MTG Arena is getting Khans of Tarkir in 2023, while Modern Horizons 3 and Pioneer Masters will be coming in 2024
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: MTG Arena will be getting the entirety of competitive Pioneer on December 10th, 2024!
[Update]: MTG Arena devs have shared the Format Popularity Stats and their Plans for the Future.
As a part of the recent Gen Con panel discussion, Wizards of the Coast have revealed a whole bunch of new sets and card expansions. While the details for many of these are still few and far between, I'm happy to say that MTG Arena players will be getting pretty much exactly what they've been clamoring for!
First and foremost, the fan-favorite Khans of Tarkir set (notably not the entire Khans block) will be arriving at some point in late 2023. Unlike the previous remasters this one will include every single card found within the set, and yes, this does indeed include the all-powerful Fetchlands. Whether they will be legal in Historic or just formats like Historic Brawl, that I'm afraid Wizards of the Coast has not clarified just yet.
Dota 2's Patch 7.34 has now arrived with an avalanche of balance changes and gameplay tweaks
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[Update #2]: Dota 2's final Summer update has enhanced the visuals and massively improved the report system.
[Update]: Dota 2 is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a bunch of thematic (and free) cosmetic items.
After a lengthy teaser written entirely in emoji format (yes, I'm actually serious about that), Valve have now not only revealed the full list of changes for Patch 7.34, but also launched the update itself! Staying true to tradition, the patch is absolutely massive and filled with all sorts of crazy changes, so the next few weeks should be quite exciting as everyone rushes to figure out what works and what doesn't.
The highlights include additional bans in Captain's Mode, an updated UI for abilities that like Mirana's leap that previously used the auto cast setting to toggle between two different versions, a slight reshuffling of Watchers and Outposts, as well as the arrival of a brand new stat - Slow Resistance. As the name might suggest, Slow Resistance reduces the impact of slows on your hero by a percentage, while the already existing Status Resistance stat has lost this ability.
Stylish, co-op focused puzzle-platformer Trine 5 is launching on August 31st for PC and consoles
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Trine 5 has now added crossplay between all the different versions.
A fair few years have gone by since the last Trine game, so if you're currently itching for some more co-op focused puzzle-platformer action I'm happy to say I bring good news. According to a recent developer update, Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy will be making its way onto PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch in a mere couple of weeks, on August 31st!
In terms of improvements, Trine 5 will come with a brand new combat system and much trickier boss fights, the ability to level up and customize each character's abilities, as well as an adaptive difficulty system for both the combat and the puzzles. How exactly that last part will work, I'm afraid I don't currently know. I can only hope it'll give us the option to crank up the difficulty in order to really highlight what makes Trine so special - the utter madness that comes from three people desperately trying to solve a single problem in three different ways at the same time!
Deep Rock Galactic's Space Beach Party event has arrived with festive decorations, silly hats and doubled Battle Pass experience
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
[Update]: Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is a surprisingly challenging roguelite auto-shooter spin-off.
In order to give everyone an excuse to stay at home and avoid the scorching heat, the Deep Rock Galactic team has now launched the Space Beach Party 2023 event. Much like its predecessor the event brings with it a bunch of summer themed decorations (including water balloons!) for the Space Rig, a couple of silly hats to acquire, as well as doubled seasonal experience points to help you speed through the entirely free Battle Pass.
Speaking of hats, you can grab the Great White Delight pictured above by completing a simple seasonal assignment before the whole event goes away on August 17th. And if you missed last year's festivities, worry not as those hats are also up for grabs through the extra "Last Year’s Fashion" assignment. So if you always wanted to run around with a pink flamingo on your head, consider this your lucky day!
Diablo 4's August 8th update will buff Barbarians and Sorcerers, increase enemy density and improve boss rewards
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Patch 1.1.1 has now arrived, and I'm pleased to say it's looking quite good so far!
As a part of the Season 1 update, Diablo 4 unleashed a whole bunch of nerfs to just about everything related to player power. While this didn't do much to well-rounded classes like Rogue or Druid, it had a noticeably negative effect on Barbarians and Sorcerers which already had an issue with a limited amount of endgame viable spells.
So in order to sort this out, as well as a couple of other issues that appeared since then, Blizzard will be releasing Update 1.1.1 on August 8th. These changes include numerous buffs to all classes, an increase in monster density for Nightmare Dungeons and Helltides, as well as a drastic increase in boss health after level 60 in order to make them an actual fight rather than a simple pushover.
After three years in Early Access, Baldur's Gate 3 has now launched to overwhelming praise
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Baldur's Gate 3's Patch #3 has added Mac support, appearance changing, and numerous bug fixes.
If you've been patiently waiting for Baldur's Gate 3 to get fully finished before finally diving in, I'm happy to say I bring good news. Not only has Baldur's Gate 3 just launched after three years of Early Access, but it has done so alongside an overwhelmingly positive response!
I haven't had a chance to start playing myself, but judging by the reviews so far it looks like Baldur's Gate 3 has managed to combine the best elements of the original games and Divinity: Original Sin 2, and wrap it all up in a compelling story with some fun companion characters. Some of the comments are most likely an exaggeration as there's a tremendous amount of hype surrounding Baldur's Gate 3, but even if only half of it is true it still paints a rather impressive picture! So if RPGs are your thing, it really does look like Baldur's Gate 3 is well worth checking out.
Darktide's August update is massively improving mission selection and adding many new high-difficulty options
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Darktide will be getting RPG-like talent trees and an Xbox version on October 4th.
[Update]: Patch #12 has now arrived, and I'm happy to say it's quite a good one!
One of Darktide's biggest problems, at least as far as veteran players are concerned, is the utterly random nature of mission selection. Not only are the currently available maps random so you can keep running into the same few, but the extra modifiers on them are also random. This means that if you're particularly unlucky you can log in daily for a week straight, like I have many times, without ever seeing some of the challenging yet highly entertaining missions Darktide has to offer.
Thankfully, with the upcoming Patch #12 all of this will soon be a thing of the past! Once it arrives at some point mid-August, Patch #12 will not only add "Maelstrom Missions" which come with a varied mixture of new and existing modifiers to help spice things up, but also "Auric" missions that will only be available to level 30 players and will exclusively feature challenging conditions.