This is our series where we pretend to have magical powers to alter reality and make the game’s developers do whatever we want. A few ‘effin flicks of a wand, and all our gripes with the game are gone, and all our wishes come true.
And now it’s your turn, Dune Awakening.
Giving credit where it’s due
Because I’m lazy, a couple of my gripes in this game have already been addressed, and solutions are coming in the next big patch. Funcom’s devs also released a roadmap with development plans up to the start of next year.
I always say there is an original sin of any RPG-type game, and that is not releasing with the Transmog System and the ability to Change Your Character Appearance in-game.
Well, we have a Transmog system, and character recustomization is coming in the next patch, so no need to use the wand on this one.
There is also a major rework of the endgame and Landsrath system coming in 6 months, so that is a second major gripe we have about the game in the works.
So let’s move on to things that are not confirmed or not 100% confirmed.
Imperial testing stations
I’m warning you right now, this will be a bit of a rant, as this is my biggest gripe with a game. Imperial testing stations are supposed to be “dungeons” of this game… Supposed to be because I’ll be honest, guys, these are the most horrible, boring dungeons I have seen in a long time.
And what surprises me the most is that Funcom’s devs made them, when they are the same people behind Conan Exile dungeons.
Now, people who played Conan Exiles will probably know what I mean right away, but for those that didn’t, let me explain. Conan Exiles dungeons were amazing and memorable. Every dungeon had a theme and a couple of Boss fights. I still remember almost all of them, but I’ll tell you about two that stand out.
First is a Midnight Grove, where you would go into a lair of Jhebbal Sag (god of the Beasts) and fight through all the animal mobs in the game. There are also cool boss fights against a Charging Bull and a Werewolf at the end. The coolest thing is that Mister Beast God himself pops his huge head out over the horizon after you finish the dungeon and talks to you. I was so shocked and impressed by the whole spectacle when I first saw it that it made me fall in love with survival games.
The Second Dungeon is an underwater one called Sunken City, where you and your boyz go into the Atlantis-like city underwater and fight fish people. One thing that is really special about this one is that you need to incorporate survival aspects to do the dungeon effectively. You can breathe underwater because you are not a stinky fish person, so you need to take a potion of underwater breathing with you. And after you fight your way through it, once you reach this amazing temple, Two Clay-like Golems bosses are waiting for you, followed by the priestess of the Fish god Dagon.
Conan Exiles Fish Dungeon
Oh… and this God also pops his giant ass fish head and watches you while you fight his Priestess.
And what do we have in Dune? More or less the same testing stations filled with the same mobs you fight in the open world, with a boss who is just a normal mob without a Helmet.
I have no clue what happened here, but with a flick of my magic wand, this is what I would change:
1. Make dungeons instanced like in Conan, with a penta shield key at the start to adjust your difficulty.
Why: I can’t tell you how many times I went to the dungeon, and it was already cleared. It’s one of the primary reasons I have my private server now. And setting up the difficulty can keep the dungeon relevant for the whole game, no matter how good your gear gets.
2. Lean more into testing stations’ themes and give them thematic bosses (Just like in Conan).
What do I mean by this? I don’t know if you guys noticed, but every testing station does have its theme. First one had a biohazard incident, there is a long one that has a lot of vehicle parts and a theme to it, and one of them also explores an AI theme (AI is illegal in Dune, btw)
So, in the first station, why not have some mutated creatures in the first one(Half human/ Half Animal)?
The Boss can be a fully mutated human that looks fully like an animal and acts and attacks like one.
What about a testing station with a vehicle theme? You make a big arena at the end where the Boss jumps on the modified Sand Bike and rides around it, shooting at you with sandbike rocket pods and guns. You can make the fight super fast-paced and give a boss a stagger bar, so when enough damage is applied, he falls from the bike, and you can whale on him.
And the one with the AI theme?Have mobs be Ixian mind slaves and gholas, and the boss be a crazy scientist who, in the end, releases the Terminator-looking AI that comes down from one of those torture-looking things and activates.
You can make him a Tank with mini guns that has a huge HP pool of shields, and the player needs to focus on bringing disruptive weapons to the fight to take the shield off before shooting down his limbs one by one.
And I’m not creating anything outside of Dune lore…. This is all in it! If I can come up with this stuff in 5 min, I’m sure Devs can do even better if they put their mind to it.
So don’t try to reinvent the wheel with your endgame systems, Devs. There is a reason every successful MMO has dungeons and raids as endgame…. It works.
2. More gear and building parts!
There is one gripe I’m 100% sure will be solved over time, but I’ll just write about it anyway.
I find it to be a huge mistake to give NPCs cooler stuff than players can have. We are talking about armour, weapons, and building pieces.
I remember the first base I made, and I was really proud of it … but then I went over to Harkonnen Compound in Haga Basin and saw all the cool building pieces they have, and we don’t, and I was actually mad.
I’ll give you an example with a picture.
The first one is a structure that I wanted to recreate from the Harkonnen compound. And the second one is my version… It’s a “we have that structure at home” version.
Why? Because I can’t invert Roof Tiles like that, and I don’t see a reason why that is the case.
So I’m just gonna spitball the thing I want to see:
Every armour that the NPC is wearing, we want as well as a Transmog or Appearance Variant. That includes all the Cool Clothing I see NPCs in Harko village and Arakeen.
More freedom in building, like in the example above.
More faction-based building pieces (faction-based crafting stations, storage, water tanks, generators, etc). Cool stuff like, for example, floor shielding (so you can park vehicles outside without a roof over their head).
4. Faction-based appearance for all vehicles… I would love to have Harkonnen looking Carrier Omnicopter and Spice Vacum cleaner (sandcrawler)
3. More control over private servers
I will keep it simple here. I want more control over my private server and, at some point, mod support. One example of what I’m talking about is the restriction on lights and building pieces.
Now I understand the logic of not tanking the people’s FPS on official servers, but I don’t see why this has to be the case on the server I pay for.
If my friends and I want to have 100 more lights in our base, and our FPS drops to 30, that is our business.
And I’m assuming mod support doesn’t exist because on private servers, you still share the Deep Desert with other people with private servers …. Well,I think we should have the option to go completely private and have mods installed on our server so we don’t mess with anyone’s PvP experience.
Conan Exiles has a wonderful modding community that is keeping that game alive long past its expiration date. I want the same thing for Dune.
4. Big beards
This is my little private gripe with the game, and I don’t expect anyone to take it seriously, but here it goes.
Check the difference between the movie Leto and the in-game Leto:
Dune Awakening Leto
Now this dude looks like he just conquered the planet, and all the virgins there jumped on his shit when he was heading home because they never want to forget what a real man with a real beard looks like. And the in-game Leto just stopped sucking on his mama’s titty, and he grew his first teenage beard and has to wait for at least 10 more years for it to turn into something decent.
ut jokes aside, I beg you, Devs, give us some big beard to nail that “surviving in the desert doesn’t have time to shave look.
As a matter of fact, here I’ll leave you some of my characters from other video games… just copy these beards so I can make my character look like he is not 14-teen.
That’s all the tips and stuff we want for Dune for now, my dudes and dudettes. Hope it’s Friday where you’re at and Game On.
One of the reasons I like Path of Exiles 2 so much is that every map has one or even more interesting bosses.
More importantly, if you open your map, you can see how many there are in each Zone.
They are marked by a Grey Skull icon that fades after you kill them.
If you see Boss Skull with a plus icon make sure to kill that boss.
It will drop a green item with a permanent upgrade for your Character (like resistances for example).
2. What To Sell, What To Salvage
In Act 1 you will get a side quest from a blacksmith that will allow you to salvage Gear Drops.
A lot of people sleep on this option, don’t be one of them.
Even tho this will be a personal choice for many players we suggest you Salvage items with Sockets and Quality items.
Doing so will give you upgrade items, one will allow you to make sockets of your own and the other will let you upgrade your gear.
We suggest selling the rest and buying cheap above-mentioned items from vendors when you spot them.
Speaking of vendors here is our next tip.
3. Check Vendors On Every Level Up
A lot of players said they are struggling with campaign difficulty.
One of the problems we see is they are relying only on gear drops from mobs and bosses.
Vendor’s stocks reset on every level up my dudes and dudettes.
Make sure to check the goods cuz as I found the best yellow items for my char, just from vendor stocks.
4. Use The Upgrade Orbs And Skill Upgrade Orbs
Don’t be a little hoarder for the End-Game.
Some items are very valuable yes and you should not use them until you figure out what you want to go with.
Others should be used freely to upgrade your gear or try crafting new items like Orb of Transmutation, Orb of Augmentation, and Regal Orb.
Feel free to experiment and craft the gear of your dreams.
5. Open a Skill Menu To Check DPS From Items
So you get into a situation where you have two Yellow items.
Both have similar stats and some of them are different and you do not know what the f is better for your character.
Open up your skill menu and check DPS on this little tab right here.
Then equip both items and see when DPS is higher for a rough estimation of what is better.
6. Extra Options Menu On Skills
If click on this Tinny arrow in the skill tab, you will open an extra option menu.
A few things are happening here:
You can see detailed stats.
You can set the skill to use only one of your equipped weapons I or II (they will auto-swap on skill use).
You can choose if your character will attack without moving.
7. All Gems Options For Skills
When choosing gems for skills you can click All Options right here in your skill tab.
Normally you can only choose skills recommended by developers.
While these are good recommendations it’s not necessarily the best for your build, so feel free to experiment.
There skill gems drop like flies.
8. What To Buy With Premium Currency
One Word, STASH TABS.
If you playing the game now in early excess you will have to shell out 30 euros.
The good news is you will get an equal amount of in-game currency.
Make your life easier and buy these stash tabs:
Currency stash tab (1)
Gem stash tab (1)
Quad tab (1)
Essence tab (1)
Delirium tab (1)
Premium stash tab (1 or more)
Now that you have your nice tabs let us help you sort items.
9. Quick Item Sorting
You can hold Left CTRL and click items to sell them or transfer them to stash right away, without needing to drag them.
You can also right-click on your stash tab and set affinity.
That means you won’t have to open individual tabs when you CTRL-click items.
You just need to open up your stash and when you CTRL-click the items they automatically go to their assigned affinity tabs (for example Orbs to Orbs tab, etc).
10. Trading
If you listen to us and spend some of your premium currency on a Premium stash tab you can right-click on it and set it as Public.
This will enable you to list your items on the Trade Website of Poe2.
You can also find listed items from other people if you go to the same website and we highly suggest you do.
You can find a perfect item for your self and it will just require a bit of trading on your part.
Marvel Rivals is the new hero shooter and leader in the field. The game has been racking up some impressive numbers and even drew someone like me who is not interested in the genre.
While the balance of heroes is more or less good I have one gripe with it… Wolverine sucks.
Despite what you see some rank 1 players pulling off with him… A master with a broken sword can still use it to great effect.
How To Fix Wolverine
To begin with, what is the Wolverine’s role in the game? He is a MELEE DUELIST.
The idea behind the character was that he was supposed to “kidnap” Vangurds(Tanks) and kill them. This is obvious from his abilities.
What is the problem then you might ask. Well, he is just not very good at it.
Any tank with full HP and half a brain will escape before you can kill him because you just used only decent mobility ability to kidnap them in the first place. Not to mention if they have a decent healer… then you are screwed.
So what can be done about it? Well, we are gonna list his abilities one by one and suggest fixes to make a Wolverine decent character and let me tell you, he needs a lot of fixes.
SAVAGE CLAW:(it is your primary attack that deals 15 Normal DMG + Deal damage equal to 1.5% of the target’s Max Health, with an extra 0.045% damage for each point of Rage)
FIXES:
Needs a slight Normal DPS boost… we are talking up to 5%.
More importantly outside of your FERAL LEAP buff window, there is a pause after 4 slashes. The pause needs to be removed, he should be able to attack continuously.
THE FERAL LEAP buff should only speed up your attacks.
FERAL LEAP: (Jumps forward and grabs the first enemy he enters in contact with, dealing damage equal to 1% of the target’s Max Health, with an extra 0.035% damage for each point of Rage. Then, his basic attack changes to Berserk Claw Strike, which is faster and deals more damage.)
FIXES:
25% more distance covered.
I don’t know what is wrong with hitboxes on this thing. Unless you are at the right specific very precise location next to your target, you will miss and then you have to wait for another 12 seconds to try again.
In short fix Hitboxes if they are bugged or make them more generous.
VICIOUS RAMPAGE: (Wolverine dashes forward and unleashes a Claw Strike, dealing damage equal to 1.5% of the target’s Max Health, with an extra 0.045% damage for each point of Rage. )
FIXES:
10-15% more distance covered.
Add a second charge to the ability
REGENERATIVE HALING FACTOR: (This passive ability kicks in when Wolverine’s health reaches zero. Wolverine is granted a small portion of temporary HP based on rage. If Wolverine survives for a short time, the temporary HP turns into permanent health, and the Regenerative Healing Factor goes back on cooldown.)
FIXES:
From 90-sec cooldown to 70 (90-sec cooldown guys… are you f-ing kidding me?)
BERSERKER RAGE:(Passive ability that builds up his rage meter by attacking enemies or receiving damage, and for each point of rage, he deals more damage with his skills and basic attacks.)
FIXES:
Add a passive percent-based HP regeneration as the rage drains.
(you know, CUZ THAT IS HIS GOD DAMN POWER IN COMICS.)
The last 2 abilities Undying Animal and Last Stand are fine and they don’t need to be touched in our opinion.
So in SUMMARY… We gave him more mobility, more DMG against Duelist and Strategist (DPS and healers),and passive HP regeneration when your Rage Bar drains.
This way we can see the AMBUSH playstyle work.
You have enough mobility to pounce on targets and chase when they try to escape.
You have enough DMG to harm DPS and HEALRS as well.
And you are self-reliant as when you back out and hide if you build enough rage your HP will regenerate by itself and your get-out-of-jail-free card is not on the god damn 90sec cooldown (who thought this was a good idea? WTF)
That’s all the fixes we propose for Wolverine for now my dudes and dudettes. Hope it’s Friday where you’re at and Game On.
Marvel Rivals has been out for a while now, and it’s racking up impressive numbers on Steam.
At this point, It might be the definitive leader in the Hero Shooter category.
I’ve personally sunk a good chunk of hours into it and like everyone else and I am wondering what’s coming next.
Well, thx to some leaks from their own marketing we have that answer… and it’s fantastic.
Fantastic 4 Heroes
As the title gave away, all off the Fantastic 4 heroes are coming and we have some leaked images for you to see.
They include their appearance and abilities, so if nothing changes in development between now and release date, this is the package of heroes you will be getting soon.
Mr. FANTASTIC
DR. Reed Nathaniel Richards aka Mr. Fantastic is the leader of the group and this is his in-game model.
His superpowers include superhuman elasticity, malleability, durability, and some shape-shifting.
This is how the Devs chose to reflect this in the game as this leaked image shows.
ABILITIES:
ELASTIC PUNCH (stretch out a forward punch to Attack)
BRAINIAC BOUNCE (leap and smash knocking back enemies)
REFLEXIVE RUBBER (stretch body to absorb DMG then launch it back at the target)
FLEXIBLE ELONGATION (Dash at the target and deal DMG and grant bonus HP to allies)
RUBBER GRIO (extend arms forward and entangle enemies, then jank two or more enemies back)
ELASTIC STRENGHT “passive” (skills generate elasticity boosting attack power. Reaching full Elasticity triggers an inflated state restoring HP and boost DMG)
Reed Richards is officially classified as a Duelist (DPS), but it seems Mr. Fantastic is gonna be walking a fine line between Vanguard and Duelist.
Judging by his abilities we see him in more of a support role by displacing enemies, blocking incoming damage, and harassing other team Healers, than being a pure DPS and MVP.
HUMAN TORCH
Johnny Storm is another member of Fantastic 4 and this is official art for his appearance in Marvel Rivals.
His powers in comics include Pyrokinesis (Ability to crate and control fire) and while in his Flame mod, he can also fly.
His powers are reflected by this in-game abilities.
Credit to Dylbobz YouTube channel for this great image
SUPERNOVA (explode with cosmic fire to deal DMG. Upon Skills activation all flame fields will transform into fire tornados)
BLAZING BLAST (launch a fireball to create a flame field at the target area)
PYRO-PRISON (connect flame fields to form a firewall dealing DMG over time)
FLAMING METEOR (dive to the ground and deal DMG and detonate Flame fields)
BURNING SOAR (fly upwards rapidly)
PLASMA BODY “passive” (hold shift to fly upwards rapidly)
He is another Duelist like Mr. Fantastic but he seems to be more on the pure Dps side with an interesting twist.
As you can see a lot of his abilities deal damage over time and leave flame Fields that can be detonated to make firewalls closing some excess points like Groot dose.
His Team-Up ability will be with Storm where they both can take each other Tornadoes and turn them into the fire tornado… Pretty cool.
THE THING
Ben Grimm also known as The Thing is the Fantastic 4 team version of a Hulk.
His powers are the same as the Hulks although unlike the Hulk he stays in his superhuman form forever.
His powers in the game are as follows.
ABILITIES:
COMBINATION PUNCH (quick continuous punches)
THUNDERBOLT (deliver a devastating punch)
SLAM MOMENT (knock all enemies in front of you into the air)
FURIOUS CHARGE (charge forward lifting enemies and leaving a seismic zone that prohibits displacement)
BATTLEFIELD SUPPORT (jump to your teammate and add DMG reduction to both of you)
SOLID AS A ROCK “passive” (Immune to knockbacks and displacements)
He is classified as Vanguard and is a typical one judging by his toolkit with one exception.
He seems to focus on displacing enemies and preventing allies and himself from being displaced.
This means he is a hard counter to someone like Wolverine who focuses on kidnapping tanks and shredding them and other heroes who like to take your teammates away from you (like that Shark asshole).
Speaking of him being a clone of Hulk he will have a team-up ability with Wolverine where he will pick him up and throw him.
INVISIBLE WOMAN
Sue Storm aka Invisible Woman is the wife of Reed Richards and the last but not least member of the Fantastic 4 Team.
Her powers include the power to make her and others invisible, flight, the power to move objects with her mind, and to create constructs out of thin air.
Now unfortunately at the time of writing this article, we only know she will be a Strategist (Healer) and don’t know much else.
As soon as we hear something we will update this article and let you know
That’s all the Heroes Coming next in Marvel Rivals for now my dudes and dudettes. Hope it’s Friday where you’re at and Game On.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is 10/10, you know it I know everybody knows it. Do you know what can make it even better? Mods! With the release of official modding tools this year, we want to point to some of the great mods you want to keep an eye on and try out.
Looking for something else? Here’s some quick links to other BG3 mods I’ve tested:
The only thing that I am mad at Larian (and all the other companies that do this) is that they launched an RPG without Transmog system. It’s one of the cardinal sins in my book and if I were an emperor of the world that would be illegal.
I hate when I find something that looks awesome on my character and it fits his class and then I have to change it to something that makes me look like a moron just because it makes me more powerful.
For you who have never played WoW, and are wondering WTF im babbling about, “Transmog” is changing the armor’s appearance to another, while keeping the stats.
This godsend mod lets you do that and get this, it even works with moded items.
This is a must-have QOL mod, make sure to get it and leave the mod author an endorsement.
Now we will give you a few mods to help with inventory management.
This mod will put a BAG with a lot of other BAGs in a tutorial chest on Nautloid.
What is so special about that? Well, these BAGs have a nice appearance and icons for sorting different types of items you get in the game like for example arrows, potions, and books.
The best part about it? When you loot something it will get auto-sorted into its appropriate BAG so your inventory dosent look like a garbage yard.
Remember how your inventory weight is always full? But then you leave every sausage you looted in the camp chest and suddenly you feel like Atlas and can lift the Earth.
This mod will just auto-send food to the camp as the title suggests.
It’s one of those mods that you don’t notice but when it’s gone you can’t live without it.
Ok degens, we meet again. I think the name is pretty self-explanatory but briefly, this BG3 mod will let you romance multiple characters at the same time without the jealous one getting jealous.
Bit of a warning tho, as expected the mod seems to have a lot of bugs, so be a degen at your own risk.
This mod will give you a spell to summon the so-called “tutorial chest” from Nautiloid.
Why would you need something like this? Because almost every armor and weapon mod that people make is put in there for you to use.
So if you do not want to hoard everything at once as you can not go back to the ship this is a great mod to summon that chest to you and take any modded items you wish at any time.
That’s all the race mods I recommend for now my dudes and dudettes. Hope it’s Friday where you’re at and Game On.
