patch notes

EVE Online delays its August release a week, citing the need for ‘additional testing’

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If you were hoping to hop into EVE Online with its August release tomorrow, then I’m sorry to tell you that the patch has been delayed a solid week, and you’ll have to go on participating in the ongoing player war instead.

“Due to the need for additional testing, the deployment of the August release has been pushed back by one week from August 14th, to August 21st,” CCP says. “This means that both the August release and the “Secrets of the Abyss” event will now launch on the same day, next Tuesday.”

The studio promises more info on Friday alongside revamped patch notes (the old updates notes have been temporarily deleted). This particular update was slated to redesign half a dozen iconic shop models and revamp the newbie experience with the new Agency UI.

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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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World of Warcraft makes some big last-minute class adjustments before Battle for Azeroth

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As the final few days count down before Battle for Azeroth drops, World of Warcraft’s developers are making some significant last-minute class adjustments to make sure that players will be in a good place at level 120.

This class change hotfix is mostly made up of buffs — mostly. Many builds, such as Frost Death Knights, Beast Master Hunters, Marksman Hunters, Holy Priests, Elemental Shamans, Feral Druids, and Demonology Warlocks are getting across-the-board increases to their damage output. There are a few nerfs as well, most notably to Assassination Rogues, but they are not nearly as extensive. Many PvP tweaks are being made as well.

And if you’re still hot and bothered over the recent storyline, you may want to listen to this recent interview with former Blizzard lead Chris Metzen, who discusses the negative reaction to the War of Thorns storyline and the harrassment of the writing staff.

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Astroneer’s latest update has new resources and recipes in store for space explorers

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Who doesn’t like new materials? The 0.9.2 update adds in new resources for Astroneer players to harvest, some of which are going to require you to do a fair bit of searching in order to find them. And of course it wouldn’t be helpful to have new resources without having new recipes to go along with those resources, so you get new stuff to make along with the new stuff you can harvest.

The patch also contains other improvements, like the removal of the largely redundant Medium Printer for streamlining crafting and the inclusion of craftable Thrusters. Check out the full patch notes for a clearer picture of everything that’s been changed and improved in the game as development hums along, and get ready to start searching the stars for resources. Which you can use to make other things to search more stars. It’s a vicious cycle, sort of.

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H1Z1 has officially launched on the PlayStation 4 as Jace Hall joins the H1Z1 PC team

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Daybreak’s battle royale game H1Z1 has been through more ups and downs and ups again in the last few years than most games see in their lifetimes. The game once bizarrely marketed to former Star Wars Galaxies players has split in two, undergone multiple name changes, seen its survival half falter, made it to television with esports events, wallowed in early access, missed multiple launch windows, suffered layoffs, and lost most of its playerbase to PUBG, and also shed most of its zombie nature, all before seemingly finding rescue in its wildly successful PlayStation 4 beta this past spring.

“The official H1Z1 launch update on PlayStation®4 includes:

  • Battle Pass Season 1: PS4 players can now unlock up to 30 rewards levels across 3 distinct lines (free, premium, and PS Plus). Battle Pass Season 1 premium line can be purchased for $5.49 / €5.49, while all PS Plus members will receive the PS Plus line included in membership. Level progression will carry over between lines.
  • Two New Weapons: The explosive RPG can be found in gold tier airdrops, and specializes in taking out vehicles. The deadly SOCOM Sniper Rifle can be found in purple tier airdrops, and offers a new tactical option for long-range gunfights.
  • New Vehicle: The ARV fits a full fives team and includes a hatch for a squad mate to fire out the top – making it the ultimate vehicle for squad-based gameplay.
  • New Launch Bundles: Players can now customize their character to the max through the new Viper Starter bundle ($4.99 USD / €4.99) or Hardline Deluxe bundle, which includes Premium Battle Pass ($34.99 USD / €34.99). Both Launch bundles are now available at a special launch discount until September 4 on the PlayStation Store.”

Meanwhile, MOP reader and tipster Kinya has pointed us to some cryptic tweets from Monolith’s Jace Hall:

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Final Fantasy XIV brings monster hunting with its newest patch

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The latest patch for Final Fantasy XIV has arrived today, and it brings all of the monster hunting you could possibly want within the game. Yes, it’s the crossover with Monster Hunter World, complete with new cosmetic gear, new minions, and new Orchestrion tunes for everyone. If you’re not interested in that, though, you can take part in the new Eureka – Pagos expedition, which brings characters to a snow-covered area to take on greater enemies.

Players also get a variety of quality of life bumps with the update, including the option to purchase weapon upgrade materials for Gougan currency, new crafting recipes, an experience buff in the original Eureka areas, and the removal of restrictions on Sigmascape Crystalloids. Check out the full patch notes to get an idea of what you’ll be able to do with the patch. You could, of course, also choose to totally ignore the patch if you’re over on the Faerie server as players put together an epic scavenger hunt for plenty of gil.

Source: Official Site, Reddit; thanks to Alex for the tip!

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World of Warcraft: Free stories, class tuning, expansion prep guides, and Vol’dun overview

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There’s no shortage of World of Warcraft news as Battle for Azeroth looms next week, so let’s hop to it! Players should steel themselves for another round of class tuning changes, which are arriving today and will most notably impact Druids and Priests.

Blizzard continued to stoke the fires of Horde vs. Alliance conflict with the release of two free e-stories that look at the different sides of this conflict. Of course, some players are still coping with the huge lost of Teldrassil from last week, using art as a coping mechanism to express their sorrow.

The studio also posted a zone overview of Vol’dun, a Horde-side region full of sand, salt flats, and rocky terrain. There are a lot of secrets to be uncovered here, and players will also bump into the fox-like Vulpera and the snake-like Sethrak.

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Black Desert invites players to Saddle Up to level their horses super fast

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The star of today’s Black Desert update is horses, and really, isn’t that the star of Black Desert every day? Kakao is kicking off Saddle Up, and event that boosts mount experience by 30%. If you’re so inclined to grind, you’ll want to check the Imperial Horse Delivery quest too in order to pick up certificates to trade for shards. Yay, currency.

Meanwhile, remember that global costume design contest that Pearl Abyss ran earlier this year? The grand prize winner’s Berserker costume is finally headed into the game today, so have fun grabbing that!

The rest of the patch includes tweaks to optimization, item drop rate benefits for the occupiers of the core territories, a handful of class adjusments, and new taxidermy furniture.

Source: Patch notes

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LOTRO’s new Christmas quest is now live

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Looking to keep out of trouble in Middle-earth? Lord of the Rings Online is field-testing a brand-new Christmas quest for the next week — and bringing back its Yule Festival content during that period for anyone who wouldn’t mind snagging more tokens and rewards.

“A new quest has arrived in Frostbluff called Stolen Sweets,” SSG said. “Visit snowy locations throughout Middle-earth to recover stolen treats for the poor children of Winter-home, and earn the rewards of a white Yule Rabbit and the title ‘Bringer of Sweets!'”

The small update also fixed a pesky chat issue, handed out a new mount for completing an Isengard meta deed, placed a cap on festival Festivity tokens, and allowed for even more diacritics for chat and names.

Source: Patch notes. Thanks, Tanek!

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Sea of Thieves’ Cursed Sails update is live with new sea content, though not kraken and skeleton forts for now

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Arr mateys, are you all ready for today’s deployment of Sea of Thieves’ Cursed Sails? Because it’s just gone live with a new video and patch notes to boot. The key part of the update is the campaign itself – and its cursed skeleton ships that basically create a ghostly NPC threat across the game’s seas.

“Pirate dominion on the Sea of Thieves is being challenged, by the dead! Skeletons are taking to the waters in grim galleons, united and spurred on by a mysterious captain. Armed with cursed cannonballs that sow chaos and confusion, the dead make war on the living in Cursed Sails! Watch out for banners on the Outposts, calling you out to battle skeleton ships over the course of three weeks. You can also take a break from the action to investigate the source of the skeleton scourge, following a tale of greed and madness starting with a hint from the Bilge Rats.”

The update’s got the three-person Brigantine and the alliance system too. Rare does note that it’s disabled the kraken and skeleton forts for now as it works out some performance kinks with them. Moreover, “Some players may continue to hear muffled sound after being fired from a cannon,” Rare says, but we think that might be the least of those players’ worries at that point.

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Lord of the Rings Online brings Christmas to July

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Just because it’s the middle of the summer doesn’t mean that Middle-earth can’t enjoy some frosty fun! Lord of the Rings Online is bringing back its Yule Festival next week for a special encore that also contains a special surprise.

From July 31st through August 7th, players can head back to Winter-home where a new quest and reward awaits them. Those participating should note that LOTRO is now limiting the maximum number of festival tokens to 40, so make sure you spend yours so as not to waste any!

“A new quest has arrived in Frostbluff called Stolen Sweets!” the patch notes mention. “Visit snowy locations throughout Middle-earth to recover stolen treats for the poor children of Winter-home, and earn the rewards of a white Yule Rabbit and the title ‘Bringer of Sweets!’ The quest is bestowed by the Frostbluff Stable-master. This new quest can be completed once during the run of the Vacation on Frostbluff event, and does not require visiting regions above level 50. Additionally, the other activities available during the Yuletide Festival are now available!”

Source: Patch notes. Thanks Fredelas!

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Shroud of the Avatar’s 56th update is live, with a big PvP update and bug clean-up

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Shroud of the Avatar’s 56th release is upon us, having been pushed live successfully yesterday. A big chunk of the update is necessary but boring bug-fixing, Portalarium says, with “nearly 100 issues” taken care of, some of which should improve performance and load times, polish up the UI, boost the look of shadows and lighting, and make large player gatherings run more smoothly.

As we’ve previously covered, this month’s content drop is focused on the first playable iteration of the game’s PvP-centric Obsidian Trials, “with multiple features including timed matches, a poisonous boundary that reduces the play area, a revamped PVP scoreboard, two new currencies, and new rewards including emotes, potions, and titles. Best of all, when you are killed you do not lose any items, nor trophies, to the person who killed you!”

Housing fiends, there are gobs of new craftables for you; lore people, the comet is still coming! Check out the whole set of patch notes for the full run-down of what to expect.

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Cursed skeleton ships have been spotted on Sea of Thieves’ horizon

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Soon enough you’ll have more to worry about in Sea of Thieves’ oceans than other players and bad-tempered kraken. Rumors have it that the skeletons have completed their seafaring courses and somehow procured a ship or two to bring the fight to you.

The Cursed Sails content update is on its way to the multiplayer pirate simulator, bringing with it “terrifying skeleton ships,” attacks on world outposts, and a new time-limited campaign. To give players another useful tool for this upcoming battle, Rare is adding the new three-person Brigantine ship for a mid-sized group option.

Before all that happens, Sea of Thieves has a few housekeeping issues to address. Patch 1.1.8 arrived on Thursday, bringing the Sunken Curse Bilge Rat adventure to an end, improving the game’s performance, and making the water inside of ships look and move better. Not that you want water to be inside your ship, mind you, but when you’re sinking to your death, at least you’ll be momentarily impressed at the graphics.

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