Uncrowned Guard

EA has finally pushed out a solid chunk of information about Battlefield 2042’s progress and thankfully they have given us a lot of information this time around!  The game’s open beta will be available to pre-load on Oct 05 and then playable on Oct 06 (for early access players) and Oct 08 (for everyone else) and will run until Oct 10 at 07:00 UTC.  The Open Beta will feature Conquest on the Orbital map, which is one of the maps that will feature dynamic map changes that differ between games.

Some of the new Battlefield’s progression system has been released in detail and will be part of the beta in at least a usable format.  The game’s match XP system will feature “ribbons” that are focused on teamwork to give bonus XP for performing actions like objectives and revives.  Weapons and gadgets will be unlocked via the XP system as the player gains Player Levels over time and this system seems to offer cosmetic unlocks as well as the player levels up.

On top of a long list of unlockable equipment and weapons, players will be able to “master” weapons and unlock more attachments and hardware for those weapons.  Mastery of weapons will also feature milestones (challenges) to unlock additional features, such as skins and player card decorations. Speaking of player cards, the game will feature a customizable Player Card that allows the player to not only show off fancy unlocked art, but also display multiple achievement badges as well. 

Cross-progression was also addressed, and Battlefield 2042 will not only feature cross-progression in the form of unlocks and XP but also allow players to unlock purchases made on other platforms.  There are a few limits to these as special edition items and pre-order content will not carry over across devices.  It also sounds like each platform will have its own Premium Currency ecosystem that will not cross over to other platforms.  Overall, those are minor restrictions in our eyes but don’t forget that the core game needs to be purchased (or obtained via EA Play) for each platform you intend to play on.

Cosmetics are of course coming to the game as well and the article by EA states “You’ll be able to earn cosmetics through gameplay, or by purchasing them” and does not elaborate if ALL cosmetics can be obtained with enough gameplan or if that just means some are via gameplay and others are purchased.  It appears most items in the game will have cosmetics available for them but there was not much offered in terms of examples per the article.

Source: https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-2042/news/battlefield-briefing-progression-and-cosmetics?__twitter_impression=true

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EA has finally pushed out a solid chunk of information about Battlefield 2042’s progress and thankfully they have given us a lot of information this time around!  The game’s open beta will be available to pre-load on Oct 05 and then playable on Oct 06 (for early access players) and Oct 08 (for everyone else) and will run until Oct 10 at 07:00 UTC.  The Open Beta will feature Conquest on the Orbital map, which is one of the maps that will feature dynamic map changes that differ between games.

Some of the new Battlefield’s progression system has been released in detail and will be part of the beta in at least a usable format.  The game’s match XP system will feature “ribbons” that are focused on teamwork to give bonus XP for performing actions like objectives and revives.  Weapons and gadgets will be unlocked via the XP system as the player gains Player Levels over time and this system seems to offer cosmetic unlocks as well as the player levels up.

On top of a long list of unlockable equipment and weapons, players will be able to “master” weapons and unlock more attachments and hardware for those weapons.  Mastery of weapons will also feature milestones (challenges) to unlock additional features, such as skins and player card decorations. Speaking of player cards, the game will feature a customizable Player Card that allows the player to not only show off fancy unlocked art, but also display multiple achievement badges as well. 

Cross-progression was also addressed, and Battlefield 2042 will not only feature cross-progression in the form of unlocks and XP but also allow players to unlock purchases made on other platforms.  There are a few limits to these as special edition items and pre-order content will not carry over across devices.  It also sounds like each platform will have its own Premium Currency ecosystem that will not cross over to other platforms.  Overall, those are minor restrictions in our eyes but don’t forget that the core game needs to be purchased (or obtained via EA Play) for each platform you intend to play on.

Cosmetics are of course coming to the game as well and the article by EA states “You’ll be able to earn cosmetics through gameplay, or by purchasing them” and does not elaborate if ALL cosmetics can be obtained with enough gameplan or if that just means some are via gameplay and others are purchased.  It appears most items in the game will have cosmetics available for them but there was not much offered in terms of examples per the article.

Source: https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-2042/news/battlefield-briefing-progression-and-cosmetics?__twitter_impression=true

A small number of Discord servers are getting a Watch Together feature that is focused on watching YouTube videos together, according to The Verge. This feature would not exactly be a new feature as it was being tested around one year ago, but never seemed to get much support and disappeared.  Perhaps with the recent banning of multiple YouTube-based bots, Discord is trying to find a solution for users to listen to music together or is simply pushing the feature while bots are limited.

The feature seems very similar to current broadcasting features that current users of Discord can use now for sharing games and other applications with their servers.  However, it is focused on making the service heavily integrated within YouTube and even allows sharing playback controls of the video.

It does seem quite easy for users to use this feature to listen to music together and the feature itself does seem toned towards that goal.  There will be advertisements as per the normal YouTube experience although according to the article posted by The Verge, neither Google nor Discord provided much information about YouTube Premium perks and such.

Currently, it seems that only Discord’s friends and family servers have the feature, but it appears that Discord plans to expand the testing very soon.  It sounds like a late October release is possible for this feature, but official information is currently lacking.

Image: Denys Prykhodov - stock.adobe.com

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A small number of Discord servers are getting a Watch Together feature that is focused on watching YouTube videos together, according to The Verge. This feature would not exactly be a new feature as it was being tested around one year ago, but never seemed to get much support and disappeared.  Perhaps with the recent banning of multiple YouTube-based bots, Discord is trying to find a solution for users to listen to music together or is simply pushing the feature while bots are limited.

The feature seems very similar to current broadcasting features that current users of Discord can use now for sharing games and other applications with their servers.  However, it is focused on making the service heavily integrated within YouTube and even allows sharing playback controls of the video.

It does seem quite easy for users to use this feature to listen to music together and the feature itself does seem toned towards that goal.  There will be advertisements as per the normal YouTube experience although according to the article posted by The Verge, neither Google nor Discord provided much information about YouTube Premium perks and such.

Currently, it seems that only Discord’s friends and family servers have the feature, but it appears that Discord plans to expand the testing very soon.  It sounds like a late October release is possible for this feature, but official information is currently lacking.

Image: Denys Prykhodov - stock.adobe.com

Good to meet you as well!!! That is quite an impressive game collection you have going on!  Are you trying to collect one of everything?

Halo 3: ODST gave us one of the most unique Halo game modes in the series, Firefight, and with this mode came an endless amount of community support to fight against the Flood. ODST’s setting did not include the Flood, so it was not surprising to see them missing from the mode, but the fact that ODST soldiers did directly fight the Flood in other Halo games and the Flood did land on Earth during Halo 3 (after the events of ODST), it was not hard to see the players wanting the Flood.

Well, 12 years after ODST was released, 343 has announced that the Flood is coming to Halo 3: ODST’s firefight mode!  This was spotted in a teaser image on 343’s latest forum post and the hype is real.  Firefight was oddly one of the few horde-style games that did not feature some form of a zombie or undead enemy, which was even odder when you think of the fact Halo has the exact enemy needed for this to happen already.

Since it is just a teaser image, we do not know what other changes are coming to firefight or how the Flood will be added.  They may be a selectable enemy for any map/mode, but the screenshot shows an area that is very dark and could very likely be a new map that is just focused on the Flood.  The map does appear to be a standard ODST setting and might be an existing map or a new map created from the New Mombasato area (unless the Flood decided to decorate their hives with palm trees).

Overall, little is known about this update, but it is safe to say that the overall game mode will likely be unaffected since it would already suit the Flood well.  Although, I am curious as to how the waves of Flood will start at each round and if we will get any Flood vehicles.

(Image credit: 343 Industries)

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Halo 3: ODST gave us one of the most unique Halo game modes in the series, Firefight, and with this mode came an endless amount of community support to fight against the Flood. ODST’s setting did not include the Flood, so it was not surprising to see them missing from the mode, but the fact that ODST soldiers did directly fight the Flood in other Halo games and the Flood did land on Earth during Halo 3 (after the events of ODST), it was not hard to see the players wanting the Flood.

Well, 12 years after ODST was released, 343 has announced that the Flood is coming to Halo 3: ODST’s firefight mode!  This was spotted in a teaser image on 343’s latest forum post and the hype is real.  Firefight was oddly one of the few horde-style games that did not feature some form of a zombie or undead enemy, which was even odder when you think of the fact Halo has the exact enemy needed for this to happen already.

Since it is just a teaser image, we do not know what other changes are coming to firefight or how the Flood will be added.  They may be a selectable enemy for any map/mode, but the screenshot shows an area that is very dark and could very likely be a new map that is just focused on the Flood.  The map does appear to be a standard ODST setting and might be an existing map or a new map created from the New Mombasato area (unless the Flood decided to decorate their hives with palm trees).

Overall, little is known about this update, but it is safe to say that the overall game mode will likely be unaffected since it would already suit the Flood well.  Although, I am curious as to how the waves of Flood will start at each round and if we will get any Flood vehicles.

(Image credit: 343 Industries)

We recently got word from 343 Industries, the current developer of the Halo series, that the upcoming Halo Infinite will feature “non-realistic” cosmetics as part of the game.  More specifically, Halo will be joining the ranks of other games (such as Fortnite and PUBG) that offer cosmetic items within their battle pass systems and stores.  Players familiar with these games already know that in-game cosmetics can be based on current movies, social events, pop culture, etc and are simply added to encourage the purchase of those items without any connection to the game’s setting or lore.

Players of Halo have been a bit reluctant to welcome these types of items into the Halo Infinite universe as Halo is generally regarded as a much more practical and “serious” world compared to Fortnite and the others.  However, it seems we will not have to wait until Infinite to see how the out-of-place cosmetics feel in the series as 343 has announced they are starting with Halo: MCC.

Season 8 of MCC will be called Mythic and is named such to put focus on the addition of the new Mythic Mjolnir armor cosmetics that are based around mythological armor sets from ancient times.  These armor sets include items from ancient Greek mythology, medieval crusades, and even Skyrim.  And while it may be true that even the future Halo universe will still be releasing remastered versions of Skyrim, the armor sets are quite out of place for anything we have seen in the game.

Halo has featured some custom helmets being worn by Spartans in the lore and even released some that were not quite “lore-friendly”, but this will be the largest departure from the culture set by the Halo community.  Granted, these helmets look quite epic and are highly detailed in the pictures provided on 343’s blog, so it is safe to assume that a vast number of players will welcome them with open arms and seek to unlock these armor sets.  Plus, if I was a “Spartan” that was essentially an absolute super soldier actively saving humanity from hordes of space aliens by completing a series of essentially suicide missions, well I might just order myself a custom horned Leontokardos helmet to fit the role.

Full 343 Blog with images: https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/myths-mysteries

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We recently got word from 343 Industries, the current developer of the Halo series, that the upcoming Halo Infinite will feature “non-realistic” cosmetics as part of the game.  More specifically, Halo will be joining the ranks of other games (such as Fortnite and PUBG) that offer cosmetic items within their battle pass systems and stores.  Players familiar with these games already know that in-game cosmetics can be based on current movies, social events, pop culture, etc and are simply added to encourage the purchase of those items without any connection to the game’s setting or lore.

Players of Halo have been a bit reluctant to welcome these types of items into the Halo Infinite universe as Halo is generally regarded as a much more practical and “serious” world compared to Fortnite and the others.  However, it seems we will not have to wait until Infinite to see how the out-of-place cosmetics feel in the series as 343 has announced they are starting with Halo: MCC.

Season 8 of MCC will be called Mythic and is named such to put focus on the addition of the new Mythic Mjolnir armor cosmetics that are based around mythological armor sets from ancient times.  These armor sets include items from ancient Greek mythology, medieval crusades, and even Skyrim.  And while it may be true that even the future Halo universe will still be releasing remastered versions of Skyrim, the armor sets are quite out of place for anything we have seen in the game.

Halo has featured some custom helmets being worn by Spartans in the lore and even released some that were not quite “lore-friendly”, but this will be the largest departure from the culture set by the Halo community.  Granted, these helmets look quite epic and are highly detailed in the pictures provided on 343’s blog, so it is safe to assume that a vast number of players will welcome them with open arms and seek to unlock these armor sets.  Plus, if I was a “Spartan” that was essentially an absolute super soldier actively saving humanity from hordes of space aliens by completing a series of essentially suicide missions, well I might just order myself a custom horned Leontokardos helmet to fit the role.

Full 343 Blog with images: https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/myths-mysteries

Games can be expensive and finding the best deal can be a complex task at times.  However there are services that can help with this task!  IsThereAnyDeal is a solid service to find the best current price and to also automatically alert you should a game drop below a certain price.  We are not affiliated with them and if you know any competitors, drop them down below, but the service is solid and a great asset to help save you some money.

https://isthereanydeal.com/

Here is a random stream for anyone interested in watching the event.

Call of Duty Vanguard. The newest WW2-based entry to the series will be revealed tomorrow (August 19th) within Call of Duty Warzone.  The event is called #BattleofVerdansk and will happen at 10:30 am PT according to the official Call of Duty Twitter.

There also appears to be some sort of loot drop that will feature blueprints, a skin, a timepiece, and more!  This event is also featured with Double XP, Double Weapon XP, and Double Battle Pass XP and sounds to be some sort of battle against an armored vehicle.

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Call of Duty Vanguard. The newest WW2-based entry to the series will be revealed tomorrow (August 19th) within Call of Duty Warzone.  The event is called #BattleofVerdansk and will happen at 10:30 am PT according to the official Call of Duty Twitter.

There also appears to be some sort of loot drop that will feature blueprints, a skin, a timepiece, and more!  This event is also featured with Double XP, Double Weapon XP, and Double Battle Pass XP and sounds to be some sort of battle against an armored vehicle.

The DMCA problems faced by Twitch streamers have certainly been a widespread and confusing mess within the community.  From content creators being unsure of what will be deemed copyrighted material, to Twitch releasing limited information about the procedures.  Thankfully, Twitch has released new guidelines about DMCA policies and overall, they do clear up many of the unknowns.

The best news to come forth from these new guidelines is that Twitch will be focusing on repeat offenders and trying to keep new/accidental offenders running on the platform.  A three-strike rule (like YouTube currently uses) will help the platform identify repeat copyright infringers.  The guidelines also reference that those strikes will be removed from accounts over time but do not give any detail to this.

Twitch will also be using a very “YouTube-like” counter strike system where content creators can fight a DMCA strike placed on their content.  Granted YouTube has been mentioned many times in this article and that is a good thing as YouTube has years of experience dealing with DCMA claims, but it is also not a great model to follow if you ask many of the YouTube creators who are still dealing with numerous DCMA issues.

View the full guidelines here: https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/legal/dmca-guidelines/

Check out our official YouTube Channel!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNurnZ1sIKj6HR_l6cWHy9w

Starting at 9PM PT June 16th / 12AM ET June 17th, Season Four begins with all-new content for multiplayer, zombies, and league play! Five new weapons will be released during this season including the MG 82 light machine gun and C58 assault rifle, along with the addition of four new prestige levels (16-19) and numerous other items within the game.

Along with the new weapons and prestige levels, multiple new maps will be arriving with this season including Collateral Strike and Hijacked which are both 6 versus 6 MP maps. Collateral will be a new Combined Arms map for the 12 versus 12 game mode and Amsterdam will land for Gunfight and Face Off in 2 versus 2 and 3 versus 3 MP modes.

One in the Chamber, Multi-Team: Sat-Link, and Hardcore Hardpoint will be launching as new multiplayer modes and Hijacked 24/7 and Cranked Hardpoint will be new featured playlists. There will also be a new scorestreak called the Hand Cannon along with twenty additional multiplayer season challenges.

As far as League Play, they have adjusted the skill divisions along with restricting the LC-10 and AK47. League play will now offer rewards, but this will not be released until later into the season.

Of course, we cannot forget about zombies that will be gaining a new outbreak region called Zoo and a new outbreak main quest called Operation Excursion. New Dark Aether Intel will be available for players along with additional music tracks for players to unlock. They will also be adding new operator missions in zombies along with twenty additional zombie season challenges. For PlayStation players, Onslaught will be gaining the Collateral map.

A new operator Jackal will be a tier 0 release for Battle Pass holders, and they have also reduced the amount of experience needed to progress through season levels in both Cold War and Warzone.

Ground Fall will be a limited time event available in both Cold War and Warzone that will be a set of challenges with exclusive rewards. This event ends June 24th and at that time the rewards will be unavailable for good.

There are numerous tuning changes that can be found in the full patch notes, but this season begins with a heavy focus on increasing the effectiveness of assault rifles utilizing suppressor attachments by increasing their effective range.

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Starting at 9PM PT June 16th / 12AM ET June 17th, Season Four begins with all-new content for multiplayer, zombies, and league play! Five new weapons will be released during this season including the MG 82 light machine gun and C58 assault rifle, along with the addition of four new prestige levels (16-19) and numerous other items within the game.

Along with the new weapons and prestige levels, multiple new maps will be arriving with this season including Collateral Strike and Hijacked which are both 6 versus 6 MP maps. Collateral will be a new Combined Arms map for the 12 versus 12 game mode and Amsterdam will land for Gunfight and Face Off in 2 versus 2 and 3 versus 3 MP modes.

One in the Chamber, Multi-Team: Sat-Link, and Hardcore Hardpoint will be launching as new multiplayer modes and Hijacked 24/7 and Cranked Hardpoint will be new featured playlists. There will also be a new scorestreak called the Hand Cannon along with twenty additional multiplayer season challenges.

As far as League Play, they have adjusted the skill divisions along with restricting the LC-10 and AK47. League play will now offer rewards, but this will not be released until later into the season.

Of course, we cannot forget about zombies that will be gaining a new outbreak region called Zoo and a new outbreak main quest called Operation Excursion. New Dark Aether Intel will be available for players along with additional music tracks for players to unlock. They will also be adding new operator missions in zombies along with twenty additional zombie season challenges. For PlayStation players, Onslaught will be gaining the Collateral map.

A new operator Jackal will be a tier 0 release for Battle Pass holders, and they have also reduced the amount of experience needed to progress through season levels in both Cold War and Warzone.

Ground Fall will be a limited time event available in both Cold War and Warzone that will be a set of challenges with exclusive rewards. This event ends June 24th and at that time the rewards will be unavailable for good.

There are numerous tuning changes that can be found in the full patch notes, but this season begins with a heavy focus on increasing the effectiveness of assault rifles utilizing suppressor attachments by increasing their effective range.