Each season of Fortnite: Battle Royale brings a variety of new weapons and vehicles to the game, but Season 10’s big addition, the BRUTE mechs, have been the subject of much controversy since their debut. The mechs have long been criticized by players as being too powerful, forcing Epic to nerf them, and now it appears the maligned vehicles may be on their way to the vault.

Recently, players have noticed something curious happening when the BRUTE mechs appear on the map: they explode instantly. The in-game explanation for this seems to be tied to the Visitor; you can see the mechs displayed on the computer screens in his lab at Dusty Depot, suggesting he’s responsible for their malfunction. However, given how unfavorably fans have viewed the BRUTE mechs since they first debuted, this seems to be Epic’s way of unceremoniously scrapping them.

The timing of these incidents makes sense, as Season 11 is just around the corner, and Epic typically ushers in each new season of Fortnite with some kind of world-changing event. It remains to be seen just what else will happen in the lead up to Season 11, but it’s possible it will involve an entirely new map, as dataminers seem to have discovered a list of new locations within the game’s code.

Season 10 of Fortnite is scheduled to end on October 6, according to Epic’s website. The developer hasn’t yet announced when Season 11 will officially kick off, but new seasons typically begin shortly after the previous one ends. In the meantime, you can still complete any remaining Season 10 challenges. If you need help, we’ve gathered up all of our maps and guides for this season’s trickier missions in our complete Fortnite Season 10 challenges roundup. A double XP weekend is also now underway until September 30.

We do already know one thing Season 11 will bring to the game: bots. As part of Epic’s recent matchmaking adjustments, the developer will introduce AI-controlled opponents to help players improve their skills.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fortnites-controversial-mechs-may-be-on-their-way-/1100-6470153/

Gearbox has issued another Borderlands 3 hot fix update, aiming for weapon and enemy balance along with teaking some of the skills of the Vault Hunters. The patch will be live by 3 PM PT on September 27.

Each Vault Hunter got an adjustment except for Gage, but in very different directions. Zane had his tools significantly increased in power to address a lack of impact as he leveled up. FL4K, meanwhile, had their Guerillas in the Mist duration and critical damage bonus reduced. Amara sits in the middle, having gotten a nerf to her Guardian Angel ability but a buff to Glamour.

In the patch notes, Gearbox also says that it used data analytics from players to adjust the weapons. “Billions of guns were fired and after collecting some data, we wanted to balance some weapon types and weapon manufacturers,” it says. “These adjustments are intended to even the playing field and increase build diversity for all Vault Hunters.”

Gearbox has said that it plans to regularly issue hot fixes between its slate of patches. “In between the larger patches that will continue to expand and improve the game, we’re able to make more minor adjustments via these hot fixes or ‘micropatches’ to improve and fine-tune your experience at a quicker pace. We’ll continue to roll out these incremental improvements while evaluating gameplay data and identifying necessary balance adjustments, and will be keeping record of all patches on our site.”

You can check out the full patch notes from Gearbox below. This comes just after a patch aimed at more technical issues. Borderlands 3 has already become the fastest-selling 2K game at launch. If you’re already deep into your Vault Hunting, make sure to claim some free high-level loot with Shift Codes.

Borderlands 3 – Sept 27 Hot Fixes Patch

Weapon Hotfixes

Sniper Rifles

Sniper rifles deal high damage but felt a little cumbersome to use in certain scenarios. This change will increase their overall damage and increase usability in more combat engagements.

• Critical Damage increased by 20%
• Fire Rate increased by 15%
• Time to Aim Down Sights (ADS) reduced by 15%
• Time to Equip reduced by 20%

Pistols

Jakobs and Torgue Pistols were outperforming other manufacturers, dealing damage to groups of enemies at a much higher rate than other pistols. This change keeps their identity intact but reduces overall group control. TEDIORE, DAHL, and Children of the Vault Pistols have manufacturer penalties that affected their overall damage. Increasing their overall damage will overcome some of the penalties while retaining their unique gameplay style and feel.

• Increased damage on all TEDIORE Pistols by 15%
• Increased damage on all DAHL Pistols by 15%
• Increased damage on all Children of the Vault Pistols by 20%
• Reduced damage on Jakobs Pistols by 15%
• Reduced damage on Torgue Pistols by 10%

Maliwan Manufacturer

Maliwan weapons had reduced overall damage because they applied elemental DoTs at a rate and damage greatly above other manufacturers. This effect was toned down before launch, but the overall damage was not sufficiently adjusted to compensate for the reduction in elemental DoTs. We’re adding back some of the overall damage and making the weapons faster so elemental builds can really take advantage of Maliwan weaponry.

• All Maliwan Weapon Damage increased by 25%
• All Maliwan Weapon Fire Rate increased by 20%

Atlas Manufacturer

Atlas weapons relied on a game loop that we felt gave players a greater advantage when used correctly. Turns out the loop is not used if the damage doesn’t compensate for the time to set up. So now damage on Atlas weapons should facilitate players using them in general on top of feeling badass when they take advantage of Atlas technology.

• All Atlas Weapon Damage increased by 25%

Miscellaneous Adjustments

The Jakobs Assault Rifle change was to differentiate the Assault Rifle from the pistol as more of a mid to long range powerhouse. Since the Assault Rifles have low mag sizes compared to other Assault Rifles, they’re getting a slight increase to overall damage to compensate. DAHL SMGs had their Fire Rates adjusted down before launch but their damage was never sufficiently increased so they should feel more appropriate compared to other SMGs. And the Vladof Heavy Weapon damage has been increased to share in the full Heavy Weapon treatment.

• Jakobs Assault Rifles Damage increased by 20%
• DAHL SMG Damage increased by 10%
• Vladof Heavy Weapon Damage increased by 25%
• E-Tech TEDIORE Shotgun Damage increased by 50%

Legendary Modifications

We’re going to be making a larger, comprehensive Legendary gear pass but we have included the following changes. King’s and Queen’s Call were modified to lower the fire rate. The weapon has a limited burst shot count so overall feel of the gun isn’t dramatically affected.

• King’s and Queen’s Call Fire Rate reduced by 50%
• Firestorm and Storm base Charge Times were reduced to 1 second (down from 2)

Graveward

Graveward’s beam attacks did not properly scale based on level so at higher levels, the two beam attacks hardly phased players. Players will find his attacks to be more lethal now. In addition, Graveward is a very large enemy and is too easily susceptible to elemental damage unlike the other large bosses. Elemental damage on Graveward is now greatly reduced but to compensate, Graveward’s overall health was reduced.

• Attacks of Graveward now scale based on level
• Reduced overall health by 20%
• Increased resistances to Elemental Damage
  – Elemental Chance Resistance increased by 70%
  – Elemental Resistances increased by 30%
  – Elemental DoT Duration taken reduced by 30%

Miscellaneous Changes

• Hollow Point Guardian Rank has been temporarily disabled. We plan on addressing this further in a future patch.
• Vault Hunters should no longer scream when affected by a DoT while shields are active.
• Vending Machines will now be restocked with higher quality “Items of the Day”.
• Adjusted a visual concern on Maliwan Shotguns with Cryo Element.
• Legendary loot drops have been balanced throughout the game. Crew Challenge enemies will drop their intended specific loot, and some enemies like Troy and Rampager will be a bit more stingy and no longer drop Legendaries every kill.

Vault Hunter Adjustments

Zane

Zane’s gadgets were great at providing additional utility but lacked impact as players leveled up. We increased the Digi-Clone damage with all equipped weapon so the skill can scale better with players as they get to higher levels and harder content. The Drone requires a lot of player involvement to take full advantage of its damage output and increasing the base damage as well as the augments will greatly increase the Drone’s versatility and reward players even more for using it effectively.

• Digi-Clone Damage Increased by 38%
• Drone Damage increased by 50%
  – Cryo Bullets damage penalty removed
  – Drone Rocket damage increased by 50%
  – Almighty Ordnance Rockets damage increased by 75%

Amara

• Guardian Angel health restoration reduced from 100% to 50%
• Glamour damage penalty reduced from -30% to -10%

FL4K

Guerillas in the Mist’s bonuses greatly outweighed its penalty to the base skill. We don’t want to remove the playstyle completely, but the overall damage output had to be slightly adjusted because it was outperforming other builds. We’re monitoring the changes and may make another change to the ammo return in a future patch.

• Guerillas in the Mist duration reduced from 8 seconds to 6 seconds
• Guerillas in the Mist Critical Damage Bonus reduced from 50% to 25%

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/borderlands-3-hot-fix-patch-rebalances-three-chara/1100-6470152/

Expect Destiny 2 to become a very different experience come October 1 and the release of the new Shadowkeep expansion. As Bungie and director Luke Smith have detailed (at length), a huge number of systems, activities, and loot are being altered with the new content, and a lot of what we’re used to in terms of how the game plays is getting upended. In the final days before Shadowkeep, Bungie detailed one set of changes to how you increase your character’s power–which will probably have the biggest impact on your game experience.

In its final “This Week at Bungie” blog post before the launch of Shadowkeep, the developer dropped a heap of bullet points detailing myriad changes to the game. The post broke down changes to things like how damage is dealt to over-leveled enemies and how “pinnacle” weapons are set to change, and it gave some very concrete details about how the Power grind will work in Shadowkeep. For the most part, the changes sound like they should make working toward the new Destiny 2 endgame less of a pain, at least until you start to hit the caps.

First up, earning experience points is no longer a part of leveling up your character. Previously, you first had to level your character to the cap (currently 50), and then start increasing a second number, your Power level, by gathering better and better gear. With the release of Shadowkeep, every player will automatically be level 50, regardless of whether your character is new or old. Experience points will instead advance your way through the new seasonal rewards. As in games like Fortnite and Apex Legends, there’s a slower free path and a quicker premium path through those rewards, depending on if you buy Destiny 2’s Season Pass.

So instead, going forward, you’ll only focus on your Power level, which is the average of all the Power level numbers on all your equipped gear. On October 1, every character starts at the current 750 Power level cap, regardless of whether you hit the cap before Shadowkeep, or you’re a brand new Guardian. From there, you’ll advance toward the “soft cap” of 900. All gear drops in the game, from all activities, will be of a higher Power level than the highest item you own, either equipped to your character or in your vault. Essentially, just playing the game in any capacity will strengthen your character. Once you hit 900, things get more complicated.

Grinding For The Endgame

From the soft cap, you’ll need to earn Powerful drops or Pinnacle weapons, like the ones that exist in Destiny 2 right now. You can get Powerful drops from a number of activities, like completing Strikes, Crucible matches, and Gambit matches, although Bungie notes that the Powerfuls currently offered from Forsaken activities–the ones in the Dreaming City, for instance, or from completing Black Armory Forge bounties–will be converted to weaker Legendary drops instead. You can also earn Prime Engrams as you play, which count as Powerful drops. Prime Engrams will drop three levels higher than your best piece of gear (as opposed to the 4-7 levels higher in Forsaken). That will carry you up to Power level 950.

At 950, things change again. Powerful drops will no longer advance you at that point–they’ll drop at the level of your highest equipable piece of gear instead. That should make getting your entire gear set up to 950 a little easier than it is now; you can sometimes get held up waiting for one piece of armor to drop in order to raise your character’s total Power.

Reaching The Pinnacle Cap

To advance to the final “hard cap” of 960 Power, you’ll need “Pinnacle” rewards. These aren’t the pinnacle weapons we saw in Destiny 2 before–a series of unique weapons earned by completing lengthy quests in a particular activity. Instead, it seems that Pinnacle drops will require you to best Shadowkeep’s toughest activities, like the new version of Nightfall Strikes called The Ordeal, or to take on the Garden of Salvation raid.

But while 960 is the top of Power grind for your gear, it isn’t the end of the grind altogether. You can still increase your character’s Power using the new Seasonal Artifact. This item comes with its own set of perks an adds additional Power to your character as you rank it up (although we haven’t seen how that’s done yet). The Seasonal Artifact doesn’t affect the Power levels your gear drops at, but it does raise your character’s overall strength and defense stats, so making sure to take care of it will be essential for completing top-tier Shadowkeep activities.

That’s all a lot to keep in mind, but for the most part, it sounds like it’ll make the Power grind in Shadowkeep a little clearer in terms of which activities you need to do and when. We’ll have to see whether that’s actually the case, and just how attainable Destiny 2’s Pinnacle is, when Shadowkeep launches next week.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/destiny-2s-power-grind-is-getting-big-changes-in-s/1100-6470149/

If you’re contemplating jumping into Destiny 2, now is a great time to do so. Bungie has announced everything that comes free in New Light–a free-to-play version of the game. There’s a lot there; it’s pretty much everything minus the post-Year 1 raids, Exotic quests, and Forsaken campaign.

In a tweet, Bungie reveals New Light will put you at a starting Power level of 750 and open up all free roam destinations right from the get-go. In terms of weapons and armor, you’ll have all exotics from Year 1. New Light also includes The Red War, Curse of Osiris, and Warmind campaigns, as well as the Black Armory Forges, Gambit Prime, and The Menagerie. All the Nightfall Strikes from Year 1 are packaged into New Light too. You can also get all the ranks and rewards tied to seasonal events.

On Twitter, Bungie has clarified several of the possible discrepancies that New Light seemingly creates. Specifically, even though it’s not listed, New Light does actually come with The Reckoning as well, allowing you to farm for the Gambit Prime armor. Also, though completing activities like the Black Armory Forges and The Menagerie will still net you their respective rewards, the Exotics tied to them are not available for New Light players.

All players, whether veteran or newcomer, should do a few things before Destiny 2: Year 2 comes to an end. You don’t want to go into Year 3 with excessive baggage nor do you want to end your time in Year 2 without acquiring certain items. There are a few quests you should finish mopping up, for instance, and stockpiling on Bright Dust is a pretty good idea. When Year 3 begins, it will introduce the standalone Shadowkeep expansion as well as a reworked version of the moon location from the first Destiny. Expect tougher Nightfalls, but much better rewards. Be sure you’re ready.

Destiny 2 is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/destiny-2-new-light-offers-a-staggering-amount-of-/1100-6470147/