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The Rimworld Steam Keys Debacle

Rimworld is this neat little gem that only Steam account users will have the hotness for. It’s a pretty awesome Dwarf Fortress esque game with some hints of the unnatural sci-fi that one may know from the Firefly series. The developers of said game even have this great deal for Early Access Steam keys. Then douchebags had to muck it up.

The whole story here is that the devs of Rimworld, Ludeon Studios, decided to put out a promo so that they could earn more money. God knows these indie developers need all the help that they could get. They offered that, instead of buying Steam keys from Steam itself, that takes a 30-40% pay cut from the developers with every unit sold, people interested in Rimworld should opt to purchase from their site instead. Naturally, Steam sells them cheaper than Ludeon does so, to sweeten the pot, Ludeon would send free Steam keys to put into any Steam account for those that bought the non-Steam version of the game. Simply typing in their purchase email was enough to merit this free Steam key of Rimworld. It’s essentially getting two copies for the price of a slightly higher one.

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So basically, more money for Ludeon Studios and shiny Steam keys for longtime supporters. Everybody wins. RimWorld is a massive undertaking, too. Ludeon deserves every penny they get.

Unfortunately, the Steam keys black market can be pretty brutal for the uninitiated. These fraudulent rapscallions descended upon the hapless developer in full force. In a blog post, Sylvester of Ludeon explained:

“If you bought before today, you can still get a key. However, I’ve been forced to stop offering Steam keys for those who buy today and in the future. We’ve been getting hammered by fraudsters who are obviously more experienced at this than I. Shutting it down for now is the only way to avoid thousands of dollars in chargeback fees and lost sales. It’s time to take a breather, because I can’t fight this ‘live.’”

With tons of chargebacks done with those free Steam CD keys, Ludeon lost more money than what would normally be normally sound for a developer of their level. Not to mention the Steam keys used in nefariously fraudulent actions are now being banned.

The plight facing RimWorld and Ludeon Studios’ shines a light on one of the biggest issues in PC game publishing right now: that developers may face crushing chargeback fees from stolen credit cards used to buy Steam keys. Fraudsters make money by selling these keys on via eBay-style PC game websites.

This is a tough one for Ludeon and I do hope it’s something they can recover from.

POE Items: A Guide to Prophecies

Ever since Path of Exile: Prophecy came about, many mystical things have been happening to the men and women who were banished to Wraeclast. For a little bit of silver, players can receive prophecies, conditions that have to be fulfilled in order to trigger a particular occurrence, from Navali. And for extra pieces of silver, these prophecies can be turned into one of those POE items, and then traded with other players.  There are many different types of prophecies; all of which are given at random, and some bring a lot more good fortune than others.

There are different types of prophecies. There are the Master Mission prophecies, which grants players extra reputation upon finishing a master mission; Crafting prophecies – as the name suggests, these prophecies the result of the usage of crafting POE items; Fated Uniques prophecies, which upgrade unique items into entirely new and much better version of themselves; Encounter prophecies, which grant you a reward upon encountering a particular mob; and Prophecy chains, which subjects players to a series of quests that yield rewards.

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POE Items: Prophecy Guide

Like what’s been previously said, some prophecies are more helpful than others. And to help you in your quest, here are a few of the most helpful prophecies:

  • Crafting Prophecies:
    • Fated Connections – with a single Jeweler’s Orb, an item will have six sockets and six links.
    • Trash to Treasure – a normal POE item becomes a unique one with a single Orb of Chance
  • Fated Uniques – because of the sheer diversity and specificity of this particular prophecy type, there is no one best Fated Uniques prophecy.
  • Encounter Prophecies:
    • The Singular Spirit – a slayed Tormented Spirit will drop a random unique item.
    • Nemesis of Greed – a rare monster with the Inner Treasure modifier will drop two unique items instead of one.
    • The Mysterious Gift – selling five random unique items to a vendor will give you a mystery box. When opened, it will become a random unique item. The level of the resulting item is equivalent to the lowest-leveled item that you sold.

There are many other Prophecies out there, so if you’re looking for a Divine Orb or an Orb of Fusing, you’ll certainly find one with these prophecies soon enough. And now that you know how prophecies work, it’s about time you determine your own future, exile.

Redeem Codes: Battleborn Vs. Overwatch

Forget Team Fortress 2, Dota, and LoL; the real competitors are Battleborn and Overwatch as they’re both new IPs vying for a good spot in an increasingly competitive esports scene. Battleborn is developed by Gearbox studios, the same developers of the Borderlands series, while Overwatch is a new and original IP from Blizzard of World of Warcraft fame.

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They’re both shooters, yes, and they’re both intrinsically similar, but at the same time, play completely differently.

Redeem Codes: The Key Differences

 

  • Overwatch

Let’s start with Overwatch. Why start here? A bias? Maybe. But it also has something to do with how dead simple the game is. I don’t mean that as an insult or a compliment; but merely a statement of fact. It’s a team-based shooter that takes its roots from traditional 90’s shooters like Doom, Half Life, Quake, and, of course, Team Fortress the mod. It naturally takes inspiration from Team Fortress 2 and Blizzard freely admits that.

In terms of gameplay, it’s what you’d expect a shooter to be, but the real clincher in Overwatch is its solidly colorful cast of characters that are simply too attractive to ignore. With each hero having their own skills and abilities, each hero plays uniquely and fit roles that have to synergize well with a team. And, you know, that’s pretty much it about Overwatch.

It has some great lore, fantastic characters, and superbly fun gameplay that has been inspired from the tried-and-tested classics of the 90’s. There’s really no way to go wrong there.

  • Battleborn

Battleborn, on the other hand, can be very complicated. Calling itself a “hero shooter,” Battleborn sports also a ton of unique heroes that follow in the same vein as Overwatch, but has more skills, much more akin to a Moba than a team based shooter. If anything, the game is very similar to Smite, a 3rd person Moba with a similar concept. Battleborn also has single player and non-competitive cooperative modes coupled with an account and hero progression. Compared to Overwatch, Battleborn certainly has more to do than competitive matches.

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However, the only problem with the game is that it tries to be a lot of things at the same time. It’s trying to be an MMO, an FPS Moba, a team based shooter, and a generic shooter campaign all at once. It then becomes hard to pinpoint what it actually wants to focus on, making it harder to be taken seriously as an esport unlike Overwatch’s committed single mindedness.

Redeem Codes: What’s better?

Well, you decide! They both are good at what they do and will certainly attract specific crowds. If you like the Moba format, best to go Battleborn redeem codes, but the iffy jack of all trades concept it has going may make it hard to have an Esports future. Choose Overwatch redeem codes if you want something more stable competitively, but it does lack other content apart from the competitive aspect. Both games are great, to be honest, and it will only matter what you find more enjoyable.

POE Currency: Full Set for Orbs? Yes

If money makes the world go round, then orbs do the same thing in Wraeclast, as they serve as the unofficial POE currency for the player base. It’s what they shell out when buying items from their fellow players, and what they receive when another player buys from them. Therefore, it’s important for players to gather as much of that particular item type in the game.

POE Currency: Gathering Orbs

There are many kinds of orbs, and they all serve a different purpose, so game-wise, they are all necessary. But in the eyes of players, they are not created equal. Some are worth a lot more than others, and these ones are those that yield effects that are sought after by many of Wraeclast’s banished adventurers. Two examples of these would be the Chaos Orb, which gives new properties to a rare item at random, and the Regal Orb, which upgrades a magic item to a rare item. There are many ways to get these two orbs, and one of them includes having to buy POE currency. But according to Youtube Channel LiftingNerd Gaming, this is perhaps the easiest way to gather them:

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To get a Chaos Orb, you need to sell a full set of level 60 rare equipment items to an NPC. That would be two rings, an amulet, a belt, a pair of gloves, a pair of boots, an armor, a headgear, a shield or another off-hand gear, and a weapon. Do note that for the off-hand, quivers do not count, and adding a quiver to the complete set will not yield any extra reward. To get two chaos orbs, you just have to do the exact same thing, but this time you have to sell a full set of unidentified level 60 rare equipment. If you want a Regal Orb, same rules apply – one full set is to one orb, one unidentified set is to two –but you’ll be required to give a level 75 rare full item set instead.  See? Easy POE currency.

POE Buy Currency: Putting Them To Use

While it might be a shame to sell an entire set of unidentified rare gear because it might be what you just need, it’s not actually bad of a deal. Because instead of leaving it up to fate, you can earn Chaos Orbs much faster instead, and then buy from other players the particular item that you’ve been eyeing.

So, now that you know how to easily farm POE currency, you can now buy what you want or need, or sell it to those who POE buy currency. “Happy” and bountiful adventuring, fellow banished.

EVE Account Recent History: The Battle of M-OEE8

EVE Online is known for its almost too-realistic approach when it comes to politics. And because of this, wars, which are byproducts of the breakdown of certain political constructs, can seem to get as large-scale, vicious, and damaging as that in our world, so much so that the great wars of the game affect every EVE account there is. And quite recently, just a few months ago, a big war just broke, one that got many EVE accounts involved. It’s the Battle of M-OEE8.

Last March 28th of this year, there had been a battle between the Imperium Coalition and the Moneybadger Coalition, a rather recently founded coalition that is made up of a great number of alliances in New Eden. This took place in the solar systems of the eponymous M-OEE8 and J-GAMP, which is in the constellation 1P-V L2 in the Tribute Region. Involved in this bloodshed, which lasted for many hours, were 5,806 EVE account holders, making it the second biggest conflict to ever happen in EVE’s fictional space, only second to B-R5RB.

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EVE: Account of The Battle of M-OEE8

Like what was previously said, almost all, if not all wars are politically motivated, and this video game space battle is no different. And for the Battle of M-OEE8, it was all about the control of the infrastructure hub of the particular system where the war was waged, which was obviously important, as it wouldn’t have sparked a 5,000-player conflict if it weren’t. For the Imperium, losing it would result to them becoming more vulnerable to assaults from their enemies, the Allies, as it could later on become their enemies’ foothold. On the other hand, for the Allies, victory against the Imperium means being able to take over this slice of cosmic territory, and in turn means getting closer to the heart of Imperium.

After many series of ship-to-ship battles, the Imperium lost. Not only did they suffer massive casualties when it comes to ships, but they have also lost control of the station, as well as the loyalty of Circle-of-Two, which comprised around 25% of the Imperium’s pilots. Indeed, what a costly defeat. Kind of makes me wonder if they’re going to buy EVE online account now.

The Battle of M-OEE8 involved the two big factions, left both of them with big casualties – and more so with Imperium – and caused a big change in the intergalactic power-struggle of New Eden. So, what is going to happen to EVE Online and EVE account owners next? Nobody knows. One thing, however, is certain – there will always be wars.