The pixel-art ARPG Oceans Heart is coming to PC via Steam in early 2021
Posted:
09.23.2020 11:00:09 Video game publisher Nordcurrent and Max Mraz, the developer behind Zeldalike tribute to "Bloodborne"," Yarntown", today announced they are bringing their newest IP, "Oceans Heart", a beautiful pixel-art adventure RPG with modern twists and turns, to Steam for PC in early 2021.
No Man's Sky: Origins Update Changes the Game's Entire Universe
Posted:
09.23.2020 10:00:09 Hello Games has revealed its latest free update for No Man's Sky: Origins. The update will effectively rewrite the entire game universe to add more variation, new planets, and much more - without altering user generated content. Origins brings the game to its 3.0 version, and it's out today.
Announced on the No Man's Sky website (where you can see the full, enormous list of changes), Origins is 2020's biggest update so far, and aims to offer a "stranger, richer and more varied universe, with deeper planetary diversity, dramatic new terrain, a host of new creatures, new weather conditions, colossal buildings, and much more."
Among its many additions, the update adds brand new planets (with more dramatic scenery than previously possible, including active volcanoes), rare systems with multiple stars, a new UI, brand new fauna types and updated behaviours for them, dramatic weather systems (including lightning, fire and gravity storms), planetary NPC encounters, rare planets with entirely synthetic life, and more. On top of all that, giant sand worms have finally become a part of the game, after being teased in No Man's Sky's first ever trailer.
For those worried about their creations, these changes won't touch or harm user-created structures, meaning the worlds around you might change, but your part in them will remain as you left it pre-update.
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Speaking to IGN, creator Sean Murray explained the meaning behind the update's title, saying: "Origins is, yes, it's another update, but it's kind of a new start for us in some ways. And we wanted to get that across, that this isn't an end. It isn't just, 'here is an update with some more content in'. It's something quite fundamental for us, and that is that we're adding more diversity, more variation to that universe, which is something that we haven't really done that much. But also, we're adding literal new planets. We're going to birth them into the universe, which is quite a cool thing for us.
"It's taken us a while to figure out how best to do it and how to make it work. But we have this really nice problem, which is we have this universe that the community owns, right? They've built bases on it. They've built communities. They've gone off and had adventures, made discoveries. And then, we come along and we say, 'We want to make new planets, new worlds.' We want to freshen all of this up, and so we were trying to find ways to do that without destroying what's gone before. And so that's been one of the ways that we've done it, is to just actually make the universe more dense, introduced new worlds, literal new worlds to go off and explore – and that's the origin."
There won't be a given in-game reason for this to have happened, with Murray explaining: "So we talked about lore reasons. But, I don't know, it's been done before, that 'cataclysm update'. And then, every NPC you talk to keeps mentioning the cataclysm. I don't know. Personally, it doesn't appeal to me. Because we know what's happened, and it's really strange to me for every NPC to suddenly start talking about DLC."
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Unlike other recent updates, Origins aims primarily to improve what already exists in No Man's Sky's universe, rather than slot new features in around it, something Murray says was a goal because the team now had a sense of the existing game's limits.
"We have this universe that we built four years ago, and we released it. And we said that thing of, 'Even we don't know what's out there.' [...] People could go out and have this experience and send screenshots, and we would say, 'Oh, I didn't know it could do that.' Or, 'I haven't seen that before.' And then, actually, that hasn't been true for the last four years for us [...] For us to have that moment that I was talking about again, of what we had four years ago, where I will be looking at screenshots for the first time in four years being like, 'Oh, I didn't know that was possible.' That's the feeling that we want to get back."
This doesn't mark the end of 2020's additions to No Man's Sky, either, with Murray confirming that – although this has already been the game's busiest year for updates – there's more coming this year. "We're all locked in our houses now," he laughs. "What else can we do?"
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I ask if any of those updates might involve a next-gen version of the game, but that's one subject Murray won't be drawn on, saying there's nothing to announce about that:
"Next-gen is something we've been lucky enough to be included in, and have kits and all of that, from the very early days. It's something I'm super excited about, but I have to say that annoying thing of, 'We don't have any announcements at the moment'. We have a big project planned in the future, and that's part of the reason that we're excited about next gen, and we'll see if we'll have any announcement for No Man's Sky in the future."
That "big project" is the huge, ambitious new game Murray mentioned earlier this month. During our talk, he made clear that he's currently working across both games, but won't be offering specifics about the new project because the team has "learned our lesson" after discussing No Man's Sky too early in its development last time around.
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Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Posted:
09.23.2020 10:00:09 Origins: Introducing Update 3.0, Origins, dramatically expands the universe of No Mans Sky. Explore a stranger, richer and more varied universe, with deeper planetary diversity, dramatic new terrain, a host of new creatures, new weather conditions, colossal buildings, and much more. Our journey continues.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein Gets Modernised with the RealRTCW Mod, Coming to Steam in October
Posted:
09.23.2020 02:00:09 From GameWatcher: "Return to Castle Wolfenstein is getting modernized this October when the RealRTCW mod is set to launch on Steam.
One of the most fondly remembered first-person shooters, Return to Castle Wolfenstein has begun showing its age almost two decades after its release, the RealRTCW mod aiming to address this and much more."
Interplay and Fallout are technically reunited under one roof
Posted:
09.22.2020 20:00:10 Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax reunited Fallout IP and some of the brains behind it, who used to work at Interplay back in the late '90s, opening a treasure trove of fan hopes and possibilities.
The sci-fi multiplayer shooter ExoCorps is coming to Steam Early Access in early October, 2020
Posted:
09.22.2020 19:00:09 Independent developer Gingerbred today announced that their new sci-fi multiplayer shooter "ExoCorps" will now be coming to Steam Early Access for PC in early October in order to add further tweaks to prepare for its Early Access debut.
Activision Says Reports of Major Call of Duty User Account Hack are 'Not Accurate'
Posted:
09.22.2020 16:00:10 Activision has denied reports claiming Call of Duty accounts were hacked, following claims on the internet saying there was a major data breach.
In the past week, numerous claims online reported that as many as 500,00 Activision accounts were hacked. Reports of this hack spread online across social media and various Call of Duty online communities, with many urging users to reset their passwords and add two-factor authentication (2FA).
While 2FA and resetting passwords are always recommended, even when there's no mass data breach, Activision says these reports are inaccurate. In a statement issued on Twitter, Activision writes,
“Reports suggesting Activision Call of Duty Accounts have been compromised are not accurate. We investigate all privacy concerns. As always we recommend that players take precaution to protect their Activision accounts, as well as any online accounts, at all times. You will receive emails when major changes are made to your Call of Duty accounts. If you did not make these changes, please be sure to follow the steps provided.”
It’s unclear where these hacking reports originated, but they spread far enough for Activision to issue an official statement denying the reports. In any case, if you did receive an email claiming your account has been changed without your knowledge, we recommend resetting your password.
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Activision is readying the release of the next Call of Duty, Black Ops Cold War. IGN has previews for Black Ops Cold War’s single-player campaign and a review-in-progress of the Black Ops Cold War multiplayer alpha.
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Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.
Posted:
09.22.2020 16:00:10 Origin has made a name for itself by allowing its customers to completely customize nearly every aspect of their computers. Whether it's a gaming PC or gaming laptop, you can pick and choose the parts and pieces on the inside – and even customize the outside – to create your own personalized prebuilt gaming rig.
The EON15-X is just one of the latest examples of this approach from Origin. With this build, you get the option of a desktop AMD processor and either an RTX 2060 Max-P or 2070 Max-P GPU. The end result is a desktop-class computer in a laptop chassis, and outside of a couple of issues, it's a dream to use.
Specs
There's a wide variety of configurations and builds you can purchase from Origin. On the low end, you're looking at a build priced around $1,700. If you really want to get crazy, you can put together a version of the EON15-X that will cost $4,312.
I've been testing a build that walks the line down the middle. Here are the specifications of the Origin EON15-X I've been testing:
Model: Origin EON15-X (NH57AF1)
Display: 15.6-inch IPS 144Hz FHD (1,920 x 1,080)
Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 3900 12-Core 3.1GHz (4.3GHz Max Boost)
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 8GB GDDR6 Max-P
Memory: 16GB DDR4 2666MHz
OS: Windows 10 Home
Storage: 500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVME SSD, 1TB Seagate 2.5" FireCuda HDD
Webcam: 2MP webcam
Ports: 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 via USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, 1 x HDMI, 1 x miniDispayPort 1.4, 1 x USB 2.0, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2, 1 x microSD Card reader, 1 x 3.5mm audio combo, 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack
Connectivity: Intel Dual Band Wireless-Wi-Fi 6 AX200 + BT M.2
Despite all of the desktop talk and claims from Origin, the EON15-X isn't huge. Don't get me wrong, it's big, but it's nowhere near as big as the MSI GT75 Titan I reviewed previously. My back still hurts thinking about carrying that 10-pound monster and its dual power supplies
The EON15-X only weighs 5.9 pounds and measures 14.2 x 10.1 x 1.2 inches. Take one look at it and you'll see it's undoubtedly a gaming laptop, thanks to its sharp edges and otherwise bland look. At least, the unit I was sent is boring. It's all black, save for the silver Origin logo on the back of the lid. You can customize and tweak the outside of any Origin laptop with HD UV printing, metallic finishes, hydro dipping or custom laser etching. Of course, those all come at an extra cost over your configured build.
I'm a big fan of the port arrangement on the EON15-X, mainly because the power and display connections are found in the rear of the housing, making it easier to hide cables. Specifically, there's a DisplayPort 1.4 via USB 3.2 Gen 2 (USB-C), miniDisplayPort 1.4, HDMI, and the power connector on the back.
On the left side are two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, an RJ-45 Ethernet port, and a microSD card reader. On the left side you'll find a USB 2.0 port, a combo audio jack, and a dedicated microphone jack.
Centered along the top of the 15.6-inch 144Hz full HD display is a 2MP webcam. The bezels are fairly slim, which is why Origin is able to fit a 15.6-inch screen into a device that measures only 14.2-inches wide.
The keyboard is a typical affair, with a single RGB LED lighting zone and slim hard plastic caps. The touchpad is centered with the keyboard, not accounting for the 10 key to the right side. There are two physical buttons with the trackpad.
I don't dislike the keyboard and trackpad, but the lack of multi-zone RGB or individually lit keys is a disappointment. The keys are just fine to type on and are well enough spaced when gaming that I wasn't accidentally pressing random keys and unintentionally lobbing grenades.
Performance and gaming
Inside this particular EON15-X is an impressive lineup. There's an AMD Ryzen 9 3900 12-core processor, 16GB of 2,666 Mhz DDR4 memory, Nvidia's RTX 2070 with Max-P, a 500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD, and a 1TB 5400 RPM Seagate FireCuda HDD.
Before we dive into benchmarks, let me just say: This build is the fastest RTX 2070 laptop build I've ever tested. Not only does the use of an AMD desktop processor help, but performance is boosted by using a Max-P GPU over a Max-Q variant. In short, the Max-P version of Nvidia's mobile GPUs are more powerful and offer better performance.
The benchmarks and my personal testing confirm that claim.
Here's how the EON15-X stacks up against the Gigabyte Aorus 15G and Predator Helios 700:
As you can see, the clear winner across the board when it comes to performance is the EON15-X (I'll get to the battery test in a minute). And that goes for every RTX-2070 equipped laptop I've put through the same tests – including the Helios 700 that had a standard RTX 2070. In fact, the EON15-X outperforms most RTX-2080 with Max-Q laptops I've tested.
Yea. It's fast.
The Max-P version of the 2070 that Origin is using has a base clock speed of 1,260MHz and a boost speed of 1,455MHz. Compare that to the RTX 2070 Super w/Max-Q used in the Aorus 15G, which had a base and boost of 930MHz and 1,155MHz, and it starts to become clearer as to why the EON15-X performed so well. Of course, these cards will be outperformed by the new 30-series RTX desktop cards, but mobile variants of those haven't been announced yet and likely won't be for at least several months.
Real-world testing was more of the same: Solid performance all around. Whether I was dropping in on Warzone in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare or Battlefield V, both of which support ray-tracing, I was experiencing an average of 115 FPS and 85 FPS, respectively, at the highest settings, to boot.
All of this performance comes with a big downside: The fans are loud. Like, really loud. So loud that my wife has taken to calling this laptop the "Jet Engine." It's so loud, you can't game without headphones. They are absolutely required and should come in the box.
Footsteps, far off gunshots, other odds and ends? Yea, you're not going to hear any of that when this baby is going full tilt – which is pretty much from the moment you launch a game.
Cranking the system volume to 100% helps, of course, but the speakers sound muffled and after a few minutes I would become overwhelmed by such a noisy machine I'd just put on my headphones and drown out the fans. I could have set custom fan curves, but the GPU was already reaching 86-degrees with the default settings so I didn't want to make things worse.
There are power modes that help tame the fans, with Performance being the most egregious, but it's also the only mode that unlocks the full performance of the EON15-X. Entertainment, Quiet, and Power Saving all drop the frame rate, with Entertainment going from 115 FPS to under 100 FPS in Warzone. Power Saving and Quiet would bring it down to around 40 FPS.
The 500GB main SSD is enough for a couple of your favorite games, with the additional 1TB HDD serving as added storage. You can remove the bottom of the housing and upgrade the memory, swap out the HDD, or add another M.2 NVMe SSD with relative ease.
Battery life
Battery life is a disappointment. Putting the EON15-X through IGN's battery benchmark test which consists of looping a video in VLC with the display brightness set to 50% and all extraneous connections disabled saw the EON15-X's battery give up after just 57 minutes. And that was with the Entertainment power mode enabled.
Software
There's not a lot when it comes to software that's reinstalled on the EON15-X. Origin's Control Center app is front and center, giving you control over the power modes, keyboard lighting, fan speed control, and Flexikey macros.
Outside of the Control Center, the rest of the pre-installed apps are the standard affair for Windows 10 and nothing you can't remove if you don't have a need for it. More importantly, you won't find any bloatware or antivirus software preinstalled.
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Purchasing Guide
The Origin EON15-X is available direct from Origin's website for a starting price of $1,715 and can be customized to match our spec for $4,312.
The Division 2 Update 1.27 September 22 Brings Title Update 11
Posted:
09.22.2020 05:00:09
It’s finally here, agents! Ubisoft has released The Division 2 update 1.27 September 22 patch that brings the Title Update 11 content and changes. If you own the Warlords of New York expansion, you’ll be able to experience The Summit mode and more.
The Divission 2 Update 1.27 September 22 Title Update 11 patch notes:
Title Update 11 – Patch Notes
New Season – Concealed Agenda
A new season is almost upon us! Starting on September 22nd, Concealed Agenda offers 12 weeks of in-game activities and unique rewards. Season 3 brings a new Seasonal Manhunt, new Leagues, a new Global event and new unique rewards, as well as an Apparel Event.
New Manhunt tasking you to take on 5 rogue agents over a 12-week period starting September 22nd. Bring down all five to unlock the new Shrapnel Trap skill variant.
Bardon Schaeffer, Leader of the BTSU Unit of the Black Tusk is this Season’s prime target.
New Global Event SHD Exposed.
New Apparel Event Last Resort.
New Leagues Shade, Wraith, Dusk & Belfry.
New Rewards
2 new Exotics
1 new Gear Set
2 new Named Weapons
2 new Named Gear
1 new Brand Set
Participating in the activities above will earn players Season experience contributing to their Season level.
Playing Conflict will contribute XP by gaining Conflict Levels beyond 30.
Playing in the Dark Zone will contribute XP by gaining DZ Levels beyond 30.
New PvE Game Mode: The Summit
Title Update 11 introduces the new PvE game mode The Summit for free to all owners of the Warlords of New York expansion. The Summit brings agents to a skyscraper occupied by hostile factions, and as you progress towards the top the difficulty gradually will increase, and you will start seeing more ruthless enemies standing in your way. The Summit is designed to be highly replayable and also meant to offer a challenge to everybody, from our most dedicated agents to our newer agents. Floors will be different each time you fight your way through the building, as floors are randomly selected from a number of preset designs and gets populated by random AI spawns.
Progression throughout the floors is saved at specific rally points, and players can leave and jump back in where they left off without losing their progress. The total time to reach floor 100, and thus unlock all the difficulties, can vary greatly depending on the players skills and equipment as well as their team configuration
Highly replayable PvE game mode
100 floors to fight your way through
Checkpoint system
Unique rewards
Based on PTS feedback, we have made the below improvements for the release of Title Update 11, but work to bring the mode closer to our vision for the mode has already begun for the interim Title Update 11.1 and beyond.
Added greater variety and diversity in objective types as you progress through The Summit.
Changed the Hostage revive timer to be longer, giving more leeway to reach them before the objective fails.
Increased the radius of the hack zone for EMP objectives.
Increased the amount of loot caches scattered around the building, which contents scale with difficulty.
Reduced number of directives on Legendary Floors 91-100. Now has 3 random directives (previously had 4).
We saw the PTS feedback about this and those who prefer the tougher difficulties will not need to grind through the first 50 floors if they don’t want to.
We are by default unlocking Rally Points up to 51 (this is the start of Heroic floors)
In addition to the new objectives added in PTS Phase 2, there are a couple more coming for TU11
Adjusted frequency of certain objective types based on PTS data/feedback
Tuned Drone Ambush objective
Rogue Agent Encounters will be able to occur on Legendary Summit floors (still disabled for DC Strongholds)
Added exotic fireteams for Legendary (so occasionally you will see some unusual and challenging combinations of certain enemy types)
Crew Ambush will no longer occur on Legendary floors
New Feature: Appearance Mods
Appearance Mods (aka Transmog) will become available to you in Title Update 11, allowing for much greater customization of your Agent’s visual look. You will save the appearance of all obtained gear following the release of Title Update 11, allowing you to override your gear’s look with the gear of your choosing.
All gear is supported by Appearance Mods.
Weapons and Exotics are excluded.
Note: When logging in to TU11, you will need to log in to each of your characters to unlock the looks of all owned gear.
This only needs to be done once and you do not need to save the gear to keep their looks available moving forward.
Operation Iron Horse Discovery Mode
Discovery mode of the Operation Iron Horse raid will be available to all players with Title Update 11.
New Exotics
MPX Submachine Gun: Backfire
Dealing damage to enemies adds a stack of +1% critical hit damage, up to 200 stacks, lasting 10s.
On reload, apply a 10s bleed to yourself, which deals 0.5% armor damage per stack.
Backpack: Memento
Enemies you kill drop a trophy on death. Collecting trophies provides both a short- and long-term buff, the first of which scales with the number of core attributes equipped and lasts 10s.
+5% weapon damage per red core
+10% bonus armor per blue core
+5% skill efficiency per yellow core
For every trophy collected, gain an additional +1% weapon damage, +1% skill efficiency, and +0.1% armor regeneration for 300s. Maximum 30 stacks.
Chest: Ridgeway’s Pride
Shooting enemies within 10m applies bleed to the target.
Repair 1-25% of your armor per second for every enemy that is bleeding within 10m.
1 enemy: 1%
2 enemies: 4%
3 enemies: 9%
4 enemies: 16%
5 enemies: 25%
New Gear Set
Hunter’s Fury
An offensive gear set specializing in aggressive close combat.
Core: Weapon Damage (Red)
Set bonuses:
2+ Pieces
+15% SMG Damage
+15% Shotgun Damage
3+ Pieces
+20% Armor on Kill
+100% Health on Kill
4+ Pieces
Apex Predator: Enemies within 15m receive a debuff, increasing your weapon damage against them by +20%. Killing a debuffed enemy with your weapon disorients other enemies within 5m, and amplifies weapon damage by 5% for 10s, stacking up to 5 times.
Chest
Endless Hunger: Increases the duration of Apex Predator stacks from 10s to 30s.
Backpack
Overwhelming Force: Increases the radius of disorient on Apex Predator kills from 5m to 10m.
New Skill Variant
Shrapnel Trap
The Shrapnel Trap scatters a minefield of small explosive devices that can attach to any surface (including enemies) and then detonate based on enemy proximity.
Note: This skill will become unlockable in-game when the Prime Target of Season 3 becomes available but is available on the PTS for feedback and testing purposes.
New Named Items
SIX12 Shotgun: The Mop
+10% Armor on Kill
KARD-45 Pistol: TDI “Kard” Custom
+1 Skill Tier when used
Belstone Armory Chest: Everyday Carrier
Perfectly Efficient: Using an armor kit has a 75% chance to not consume the armor kit. Specialization armor kit bonuses are increased by 100%.
Belstone Armory Backpack: Liquid Engineer
Perfect Bloodsucker: Killing an enemy adds and refreshes a stack of +12% bonus armor for 10s. Max stack is 10
New Gear Brand
Belstone Armory
A defensive brand set primarily focused on self-sustain and efficient repairs.
Core: Armor (Blue)
Set bonuses:
+1% Armor Regen
+10% Armor on Kill
+20% Incoming Repairs
New Weapons
Shotgun: SIX12
A compact, 6-round, cylinder-fed shotgun, optimal for close-quarters urban combat.
Pistol: KARD-45
Prototype semi-automatic pistol, chambered in .45 ACP, utilizing the same technology as the Vector, but in a much smaller package.
New Attribute: Skill Efficiency
Similar to Weapon Handling, Skill Efficiency is a new attribute that modifies multiple skill-focused attribute bonuses at the same time.
+1% Skill Efficiency is equal to:
+1% Skill Damage
+1% Skill Haste
+1% Skill Duration
+1% Skill Health
+1% Repair Skills
+1% Status Effects
Developer comment: Skill Efficiency is currently only available on the new “Memento” exotic backpack.
New Directives
Fragile Armor – (Replaces “Hard to Earn”): Armor breaks apply a stack of “Broken” to the agent up to a maximum of 4. Each stack of broken reduces an agent’s max armor by 20%. Using an armor kit removes one stack of Broken.
Scavenged Skills – (Replaces “Cool Skills”): Skill cooldowns do not progress on their own. Agents must collect Skill Parts as drops from enemies and broken weak points. Each part collected reduces cooldowns.
Gameplay Changes
Global Events
Developer Comment: After reviewing the Global Events as a whole, we decided that the Global Events introduced in Season 1 did not provide the power boost to agents that we desire. As such, the following global events have been re-worked to provide a significant boost to player power.
Guardians – The buff provided from killing a Guardian angel now grants the ability to penetrate guardian protection. In addition, the buff renews its duration with each kill, permitting agents to chain kills throughout an entire fireteam without necessarily defeating all guardians first. Additionally, defeating all guardians in a fireteam now prevents the surviving members from regaining protection for an amount of time based on their veterancy. (Standard enemies will not be able to receive protection for a long time, named enemies can regain protection quite quickly.) Finally, melee attacks against protected enemies will briefly rob those enemies of their protection.
Polarity Switch – The shock for shooting opposite-polarity enemies has been removed. Values for the strength of the stacking buff have been updated to provide a significant power boost to agents.
Reanimated – The green cloud produced by killing enemies with a headshot no longer harms agents. This cloud now heals agents and provides a significant boost to their firepower while standing within it. The green cloud continues to significantly harm enemies.
Mods
Mod slots on backpacks, chests, and masks are now generic, and no longer associated with a specific offensive, defensive, or utility mod type.
Mod slots on gear are no longer able to be recalibrated.
Note: Any existing gear that has had its mod slot recalibrated prior to TU11 will have that recalibration automatically refunded, allowing a new attribute or talent to be recalibrated instead.
Added generic mod slots to all “improvised” crafting high end gear.
Developer comment: Any type of mod (red/blue/yellow) can now be placed in any mod slot, regardless of previous brand/set or exotic gear color association. Ex: You can now place a defensive or utility gear mod into an Airaldi backpack, without needing to recalibrate the mod slot from red to blue/yellow.
Defensive gear mods can now drop with disorient and ensnare resistances.
Loot
Rainbow loot
Introduced weighing to gear attributes to reduce the amount of rainbow loot.
The first non-core attribute has a higher chance to be of the same color as the core attribute
Added all new Season 3 weapons and gear to the general loot pool.
Added the new Season 3 brand to targeted loot rotation.
Season 2 Content
Updated Legacy Season cache to include weapons, gear set and named items from Season 2
Added Season 2 blueprints to general blueprint loot pool
Removed Season 2 level requirements from season 2 Exotics from all sources
Mantis and Vile can now be acquired from general Exotic sources (e.g. targeted loot, Exotic Caches) without any conditions
Balance
Named Items
Deathgrips: Increased the armor on kill from +5% to +10%
Gear Sets
Eclipse Protocol
Lowered Indirect Transmission on kill status effect spread from 15m to 10m
Proliferation now increases the range of Indirect Transmission from 10m to 15m
Increased Symptom Aggravator damage amplification from 15% to 30%
Talents
Obliterate: Increased the number of maximum stacks of total weapon damage from 15 to 25
PvP
Reduced the global PvP damage modifier from 0.35 to 0.3
Reverted previous change to pistol PvP damage modifiers to pre-10.1 values (buff)
Small increase to all shotgun, rifle, and MMR PvP damage modifiers to match global damage reduction and retain pre-TU11 time-to-kill
Slight reduction to overall SMG PvP damage
Lady Death’s Breathe Free weapon damage amplification effect lowered from 75% to 60% in PvP
Developer comment: The above changes should result in a small increase to TTK at medium/close range, while keeping rifles and MMRs deadly at long ranges.
Crusader, Reflector, and Striker shields now take 33% more damage in PvP
Riot Foam Chem Launcher base ensnare duration lowered from 3s to 2s in PvP
Firewall specialization talent Fiery Response no longer applies a 5m burn on armor break in PvP
Eclipse Protocol’s Indirect Transmission on kill status effect spread lowered from 15m to 5m in PvP (7m with Proliferation chest talent)
Headhunter buff duration lowered from 30s to 5s in PvP
Headhunter damage bonus lowered from 40% to 20% in PvP (25% with Perfect Headhunter)
Audio Improvements
Title Update 11 brings significant memory optimizations for audio, which should resolve the audio loss issues reported by players since TU10.
Bug Fixes
Fixed covers in numerous sections of the Summit.
Fixed placement of laptop terminal interaction in various sections of the Summit.
Fixed an issue that occasionally prevented the kill boss objective from completing
Fixed an issue where the 100th floor enemies could end up underneath the room.
Fixed an issue which allowed players to finish the 100th floor in The Summit without actually killing the enemies.
Fixed an issue causing only one type of enemy to spawn in The Summit on Legendary difficulty.
Fixed an issue causing enemies to shoot through walls on the 100th floor in The Summit.
Fixed an issue that caused you to be matched with a The Summit group when matchmaking for main missions.
Fixed an issue causing the SHD crate disappear briefly after completing the “Hold SHD Crate” objective in The Summit.
Fixed missing Specialization Tutorial when boosting a new character to level 30.
Fixed an issue which caused all trap variants to become stuck in the ceiling.
Fixed an issue with the Recalibration Library where the Pistol Damage attribute lowered from 15% to 14% following a maintenance
Fixed an issue causing the Headhunter talents duration to refresh when swapping weapons
Fixed the White House Operation Iron Horse World’s First portraits not displaying correctly on Xbox
Fixed an issue that would cause the bonus armor from the Galvanize talent to apply to rogue agents
Fixed a ladder that couldn’t be interacted with near the Widow’s Web control point
Fixed a ladder that couldn’t be interacted with near The Gate
Fixed Deflector Shield not triggering some Skill Talents
Fixed issues with the Feedback Loop talent sometimes not applying when equipped and something remaining active when unequipped
Fixed In Sync talent activating when killing wildlife
Fixed the Polycarbonate cost for crafting SMG’s being three times higher than intended
Fixed jammers blocking rogue agents from using skills
Fixed the game menu overlapping with the mega map when the player is in a downed state
Fixed Global Event and League menus becoming offset when in the menu and taking a melee attack from a NPC
Fixed UI inconsistencies with the flamethrower’s indicated damage and actual damage
Fixed an issue causing the icon for Makeshift Repairs to not appear under the health bar
Fixed an issue causing league missions scale with global difficulty and not the selected difficulty
Fixed the Riot Foam Chem launcher not applying ensnare on the final boss of District Union Arena under certain conditions
Fixed the Guardians Global Event task “Eliminate hostiles with the Guardian buff” not counting for group members
Fixed the Guardians Global Event task “Eliminate veterans with the Guardian buff” to correctly show 50 enemies
Fixed an issue where agents would clip through the Base of Operations helicopter pilot NPC
Fixed an issue causing Rogue Agents to spawn during League time trials
Fixed an issue causing new characters created during the Double XP manhunt event only to gain the boost for the first 14 levels, instead of 15
Fixed an issue causing the character to equip a grenade when inspecting a specialization weapon and moving the left analog stick left to right
Fixed the Mantis scope incorrectly highlighting enemies
Fixed the Shock Trap affecting players when an enemy trigger it in their vicinity
Fixed the Mantis attributes being extractable at the recalibration station
Fixed agents not respawning in a safe area after changing Global Difficulty in coop
Fixed the molten metal puddles not being visible in Operation Iron horse after a player fast travels out of the raid and back
Fixed the PC chat not being visible or useable when in a downed or dead state
Fixed the Signal Flare emote not removing the flares after the player interrupts the emote
Fixed Conflict XP sometimes not being added to the overall PvP XP in the end of match screen
Fixed the name and health bar being placed too high above the decoy in PvP
Fixed the Hostile Negotiation’s four-piece talent dealing less damage than indicated to other agents
Fixed an issue where being affected by the Full Flag debuff and your skills being destroyed would cause an explosion inflicting damage to nearby players
Fixed the Spotter talent incorrectly doubling damage when used in conjunction with skills
Fixed ISAC not alerting players when encountering hostile NPC’s with shields
Fixed the Double XP levels available not decreasing when gaining a new Season level
Fixed a location in the Operation Iron Horse raid where players could go out of bounds
Fixed an issue in the Operation Iron Horse raid where the sewers objective could be started without all agents gathering up, causing an objective reset
Fixed an issue causing several dyes not being applied to the Striker Gear Set
Fixed the Skill Duration attribute not increasing the duration of the Burn Sticky Bomb
Fixed an issue causing players to be unable to fast travel to the Dark Zones from New York
Fixed Keener’s remaining immune to bullets after his drone self-destructs
Fixed an issue causing the “Premium Access” and “Discover Pass” screens overlapping after switching between them
Fixed the Crossbow signature weapon incorrectly triggering ammo bonuses
Fixed the Liberty exotic to not trigger from ricochets
While the studio has just released Title Update 11 today, the studio is already looking ahead to TU1.1!
We’ll post more details once we know more about any upcoming updates or expansions.
(TKC) BF3 - Fly Maps, fast vehicle spawn.. Noob Friendly!:25200
(TKC) RS2V - NFO Fast Server - Noobs Welcome!:7777
You can easily find any of our servers by using the "Server Status" tab. You can also find our servers at the bottom of our forums at: http://www.clan-tkc.com/phpBB or at GameTracker: http://www.gametracker.com/clan/thekillingcommitteeclan/. If you need any help finding our servers in-game, just come to our forums, post a topic and we'll try to help you out.
TKC servers are well run and every attempt is made to ensure a fun gaming environment. No racist or rude behavior is tolerated on any of our servers. TKC tries to have round the clock administration for it's servers but obviously sometimes a server will have no admin playing so if you witness any abuse for any game please attempt to report the offending players nickname, and if possible GUID here: "Server Vistors Complaint". Just give as many details as you can remember such as what the player was doing/saying. In addition cheating is not tolerated on our servers. We are protected by any of a number of different cheat tools at any given time including; VAC, steambans.com, pbbans.com, ggc-stream.com, metabans, pbscreens.com and punkbuster, depending on the game. If caught cheating your information will be submitted to the appropriate cheat tracker and you will be added to their database which will ban your Steam ID, PB GUID or EA GUID depending on the game and website.
When available we also offer ways for players, in-game, to contact admins to report bad behavior. These come in the form of game server plugins. Players will, if the server has the option available, have the option to report a player using, @report [player] [reason] or @admin [reason] to call an admin to the server. If an admin doesn't respond in a timely manner, please use the @report option so we can follow up on it later or use "Server Vistors Complaint" as mentioned above. If an admin is not available, we also try to give the players the opportunity to use @votekick [player] or @voteban [player] [reason]. This allows the guests to our server the ability to kick or temporarily ban a player who is breaking rules.
Profanity - Many of the games we play have very bad language, some don't, that should make a difference in how we enforce our rules. For that reason we are going to implement a new rule, which will seem strange at first, but there is reason behind it. Bad language will only be tolerated on Teamspeak channels for games where there is bad language in the game. In other words, since there is bad language in Bad Company 2, bad language will be acceptable in the Bad Company 2 Teamspeak channel and on the Bad Company 2 servers. On our Half-Life 2 DM Teamspeak channel and game server, bad language will not be allowed. Future games will also be handled in this manner. The reason, we do not want to exclude members with different beliefs. If I buy a game and one of the selling points for me was the fact that it did not have bad language, that should be respected. I do not want a father or grandfather having to explain bad language to their children or grandchildren because they heard profanity on a TKC Teamspeak channel they thought was free of such things.
How to deal with with Mic/Text spammers - No one wants to listen to a lot of unrelated chatter either on the game server, or Teamspeak. No one wants to see a lot of text spamming either. It's distracting to some, and in the case of Bad Company 2, causes lag problems when the text log gets too long. If someone is talking or typing too much, respectfully ask them to stop. If they continue, you may have to mute or kick them, and if they continue after that, a ban might be in order. When on Teamspeak, a certain amount of "visiting" is fine, but the gamers who want to communicate tactical information to others playing shouldn't have to constantly interrupt talk about the latest CPU, or talk of what's going on at school. If someone is talking too much and you don't feel like you want to address it, PM a clan leader and we can handle the situation.
Team Switching - In some games this is a big no-no and if you are admin for one of those games, ask the player to go back, if they don't and you have the ability, move them back manually. If you continue to have problems, kick/ban them. In other games, like Bad Company 2, team switching usually isn't as big a deal. Sometimes friends or clan members might want to play together, in that case, try to facilitate them and swap some people around. This will show you to be respectful of community and they will probably be very appreciative of your efforts. If there is a mass exodus of people from a bad team to a good team, you can mention in-game that people need to stop. If someone is ignoring you and continues to unbalance the teams, just kick them off the server. For a game like Half-Life 2, teams change after each round, so trying to put clan members together is just a waste of time, that is why team switching is considered bad.
Hacking/Cheating - This is the most overused excuse for kicking someone off of a server. Players are unjustly booted off servers all the time simply because they were too good. That is not fair. Do not base a decision on cheating on a single round, if it isn't really ridiculous score-wise, sometimes people just have great rounds. But if they continue to have an unbelievable K/D ratio, then you might need to ban them. Sometimes it might be necessary to ban someone just because they are killing the server. For me, this is the thing I hate to do the most. That person might be doing nothing wrong, other than being really good at a game. Try to put yourself in their shoes and only ban guys who are really obvious. I don't want to see anyone being banned for an aimbot because they went 29-0. I and many others have had a better score than that, it DOES happen. You have to consider how the person is playing the game. Are they playing as recon? Are they in the heli with a really good pilot? Sometimes, if you are unsure, it might be best to ask the opinion of a clan leader. Remember, visitors to our servers have the ability and a forum to complain about unjust behavior from our server admins. If someone complains about you, you want to know that you did everything by the book.
Soldier Names/Nicknames - We will not allow names that are offensive to anyone. I think we can all use our best judgement here, but if you are unsure, ask another admin what they think of the name and come to a consensus before taking action. Players using racist names should be perm banned immediately. It does no good talking to someone like that because they're only goal is to cause trouble.
Banter and Trash Talking - Now its okay to joke around, but if several players are going at it constantly on the mic or in chat just nicely ask them to stop. If it continues warn them again that if they don't stop they will be kicked, if for no other reason that mic/text spamming. If they ignore this warning then go ahead and kick them. A certain amount of this is fine as long as it's good natured, however sometimes this can lead to hard feelings so you have to use your best judgement of when something is going too far or things are starting to get out of hand.
Racist/intolerant behavior - This is a subject that we will show no mercy on. If someone is being a racist, and that means they are hating on blacks, whites, browns, yellows, whatever the case may be, they get perm banned. No warnings, no kicks, just ban them. We don't need that kind of intolerant behavior on our servers. I don't care if the person is joking, I don't care what his real intent was, if he's spewing hate speech, he's gone. This also applies to someone who is spewing hate speech against a group of people, like Muslims, Christians, agnostics, atheists whoever. We are a gaming clan. This is our hobby and it's supposed to be fun. Everyone who comes to a TKC server should be respected and able to play the game hassle free. Not everyone believes the same, and if someone can't get over it and comes to our server with an agenda that includes racist or intolerant speech, I expect you guys to bring the hammer down swiftly.
Metabans - We will use Metabans only for cheaters and will verify each ban using Cheat-O-Meter. This will ensure that we are not forcing our Metabans followers into banning players we have banned for breaking rules other than cheating. If we deem you are cheating and Cheat-O-Meter doesn't really indicate cheating and we can not find information about you or your clan tag, meaning there is no website or previous information on you as a player or clan that we can cross reference, we will ban you on our servers, but not Metabans. Clans must have a website that we can find and access to be considered legit, otherwise we will view your tags as hogwash and your suspect behavior will be deemed as cheating. Again, we will not add a ban that is not supported by Cheat-O-Meter to Metabans.
We want everyone to have the best time possible so do your best to maintain a good gaming atmosphere, then everyone can have a good time.
To join TKC you only have to read our "Code of Conduct" and then apply for membership by filling out an online application. After submitting your application you will become a "member candidate". You will be allowed to wear our tags but only as (tkc), all letters in lowercase. As you progress, as seen by our members, you will be advanced to (Tkc), then (TKc) and then finally (TKC). You will receive emails at each step with detailed instructions on what you need to do. To obtain your full membership and the right to wear the (TKC) tags, you will have to pass a vote by the TKC members. Only those members who have gotten to know you will vote. An 80% yes vote will be required for full admission. Please keep in mind that full membership takes 8 weeks.
For you to be accepted you will need to display good manners, sportsmanship, and the ability to follow our rules. This applies to all game server activitiy and forum participation. If you do not feel you can meet our requirements we respectfully ask that you not apply as we have many who want to join and we can not waste time on gamers who are not serious about membership.
So now you're a member of TKC congrats! It is important for you to note that membership in TKC is not a lifetime privilege. Only the clan founders Big Flem and Squidward have lifetime membership and can not be removed. Clan leaders expect it's members to participate in clan activites when they can, and to be an ACTIVE member in the clan. We consider active members to be members who regularly post on the forums, participate in clan activities when possible, and communicates and develops friendships inside the clan. We do NOT consider a member to be active if they only ever play on our servers and nothing more. The leaders of this clan work hard to organize events and if you can't support these activities, can't check and post on the forums at least once or twice a week, then you are not TKC material and eventually you will be kicked from the clan. If you do not think you can meet these requirements as a member of TKC, then please don't attempt to gain entry into the clan as you will only waste your time, and ours.
Beyond administration positions such as "Clan Leader", "Division Leader", etc, the answer is no. However we do have achievable military style ribbons and medals that can be won for various acts. You may see each members ribbon and medal "Display Case" by going to the "Members" tab and under each members profile clicking the "Awards" icon. Below is each award and how you obtain that award. Note that medals also have an associative ribbon:
Ribbons(Hover over information icon for description)
In the past TKC had too many admins on our servers and things got a little out of hand. We are not looking for any new admins, however if we feel you will make a good addition to that team we will ask you. Being a server admin is not fun and games. It requires you to WORK, and follow server administrator rules which are well defined once you become an admin. Our admins are forced to stop playing whatever game they might be playing, and work to secure and maintain server tranquility reguarly. If you are an admin that does not mean you will get to run willy nilly and ban, kick, and torture at will. Admins who do not follow our rules will be stripped of admin duties and power. In addition there are more requirements of admins such as, reguarly checking our server admins forum. Once you become an admin you will be given access to this forum and you must check and read it quite often. It is a way for admins to help one another by posting their thoughts on what is going on, who to watch closely, etc. Do not ask us constantly to be an admin, that is the surest way I know to never become an admin. Our leaders will identify the best candidates for admin duties if we think it necessary.
No. In order to have an official TKC server it must meet certain standards. In addition, we might not want a server for a particular game, and if you aren't an admin, then you shouldn't have admin authority on any server. Official TKC servers have to be setup as close to identical as possible. This means that the clan leaders must have all access to any of it's servers including the ability to restart that server, gain access via FTP and game panel. It means that the clan leaders can setup the server with it's normal settings and add the usual addons. In short, if you want to have your own server then that is fine, but don't try to name it "Boom Boom Room" or tie it in any way to TKC.
Clan TKC maintains several servers that are open to it's clan members and the public. In addition TKC has other expenses that require money. To pay the bills TKC relies on it's members and visitors to donate. Without these donations, TKC will cease to exist. Please consider donating money when you can. We do our best to use the money wisely, to invest in TKC, to invest in PC gaming.
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Medal of Honor
