News Patch v3.31

Pantheon: RotF Alpha One!

• While there is no exact date, it will be “soon!” By soon, Visionary Realms means this year!
  
• Alpha will have several phases like Pre-Alpha. The sessions will be longer than the 3-5 hour sessions that have been the norm for Pre-Alpha.
  
• Visionary Realms will be livestreaming on Twitch tomorrow, April 1st, as part of their monthly Development Update.
  
  • Hopefully, officially announcing Alpha with an exact date!
    
• There are a whole slew of things they have listed to have integrated by Alpha One, check out the links for full info!
  

'World's Largest' Hacks Distributor Busted in China

• This Chinese cheat distribution group, nicknamed ‘Chicken Drumstick,’ has been busted by police in Kunshan, with help from Tencent.
  
• The cheat group mostly made cheats for mobile phone shooters, some distributed by - you guessed it - Tencent!
  
  • Supposedly some of the hacks were also being designed and sold for popular arena shooters Valorant and Overwatch.
    
• Chicken Drumstick was pulling in around $10k a day.
  
  • They charged from $10 a day to $200 a month for a subscription key to access these hacks.
    
• Police were tipped off to this operation about a year ago and have since closed down 17 websites, with 10 resellers arrested. Assets of around $46 million were seized, including several luxury cars.
  

ESO Free Play Event

• March 31st to April 13th.
  
• This event only includes the base version of the game, including Vvardenfell. Don’t balk at this because that is still 23 zones to explore! This is a great way to get started, especially if you choose to buy the full game after the free event.
  
• If you played a previous free play event, you'll be able to pick up where you left off, which is pretty cool!
• During this event, the base game and last year's Greymoor chapter will be up to 67% off, so for those who do decide to pick up the MMO after the event ends can do so on the cheap.
  
• Also, watch out for the next chapter, Blackwood, coming out later this year.

No Man's Sky: Expeditions Update

• New game mode: Expeditions is a path of milestones laid out before you, tasking you with objectives like establishing bases and/or discovering creatures, with rendezvous planets set up to bring the community back together at certain progression points.
  
• If you're not the biggest fan of open world (or universe) games, this is a great way to give yourself some direction in No Man's Sky.
  
• After completing these expeditions, you can unlock cool new ships, cosmetics and commemorative patches.
  
  • All Expedition rewards are shared across all of your No Man's Sky saves!
    
• Expeditions basically sound like seasons/ladders in other games, resetting with a new rewards track, theme and timeframe with each reset.
  
  • If you really like a particular Expedition character you played, you'll be able to continue a save to play beyond the Expedition's end, like a normal NMS save, and free roam similar to one of the other play modes.
    
• Many more changes and features included in this update.