Tag: Update

Maplestory 2 Brings the Turkey, New Holiday Event Available


Nexon this week announced a new update and event for Maplestory 2.

Beginning now and running through December 6, the Turkey Terror event is available to all players level 10+. In the event, players can take on a daily quest to defeat the wild turkey and complete it to earn the dashing turkey mount. There will also be a maple harvest event along the same time frame which will hand out maple leaf coins to purchase items from NPC Bobby’s shop.

In addition to the turkey themed events, Maplestory 2 has also been granted a number of quality of life improvements including a dismantle function, wardrobe function, piano roll, house size reduction, and more. Players can also join in on chaos raids in two dungeons; shadow altar and moonlight fortress.

More information on Maplestory can be found on the official website.

No Man’s Sky Pushes Abyss Update Today, Go Underwater


The latest free update for No Man’s Sky is now available. Dubbed The Abyss, players are introduced to a new aquatic environment rich with additional flora and fauna, new vehicles, updated graphics, and more.

  • Aquatic Missions and Narrative: A new story, The Dreams of the Deep, brings a new context to the depths and a dark narrative to No Man’s Sky. Players are invited to discover the fate of a troubled crew stranded from a freighter crash by the rising tides or explore underwater ruins to uncover the tale of a lost soul trapped deep beneath the waves.
  • Submarine Vehicle: Master the depths of planets using a new Exocraft, the Nautilon. This submersible vehicle gives new meaning to underwater navigation, combat and mining – and can be summoned to any ocean on the planet, as well as docked at underwater buildings. Players can upgrade the submersible with installable Submarine Technology and customise the Nautilon to stand out from their fellow explorers.
  • Submersible Building Modules: More than a dozen new base parts have been added to unlock more creative possibilities underwater. Players can construct the new Marine Shelter for brief respite from the oceanic pressure, and use its protection to reach new depths. New glass corridors, viewing bays and multi-storey submersible view domes provide travellers the perfect view of the surrounding ocean. Players can now bring their aquatic life into a habitat with a decorative indoor aquarium.
  • Flora and Fauna: The variety and visual quality of underwater biomes has been greatly improved. Players can now experience rare exotic aquatic biomes as they explore new depths. Underwater creatures have become more frequent, and more interesting. Aquatic life inhabits the full depth of the ocean, and unique terrifying creatures can be encountered on the ocean floor.
  • Sunken Wrecks and Ancient Treasures: Investigate sunken ruins and find ancient treasures or dive to submerged buildings to find remnants of their lost occupants. Discover and scavenge lost cargo from gigantic freighter wrecks. Use the terrain manipulator to excavate treasures buried in the nearby ocean floor. Find and repair rare crashed star ships to restore them from the seabed to the skies.

The Abyss update is the first major content update since No Man’s Sky NEXT dropped earlier this year, and is available on all platforms.

Steam Introduces Updated Filtering, Adult Only Games


Several months after announcing impending changes to its storefront, Valve this week implemented a number of changes to Steam to alter what players see and what they can opt to ignore.

First and foremost, the upcoming release list is being changed to “take into account the pre-release interest in a game — that is to say, data we gather through wishlists, pre-purchase, and a developer’s or publisher’s past titles.” Users will be able to see a customized list of upcoming titles generated based on the developers they follow, their wishlists, their play data, and more.

The raw unfiltered list will still be available for those who prefer it.

Secondly to this update are improved tools that users can take advantage of to ignore certain things that they do not want to see on the Steam store. In addition to it now being possible to ignore games by developer/publisher, users can ignore up to ten tags as well as set their filtering to ignore games with mature content, or allow mature content but block sexual content.

A second set of changes was focused on improving how you can ignore things you’re not interested in. In the past you’ve been able to ignore individual games or product types (like VR, or Early Access) you didn’t want to see again. But now we’ve added ways for you to also easily ignore individual developers, publishers, and curators.

Developers will now be required to contextualize the mature content in their games, if there is any, similar to how the ESRB collects data to determine ratings. Valve will simply collect that data and use it to allow gamers to filter out titles that they do not want to see.

Finally, Valve noted action taken against a number of developers publishing titles that fell under the trolling rules that Steam has in place, noting that the wide variety of games and publishers were actually a very small number of bad actors. In regards to the new requirements above, Valve will be going through the back catalog to ensure compliance with titles that are already on the Steam store.

Valve also detailed how it determines a “troll game” in vague wording, which we have quoted in its entirety below:

“Our review of something that may be “a troll game” is a deep assessment that actually begins with the developer. We investigate who this developer is, what they’ve done in the past, their behavior on Steam as a developer, as a customer, their banking information, developers they associate with, and more. All of this is done to answer the question “who are we partnering with and why do they want to sell this game?” We get as much context around the creation and creator of the game and then make an assessment. A trend we’re seeing is that we often ban these people from Steam altogether instead of cherry-picking through their individual game submissions. In the words of someone here in the office: “it really does seem like bad games are made by bad people.”

H1Z1 Invites PS4 Players To Play A Game of Snipey Shotty


H1Z1 rolls out its latest update this week introducing players to the Arcade mode, limited time events that throw a wrench into the proverbial hornets nest and change the way you play. This week and next week sees the introduction of Shotties and Snipers which is exactly what it sounds like: The only weapons available are shotguns and snipers.

The future of H1Z1 includes new leaderboards for season 2, new weapons for all ranges, and new daily challenges.

(Source: Daybreak press release)

No Man’s Sky: Steam Concurrency Explodes With New Update


Somewhere the folks at Hello Games must be breaking out the champagne. Following the launch of its latest update, dubbed NEXT, No Man’s Sky has seen a population explosion on PC. Steam figures currently show a concurrent user count of just under 50 thousand, up from a peak of two thousand in June. Reviews have similarly seen a dramatic increase, up to an 83% “very positive” rating. In addition, No Man’s Sky is currently available for a 50% discount, down to $29.99.

Coinciding the the launch of the Xbox One version, No Man’s Sky’s latest update NEXT introduces a number of improvements to the game, including the multiplayer mode, an extensive visual overhaul, unlimited base building, and commanding freighters. For more information on the NEXT update, check out the trailer below, and the patch notes here.

Bless Online To Offer Big Update On America Day (July 4)


Neowiz has announced the next big content patch for Bless Online hitting Steam digital shelves on July 4. The update introduces new royalty quests, daily missions available at level 45 that offer better rewards than standard quests and can be completed up to 15 per day in return for rare pets and mounts, among other things. In addition, Basel George is a new area that can be tackled at level 45 with a group.

Finally the update will make market changes and improvements to the market UI.

(Source: Producer’s letter)

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)

Bungie Admits Mistake, Reverses Content Lockout


Not a stranger to controversy, Destiny 2 came under the spotlight yet again this past week during the launch of the Curse of Osiris expansion. While introducing new raids and quests, players quickly became angry over the news that players who did not own the expansion would be locked out of existing content, namely prestige raids, Trials of the Nine, and more.

In a post on the Bungie Blog, the team has confirmed the changes as an “unacceptable lapse,” and confirmed that prestige raids for the base game would be brought down to their original power level requirement, allowing all players to obtain the prestige raid trophy as well as complete the Legend of Acrius exotic shotgun. In the future, the team hopes to add a third prestige difficulty that will scale with the new power available in each expansion.

We’ve heard from the community that both of these plans aren’t working. The Prestige Raid was a novel experience that players value, even if they don’t own Curse of Osiris, and it was a mistake to move that experience out of reach. Throughout the lifetime of the Destiny Franchise, Trials has always required that players owned the latest Expansion. However, for Destiny 2, Trials of The Nine launched as part of the main game, so it’s not right for us to remove access to it.

The full Bungie Blog contains details on how each activity will be handled going forward.

(Source: Bungie)

Snapshots: Dance All Over Your Enemies


Today’s Snapshot comes to us from Guild Wars 2, where players can get their hands on the First Follower Desmina Outfit. The outfit joins the cash shop along with the Choya finisher, and the return of the Heroes Dye Pack, Snowflake Glider, and Mini Festive Aurene with more items returning throughout the week.

You can check out the recent additions at this link here.