Nearly three years later, Warcraft 3: Reforged's Patch 1.34 has finally added clans and separated AT/RT matchmaking
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Warcraft 3: Reforged's Patch 1.35 is adding custom campaigns alongside a bunch of balance changes.
Following in the footsteps of the August update that added ranked play, leaderboards and player profiles, Warcraft 3: Reforged's Patch 1.34 has now finally brought in clans. As you would expect from the name alone, clans give like-minded players a place to hang out together and hopefully queue up for some team matches as well. The system really isn't any more complicated than that.
Speaking of team matches, I'm happy to say that Patch 1.34 has also separated AT (Arranged Team) and RT (Random Team) matchmaking. What this means is that pre-made groups will now face off against other pre-made groups, while players randomly queuing into multiplayer matches will pair off with others in the same position. This should've been done from the very start, but I suppose it's better late than never.
Dota 2's Update 7.32d has nerfed Marci, Wraith Pact, as well as rebalanced a whole bunch of other heroes and items
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Dota 2's gigantic Update 7.33 has greatly expanded the map, reworked core mechanics and rebalanced just about everything.
[Update]: Dota 2's next update, and quite likely the newest hero Muerta, will be unveiled on March 6th.
Now that the dust has settled from the massive The International 2022 tournament, Valve has unleashed Update 7.32 onto Dota 2. As is tradition, The International follow-up update doesn't bring with it any sort of major changes or reworks, but is mostly focused around numerical tweaks aimed at getting all of the heroes as closely balanced as possible.
With that in mind, it should come as little surprise to hear that Marci, one of the most popular and powerful heroes in The International 2022, has received a couple of nerfs. Rebound now has significantly lower cast and jump range at lower ranks, slightly lower speed at all ranks, while the lifesteal portion of the Sidekick ability has been reduced by 5% per level. This is definitely a sizable hit to her early game effectiveness, though I have no doubt that she'll remain a competitive support given how much she can really do with very few items.
Overwatch 2's Season 2 is launching on December 6 with the tank hero Ramattra, Shambali Monastery escort map, and Greek mythology themed skins
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Overwatch 2 has just nerfed Doomfist, Sojourn and Tracer, while Roadhog has managed to escape his fate... for now!
[Update]: Overwatch 2's Season 2 has now arrived with a new tank hero, escort map, cosmetics, and a bunch of strange balance changes.
If you're itching for a bit of a meta shake up, or just some new cosmetics to pursue, you'll be glad to hear that Overwatch 2's second season will be launching this December 6th. It'll bring with it Ramattra as a brand new stance-shifting tank, Shambali Monastery as a chunky new escort map to explore, as well as a whole host of new skins themed after Greek mythology. As for the big fancy skin at the end of the Season Pass, this time around you can look forward to seeing Junker Queen cosplaying as Zeus!
You can get a little sneak peek at some of these cosmetics in action, as well as the upcoming (and free) holiday skins, through the preview trailer below. Have a gander:
Vermintide studio's co-op focused Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has arrived with awesome gameplay and less-awesome bugs
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is adding new weapons, private matches and crafting improvements on December 14th.
[Update]: My review for Darktide is now live and, long story short, it's as rough and fascinating as the world it takes place in!
If you're a fan of the Warhammer 40k universe, or just ridiculously over-the-top weaponry in general, you'll be pleased to hear that Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has now been unleashed onto PC. Much like its predecessor Vermintide 2, Darktide is all about the power fantasy of slicing and dicing your way through absolutely massives hordes of enemies which, unsurprisingly, is a great deal of fun!
What all of this looks like in action, however, that you can check out through the launch trailer below. Have a gander, and make sure to put on the closed captions as someone over at Fatshark had a blast writing those:
World of Warcraft's exploration focused Dragonflight expansion has now arrived, and so far it's quite good
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Dragonflight's January 10th update will be all about buffing the underperforming classes and specializations.
[Update]: I have some great news to share! World of Warcraft: Dragonflight will be getting six major content updates throughout 2023, essentially following Legion's content cadence!
After Shadowlands and its endless terror and misery, I'm happy to say that World of Warcraft's Dragonflight has now arrived with a much more vibrant world and a lighter tone. Instead of trudging through literal hell in order to rescue perpetually tortured souls of the innocent, Dragonflight is more interested in getting players to explore the vast world around them, talk to a variety of interesting characters, and occasionally even engage in a bit of silliness with surprisingly upbeat quests.
In terms of mechanics, however, the highlight of the Dragonflight expansion is definitely the new dragonriding system which lets you do a variety of aerial maneuvers in order to gain speed and distance. Once properly mastered dragonriding allows you to zoom around the world at ridiculous speeds which, as you might imagine, feels incredible! So while the dragonriding system is currently limited to a couple of unique mounts in the Dragonflight zones, I can only hope it'll eventually be expanded to all of Azeroth as well.
MTG Arena is getting a whole bunch of new cards on December 13th with Explorer Anthology 2 and Alchemy: The Brother's War
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Explorer Anthology 2 and Alchemy: The Brother's War expansions have now arrived with staples and jank galore.
Magic: The Gathering's big artifact focused expansion The Brother's War launched only a couple of weeks ago, and already the MTG Arena team is looking to add a bunch of new cards to play around with. However, instead of more Standard cards, the new additions will be launching for the Explorer and Alchemy formats.
First and foremost, Explorer Anthology 2 will be coming this December 13th with a variety of Pioneer staples, fan-favorites and good ol' fashioned jank. The full list of cards has not been revealed just yet, but here's a quick rundown of everything showcased (or accidentally leaked) so far:
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Beginner's Guide - Nine simple bits of advice to get you started
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
[Update]: My review for Darktide is now live and, long story short, it's as rough and fascinating as the world it takes place in!
Much like its predecessor Vermintide 2, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a remarkably challenging co-op game. Getting good at it requires deftly switching between both melee and ranged combat, calmly prioritizing dangerous enemies in huge crowds and tense situations, as well as quickly adjusting to whatever curveball the AI director decides to send your way. And all of this only gets more and more complicated the higher you ramp up the difficulty setting.
Yet despite how hard things can get, Darktide is also a remarkably enjoyable game to mess around with, and one that I've already spent 50 hours on. So if you're thinking about diving in yourself, allow me to give you some handy tips and advice to help avoid the inquisitor's wrath and make those first few missions go by as smoothly as possible. Without further ado, let us begin!