- By Ash
- in News
As is often the case with big tournaments, The International 2023 has quite clearly revealed which are the most powerful heroes and strategies in Dota 2. Unsurprisingly, this knowledge then quickly spread to the general playerbase and so the matches for the past few weeks have been filled with Spirit Breakers, Chaos Knights, Kunkkas and similarly annoying heroes.
So in order to sort this problem out and shake up the metagame, at least slightly, Valve has now unleashed Patch 7.34e. While there are a couple of buffs sprinkled throughout, it's important to note that Patch 7.34e is primarily focused on lowering the impact of the best heroes. In other words, don't get too excited about your favorite niche picks becoming more powerful as that's likely going to come with 7.35 somewhere down the line.
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: MTG Arena is adding a super high powered new format with no bans - Timeless!
[Update]: MTG Arena's Alchemy: Ixalan mini-expansion is launching December 5th with some spicy new cards.
Seemingly inspired by everything little kids like, MTG Arena's The Lost Caverns of Ixalan set has just recently arrived with plenty of dinosaurs, vampires, pirates and weird fungus creatures to mess around with. In gameplay terms this means there's around 300 new cards to brew with, a variety of returning mechanics like Explore, as well as three interesting new keywords: Craft, Descend and Discover.
Craft, in the most basic terms, is a new way of transforming artifacts. By paying the craft cost and exiling a specific number and type of cards from your graveyard or battlefield, you can transform your artifact and get a powerful effect. I find it to be quite an elegant mechanic, especially in limited.
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Darktide devs are aiming to rework the Crafting and Achievement systems, as well as add new Content throughout 2024.
[Update]: The Traitor's Curse Part 2, Darktide's December update, will add potions, new weapons, new map and a dual boss encounter!
If you were hoping for a major Darktide update this holiday season, I'm pleased to say I bring a double dose of good news! Not only has Patch #15: The Traitor Curse just arrived with some fun new content, but there will also be a follow-up patch coming in the near future with even more stuff to mess around with! The exact details are still shrouded in mystery, however, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens with that one.
As for right now, the highlights for Patch #15 include a brand new zone and map, a sizable extension of the Veteran's skill tree, as well as a serious increase in difficulty for the more challenging missions. This doesn't mean that the enemies were buffed, however, but rather that you will now have to deal with more of them, more complex combinations of them, and more often. In other words, there's a lot more things to smash a giant chainsword into!
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: The armor sets have now arrived, and with them the announcement that Darktide's December update will add potions, new weapons, new map and a dual boss encounter!
[Update]: Darktide's Patch #15 has added the first Carnival map and expanded the Veteran's skill tree.
While Warhammer 40k: Darktide is currently in an amazing spot, it unfortunately didn't launch as such. Its first few months were mired with countless crashes, annoying bugs, as well as a plethora of balance problems that rendered most of the weapons useless in higher difficulties.
So when Fatshark released the heavily updated version of the game onto Xbox back in October alongside an astonishingly generous amount of paid in-game currency, there was a fair bit of hubbub from the PC crowd that felt like they were taken for a ride. To their credit, instead of staying silent and waiting for it all to blow over, Fatshark quickly apologized and promised they'd find some sort of solution.
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: MTG Arena's Alchemy: Ixalan mini-expansion is launching December 5th with some spicy new cards.
[Update]: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan has now arrived with dinosaurs, vampires, bonus Commander cards and a surprisingly aggressive limited format.
I hope you're in the mood for dinosaurs, vampires and weird fungus creatures, because The Lost Caverns of Ixalan expansion will be heading over to MTG Arena on November 14th. There will be 300 new cards to mess around with, a variety of returning mechanics like Explore, as well as three rather interesting new keywords: Craft, Descend and Discover.
To put it simply, Craft is a new way of transforming artifacts. By paying the craft cost and exiling a specific number and type of cards from the battlefield or graveyard, you can transform your artifact and get a powerful effect.
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: World of Warcraft devs have revealed the Roadmap and their plans for updates throughout 2024.
If the recent Blizzcon announcements have gotten you excited about World of Warcraft, you'll be happy to hear that Dragonflight's major Patch 10.2: Guardians of the Dream has just arrived. The update brings with it the Emerald Dream as a brand new zone, a variety of new customization options for Druids and Blood Elves, a legendary two-handed axe to uncover, a new Mythic+ and PvP season, as well as new Dragonriding talents to help you go even faster.
While not my cup of tea, Patch 10.2 has also added the ability to use old flying mechanics in the various Dragonflight zones. So if you're willing to sacrifice speed for convenience, simply complete the new Pathfinder achievement and you'll be able to whip out all of your old favorites!
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Season of Discovery has now arrived, and I'm happy to say it's looking quite good!
Blizzcon 2023 is now upon us, and given how massive World of Warcraft is, it should come as little surprise to hear that it has received quite a few announcements so far! The most exciting one for the WoW Classic crowd is the reveal of the upcoming Season of Discovery which will let players uncover new class-altering abilities in the form of runes.
Thanks to these new runes Mages will be capable of healing, Warlocks will be able to tank even the toughest of bosses, and so forth. Not only that, but Season of Discovery will also bring with it a 10-player Blackfathom Deeps raid with new and reimagined bosses, mechanics and rewards. The catch, if you want to call it that, is that the level cap will initially be set to 25 and will only be expanded by a couple of levels with each major patch.
- By Ash
- in News
[Update#2]: World of Warcraft devs have revealed the Roadmap and their plans for updates throughout 2024.
[Update]: WoW Classic's Season of Discovery is adding Warlock tanks, Mage healers and more.
Blizzcon 2023 is now upon us, and as you might imagine, Blizzard has started releasing a whole bunch of announcements for World of Warcraft. Unsurprisingly, one of these is that the rather divisive World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion will be getting the WoW Classic treatment next.
The exact date has not been announced just yet, but you can expect to see Cataclysm Classic arrive at some point in 2024 with faster and smoother leveling, a brand new (and harder) dungeon difficulty, account-wide cosmetic items, as well as a streamlined auction house. Most importantly of all, the Classic team is open to changes based on community feedback, so with a bit of luck Cataclysm Classic might just end up avoiding many of the pitfalls the original stumbled into.
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2:] Overwatch 2's Season 9 will bring self-healing to DPS and tank heroes, among other major changes.
[Update]: Mauga has now arrived, and as you'd expect, he's a ton of fun!
With Blizzcon 2023 now upon us, Blizzard has begun releasing all sorts of massive announcements for most of their games. The most exciting bit of news for Overwatch 2 is the simple fact that the dual chaingun wielding Mauga, a fan-favorite character ever since he first appeared in Baptiste's short story, will be the next tank hero!
Before I say anything else, allow me to share with you the freshly posted gameplay trailer. It's one of the better ones Blizzard has released in a while, so definitely check it out:
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Dota 2's Patch 7.34e has arrived with nerfs to most of the annoying and omnipresent heroes.
If you're a fan of Dota 2 and you're itching for something new and exciting to sink your teeth into, I bring you some good and bad news. The good news is that Valve has just announced the next hero - the megalomaniacal Ringmaster and his assortment of mechanical traps and contraptions!
As for the bad news, that would be the release date. Instead of launching in the near future in order to capitalize on the current wave of excitement from The International 2023 tournament, the Ringmaster will unfortunately be arriving at some point in 2024. While this is likely going to be in early 2024, similar to how Muerta was released, it's still going to be a lengthy wait.