Elder Scrolls Online Gold Road has officially been released on June 3. This update is a major update for Bethesda MMO, including but not limited to the addition of a new Daedric Prince, new areas to explore, and ways to customize and tweak it to your liking.

In this interview, we spoke with Zone Lead Ed Stark, Scribing Project Lead Kira Schlitt, and Narrative Director for Elder Scrolls Online Bill Slavicsek to discuss the origins of this update and what players can expect from it.

New Daedric Prince: Ithelia

Daedric Princes are essentially gods from Elder Scrolls lore universe, and Gold Road has breathed new life into Daedric Princes: Ithelia. Also known as Forgotten Daedric Prince, he fills a gap in the celestial lineup.

Bill Slavicsek had this to say about this new Daedric Prince, who wanted to use Ithelia's unique personality and responsibilities to fill in some holes that other Daedric Princes had in these areas. Even though he is a forgotten prince, Narrative Director also needs to make a complete backstory and a way for him to interact with other princes.

For now, Ithelia's past and presence in Tamriel remain a mystery, but players only learned that she was betrayed by another Daedric Prince named Mora. However, there is no mention of Ithelia in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which is set 800 years after the events of Elder Scrolls Online. Slavicsek quietly told us that this issue will be resolved in Ithelia's story quests, so this matter needs to be explored slowly by players.

Slavicsek also told us that delving into Wood Elves is another important event for the narrative team. They are experiencing the traditions and culture of Wood Elves for the first time since the game area was released, and they are also very happy to bring Wood Elves into the game area.

Old And New West Weald

West Weald is a new area on Gold Road, but it's not the first time it's appeared in a video game. West Weald was previously a small part of Oblivion, and this update gives players the opportunity to explore the history of the area in more depth.

Ed Stark said that it was challenging and exciting for their team to think about how to add some new and special elements to West Weald. In addition, they did a good job of balancing the original material presented in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and the story of new Daedric Prince.

Ed Stark also said that the established lore of West Weald left a lot of room for their team to play, so they used this to create an alternative history of West Weald. Their most important idea was not to make fans of the original Oblivion feel that it was a remake of the original and would not feel uncomfortable.

Also Read: Elder Scrolls Online: How To Customize Your Own House To The Maximum In Gold Road Chapter?

Scribing, Grimoires, And New Ways To Fight

Besides the two new events mentioned above, Gold Road also introduces Scribing. This is a brand new system that allows players to customize their skills - Grimoires. It can be customized in three different ways, allowing players to choose the equipment or mounts they bring into battle based on the ESO Gold they previously owned.

Scribing Lead Kira Schlitt explained that the goal of Scribing is to create a flexible system that allows players to focus on a certain aspect of their build or roleplay, and to swap out skills they don't like for new pairings at any time.

Schlitt added that Scribing is not just a way to make yourself stronger, but will also help players have more diverse roles and builds, and provide some new mechanics for those who don't have equipment.

Schlitt also shared one of her favorite combos: using Repelling Explosion version of Elemental Explosion. This throws a ball of elemental energy, which then explodes in a large area and knocks back all enemies in the area. It also has a persistent Lingering Torment Signature Script, which also increases each weapon's damage and Brutality and Sorcery energy.

Roleplay And Skill Styles Customization

Skill Styles is another new feature that Gold Road has brought to Elder Scrolls Online. Players can customize the appearance of their in-game combat skills, allowing players to fully integrate with their characters.

Schlitt said that he would often visit the community, where players are enthusiastic about character customization and roleplay, and as developers, they regard the phrase “play your way” as the most important priority. So the next goal is apparent, which is to continue to expand more possibilities for players.

The main creative team of Elder Scrolls Online said that they would be very glad with the players' feedback on new events such as Scribing and Skill Styles, and would be happy to share their favorites on social software. We also look forward to every player's new exploration in Elder Scrolls Online Gold Road!

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In fact, in the past two years, there have been constant rumors that there will be new DLC. But it's all uncertain. As a result, news like this constantly piques players' interest and then disappoints them. I believe many players have quit Elden Ring because of this, but this time it is really coming. I believe there will be players who will return to Elden Ring after seeing the release date of Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.Elden Ring’s new expansion Shadow of the Erdtree DLC will be ushered in on June 21st. Currently, Miyazaki claims that this is the only DLC for Elden Ring. So the story of Elden Ring is coming to an end after Shadow of the Erdtree. Shadow of the Erdtree will be the last journey for players in Elden Ring. There will be many changes in Shadow of the Erdtree, a lot of new content will be added, and the difficulty will increase.

1. New Leveling Mechanic

Miyazaki mentioned a separate leveling mechanic in the interview. Since two years have passed since the release of Elden Ring, most players have fully leveled characters. FromSoft is also aware of this problem, so in order to ensure the future game experience, a separate leveling mechanic was proposed. It is outside of “the Lands Between” and players will have their own “level element”. This is more like a balancing mechanism that exists to maintain a fair environment. If such adjustments are not made when Shadow of the Erdtree is about to launch, the subsequent game experience will become confusing. Therefore, Miyazaki emphasized that if you do not put a protective lock on the game balance, it is better to start from scratch. This is also unfair to veteran players, so in order to ensure the interests of most players, a separate leveling mechanic was born.

2. New Game Content

Shadow of the Erdtree has a huge amount of content, including eight new weapon types, as well as many brand new casts, such as the legendary St. Trina. This will be a highlight and very much anticipated. She echoes past video content and is associated with some Legendary, Materials, Special Weapons and recipes. This also means that the entire Elden Ring will form a closed loop, and many things have been reasonably explained.

The protagonist of Shadow of the Erdtree is Miquella, who has an unusual relationship with Trina. I believe everyone knows the similarities between Miquella’s Lily and Trina’s Lily. I was so impressed that he took off his hat to show respect when Miyazaki said this.

And a new boss is coming soon: Messmer the Impaler. From the official PV, we can see that he has iconic red hair and his skills are very cool. Messmer the Impaler inserts a spear into the ground, and the lava boils, and then many spikes suddenly appear around it. If you fail to get out of the range in time, you may be knocked away by it or even get hung up on it.

This is exactly the same as the historical Dracula who liked to hang people on thorns. He’s almost a demigod. His life experience is also worthy of everyone’s exploration and guessing. This Boss is very difficult and requires top operation. I think this boss is so handsome. Whether it’s the appearance design, skill special effects, or his connection with the story itself, it’s worthy of careful exploration by us players.

In addition, taking into account the situation in the world of Elden Ring, many well-known NPCs will not appear in Shadow of the Erdtree. In this way, everyone can understand that this is not an eternal world, and the life and death of NPCs are irreversible. Everything lost will only become regrets and remain in memory. Creating a utopia is not Miyazaki’s goal.

Some people may be reluctant to ask if this is the end? Is the ending of Shadow of the Erdtree the ending of Elden Ring?

I think you are thinking too simply. Shadow of the Erdtree will have different options and endings, which players need to explore by themselves. As for which one is the standard ending, Miyazaki didn’t say much. The reason for having multiple possibilities is also to make it easier for players to replay the game. It feels as if Miyazaki left the ending blank and left it to the players to fill it in. Some people speculate that although he has emphasized that it will be the last DLC of Elden Ring. They do not rule out the form in which FromSoft will publish the sequel to Elden Ring again, including books, comics, videos, etc.

After all, this is a DLC released two years after Elden Ring was released in 2022. Veteran players have been idle in the original world for a long time. Seeing that the challenge is coming, it is time for us to move our bodies and welcome Shadow of the Erdtree. Nothing is easy in Elden Ring. Let’s take up arms and prepare for new battle.

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Elden Ring is the best role-playing game ever made and is incredibly replayable. FromSoftware offers a variety of weapons. For players in this game, making it the largest arsenal in Souls genre.

While there are a lot of magnificent weapons in the game, some aren’t worth grinding. While it’s great to explore the vibrant world of Elden Ring, it can be frustrating to spend a lot of time in a specific location or fighting a boss, only to find that the rewards aren’t particularly useful.

There are many reasons to make the weapons in the list below better, including a lack of high-quality ash, the stats or damage values required to equip them. These weapons can be effective in certain scenarios, but lack reliability and fail to hold players’ attention over the long term. Therefore, using Elden Ring Runes in the game can make players enjoy the game more happily. The following is what I will introduce to you the weapons and equipment in Elden Ring that are not worth your time to unlock.

10. Crystal Sword

• Weapon Skill: Spinning Slash
• Stat requirements: Strength 13, Dexterity 10, Intelligence 15
• Basic scaling: Str (D), Dex (E), Int (D)

Crystal Sword is a Straight Sword based on intelligence. The main things related to Crystal Sword are strength, agility and intelligence. The most frustrating aspect of this weapon is that it doesn’t benefit from magical enhancements or consumables. In addition to the above, any Ashes of War can not contaminate it.

After the balance damage of the latest Straight Sword was weakened, the status of this Straight Sword has once again declined. Surprisingly, there is a better alternative to the nerfed Straight Sword in the game. Players can find this sword outside the well next to Village of Albinaurics and across Wooden Bridge. The sword is attached to the corpse.

9. Eclipse Shotel

• Weapon Skill: Death Flare
• Statistical requirements: Str 10, Dex 25, Fai 30
• Basic scaling: Str (E), Dex (D), Fai (D)

Eclipse Shotel is a Curved Sword and yet another weak weapon in the game that is not worth polishing. This weapon relies on Faith and Dexterity scaling and inflicts death disease on enemies. However, it has the same disadvantage as Crystal Sword in that it cannot be improved through buffs or Ashes of War.

Not only is the basic damage weak, but the requirements for faith and agility are relatively high, and the scaling effect is not very satisfactory. Additionally, its range is not too far, and it also causes death and blight effects. Eclipse Shotel is located at Altar of the church in the southeast of Castle Sol.

8. Varre’s Bouquet

• Weapon Skill: Blood Tax
• Stat Requirements: Strength 8, Dexterity 16, Arc 24
• Basic scaling: Str (E), Dex (D), Arc (C)

Varré’s Bouquet is a Hammer in Elden Ring that is probably one of the weakest weapons in the game due to its weak damage output and lack of effects. It scales primarily by Strength, Arcane, and Dexterity, and the damage it does is not as high, if not a bit low, compared to any other arcane scaling or arcane affinity weapons. It has the only but not non-unique Ashes of War, and Blood Tax, although it increases the damage of the weapon, is nothing great.

Players can find this weapon in White Mask Varré at Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum before Dynasty Mausoleum Midpoint site of grace. However, players must also defeat Mask Varré and complete the conversation with him to obtain the weapon.

7. Ivory Sickle

• Weapon Skill: Quickstep
• Stat requirements: Strength 8, Dexterity 16, Intelligence 24
• Basic scaling: Str (6), Dex (11), Int (13)

Ivory Sickle, like Crystal Sword, is an Intelligence-based dagger, but it cannot be imbued or polished and acts as quickly as Ashes of War. The weapon’s base damage is very frustrating, and the scaling is terrible. Although the critical hit rate of the dagger is 100, this does not satisfy the player because there are a large number of other daggers in the game that are more worthy of use. Their critical hit rate and physical damage make unlocking this weapon very difficult. The series of troubles brought about became uninteresting.

Players can find this weapon in Village of Albinaurics.

6. Watchdog’s Greatsword

• Weapon Skill: Stamp (Upward Cut)
• Stat Requirements: Strength 8, Dexterity 16, Arc 24
• Basic scaling: Str (E), Dex (D), Arc (C)

Even though Watchdog’s Greatsword is a very large weapon, there’s really nothing special about it. It is a strength-based weapon that scales and improves with Strength and Dexterity. It has system-configured Ashes of War Stamp. Although Watchdog’s Greatsword can be buffed through Ashes of War, consumables, and magic, its base physical damage is still average for weapons compared to other giant weapons.

Watchdog's Greatsword has a relatively low drop rate, as it requires players to spend a lot of time polishing it so it is challenging for players to obtain this weapon. However, considering its surprising statistics, it’s probably not worth the effort to get it. Watchdog’s Greatsword is obtained by defeating Buried Watchdog in Catacombs of Giant’s Peak.

5. Duelist Great Axe

• Weapon Skill: Endure
• Stats Requirements: Str 30, Dex 10
• Base Scaling: Str (E), Dex (D)

Duelist Great Axe is a tremendous weapon in the game. However, although it is huge, it is a dexterous weapon with high strength requirements and is not suitable for polishing. What makes this axe different from other weapons on this list is that it can be infused with Ashes of War and can also be upgraded and improved using magic and consumables.

After recent adjustments to balance damage, the weapon’s performance dropped even more. Weapon drop rates are also very low. Duelist Great Axe can be obtained as a drop from Duelist enemies near Colosseum in Leyndell near West Capital Rampart Site of Grace.

4. Zamor Curved Sword

• Weapon Skill: Zamor Ice Storm
• Stat Requirements: Strength 16, Dexterity 16
• Basic scaling: Str (D), Dex (D)

While Zamor Scimitar is one of the best looking weapons in the game, sadly, its damage doesn’t match its good looks when it comes to dealing damage and scaling. This sword focuses primarily on agility rather than strength. The system setting skill of this weapon is Zamor Ice Storm, which is used to frost the enemy. However, compared with other swords of the same type, its physical damage output and range are far behind.

The weapon also lacks the ability to be polished or enchanted, and players cannot imbue it with Ashes of war. This weapon is dropped by defeating Ancient Hero of Zamor's boss found in Giant-Conquering Hero’s Grave dungeon.

3. Troll Knight Sword

• Weapon Skill: Troll’s Roar
• Stat requirements: Strength 20, Dexterity 14, Intelligence 18
• Basic scaling: Str (D), Dex (D), Int (D)

Like Ivory Sickle and Crystal Sword, Troll Knight Sword is another intelligence-based weapon in the game that scales primarily with agility, intelligence, and strength. This weapon’s skill, Troll’s Roar, is also the only weapon skill available, and is considered mid-level in comparison. No Ashes of War player can infuse or polish it into weapons.

The high stat requirements and poor drop rate add to the reasons this weapon isn’t worth your time. Troll Knight Sword can be obtained by defeating Troll Knight in Caria Manor.

2. Vulgar Militia Saw

• Weapon Skill: Spinning Slash
• Stat Requirements: Strength 10, Dexterity 10
• Basic scaling: Str (D), Dex (C)

Vulgar Militia Saw is a Halberd weapon. This weapon is associated with two attributes, Strength and Dexterity. It is an excellent hemostatic and healing weapon. However, other than this skill, Militia Saw has nothing unique about it that any high-quality weapon would not have.

The weapon’s system-set ability “Spinning Slash” is very ineffective compared to other Ashes of War in the game, and the player cannot use any other Ashes of War. Vulgar Militia Saw can be obtained from enemies wielding the weapon near Bestial Sanctum in Greyoll’s Dragonbarrow.

1. Clinging Bone

• Weapon Skill: Lifesteal Fist
• Stat Requirements: Strength 8, Dexterity 22, Arc 16
• Basic scaling: Str (E), Dex (C), Arc (D)

Technically speaking, Clinging Bone is the fist used as a weapon in Elden Ring. The weapon updates with power and arcane changes, but it also splits magic damage, which is confusing in itself. Beyond that, the worst thing about this weapon is that it doesn’t come with any unique Ashes of War; instead, the only Ash of War players can get is Lifesteal Fist.

Other ashes cannot be buffed into it, and it cannot be buffed or enchanted. Clinging Bone can only be dropped from Royal Remains NPC Ensha in Roundtable Hold.

Through the above analysis of Elden Ring's weapons, players can reduce unnecessary time spent on weapon selection and training, and at the same time, they can more accurately understand the attributes of each weapon, thereby improving players' efficiency in the level-breaking game.

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Greetings Exiles! In this guide, I’ll be bringing you my best build in POE 3.24 league, Toxic Rain Pathfinder.

Not only does it have insane damage and clear speed, it’s completely viable even in Tier 17 Maps. What’s more, this build is very affordable and perfect for players with a lower POE Currency budget. So, let’s jump right in!

Toxic Rain

Let's start with the basic skill, Toxic Rain. It causes Spore Pods to spawn where projectiles land. This will start dealing Chaos damage in an area over time, and they can overlap with each other.

New Area Threshold

Compared to the last league build, we have made a very important update to this version, which is the new area threshold.

Due to area of effect breakpoints, you can achieve optimal single target damage by increasing area of effect by at least 37% but no more than 43%. So this is going to be our new area threshold.

We hit that goal with 20% from Bow Mastery, and another 8% to 10% from Gloves craft. Also, I personally recommend purchasing Medium Cluster Jewel with Towering Threat for the rest. With this, you can save your Helmet Implicit for more useful stuff, like mana cost reduction or curse effectiveness.

Right now I’m using mana cost reduction because I’m running maps with lower recovery, so that’s why you see this mod on my helmet.

Also Read: How To Maximize The Power Of Perandus Pact Unique Jewel In Path Of Exile 3.24?

Perandus Pact

Through Necropolis League, we got a very cool new unique jewel, and it’s Perandus Pact. It can provide you with very useful statistics, such as passive skills within the radius giving +2 to all attributes.

Luckily I bought this for 100 Chaos Orbs before they raised the price and I’ve been using it ever since. This gem increases our Chaos damage by 126%. I know it’s quite expensive now, but it’s worth the price.

But now Path of Building does not support gem modifiers, which is why you will often see it in custom modifiers of Path of Building.

Secondary Source Of Damage

Our biggest and best multiplier comes from secondary sources using Ballistas. We can have 5 of these and they will help stack Wither on the boss, which will increase Chaos damage by 90% by default.

In addition, we also get an Ascendancy node, which will increase Wither effect and give us the opportunity to inflict Wither on the enemy. In short, our damage increases faster.

The other big damage increase is skill effect duration, as Spore Pods will stay in combat longer and deal damage for a longer duration.

Sadly, when you want to do hard content, you need to retool your chest or get a secondary one because you won’t be using Ballista.

How To Improve Clear Speed?

In order to increase the clear speed as much as possible, we use Caustic Arrow. When you fire your bow, this ability creates Caustic Ground where the projectile lands, dealing Chaos damage over time.

But because this skill alone is not suitable for clearing, we added Awakened Arrow Nova Support. With this combination, our clear speed will be much faster.

So when you’re mapping, just socket Caustic Arrow and Arrow Nova Support in your bow instead of Toxic Rain and Mirage Archer and you’re ready.

Toxic Rain’s clear speed is super fast, and it’s satisfying to see when everything disappears in a split second. You will get almost full screen coverage.

Please note that I only upgrade when doing Legion. I think this is a good indicator because with this clear setup the build is fast. Honestly, if I were to pick a build that I needed to compete in other games in the league, this would be my choice. Because you can use it to farm any side content without any problem.

But since I didn’t have enough time to Min-max this build, I actually lost about 60% of the damage here. This means you actually have a lot of room for improvement.

How To Achieve Perfect Defense?

On the defensive side, we have new defensive options for this build.

We can use Automation Support and link it to Immortal Call. Since gems often activate on their own, you can level up to Immortal Call’s highest level and get nifty extra defensive boots.

Don’t forget to get quality on Automation Support as quality is cooldown recovery rate. So it will be active more often.

Currently, we’ve converted 95% of physical damage to elemental damage. Including 50% from Lightning Coil. and 14% from helmets.

Additionally, I’m using Purity of Lightning in the build so I can use a Watcher’s Eye that converts 10% of physical damage to lightning damage. Since we have very high flask effectiveness, we also use Taste of Hate to increase elemental damage by 21%.

Since we treat 66% of physical damage as lightning, my use of Purity of Lightning will further reduce this damage. We also use all Elemental Flasks, including Topaz Flask, so our maximum lightning resistance is 90%.

If you want to push to ubers, you need to swap Grace Aura for Petrified Blood, or you recolor your gloves every time. This is definitely more annoying.

Gear Setup

Next, let’s take a look at some of the important items you’ll need in this build.

• Weapon: Quill Rain
• Helmet: Hubris Circlet
• Quiver: Broadhead Arrow Quiver
• Body Armor: Full Dragonscale
• Amulet: Agate Amulet
• Ring: Amethyst Ring
• Gauntlets: Dragonscale Gauntlets
• Belt: Heavy Belt
• Boots: Dragonscale Boots

Flask

For flasks, we use Ruby, Topaz, Sapphire, Quicksilver and Divine Life Flask. Note that all flasks require a mod: increased effect and reduced duration.

Be careful when you roll your flask, as there are many mods that combine these two, but the duration will be reduced even more, so your flask won’t have 100% uptime.

Additionally, Quicksilver Flask can provide regenerate life, which you will use for mapping. But when you get into a boss fight, don’t forget to change your Quicksilver to a Silver Flask with attack speed.

Passive Tree

Finally, as always, I’d like to highlight some things you need to build on a passive tree. For this build, we used Pathfinder as Ascendancy.

In the first lab, we took Nature’s Reprisal and leveled it with Toxic Rain, so this node was a game changer early on.

The second lab uses Nature’s Adrenaline to produce Flask Charges.

The third lab is Nature’s Boon. It reduces elemental damage taken by the player and provides 3 charges per flask every three seconds.

The last lab uses Master Surgeon. When you use a flask, it restores life and gives Flask Charges when you land a critical hit.

In short, Toxic Rain Pathfinder still did not disappoint me in Necropolis League. It’s still powerful and can handle anything the game has to offer, including Tier 17 Maps! So, hurry up and give it a try!

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A highly dependable sports simulation game makes a strong comeback with promising new features. MLB The Show continues its impressive storytelling elements from last year, now delving into the immersive world of the Negro Leagues, offering players an educational journey through a significant chapter in baseball history.

When Will MLB The Show 24 Be Released?

Let’s start with the obvious: MLB The Show 24 is set to release globally on March 19th.

Fans of baseball and console gaming can celebrate as San Diego Studios’ newest baseball simulation will be accessible on previous and current-generation PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Furthermore, MLB The Show 24 will also be playable on the Nintendo Switch, offering options for both home and on-the-go gaming.

Unfortunately, if you’re a PC user, you’re currently out of luck as there’s no announcement regarding a Windows version at this time.

All Editions Of MLB The Show 24

This year, fans have the option to pre-order 3 special editions of MLB The Show, in addition to the standard version of the game.

The first tier available is the MVP Edition, which offers various bonus items such as a Legend Diamond Choice Pack, 10 The Show Packs, 10,000 MLB The Show 24 Stubs and more.

Moving up, there’s the Digital Deluxe Edition, which includes all the content from the MVP Edition along with additional extras.

At the highest tier is the Negro Leagues Edition, serving as this year’s collector’s pack. It encompasses everything from the lower two tiers and adds exclusive items like a limited edition physical Steelbook and New Era cap.

However, it’s worth noting an unusual aspect: the PS5 version of the Collector’s Edition doesn’t come with a physical disc despite including the Steelbook. To obtain a disc with the Negro Leagues Edition, one must order an Xbox Series X/S version.

Also Read: How To Master Hitting In MLB The Show 24? - Best Swing Settings, All Swing Types & Hitting Strategies

Early Access

An important detail to highlight for those eager to gain Early Access to this year’s release is that it necessitates pre-ordering one of the three special editions.

Simply pre-ordering the standard game won’t grant you early access, which is scheduled to commence on March 15th, 2024, this year. Pre-orders are currently open, so act promptly if you’re keen on diving into this year’s edition ahead of the crowd.

Who Is The Cover Athlete For MLB The Show 24?

One of the most eagerly awaited elements of any sports simulation game release is the selection of the cover star by the developer.

This year, the honor goes to none other than Toronto Blue Jays’ player Vladimir Guerrero Jr., son of a Hall of Famer. Guerrero Jr. serves as the Blue Jays’ designated hitter and is a rising star in the baseball world. Notably, he was the youngest ever MVP voted onto the AL All-Star roster in 2021.

Negro Leagues

Appearing for the first time last year, MLB The Show 24 will continue its partnership with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum with the return of players from the Negro Leagues.

In this year’s edition, players will encounter 10 Negro League Legends, each with their own unique storyline to explore. This game mode offers players the opportunity to step into the shoes of significant Baseball Legends and relive the memorable moments of some of the most crucial games in their careers.

What Features MLB The Show 24?

Diamond Dynasty, allowing players to construct fantasy teams featuring baseball Legends, past and present stars, makes a comeback in 24.

The career mode, Road to the Show, where players advance from minor league to MLB, along with tournaments, will naturally be part of the package.

Additionally, Storyline Mode and Franchise Mode complete the lineup of anticipated features making a return in this year’s edition.

Franchise Mode

Securing victory in the World Series stands as the paramount objective for every baseball team, and in MLB The Show 24, players will once more have the opportunity to guide their preferred franchise to triumph.

By providing coaching, nurturing the team, and assuming the role of franchise manager, players will once again wield authority over both the on-field and off-field operations of their chosen team, aiming to elevate them to the summit of the rankings.

Storyline Mode

In MLB The Show’s Storyline Mode, players are afforded the opportunity to delve into, relive, and honor the heritage of baseball icons.

In this installment, the spotlight falls on the esteemed New York Yankees legend and cover star of MLB The Show 23, Derek Jeter. Serving as an exceptional highlight, this year’s storyline presents players with the chance to recreate Jeter’s most pivotal and memorable moments through an immersive career retrospective.

Unveiling New Legends In The Negro League Narratives

In addition to Derek Jeter’s distinctive storyline, MLB The Show 24 will introduce a multitude of new legends within the Negro League narratives.

Included among them are luminaries such as Buck Leonard, Hank Aaron, Josh Gibson—often referred to as “the Black Babe Ruth”—and Toni Stone, who notably became the first woman to play professional baseball at the highest level.

As we approach the release date of MLB The Show 24, it’s anticipated that more legends will be unveiled. The four legends mentioned will be accessible upon launch, with a total of 10 legends expected to be available.

Fresh And Reintroduced Stadiums

Derek Jeter’s playable storyline kicks off with his debut at Seattle’s Kingdom, meticulously reconstructed by San Diego Studio to feature in this year’s edition after a hiatus of a few years.

It’s anticipated that at least one additional new stadium will be introduced, though more may also be in the works. Among these anticipated additions is Greenlee Field in Pittsburgh, serving as the backdrop for one of the storylines spotlighting the Pittsburgh Crawfords.

Revamped Menu System

Frequently disregarded in video games, well-designed in-game menus offer players a smooth and effortless experience. MLB The Show 24’s revamped menu system appears to achieve just that.

It’s more than just adding a touch of color to enhance the atmosphere of storylines. It’s also sleek, contemporary, and easier to navigate.

There Is No Tech Test In MLB The Show 24

Unlike its predecessors, MLB The Show 22 and 23, this year’s edition will not provide players with access to a tech test prior to the game’s release.

Typically functioning as an open beta, allowing players to sample the upcoming iteration and its gameplay adjustments, the absence of a tech test this year may suggest that there’s minimal differentiation in gameplay between last year’s version and this one.

We’ll have to wait until the release of MLB The Show 24 to ascertain this. However, the lack of a tech test could also indicate confidence in the gameplay, with San Diego Studio deeming it unnecessary.

The compressed schedule from announcement to release date may have also played a role in this decision.

Crossplay And Cross-Progression Features

Crossplay returns for MLB The Show this year, offering gamers the opportunity to play with their friends on different platforms.

Additionally, cross-progression will be available, allowing players to start the game on one platform and continue their progress on another. It’s important to mention, however, that year-to-year saves won’t be supported once again.

Stadium Creator Returns In MLB The Show 24 (Limited To Current-Gen Consoles)

Indeed, the beloved Stadium Creator feature makes its comeback in this year’s iteration of MLB The Show, but it’s exclusive to current-generation consoles.

Feature Premieres

Each week leading up to the release of MLB The Show 24, San Diego Studio will release an informative video, serving to showcase new features and unveil fresh content.

As of now, several feature premieres have already occurred, with four more slated. However, San Diego Studio hasn’t divulged much about the content of each presentation. Mark your calendars for the developer tournament on March 13th and the final feature premiere on March 14th.

…

Whitestrake's Mayhem stands out as one of ESO's biannual PvP-focused in-game events, occurring across all three of the game's PvP zones: Battlegrounds, Cyrodiil, and Imperial City.

While this event generates significant excitement among PvP enthusiasts, the same level of enthusiasm may not always be shared by PvE mains. In this guide, we'll provide several tips and tricks from a PvEer's viewpoint on how to thrive and optimize your experience during the event.

Battlegrounds

For some players, Battlegrounds may offer a less stressful PvP experience compared to other options, as event tickets and loot can be obtained simply by participating, without the need to excel in PvP skills.

Event tickets are earned through Battlegrounds by completing daily quests. If PvP is not your preferred activity and you receive the "To the Victor" daily quest, you can abandon it and acquire another. "To the Victor" necessitates winning three Battleground matches, which can pose a challenge for those less skilled in PvP.

The other 2 quests are relatively easier.

1. The "Test of Mettle" quest requires earning 1,000 medal points in Battleground matches. Achieving medals, even for less proficient players, isn't overly difficult, as long as the objective is pursued diligently.
2. The simplest quest, "Let the Games Begin" only mandates participation in five Battleground matches, regardless of victory or defeat. Simply showing up suffices to complete this task.

Cyrodiil

As someone who is new to PvP, I find Cyrodiil to be my preferred PvP setting. I'm not fond of the intense close-quarters combat that PvP often entails.

During the event, my strategy is to accumulate a substantial amount of Alliance Points (AP) by repairing walls and doors. Repair kits are available for purchase with AP or ESO Gold from the Siege Merchants at main bases, keep outposts, or owned resources.

Frequently, I move from one keep to another, repairing neglected walls and doors following intense battles. This activity doesn't require direct PvP engagement but can still yield significant AP gains, albeit without earning event tickets.

For those aiming to obtain event tickets by completing daily quests without diving into intense PvP encounters, there are alternative methods. One approach is to defend keeps from a safe distance, utilizing siege weapons to attack incoming enemies. This tactic allows for passive AP accumulation for defending the keep. Additionally, killing enemies with siege weapons progresses bounty missions, which entail killing specific enemy players.

Joining a group can greatly aid in completing these quests, particularly for players like myself who may not excel in direct combat. In group engagements, contributing to combat in any capacity earns credit for player kills, even if not delivering the final blow. Larger groups can expedite the completion of kill quests.

For those comfortable operating in large groups closer to the front lines, tasks such as capturing resources, keeps, and scrolls become more manageable. Utilizing the group finder or joining open groups in zone chat can facilitate these objectives, although they may still pose challenges even within a group setting.

Scouting missions offer a viable option for those seeking to avoid direct confrontation. These quests involve scouting specific keeps or resources, reporting on their defenses, and then returning to base to complete the task and earn tickets.

Alternatively, PvE-focused quests, such as town dailies or delve clearing, provide opportunities for ticket acquisition. However, these locations are often frequented by griefers, necessitating caution.

One advantage of Cyrodiil is the absence of penalties for dying, allowing players to enter with the intent of perishing without consequence. Additionally, completing Cyrodiil daily quests can yield Arena Gladiator's Proofs, which are obtained from Gladiator's Rucksacks received by completing conquest dailies. To maximize proof acquisition, it's advisable to open these coffers once per day, even if turning in multiple quests.

Imperial City

Imperial City stands out as the most challenging PvP zone, particularly for those less proficient in PvP scenarios.

For those prioritizing other activities over Imperial City PvP, I recommend completing quests beforehand to streamline your experience. Imperial City tends to be quieter during off-peak hours, providing a conducive environment for quest completion.

Prior to exiting the Sewer safe zone, ensure you deposit your Tel Var Stones in the bank to safeguard them. Tel Var is the sole in-game currency susceptible to loss upon death, with half being forfeited. Utilize the bank to mitigate this risk.

Also Read: Elder Scrolls Online: How To Participate In Whitestrake’s Mayhem Event And Get More Loot From It?

While carrying Tel Var in your inventory offers potential for increased earnings, it also entails greater risk. If you're prone to frequent deaths, it's advisable to deposit your Tel Var to minimize losses.

In PvP, there's strength in numbers, especially for less skilled players. Don't hesitate to join or follow larger groups, as this can enhance your survival chances and earnings.

Returning to your faction's base in Imperial City entails traversing the Sewers. If you require swift transportation, queue for any Cyrodiil campaign via the Alliance War menu to be ported to your faction's main base. You can then re-queue for Imperial City to resume your activities.

When navigating the Sewers, be mindful of the closest entrances to your faction's home base to expedite your journey. However, exercise caution as these areas are often targeted by griefers.

For those pursuing event achievements and encountering patrolling horrors, precise locations are as follows:

• Arboretum - Lady Malygda and Ysenda Resplendent
• Arena District - Glorgoloch the Destroyer and King Kurog
• Elven Gardens District - The Screeching Matron and Zoal the Ever-Wakeful
• Memorial District - Nunatak and Valgus
• Nobles District - Amoncrul and Baron Thirst
• Temple District - Immolator Charr and Mazaluhad

Lastly, for optimal rewards, open Siege of Cyrodiil merits coffers once daily, even if completing multiple quests. These strategies apply not only to Imperial City but also to other PvP zones, offering a comprehensive approach to PvP gameplay.

For those seeking lucrative opportunities during this event, here are some top-selling items worth considering:

Runeboxes contain costumes and pets, fetching high prices a few months after the event when the market stabilizes. These Runeboxes are available in both Cyrodiil and Imperial City.

Hakeijo runes, found in Imperial City, offer a profitable venture. However, it's advisable to wait a couple of months until the market becomes less saturated with PvP goods. Hakeijo runes are in demand for their association with Tri-Stat enchantments crucial for endgame content, making them valuable commodities.

Powerful Assault gear, particularly the Powerful Assault Ice Staff, is indispensable for PvE tanks. Obtaining these items involves gambling with Powerful Assault Runeboxes sold by merchants in Imperial City. As the contents are randomized and not curated, securing an Ice Staff can yield substantial profits.

Deadly Strike weapons present another lucrative opportunity. These weapons are available in Bruma, Cyrodiil, though ownership of the town by your faction is necessary to access the merchants. Acquiring Deadly Strike weapons, especially daggers, can lead to quick earnings. If switching characters, ensure your Alliance Points are deposited in the bank to facilitate purchases on the appropriate faction.

These strategies aim to optimize earnings during Whitestrake's Mayhem for PvE enthusiasts.

…

Rockstar Games product: Grand Theft Auto 5, despite being a product that made its debut more than a decade ago, has been successful in amassing a huge player base that is spread worldwide. To elaborate, credit for the reason behind this huge success mostly goes to its online iteration: Grand Theft Auto Online. Not to mention, not only has this Grand Theft Auto 5 iteration received a constant flow of updates along with new content, it has more recently given birth to highly popular roleplay servers, making GTA Online one of the most frequently streamed games on Twitch.

The Grand Theft Auto Community Is Finding It Hard To Hold Its Horses!

Moving ahead, very recently it was announced that GTA 5 would be made available for modern-era consoles. And Grand Theft Auto Online being not an exception will also be made available at home consoles, including the Grand Theft Auto iteration getting its very own version for Sony PlayStation 5.

Furthermore, while a lot of detailed information is not available in public domain in this regard regarding what the new changes the Grand Theft Auto community will get to see, still the latter are unable to hold their horses regarding what the new mode will be like in real life, while getting the best out of new era gaming hardware.

GTA Online's Next-Gen Enhancements: What You Need to Know?

1. Grand Theft Auto Online's Next-Generation Graphics

One of the most awaited improvements for GTA Online is a boost both in its visual and technical performance. As the duo: Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X/S are capable of a 4K resolution, along with a nearly 120 frames per second performance. That is why there are good chances that Grand Theft Auto Online’s visuals will be getting an upgrade and will for sure in the process get closer to the standard that are set by GTA 5’s single player iteration.

Additionally, all this may become the possible reason behind several player characters and vehicles in GTA Online getting a visual boost, as and when the game moves to the new gen gaming hardware, accompanied by more thorough features, along with a better accuracy all across the board. Not to mention, this may more likely lead to the Grand Theft Auto online getting more fine technical improvements. For instance, an increase in the population of NPCs across the arena and enhanced draw distance.

Adding to that, these new-gen consoles will also lead to a decrease in the loading times of GTA Online, all thanks to its better hardware performance. On the other hand, while some in the Grand Theft Auto community may not appreciate this fact in the proper manner, it would for sure become a reason behind players saving a lot of time, and there are good chances that this could even become a reason behind the GTA Online world becoming larger and more smooth.

2. Next-Gen Updates for Grand Theft Auto Online

In the recent past, there was an announcement that both MS-Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 servers for GTA Online will be shut down. While on one hand this news brought unhappiness for some in the Grand Theft Auto community who are still using these consoles, in its entirety this is good for the game. With the very reason being that driving away from the old generation console will enable GTA online’s future updates to be both complex and big in size, in comparison to the past updates.

As a result, all the updates will not have to worry about being optimised for older consoles, and will likely benefit from that opportunity to the greatest extent possible. This could suggest the mode receiving updates with extensive new regions for players to socialise and dig into, similar to Cayo Perico, or even updates that present more complex features like the eagerly-awaited stock exchange or elaborate enterprises to operate.

Furthermore, migrating to the new era console will empower GTA Online to introduce both more detail and depth to Los Santos itself. Not to mention, GTA Online’s future could include upgrading the parts of Los Santos either by completing the in-game construction that is there since launch or adding interiors to the structures that players till date were not able to get inside into. Additionally, this new console migration will also allow GTA Online to add crossplay, in the process allowing players to interconnect, irrespective of the platform that they are using to play GTA Online, adding value to the game in process, which off-course will be highly appreciated by the Grand Theft Auto community.

Final Words

As is the trend, here we will part our ways for today, with a brief summary, of all that we have learned today. To begin with, despite making its debut more than a decade back, the Grand Theft Auto 5 fanbase is ever expanding and Grand Theft Auto online deserves the credit for that. Furthermore, the latest news that Grand Theft Auto online will be available on modern consoles has left the Grand Theft Auto community patientless. Last but not least, some of the new gen enhancements that you must know about.

…

We are evaluating players with 5-star skill moves suitable for those operating on a limited budget in FC 24 Career Mode.

Players eligible for the list are those under the age of 30, and they need to be valued at 20 million or less. Additionally, they must have the potential to develop to a minimum overall of 80.

We have tested all the players and rated them on a scale of 1 to 10 in the following categories: speed, dribbling, shooting, passing, physical, and value.

In the physical category, we looked at all the physical skills of the players other than speed, considering strength, agility, and balance.

For value, we considered what a player costs in relation to how they perform in-game compared to the other players on the list.

7. Mike Trésor

That being said, number 7 on the list is Mike Trésor.

The 24-year-old Belgian, currently on loan at Burnley, is valued at 20 million in FC 24, making him the most expensive player on our list. However, he combines this with the highest initial overall of 78 and a potential overall of 82.

Let's start with Mike Tresor's strengths. His acceleration is good. He can quickly move away from a standing start with the ball, causing opponents to be late and outplayed. He is also very agile, which allows him to easily cut and outplay players. Moreover, his strengths lie particularly in passing. He has good vision and possesses an effective cross on to the areas where Mike Trésor scores less well.

His sprint speed is not great. After initially getting away from a defender, he is easily caught up over longer distances. This makes him not very suitable for counterattacking play. Additionally, his finishing is not great, so he's not likely to score many goals.

Mike Trésor is a player who can be very useful when you play a lot in your opponent's half because he is strong in tight spaces. He's also handy if you have a striker who can score from across.

Unfortunately, he comes with a hefty price tag that is disproportionate to what he brings on the field, especially compared to other players on this list.

6. Talles Magno

Moving on to number 6, the MLS, where our number six on the list plays at New York City FC, Talles Magno.

The 21-year-old Brazilian can play both as a striker and on the wing and starts with an overall of 73. Just like Mike Trésor, he has a potential overall of 82. In FC 24, his value is estimated at 7 million, making him the first bargain on the list.

The strong points of Magno, of course, with 5-star skill moves, he's adept with the ball at his feet. As he has all the skill moves, you can get past any defender. The better you are with skill moves, the better you will be with Magno. He also has a 4-star weak foot, meaning he's quite capable with both feet.

Then the weaker points of Magno, if you're not as good with skill moves like us, then Magno lacks the agility and speed to effectively outplay his defenders. He is also not very fast, which means he can be easily overtaken by above-average fast opponents. It should be noted, though, that he will still develop significantly towards his end overall, which could lessen these issues.

Magno is a very interesting player when you're adept with skill moves and can maximize the 5-star skill moves. Valued at 7 million, he can be a bargain for any club that doesn't have tens of millions to spend.

5. Osama Sahraoui

Number 5 on our list, we go to the Dutch Eredivisie, where Osama Sahraoui plays for SC Heerenveen.

The 22-year-old Norwegian has an initial overall of 73 and a potential overall of 83. His value is also estimated at 7 million, and based on how Sahraoui plays, this makes him an absolute bargain.

Sahraoui has the following strong points. He is absolutely at his best in tight spaces and with the ball at his feet. He's super agile and stands firmly in his shoes, enabling him to cut behind opponents and easily turn away from them. He's quick in the first few meters, which means that after outplaying them, he quickly leaves them far behind. After getting past his man, Sahraoui can set up a teammate for a goal with a pass. He has good stamina, enabling him to still make a difference in the final minutes of the match. Sahraoui also has a 5-star weak foot, which is a big plus.

Also Read: EA FC 24: 7 Tips To Help Your Youth Academy Go To Glory!

Sahraoui has the following weaker points. His main weakness is scoring goals. He has the ability to create a shooting opportunity time and again thanks to his earlier mentioned strong points. However, he lacks the power for a really good shot, and often they fly meters wide. As with these weaker points, Sahraoui will still develop enormously, and therefore these points could later in career mode potentially become his strengths.

As long as you don't expect him to score more than 10 goals in a season, Sahraoui is a great purchase for any club that doesn't have a lot to spend. As he will still develop significantly, he can grow into a pillar in your team, or you could sell him for a lot of FC 24 Coins. We can't recommend him enough for anyone looking for a budget skiller.

4. Rayan Cherki

Our number 4 on the list is found in France at Olympique Lyonnais, Rayan Cherki.

Cherki can play on the wings but is best suited as a number 10. Cherki is the biggest talent on our list with the highest potential overall of 84. His initial overall is 74, and he's valued at 9 million.

A major reason why he excels as a number 10 is his ability to deliver a great pass. He can execute any pass you desire, and this is even more impressive considering he's still going to develop significantly. He also combines this with a 5-star weak foot. He can do this with both feet, which is a huge plus. Additionally, Cherki is an excellent dribbler. He's quite agile and has good balance, making it easy for him to turn away from his opponent. He also has the ability to score, perhaps not a lot, but around 5 to 10 goals per season should be feasible.

Cherki also has weaker points. He is slow, making him less suitable for the wings and better suited for the number 10 position. Because he isn't fast, he doesn't easily carry the ball forward, and it's better to use him for passing rather than long dribbles. Additionally, his stamina isn't very strong, so after 60 to 70 minutes, he tends to lose effectiveness.

Rayan Cherki potentially is a superb player who can be of great value. He comes into his own when you play in your opponent's half, allowing him to use the tight spaces to set up his teammates.

3. Jeffinho

For number 3, we stay at Olympique Lyonnais, where the 23-year-old Brazilian Jeffinho plays.

Somewhat overshadowed by Cherki, Jeffinho has an overall of 72 and the lowest potential on our list with 79. However, Jeffinho plays much better on the field than his overall would suggest. Based purely on his statistics, you might not initially choose him, but it's only when you use him that you discover his capabilities. In FC 24, he is estimated at 4.7 million, making him the cheapest player on the list and also the biggest bargain.

What surprised us most about Jeffinho is how he consistently finds himself in a scoring position. Additionally, he is super quick in the first few meters, creating space between him and his opponent. The big surprise with Jeffinho was his strength. Several times, he easily pushed players off the ball and entered into strong duels.

Jeffinho also has some weaker points. His main areas for development are in finishing and passing. His dribbling and physical qualities are very good, but everything involving passing and shooting is still problematic. Passes often go to the opponent, and shots frequently miss the goal.

All in all, Jeffinho is the best bang for your buck player on the list. With his super low value, he can be acquired for a small amount, and on the field, he delivers much more than you would initially expect.

2. Jesper Karlsson

Moving on to our number 2 on the list, number 2 playing at Bologna in Italy, Jesper Karlsson.

The 24-year-old Swede, Karlsson's initial overall is 77, and this can rise to about 80 when you develop him. His value is estimated at 14.5 million, making him one of the more expensive players on our list.

He is a very good all-round player who also possesses 5-star skill moves. His agility and balance are among the best on this list. You can easily slalom him around multiple opponents. Then he is also capable of delivering the decisive pass to a teammate. He shoots well from distance and often finds himself in a good position to score. Additionally, he maintains this performance throughout the match with his good stamina.

Here are some weak points of Karlsson. His only real weak point is his speed. He lacks both good acceleration and a high sprint speed, which perhaps makes him well-suited to be converted into a midfielder. Also, his finishing can sometimes be a bit off. He won't develop much further, so don't expect any huge improvements.

Karlsson is overall the best player on this list and worth his 14.5 million. He can play both on the flank and be converted into a midfielder. The only reason he's not number 1 on our list is because of the gameplay enjoyment we had with the actual number 1 of our list, Jota.

1. Jota

The 24-year-old number 1 Portuguese is currently active in Saudi Arabia at Al-Ittihad.

His initial overall is 77, and he can grow to an overall of 82. His value is estimated at 16 million. With this, he is the second most expensive player on the list, but we believe he is absolutely worth it.

When you play with Jota, you know you're going to have fun. Whether you're good with skill moves or not, you're going to beat many opponents and leave them in the dust. If you are good with skill moves, this will happen even more. He is extremely agile and hard to bring down. He has good acceleration and a high sprint speed. This he combines with a strong shot from distance and a lot of composure.

The weak points of Jota are the following. When you get him into the opponent's penalty area, he misses many chances, as he only has 70 finishing. Additionally, he's not a great passer, but that's not what you bring him in for.

Jota is on the higher end for budget players, but for under 20 million, we still find him an absolute bargain that you can't go wrong with if your club has the money. He brings a lot of fun and creates unexpected situations.

…

Greeting gamers, here are 4 advanced tips you need to be taking advantage of in the WoW Classic Season of Discovery.

Tip 1: Battleground (BG) Teleports

With players frequently having to travel between cities and continents, it can cause a bit of a headache with how to min-max your travel time and where to put your Heartstone.

Thankfully, there's an easy trick you can take advantage of to quickly teleport across zones by simply asking a guildy or friend to cue you into a Battleground.

Whenever you're queued into a BG, if you leave the Battleground, you will appear wherever the person that quequed for you was standing.

This means, for example, if you're in Stormwind and want to go to Darnassus, you can have someone queue you up at the Darnassus Battleground Master. Join the BG. Type '/AFK' to quickly leave, and the game will place you in Darnassus where your friend was standing, saving you a ton of travel time.

There are also Battlemasters in Ashenvale for both Horde and Alliance if you want a quick teleport to the battle for Ashenvale event, saving you some travel time.

Tip 2: Hearthstone Batching

In a similar vein to the last tip, since travel is a big pain in WoW Season of Discovery, here's another easy way to maximize your travel efficiency.

If you have to hearth and know that you need to be back where you are in an hour or later, you can perform a Hearthstone batch. This is done by using your Hearthstone and then asking to set your hearth to an inn but not clicking the confirmation window until the moment before your Hearthstone is about to finish casting.

If performed correctly, you will hearth to where your Hearthstone's currently set and then set your Hearthstone to the new location at the same time, allowing you to hearth back 1 hour later. The timing for this technique will vary depending on your ping.

However, I found pressing the confirmation window within 2 seconds of the cast finishing works best for me. My ping's around 80. When in doubt, it's always better to be too late than too early because if you're too early, you will set your Hearthstone to your current location and end up hearthing in place, wasting your Hearthstone, whereas if you're too late, you would simply run back like normal, anyway.

Tip 3: Mistletoe And Snowballs

This is a time-sensitive tip during the Winter's Veil events, but it is an important one.

Players will not have access to these items again for an entire year, which is basically the entire lifespan of Classic WoW Season of Discovery. So, it's valuable to stock up now while you can. The event ends on January 2nd, 2024.

Mistletoes are an item you can get from using '/kiss' on the Winter Revelers in any inn. The item, when used on other players, grants them plus 20 spirit. That is a lot of spirit regardless of your level and is greatly appreciated by your healers and casters.

Each time you kiss a Reveler, you get 5 mistletoes and receive a debuff preventing you from getting further mistletoes for 1 hour. This can be ever so slightly circumvented by making a '/kiss' macro and kissing both of the Revelers in the inn at the same time, giving you 10 mistletoes.

I have gone as far as to make alts that are logged off in inns, and I log in occasionally to soak up Mistletoes. People will thank you for stocking up once they are no longer available.

On the other hand, snowballs are an Alliance-centric tip during this event. Paladins gain access to a spell called Judgment of Wisdom around level 40, which allows any attack on the judged target to have a chance to restore Mana.

For some reason, throwing a snowball counts as an attack on that target and is off the GCD (Global Cooldown), which means you can macro snowballs with your spells to double up on Mana Regeneration chances.

This trick is often used by speedrunning guilds or players that love parsing and will pay a premium for Snowballs during the summer season when they're unavailable. Stock up now to use yourself or sell them later for a profit. You may earn a large amount of WoW SoD Gold for this. So act quickly!

Tip 4: The Blackfathom Deeps (BFD) Logout Skip

Getting into BFD is annoying, especially on a PvP server where you're likely to encounter an array group of the opposite faction.

So, from the BFD entrance, you can swim over to the left side of the cavern entrance and hug the wall.

Make sure you're at the very top of the water level and log out. When you log back in, you'll be at the dungeon entrance. This is a logout skip.

That’s all for this guide, I hope it helps!

…

Season of Discovery ends phase 4 with Karazhan Crypt. But what about what comes before that? And then there is the fun question of what comes after.

Intro

We all know that Season of Discovery has 4 phases. Phase 1 is Blackfathom Deeps at level 25, as well as the Ashenvale PVP zone for its PVP event.

It’s our introduction to level up raids and new PVP event zones, letting Blizzard test the waters, dipping their toes into seeing just what the classic player base enjoys and what it hates. And I think they’ve hit the nail on the head on how to properly release content and make changes to the Season of Discovery, because of the phase system.

4 to 12 weeks between each phase is a sweet spot for letting people enjoy content without getting bored. This system lets everyone share how they feel about a new experience because every person you ask will have a widely different answer to what is Classic Plus. So, this is far more useful to Blizzard than a thousand voices yelling different things.

So, Blackfathom Deeps and the Ashenvale PVP event zone are testing ground to player reactions. When you keep that information in mind, it makes the remaining phases and schedule make a lot more sense.

Phase 2 - Gnomeregan

Phase 2 is Gnomeregan at level 40, and it’s a dungeon that’s massive, full of flavor, and still abandoned in retail, leaving the Gnomes as homeless refugees for almost 2 decades.

Just like Blackfathom Deeps, it’s a large dungeon that can essentially be broken into different wings and be filled with bosses, events, and quests that just feel natural.

And just how Phase 1 had a massive PVP event zone, Phase 2 will have 1 as well. It should, so long as the player base doesn’t lose their collective minds and tear Ashenvale down so hard that Blizzard cancels their plans.

And while BFD is in the veil, so is Warsong Gulch. So, you’d think that Phase 2’s PVP zone event should be in the Arathi Highlands to tie it into Arathi Basin. But you’d be wrong because Phase 2’s PVP event zone is the Stranglethorn Vale.

Honestly, it would be funny if they kept PVP zone events in the zone of the dungeon. But how could they turn an Alliance leveling zone into a PVP event zone? Are all Dwarves and Gnomes just being exiled to Elwynn Forest? No, that won’t happen, but Stranglethorn Vale itself makes perfect sense—a highly contested PVP zone and one that should have had a battleground from the get-go.

We can likely expect a new reputation, a new Quartermaster for some PVP loot down there, but we’ll find out more in the coming weeks.

Phase 3 - Scarlet Monastery

Now, Phase 3 is where it gets spicy but also still makes perfect sense since we have Scarlet Monastery, which comes with the level cap of 50. But it’s also just north of a very conflicted and iconic battleground, Alterac Valley in Alterac Mountains.

With Scarlet Monastery being one of the most iconic dungeons because of Sally Whitemane, and Alterac Valley being one of the most recognizable Battlegrounds in World of Warcraft, it’s a perfect combination to throw out for Phase 3.

Regardless between the level cap of 50 and Scarlet Monastery being turned into a massive level-up raid with new bosses, remastered bosses, new events, quests, and perhaps even a brand new reputation, Phase 3 is looking to be incredibly exciting.

Also Read: WOW Classic SOD: Top 10 Things You Need To Do At Level 25

Phase 4 - Karazhan Crypts

The PVP is just icing on that beautiful, delicious cake. And then that brings us to Phase 4 and the first new dungeon in Classic: Karazhan Crypts, a dungeon that was designed back in 2002 or 2003 and then abandoned because they ran out of time before becoming the raid known as Karazhan in The Burning Crusade.

We know nothing about Karazhan Crypts, and people will be making pure conjecture until it comes out. But I expect us to perhaps see original questlines and ideas make it back into the game. It could be the start of an alternate timeline with ideas from Vanilla making a frontline return. We will probably get a new reputation to grind, new quests, new items, and perhaps even instead of being a 10-man level-up raid, we’re looking at the first new 20-man or 40-man raid in Classic.

But PvE without PvP just isn’t World of Warcraft, and thus the new PVP zone event for Phase 4 is also likely to be new content. Since Karazhan Crypts, an abandoned and forgotten concept and idea, is being brought back to life, so will, in my opinion, Azshara Crater, a complete new battleground, dreamed back to life for Classic as well as turning Azshara into a massive level 60 zone-wide PVP event zone.

New reputations, questlines, and much more are going to be given to us. And our dream is the limit or, in this case, the amount of risk Blizzard is willing to take.

And thus, I conclude with what I call the Season of Discovery introduction phases, which are amazing and incredible. While we don’t know exactly what we’ll be getting, it’s only the beginning of Season of Discovery because Blizzard has already said we’re getting more content at level 60.

Phase 5 - Molten Core & Onyxia

And thus, let me introduce you all to the Season of Discovery endgame phases, which is Phase 5 to 8.

You might think that 8 phases is a lot, but Classic, when it came out in 2019, had 6 phases, and that was just re-releasing the original 6 raids.

Now, this is what we call the educated guessing phase, where we have ideas and we know what they’re going to do nominally. But despite knowing we’re getting content, new and old changes, and more, we don’t know what that is. So, this is more of a wishlist for content.

So, Phase 5 is, of course, none other than Molten Core, and the top 5 most iconic raids in World of Warcraft, after Black Temple, Ulduar, ICC and Siege of Orgrimmar. Don’t crucify me for that top 5 in the comments.

While Molten Core might not be the most iconic raid, Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker, is the single most iconic in-game weapon from World of Warcraft. If you don’t count Frostmourne or the Warglaives, we’re looking at a remastered Molten Core, new bosses, mobs, quests, items, and perhaps even legendaries and reputations.

A legendary that’s already in the game but only 1 singular person got is the necklace (Talisman of Binding Shard) back from Vanilla, which got removed because it wasn’t meant to be in the game. Now that necklace might not come back, but they already have a legendary they designed back then, which they could reincorporate into Season of Discovery.

I’m not sure exactly how much they’ll change Molten Core and, with it, Onyxia. But there will be changes. As for PVP, Black Rock Mountain is the single most dangerous PVP zone in the game. If you played on a PVP server, then you’ll be having Vietnam flashbacks.

So, we know that Molten Core and Onyxia are coming, but what about new content? Allow me to introduce the new and improved Dire Maul or Blackrock Depths.

These two dungeons are massive, so massive in fact that in Cataclysm, they got cut down and reshaped into multiple separate wings. And in BRD’s case, they just scrapped well over half of it.

Either of these 2 dungeons makes the most sense as being a new 20-man-raid or 10-man raid. Logically, it makes sense because Blizzard stated that they wanted new players to be able to catch up easily from phase to phase.

Introducing more level 60 level-up raids, making gearing a lot easier and allowing a transition into raids more easily, albeit I’m not sure if they’ll focus all the effort into making the already existing raids better and more fun to interact with.

Keeping the phases between 4 and 12 weeks long, so we get a lot of hyper-focused content and then new phases before we get bored. Or maybe Phases 5 to 8 will be 6 months long, each with a storm of content to keep us all content.

Phase 6 - Blackwing Lair & Zul’Gurub

Nonetheless, Phase 6 is Blackwing Lair and Zul’Gurub, two fun and interesting raids which will definitely get more quests, reputations, mechanics changes, and loot.

The dungeons most likely to get changed with this phase are the Temple of Atal’Hakkar for ZG and Blackrock Spire for Blackwing Lair, correlating nicely with each other.

Also, Blackrock Mountain being a horrible war zone probably continues into Phase 6, maybe Stranglethorn Vale as well at this point.

But then again, perhaps this is an overload of content and I’m overestimating Blizzard’s zeal, desire, and SOD Gold when it comes to Classic Season of Discovery. There is a lot that they could do here, so much in fact that this could easily be a six-month content stretch between the 10-mans, 20-mans, and 40-mans.

Phase 7 - Ahn’Qiraj 40 & Ahn’Qiraj 20

Let’s move on to Phase 7, which is where I think we’re going to see the most new content in the game.

Scarab Lord is a very coveted title and the Black Qiraji Battle Tank is one of the rarest mounts in the entire game. The opening of Ahn’Qiraj and the Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline is a long, awesome, and genuinely a wild experience.

So, imagine the things they could do here, the things they could add. Imagine a massive zone-wide PVP event in Silithus where the Horde and Alliance battle it out for new PVP reputations and items.

AQ40 and AQ20 are incredible raids full of awesome bosses, lore mechanics, and loot, and I can’t wait to see what Blizzard does here.

Now, we aren’t theorycrafting if we don’t think about new content, and with that, allow me to introduce Uldaman, the new 10-man dungeon and another location to gear with level 60 gear, so you can delve into the raids faster.

Phase 8 - Naxxramas

Last but not least, Phase 8 and The Dread Citadel - Naxxramas, the so-called guild killer in vanilla and definitely a guild killer in Classic, as everything devolved into GDKP and triggered hyperinflation.

Naxxramas will probably get more loot, new quests, new bosses, new mechanics, and more. That’s to be expected. But what else will change in Phase 8? Let me introduce you all to the new 20-man or 10-man raid Stratholme, one of the most iconic places in World of Warcraft and the beginning of the fall for our beloved prince Arthas.

Now, this is me wishing, but it could make sense as once Eastern Plaguelands into a massive PVP zone event, which is already supported by the tower situated across the zone. It would make a lot of sense to have more than just Naxxramas for the entirety of Phase 8, and the size of Stratholme already correlates to being a miniature raid, anyway.

Even if they only include a fraction of what I’ve spoken of and even if they go on absolutely a completely different path, the amount of content that Blizzard seems to be planning to add to Classic Plus Season of Discovery is staggering. And whilst all of this might not be in Season of Discovery, it will definitely be in Classic Plus.

So, whether Season of Discovery is Classic Plus or leads into Classic Plus, expect an obscene amount of content just from the endgame phases.

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BizzCon launched to exciting fanfare, moderate disappointment, some controversy, but overall satisfaction. And in that controversy, we have Season of Discovery.

Season of Discovery is Blizzard’s take on Classic Plus. It has completely changed how classic will be played, and what at its core is that it is still Classic WoW. The changes are staggering and amazing.

By the way, if you want to be far ahead of other players in WoW Classic SOD, having enough WoW Classic SOD Gold must be the key to your victory!

Quick Summary Of Content

The most exciting change of Season of Discovery is none other than the Rune Engraving system.

It’s a new class augmentation, where by exploring the world, doing quests, killing bosses, or whatnot, you are able to equip spells, abilities, some item effects, some abilities from other classes, some racial abilities, and some enchantment directly onto your armor, and acquire those passives or abilities.

When we start the game, the level cap is only 1 to 25, and we only have access to three armor slots: chest, legs, and hands. Whilst I will dive into runes for all classes later in this guide, some noticeable runes are Crusader Strike for Paladin and Wild Strikes for Druids.

Now, these two abilities are quite incredibly powerful whilst they alone don’t change the game. Considering that you can get three abilities like this at this power, at level 25 is staggering. This doesn’t even account for reaching max level and having the ability to unlock over 10 abilities, depending on if you can equip runes on weapons, shields, and trinkets.

But because discoveries are secret, and no one knows where they are. You’re probably saying it’ll be datamined. There’ll be 50 YouTube videos and 20 icyvein guides before Season of Discovery even launches. And whilst typically you’d be right, in this case, you’re wrong. Because one of the best decisions that Blizzard has ever made is the following chain: there is no public beta, alpha, or anything.

Every single person is going in blind. The only knowledge we have of the game is what they’ve said to us during BlizzCon, and the people that actually got to play the BlizzCon demo for the 10-man raid Blackfathom Deeps.

Another facet to the game is the following. There are now new tanks and healer combinations. The meta has been shifted, and many classes can do things that they couldn’t do before, like Shaman, Warlock, and Rogue tanking. Also, Paladin is fixed and can properly tank now......

Level Banded Content Phases

Now that you know what runes are, and you learn what the level cap at the start of Season of Discovery is, you’re probably asking, what does that mean?

It’s a new system that Blizzard has designed, called Level Banded Content Phases. And what this means is that Phase 1 of Season of Discovery is capped at level 25, and after a period of a few weeks, it will increase to level 40, the cap for Phase 2.

The phases are as follows, based on Blizzard purposefully leaking the next three 10-man raids, which are: Gnomeregan, Scarlet Monastery, and Karazhan Crypts after Blackfathom Deeps.

Now, though, based on the dev interviews, here we have the following phase bands. Phase 1 being Blackfathom Deeps at a level cap of 25. Phase 2 being Gnomeregan at a level cap of 40. Phase 3 being Scarlet Monastery at a level cap of 50. And Phase 4 being Karazhan Crypts at a level cap of 60.

Whilst Blizzard didn’t announce a Phase 5, I wouldn’t be surprised if Phase 5 was 40-man raids being redone. There could be a Phase 5, which starts at level 60 with a completely new 40-man dungeon raid, perhaps Dire Maul. And then Phase 6 is Molten Core remastered and onwards.

So, with those phases explained, why did Blizzard choose Phase 1 being level 25? Blizzard said that the feedback during the classic betas back in 2019 was that people enjoyed it and it was a fun time rediscovering, exploring and doing things at the level 25 cap back then. So, they chose their cap based on that, especially since it allowed them to redo and reuse old content, especially low-level content that people wouldn’t visit again otherwise.

Another major reason is since phases last a few weeks, assume between 4 to 10 weeks per phase, it means you’ll never be too far behind as a new player or someone with IRL responsibilities. You can always jump back, jump back out, play other games, not feel pressured or compelled to grind to max level immediately. You’ll have plenty of time to do that.

And the final reason is that they add exciting, unique and new content with each level banded content phase: new items, new quests, new NPCs and mobs, new discoveries and world quest, new PVP and more. And they can do this over the course of a year or two.

The other main reason is that it allows them to treat each phase as a mini beta within itself, testing what works, is overpowered, is meta, isn’t meta and allowing them to give breathing room to make each consecutive phase better and better.

With level banded content phases covered, let’s talk about the last bonus of the system. That is a new mechanic. There will be a massive XP boost to previous phases, allowing you to catch up faster or level up alt faster with every new phase. I don’t know what this XP boost will be, but I assume it’s 2x experience, maybe even as high as 5x experience. We’ll have to wait and see on that front.

Also Read: WoW Classic SOD: How Forced Faction Balance Affects The Season Of Discovery In Hidden Ways?

Endgame Content

Now that we know we’re stock at level 25 for 4 weeks minimum, up to perhaps as long as 12 weeks, what is the endgame for such a low level?

As I said earlier, there are now new 10-man raids, taking all dungeons and remixing them into raid content. And the first of these level-up raids is Blackfathom Deeps. They’ll be taking familiar settings and characters, giving them new mechanics, changing the quest around these dungeons and making it feel like a legitimate raid. Blizzard’s goal here was to make the world feel more alive, tempered and past, allowing us to take an Azeroth for all its glory and prestige.

Since Blackfathom Deeps got a full-on redesign, let’s dive into this exciting and wildly new content. Blackfathom Deeps is an ancient elven ruin with evil stirring within, familiar but mysterious. Most of you probably don’t even remember the bosses there. But even if you do, they are now completely different.

With a 3-day lockout, much like Zul’Gurub, we’re going to have plenty of time to master this level-up raid and figure out everything there is in there and every little secret. And there are plenty of secrets in Blackfathom Deeps, for example, the secret of the Black Feather Artisan, which sounds like an incredible crafting recipe skill set, as well as the mysterious new world buff Boon of Black Fathom.

And now, let’s dive into the bosses. BFD has seven new bosses, all fully reimagined encounters, and all quests and loot for BFD have been completely remastered and remade. You now have level 25 loot being better than perhaps even level 40 classic loot. Don’t quote me on that, as I don’t have a full item list, but what we did see is pretty incredible, since this is essentially level 25 raid loot and not dungeon loot.

But onto our first boss, who is Baron Aquanis, who is no longer a quest NPC and is now the first raid boss. He’s empowered by Fathom Stones, which have to be disabled, as well as jumping puzzles and a very obnoxious knockback. This knockback throws you off the platform, during which you have to jump puzzle your way back up, only for the ability to be off cooldown, so he knocks you down again. Kind of annoying as far as combat mechanics go, but it’s very interesting, nonetheless.

Then, we have Ghamoo-ra, now the second boss of the raid instead of the first of the dungeon. And he’s protected by a magical barrier, which we have to break through to be able to burn down the giant turtle.

The third boss is Lady Sarevess, a Naga Sea Witch with a retinue of Blackfathom Elite, and we have to turn her own spells against her to stop her from overwhelming us with unending adds.

The next four bosses we have almost no information about, but here they are: Gahz’rilla, the Void Murloc, followed by Lorgus Jett, and then Twilight Lord Kelris, before finally we confront Aku’mai, the Voidscale Hydra.

And that summarizes Blackfathom Deeps. I’m beyond excited to dive into this new content and see just how fun and intuitive it really feels.

Rune Breakdown

Next, I would cover runes in more depth.

As I already said, they’re treating each phase almost as if it’s a beta in of itself, which means runes will only get progressively more wild and interesting, seeing how players lean into them and how the class balance turns out.

Since Rune Engravings can be found all over the world, from quests, dungeons, raids, bosses, PvP, and who knows what else, I can’t cover every rune at the moment, just those that we know of.

At level 25, we only have access to chest, legs, and hands. Runes are permanent essentially a new talent system, which can be applied and removed at will, with no limitations or costs. You simply have to be out of combat to apply and unapply runes. The greatest benefit that runes provide to the game, though, is the simple fact that formerly faction-unique bonuses, buffs, and racials are now available for certain classes, removing that faction buffer. They are also making talent respecs cost far less, but they didn’t tell us how much less as of now.

Every class has its own runes. There is an insane amount of new abilities for player to choose. But it’s going to be a great few weeks as everyone attempts to figure out the new meta, only for the next phase to come out and completely invalidate every single guide that people write. This is good for creativity, exploration and fun. It’s terrible for min-maxes and meta chases, since your meta will never be meta for more than a few weeks or months at best.

Class Design Goals

This all ties neatly into the fact that Blizzard wants to shake up the meta with Season of Discovery, changing the concept of metas and data mining.

Meta in Season of Discovery will never be consistent or stable and thus don’t chase metas. Otherwise, expect to level a new character in every phase and completely learn a new class every phase for the most OP and broken character of that phase. Some of you will do that, that’s for sure, though.

Nonetheless, Blizzard wants to give each class something to brag about. They want to stick with what’s popular in the sense of abilities, item effects and more. Rather than just give random or terrible runes to people, they want to let people let loose and have fun.

Some of the runes will be new and unique spells never seen before. Some will be from future expansions, but they did say that they want to stay true to classic overall and not introduce anything too modern. So don’t expect spells from beyond WOTLK Classic or maybe even Cataclysm. They want to focus on class fantasy and make sure every class feels true to its fantasy.

New PvP Content

Finally, we move on to PvP, the lifeblood of WoW for some people. And what they’ve done cooked up for PvP is phenomenal and amazing.

Allow me to introduce you to Ashenvale, which lore-wise is a hot spot of war between the Alliance and the Horde since the days of Warcraft 3. And now it truly is a war between the Alliance and the Horde, not just in quest or Warsong Gulch.

Welcome to the Ashenvale PvP Zone, a massive zone-wide PvP event that will completely change how Ashenvale operates and make it a bloodbath.

On the side of the Alliance, we have the Priestess of the Moon, the leader of the Alliance forces in Ashenvale. On the side of the Horde, we have The Farseer, the leader of the Horde forces in Ashenvale. These two bosses are empowered by numerous other clans, which buff each respective leader. And whichever side can figure out a bug and blitz through into the enemy boss and kill them will get the whole experience nerfed.

Jokes aside, like Alterac Valley, you will have to defeat the numerous camp bosses to make the Priestess or the Farseer a weak enough to be defeated.

And as a special unique feature at level 20, you’ll be able to acquire a mount solely for usage in Ashenvale as a PvP unique mount, so it’s not to make the massive Alterac Valley size battlefield and event take 7 hours to complete.

But unlike Alterac Valley, there is no player cap on an open world PvP event, meaning you and your teammates will be able to group together in a massive 5 FPS 400 MS experience, where you don’t know if your side is winning or losing because there are 800 people in Ashenvale pvping at the same time or layering.

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In this guide, we’re going to be going over thrown utility in Dark and Darker and what exactly can affect their damage since I often find people don’t really loot or use these Dark and Darker Items as often as they should when they give such a massive advantage in fights.

Explosive Bottles And Oil Lanterns

Let’s start with the Explosive Bottles and Oil Lanterns, also commonly referenced as Mollies.

Explosive Bottles: Throw an explosive bottle at a target location that will cause a bottle that creates a fiery explosion upon impact, scorching the surrounding area and inflicting area-of-effect (AOE) damage to all within its blast radius. It is lootable. The damage it deals depends on its tier. The higher the tier, the higher the damage it deals.

Oil Lanterns: When in someone’s hand, emits light that illuminates the surrounding area. Additionally, it can be thrown in a similar fashion to an explosive bottle, leaving fire that deals 3 magical damage per second. They can be found in loot chests.

These throwable utility items will deal no impact damage and instead spawn a ground AOE that deals 3 magic damage per second, no matter the Rarity.

Right now, I’m actually not sure what rarity does for Explosive Bottles. It seems like it only affects the sell price to the vendor. The duration and base damage are the same across the board. Anyway, if you want these bottles, be prepared with plenty of Dark and Darker Gold.

Since Explosive Bottles and Oil Lanterns are magic damage. Their damage will increase with Magic Power Bonus, + Additional Magic Damage and + True Magic Damage, all at 50% scaling.

The burn effect or tick damage can stack up to 3 times and randomly appear in the AOE. This is why Explosive Bottles may sometimes seem ineffective and other times very powerful.

Here’s just five ticks at plus 4 magic damage on my Fighter. Of course, the duration is a bit exaggerated here for demonstrational purposes since usually won’t cook for more than 2 or 3 ticks if you just run through them. Still, it’s a decent amount of damage.

Francisca Axes And Throwing Knives

Now, let us look to the Francisca Axes and Throwing Knives, which do a single instance of on-hit physical damage.

Here is a rule: just follow basic weapon damage for most time. So, + Additional Physicial Damage, + True Physical Damage, and any form of physical power will increase the damage from these two utility items at 100% scaling. This is where perk and spell bonuses make things a little crazy.

As not only do they benefit from weapon perks, like the Barbarian’s Axe Specialization, and Executioner for Francisca Axes, they will also benefit from any kind of Applied Damage Buffs, like the Cleric’s Divine Strike and the Wizard’s Ignite.

At full buff, this can cause some absurdly high damage numbers, even with absolutely no gear. For example, I can hit in the high 60s with the Starter Kit Franciscas Axes, which deals only 18 damage at base.

Note, that’s over three times the base damage.

All we need are our two strength skills, our applicable Barbarian perks, and a base gear Cleric to give us Divine Strike and Bless.

You can even throw Ignite on for more damage as it still applies to utility items even though the VFX doesn’t appear.

Another key feature of thrown physical utility is that it has a fairly strong on hit slow, actually very strong on hit slow, as they currently sit at 25% and 20%. These stats are both higher than the long sword and it sounds kind of crazy.

Now, Ironmace has addressed the effectiveness of these two utility items in the past by adding both damage and velocity falloff, making them slightly less effective at longer ranges.

However, an in-game mechanic that people often don’t know about is that you could hold down or charge up your throw over a couple of seconds to bring it up to maximum speed. And it honestly makes a pretty big difference.

One last note on these two thrown utility items is that it will trigger any on hit skills or perks, like the Barbarian’s Achilles Strike and Reckless Attack, the Fighter’s Victory Strike or the Rogue’s Rupture, Weakpoint and Poison Weapon.

Even though it doesn’t show up on the training dummy and yes, they’re not damaging utility items. But throwing torches and lanterns also can be used to apply Achilles Strike and Rupture.

Conclusion

Now, I know this isn’t exactly game-changing knowledge for those who have been playing Dark and Darker for some time, especially those who’ve been around since the early play test and witness firsthand the Francisca Axe is at their peak power.

But the bottom line here is that these items still scale up to be incredibly strong and they’ll give you huge advantages in PVP. They’re definitely worth looting and buying for cheap price since chances are your class is already optimized to deal with high damage with them.

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