Hearthstone is introducing a "Welcome Bundle" with 10 classic packs and a Legendary card for $5
- By Ash
- in News
Card games are notoriously difficult to get into. Not only do you have to learn all of the cards and mechanics added over the course of many years, you have to do all of that while fighting with a completely sub par collection. As such, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to hear that Blizzard will soon be introducing the Welcome Bundle as a potential route for new players wishing to kick-start their collection.
The Welcome Bundle will contain within it 10 Classic packs, each featuring 5 cards of random rarity, as well as a guaranteed class Legendary card - many of which are quite good even today! All of this will set you back $5 which is well under standard price, especially if you consider that the bundle brings with it a guaranteed Legendary card. You will only be able to purchase the Welcome Bundle once per account, however, but even so this should go a long way towards making Hearthstone just a bit more welcoming towards new players.
World of Warcraft: Legion Gameplay Showcase - A trip through the Darkheart Thicket dungeon
- By Ash
- in Gameplay Showcase
World of Warcraft's Legion expansion represents a massive departure from Warlords of Draenor and a return to a more "classic" World of Warcraft. As you might expect, this shift in design philosophy has drastically improved World of Warcraft's gameplay, so much so that it once again feels fresh and interesting.
If you're an old player simply looking to see if WoW is once again the game for you, or even if you're a brand new player trying to figure out what in the world all of this is about, here's a gameplay video to hopefully give you the answers you need. The footage below features one of Legion's early leveling dungeons, Darkheart Thicket, so don't worry about any important spoilers and just enjoy the Demon Hunter gameplay.
Chris Metzen, Blizzard's Senior Vice President and the voice behind many of their characters, is retiring
- By Ash
- in News
For those of you that might not have been around during Blizzard's early years, Chris Metzen was one of the key game designers behind some of the most famous Blizzard franchises of all time: Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft. He worked as an artist on numerous games you probably know and love, he invented the Diablo universe as we know it today, and also heavily influenced the course of both Starcraft and Warcraft. Best of all, he was a voice actor for some of Blizzard's most awesome characters: Skeleton King, Terran Marine, Thrall, Nefarian, Saurfang, and most importantly, Bastion from Overwatch!
To put all of this simply, Chris Metzen was a major influence behind some of the biggest franchises we know today. With that in mind, I have a bit of bad news, or rather good news depending on who you ask. According to a recently posted announcement over on the Blizzard forums, Chris Metzen is retiring from game development in order to spend some quality time with his family. Here's a few choice quotes from his announcement:
Hearthstone's next patch will significantly shake up Arena balance
- By Ash
- in News
If you've spent the past few days like me, living on the underside of a rock, you may have missed a very important milestone in Hearthstone - Blizzard officially recognizing how broken Arena currently is. The good news doesn't end there, however, as Hearthstone's next patch is bringing with it a bunch of changes to finally curb the infestation of Mages and Rogues in Arena.
Rather than simply nerf Mage and Rogue, Blizzard has decided to handle this problem with an uncharacteristic amount of grace. A couple of good Mage and Rogue cards will be leaving the Arena format, while a whole ton of incredibly bad cards from other classes will be taking their leave as well, essentially giving the weaker classes a much better chance at drafting useful cards!
Here's the full list of cards leaving the Arena with the next patch:
World of Warcraft: Legion Review Part 1 - Demon Hunters and the Leveling Experience
- By Ash
- in Reviews
World of Warcraft is an absurdly massive game, and the same applies to its recent Legion expansion. I've already spent well over 40 hours exploring the Broken Isles, dashing and double-jumping all over the place with my Demon Hunter, completing an apparently endless stream of quests, and yet there doesn't seem to be any end in sight. Unlike Warlords of Draenor, Legion has come packed with content!
Since there is simply far too much for me to cover in one review I am going to be splitting this up into two parts. The first, or rather the one you're reading right now, will cover the newly released Demon Hunter class, as well as the entirety of the leveling experience, story, and class specific features such as Artifact Weapons and Class Halls. The second part, which is now available, is focused entirely around Legion's end-game: Raids, Mythic Dungeons, PvP, World Quests, and that sort of stuff.
With all of that now out of the way, let's begin the review proper with my favorite aspect of Legion - the new Demon Hunter class.
New Space Hulk: Deathwing screenshots and co-op multiplayer details have been revealed
- By Ash
- in News
What little information I've been able to gleam about the upcoming Space Hulk: Deathwing, a Warhammer 40k themed shooter, has mostly revolved around the singleplayer campaign. However, after many months of waiting Focus Home Interactive has finally release some details on Deathwing's five co-op classes, as well as a couple of screenshots showcasing the Space Marines in action.
Before we move on to the multiplayer, allow me to first show you the one and only gameplay trailer for Space Hulk: Deathwing, just so you can get a good idea of what the Warhammer 40k world is all about:
ReCore's system requirements have been revealed
- By Ash
- in News
While it has been known for many months that ReCore would be coming to PC, its Windows 10 exclusivity has never been officially confirmed... until now. According to the recently posted system requirements, ReCore is going to be releasing only for the Xbox One and Windows 10, though there is some hope for this changing in the distant future.
Quantum Break, also a Windows 10 launch exclusive, is soon going to be available for Windows 7 and 8, effectively making the whole thing a timed exclusivity. Hopefully the same will apply to ReCore as well, because while I have nothing against Windows 10 I do like seeing seeing games available across a wide variety of platforms, without any silly barriers put in place.
That massive tangent aside, here are the full system requirements, straight from the Microsoft store: