Dear players, it's been over a month since Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary launched, and the popularity of this classic server is undeniable. 

Data clearly shows that player activity on this server has been steadily rising, attracting not only many returning veterans but also a large influx of new players.

However, while enjoying the game, many players, like myself, have likely discovered a fatal flaw in this version – the overall pace is too fast, and the developers have been slow to make adjustments to keep up. 

Instead of enjoying the game, we've been driven to exhaustion by various issues.

Based on my personal experience over the past month, I'd like to discuss some of the most prominent problems in the current version and offer some thoughts and suggestions, hoping to make this classic version more suitable for all players' playstyles.

First and foremost, Honor requirement for PvP gear is incredibly high, making Honor grind extremely tedious.

Currently, Battlegrounds offer a pitifully small amount of Honor. A single Battlegrounds session, lasting nearly half an hour, even with full participation, only yields around 200 Honor. However, a decent PvP set requires over 10,000 Honor, meaning countless Battlegrounds would be needed to complete a full set.

While PvP daily quests like Terraar and Hellfire can yield around 1,000 Honor, these quests lack true PvP combat. Alliance and Horde players tacitly agree to quickly capture towers and complete tasks solely for Honor. Players who genuinely dedicate themselves to Battlegrounds receive negligible rewards. 

This system robs Battlegrounds of its original fun and forces players to invest exponentially more time and effort for a single piece of gear, making it a poor investment.

Secondly, the leveling system from 58 to 70 is extremely unreasonable and completely out of sync with the short version cycle.

WoW TBC Classic Anniversary is a short-term server, lasting only 8 to 10 months, much shorter than the regular 18-month release, yet the leveling difficulty hasn't decreased at all.

Even players who enjoy questing will find their experience bar progressing frustratingly slowly even after two hours of focused quest completion. 

They might be stuck around level 63 after a long time, and reaching level 70 will require a significant amount of time.

More importantly, for ordinary players, the time they can dedicate to the game each day is limited. They also need to squeeze in time for guild raids, leveling their main character's reputation, and exchanging badges for gear, leaving no time to level alts.

Furthermore, the extremely low drop rate for raid gear severely impacts the player's experience during raid progression and character development. 

Whether it's a 10-man raid like Karazans or a 25-man raid, the drop rate for high-quality gear is ridiculously low. Many guilds have spent weeks trying to clear raids, yet still haven't gotten the gear they want. Even some common, useful gear, and even $1, is extremely difficult to obtain.

For casual players, opportunities to participate in raids are already limited. Finally managing to assemble a group for a raid, only to return empty-handed, leads to repeated disappointments that easily erode their enthusiasm for the game. The already short expansion, relying solely on luck to acquire gear, makes the progression path exceptionally difficult for many players.

In addition, the developers might consider adopting the approach from WotLK Classic, adding a vendor that allows players to acquire high-quality gear from previous phases using a specific currency.

Ultimately, the root of these problems lies in one thing: WoW TBC Classic Anniversary expansion is too short-lived, yet it retains the settings of a regular expansion without any adaptation, directly raising the barrier to entry for the game.

This version was originally intended to allow players to relive the classic experience and enjoy a short-term gameplay experience. However, the current settings have caused anxiety for most players, who, despite investing time, cannot keep up with the pace of the update, leading to significant frustration.

The developers have made some minor adjustments, such as lowering the exchange price of some Honor gear and optimizing the dungeon unlocking mechanism for alt characters. However, these adjustments only address minor issues and do not solve the core problem of the overly fast-paced update. 

What we need are adjustments that are more aligned with the actual needs of a short-term seasonal server, allowing ordinary players to easily keep up and avoid excessively wasting energy and time on leveling, farming Honor gear, and grinding for equipment.

Have any of you encountered these problems while playing? Or do you have any different opinions or suggestions regarding the update adjustments? As long-time WoW players, we raise these issues not to complain, but because we genuinely hope that Burning Crusade Anniversary can be improved.

We hope the developers will listen to the players' voices and make truly effective adjustments in future updates, allowing every player who invests time and effort to fully enjoy WoW TBC Classic Anniversary, making the game world more relaxed and fun.

Dear fans, Diablo 4 Season 12 has just launched, bringing a wealth of new content. Besides transforming into The Butcher and experiencing the thrill of wielding this ferocious boss's power to annihilate all enemies, there's also the brand-new unique Bloodied items and Killstreak system to help you create unprecedented build power!

Of course, the developers didn't stop there. The day after the release of Diablo 4 Season of Slaughter, on March 11th, they also launched a new collaboration event with Doom: The Dark Ages. As a dark fantasy shooter, DOOM's intense combat and exaggerated visuals perfectly match the theme of The Butcher's carnage in Diablo 4 Season 12. Therefore, the event has generated considerable buzz since its launch.

However, after experiencing the event, many players didn't give the initial reviews of this Diablo 4 x DOOM collaboration a positive one. The player community described it as another pointless money-grabbing event. So, what's the real story? Let's take a look at the full details of this collaboration and share our thoughts. Then you can decide whether to participate.

This collaboration event launched on March 11, 2026, coinciding with the release of Season 12, and will continue until April 26, 2026.

The highlight of this update is DOOM: The Dark Ages Event Reliquary. Like regular Reliquaries, players need to use a specific token instead of $1 to unlock rewards. The key token is Dark Ages currency, which can only be obtained by defeating Elie and Champion enemies during the event.

There are 10 items waiting to be unlocked in DOOM: The Dark Ages Reliquary. However, these items are usually just cosmetic and don't offer any real benefits to your character. If you're aiming for increased character strength, you can ignore them; if you're an avid collector, don't hesitate to add these cosmetics to your inventory!

Players can use these rewards to transform ordinary shields into Doom's Shield Saw and their melee weapons into Slayer Flails. These new weapon styles might bring some different fun to your monotonous killing spree.

In addition, during the event, players can collect Doom Chests dropped by defeating Lair Bosses, which have a chance to drop unique weapons that resemble Doom's Crucible Blade. Finally, once you unlock all 10 rewards, you can also access the exclusive Forsaken Gates Town portal.

If you log in to the game during the event, you'll also have a chance to obtain free unique emblems, with the following times:

If you find out too late, the event may have already ended, but don't despair, as they will most likely reappear in a later Reliquary event. So stay tuned!

Besides the event gameplay, the collaboration bundles in Premium Shop have become a point of contention because of their high price and low cost-effectiveness.

The core item in this bundle is the Doom Slayer Armor Pack, which includes cosmetics for all 7 classes and costs 5,700 Platinum ($49.99). Meanwhile, each Praetor skin for each class is individually priced at 2,500 Platinum (~$24.99) and cannot be used across classes, making it more expensive to collect all the skins.

There's also The King of the Forge-Wing Bundle, valued at 2,800 Platinum ($24.99). This bundle includes Mecha Dragon Serrat mount skin, which is only available for cat mounts.

Additionally, you can also purchase the unique Cyclopean Cackle Bundle and Souls of the Lost Bundle for 2,500 Platinum (~$24.99).

Attention! If you're interested, please note the timing: The premium shop content will be available on March 12 at 12:00 PM PT / March 13 at 12:00 PM AKT.

Besides these, there's a small surprise to look forward to: Cacodemon and Lost Soul Pets.

You can pet and interact with them. The Cacodemon and Lost Soul Pets are priced at 2500 Platinum each. Each pet comes with a Mount Trophy and an Emblem, offering a fantastic opportunity to enrich your collection.

While the collaboration items visually recreate Doom style, the overall pricing strategy has sparked considerable discussion among players.

The complete collaboration outfit costs $125, a price not only significantly higher than the upcoming Diablo 4's Lord of Hatred expansion at $39.99, but also exceeding the base game's price of $49.99. For a collaboration that only offers cosmetic content, this pricing is clearly excessive, disappointing many players.

Overall, this Diablo 4 and DOOM collaboration leans more towards cosmetic and commercial aspects, with relatively limited innovation and integration in gameplay. The high prices have deterred many players. However, setting aside the collaboration itself, Diablo 4 season 12's gameplay mechanics are excellent, and player interest remains high.

Please note that this event ends on April 26th, so join now to win your exclusive rewards. It's also worth mentioning that the new Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred DLC officially launches on April 28th, so you won't have much free time!

ARC Raiders continues to bring players new gameplay experiences and insights with each update. This game, primarily focused on shooting and extraction, has launched a new seasonal event, mainly adjusting resource balance and also buffing enemies.

Each ARC Raiders update brings new challenges and opportunities, but player feedback on these updates can easily spark significant conflicts. Below is a breakdown of ARC Raiders update content, player requests, and subsequent developer updates.

The new event update largely follows this year's update roadmap, meeting player expectations. Shrouded Sky is the name of this update, and players can easily guess from the name that it will present significant environmental challenges.

Following the usual practice of seasonal events, Shrouded Sky creates environmental conditions unlike any before. The changes to the raid gameplay have many players eager to try their hand at the new map.

Hurricane map conditions introduce dust and debris into the air, affecting players' offense and defense. For example, strong winds often leave players overwhelmed in crisis situations.

On the other hand, sudden environmental chaos can also present an excellent opportunity to ambush enemies, maximizing damage while minimizing impact for a surprising and unexpected effect.

Open terrain allows hurricanes to rage more freely, increasing the difficulty of survival. Extreme weather and interference from ARC machines also place higher demands on players.

The update to ARC machines introduces two new ARC enemy variants. Breaking with established patterns, these new enemy variants alter combat strategies, such as in multi-location battles. To achieve victory, players are forced to change their strategies and step outside their comfort zones.

Besides these significant changes that force players to rethink their winning tactics. Other changes worth noting for players include changes to character appearance. Players can now equip various facial hair options.

Common hairs include stubble and beards, which undoubtedly add a fun element to otherwise monotonous battles and are a small way to showcase one's unique style. This also adds richness and diversity to Raiders' looting in Rust Belt.

In ARC Raiders updates, players can clearly feel the developers' increasing emphasis on Expedition system, its importance self-evident. Initially, Expedition system was an experimental mechanism for recording progress.

Now, Expedition system is evolving into a more mature reputation system. Completing projects and objectives becomes the player's task; successfully completing a series unlocks personal milestones.

After completing an Expedition, the player's game progress is complete. They can choose to rewind and reset certain points, while also receiving permanent bonuses to better prepare for the next Expedition.

The rewards for completing Expeditions are quite substantial. Players can earn $1, receive character bonuses, increase warehouse capacity, and improve resource utilization. Throughout the year's update roadmap, players will find that Expedition system will be released in multiple cycles.

This also reflects that Expedition system may become a flagship feature of ARC Raiders, serving as one of its iconic elements. The highly distinctive Expedition system continuously satisfies players' curiosity.

Besides the official new initiatives that have generated considerable discussion among players, some new hot topics have emerged in the games community, such as Mushroom Wars, which initially raises questions.

Regarding Mushroom Wars, mushrooms specifically refers to the organic resources needed for player exploration, which are generally very rare. However, as exploration progresses, players learn that resource spawn points are limited.

Waiting patiently at spawn points to obtain more resources has become a consensus among most players. Therefore, frequent battles erupt near spawn points, even those often located in remote and less-visited areas of the map.

This frequent warfare transforms resource acquisition into a predatory activity, significantly increasing the danger of the areas and making players vulnerable to death. This player-driven change in game mechanics is part of ARC Raiders' unique appeal.

Learning from the previous update, many players discovered a bug in the blueprint system. By employing specific techniques to farm chests at specific locations on the blueprints, players could obtain substantial amounts of weapons and loot.

This latest map update, however, patched the drop rate of resources, especially ARC Raiders blueprints. An excessively high blueprint drop rate is detrimental to gameplay.

Since this has negatively impacted player experience, to mitigate player frustration, developer Embark continues by increasing the probability of obtaining high-level crafting materials, thus reducing the negative impact of decreasing blueprint availability.

Every new game update inevitably draws criticism from a large player base, with a core focus on whether it protects their interests. Some players believe it's extremely beneficial for the long-term development of ARC Raiders. Others object, arguing that the acquisition speed of gear doesn't significantly improve.

Also Read: $1

The latest update reveals that the next update will be Flashpoint. Flashpoint is expected to launch around the next phase of Escalation content cycle. While the developers haven't provided detailed information, players can generally infer from past updates that the map environment will probably change.

The biggest anticipated update for ARC Raiders is Rift Tide, expected to make a strong late-game appearance. The new environment will move away from Rust Belt, making exploring coastal biomes a new focus. The addition of a large ARC boss enemy will present players with even greater challenges.

The above summarizes the player's reactions to this update. Gathered here because of our love for ARC Raiders, please look forward to the next update!

Bungie's Marathon officially launched on March 5, 2026, and its striking similarity to Embark's ARC Raiders, released on October 30, 2025, has sparked considerable discussion among players. Can Marathon steal more players from ARC Raiders?

Initial data shows that Marathon's peak concurrent player count on Steam was slightly over 86,000. This is far less than its competitor, ARC Raiders, which boasted a remarkable 264,000 concurrent players on Steam upon its launch last October.

Both are PvPvE resource-grabbing games, inherently sharing many similarities. Both possess similar mechanics, such as shields, bandages, weapon attachments, traders, quests, stamina, and unique PvE enemies. Even both games feature energy guns.

So, given their high degree of similarity, what are the differences between these two games?

The first and most obvious difference is the game's perspective. ARC Raiders offers a more forgiving third-person perspective, initially focused on PvE gameplay and still retaining strong PvE elements. Marathon, on the other hand, breaks the genre's boundaries, adopting a high-risk, high-reward first-person perspective, emphasizing player-versus-player combat. Marathon is known for its hardcore, PvP-centric gameplay.

Therefore, ARC Raiders allows you to experience pure PvE fun or fully enjoy the thrill of PvP. Marathon focuses more on PvP. These two games offer two different perspectives, allowing players to choose freely.

Frankly, you can play ARC Raiders casually without any problems. But Marathon is not so easy. I would even say that Marathon is not suitable for casual players.

Marathon's HUD and user interface are a chaotic mess, like an obnoxious first-year art student's exhibition, filled with colors and symbols. While you eventually learn them, their design is far from intuitive. It looks like a random jumble of small cubes with some nonsensical designs; unless you read the descriptions, you have no idea what they are. Meanwhile, the map, PvE enemies, and sound effects are all a jumbled mess.

ARC Raiders currently offers a more polished and comprehensive experience. ARC Raiders's combat experience is far superior to Marathon's. You can attack monster parts, and they react. While fighting them is still frightening, they don't feel invincible. The monsters in Marathon are more like tanks, with only their heads as weak points.

ARC Raiders' sound design is simply amazing. You can accurately pinpoint the location of nearby machines through sound effects, and if you hear multiple machines, you can identify them solely by sound. Moreover, the gunshots are very pleasant to hear, and the environmental sound effects are perfectly in line with expectations.

ARC Raiders' map events and design are also superior. Flare flares truly offer players more options. Events like night raids, cold waves, and hurricanes genuinely change how players interact with the map, keeping the game constantly fresh.

Everything in ARC feels more meticulously designed: item pickup is clearer, the user interface is simpler and more ergonomic, missions and contracts provide a real sense of progress, you know exactly what to do, you have your own base, you can invest time at your own pace and desire, creating a more engaging intrinsic goal, and you can customize your character, both in appearance and skill tree.

For a game to maintain its longevity, it undoubtedly needs continuous updates and upgrades, bringing more challenging elements.

Many people love ARC Raiders because each extraction feels like completing a huge challenge, but since the first Expedition, players have rarely experienced that exhilarating moment of successfully extracting. Unless you play particularly recklessly, extractions are almost inevitable. However, Marathon does this much better; every successful extraction is a huge and exhilarating challenge.

Marathon is better suited to an extraction shooter because every moment is filled with brutal challenges. ARC Raiders, on the other hand, feels more like a PvE loot-hunting game. To obtain the high-level ARC Raiders Weapon, you must defeat Queen and Matriarch bosses, something many players haven't achieved even after two resets. Marathon makes high-level content more accessible through a clear faction progression system, rather than restricting it to specific enemies like ARC Raiders.

After the second Expedition, ARC Raiders' weaknesses became increasingly apparent. While I enjoy the game's social interactions, once you reach level 75, the items become as monotonous as a shopping list, leaving only those highlights. ARC Raiders should take a good look at Marathon. If there's any room for improvement in ARC, it's increasing the difficulty.

In addition, there's equipment. $1 are lackluster; aside from the golden weapon, the crafting costs for other equipment are pitifully low. I hope the consequences of PvP will be more severe, so players will be more motivated to seriously prepare their gear.

Everyone is comparing these two games because they are essentially both survival shooters. One will succeed, the other will fail - that's the reality. Most survival shooter players won't play both games simultaneously because they don't have that much time and energy.

Therefore, in the long run, Bungie and Embark need to compete for player bases. This is beneficial for players; both games need to continuously upgrade and improve to attract more players.