2016, during which time you will be able to play the game as normal. After that date, Nosgoth will be taken offline for the last time.

Nosgoth is a team-based shooter based on the Legacy of Kain series, launched on Steam in 2015. Steam Charts shows an average of one thousand concurrent players over the past few months. The announcement doesn’t mention much about the future of the Legacy of Kain series, other than to say that it independent of Nosgoth’s performance.

(Source: Nosgoth)

Warframe Celebrates Three Years With Pharaoh Update


warframe_sandofinaros_06_moon_1

Digital Extremes is celebrating three years of Warframe with events and giveaways. Playstation 4 and Xbox One users can log in today and enjoy the new Sands of Inaros content update, bringing with it new game modes, a new quest, a new Warframe, new weapons, and more. Console players who log in over the weekend will also find anniversary goodies in their account:

All console players that login to Warframe between April 8 at 2 p.m. ET and April 15 at 2 p.m. ET will automatically receive the Dex Sybaris, a Lotus-themed lever action rifle that’s equal parts elegance and executioner. Players will also receive the first and second anniversary gifts from previous years, the Dex Furis and Dex Dakra. Each is equipped with a Catalyst, includes a Weapon Slot and is ready for action.

More information can be found on the official website. Digital Extremes has also provided this gigantic infographic.

warframe_infographic_yearthree

Blizzard Threatens Private Server, Refuses Demands For Classic Server


WAR_ss_aug08-1

Blizzard Entertainment is in the news today over its legal threats against one of the most popular classic server emulators available (or at least that was available). The server group, known as Nostalrius, played host to over one hundred fifty thousand active players and nearly one million accounts, shut down its servers after receiving a letter from Blizzard’s legal department, warning them of real legal action should the server remain in operation. The owners of the server have also promised to release the server code to the public to create more private servers.

The news of the server shutting down has rekindled public demand for a classic World of Warcraft official server, one that can operate without the threat of being shut down by Blizzard’s legal force. In the past, Blizzard has refused to open a private server over their devotion to the live game and belief that such a project would not bring in much in terms of revenue. Considering the number of people playing on the Nostalrius’ service, a number of gamers might disagree with that sentiment.

(Source: Massively)

Neverwinter Still Addressing Level Grind


neverwinter_scourge_warlock_071414_3_wm

Despite its advances over the past months, Perfect World Entertainment is still working on balancing the level 60-70 experience in Neverwinter to be less of a grind. Today’s update on the official blog focuses on the Elemental Evil campaign quests:

We’ve been analyzing the current state of content from 60-70 and we agreed with the sentiment that it felt too grindy compared to the 1-60 experience. We knew we had to do something to improve the experience, but the big question was, how? We had to be very careful how we changed the experience, because it’s a massive task and affects existing players.

The plan of action goes as such: Elemental Evil was introduced as a retroactive quest, one that players could start at level 60 and use as an alternate form of leveling. Rather than having the campaign use repeatable quests, players will run through the campaign once. In fact, vigilance quests are leaving entirely with the only repeatable quests in their respective areas unlocking once the player has completed all four zones.

Neverwinter will have a double experience weekend beginning April 7th and running through the 11th.

(Source: Neverwinter)

Elder Scrolls Online Is “Huge and Thriving”


ESO_ThievesGuild_SneakyBow_1453992808

In celebration of Elder Scrolls Online’s second anniversary, game director Matt Firor has taken to the official website to reminisce on the past two years. In addition to showcasing his own character’s progress since the 2014 launch, Firor also noted that the community is ‘huge and thriving,’ a statement that will no doubt be questioned in the comment section below.

Over the last year, we have grown our family by leaps and bounds. We launched the console versions of ESO, which opened the game up to millions more new players. We added three DLCs’ worth of content, allowing players to explore the Imperial City, Wrothgar, and Hew’s Bane. And we will continue to make the game better every day. Our population is huge and thriving, and we are happy to share our enthusiasm and nostalgia with you.

Cue the demands for hard numbers in three, two, one…

(Source: Elder Scrolls Online)