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A public beta for an all-new player vs. player (PvP) mode will soon be available to all Guild Wars 2 players in North America and Europe.
Called Stronghold, the mode takes place in the Battle of Champion’s Dusk map and allows teams to play as pirates and knights while working to overthrow the opposing team’s lord. NCSOFT and ArenaNet hope to introduce new strategy elements to the mode by including NPCs that can be hired (sounding somewhat like Heroes from Guild Wars 1’s Nightfall campaign) to help fight enemy resistance and giving players options and new “strategic opportunities” to keep each player engaged.
This public beta will be accessible through Guild Wars 2’s Unranked Arena. The developer notes that classic PvP mode Conquest will still be available through the Ranked Arena. ArenaNet invites those interested to visit their official website to learn more. But, to get started in Stronghold, you’ll need to head to the Heart of the Mists, which can be accessed through the main portal in Lion’s Arch or through the PvP panel icon located at the top of your screen. Once you’re ready, queue for an Unranked Arena match. You’ll see Battle of Champion’s Dusk as the featured map; vote for it, hit “Accept” when your queue pops, and enjoy the battle! Conquest matches can still be played in Ranked.
Stronghold will be included in Guild Wars 2’s upcoming expansion Heart of Thorns and the beta will be available for 24 hours and will take place on Tuesday, April 14.
Those who choose to participate may use the character currently tied to their account.
To celebrate this huge moment for Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, ArenaNet will also be streaming live for 23 hours nonstop, from 1 p.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday to noon Pacific Time on Wednesday. The stream will feature some of your favorite Guild Wars 2 livestreamers and shoutcasters, as well as appearances by ArenaNet developers! (Well, all except me of course)
Today, they’re worth quite a bit less. The tokens are in-game items which can be purchased for $20 and exchanged for gold or game time, with their value in gold determined by the market. Blizzard said last month that it would set an initial value and then let it fluctuate based on supply and demand. And fluctuate it has, with the Token shedding a full quarter of its worth in gold in a single day.
At launch, a $20 Token was initially valued at 30,000 gold, and actually pushed beyond that in the first few hours after release. But then it started to go down, down, steadily down, and now, according to wowtoken.info, your $20 Token now equates to 22,405 gold, more than a quarter less than the starting price.
The slump is not entirely surprising. As VentureBeat points out, the great likelihood is that players rushed to buy Tokens as soon as they were launched, then dumped them on the auction house to turn around some quick gold. And it’s not as though 22k is an inconsequential sum, either.
The potentially interesting part is what happens next: If the gold value continues to fall, players could be tempted to forgo their $15 monthly subscription fees in favor of Tokens, tradeable for 30 days of game time, purchased with gold. Will Blizzard take action to stabilize the market? My guess is that they’ll eventually settle into a sub-30k stability, but given how the Diablo 3 real money auction house turned out, a small part of me wonders if maybe WoW Tokens could have unforeseen effects on the way the in-game economy is balanced.
For more info on the WoW token system, follow this link!
Ryan Reynolds revealed the first official promo shot for Deadpool and it is — appropriately — a shot of the merc taking some time to get caught up on current affairs while attending to bodily functions. Well… His current affairs anyway. He’s reading the latest Deadpool comic, #250, which is reported to feature the character’s death.
Parents have been told by headteachers that they will be reported to police and social services for neglect if they allow their children to play over 18 computer games, according to the Sunday Times.
The newspaper reported that a warning was issued by primary and secondary schools who found children had been watching or playing games like Call of Duty and Gears of War or Grand Theft Auto.
The group wrote to parents, saying sexual content and violence and sexual content in the games are inappropriate and could lead to “early sexualised behaviour” and leave children “vulnerable to grooming for sexual exploitation or extreme violence”.
It goes on to say:
If your child is allowed to have inappropriate access to any game, or associated product, that is designated 18+ we are advised to contact the police and children’s social care as this is deemed neglectful.”
– Letter to parents
Earlier this month, the Prime Minister said social workers, councillors and teachers could be jailed for up to five years if they failed to speak up when they suspected or received allegations that children were being ill-treated, abused or wilfully neglected.
“We are trying to help parents to keep their children as safe as possible in this digital era. It is so easy for children to end up in the wrong place and parents find it helpful to have some very clear guidelines.”
– Mary Hennessy Jones, the head who drafted the letter
Nantwich Education Partnership, made up of 16 schools in Cheshire, sent the letter. Safeguarding guidance from the local authority told schools that if the behaviour of a pupil, or concerns about them, arouse suspicion the school should consult the children’s service “if in any doubt”.
Parents’ groups have responded by saying reporting families for allowing children to play unsuitable computer games was a step too far.
HELLO EVERYONE NEKOKITWOLF HERE TALKING ABOUT LA COP
It’s a 3-d top down shooter much like Hotline Miami. With the art style of classic American Pop art also in the style of 80’s cop-shows and yes they come with handle bar mustaches. There are 13 levels and 6 cops to choose from which is quite diverse. With the music style of rock from that era.
Opinion: The Art style in my opinion isn’t something I like though the bright and vibrant colors are quite appealing. And what little gameplay I saw wasn’t that impressive to me mostly because it looked like Hotline Miami. What caught my attention though is that we saw co-op which would be something different and nice in this day in age. To bad it seems to only be local, a small lost opportunity there. And the early access version on steam doesn’t have co-op but I’m sure in future installments it’ll be added. All and all this game doesn’t grab me but if you did dig games in that top down style then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one.
