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[Update #2]: My Overwatch 2 review is now out, and to put it simply it's a terrible sequel, though thankfully a terrific game!
[Update]: Overwatch 2 is removing the phone number requirement for all veteran players.
It took far longer than anyone could've ever expected, but Overwatch 2 has now finally been unleashed. The free-to-play sequel brings with it three new heroes to mess around with, a brand new game mode and a variety of new maps to explore, a Battle Pass and in-game store combo instead of loot boxes, and most importantly of all, 5v5 matches with only one super-powered tank on each side!
What all of these maps and heroes look like in action, that you can get a pretty good idea of through the launch trailer below. Have a gander:
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[Update #2]: Shadow Over Innistrad Remastered is coming on March 21, 2023, and the Alchemy: Phyrexia mini-set on February 28.
[Update]: The Alchemy: Dominaria mini-expansion has now arrived with 30 new cards and Historic 'unrebalances.'
In celebration of Magic: The Gathering's 30th anniversary, MTG Arena will be remastering the Shadows over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon sets. While the exact details have not been revealed just yet, you can expect Shadows over Innistrad Remastered to arrive by the first half of 2023.
Much like the previously remastered Amonkhet and Kaladesh, Shadows over Innistrad Remastered will bring with it the full suite of limited game modes, a variety of cosmetics, as well as an assortment of fan-favorite cards people have been clamoring for years. These will likely include Emrakul, the Promised End, Anguished Unmaking, Archangel Avacyn, Thing in the ice, and the list goes on for a while.
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[Update #2]: MultiVersus Update 1.05 has added Black Adam, the first Arcade mode and a "Silly Queue".
[Update]: MultiVersus Update 1.04 has added Stripe from Gremlins alongside the Halloween event.
After quite a few teasers and diversions, Rich Sanchez has now finally joined his grandson as one of the combatants in MultiVersus. As you would expect from Rick, he is a mage/ranged character that relies on a variety of gadgets, including the always reliable Mr. Meeseeks, to keep his enemies in check.
Rather than babble on, allow me to share with you the recently posted trailer highlighting what all of Rick's abilities do and how to pull them off. Have a gander:
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[Update #2]: The Alchemy: Dominaria mini-expansion has now arrived with 30 new cards and Historic 'unrebalances.'
[Update]: MTG Arena will be getting Shadows over Innistrad Remastered in 2023 and a second Explorer Anthology in 2022.
Continuing with the recent tradition of releasing a smaller, Alchemy focused expansion a short while after a Standard set, MTG Arena will be unleashing Alchemy: Dominaria on October 6th. This mini-expansion will bring with it 30 new cards to play around with, most of which designed to complement the recent sets and hopefully give relevance to some of the underdeveloped mechanics like Enlist and Vehicles.
The full list of cards has not been revealed just yet, and most likely won't be until Alchemy: Dominaria is nearly ready to launch, but there is one card in specific I would like to highlight - Oracle of the Alpha. Pictured below, it's a 3-mana creature that conjures and shuffles the entire Power 9 into your library!
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[Update #2]: My Overwatch 2 review is now out, and to put it simply it's a terrible sequel, though thankfully a terrific game!
[Update]: Overwatch 2 is removing the phone number requirement for all veteran players.
Unlike its predecessor, Overwatch 2 will be a free-to-play game which necessitates a drastic change in how player progression works in order to ensure the matchmaking is not overrun by smurfs (people intentionally playing in much lower skilled matches) and other similarly problematic individuals. Yet at the same time Overwatch 2 needs to be accessible and approachable to completely new players, which is a rather tricky balance to strike.
In an effort to solve this conundrum, Blizzard will be making it so new accounts have go to through a guided First-Time User Experience (FTUE), on top of winning 50 Quick Play matches, before being allowed into Competitive Play. While the exact details are still few and far between, the FTUE will quickly give players access to a variety of game modes along with the ability to chat, while the full roster of the original Overwatch heroes will need to be unlocked over the course of ~100 matches.
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[Update]: In keeping with tradition, Skull and Bones has been delayed again!
Ubisoft's pirate-themed game Skull and Bones was originally announced in 2017 and pinned for a 2018 launch - right on schedule to compete with Rare's ambitious Sea of Thieves. As you're likely well aware, things didn't go exactly according to plan and so Skull and Bones was first pushed back to 2019, then 2020, then 2021, then 2022, and now unfortunately, 2023 as well.
"Our team is hard at work polishing and balancing the experience ahead of the worldwide launch. As a result, we’ve made the tough decision to move our release date to March 9, 2023," reads the brief update. "We’re very eager for you all to get your hands on Skull and Bones and dive in headfirst to the dangerous and exciting world of building your own pirate empire. To give you the best possible experience we’ve decided to take a little more time to make sure we can deliver exactly that."
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After spending around two years in Early Access, Obsidian's miniaturized survival game Grounded has now finally been unleashed. The full version brings with it the finale of the backyard-spanning storyline, a sizable new area to explore, new resources to gather and recipes to mess around with, and naturally, a variety of quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes.
Most importantly, at least as far as challenging encounters are concerned, Version 1.0 has brought with it a bunch of bugs and bosses to battle with! Without spoiling when and where you can meet them, expect to see a praying mantis, a tiger mosquito, a black widow spider, a giant month, fire ants, ticks and the list goes on.
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[Update #2]: Dota 2's Update 7.32d has nerfed Marci, Wraith Pact, as well as rebalanced a whole bunch of other heroes and items.
[Update]: Dota 2's next hero, the ghastly gunslinger Muerta, will be launching in early 2023.
Dota 2's biggest annual tournament The International 2022 will be kicking off on October 7th, and in order to make sure the gameplay side of things goes smoothly Valve has now unleashed Update 7.23c. Unlike some of the previous balance updates this one hasn't done anything drastic like add new types of creeps, but has instead focused on sorting out some of the more problematic interactions and heroes.
For example, the omnipresent Refresher Orb and its little brother Refresher Shard have both received sizable nerfs. Their cooldowns no longer decrease while in the backpack, and more importantly, they now share a cooldown! So if players want to have a fresh BKB for those late-game fights, they'll actually have to keep the Refresher Orb in their inventory, at least until its cooldown is up.
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[Update]: Wrath of the Lich King Classic has added the WoW Token, and the community isn't happy about it.
If you long to return to the World of Warcraft of yesteryear, you'll be quite happy to hear that Wrath of the Lich King Classic has now arrived. It brings with it the continent of Northrend full of new zones to explore, the original iteration of Death Knights with all of their crazy builds, the Inscription profession, as well as a bunch of decently challenging dungeons to plunder for loot.
In terms of changes, Wrath of the Lich King Classic has rebalanced the classes using the final patch of the original expansion, which thankfully means that we won't have to go through months of incredibly imbalanced PvP before seeing some semblance of sanity. Speaking of which, shared Arena rating has been removed in favor of individual rating, with the goal being to help improve the overall matchmaking quality and make it so players are more likely to group up with new people. Finally, and most importantly, Wrath of the Lich King Classic has not added the controversial Dungeon Finder, so you'll have to create groups the old fashioned way.
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[Update #2]: Guild Wars 2's highly popular Shadow of the Mad King event is returning on October 18th.
[Update]: The October update has now arrived alongside a couple of extra tweaks.
As a part of the August 23rd update, Guild Wars 2 released a massive array of changes to equalize the damage potential between power (direct damage) and condition (damage over time) builds and make it so every class has access to at least one of each build. In order to help them keep up with more modern specializations, the update also dished out some nifty buffs for Reapers, Daredevils, Deadeyes, Scrappers, and the list goes on.
The upcoming October 4th update will be a continuation of these efforts, though mostly on the PvP side of things. First and foremost, the Torment condition is getting some much-needed love. Expect to see increased damage and scaling against moving opponents, as well as reduced damage and scaling against stationary opponents. Since you pretty much never want to stand still, especially not in PvP, this should give Torment-based builds a sizable damage increase.