Weekly Recap #348 February 15th – OWW, H1Z1, Closers & More

Weekly Gaming News summary for the week of February 15th   (February 11th  – February 15th).

Romans: Age of Caesar Announced by Firefly Studios: (0:35)

Firefly Studios, makers of Stronghold Kingdoms, have announced a new game recently entitled “Romans: Age of Caesar”. It’s a co-op/grand strategy MMO, and also a spiritual successor to Stronghold Kingdoms. Pre-registration is officially underway for the Alpha test, which you can find a link for in the description. Players will join others in groups of up to 16 in vast cities that expand over a shared, server-wide continent. You’ll work with fellow governors to rebuild the great cities of Rome and restore the republic to its former glory. 

World of Tanks: Mercenaries Celebrates Five Years on Console: (1:02)

Next up, World of Tanks, which originally debuted for consoles on the Xbox 360, is now celebrating its five-year anniversary as a console game.. I remember seeing the launch of it at an E3… hmm, I’ve been doing this for a little while. To commemorate the occasion, Wargaming is offering prize giveaways and in-game rewards to its audience! Players who participate in at least one battle from February 12th to the 18th will unlock an exclusive free tank, the Steadfast Light MK VIC. It’s a fast, British Light tank that you won’t want to miss out on. If you miss the window, you miss out on unlocking the tank, so try to catch it while you can. There will also be a 75% off sale for the anniversary collection of some of the game’s best vehicles to date. This mega pack includes every Premium Mercenary vehicle in the game including the famous Heavy Metal Hero tanks. Free XP to Crew XP conversions will also be available for a limited time, alongside discounted gold to silver conversions. You’ve got to admit this is an awesome way to celebrate a game’s anniversary… where the players win. 

Battlerite/Royale Reveals Huge Patch for Free-to-Play Launch: (2:03)

Might as well get the Battle Royale news out of the way early in the recap, Stunlock Studios revealed the launch trailer for the free-to-play launch of Battlerite Royale this week! Alongside the launch is what players are unofficially calling the “BIG PATCH”, which introduces the first Battle Season to the game, map changes, new items, and three new champions. These new characters include Oldur, I think that’s how you say it, who bends time and space, Taya, who can summon tornadoes, and Pearl, who unleashes the ocean’s fury on all who oppose her. Finally, the All Champions pack will receive a price reduction from 29.99 USD to 19.99. Not sure if that’s just a temporary sale or a permanent adjustment, either way, it’s a much-welcomed price drop. 

H1Z1 on PS4 Announces Season 3 and ‘Beyond Royale’ Expansion: (2:47)

Likewise, H1Z1: Battle Royale for Playstation 4 is going Beyond Royale with their Season 3 update, planned for release on the 21st of February. This free expansion will include two all-new game modes, Ranked leaderboards, and a new 100-tier Battle Pass. This slew of new content launches alongside some new gameplay improvements and quality of life features like attendance rewards, redesigned lobbies, an update to the Front-End UI, and exclusive challenges available to players who unlock all 100 tiers of the new Battle Pass. Like I said last week, it’s not battle royale without a battle pass. 

DC Universe Online Announces ‘Justice League Dark’ Episode: (3:25)

In more Daybreak Games news, the next content update coming to DC Universe Online in March is entitled Justice League Dark. A huge rift has appeared over Gotham, and a massive tentacled Daemon has made its way through. It’s up to you and the heroes of the DC Universe to protect the world from this horrifying abomination. This is a large scale, level-agnostic episode, meaning that there are versions of the event for players at all levels. New and returning heroes and villains will be featured such as Zatanna, John Constantine, Mordru, Doctor Fate, Felix Faust, and Shazam. A variety of single-player and multiplayer adventures set in several magical locales await you and bring with them new gear, styles, artifacts, base items, and feats to earn. I’m pretty sure its been a little while since we saw a new episode like this in DCUO, this should be some exciting news for players but you’ll have to wait until March. 

Occupy White Walls Announces 2.0 Launch and Collaborative Galleries: (4:15)

Up next, Stikipixels… already kinda strange… announced recently a planned Version 2.0 launch of their free-to-play MMO, Occupy White Walls. This is probably one of the weirdest MMOs I’ve ever seen, second to maybe second life and a couple others. Occupy White Walls is about inventing creative, striking spaces and filling them with works of art. I’ve always wanted a game where I just put art on the wall. The latest update makes that more enjoyable than ever by letting players have collaborative galleries so that you can make art with friends and strangers alike. Russian, Spanish, German, French, and Polish localizations are also live with this new update. After you’ve created the skeleton of your art gallery, you can fill it with art from the MET in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. These galleries feature contemporary artists such as… I’m going to butcher this… Sergey Kolesov, Oriol Hernandez, and Sr. X. Can’t say this is one I’ll be playing, not my type of game, but hey, I don’t make the news or the games, I just recap it.

Smite goes unlimited with special skins: (5:19)

Less weird news coming up next as Smite released a news article answering community questions around the Legend of Camelot event and the new unlimited skins available in the game. Like in the past with other pantheons, a new event comes up with the release of themed skins and bundles around that pantheon so as King Arthur and the recently added master wizard merlin’s journey unfolds, 5 bundles will become available to purchase. After unlocking 3 of the five bundles you’ll gain the exclusive winged justice Tyr skin and if you unlock all 5 bundles, which is, actually the best price based on the stacked percentage off, especially since you’ll be getting like 12 skins plus 10 profile cosmetic items, as a result, you will be granted the unlimited master Soulbinder Merlin skin. What’s an unlimited skin you ask? This is a new skin classification coming to the game and is godlike rewards given only to players who fully participate and unlock all the content from an event, so they’re very rare and if you see a player with one they’re either a dev or damn they really like smite. In the past, these would be classified as limited and they would only be available as part of their corresponding event. The difference now is that they can be earned via the events but can now be purchased for a premium price even after the event is over. It is sort of a punishment to buy it after the fact though… it will definitely cost you. Unfortunately, they aren’t going to reclassify older limited skins to unlimited skins so you can just throw money at your screen and get some sick skin from times past if you desire, but you will be able to as we go forward. Not sure if I hate, like or love this change yet, what are your thoughts on this model?

Conqueror’s Blade Announces Free Weekend: (7:10)

On to some MMO news, another reminder stemming from last week, My.com announced that their medieval warfare MMO, Conqueror’s Blade, will be opening its doors to all registered Warlords for a weekend! The dedicated European and North American servers will run from February 15th until the 17th, and all registered players will be able to get their hands on the game. During this period the servers will run uninterrupted, and players will get to experience a brand new tutorial to help them learn the fundamentals of the game. 

Black Desert Online’s Dark Rifts Offer Exciting Solo Challenges: (7:39)

After Wednesday’s maintenance, Pearl Abyss/Kakao Games announced that new content will be coming to Black Desert Online! Dark Rifts will begin appearing around the world, spawning powerful bosses consumed by Black Spirits. They can only be challenged individually, but they promise great rewards for any player who can defeat them. There will be location finders on the map in-game to help you find these encounters so nobody misses out. 

FFXIV Patch 4.55 is Now Live: (8:02)

The latest update for Final Fantasy XIV went live this week, bringing with it a wealth of content including the new Rival Wings map. Hidden Gorge, as it’s called, has teams of 24 players competing to destroy their opponent’s base core. There are train stations to control, roaming goblin mercenaries to recruit and plenty of other factors that can turn the tide of this new battle type in moments. The Forbidden Land of Eureka reaches its climax as well, bringing players who have followed the story to its conclusion into the Baldesion Arsenal, an instance for up to 56 players. Naturally, there was a Valentine’s Day celebration running through today the 15th of February, which included several cool rewards like a Tonberry Knife, whatever that might be… sorry this is a little bit late in terms of getting that reward.

Closers’ Season 3 Begins Today: (8:48)

Next up, En Masse Entertainment is proud to announce that this week marks both Closers’ first year anniversary and the start of Season 3! Rogue Agents will send players off on a new adventure with an exciting twist! The Wildhunter team, led by Wolfgang, is now opposed to the rest of the UNION and has splintered off on its own. It’s up to the Black Lamb and Wolf Dog teams to try and bring the rogue agents to heel. En Masse also revealed a somewhat vague road-map for 2019, with plans for new dungeons, stories, Task Force promotions, a new character, and a new battle system in the works for the game. Keep a look out at MMOHuts.com for news as it becomes available. 

Wild Terra Goes Free to Play: (9:27)

Not to be confused with Tera Online, Wild Terra Online has announced the move to a free to play model! It’s still available on steam, and there’s also a browser version for interested parties, which is kind of a rare thing nowadays. The team behind the game still plans on updating and developing the game through content updates, and their policy on having an in-game store has not changed. The purpose of the in-game store is so that players can support the game without having anything that could shift the balance of PVP unfairly. Things that save time, or make the game more convenient are included in the shop, however. Wild Terra also released a new set of DLC packs that include mounts, titles, and a bundle of convenience items. 

Apex Legends Drops First Patch: (10:05)

And finally, for our last bit of news, we’ve got to check back in on the worlds most popular game at the moment, Apex Legends. Respawn Entertainment dropped the first patch across all platforms a day or so ago and believe it or not the changes to the game were small but it was the thought that counts because it added a few Valentine’s Day themed items into the shop. The Through the Heart Epic skin for the Longbow and the Love of the Game banner frame for Pathfinder. There’s also a new Valentine’s Day challenge in game, players who revive and ally between now and Feb. 19th will receive an exclusive “Live Die Live” badge for their character banners, so get out there and save someone at least once, I know you’re plaything this game… pretty sure the current player count is well past 25 million.