bethsoft

Short for Bethesda Softworks.

Tamriel Infinium: Three key takeaways from the Elder Scrolls Online Murkmire teaser

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Hopefully, everyone saw the Elder Scrolls Online presentation at Quakecon. If not, I’ll have that whole video just past the break. Game Director Matt Firor and Community Manager Gina Bruno stood on stage to give an overview of what ESO has in store for the rest of the year. Of course, Wolfhunter launched a couple of days ago, but I was definitely more interested in the Murkmire presentation.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: I believe that Black Marsh is the area of Tamriel that ESO will ultimately be known for, and that’s because no other game in the Elder Scrolls series has touched that area of Tamriel with any significance. Firor explained what we would discover in Murkmire, but I believe his last line explained it best: “Along the way you’re going to get a really deep dive into Argonian culture, philosophy, and religion — really, what drives them, and what makes them so weird.”

During the presentation, Firor and Bruno gave us our first look at the Murkmire DLC in game. During this one-minute clip, we didn’t see much, but I’ve pulled it apart. And I’m going to hopefully reveal some things that you didn’t notice.

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Fallout 76 won’t allow crossplay but is talking up mods and multiplayer

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Bethesda isn’t really that keen on allowing crossplay with its games these days. The studio recently confirmed that Fallout 76 isn’t going to feature crossplay between platforms, nor is Elder Scrolls Legends going to get it any time soon.

No specific reason was given for the decision, although there were heavy hints that Sony’s stance against crossplay was a factor in this. “Fallout 76, sure: It would be nice if I could play on my Xbox and my kid is playing on his PC and we can play together, but if we can’t,” said SVP Pete Hines. “But for Legends it’s absolutely critical.”

At least Bethesda is working on several features to make its communuty happy despite this, including a committment to mod support and an in-game photo mode.

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Functional music boxes are coming in Elder Scrolls Online’s Murkmire

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One of my most beloved possessions in Ultima Online is my music box: I spent months, probably years, collecting each “track” to insert into the box, and then I can run it and play my favorite Ultima songs while I’m puttering around my house sorting loot.

That makes me all the most excited to hear that The Elder Scrolls Online is getting exactly such a feature in the Murkmire DLC later this year.

“For housing, we’re putting music boxes in,” creative director Rich Lambert told VG247 at QuakeCon last week. “It’s this cool thing and we’ve got a ton of music that we’ve written in the game and so we’re putting it all in music boxes.”

Meanwhile, ESO has delivered a breakdown of the Midyear Mayhem PvP event it held this summer. You guys dropped almost a quarter of a million chaosballs, stole over 2.5K elder scrolls, capped over 700K keeps, and murdered 7.5M fellow soldiers. Peace and prosperity for all!

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Elder Scrolls Online’s Wolfhunter DLC is live today with new dungeons and PvP love

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As promised, The Elder Scrolls Online’s next DLC, Wolfhunter, has officially launched today! The patch is for everyone, while the DLC comes with a fee, unless you’re subbed, in which case you can jump right in.

Massively OP’s Tamriel Infinium columnist Larry Everett checked out the DLC ahead of the launch alongside three key developers and found it to be primarily aimed at group dungeon enthusiasts, not so much fans of the game’s storytelling. And that only makes sense, as the pair of werewolf-themed dungeons are at the heart of the content.

But there’s a bit more in the overall update independent of the DLC; all players can look forward two new gear, new outfits, and a ton of updates for battleground PvPers, including some quality-of-life love for Cyrodiil. The werewolf skill line got some buffs too!

Get caught up on all our coverage of the DLC, then check out the trailer!

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Bethsoft: Dodgy reseller lawsuits, new media review policies, and Legends crossplay ultimata

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Today in why we can’t have nice things, it appears that Bethsoft is using its legal weight to crack down on folks selling fully legitimate boxed copies of its games. Polygon’s report follows one gamer who was attempting to sell his unwanted boxed, sealed copy of The Evil Within 2 through Amazon, but was sent a threatening letter from Bethsoft’s legal team accusing him of not being an “authorized reseller.” Though he wasn’t breaking any laws or agreements, the company appears to be trying to scare games out of selling stuff they legally own by threatening them with lawsuits.

Bethsoft, for its part, told Polygon that the problem was the individual’s use of the word “new” on Amazon rather than “pre-owned,” even though the box was still sealed. “We do not allow non-authorized resellers to represent what they sell as ‘new’ because we can’t verify that the game hasn’t been opened and repackaged,” claims the company.

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Fallout 76 reveals more about perks, PvP, and proprietary platforms

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This past weekend was a treasure trove of information for fans of Fallout 76. Bethesda ran some panels and Q&A discussions at QuakeCon, giving special attention to the game’s character growth system and limitations on PvP.

Perks and mutations are going to be the key methods of character progression, although with players receiving packs of perk cards every now and then, the devs hope that they will experiment with different builds instead of getting locked in to just one thing.

As for PvP — which certainly has some fans worried — Bethesda is attempting to limit the griefing through special mechanics. Players who don’t respond in a PvP encounter won’t receive as much damage, and if they’re killed without firing back, then their murderer will become a marked player with a bounty on his or her head. Oh, and if you’re under level 5 or engaged in fighting a mob, you’re off-limits for PvP entirely. The studio also said that players can easily rebuild their bases via blueprints if they’re hit by a nuke.

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Global Chat: Is it worth your time to alpha test MMOs?

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Taugrim raises a very interesting question this week on his blog. Namely, is it really worth your time to alpha test MMOs these days? For him, at least, fickle players and unresponsive developers don’t make it a beneficial activity.

“A decade ago, I used to get super excited about upcoming MMORPGs,” he said. “And then I experienced those games losing their playerbase in droves while the developers/publishers failed to meaningfully address the concerns of the community.”

If you’ve been burned one too many times by alpha, beta, and early access testing, perhaps you can relate. Read on for more essays from the MMO blogosphere, and don’t forget to check out this month’s exciting Blaugust Reborn event that’s raging across blogs!

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Fallout 76 signs on Inon Zur for another musical tour of duty in the wasteland

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It’s hard to imagine a Fallout game these days without the haunting and beautiful score of video game composer Inon Zur. Fortunately, players this fall won’t have to fret about Zur’s work being absent from the online Fallout 76.

“Thrilled to finally reveal that, yes, I am scoring Fallout 76!” Zur posted on Twitter. “It’s been an amazing journey collaborating with Bethesda Studios on the biggest Fallout game yet and I can’t wait to share the new music with you.”

Variety has an exclusive interview with the composer. Zur said that this will be one of his “most unique scores to date” that involves “sophisticated and emotional” tracks as players explore the post-apocalyptic landscape of West Virginia.

This will be Zur’s fifth soundtrack for the long-running franchise after Fallout Tactics, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, and Fallout 4.

Source: Variety

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Elder Scrolls Online drops Murkmire, Wolfhunter trailers, buffs subscriber benefits

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ZeniMax is dropping some good stuff at QuakeCon for players of The Elder Scrolls Online. If you’re a dedicated subscriber, you’re in for some welcome tweaks to the way the sub package works beginning later this year, in addition to some sort of “in-game community event related to Summerset.”

“With the release of Murkmire, members will now get 1650 crowns per month, and access to exclusive offers in the #ESO Crown Store including a free item every month,” the team just announced. “Watch for more details this fall!”

Also released today? The official trailer for the Wolfhunter DLC itself, which is slated to launch next week on PC.

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Elder Scrolls Online hosts free play weekend, hands out freebies, and outlines PvP updates

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Have any grand plans for this weekend? If you have nothing better to do, why not take a trip to Tamriel and enjoy some free goodies from ZeniMax.

Starting on Thursday and continuing through the following Wednesday, anyone can play Elder Scrolls Online’s core game and Vvardenfell for free on console or PC. It’s a nice way to experience Morrowind if you haven’t purchased that yet.

Additionally, you can pick up a free Flame Atronach wolf pet and five Ouroboros crown crates by watching Elder Scrolls Online’s QuakeCon 2018 keynote address this Friday at noon eastern on Twitch or YouTube. The dev team is going to be talking about “all-new information” regarding the Wolfhunter and Murkmire DLC packs, so you might learn something too.

ZeniMax also has a new blog piece out today on PvP changes coming in update 19 to all players, regardless of whether they grab the new DLC next week. It’s worth a peek for its overview of the Istirus Outpost battleground, the new keep recall stones, new keep decay rules, and new PvP cosmetics.

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Tamriel Infinium: Becoming a Wolfhunter with the Elder Scrolls Online devs

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While I have been an MMORPG fan for a very long time, I was also a comicbook fan long before the MCU was a thing. X-Men was my comic of choice. There had to be about a dozen different X-Men titles at one point or another, and many times the characters in those different storylines would cross titles. In fact, a worldwide favorite character like Wolverine could appear in a half-dozen titles in the same month, and that always confused me. How could one person appear in so many places at once? Now, I understand that there was some fudging with the timeline, and it really wasn’t all at once. But he was involved in so many different adventures and troubles that he became the only connecting thread between some of them.

If viewed from a certain perspective, it could be assumed that Wolverine was the cause of trouble that he ran into. Trouble seems to follow him like murder followed Jessica Fletcher. This is the way I’m starting to feel about my character in Elder Scrolls Online. Everywhere he goes, trouble and death seem to follow. In fact, with as many people who have died around my character in ESO, I’m surprised that there is anyone left on the continent of Tamriel at all.

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Massively OP Podcast Episode 181: Some devs just want to watch the world tree burn

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On this week’s show, Bree and Justin sift through the ashes of World of Warcraft’s burning developments, make sense of Chris Roberts’ “You win by having fun!” mantra, get cozy with werewolves and tieflings, and more!

It’s the Massively OP Podcast, an action-packed hour of news, tales, opinions, and gamer emails! And remember, if you’d like to send in your own letter to the show, use the “Tips” button in the top-right corner of the site to do so.

Listen to the show right now:

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Fallout 76 won’t be on Steam, but it will carry your progress over from beta

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Here’s something interesting about Fallout 76’s October beta: Players not only will have access to the full game, but their progress will also carry over into live. Think that’ll spurn a lot more interest in the test?

“Our current plan for the B.E.T.A. is it will be the full game and all your progress is saved for launch. We hope you join us!” Bethesda told fans.

While that’s pretty exciting, some enthusiasm for this upcoming post-apocalyptic online RPG has been dampened by the word that Fallout 76 won’t be available via Steam — at least at launch. You’ll only be able to access it through Bethesda’s own digital games platform, because you need yet another one of those on your desktop!

Source: PCGamesN, CNET. Cheers, Pepperzine!

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