Home > News

Borderlands 3 FL4K Character Profile Trailer Revealed, Here Are His Abilities

Gearbox Software has released the final Vault Hunter profile trailer for Borderlands 3, and this time, it’s FL4K the Beastmaster’s turn! Shown below is the Borderlands 3 FL4K character trailer, and we’ve included his abilities and skills too.

FL4K the Beastmaster is on a never-ending hunt in Borderlands 3, accompanied by loyal beasts who are eager to please them. This robotic leader of the pack has access to both an Action Skill and an autonomous Pet that fights by their side and obeys commands to pounce on specific targets. Here’s a look at FL4K’s Hunter, Master, and Stalker skill trees, which give them and their Pet the killer instincts they need to overcome whatever the galaxy throws at them.

HUNTER

Action Skill: Rakk Attack!
Pet: Spiderant Centurion

Hit your enemies precisely where it hurts with the Hunter skill tree. When FL4K deploys the Rakk Attack! Action Skill, which has multiple charges, Rakk will soar into the air and swoop down to divebomb nearby enemies. While your Rakk are doing work, FL4K can sic the Spiderant Pet onto their prey, which attacks with globs of acidic goo, spinning charge attacks, and strikes from their pincer and prosthetic drill arm. As an added bonus, FL4K constantly regenerates health while the Spiderant is out.

Critical hits are crucial to the Hunter skill tree, with plenty of passive skills that reward you for hitting your quarry’s weak points. You may get a chance to restore ammo to your magazine after a critical hit, or potentially reduce your Action Skill cooldown. Other options provide boosts to your Hunter Skills – a special type of skill found in all of FL4K’s skill trees. Here are some other helpful picks from the Hunter skill tree:

  • Ambush Predator is perfect for snipers who prefer to fight from afar: while there are no enemies nearby, FL4K’s weapon handling and critical hit damage are increased.
  • The Most Dangerous Game is a Hunter Kill Skill that literally pays dividends if you go after tougher targets. Whenever FL4K kills a Badass or stronger enemy, they gain increased critical hit damage, gun damage, and handling for an extended period. Additionally, they receive a cash reward from the Intergalactic Bureau of Bounty Hunting, which clearly recognizes that FL4K deserves a tip for their hard work.
  • Megavore is a game-changer, giving FL4K a chance to score a critical hit with weapons against any part of enemies. Even if you miss a headshot here and there, Megavore can make a bullet to the butt just as lethal as one to the brain.

Action Skill Augments in the Hunter skill tree give you more ways to wreak Rakk havoc, like adding extra Rakk to the pack or making them deal cryo damage. Meanwhile, you can evolve your Spiderant Pet to deal incendiary or corrosive damage and provide buffs on top of the baseline health regeneration. If you love to carefully line up your shots from a safe distance and execute your target with a few critical hits, the Hunter skill tree plays to your sniping prowess.

MASTER

Action Skill: Gamma Burst
Pet: Guard Skag

Establish your dominance over the battlefield with the Master skill tree. Bend reality in your favor using the Gamma Burst Action Skill, which creates a rift that instantly teleports your Pet to a target location with a burst of radiation damage. In a pinch, you can also use Gamma Burst as a quick revive when FL4K’s Pet is downed or dead at the cost of increasing your Action Skill cooldown timer. Your Skag Pet buffs your damage and will ravage enemies with vicious bites and projectile vomit. Good boy!

The Master skill tree offers plenty of ways to increase your Pet’s damage output, like a passive skill that causes their first melee attack against an enemy to be an automatic critical hit. Beyond providing cover fire, FL4K can directly aid their Pet through skills like:

  • Who Rescued Who? strengthens the symbiotic bond between FL4K and their Pet. Whenever their Pet deals damage, FL4K regenerates some health, and whenever FL4K deals damage, their Pet will be healed for a portion of the damage dealt.
  • Psycho Head on a Stick, which sounds like a fantastic chew toy, is a Hunter Kill Skill that buffs FL4K’s Pet with increased movement speed and damage for a few seconds whenever FL4K kills an enemy.
  • Dominance emphasizes the ‘master’ in Beastmaster. This new melee attack lets FL4K convert an enemy to their side for a short time, with doubled duration if your dominated target is a beast. Dominance is also a means for dealing damage to your temporary ally: your target loses health until the effect ends or they die fighting for your cause.

FL4K can improve the utility of their Gamma Burst by giving their Pet a radiation aura on activation or providing health regeneration whenever FL4K and their allies are near the rift. The Skag Pet evolutions can give FL4K increased gun damage or fire rate, along with teaching the Skag some destructive new tricks you won’t see at any dog show. Power up your Pet to the fullest with the Master skill tree, then fight alongside your beast as they dutifully do your bidding.

STALKER

Action Skill: Fade Away
Pet: Jabber Sidekick

“One of the strongest early game builds for FL4K, I personally think, is using his Fade Away skill with the modification that allows unlimited shots while cloaked. Pair that with the Jakobs manufacturer perk of every critical shot ricochets to another enemy, and you’ll have high powered bullets bouncing everywhere.” – Daquan Sease, QA Tester

Evasion and resilience are the hallmarks of the Stalker skill tree. If FL4K is ever in a bind, using the Fade Away Action Skill will facilitate a quick getaway by instantly cloaking them and affording them increased movement speed and health regeneration. Once FL4K maneuvers into a better position, they can fire off three shots that are guaranteed critical hits, completely turning the tide in a tough fight. Your furry Jabber Pet provides bonus movement speed, and even has its own adorable little gun to fill your enemies with lead.

You’ll find plenty of ways to up your survivability in the Stalker skill tree; maybe you’ll opt to simply increase FL4K’s maximum health, or choose a passive skill that shares FL4K’s health regeneration with allies and doubles the bonus for their Pet. Staying healthy is a major part of maximizing your effectiveness with the Stalker skill tree, which includes such life-saving skill as:

  • Lick the Wounds lets your Pet attempt to revive you whenever you’re downed in the Fight For Your Life state. You’ll appreciate your Pet that much more after they pull off a clutch revive during a heated firefight, and it’s a great option for staying alive in solo play.
  • The Fast and the Furryous gives FL4K increased gun damage and movement speed whenever they’re above half health. It sounds simple, but trying to preserve your health and maintain your buffs becomes a metagame in and of itself.
  • The Power Inside makes FL4K and their Pet gain increased damage after FL4K activates an Action Skill—but if FL4K is at full health, that damage increase is doubled. Triggering that doubled bonus is easy to do before a fight, but good luck pulling it off once you’re in the thick of all the ensuing chaos.

Increase your odds of survival even further with Action Skill Augments, like gaining damage reduction after Fade Away ends, or giving your Pet the ability to taunt enemies to grab their attention. Your choice of delightfully coiffed Jabber evolutions will change their gun of choice, along with adding maximum health or critical hit damage buffs on top of the increased movement speed. You’ll be damn difficult to take down when specializing in the Stalker skill tree, giving FL4K and their Pet plenty of ways to outlive their prey.

Don’t forget to check out the other Vault Hunter profiles as well (Zane, Moze, Amara) to know more about them and their abilities too.

Borderlands 3 will be out this September 13 on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Avatar photo

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

World War Z Maintenance Happening Now, Here’s What to Expect

Zombie hunters, you’ll be going up against something other than hordes of zombies in World War Z today, as Saber Interactive is switching the servers for some much needed World War Z maintenance! Don’t fret though, it won’t take long.

World War Z maintenance schedule:

When: August 8, 10:30 AM CET / 2:30 AM PDT / 5:30 AM EDT.

Duration: One hour

https://twitter.com/wwzthegame/status/1158413584482918406

No word on whether a new patch will be rolled out or a server-side hotfix will be included once the servers are back up. But if there’s any, we’ll be sure to let our readers know ASAP.

In other World War Z news, check out the updated roadmap for the game right here to know what you’ll be getting soon.

More World War Z Reading:

Avatar photo

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

PSN Down, Online Play Affected According to Users (Update #2)

Update (3:30 a.m. EDT):

According to the PSN status page, “all services are up and running.”

Game on, people! If PSN is still down for you, let us know where you’re located in the comments.

Original Story:

Following the Xbox Live issues that plagued gamers yesterday, it seems PS4 gamers are now getting hit with server outages. It would appear that PSN down is happening, as multiple reports and a status update from Sony have confirmed that the network is experiencing some technical difficulties.

Sony has acknowledged the situation with the official Ask PlayStation Twitter account relaying that Sony is investigating:

The first reports began flooding Reddit with users reporting that a maintenance had been occurring, which was soon followed by reports of users being signed out and notifications stating that they need PS+ despite being a current subscriber.  For the most, a majority of users are reporting from within the United States, though we have seen some from out of country stating that the service is down for them as well.

Multiple users on Twitter have also confirmed that the service is currently down for them.

The official PlayStation status page is displaying that all network services are currently experiencing some issues.

Oddly enough, for me at least, the online appeared to have been functioning normal until I decided to turn off my PS4 and turn it back on as some users have reported doing, in which case I couldn’t sign back on myself. My suggestion is if the network is working for you, don’t shutdown the console as that’ll force you to sign-off if it hasn’t already. Otherwise, for those who are currently affected and cannot log back in, as always we will have to wait for the network to come back online. If you have any physical titles you can still play them (unless online is required) and for those with digital you can as well, but only if the console is the primary console, otherwise you may see a locked symbol and the system requesting you to make the console the primary.

Seems its been a rough week for online gaming as Xbox Live also experienced some down time (and still is in some places) that prevented users from signing-on.

Is PSN down for you? Share where you are in the world so others know as well.

Avatar photo

James Lara

A gamer at heart, James has been working for MP1st for the last decade to do exactly what he loves, writing about video games and having fun doing it. Growing up in the 90's gaming has been in his DNA since the days of NES. One day he hopes to develop his own game.

Home > News

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Gets Rated “M,” Devs Respond to Cut Content Rumors to Meet ESRB Rating

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has received an official rating of “M” (for mature)f the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).

Multiple retailers updated their cover art today of the title to display the “M” rating and gave us some small details as to what material this title will contain.

ESRB Content Description: Blood and gore, intense violence, strong language and suggestive scenes (via Target, GameStop, and official COD twitter)

Again, it isn’t much of a surprise that it has gotten this rating considering every single Call of Duty have been rated M for mature, so it was only natural for this new iteration to be the same, although a few did believe that the title could have possibly gotten a “AO” rating due to some of its highly graphical scenes that were reported from missions shown at an event back in May.

These rumors were sparked by TheGamingRevolution, who has had an impressive record of being correct from all his previous Call of Duty: Modern Warfare leaks.


He later went on to explain what was cut, which pertained to a number of children’s being murdered during the mission. Taylor Kurosaki, the Narrative Director over at Infinity Ward was quick to shut down this rumor that content had been cut to meet the standards set by the ESRB.

Obviously we suggest you take the word of an official developer over anyone who isn’t, but even still it’s hard for one to determine whether there is any truth to those statement from TGR, and we most likely won’t know until sometime far after the game’s launch. From the sound of it, Infinity Ward is at least telling the story that they want to be told.

Avatar photo

James Lara

A gamer at heart, James has been working for MP1st for the last decade to do exactly what he loves, writing about video games and having fun doing it. Growing up in the 90's gaming has been in his DNA since the days of NES. One day he hopes to develop his own game.

Home > News

Street Fighter 5 Free Trial Available Now Until This Weekend, Download It Here

Who doesn’t want free stuff, right? If you ever wanted to try Street Fighter 5, but was a bit hesitant in buying it, Capcom is letting fans try before they buy with the Street Fighter 5 free trial now available on the PS4, and Steam!

While this post might be a bit late (since the Street Fighter 5 free trial started on August 1), it’s still available now until August 11! Check out the quick video Capcom released just for it.

In the Street Fighter 5 free trial, participants will be able to fiddle with the original launch roster (16 fighters) and Season 3 characters (six fighters) for a total of 22 fighters to mess around with.

You can download the Street Fighter 5 free trial via the links below:

Download Street Fighter 5 on PS4

Download Street Fighter 5 on Steam

Don’t forget, a slew of new characters have been introduced in the game as well — at least for the Arcade Edition.

Thanks, GameNationUSA

Avatar photo

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Call of Duty Modern Warfare Scorestreaks Can Be Done via Perk, Killstreak Looping Not Allowed

In case you didn’t know, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will go back to the killstreak rewards system popularized in past games instead of the scorestreak system invented by Treyarch. While the game seems to be doing a lot of right things, it’s up to debate whether this is one of those things. For those who prefer scorestreaks, you’re not exactly counted out. Infinity Ward has confirmed that Modern Warfare scorestreaks are still possible in the game.

In an in-depth feature talking about the game today, Multiplayer Design Director Geoff Johns mentioned that scorestreaks are still possible in Modern Warfare by using a perk called “Point Man.” Not only that, but if you prefer to NOT use killstreak/scorestreak rewards at all, you can do so as well with the Specialist system, which shouldn’t be confused with Black Ops 4’s Specialists characters. The Specialist Strike Package introduced in Modern Warfare 3 allowed players to gain additional perks instead of your usual killstreak/scorestreak rewards.

The entire scorestreaks thing is good news, right? Unfortunately, there’s bad news, too. If you’re one of the players who can earn multiple killstreak rewards (or scorestreak rewards) in one life, you’ll be disappointed to know that in Modern Warfare, killstreak looping — meaning once you’ve unleashed all your killstreaks you’d once again be poised to earn them again — won’t be allowed. This was confirmed by Multiplayer Design Director Joe Cecot over on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/JoeCecot/status/1158127192397643776

While I understand that Infinity Ward might be doing this to prevent killstreak rewards spam in matches, it does feel like penalizing the better players to some degree. Aside from gunning for a Nuke, once you’ve obtained your third — and final — killstreak, there’s really no point in staying alive.

Of course, given that Infinity Ward is using the upcoming beta to test how fans react to the game not employing a mini map, proper feedback from players might make the devs change their mind about killstreak looping too.

Are you glad that scorestreaks are still in the game albeit with a trade off? Should Infinity Ward let killstreak looping out to prevent pub stomping or is it a gameplay design mistake? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Avatar photo

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Mortal Kombat 11 Update 1.07 Patch Notes and File Size Info – Balance Patch Now Live

As mentioned yesterday , the Mortal Kombat 11 balance patch is now live! You might want to turn on your consoles, as Mortal Kombat 11 update 1.07 is now live on both PS4 and Xbox One! Clocking in at 5GB on PS4, and 6.12GB on Xbox One, a ton of character-related gameplay changes have been rolled out by NetherRealm Studios. Check out the full Mortal Kombat 11 update 1.07 patch notes below.

General Gameplay Adjustments • Move list corrections

• Improvements to AI logic

• Added Color Blindness mode (Protanope, Deuteranope, & Tritanope) to Video Options

• Added HDR TV Quality settings (Standard, High End, Professional) to Video Options

• Added Variation info to the Pause Menu in Practice Mode

• Added a 4 Star Ranking and replaced Damage Ratio with additional matchup information to the Kombat Breakdown after an Online Match or Kombat Kard Kareer Stats

• Updated the visuals for the Real Time Frame Data Display in Practice Mode & Kombat Kard Match Replays

• Added an additional Brutality victory pose for every character

• Improved performance on many brutalities that were causing slowdown to occur

• Fixes to visual issues with many brutalities

• Added several new Brutalities for players to discover

• Added “Dimitri Vegas as Sub-Zero” Skins and Mask to Sub-Zero Kustomizations available free to everyone

• Front Punch + Front Kick button macro is now working correctly for all Krushing Blows in Practice Mode when the Easy Krushing Blows option is enabled

• When a move that would have triggered a Krushing Blow trades with an invulnerable move on the same frame it will no longer result in neither move colliding

• Fixed a rare visual issue with hitsparks during “Finish Him” dizzy state after winning the round with Fatal Blow

• Mercy can now be performed using Front Kick + Back Kick button macro input if Button Shortcuts is enabled

• Fixed a rare issue where a player could cause a high projectile to visually appear to pass through their character after a knockdown if they pressed and released the down direction at a precise timing and made no further inputs

• Adjustment to victim regions after a character has missed a throw attempt

• Adjustment to victim regions during many hit reactions

• Adjustment to crouching victim regions for all characters except Baraka, Kabal, Kollector, Kotal Kahn, Liu Kang

• Fixed an issues that could cause Up + Back Punch Wakeup Attacks & Flawless Block Attacks to sometimes not be invulnerable to a jumping attack that collides just before landing

Kombat League / Online

• Minor online stability improvements

• Fixed several rare online desync causes

• Improved server Match Results arbitration when disconnects have happened in Ranked and Kombat League matches

• Kombat League Point Decay now takes 72+ hours to trigger (up from 48+ hours)

• Added a pop up message after Point Decay happens to the Online menu

• Quitting from the rematch screen in online matches now requires a confirmation

• Shang Tsung’s health will no longer sometimes be adjusted when morphing back after a Soul Steal in a Survivor KOTH match

Krypt

• Added more detailed “where to get” information to many items

Towers of Time

• Johnny Cage Announcer added as a reward for getting into the top 10% of any week of Race Against Time

• Added a new reward type (Bonus Character Reward) for Tower completion that awards a random skin, piece of gear, or augment for the character you use to defeat it

• The cooldown on some modifiers will now start when it goes away instead of when triggered

Stage Specific Adjustments

• Shaolin Trap Dungeon – Statue Slam is now +9 on hit (down from +38)

Character Specific Adjustments Baraka

• Baraka – Low Stab (Down + Front Punch) recovery increased by 1 frame

• Baraka – Baraka-Serker’s Amplified Krushing Blow Held Check input is now the correct button

Cassie Cage

• Cassie Cage – Now has 950 health (down from 1000)

• Cassie Cage – Air Fatal Blow can now be performed with Block + Front Kick + Back Kick button macro while Button Shortcuts Controller Option is enabled

• Cassie Cage – Ball Buster has an increased victim region during its active frames

• Cassie Cage – Up Glow Kick has 5 less frames of blockstun and can no longer be amplified after being Flawless Blocked

• Cassie Cage – Up Glow Kick Amplified when Flawless Blocked has 10 less frames of block Advantage and less pushback

• Cassie Cage – Flick Kick (Towards + Back Kick) recovery increased by 3 frames

• Cassie Cage – Fixed visual effect issue when Amplified BLB-118 Energy Burst is interrupted

• Cassie Cage – Fixed a rare visual effect issue when Dual Wielding is interrupted while it is charged with green energy at specific timing

• Cassie Cage – Fixed a rare visual issue with BLB-118 Drone when starting a fatality

Cetrion

• Cetrion – Blaze (Back Punch, Front Punch) had its hit region adjusted

• Cetrion – Rising Volcano (Away + Back Kick) recovery decreased by 3 frames

• Cetrion – Added ability “Conflux of Elements”. This ability will cause a random elemental circle to be summoned when it is activated

• Cetrion – Earthquake 2nd attack can now be cancelled by holding up

• Cetrion – Shattering Boulder now has a Krushing Blow

• Cetrion – Geyser damage has been slightly lowered and now damage occurs timed correctly with the animation’s impacts

• Cetrion – Bouncing Boulder now recovers 5 frames faster, has 5 frames less blockstun when normally blocked, and 10 frames less blockstun when Flawless Blocked with significantly reduced pushback

• Cetrion – Far H2 P0rt & (Air) Far H2 P0rt now has 48 recovery frames (up from 37)

D’Vorah

• D’Vorah – Forward Throw now has a Krushing Blow that triggers when the opponent is infected by Fireflies

• D’Vorah – When an opponent throw escapes D’Vorah, any Fireflies attached to the opponent will return to D’Vorah

• D’Vorah – Swarm blockstun increased by 10 frames and has significantly increased pushback

• D’Vorah – Widow’s Kiss can now be slightly delayed, had its amplify input window adjusted, damage increased by 50, and its startup is now 28 frames (was 34),

• D’Vorah – Fixed issue with Infested Krushing Blow damage over time potentially lingering into next round if the first hit is the killing blow

• D’Vorah – Infested Krushing blow now uses the correct combo damage scaling

• D’Vorah – Adjusted hit region of Yellow Jacket (Front Punch, Back Punch)

• D’Vorah – Black Widow (Front Punch, Back Punch, Front Punch) has 3 less hit, block, & miss recovery frames

• D’Vorah – Bug Bash (Towards + Front Punch) now has 12 startup frames (down from 15)

• D’Vorah – Assassin Bug (Back Punch, Front Punch) hitstun increased by 7 frames

• D’Vorah – Killer Strike (Towards + Back Punch) startup is now 19 frames (was 20), hit advantage increased by 6 frames

• D’Vorah – Siafu (Towards + Back Punch, Back Punch) startup is now 16 frames (was 15), cancel frame occurs 2 frames later, recovers 3 frames faster, and had its hit region adjusted

• D’Vorah – Recluse (Towards + Back Punch, Back Punch, Up + Front Punch + Front Kick) startup is now 18 frames (was 21), recovery increased on block/miss by 2 frames, hit region adjusted

• D’Vorah – Tsetse (Towards + Back Punch, Back Punch, Down + Front Punch + Front Kick) recovers 4 frames faster on block/miss, pushback increased, hit region adjusted

• D’Vorah – Bugging Out (Towards + Back Punch, Back Punch, Back Kick) startup is now 24 frames (was 12), blockstun increased by 10 frames with increased pushback, range adjusted

• D’Vorah – Recluse, Tsetse, and Bugging Out can be performed after Siafu misses

• D’Vorah – Fixed a bug allowing Recluse and Tsetse to be able to be cancelled into special moves when blocked

• D’Vorah – Larva Tarsus (Front Kick) damage increased to 70 (was 50), recovery decreased by 2 frames, blockstun increased by 5 frames with increased pushback, and had its hit region adjusted

• D’Vorah – Killer Bee (Away + Front Kick, Back Kick) has 1 more active frame, recovers 1 slower on block, recovers 11 frames faster on hit

• D’Vorah – Killer Bee can now be performed after Ovi Posi Poke (Away + Front Kick) misses

• D’Vorah – Spinning Web (Away + Back Kick) recovery decreased by 3 frames, blockstun increased by 5 frames

• D’Vorah – Low Tarsus Strike (Down + Front Kick) recovery decreased by 3 frames, hitstun increased by 9 frames and hit reaction changed

• D’Vorah – Slight Sting (Down + Back Kick) recovery decreased by 2 frames

• D’Vorah – Fixed issue with (Air) Time Ticking Bug lingering after cinematics

Erron Black

• Erron Black – Fatal Blow startup is now 18 frames (was 10)

• Erron Black – Scud Shot recovery increased by 5 frames

• Erron Black – Scud Shot Amplified blockstun decreased by 5 frames and projectile travel speed has been slightly reduced

• Erron Black – Rattle Snake Slide Amplified now has 3 more frames of recovery

• Erron Black – Slightly reduced hit region size of the acid pool created by Zatarrean Spit / Rattle Snake Slide Amplified

• Erron Black – Boot Drop Amplified now cannot hit airborne opponents

• Erron Black – Exiting Locked and Loaded stance directly after an attack now requires the player to hold up

• Erron Black – “Rising Stock” attack while in Locked and Loaded stance is now a default move. Cancelling the recovery of “Rising Stock” by leaving Locked and Loaded stance still requires “Enhanced Locked and Loaded” ability.

• Erron Black – Locked and Loaded Unload will no longer face the opponent after the first shot

• Erron Black – Dusty Knuckles (Down + Front Punch) recovery on hit increased by 5 frames, recovery on block/miss increased by 1 frame, hitstun increased by 6 frames

• Erron Black – Low Boot (Down + Front kick) recovery increased by 1 frame, hitstun increased by 4 frames

Frost

• Frost – Headbutt (Away + Front Punch) startup is now 11 frames (was 16), recovers 8 frames faster

• Frost – Freezer Burn (Away + Front Punch, Back Punch) recovers 13 frames faster

• Frost – Blizzard (Away + Front Punch, Back Punch, Front Punch) is now a high, has 5 less frames of blockstun, reduced pushback, and had its hit region adjusted

• Frost – Frigid Palm (Down + Front Punch) startup is now 8 frames (was 9), recovery on hit increased by 1 frame, recovery on block/miss reduced by 2 frames, and hitstun increased by 5 frames

• Frost – Chest Cold (Down + Front Kick) recovery on block reduced by 2 frames, recovery on miss increased by 1 frame, hitstun increased by 1 frame, and had its hit region adjusted

• Frost – Microburst recovers 2 frames faster, and recovers significantly faster if the 2nd attack misses

• Frost – Cryogenic Crown’s explosion had its hit region increased

• Frost – Glacier Calving recovers 5 frames faster, and shield duration is 2 seconds (from 1.5 seconds)

• Frost – Glacier Calving amplified recovers 1 frame faster and shield duration is 3 seconds (from 2 seconds)

• Frost – Fixed issue that allowed Frosted Uppercut (Down + Back Punch) to be cancelled into Fatal Blow on the first active frame

Geras

• Geras – Xuid & Guid (Towards + Front Punch, Front Punch + Front Kick, Back Kick) Krushing Blow requirement has been changed to: “Triggers if the opponent is NEAR the wall when hit.”

• Geras – Quick Sand Krushing Blow requirement has been changed to: “Triggers if this ATTACK has missed TWICE in a row.”

• Geras – Quick Sand can no longer be performed while opponent is stunned by Temporal Advantage

• Geras – Gauntlet of the Ages Krushing Blow now has 4 more frames of recovery

• Geras – Without End (Front Punch, Front Punch, Front Punch) startup is now 21 frames (was 17)

• Geras – Knee Bash (Down + Front Punch) recovers 3 frames slower on hit, 1 frame slower on block/miss, and has 1 more frame of hitstun

• Geras – Fixed rare issue with Shoulder Charge (Towards + Front Punch) collision being offset after hitting a cross up body splash

• Geras – Fixed a bug that when winning a round with the first hit of Quick Sand, there could be a few frames of projectile immunity in the next round

• Geras – Fixed issue with Sand Trap which allowed players with Krushing Blow Held Check ON to store the Krushing Blow for future use if they hit an opponent blocking high

• Geras – Added FX to one of his idle animations

Jacqui Briggs

• Jacqui Briggs – Now has 950 health points (down from 1000)

• Jacqui Briggs – Grease Kick damage decreased by 10

• Jacqui Briggs – Grease Kick Amplified damage decreased by 10

• Jacqui Briggs – Lethal Clinch – Spear Elbow Drop does 10 less damage

• Jacqui Briggs – Lethal Clinch – Double Spear Knee hit advantage is now 13 (down from was 50)

• Jacqui Briggs – Mix Up (Away + Back Kick) second hit blockstun increased by 5 frames

• Jacqui Briggs – Mix Up first hit can now be cancelled on miss if “Cybernetic Override” is equipped

• Jacqui Briggs – All For One (Towards + Front Kick, Front Punch, Back Kick) now has airborne frames that match the animation

• Jacqui Briggs – Bionic Dash has 1 more active frame and recovers 3 frames faster on miss

• Jacqui Briggs – Up Prototype Rocket and Amplified Up Prototype Rocket had their hit regions adjusted

• Jacqui Briggs – Up Grenade Launcher Amplified had its hit region adjusted, starts 1 frame faster, recovers 1 frame faster, has increased combo damage scaling and when hitting an opponent out of the air will cause a lower gravity reaction

• Jacqui Briggs – Tech-Dome now lasts 7 seconds (down from 10), activates 1 frame faster and recovers 4 frames faster

• Jacqui Briggs – Fixed bug that causes Tech-Dome to not provide the benefit to Jacqui for the full duration of the dome if she never leaves it

• Jacqui Briggs – “Arm Break” and “Leg Break” damage is lowered to 100 (down from 140)

• Jacqui Briggs – Fixed a bug allowing Snake Eater (Back Punch, Back Punch, Back Kick) to be cancelled out of at a late recovery frame

Jade

• Jade – While performing Pole Vault run, Jade can now perform a special version of Blazing Nitro Kick or activate Fatal Blow

• Jade – Pole Vault damage slightly increased, recovers 1 frame faster and had its hit region adjusted

• Jade – Pole Vault Amplified damage increased by 10, starts up 1 frame faster, recovers 1 frame faster, and has 1 more active frame

• Jade – “Amplify Blazing Nitro Kick” ability has 5 more blockstun with more pushback

• Jade – Edenian Spark is now correctly considered a low projectile

• Jade – Fixed issue with “Divine Forces” ability causing it to briefly ignore physical attacks when Amplified

• Jade – Fixed issue with Hop Attacks and Temptation not being counted in the Blazing Nitro Kick Krushing Blow requirement

Jax

• Jax – reduced the maximum time allowed between hits during Gotcha Grab

Johnny Cage

• Johnny Cage – Throwing Shade Krushing Blow now does 90 damage (from 170) and causes a true stun

• Johnny Cage – Almost Famous (Front Kick, Back Kick) has 4 more frames of hit advantage

Kano

• Kano – Black Dragon Ball powered up by Vege-Mighty starts up in 10 frames (was 12), has 1 more active frame, has 20 more frames of blockstun and 1 more frame of recovery

• Kano – Black Dragon Ball powered up by Vege-Mighty when directed upward does 20 more damage and the input has more leniency

• Kano – Molotov Cocktail starts up 2 frames faster, and recovers 5 frames faster

• Kano – Chemical Burn damage increased by 20, startup is now 12 frames (was 14), recovers 1 frame faster, hitstun increased by 13 frames, blockstun increased by 5 frames, and had its hit region adjusted

• Kano – Chemical Burn Amplified damage increased by 20, startup reduced by 8 frames, recovery reduced by 7 frames, blockstun increased by 10 frames, pushback increased, and had its hit region adjusted

• Kano – Chemical Burn Amplified can now be done as a close version, which will cause a Molotov Cocktail flame DOT

• Kano – Low Hinge (Down + Front Kick) startup is now 9 frames (was 10) and recovers 2 frames faster on block

• Kano – Fixed issue with Fatal Blow switching side when it hits airborne opponents at certain heights

Kitana

• Kitana – Edenian Razors now has 2 different ranges, is now a mid, has decreased pushback, has increased hitstun, had its hit region adjusted, and slightly adjusted startup, active and recovery frames depending on when the button is released

• Kitana – Royal Protection startup is now 5 frames (was 10), has 5 more active frames, and recovery has been reduced by 3 frames

• Kitana – Royal Protection buff duration is now 6 seconds (was 3 seconds), the damage buff on successful parry was reduced to 33% (was 50%)

• Kitana – Half-Blood Stance Gutted Krushing Blow recovery has been reduced

• Kitana – Half-Blood Stance Dive Kick now enters a ducking state on the 5th frame of the attack while lowering to the ground

• Kitana – Square Wave and (Air) Square Wave now do 80 damage (was 60)

• Kitana – Fixed issue with (Air) Square Wave that could allow for an OTG attack to occur

Kollector

• Kollector – Vial of Sorrow now does 15 damage per tick (was 20), duration is now 4 seconds (was 2 seconds), and had its hit region adjusted

• Kollector – Bag Bomb explosion when connecting with Vial of Sorrow flames has increased combo damage scaling and had its hit region adjusted

• Kollector – Demonic Mace startup is now 29 frames (was 34), now has 3 levels of charge that causes increased blockstun the longer it is held

• Kollector – Up Demonic Mace now has 3 levels of charge that causes increased blockstun the longer it is held

• Kollector – Damned Bola hit region reduced outside of a combo and while opponent is in a combo the hit region is increased

• Kollector – Blood Money (Front Punch, Front Kick) has 1 more active frame, 1 less frame of recovery on miss, and had its hit region adjusted

• Kollector – Mine Mine Mine (Back Punch, Front Punch + Front Kick) has more combo damage scaling and can now be cancelled into Fatal Blow

• Kollector – Greed (Away + Back Punch, Front Kick, Front Kick) and had its hit region adjusted

• Kollector – Take It All (Front Kick, Back Punch) Krushing Blow recovery adjusted

• Kollector – Death Spin (Away + Front Kick) had its hit region adjusted

• Kollector – Korrupted Kick (Towards + Front Kick) can now be cancelled on normal block/miss

• Kollector – Paid In Full (Towards + Front Kick, Front Punch) startup is now 13 frames (was 12), recovers 3 frames slower on miss, hit reaction when connecting with an airborne opponent changed, 10 more frames of blockstun with increased pushback, and had its hit region adjusted

• Kollector – With Interest (Towards + Front Kick, Front Punch, Back Punch) hit reaction when connecting with an airborne opponent changed, and has 10 more frames of blockstun with increased pushback

• Kollector – Take and Deny (Towards + Front Kick, Front Punch, Back Punch, Front Kick) has 2 more active frames, 10 more frames of blockstun with increased pushback, recovers 2 frames slower on miss, and had its hit region adjusted

• Kollector – Tax Burden (Back Kick) cancel frame is 1 frame later, recovery reduced by 6 frames on hit/block, blockstun decreased by 5 frames, and had its hit region adjusted

• Kollector – No Collateral (Back Kick, Back Kick) startup is now 23 frames (was 26), hit reaction when connecting with an airborne opponent changed, recovery on hit/block reduced by 1 frames, recovery on miss reduced by 6 frames, and had its hit region adjusted

• Kollector – Ravages Of Time (Back Kick, Back Kick, Front Kick) startup is now 19 frames (was 20), damage scaling increased, hit reaction changed, can no longer be cancelled, recovers 15 frames slower on block, 10 frames slower on miss, and has 10 less frames of blockstun with less pushback

• Kollector – Rising Claws (Down + Back Punch) has 2 more active frames and 2 less frames of recovery on miss

• Kollector – Kura Slam (Jump + Back Punch) had its hit region adjusted

• Kollector – Adjusted hit region on Getup Attack/Flawless Block Attack “Flailing Mace”

• Kollector – Fixed issue that could cause Shotel Fury to not correctly facing opponent for the first hit

• Kollector – Fixed visual issue with Kollector’s Chained Ball when he is put into a “Finish Him” dizzy state

• Kollector – Fixed issue that allowed Rising Claws (Down + Back Punch) to be cancelled into Fatal after the first active frame

• Kollector – Far Fade Out now has 42 recovery frames (up from 39)

Kotal Kahn

• Kotal Kahn – Now has 1100 health points (up from 1000)

• Kotal Kahn – Coatl Parry now starts up in 10 frames (was 14), recovers 1 frame faster

• Kotal Kahn – Attacks that connect with Coatl Parry now recover as if they have been Flawless Blocked

• Kotal Kahn – Tecuani Maul startup is 17 frames (was 19), recovers 16 frames faster on block, recovers 33 frames faster on miss, recovers 13 frames faster on hit, hit region adjusted

• Kotal Kahn – Tecuani Maul amplified recovers 20 frames faster on block, recovers 33 frames faster on miss, recovers 13 frames faster on hit, and has a new visual effect

• Kotal Kahn – (Air) Tecuani Pounce startup is 14 frames (was 13), recovers 3 frames faster on block/miss, and has 5 more frames of blockstun with increased pushback

• Kotal Kahn – (Air) Tecuani Pounce Amplified startup is 1 frame slower, recovers 8 frames faster on block/miss, and has 5 more frames of blockstun with increased pushback

• Kotal Kahn – Mehtizquia (Away + Back Punch, Back Punch, Front Kick) now has airborne frames that match the animation

• Kotal Kahn – Hammer Slam (Jump + Back Punch) and Straight Kick (Jump + Front Kick) had their cancel frames adjusted

• Kotal Kahn – Side Strike (Down + Front Kick) startup is now 8 frames (was 9), recovers 3 frames faster, and has 4 more frames of hitstun

• Kotal Kahn – Warrior Spin (Down + Back Kick) has 1 more frame of hitstun

• Kotal Kahn – Fixed issue with Tonatiuh Beam sometimes not working correctly after a krushing blow occurs

Kung Lao

• Kung Lao – Order Of Light (Front Punch, Back Punch, Front Punch) hitstun increased by 6 frames

• Kung Lao – Sweeping Razor (Away + Back Kick) recovery decreased by 6 frames

• Kung Lao – Orbiting Hat now has 13 startup frames (down from 14), 5 more frames of blockstun, 5 more frames of hitstun, and 2 less recovery frames

• Kung Lao – Orbiting Hat Amplified now has 10 more frames of blockstun, 16 more frames of hitstun, and 5 more recovery frames

• Kung Lao – Omega Hat starts up 1 frame faster and recovers 6 frames faster

Liu Kang

• Liu Kang – Double Dragon Kick (Towards + Front Kick) has reduced pushback on the second hit

• Liu Kang – Dragon’s Breath (Towards + Front Kick, Front Kick, Front Kick) has 10 less frames of blockstun on the first hit with reduced pushback

• Liu Kang – Low Fireball recovers 3 frames slower and has more frames of hitstun

• Liu Kang – The projectile created from a successful Energy Parry while Dragon Fire is active will now cause a true stun

• Liu Kang – All Dragon’s Gift attacks each do 20 more damage

• Liu Kang – Dragon’s Gift High Attack now causes increased pushback

• Liu Kang – Dragon’s Gift Overhead Attack had its hit region adjusted

Noob Saibot

• Noob – Shadow Tackle Amplified damage increased by 40

• Noob – Shadow Slide now has 1 more recovery frame, travel speed slightly reduced, and can now be amplified

• Noob – Ghostball recovery reduced by 14 frames

• Noob – adjusted stamina regeneration after Ghostball debuff expires

• Noob – “Shadow Strike” ability can now correctly be parried by low parry moves

• Noob – Boot Slide (Down + Front Kick) has 2 more frames of recovery on hit/miss and 4 more frames of hitstun

• Noob – Sickle Strike (Down + Back Kick) has 2 more frames of recovery, 2 less frames of hitstun, and had its hit region adjusted

Raiden

• Raiden – Lightning Strike Amplified now tracks the opponent

• Raiden – Electric Burst startup is now 19 frames (was 17), has 1 less active frame, recovers 3 frames faster

• Raiden – Electric Burst causes increased blockstun and pushback while Quick Charge is active

• Raiden – Electric Current combo damage scaling adjusted and recovery reduced by 4 frames

• Raiden – Electric Current Amplified is now a mid, causes a popup on hit if done while Quick Charge is active, has 1 frame more recovery on block, and had its hit region adjusted

• Raiden – Discharge startup is now 6 frames (from 4), has 1 more active frame, hit reaction has been adjusted so hit advantage is the same if done on grounded or airborne opponents

• Raiden – Discharge Amplified had its hit region adjusted

• Raiden – Far Sparkport now has 21 recovery frames (up from 19)

Scorpion

• Scorpion – Hell Port and (Air) Hell Port are now high attacks

• Scorpion – Low Jab (Down + Front Punch) recovery increased by 1 frame

• Scorpion – Quick Kick (Down + Back Kick) recovery increased by 5 frames

• Scorpion – Fixed a rare issue with Spear follow-up hit that could cause it to miss

Skarlet

• Skarlet – Dagger Dance Amplified Krushing Blow Held Check input is now the correct button

• Skarlet – Reaching Whip (Away + Back Kick) now has 5 less recovery frames

• Skarlet – Silent Stab (Down + Front Punch) now has 3 more frames of hitstun

• Skarlet – Spear Strike (Down + Front Kick) has a different hit reaction and 11 more frames of hitstun

• Skarlet – Spinning Scythe (Down + Back Kick) now has 11 more frames of hitstun

• Skarlet – Fixed Thicker Than Water (Away + Front Punch, Back Punch) Krushing Blow not working correctly with Easy Krushing Blows in practice mode

• Skarlet – Bloodport Far now has 50 recovery frames (up from 42)

Sonya Blade

• Sonya – Now has 950 health points (down from 1000)

• Sonya – Amplified Energy Rings when dash cancelled now has more damage scaling

• Sonya – Amplified Air Control now does 60 damage (was 20) but does not cause a pop up

• Sonya – Fixed issue causing an unintended side switch when Sonya wins the final round with Amplified Low Kounter

Shao Kahn

• Shao Kahn – Now has 1050 health points (up from 1000)

• Shao Kahn – Annihilation Krushing Blow recovers faster

• Shao Kahn – Forward Throw Krushing Blow recovers slightly faster and leaves opponent closer

• Shao Kahn – Merciless Spear does 80 damage (from 60)

• Shao Kahn – Shoulder Charger Down + Amplify startup is 22 frames (was 20), recovers 13 frames faster, knockdown advantage is increased by 8, and had its hit region adjusted

• Shao Kahn – Dark Priest recovers 17 frames faster

• Shao Kahn – Ridicule recovers 36 frames faster and the debuff now lasts 9 seconds (was 6.67 seconds)

• Shao Kahn – Humiliate recovers 36 frames faster and the debuff now lasts 9 seconds (was 6.67 seconds)

• Shao Kahn – Face Smash (Front Punch) cancel frame occurs 1 frame earlier and has 1 more recovery frame

• Shao Kahn – Warlord (Front Punch, Back Punch) cancel frame occurs 2 frames earlier, has 13 startup frames (down from 15), cancel occurs 2 frames earlier, 5 less recovery frames, 5 more frames of blockstun, and had its hit region adjusted

• Shao Kahn – DIE (Front Punch, Back Punch, Front Punch + Front Kick) startup is now 26 frames (was 27), and its hit region adjusted, and can no longer be cancelled into special moves when it is blocked

• Shao Kahn – Takeover (Front Punch, Back Kick) startup is now 16 frames (was 19)

• Shao Kahn – Tenderizer (Away + Back Punch) has 1 more active frame, cancel frames occurs 1 frame earlier, 1 frame less recovery, and had its hit region adjusted

• Shao Kahn – Rage Strike (Towards + Back Punch) now has 8 more frames of hitstun and does a different hit reaction

• Shao Kahn – Will You Fail (Towards + Back Punch, Front Punch) cancel frame now occurs 3 frames earlier

• Shao Kahn – Bow To Me (Towards + Back Punch, Front Punch, Back Punch) startup is 21 frames (was 23)

• Shao Kahn – Fear Me (Towards + Back Punch, Back Kick) startup is now 28 frames (was 26), recovers 18 frames faster, when Flawless Blocked has 10 less frames of blockstun with reduced pushback

• Shao Kahn – Hammer Poke (Jump + Front Punch) had its hit region adjusted

• Shao Kahn – Fixed issue with Ground Shatter and Ground Shatter Amplified interacting with projectile destroying abilities

• Shao Kahn – Fixed audio issue when “Seeking Hammer” ability is interrupted

• Shao Kahn – Fixed visual issue with Hammer object playing incorrect animation when turning around while ducking

• Shao Kahn – Fixed issue with Forward Throw Krushing Blow not working correctly while the HUD is turned off

Shang Tsung

• Shang Tsung – Ground Eruption first hit now does 50 damage (was 60), second hit now does 40 damage (was 60)

• Shang Tsung – Ground Eruption Amplified now does 30 damage (was 60)

• Shang Tsung – Serpent Stab (Down + Front Punch) now has 7 startup frames (down from 8), 2 more recovery frames, and has 1 more frame of hitstun

• Shang Tsung – Ankle Snap (Down + Front Kick) now has 8 startup frames (down from 7), 2 more recovery frames, and has 1 more frame of hitstun

• Shang Tsung – Fixed several visual effect issues while “Soul Swap” ability is performed

• Shang Tsung – Fix for visual issue with a floating weapon appearing after performing Kollector’s “Play For Souls” Krushing Blow while morphed

• Shang Tsung – Fixed problem with Shang Tsung facing the incorrect direction after hitting Kronika with Reptile Slide

• Shang Tsung – Fixed a rare issue that could allow the damage buff from Soul Steal to persist into the next round

This is definitely a balance patch alright. Once we know more info regarding the upcoming DLC fighters, we’ll let you know.

Source: Reddit

Avatar photo

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Executions, “Realism” Option, Door Breaching & More Detailed

With just a month out before the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare beta kicks off, Infinity Ward is now ramping up details on Modern Warfare’s multiplayer. Today, the studio goes in-depth regarding some of the game’s new features, which includes Modern Warfare executions, recoil, and lots more.

Check out the condensed version highlighting the major info, or read up on the entire thing here.

Doors

There are four ways to to interact with doors in multiplayer:

  • Explosives and concussions will pop it open
  • Walk up, press “use”
  • Sprint through it (making yourself heard as the door smashes or clangs open)
  • Walk up while in ADS (aim down sights) and press “use,” and the door opens up just a little bit (stealth approach)

Mounting your weapon

Gun mounting in multiplayer is a contextual technique in ADS. It will help in handling recoil.

The Infinity Ward team “worked on the new Mount system that works both vertically and horizontally. It really allows you to ‘pie’ a room.” You can go up to a door frame, and “you don’t so much as lean around a corner, as rest your hand on the edge and can use that now as a pivot point.”

Tactical sprint

Modern Warfare will introduce Tactical Sprint, which is  “a burst of extra sprint; the weapon comes up, and is positioned differently compared to the aim, when you’re moving fast and traversing scenery.”

Night Vision: Half-ADS

Geoff Snith (Multiplayer Design Director) remembers Night Vision back in the original Call of Duty® 4, “but it was a screen overlay, and this time it is true night vision, so we started to go crazy, and made completely black maps. We playtested them, fine-tuned them, and after a while we came to a middle ground where we positioned lights along hallways and at doorways, and you can turn on or off lights in some cases, which leads to cat-and-mouse confrontations. You can turn on lights to blow out your [opponents’] NVGs, and there are other things we’re working out at the moment, but there are several maps that are ‘dark’ versions.”

Joe Cecot (Multiplayer Design Director):We learned from [our military consultants] that you can’t cheek your rifle with these big goggles on, so we implemented a half ADS, but because your enemies also have goggles on, they will see your laser sight.” This leads to many players taking a minute to choose when they want to ADS. “It feels like you won’t be accurate when you’re shooting like this, but you will be. It creates gameplay where you don’t want to ADS too much. You have to use it really tactically.

Realism mode

There’s a “Realism option” in Modern Warfare with minimal HUD. Infinity Ward says, “You have to see or hear the enemy drop to figure out whether you’ve taken them down,” and that it has a “horror movie” vibe to it.

Killstreaks philosophy

Infinity Ward: We wanted to bring back the fan favorites, but also not rest on our laurels. We wanted more defined Killstreaks, with some basis in reality. This includes bringing a drivable vehicle into the game [the Infantry Assault Vehicle], with a second access point [turret] that another player can hop onto. There was also design direction away from simply pulling up a mini-map and calling ordnance on any space in the game world. That gives you too much range. In this game, if you pull up the binoculars, you have to get line of sight; you have to get to a good vantage point to call in a particular Killstreak for it to be effective.” The team strove for balance, likening a Killstreak to a “boss fight”, with all parties being entertained; even those on the receiving end.

Infinity Ward explains why it moved away from the scorestreaks system popularized by Treyarch, and states:

We felt that in some games, Scorestreaks tend sometimes not to be clear; ‘if you’re in this mode a Scorestreak is 50 points, but if you’re in another mode, that same Scorestreak is 100 points’.” This led to players disengaging. Compare that to the Killstreaks of previous Modern Warfare games: “You knew that when you had four kills, you were one away from a Predator missile, and your heart starts pounding, and you’re nervous, and we felt that had gone away to some extent, so we went back to Killstreaks.”

Infiltrations (map intros)

Modern Warfare match map intros are called Infils (Infiltrations), and will have different variations. Players will be able to see teammates flying in choppers, coming in on the back of a truck or van, and more.

Modern Warfare executions and knife attacks

Infinity Ward explains executions in Modern Warfare (which we know will be customizable). “If you run up behind somebody and you press the Melee button, you’ll take them out. But if you hold Melee, you’ll complete an Execution, whether they are standing, crouched, or prone. It’s a fun little show-off move.” It’s also been confirmed that each Operator will have their own specific attack too.

Recoil

According to Infinity Ward, recoil in Modern Warfare is treated as realistically as possible, while giving the weapon wielder as much control as possible.

“Recoil will have different patterns, and you can counter recoil using your thumbstick. But when you release the thumbstick, in the past you may [have ended] up looking at the ground.” To combat this, Infinity Ward implemented an interesting little trick: “We negated that thumbstick offset, so recoil is far less annoying. However, different guns have different recoil patterns to learn and offset.” Joe confirms: “All of our recoil is a learnable pattern.”

There’s a new post coming tomorrow as well. Stay tuned here on MP1st for the latest Modern Warfare news.

Avatar photo

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Federal Trade Commission to Start Looking at the Games Industry “Properly”

In the wake of recent events and loot boxes, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has stated that they will be investigating the gaming industry as an opportunity to improve things.

During their live broadcasting of Inside the Game, the FTC touched upon the issues plaguing the gaming community with the uprising of loot boxes. In response, the FTC has agreed that they should be looking at the industry properly, especially with recent remarks from United States President Donald Trump about  mass shooting events being tied to gaming.

I think the biggest part in sort of removing this frustration that the gaming community has with sort of government and regulation is really changing the tone. our leaders are often very critical as recently as the last few days about video games, you know, blaming them for all sorts of social ills. that, you know, studies show are just not the case. the other part of this that i think is really concerning is, you know, was just touched on by renee that if we regulate this too severely, so much of the game industry’s profit is coming from this area, that regulations here could have a real impact on people’s lives, on people’s jobs. it could cause some of these companies, pretty serious amount of damage. it needs to be taken very carefully. it is not a game. these are people’s lives. Dialogue is needed because we need to change the tone of this, when you have the president of the united states saying that games create monsters, at the same time that our clients and people in the game industry are raising millions of dollars to cure cancer, it just strikes sort of a deaf ear and makes people not feel very collaborative about this. and because of that stuff, i think things like this loot box workshop, these kinds of discussions and dialogue are really positive and really give us a great opportunity to start looking at the game industry properly. so, thank you guys for your time.

When asked about the future of loot boxes going forward, members of the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) replied with statements that appeared to indicate that they are here to stay, but that they will keep an eye on how they are handled .

From my point of view, i don’t see any reason why the industry would turn away from a game model that is increasingly profitable for them. in terms of disclosure, i think just underline what other folks have said, michael’s announcement on esa loot box drop rate is important, it does show that this is an industry unlike other industries where you often see people like me criticizing. it’s one that does seem to pay attention to its users and react fairly quickly to them. and so for that i think they should be applauded. but at the same time i think it’s important for the ftc to maintain a close eye on this. this is an industry where, as been said many times, hundreds of millions of people are playing them and general operating billions of dollars in revenue. to ensure that the industry doesn’t take advantage of gamers in its efforts to continue that profitability is a role, appropriate role for the ftc to take.

I think that the premium model is a core part of the app economy. not just within games. we see it in fitness apps, in other apps as well. and i think consumers are getting really used to that. it’s risk free for them because they can try out any applications prior to purchase. and when consumers are introduced to games on this premium model, i believe that they begin to expect that on consoles and the pc market as well. i think we’ll continue to see growth in that area…..

…The industry is going to continue to strive to provide like better and bigger experiences to the users. and do it in a way that tries to be at a price point that makes the most sense. i think there’s going to be ebbs and flows, success and failures, because different methods of monetization are going to work for the industry. but maybe not work for the community. and so there’s going to be a learning by both sides. as technology increases and changes, we’re going to be seeing things differently.

Mary Engle of the FTC also noted at the end of the work shop panel that they would be reviewing all the information presented and  the online submissions they received during the event. She went on to thank everyone before ending the panel.

This news comes just shortly after the announcement that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo would all need to require publishers to disclose loot boxes odds of earning items. This news is certainly going to shake the gaming industry up, and hopefully for the better as loot boxes have for the past few years gone out of control, especially with certain games employing pay-to-win elements (looking at you Black Ops 4.)

Avatar photo

James Lara

A gamer at heart, James has been working for MP1st for the last decade to do exactly what he loves, writing about video games and having fun doing it. Growing up in the 90's gaming has been in his DNA since the days of NES. One day he hopes to develop his own game.

Home > News

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Customization That Can Be Earned via Gameplay Detailed

In case you didn’t know, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will feature “Operators,” which can be customized with different character skins. However, it seems the Modern Warfare customization is a lot deeper than just mere character skins.

In this month’s big Game Informer cover story on Modern Warfare, the game’s customization elements when it comes to Operators have been revealed. Modern Warfare will feature the “Coalition,” and the “Allegiance” as two separate factions that will have their own characters. Aside from the aforementioned Operator character skins, players will also be able to unlock “various personalities,” appearances, voices, executions (check out our first look at executions here), and skins (duh!) via gameplay.

According to Game Informer’s description, the Coalition characters are more Western-themed, while the Allegiance are more Easter in terms of visuals. Players will start with default soldiers on each side, and unlock more characters, with each character being featured in an introduction video reel that showcases their style.

Given how the game rewards players with different Operator voices, executions and the like, it seems highly likely that this will be one of the ways Activision will implement microtransactions into the game.

In other Modern Warfare news, it has been confirmed that the game will run on dedicated servers.

More Modern Warfare Reading:

Avatar photo

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

DayZ Update 1.04 Patch Notes Listed, Update Now Out on All Platforms

Those playing Bohemia Interactive’s survival game DayZ, there’s a HUGE DayZ update out now for all platforms, and it brings in a host of new content, and a lot of game tweaks and fixes. According to Bohemia, the size and scope of the patch necessitated a complete server and character wipe, so players will need to go back out into the wild, and start a new life (character). The full DayZ update 1.04 patch notes are below.

DayZ update 1.04 patch notes:

The 1.04 Platform Update of DayZ on Xbox and PlayStation is now live. This update is a combination of the 1.03 and 1.04 updates. The comprehensive new update brings you an expansion of the disease system and gives purpose to several medical items. On the combat side, we’ve added two new assault rifles from the trusty KA family, the factory-suppressed VSS, as well as an arsenal of grenades as survivors discover their ability to throw items. Furthermore the update includes NVGs and the Universal Flashlight to your Tactical Helmet, and two brand new belt models! Moreover, the infected have upgraded as well!

GAME

ADDED

  • Added: Ability to browse and join private servers
  • Added: Localization for traditional and simplified Chinese
  • Added: Japanese localization
  • Added: Polish localization
  • Added: New vehicle Gunter 2 with its attachments
  • Added: VSS rifle with its attachments
  • Added: KA-74 with attachments
  • Added: KA-101 with attachments
  • Added: Bayonets for KA, M4-A1, Mosin 91/30 and SK 59/66
  • Added: P1-87-L Scope
  • Added: Backup Iron Sights (BUIS)
  • Added: Baraka sights
  • Added: PSO-1-1 Scope, designed for the VSS rifle
  • Added: 5.45x39mm ammunition
  • Added: 9×39 ammunition
  • Added: 9×39 armor-piercing ammunition
  • Added: Tracer ammunition (5.45×39, 5.56×45, 7.62×39, 7.62x54R, .308WIN)
  • Added: Firearms Melee Attacks with pistols, buttstocks, and bayonets
  • Added: Independent shoulders (possibility to carry two ranged/melee weapons at the same time)
  • Added: Throwing of items
  • Added: Grenades (EGD-5 and 6-M7 frag grenades, 1-M8 and EGD-2 smoke grenades, 8-M4 Flashbang)
  • Added: Night Vision Goggles (NVG)
  • Added: NVG head strap
  • Added: NVG can be attached to Tactical Helmet
  • Added: Universal Flashlight can be attached to Tactical Helmet
  • Added: Hand saw
  • Added: 4-dial Combination Lock
  • Added: Strawberry Jam
  • Added: Handheld Transceiver and Glow Stick attachments on backpacks
  • Added: “You are here” marker on each tourist trail map stand
  • Added: Quantity bar for energy based items and fireplace
  • Added: Baseball/nailed bat
  • Added: Sounds for death animations
  • Added: Sounds for suicide animations
  • Added: Lock/unlock sound for doors
  • Added: Sounds for prone animation with a rifle in hands
  • Added: One male and one female character sound set
  • Added: Different character sounds when wearing certain headgear (e.g Combat Gas Mask, Motorbike Helmet)
  • Added: Character sounds for male characters wearing a gag
  • Added: Player can hear his voice when talking through a megaphone, PAS (when receiver is nearby) or transmitter (when more than one on the same frequency nearby)
  • Added: Positional rain sounds for the Coal Plant
  • Added: Wooden Crate (crafted)
  • Added: Sliding down a ladder without gloves (or ruined gloves) can cause a bleeding source, gloves receive damage
  • Added: Music in the Main Menu
  • Added: Vomit emote/gesture
  • Added: Mitigation of so-called server hopping on public hives (when a player changes server, a hopping spawn point is used instead of the last log off position)
  • Added: Support for multiple sets of player spawn points (only for public hives, currently fresh and hop sets available)
  • Added: Fever now causes dehydration
  • Added: Epinephrine restores the patients’ stamina to its max value
  • Added: Codeine Pills mitigate the patients’ injured state for a limited time
  • Added: Morphine suppresses the patients’ injured state for a limited time
  • Added: Charcoal Tablets can eliminate Salmonella bacteria
  • Added: Check Pulse action now displays the blood pressure and pulse type if irregular
  • Added: Stamina is depleted if a player is hit by a Flashbang
  • Added: Shoes gradually wear off while using
  • Added: Infected sometimes spawn with headgear, vests, and backpacks
  • Added: Flare effect around the Road Flare

FIXED

  • Fixed: Duplicated items after joining friends online session
  • Fixed: Player gets stuck in server browser after hosting Play Together while Game turned off
  • Fixed: Client crash when player logs out of PS4 and then logs back in
  • Fixed: Seats aren’t adjustable from within the car
  • Fixed: Hair clipping with headgear
  • Fixed: Jammed weapons still created gun shots for other players
  • Fixed: ClockHour and clockMinute animation sources now synchronize with the accelerated time
  • Fixed: Breath vapor should now properly handle temperatures lower than its lower range threshold
  • Fixed: Torch displaying “pieces” as quantity
  • Fixed: Universal Light and Pistol Light, Road Flare and flashlight now face forward when dropped, not sideways
  • Fixed: Infected can attack player through walls
  • Fixed: Car/Truck battery were invisible when attached to Battery Charger
  • Fixed: Player could not drink from pumps with item in hands
  • Fixed: Weapons barrel hiding while using optics
  • Fixed: Headlights could not be detached
  • Fixed: Rangefinder displayed incorrect distance
  • Fixed: Barbed Wire was not visible on Fence after mounting
  • Fixed: Player could jump with heavy items in hands
  • Fixed: It was not possible to loot dead body in car
  • Fixed: There was no sound when mounting the barbed wire with pliers
  • Fixed: Character could not perform actions after a magazine was detached from a weapon
  • Fixed: AI herds were not releasing the territory after the last member of the herd died (could prevent AI herds from re-spawning on smaller terrains with a lower number of territories)
  • Fixed: Incorrect visual state of the speedometer
  • Fixed: Liquid contents of the barrel do not persist upon server restart
  • Fixed: Character started to float in some sections of small rivers
  • Fixed: Punching walls was emitting unsuitable bullet impact particles
  • Fixed: Spotlight had a hole where the reflector part should be
  • Fixed: Opening/Closing of car doors was missing sounds
  • Fixed: Character stamina did not replenish correctly when reduced by the gear
  • Fixed: Action to eat pumpkin slices was missing
  • Fixed: Missing footsteps sound while strafing with a heavy item in hands
  • Fixed: Gas Stations can be blown up again
  • Fixed: Combination locks couldn’t be opened upon server restart

TWEAKED

  • Tweaked: Ladders on deer stands should be easier to get on
  • Tweaked: Improved Road Flare particles
  • Tweaked: Torch no longer illuminates the world during daytime
  • Tweaked: Muzzle flash illumination range at night increased from 5m to 15m
  • Tweaked: Improved variability of the muzzle flash particle for the VSD and LAR rifles
  • Tweaked: Improved visibility of the blood splatter particle
  • Tweaked: Smoke particles on weapons
  • Tweaked: Decreased lethal radius of the landmines
  • Changed: Unified unlocking behaviour for house doors (using Lock pick or brute force)
  • Tweaked: Inventory icons for bladed weapons, food and drinks
  • Tweaked: Projectiles damage
  • Tweaked: Land Mine activation/explosion sounds
  • Changed: Jumping is disabled when a player is significantly injured
  • Tweaked: The output of sawing planks from Lumber Pile is now triple
  • Tweaked: Reversing with a car now subtly illuminates the area behind it, allowing drivers to see there at night
  • Tweaked: The connection timer is now up to 95 seconds in case of rapid server hopping. In connection to this change, the previous database locks have been removed
  • Tweaked: Player spawn logic for avoiding water surfaces
  • Tweaked: Gunshot sounds are audible up to 3.5 km
  • Tweaked: Improved plaster and concrete impact particle effects
  • Tweaked: Bullet impact effects are scaled by impact force much more visible now
  • Tweaked: The Portable Gas Lamp now burns 10x longer (~55 minutes with the smallest container, ~133 with the largest one)
  • Tweaked: Optimized muzzle flash particles for CR-61, FX-45, CR-75, IJ-70

KNOWN ISSUES

  • NVGs and helmet lights cannot be switched on
  • Swapping items between your hands and the inventory of a corpse can result in items being stuck in the corpse’s inventory.
  • Opening the Online Tab in the “You are dead” screen gets the game stuck.
Avatar photo

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Publishers Will Soon Have to Disclose Odds for Loot Boxes Due to Agreement Between Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo”

Not a fan of loot boxes in games? Or hate how earning things in them seem so random? That’s about to change soon. The big three hardware makers — Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo — have agreed to require publisher to disclose the loot box odds of winning items in their games.

During an Inside the Game talk by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), the ESA’s (Entertainment Software Association)  Chief Counsel of Tech Policy, Michael Warnecke, disclosed how the big-name hardware makers (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo) have agreed to require the odds of earning items in loot boxes for new games and even updates of games that introduce loot boxes in games (hello, Call of Duty).

I’m pleased to announce this morning that Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony have indicated to ESA a commitment to new platform policies with respect to the use of paid loot boxes in games that are developed for their platform. Specifically, this would apply to new games and game updates that add loot box features. And it would require the disclosure of the relative rarity or probabilities of obtaining randomized virtual items in games that are available on their platforms.

They went on to further explain why this is needed.

I think sometimes that’s the economy we’re dealing with is that appreciate sir being put on an industry to take on a role that may not be something they need to take on. disclosure is wonderful i think we all need to understand what it is that we’re buying. but it’s a matter of how do you that. it’s a matter of how clear it is and whether or not we’re being clear to the industry as a whole across the board. or if we’re trying to create clarity for one particular outline individual. i think we can’t do the latter. all we can do is basically put out disclosure that in as clear a sense as possible makes people understand what they’re getting. what they’re purchasing if they decide to do it because they love that game. that’s their right to do it. i don’t think that we as an industry needs to step into that parental role, though. because some of these people are not children. some of these people are our age. they’re spending a thousand dollars on a game that they love and they spend, this is their way of relaxing after a hard day’s work.

This is definitely a step in the right direction, given how some games have been exploiting loot boxes to entice gamers to buy them in order to gain an advantage in games. Will this mean the death of loot boxes in games? Probably not, but at least with the odds of winning/earning items laid out, gamers can make more educated purchasing decisions. These changes are being targeted in 2020, with multiple publishers already agreeing to abide by it including Electronic Arts and Activision.

Are you happy with this new change or should loot boxes be omitted out of games entirely?

Avatar photo

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Battlefield 5 Update 1.23 Patch Notes and File SIze Info

As reported by us yesterday, a new Battlefield 5 patch has been released by DICE, and it’s to fix those nagging crashing issues. Clocking in at 447MB on PS4, 500MB on Xbox One, around 800MB on PC, the short Battlefield 5 update 1.23 patch notes can be seen below.

Battlefield 5 update 1.23 patch notes:

  • Eliminated the most common cause of crashing on all Platforms, across all game modes
  • Separately fixed a different issue, addressing a hard crash in Practice Range when interacting with Planes

And that’s basically it. No new content has been rolled out, as expected. PC players, though, make sure to read DICE’s note below regarding downloads.

A Note Concerning PC Downloads for this Update

One thing that we observed during our internal testing was that the download speed dropped significantly once the update hit 95%. The update will otherwise download at your usual speeds until you reach 95%. We’re actively investigating this in case the issue is set to persist when we flip the switch tomorrow morning (it could just be a unique issue relating to our internal testing). In the event that you do encounter this, our best advice is to wait it out rather than attempting to restart the patching process as you won’t see it behave any differently a second time around. 

The Update is estimated at around 800MB in size on PC, so this will only affect the last 40MB or thereabouts, which is likely to download at around 100kb/s irrespective of your internet speed, or the rate at which the rest of the update downloaded at. We’re going to work on this one through the rest of the day with our teams across EA to see if we can fix this, and will provide further updates should we learn anything new. Given what the update otherwise fixes, we ask for your patience on the slower download, rather than delay the update itself whilst we investigate that. Ultimately, the update will download and install correctly.

Also kicking off this week are the Battlefield 5 Chapter 4 Week 7 challenges and rewards, which we’ll post once its live.

If you encounter any issues or bugs, share them below in the comments below.

Avatar photo

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Mortal Kombat 11 Balance Patch Announced

Netherrealm Studios is gearing up to release a Mortal Kombat 11 balance patch soon with the first details coming tomorrow along with some brand-new Nightwolf gameplay.

Netherrealm took to Twitter earlier today to announce a new KombatKast, which will begin streaming tomorrow (August 7th) at 3:00pm CST. During the stream we can expect to see plenty of new NightWolf gameplay as shown from the tweet, along with some details about an upcoming Mortal Kombat 11 balance patch that is set to introduce a number of changes to characters. This was confirmed by Netherrealm’s Mortal Kombat community manager, Tyler Lansdown over on Twitter shortly after the KombatKast announcement.

 

 


Clearly from the Tweet we are going to see some changes made to the Kollector, along with a potential buff to D’Vorah.

Mortal Kombat 11 Nightwolf DLC will be releasing August 13th for Premium holders, while everyone else will receive the character one week later (August 20th) due to the early access perk for Premium Pass holders. We can expect the rest of the Kombat pack dlc to be revealed later this month, as Netherrealm Studios have confirmed a new trailer will be dropping on August 21st. We know Sindel and Spawn are already confirmed, so we expect to hear about the two other remaining Kombat Pass fighter DLC. Rumors indicate that one of those characters may be Terminator, though this is still just a rumor at the moment.

We’ll be sure to keep you all updated as the details are revealed during the stream along with the new NightWolf gameplay that’ll be dropping tomorrow.

Avatar photo

James Lara

A gamer at heart, James has been working for MP1st for the last decade to do exactly what he loves, writing about video games and having fun doing it. Growing up in the 90's gaming has been in his DNA since the days of NES. One day he hopes to develop his own game.

Home > Hardware

SEGA Genesis Mini New Trailer Showing Off Its Library of 42 Games

SEGA released a SEGA Genesis Mini new trailer showing off its library and the nostalgia fueled hardware, giving players a quick glimpse at the 42 games in action. The throwback system was announced is available for pre-order, and launches on Sept. 19, 2019 for $79.99.

The full list of games available include:

  • Virtua Fighter 2
  • Alisia Dragoon
  • Monster World 4
  • Kid Chameleon
  • Road Rash 2
  • Eternal Champions
  • Columns
  • Dynamite Headdy
  • Strider
  • Light Crusader
  • Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Ecco the Dolphin
  • Castlevania: Bloodlines
  • Space Harrier 2
  • Shining Force
  • Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
  • ToeJam & Earl
  • Comix Zone
  • Altered Beast
  • Gunstar Heroes
  • Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
  • World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
  • Thunder Force 3
  • Super Fantasy Zone
  • Shinobi 3
  • Streets of Rage 2
  • Earthworm Jim
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2
  • Contra: Hard Corps
  • Landstalker
  • Mega Man: The Wily Wars
  • Street Fighter 2: Special Champion Edition
  • Ghouls ’n Ghosts
  • Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
  • Beyond Oasis
  • Golden Axe
  • Phantasy Star 4: The End of the Millennium
  • Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball
  • Vectorman
  • Wonder Boy in Monster World
  • Tetris
  • Darius
  • Road Rash 2
  • Strider
  • Virtua Fighter 2
  • Alisia Dragoon
  • Kid Chameleon
  • Monster World 4
  • Eternal Champions
  • Columns
  • Dynamite Headdy
  • Light Crusader

The SEGA Genesis Mini was announced back in March, and includes two wired control pads, a USB power Adapter, power cable, and an HDMI cable. The two bonus titles included in the console are Darius and the original Tetris.

Source: SEGA

MP1st Staff

Home > News

Man of Medan Dev Diary Explores Multiplayer and the Shared Story Experience

In case you did’t know, Supermassive Games confirmed that The Dark Pictures Anthology – Man of Medan, will feature multiplayer. Today, a new Man of Medan dev diary was released showcasing just that, and the game’s Shared Story mode.

The new developer diary focuses on the development team’s process of creating the Shared Story Mode, a 2-player cooperative online multiplayer experience where players make choices and perform actions that affect the outcome of the story and fate of their respective characters. 

As someone who loved Until Dawn, I can’t wait to play through this horror narrative experience, and this time, you can even have someone “help” you out, which makes it a whole lot better. I mean, at least until one of you gets butchered and whatnot.

The Dark Pictures Anthology – Man of Medan (man, that’s one long title!) will launch this August 30 on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Avatar photo

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Borderlands 3 Amara Trailer Introduces Us to the Siren, Here’s Her Abilities

As part of Gearbox Software’s on-going Vault Hunter character profiles for Borderlands 3, we now get our official Borderlands 3 Amara trailer that introduces us to the character. Check it out below, along with the full list of abilities and skills.

Amara the Siren is a well-renowned hero to the people, but Borderlands 3 is her chance to shine as a badass Vault Hunter. Using her supernatural Siren abilities, Amara pulverizes her enemies with astral projections, pounding them into a bloody pulp with fists formed from pure energy. We’re taking a top-level look at Amara’s three distinct skill trees—Fist of the Elements, Mystical Assault, and Brawl—to help you decide which build best suits your preferred playstyle. But no matter which way you go, Amara will absolutely bring the beatdowns.

FIST OF THE ELEMENTS

Action Skill: Phasegrasp

“For an early advantage, Amara players can go down the Fist of the Elements skill tree and grab Infusion and the Soulfire Action Skill Element. This will convert a portion of your weapon damage to Incendiary Damage. Incendiary Damage is great for flesh enemies, so Children of the Vault bandits and Skags are very vulnerable. Paired with Anima, Tempest, or Wildfire, Amara quickly becomes an elemental wizard who applies DoTs to incinerate the battlefield.” – Grant Kao, Game Designer

Make Amara a maven of elemental damage with the Fist of the Elementsskill tree. Using the Phasegrasp Action Skill you can lock an unfortunate enemy in place, crushing them in the grip of a giant astral fist. While they’re helplessly squirming to break free, you have the perfect opportunity to fill them full of lead, lasers, electricity, or whatever method you favor for ending their miserable life.

You’ll find plenty of ways to amplify your elemental damage output as you progress through the Fist of the Elements skill tree, from flat bonuses like increased magazine size with elemental weapons, to impressive passive abilities like ricocheting bullets. Here are some other elements-focused skills:

  • Wildfire adds a percentage chance that Status Effects applied to an enemy can spread to other enemies. With a little luck, you’ll cause a chain reaction that sets entire groups of baddies ablaze.
  • Catharsis makes it so that any time you trigger an elemental effect on an enemy, they’ll explode on death, dealing Amara’s element damage and any other element currently inflicted upon them to enemies in the blast radius.
  • Conflux gives you a chance to randomly electrocute, ignite, or melt an enemy any time you apply a status effect to them. Whatever the outcome, they’re going to die a very painful death.

Within the Fist of the Elements skill tree, you can access souped-up Action Skills that amplify Phasegrasp, like summoning an additional arm that smashes anything near a grasped enemy. If regular ammo isn’t lethal enough for you, harness the destructive forces of nature with the Fist of the Elements skill tree.

MYSTICAL ASSAULT

Action Skill: Phasecast

Relentless, sustained attacks are a hallmark of the Mystical Assaultskill tree. Kick off your skirmishes with a Phasecast, an astral projection that bombards everything in its path with a flurry of fists. Then tear your way through the softened-up enemies to score stacks of Rush, a bonus provided by starter skills in the Mystical Assault skill tree that activate buffs whenever you consume stacks by using an Action Skill.

As you invest more points into Mystical Assault, you’ll unlock even more bonuses that trigger every time you use your Action Skill. Check out these other powerful Mystical Assault skills that reward you for using your Action Skill early and often:

  • Transcend grants increased accuracy and critical hit bonus after activating an Action Skill.
  • Laid Bare makes enemies take increased damage from all sources after they get hit by your Action Skill—perfect for melting a boss’ health bar.
  • Avatar lets you activate your Action Skill while it’s still cooling down once per cooldown, effectively doubling your Action Skill output. It also increases your max Rush stacks, so you can trigger even bigger payoffs every time you cash in your accrued Rush with an Action Skill.

Additional Action Skills available further down the Mystical Assault skill tree improve the astral projection of Phasecast, like increasing its damage for every enemy it hits or exploding on contact. Building up Rush stacks then reaping the benefits by using your Action Skill is the name of the game with the Mystical Assault skill tree.

BRAWL

Action Skill: Phaseslam

Take the title of Pandora’s prize pugilist with the Brawl skill tree. It’s a great option for melee specialists who love wading into the middle of a fight and punching everything in sight, which is the perfect opportunity to drop a well-timed Phaseslam that knocks nearby enemies into the air with an earthshaking ground slam. If anyone’s somehow still standing after you came in like a wrecking ball, you can put them out of their misery with a few bullets.

Early on in the Brawl skill tree, you’ll find passive abilities that up your survivability, so you can tank a few hits as you close the distance for some hand-to-face melee. Beyond skills that increase your maximum health and give you some damage resistance, you’ll find skills like:

  • Find Your Center ups your melee damage, with the added bonus of granting increased melee range after you use an Action Skill.
  • Guardian Angel makes you even tougher to take down: when you enter the Fight For Your Life downed state, you’ll immediately gain a Second Wind that restores health and creates an elemental nova that knocks back nearby enemies. It’s incredibly powerful but balanced by a lengthy cooldown.
  • Blitz puts the force of Amara’s Siren abilities into a powerful strike, delivering an amped-up melee attack that dashes a short distance and deals elemental melee damage. Best of all, Blitz’s cooldown instantly resets if you kill an enemy with it, so you can combo them together when slugging your way through large groups.

You’ll find some alternate Action Skills along the Brawl skill tree, like the ability to fire an elemental beam from the air before slamming down on your laser-fried foes. If you fancy yourself a melee fanatic, the Brawl skill tree will help you barrel your way into scuffles and punch your way to victory.

Check out Zane’s character bio here, and we also ran something for Moze too.

Borderlands 3 will be out this September 13 for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Avatar photo

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Devs Believe Nothing Should Be Off the Table When Tackling Controversial Subjects

The developers behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare discusses their views on real life subjects and why gaming shouldn’t shy away from it. Back in May, Infinity Ward held a private press event for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in which they showcased invited members of the press two campaign missions. While the details of those missions can be found online, the one notable reaction we saw was that some had left shocked and even emotional after the scene was shown off to them. This eventually sparked some rumors that the team had “cut” the scenes do those reactions, though the team has stated before that nothing has been cut due to the controversial scenes.

And unsurprisingly the team has been under fire recently, by including a killstreak called “White Phosphorus,” which some are criticizing Infinity Ward for including it due to its real-life usage. To say the least, the team is obviously going to make people feel uncomfortable by tackling real-life situations, and developers over at Infinity Ward have stated that these are lines that video games should cross.

Speaking with Game Informer in the latest issue, Narrative Director of Infinity Ward, Taylor Kurosaki discusses his views when it comes to gaming and controversial subjects such as the ones showcased in Modern Warfare.

“Things we’ve been hearing is people say something like, well, do you think it’s a good idea, for you guys to be tackling this sort of subject matter? And I always want to say back to them, “Do you it would be a good idea for there to be subject matters that should be off the table?”

He then goes on to compare gaming to other media such as films and books where they’re acceptable in today’s time era discuss and include explicit graphical scenes.

“People use the term game. And game is such a broad term, it’s everything from Candy Crush to The Last of Us. And in the same way films and TV is everything from Teletubbies to American Sniper. So to say that you shouldn’t tackle that? Well, then should you say that movies shouldn’t tackle those subjects too? Should everything be Teleubbies? Because I don’t want to live in a world where all my games are the equivalent of Teletubbies.”

Do you agree with Infinity Ward or not at all? Sound off and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

More Modern Warfare Reading:

Avatar photo

James Lara

A gamer at heart, James has been working for MP1st for the last decade to do exactly what he loves, writing about video games and having fun doing it. Growing up in the 90's gaming has been in his DNA since the days of NES. One day he hopes to develop his own game.

Home > News

Bohemia Interactive Humble Bundle Announced

Like shooters or a fan of the Arma franchise? You’re in for a treat! The Bohemia Interactive Humble Bundle for 2019 with DayZ was announced for the store, and lasts for 13 days with $292 worth of content. Players can donate money and redeem the titles on Steam, with over 4,113 sold so far.

Get the Bohemia Interactive Humble Bundle here!

The Humble Bundle pack is supporting American Red Cross for charity and people who donate a $1 or more can receive Arma 2, Take on Helicopters, Carrier Command: Gaea Mission, Take on Mars. Players who donate $9.10 or more can also unlock Arma 3, Ylands, Original War, and Pound of Ground. $20 or more unlocks Arma 3 Apex,  Arma X: Anniversary Edition which includes the gold edition, Cold War assault, Arma 2, and all the DLC.

The feature title apart of the bundle, DayZ, unlocks when people donate $30 or more.

Speaking of DayZ, go check out our review of DayZ on PS4 right here.

MP1st Staff

Home > News

Apex Legends Solos Mode Coming for a Limited Time Next Week

Those tired of carrying teammates in Apex Legends, you’ll be able to test your lone wolf skills as Respawn Entertainment will be launching an Apex Legends Solos mode next week! However, this is just for a limited time, though.

Starting August 13 until August 27, players will be able to test if they’re really good as they think they are in Apex Legends.

Respawn mentions that for now, they’ll be putting the mode out there, and will check what kind of feedback they get. I gather, if they see enough love for the Apex Legends Solos mode from the player base, this might be a permanent thing.

In other Apex Legends news, did you know that the battle royale game still gets 8-10 million players per week? Now, for those looking for the mobile version/port, it won’t be out anytime soon.

Avatar photo

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.