Weekly Recap #357 April 19th – War Thunder, Fortnite, SMITE & More!

Weekly Gaming News summary for the week of April 19th (April 12th – April 19th)

War Thunder Announces Yearly Battlefield Engineer Event is Back: 0:19

Gaijin Entertainment announced that “Battlefield Engineer”, a yearly event is back for a limited time in War Thunder. In this event, players receive a battle-damaged I-180S fighter and can repair it back to full operational form. Players can restore as many fighters as they have the time for and can trade them for other rare vehicles. Players who participate in battle can acquire new components and Aircraft Maintenance Technician Toolkits, that will let them disassemble and reassemble the plane. More repair components can be unlocked simply by playing the game. This process can be sped up by purchasing the items on the Gaijin Market as well. First place ranking players in the team at the end of each battle will receive extra Aircraft Maintenance Technician Toolkits and in some cases a coupon for the unique camouflage, and all spare stuff can be traded with other players in the Market. Seems like a fairly interesting event, check it out before it’s gone.

World of Warships: Legends Begins Early Access This Week: 1:21

And speaking of war games, Wargaming announced this week that the World of Warships: Legends Early Access period has begun! PS4 and Xbox One players are both able to play as of the 16th, with support for English, Russian, Japanese, French, and German languages. This console version of the popular naval combat game isn’t just a simple port, either. It was built from the ground up for consoles with HDR support and, later this year, full 4K resolution support for PS4 Pro and Xbox One X. 

Bless Unleashed Reveals Crusader Class: 1:52

In other console MMO news, Bless Unleashed has revealed another one of its classes – the Crusader. This is pretty much your typical paladin style tank, with heavy armor and shield to shore up their defenses as they go right into the thick of things to keep the heat off their allies. Since this is going to be an action MMO just like Bless Online, you’re still going to have to dodge attacks, but at least you can do it in style.

Warframe’s Plains of Eidolon Remastered Come to Console:  2:16

Not to be left out of the console updates, Warframe released the remastered edition of the open-world Plains of Eidolon for the Playstation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. The area received a complete graphical overhaul, using technology created for the open-world Fortuna update. Plains of Eidolon Remastered offers dynamic lighting, textures, and atmosphere, as well as a completely resurfaced terrain for easier K-Drive action. There’s also a new Grineer menace, the Tusk Thumpers. Sounds kinda weird.

Caravan Stories Comes to North America This Summer for PS4: 2:50

And if you’re on PlayStation 4 you’ll have another MMO to look forward to soon – Caravan Stories. This free to play anime MMORPG comes from Japan but is finally coming to North America (sorry, no word yet on whether it will show up in Europe). The game features six playable races with their own story line, hundreds of recruitable allies, open world raids and much more. Keep an eye out for it this coming July and at mmohuts.com as news becomes available. 

Final Fantasy XIV Begins Final Fantasy XV Collaboration: 3:16

Getting back to PC news, familiar faces from the world of Eos have come to Final Fantasy XIV, as the Final Fantasy XV Collaboration begins. This event will last until May 27th, 2019, and the event is titled A Nocturne for Heroes. Noctis Lucis Caelum will bring the gorgeous Regalia vehicle with him to Hydaelyn, where he joins the Warrior of Light in battle. Battles against Magitek await, as well as the Messenger itself, Garuda. The quest is available for all players who have reached level 50 and completed the main scenario quest “The Ultimate Weapon” by speaking with a familiar journalist in Ul’dah. Of course the most important thing about this event is the rewards, which include Noctis’s outfit, hairstyle, FFXV music, and the first four person mount in the game: the Regalia! This is also the first time a multi-person mount has been available for the general player base so expect to see a crazy amount of cars driving around Eorzea. 

Villagers and Heroes Reveals Next Expansion and New Class: 4:14

Moving on to another fantasy MMO, “A Tale of Earth and Sea” will be the next expansion to Villagers and Heroes, and with it comes a new character class. Previous to the reveal of the expansion, Mad Otter Games released several chapters telling the tale of two sisters Riona and Penn. The first chapter opens to the story of the two young twin sisters who are confined in the Grange, a rotting fortress prison filled with broken spirits. In this expansion, the Shaman class will join the playable classes and is heavily rooted in elemental magic. It’s been a bit since we’ve heard about anything from Villagers and heroes, its crazy to see an expansion like this out of the blue.

Torchlight Frontiers: Railmaster Class Reveal: 4:49

Next on the news train – Torchlight Frontiers revealed a new class this week – the Railmaster. Now this one’s brand new to the Torchlight series, based off one of the Railmasters from Torchlight 2, and it brings a whole new type of mechanic to the game. These guys wield giant sledgehammers which makes plenty of sense but what really stands out is that they lay down tracks  behind them to call in their own personal train! This train can bring in more DPS or utility as the Railmaster wants and of course, it can also be visually customized as well. If you’re in the closed alpha you’ll be able to play the class starting on April 23. The rest of us will just have to wait.

Fortnite Presents Air Royale Event: 5:32
Fortnite Announces ‘World Cup Creative’:

Need to get a breath of fresh air? It’s time to fight for dominance of the skies in Fortnite! The Air Royale event has begun in Fortnite, where players complete challenges in the new Air Royale Duos LTM. Completing these challenges will unlock four free Wraps, and there are also new items in the Shop. The new items include the Supersonic Outfit, which comes with Gauge. Gauge is a new Back Bling that has your eliminations displayed on a counter.

SMITE Sands and Skies Patch Notes Discussion: 6:01

Coming back down to earth, SMITE has revealed the Sands and Skies patch details. This patch is going to release two gods at once, not one but two! Horus is coming in as a warrior and Set… finally, will be coming in as an assassin, and they’re definitely going to shake things up on the battlefield. There’s a bunch of other changes coming so make sure you check out the link in the description below and read up on Jason’s break down of all the major changes coming soon. 

SMITE Blitz Announced: 6:30

Speaking of SMITE, looks like it’s finally time that Hi-Rez tried to tap into the mobile market with a mobile-only title announced this week: SMITE Blitz. This game’s going to have PvE and PvP modes and explore a new story with your favorite SMITE gods. The game’s already begun technical alpha on iOS and Android so keep an eye out if mobile’s your thing.

MTG Arena Topdeck Tutor: Red Deck Wins (Siskel and Ebert)
MTG: War of the Spark Preview: 6:51

Finally, Magic the Gathering’s new expansion, War of the Spark, is on its way to MTG Arena! A lot of the set has been spoiled, and Jason wrote up a piece highlighting some of the newest cards with the most potential over on MMOHuts.com that you should definitely go read, especially if you’re a fan of our Topdeck Tutor instructional series. And if you are, there’s a new Topdeck Tutor too so make sure to check out the Skewer the Critics build!