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Destiny 1.1.2 Update: Lotsa Fixes

April 16, 2015 by

swtor-patch-incoming-bannerIf like me you’ve logged into your console and found that there’s a 6+ gigabyte download waiting for you, it’s the latest Destiny patch. The patch itself has no new content, just a slew of bug fixes. So read on to see if you pet hates have been addressed:

Update 1.1.2 : The one with Vault space and Raid fixes.
With this update, we’re responding to player feedback and addressing larger issues that compromised the quality of the Destiny experience.
Spotlight Improvements & Additions
  • Vault Capacity increased to 24 Armor Slots, 36 Weapon Slots, and 24 General Slots
    • Disabled gear comparison in Vault on Xbox 360 & PS3 platforms to account for additional slot memory
  • Colorblind support (deuteranopia, protanopia, tritanopia) added for highly color-driven gameplay elements
    • Motion tracker
    • Loot drops
    • Shield energy
    • Item categories
  • Audio Controls are now available in the Settings menu
    • Volume control
    • Music toggling
  • Item Lock now allows players to prevent gear and weapon items from being accidentally dismantled
  • The purple ball has been reborn in the tower as an interactive sphere with a parallaxed energy core that grows with object velocity and tints based off time of day
Weapons
General
  • Fixed a bug that caused a player to lose ammo when switching weapons while dead
  • Fixed a bug where ammo consumables did not reliably replenish ammo
  • Pocket Infinity behavior is less likely to fail during edge case conditions
  • 4th Horseman weapon stats restored to original intended values
Perks
  • Updated Thorn’s first-person player feedback poison effect
  • White Nail perk no longer triggers on immune targets
  • Defensive Reflex (Don’t Touch Me) perk no longer triggers on throwing knives
  • Performance Bonus ammo on Fusion Rifles reduced to match Shotguns and Sniper Rifles
  • Fixed an issue introduced in 1.1.1 that allowed Ice Breaker to persist ammo after respawn
World
  • Players can now choose to wear their helmets in social spaces
  • Quest loot pyramid baubles are now easier to spot
  • Added Quest indicator badges to the Tower when a Quest is either completed and ready to turn in
  • Increased Crota’s Bane Reputation rewards on Eris Morn’s bounties
  • Fixed a bug where Major Thralls had two jaws and two left hands
  • Fixed a bug where player’s equipped items did not receive experience from completing missions
  • Fixed a bug where the Black Garden Level 30 Featured Story was incorrectly listed at Level 28
  • Fixed a bug where Heavy Ammo consumables were not available for purchase from Xûr
Strikes
Cereberus Vae III
  • Valus Ta’Aruc’s strength has been reduced by 33%
  • Reduced the number of Major combatants in the Valus Ta’Aurc fight
Dust Palace
  • Dust Palace: Reduced the number of Major combatants in the Psion Flayer fight
  • Dust Palace: Lowered the strength on the Psion Flayers’ shields
Raids
Vault of Glass
  • Vault of Glass will no longer display a highlighted activity notification despite players best efforts to remove it
  • Fixed a bug where splash damage could penetrate the Aegis bubble
  • Shield Relic melee attacks now land Minotaurs more consistently
  • Improved issues associated with walking through the teleport
Crota’s End
  • Crota will now wait until fully standing before a sword attack
  • Fixed a bug where the sword immediately despawned after killing a swordbearer
  • Swords will now last a full 30 seconds after being picked up
PvP
General
  • Greatly reduced the weighting of Blind Watch and Firebase Delphi in Control, Iron Banner, and Inferno Control playlists
  • Fixed a bug where a player that was killed by an enemy could commit suicide and be revived for points
  • Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving points for neutralizing a control zone
  • Fixed a bug where capture points were not properly disabled after the game ends
  • Added incremental revive timers to Skirmish and Salvage
    • Each time a teammate revives you, it takes longer before you can be revived again (currently +5s each revive)
  • Stopping Power now requires Shotgun kills instead of sprees
  • Target Practice now requires Hand-Cannon kills instead of sprees
  • Electrocutioner now requires Fusion Rifle kills instead of sprees
Maps
  • Anomaly: Added invisible physics over the pool table to keep people from hiding
  • Shores of Time: Added kill volume to the open edge of “A” cave in to keep players from hiding
  • The Burning Shrine: Moved the spawn point to fix camera view
Ammunition
  • Crates are now visible for all players long before they are available to pick up, with a countdown timer added to show when they will arrive
  • Guardians no longer drop Special ammo on death
  • Lowered the amount of Special ammo picked up from crates (from 50% to 25%)
  • Special Ammo crate respawn time raised (from 45 seconds to 120 seconds)
  • Increased drop radius when a friendly picks up a Special crate (from 20 meters to 100 meters)
  • Slightly increased interaction time on Special Ammo crate (from 0.1 seconds to 0.8 seconds)
  • Reduced the number of Special crates on the maps and relocated them (from 6-8 crates to 3-5 crates)
  • Special and Heavy ammo bricks now despawn when a player dies or on a timer (20 seconds for Special, 30 seconds for Heavy)
  • Heavy ammo now lets everyone know which player or Faction picked up ammo
  • Increased warning time on Heavy ammo (from 10 seconds to 15 seconds)
UI
  • New visual treatment to Quest nodes and nodes that involve Quest activities or steps
  • Players can now click the left stick to hide the UI when inspecting items, for screenshotting/sharing purposes
  • Fixed a bug where precision kills did not appear correctly in the PGCR
  • UI flyouts are now easier to navigate (i.e. “Amazon Flyout Menu”)
Audio
  • Fixed an issue where Stealth Vandal audio was being suppressed by gunfire or other loud sounds
  • Titan Ward of Dawn now has audio indicators at low energy so players can more easily read when it will time out
  • Players walking into enemy Wards of Dawn now hear a sound when blindness is applied
Companion
  • Fixed issue where Combined Arms Grimoire card was pointing to the wrong unlock conditions
  • Fixed issue where Grimoire cards were awarding the incorrect number of Grimoire points
Technical
  • Fixed a rare soft-lock when a player’s internet connection drops
  • Clarified error that displays when user has insufficient hard drive space
  • Better handling of rest mode/resume on PS4

[Source]

Filed Under: Destiny, Other Games, Patch Notes Tagged With:

Destiny: What’s Wrong With It

February 9, 2015 by

UntitledDestiny. It’s one of those games that divides gamer opinion. It’s a game you love to hate, but if it gets its hooks in it will be one you won’t want to stop playing. You only have to look at Polygon or Kotaku any day of the week to see that the game has its fair share of issues. Yet these same people at both sites can’t seem to stop playing it or writing about it. So what is it about Destiny that keeps people coming back for more? Well for each person I’m sure the reason is different. For me, I keep coming back to play with my friends, and with the competitive nature we all share we keep trying to out perform each other. Also I am part of a pretty relaxed raid team that can complete the content and enjoys playing together. And if you ask any end game player, they will tell you that the raids are the best parts of the game.

So what is wrong with Destiny? If you’ve spent even half an hour in the game you will probably notice that the game is very, VERY story light. It’s most noticeable after the second mission when in the cut scene the Speaker says “I could tell you about…” and then doesn’t really tell you anything at all. Even better is another point in the game when you first meet “the Stranger” and she says “I don’t even have time to tell you why I don’t even have time.” Thankfully this has improved slightly in the recent The Dark Below (TDB) Expansion. Eris is a character that at least attempts to fill in some gaps. Not many gaps are filled in, but something is better than nothing.

The biggest problem with Destiny’s story is its delivery. There are countless moments throughout the main campaign where the opportunity to fill in the blanks is missed. An example: the line about the wizard coming from the moon, that was cut last year, is early on when the player encounters the hive for the first time. Now your ghost simply says something about the hive being on earth and that’s the end of the mission. If you were to do only the main story missions you would next go to the moon to track down a missing guardian for the speaker. The problem here is that the main story essentially skips two missions about Rasputin, which itself could be better integrated, and doesn’t provide a link between your first hive encounter and your reason for heading to the moon.

My idea to rectify this plot hole would be to have a dialogue with the speaker or your vanguard mentor where you report about the hive being on earth. Following this they maybe send a fellow guardian to the moon to investigate what the hive are doing there, while they send you back to Russia to find out what the hive are after, which would lead you to discover Rasputin. Once you get Rasputin up and running again, you return to your Vanguard mentor where they inform you that the guardian who went to the moon has gone missing and they ask you to seek him out. By doing this it would give the player the sense of inclusion into the proceedings at the tower and also it would give the NPCs a chance to have a personality. I’m not saying this needs to be fully integrated cut scenes, just put a small dialogue tree in when returning to the tower with mission rewards. It might not be much but it’s still better than what is there now.

As I said before, the problem isn’t so much the story itself, but its delivery. Other ideas to help with story mechanics for House of Wolves, or any other future content, would be to include the NPC characters in the missions. For example, have Cayde-6 (the hunter vanguard mentor) show up half way through a mission to help you track down and kill the boss. Doing this it would give your guardian a chance to speak. The few times you guardian does actually speak in cut scenes are the only good parts as it finally gives the NPCs someone to have a back forth dialogue with, even if there is very little dialogue there. Bungie did this is in Halo with Sgt. Johnson, so why not do something similar with the Vanguard mentors.

 

The other big story problem with Destiny is the Grimoire. Yes all the story that fills in the blanks is in there. But guess what? No one wants to go to the website to read it. I have seen many people say it should be in the game. One of my mates said just for looking at reputation levels he doesn’t even want to look at it on his phone or on a laptop screen. His reason: he doesn’t want to put down the controller to do it. All these things are essentially menu screens that need to be added. Probably a lot easier said than done, but when you pick up any RPG with extra background information/story, you can usually find it all in a journal of some sorts. Mass Effect and the Elder Scrolls series are great examples of this. Even last years Dragon Age: Inquisition has something along these lines (which reminds me I should go back and play this some more as it is bloody amazing). Hopefully this is something be added in the background for future DLC or updates. If you’re looking for a great way to get into the Grimoire, look no further than the Guardian Radio Networks audio Grimoire cards. All voice acted, brilliantly done and worth a listen.

 

The other big problem that turns players away in droves is the walls that are placed in front of a new level 20 guardian. This was not something I was aware of until I was listening to Flash Point Episode 92 the other week. Essentially Simon, David and David all said they were stuck at the grind to get better gear so they could just participate in TDB missions. From what I was able to understand they were doing the strike playlists, which itself is a great start, but is not the best way to get legendary gear. The problem with this scenario is there isn’t any real explanation on what to do once you reach level 20 in the game. In the mentioned scenario here I would recommend the guys do the weekly strikes to start out as even at the lower levels the chance to get a legendary piece is higher than doing the strike playlists. The problem with this is the minimum level for this is level 24 (prior to TDB it was 22) so having a few pieces of blue gear with a reasonable light level before attempting this would be a good idea. By doing the weekly strike they would gain 3 strange coins (more depending on the level being completed). Once they get thirteen they can trade them in with Xur, in the tower on the weekend, for an exotic piece of armour. One exotic piece starts with a light level of 30 and can be upgraded to 36. That alone would boost a new player up a few light levels. But there are no tool tips or information provided to the newly levelled player to guide them to discover this.

I mean seriously, just put in the tool tip for strange coins that says something like “can be traded for powerful armour and weapons in the tower”. Not really rocket science here. The other big barrier here is weeklies still have no match making, so if you don’t have a few friends to group with you’re on your own for the entire strike, which is doable but for some new players can be extremely challenging and off-putting.

 

Finally, I want to talk about expansions. I’ve got no issue with the content or how much there was or even the price. My problem is calling it an expansion. If you look at it as a straight up DLC content pack or more like a DLC episode than an expansion, then size and cost don’t seem like a big deal. Let’s compare it to say, a Call of Duty DLC pack. You get maybe 3 or four multiplayer maps and a co-op map and a couple of new guns, for I believe $15-$20. Most people seem to see that as reasonable. Now for almost the same price with Destiny we get a new raid, some new single player missions (which can be done co-op), 3 new multiplayer maps and new weapons and armour. So comparatively, Destiny’s DLC seems like the better deal. I’m not saying the DLC itself is better, that’s up to an individual to decide, but for price it’s on par with what else is offered out there. But the reason so many people complained about it being small or a rip off, and so on, isn’t because of how much was there, but because of the way it was presented. People see the word expansion and immediately start comparing it to say a World of Warcraft expansion or anything else along those lines. Even the last SWTOR expansion had more content, and I think was for a cheaper price (if you pre-ordered and were a subscriber). The Dark Below feels nothing like a true expansion and therefore should not be called one. Naming it as episodic content or a DLC pack like Call of Duty does would have prevented it from being issue before there even was one.

 

It’s not so much what is in the game that is the problem: it’s that the way it is delivered to the user is poor in performance. Whether it is by design or marketing, it’s these things that let Destiny down. Because at its core, especially when playing with friends, the game is a tremendous amount of fun, glitches and all. I just hope Bungie can turn around the way it delivers its product before the next DLC.

Filed Under: Consoles, Destiny, Op-Ed, Other Games Tagged With:

Destiny: EV-30 Tumbler

November 21, 2014 by

Did you purchase the Expansion Pass? Bungie sent you a toy in the post…. Yeh they did…

As a reward for purchasing The Dark Below, everyone who purchases it before 2015 will receive the Tumbler Sparrow on December 9th. If you have the expansion pass you will already have it waiting for you at the Postmaster. My opinion on the sparrow: it is fun as hell to do tricks on.

Hold the right trigger when you get airborne and you will spin whichever way you turn the left thumb stick. Hit the d-pad while in the air and your Guardian will do a variety of tricks. Expect to see plenty of videos in the coming months of tricks being done around the galaxy.

Filed Under: Consoles, Destiny, General News

Destiny 1.03 Patch Notes

November 18, 2014 by

swtor-patch-incoming-banner

While you were sleeping Bungie snuck out the latest patch for Destiny last night. This is the patch they were referring to when the servers were brought down for maintenance last week. It’s about 2.44GB in size (at least on the PS4) and has a few handy new features, including more bounty slots, previewing shaders and emblems, and the new opt-in voice chat feature.

For all this and a list of fixes see the patch notes below.

http://www.bungie.net/7_Destiny-Update–11172014/en/News/News?aid=12398

1.0.3 : The one about Iron Banner and Voice.

 

This is the first in a series of updates that will deliver new content in the lead up to The Dark Below. Update 1.0.3 provides new social features, revisions to activities, alterations to competitive spaces, adjustments to the player overall experience, as well as a sizable download of new content and geometry to support the first expansion of the world of Destiny. The Iron Banner special event is also being updated with new rules and features prior to its second run.

 

Voice

  • Added a new social feature that enables users to access a channel for Team Chat
  • Matchmade teammates will now be able to talk to each other in Strikes and team-based Crucible matches
  • To learn more about how to toggle between chat channels, click here

 

Classes

  • Fixed an issue in which two players who performed a melee lunge simultaneously would teleport through each other
  • Fixed an issue in which Blink Strike damage would be caused by colliding with the Blink Strike, rather than melee impact
  • Fixed an issue in which Warlock Bonds dismantled into Titan materials

 

Weapons

General

    • Reduced camera shake when being hit with explosive rounds

Perks

    • Clown Cartridge: Replaced Clown Cartridge perk with other perks in shotgun upgrade trees
    • Headseeker: Fixed an issue in which the bonus Precision Damage perk did not always get applied

 

Activities

Missions

    • Buried City: Fixed an exploit in Mars that would clear all enemies from Clovis Bray

Strikes

    • Winter’s Run: Fixed an exploit zone in the Aksor boss encounter
    • Difficulty will scale less for 3-player Fireteams, making Strikes less deadly for them

Heroics

    • Fixed an issue in which engrams earned during Daily and Weekly Heroic activities were not displayed in the post-game carnage report

 

Event: Iron Banner

  • Players must now be level 20 and above to lead an Iron Banner Fireteam
  • Players below Level 20 can only accompany players above Level 20
  • Lord Saladin now has 5 reputation ranks (increased from 3)
  • New Features Added: Tempered Buff, Reforging
  • For more detailed information, click here

 

Cinematics

  • Fixed several issues with the synchronization of cinematic subtitles in various languages

 

Destinations

Combatants

    • Fixed an issue in which Vex Cyclops and Hive Shrieker health bars would not update properly
    • Reduced the number of Stealth Sword Vandals that spawn in the basement of the Terrestrial Complex on lower difficulties

Events 

    • Public Events will occur 10-15% more frequently in all public spaces

 

Vendors

  • Increased the number of Bounty slots in the Inventory from 5 to 10
  • Added shaders to Eva Levante’s stock in the Tower
  • Shader preview functionality added to vendor and inventory screens
  • Emblems on vendors can now be previewed in the inventory screen
  • Marks and Reputation icons and meters were adjusted to better differentiate the two
  • Fixed an issue in which Strange Coins and Motes of Light would not route to the Postmaster if your inventory was full
  • Fixed an issue in which engrams were not displaying the possible contents in the Cryptarch vendor menu
  • Fixed an issue in which players did not receive Bounty or Mission credit when assisting in the killing of a Walker or Vex Cyclops
  • Armor Stat upgrade potentials added to item compare on vendor and inventory screens

 

PVP

General

    • Enabled revive scoring for Skirmish and Salvage
    • Fixed an exploit with revive scoring when entering a kill volume and having a teammate revive you for easy points
    • Adjusted Join in-Progress settings for all playlists to minimize long periods of unbalanced teams due to players quitting out of matches.
    • Added new functionality to match pre-formed fireteams against each other
      • This will slowly roll out to all playlists over time, but will start with the 3v3 playlists
      • In 3v3 games, Fireteams of 2 or more players will match together more frequently
      • In 6v6 games, Fireteams of 4 or more players will match together more frequently

Medals

    • Won’t Be Beat now triggers correctly when a team wins a game after coming back from a 500-point losing deficit 
    • Mark of the Unbroken no longer requires a minimum player count 
    • Sum of All Tears no longer requires a minimum player count
    • Sum of All Tears should now trigger consistently 

Maps

First Light

      • Implemented multiple fixes to stop players from getting into advantageous positions

Blind Watch

      • Addressed some balancing issues for the Control gametype by moving Zones, modifying routes, and adding cover objects
      • Adjusted landing and respawn points to accommodate new geometry changes
      • Added protection to prevent players from getting  on top of a pipe high above the intended playable space

Firebase Delphi

      • Added protections to prevent players from getting outside the intended playable area between Control Zone A and the crane room

Rusted Lands

      • Blocked off the monitors above Control Zone A to prevent players from hiding in them

Shores of Time

      • Added a Vex pillar to prevent players from sniping through the small gap on the ninja platform
      • Implemented multiple fixes to stop players from getting into unfairly-advantageous positions

Exodus Blue

      • Multiple fixes implemented to stop players from getting into advantageous positions, especially the giant hose reel near Control Zone A
      • Fixed an issue with visibility culling behind Control Zone A

Twilight Gap

      • Adjusted landing points to keep players from fighting too soon in Rumble matches
      • Added protections to prevent players from getting into unintended areas, for example, atop the security camera at Control Zone C
      • Added geometry to fill in small gaps that let players see out of the world

 

HUD

  • Improved the readability of Grenade and Melee recharge states
  • Improved the visibility of objectives in the Motion Tracker
  • Improved the visual look of Revive waypoint and Last Man Standing 
  • Added skull modifier descriptions to the Navigation Mode screen
  • Fixed an issue in which the names of downed teammates did not always display on-screen

 

Orbit

  • Destiny version number added to the Character Login screen 
  • Added dialog imagery for various events
  • Fixed an issue in which new items available from the Special Orders vendor would not show up in the message count in the Director
  • Fixed an issue in which a PlayStation Plus dialog was mistakenly shown when selecting a specific PVP activity
  • Added countdown timers for weekly/special events
  • Fixed various issues with Director animations
  • Fixed an issue in which the Player/Inventory screen would sometimes close during certain parts of the spaceflight sequence
  • Added the post-game carnage report for the previous games during Matchmaking search

 

Menus

General

    • Fixed an issue in which cursor speed in 4:3 and PAL was not consistent

Roster

    • Network Connection Quality Indicators now added to the Roster
    • New icons added to the scoreboard and roster to indicate voice problems due to connection issues (NAT issues)
    • Added support for direct fireteam joins from the roster on the Xbox One

Inventory

    • Updated Spinmetal, Relic Iron, and Helium Filaments icons to better represent in-game visuals
    • Fixed and updated several inventory icons
    • Fixed and updated several talent tree icons

 

Audio

  • Improved audio cues for sticking others and being stuck with certain Grenades
  • Fixed an issue in which an audio cue would not play when completing a Bounty
  • Fixed an issue in which “Guardian down!” referenced the wrong gender in French, Spanish, and Portuguese

 

Technical

  • Added the ability for the Bungie DOC to send in-game alerts and messages
  • Fixed stability issues across all platforms
  • Fixed an issue that would  cause a rare crash during space flight into activities
  • Improved patch installation process
  • Implemented PS3-specific performance optimizations
  • Fixed some issues causing beetle and lionfish Kicks to Orbit

 

Filed Under: Consoles, Destiny, Other Games

Dragon Age Inquisition Trailer

November 14, 2014 by

So, who’s excited?

Official availability info:

Dragon Age: Inquisition will be available for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC via Origin on November 20 in Australia and November 21 in New Zealand, 2014. The game has been rated MA15+ by The Australia Classification Board

Filed Under: General News, Other Games Tagged With:

Destiny Downtime

November 13, 2014 by

destiny-installIn order to facilitate future updates Bungie will bringing down the servers for maintenance. There won’t be a patch but the servers will be ready for The Dark Below when it comes down the internet wires in a few weeks. Expect the servers to be down from 2am tomorrow morning (8am PST).

For info on what future content is coming look no further than notes from Deej’s weekly update post from last weekend below.

We’re inbound with several bundles of joy in our hold. They’ll land in the weeks to come. Some of them will give everyone new things to do and earn. Some of them will prepare the world you’ve conquered for some new arrivals, and push the boundaries. Your level of engagement will be up to you. Each of us finds our own level in Destiny.

 

Here are some things we’ve mentioned:

  • Channels for talking to matchmade teammates, if you so wish
  • Exotic weapons that are stronger and more interesting to upgrade
  • New gear to let you slip into something a little more Legendary
  • That which waits in The Dark Below

 

Here are some things we’ve kept secret, until now:

  • New shaders for your gear
  • Ways to preview items before you spend your Glimmer
  • Greater chances of “showers” in public spaces
  • Adjustments to some arenas that needed better traffic flow
  • New economies to equip you with upgrade materials
  • Fixes, patches, and other invisible technical evolutions
  • Some other tricks up our sleeve
  • Maybe even a more generous Cryptarch
    • (he’ll still be sort of a bastard)

 

Those are the broad strokes. More detail is on the way. There will be Dev Notes and Patch Notes and love notes on our forum to explain what we mean, why we’re doing this, how it will all go

Filed Under: Consoles, Destiny, Other Games

The Week In Destiny

October 14, 2014 by

UntitledIt’s time to stop staring into caves and hoping it will become loot cave 3.0 and read about the latest week in Destiny

While news has been very slow this week, there is still a little bit to talk about.

First, Extra Life is coming up very soon, and the guys over at Guardian Radio have setup some fund raising in Destiny which Bungie themselves are getting behind.

Deej is back again with another weekly update – this time you get a little insight in to how the Iron Banner is supposed to be working. In my opinion and others, it is not as originally described, but that has at least allowed me to get to rank one (you only need your team to win 4 matches to rank up). If you want to provide Bungie some feedback on the iron banner, you can do that too. Also I liked the little tease of some more audio options (being able to turn down the music so I can hear my fire-teammates would be ideal), as well as the talk of some more updates to come soon.

A Hot Fix has hit today. I’m sure a lot of people will be upset about their auto rifles copping a nerf. Also getting hit by the nerf bat is Shotguns, their range effectively being reduced. And for those of you running the raid, you’re going to have to avoid your “sniper pillar” strategy from now on. But it isn’t all bad as Scout Rifles and Hand Cannons are receiving a buff.

Almost half a million players have completed the Vault of Glass raid. 472,082 to be exact. That’s about a quarter of the 1,970,807 that have launched themselves head first in to vault’s depths. Something that’s even more impressive is the fact that 3.2 million players login daily to play in Destiny, about half of the daily traffic WoW sees.

Finally, just a point of note, the game officially became one month old last week.

That’s it for another week, good luck in the crucible Guardians and hopefully next week we have some new updates and events to talk about.

Filed Under: Destiny, Other Games Tagged With:

The Week in Destiny

October 8, 2014 by

destinyI haven’t written anything in the last couple of weeks due to real life getting in the way. Curse you work stuff! So we have a bit to catch up on. I did start writing an article about how the loot cave was shutdown, as soon as I had the article finished, reports started coming in of its replacement being open for business. And now we have the Loot Stairs. Expect this to be patched out soon.

Deej has once again been putting out his weekly updates. Not much exciting news really. Probably the most interesting stuff has been patch 1.02 which saw the Cryptarch get taken out the back and sack of rocks smashed round his head. Legendary engrams now will give a legendary item. Also for those having connection issues a hot fix on Tuesday was put out and has hopefully fixed it for you.

In other more interesting news, a bug revealed some of the upcoming expansion content, if not all. And then Bungie pretty much confirmed that it was future content, but all of this is still subject to change.

Yesterday the Iron Banner event went live. It’s not really for me as my gear drops haven’t been kind to me. And if you already have great gear you won’t really get much in terms of upgrades from it but you can still get stuff that looks pretty.

And finally if you are still struggling with the lack of story in Destiny (at least its lack of telling it to you), YouTuber Marszie has given a pretty good run down of the story so far.

Hopefully between strike playlists, Shadows of Mordor, and 12x Experience Boost in SWTOR, I can get a couple more purples and stand maybe half a chance in the Iron Banner. I doubt it, but I’ll try.

Filed Under: Destiny, Other Games Tagged With:

Archeage: Impressions

September 26, 2014 by

Inbox__333_messages__1_unread_I have to admit that I was not interested in spending time in Archeage. There were a few things that rang the alarm bells from the start, the first being it’s an Eastern MMO.  Eastern MMOs have always looked great with their character customisation, armour and environments. The problem has always come from the translation, walls of text, the generic quests, grinding and the requirement that many things were out of reach unless you could get a group. More hardcore than any western MMO.

When Archeage went into Alpha, I  purchased the Founders Pack that gave me instant access. I started playing like a normal MMO, straight into leveling. The leveling was average although fast and the combat tab targeting reminded me of older MMOs.  I didn’t play that much and left it soon after as I was used to questing in full voice MMOs such as The Secret World, The Old Republic and most recently Elder Scrolls Online.

A month later I went into beta and decided to try a different race/faction but I felt the same way, average leveling, questing and not much really grabbed me beside the gliders which were really cool. I also liked the characters and environment, but it was not enough to keep me engaged. So once again I put the game down and left.

There was then lots of hype on the Internet about Archeage over the next few months being a sandbox. It also seemed to be gathering a lot of airtime from different gaming sites on the internet and gathering a good following. I kept listening and it was probably because I spent near $150 on purchasing the game for alpha access (crazy right? Although it does gives me 3 months patron and over $75 of store currency to spend as I please).

Head Start began and I once again patched up and decided to look at the features that everyone had been talking about. I started leveling as a War Priest, which is basically an archer with melee and some healing. There are 120 different combinations of class that you can decide to choose and if you decide to change any single one, you do not lose any advancement in what you have already gained. I decided to look at the farming and trading aspect of the game as many people said that this was what set them apart from other mainstream MMOs.

I began to enjoy farming that involved growing vegetables, trees and raising animals, etc. I started to enjoy trade runs, which involved me growing and producing certain commodities that were only available in certain areas. Trading involves you walking, driving, riding, or sailing the seas to get to your destination, all with a large pack on your back, which inhibits your movement speed. In some instances the trade routes can involve passing though PvP zones. In some ways it reminded me of EVE Online and its trading aspects.

The most interesting and exciting part so far has been running a trade pack from the western continent to the east. It required me to farm several ingredients and make a certain item for sale. I farmed and ensured I had the materials for several trade packs, as I knew this quest was going to be dangerous. This required me to travel to the coast, then travel by water across the ocean to the other continent which was ruled by the other faction. The issue from what I had read was that the oceans were open to pirates, opposing factions and random NPC sea creatures that could kill you and take your trade items.

I had several options: swim (very slow) with a trade pack on my back, use my row boat I had received from an earlier quest (slow), build a fast boat  (lots of mats) or group up for a fast boat run to get it completed. I had several people offer to take me after advertising in faction chat and we set off over the water in a fast skiff. We had to avoid several ocean creatures and a few pirate boats but this experience was one of the best I have ever had in an MMO. In all it was around a 15-20 sail to the destination.

Archeage has parts that are very generic to most MMOs but it has some very cool and interesting mechanics and systems that are very different and this is really what sets it apart. Yes it is still a very Eastern MMO but I think it has enough to keep Western players interested especially if you like crafting, farming and trade running.  There are still dungeons and raiding to be had but I have not even gone there yet as I am having too much fun with the crafting and trading right now.

Filed Under: General News, Other Games Tagged With:

This Week In Destiny News

September 23, 2014 by

Destiny_Multiplayer_Gameplay__-_The_Asshole_Move_of_the_Century___Destiny_Funny_Moments___-_YouTubeThis week in Destiny:

  • New patch released today reduces difficulty of a few missions and some raid fixes.
  • Deej posted his latest Weekly Update, covering the latest stats for the game, Primeguards world first raid downing and also the weekend bounty on the Bungie crew
  • Reviews are finally popping up around the net. Take everything with a grain of salt. I actually agree with a lot of the negative criticisms out there, but I’m still having a great time with the game and will be going back in to play more when I get home from work. I think Kotaku and IGN pretty much is the most accurate at the moment, but that’s my opinion.
  • More event news is coming The Queens Emissary should be in the tower now
  • Over the weekend people discovered the loot cave in Old Russia. I don’t know of any others yet but keep your eyes out. Also I’m not sure if this is an exploit or not, or if there is a fix or anything coming, but be warned before using it.
  • People have taken to using the sitting and dancing animations for trolling purposes in the crucible…. Yeh I am doing it too….
  • And this guy may take out the asshole of the year award for this move:

Till next time guardians.

Filed Under: Consoles, Destiny Tagged With:

Starcraft 2 South East Asia Region: Casual Player Graveyard?

May 10, 2014 by

I’m getting a little frustrated with my Starcraft playing experience. I’ve been playing on the South East Asia the past couple of years, and have noticed it’s harder and harder to get a ranked match or versus AI game via the Matchmaking option. Then, over the past three months, I’ve been unable to get a single match pop for me.

I initially didn’t think much of it and got into custom games versus AI, but in my SC2 achievement hunt I’ve been trying to play more ranked or unranked matches. I’ve tried different times, different days, all with the same result:

StarCraft_II 2

StarCraft_II

A couple of times I’ve left matchmaking running and gotten involved in doing something else, come back to my computer and seen search times of 100 minutes plus. Sure, I’m not in a clan, but surely it’s not that unusual for a casual player to be after some games via the Matchmaking interface? I looked at transferring regions, but all progress and achieves are lost.

Would love SEA region players to comment: why the lack of activity?

Filed Under: General News, Starcraft 2

EVE Online – So You Want To Be A Healer?

April 10, 2014 by

Good news! You can be!

In EVE Online there are various ships that essentially allow you to heal your fleet mates. Pilots of these ships are most wanted and rarely get turned down from any fleet activity.

What ship class can fill this role :-
Frigate
Cruiser
Carrier

Mostly used in :-
Fleet operations
Large scale PvP
Large scale PvE (Level 4, Wormhole Sites, Incursions)

What basic skills to focus on (Depending what race you fly) :-
Mechanics Science
Targeting
Power Grid
Capacitor
Drones

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Caldari carrier: Chimera

Healers are known as Logistic pilots, and they fly ships that are set-up purely for remotely fixing up their fleet mates and so aren’t useful for solo flying. For this reason it would be unwise to focus on training/fitting a Logistic ship unless you have a Corporation that is willing to help you out. Most players focus on combat and train up their Logistics on the side.

Healing in EVE Online works by remotely fixing up other ships’ shield or armour. As a Logistic pilot, you will need to lock onto your fleet mates and then activate your remote armour repair or remote shield transporters to keep them alive, sometimes transferring capacitor to keep them firing. This allows your fleet mates to focus on locking up the enemy targets being called to them by the fleet commander.

Every race has Logistic ships but they focus on different roles. For example Amarr and Gallente have remote armour repair, while the Caldari and Minmatar focus on shields. I would recommend flying either Amarr (if you fly in armour fleets) or Caldari (if you fly in shield fleets) as they also have energy transfer that keep people from running out of capacitor. If you prefer to boost the damage output then you might want to consider Gallente or Minmatar instead.

There are also Logistic drones that will fly out to your fleet mates and circle them while they do repairs to their armour or shields.  These drones are very handy and drone skills should be trained up along with other Logistic skills. Drones can either be micro-managed to fly to different fleet mates or kept on a single target if they are getting a bit too much love.

The main focus for training up to flying Logistics is to get to tech 2 cruiser level. There are frigate class ships that can remotely help but it will be more common for your fleet to use something bigger. If you want to go higher, you can also train up to fly a carrier.

Carriers are larger support ships and come with lots more goodies than a simple cruiser. This will be a long term goal and not something you want to try to jump to immediately. Since carriers are such massive ships, there are restrictions on where they can be used.

Being a Logistic pilot isn’t without its dangers. If you remote repair someone, there is a chance you might get aggression towards you, so be careful if you decide to be all loving and supportive of random pilots. Also make sure that the fleet has engaged the enemy before starting to fix people up, otherwise there’s a chance the enemy might focus on you instead.

Being a Logistic pilot in EVE is as rewarding as being a healer in any other MMO. It might not play exactly the same way, but is as important in a fleet as any other pilot.

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Amarr tech 2 cruiser: Guardian

[Make sure you check out Kris’ gaming blog]

Filed Under: EVE Online, General News Tagged With:
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