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Black Prince reputation buff active June 17 through June 30
Blizzard has announced another temporary buff to players. This time we all will get a 100% Black Prince reputation bonus, which will run from Tuesday June 17 at 9am PDT through Monday June 30 at 9am PDT. The buff is being called "The Gaze of the Black Prince." In addition to providing the reputation bonus, the buff will increase the drop rate of: Secrets of the Empire Sigil of Wisdom Sigil of Power Titan Runestones There is no indication how much the drop rate is going to be increased by, nor if this is a one-time-only thing. Blizzard's full post after the break.
US Connected Realm updates for June 13
The list of US realms slated for the Realm Connection service has now been updated with new information regarding upcoming dates for the service. Players on realms that have been scheduled for connection should be aware that connections take place on Thursdays, and the scheduled realms will be down for the service until approximately 1pm PDT. At this time, there are no updates to EU realm connections, the servers and dates listed below are for US realms only. The following US realms have been scheduled for connection on Thursday, June 19. Blackwater Raiders and Shadow Council Grizzly Hills and Lothar Tanaris and Greymane
Warlords of Draenor: Shadowmoon Valley in next alpha build
World of Warcraft's Creative Director Alex Afrasiabi has confirmed via Twitter that the next alpha build will shut down the Horde lines in Frostfire Ridge and open up Shadowmoon Valley in its place. Shadowmoon Valley available next alpha build with the new intro tier garrison. Horde will be turned off for this phase. Soon (tm). - Alex Afrasiabi (@Abrosiabi) June 11, 2014 Considering Shadowmoon Valley is the expansion's introductory zone for the Alliance, I think it's safe to assume that the "new intro tier garrison" mentioned is, in fact, the Alliance-side garrison. Even though it's never safe to predict these things, it's still nice to know that the addition of Alliance garrison Followers discovered in yesterday's alpha update was, in fact, an indication that Alliance-side testing was nearly upon us. Having played through a bit of the Alliance quests at the Temple of Karabor during BlizzCon, I'm particularly interested to hear what the alpha-testers have to say about the rest of the zone, as well as how the blue garrison quests are both different and similar to the red ones.
Warforged Nightmare mount now available
A new mount has appeared in the Blizzard Store on live servers. The Warforged Nightmare is available for $30 on US accounts. The Warforged Nightmare is a single player ground and flying mount, a fiery warhorse covered in spikes and chains. However, the smiths that crafted the mount have a surprise in store for you -- not only do you receive the mount, you also receive the Nightmarish Hitching Post with your order. Make a group with your friends, because clicking on this item will give any party member their own 20 minute version of the Warforged Nightmare for themselves. It's a mount and a toy, and both can be yours via the Blizzard Store. For more information and footage of the steed in action, check out Blizzard's official announcement video.
E3 2014: Hands-on with H1Z1
I'm coughing. My head hurts. I'm tired, hungry, and thirsty. I'm not hearing things anymore, but when I close my eyes for too long, I feel disoriented. And this was before I got my hands on H1Z1! I'm sick at E3, but well enough to see through some spin while looking at a winner. If you're tired of hype, false promises, and pay-to-play alphas, come read between the lines with me as I recount the experience of my H1Z1 demo.
E3 2014: Hands-on with Elite: Dangerous and the Oculus Rift
Is it possible that a hands-on demo of Elite: Dangerous and a talk with Frontier Development's Adam Woods, producer, and David Braben, CEO, would make a space sim fan out of me? Yes! I liked what I'd heard about the game before, but after experiencing it for myself at E3 2014, I can definitely say I am hooked. And it isn't just because of the Oculus Rift. I got a tour of the newest playable build, a sneak peek of the upcoming system and space station, and watched a brand-new trailer on top of the VR time.
Warlords of Draenor: New alpha build
A new build has been released onto the Warlords of Draenor alpha servers. The servers are not yet available for play by testers, so any changes in available content are currently unknown. However, dataminers are already hard at work. The current build includes numerous class changes, glyph changes, and myriad similar updates. The build also appears to include numerous scenarios relating to old dungeons. For example, an Utgarde Pinnacle scenario with a straightforward objective: defeat the bosses of Utgarde Pinnacle. As we're unable to playtest at the moment, the implementation of these scenarios is unknown. It's possible content from previous expansions will scale up with us as scenarios. Followers for the Alliance garrison appear in the latest build, too. Follower: Vindicator Onaala, among others, indicate progress on the Alliance side of things, if not necessarily an imminent testing of Alliance content.
Battlefield Hardline beta launches today on PC and PS4
EA announced today that players can get an early look at its team-based FPS Battlefield Hardline via a public beta launching today on the PlayStation 4 and PC. Players who own the PlayStation 4 version of Battlefield 4 can download the beta via the PlayStation Store, and PC signups are available at EA's website on a first-come, first-serve basis. Battlefield Hardline was additionally confirmed for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and a beta will be available this fall for all platforms. Beta players will receive access to exclusive in-game items and other content in the full version of Battlefield Hardline, which premieres October 21.
Limbo dev goes 'Inside' Xbox One early 2015 [Update]
During Microsoft's E3 press conference today, Xbox head Phil Spencer revealed that Limbo developer Playdead's follow-up project Inside is coming to Xbox One in 2015. No additional platforms were announced. [Update: A Playdead representative notes that Inside will "debut on Xbox," implying that a release is being considered for other platforms.]
US and EU Connected Realm updates for June 6
The Connected Realm service is making a return, and a whole new host of realms are scheduled for connection over the next several weeks for both the US and European servers. Although US realms have specific dates listed for connections, EU realms are simply listed as beginning next week. The following US realms have been scheduled for connection on Thursday, June 12. Azuremyst and Staghelm Drenden and Arathor Duskwood and Bloodhoof Nagrand and Caelestrasz
Warlords of Draenor inventory UI updates
In addition to the toy box, Warlords of Draenor introduces a number of other updates to World of Warcraft's inventory UI, some of which can be seen in the image above. Each bag, minus your backpack, can now be assigned to a specific type of item. If you want all of your looted equipment to go in your last bag, for example, you can assign that bag to equipment. The above image also displays the ignore option for the new Cleanup system. On your primary backpack, there's a new Cleanup icon that will automatically organize your bags, quickly sorting all similar items together. Ignoring a bag ensures that if there's a particular mess you particularly enjoy, it will not be automatically sorted. The Cleanup option is also available in your bank. Junk items -- items with no purpose but to be sold to a vendor for gold -- are now marked with a small gold piece. When it's time to shed your vendor trash, you can now see at-a-glance what you should be selling. In addition, everyone's bank now has a dedicated 98-slot reagents tab for crafting materials and other miscellany. Certainly, that's a better solution than using numerous profession-specific bags such as herbalism's Hyjal Expedition Bag. The reagent tab comes with a Deposit All Reagents button, allowing you to deposit your array of herbs, ores, or whatever else you may have with a single button press. The button is also useful if you're not sure what does or does not qualify as a reagent. If the button takes it, you're golden. If it doesn't, it isn't a reagent. A screenshot of the reagent tab is included below if you want to see it for yourself, but let's be honest -- it's a grid of empty inventory squares. I think we can all visualize that pretty well.
Outline Mode added to targeting and mouseover in Warlords
The Warlords of Draenor alpha has implemented Outline Mode, which you can see in action in the screenshot above. Characters you target or mouse over are now given a glowing highlight. Friendly players or NPCs glow green, aggressive characters or NPCs glow red, neutral NPCs glow yellow, and characters that are not flagged for PVP glow blue. Quest items are given a yellow glow from afar, regardless of whether you've moused over them or not, making them far easier to find. The outline is initially quite bright, but fades to a softer color shortly after. While not a necessary addition, it does help make your target stand out from a crowd or from a busy background. Outline Mode also provides at-a-glance information about whether your target is friend or foe, eliminating the need to first look at a nameplate. Seeing it action makes me wonder if it would be viable to play entirely without a UI when there isn't text in need of being read. It also works from a distance, highlighting targets that might be very far away, and thus very small on your screen. I could see that being a boon to players with poor vision. That was not a pun. If you aren't a fan of Outline Mode, it can be disabled in your system settings or changed to a mode wherein only quest NPCs are highlighted.
Warlords of Draenor: First look at the toy box
The Toy Box is one of those features eagerly anticipated by those of us with serious inventory problems. There are oodles items that aren't useful, but we'd like to keep for the fun factor. The Toy Box UI has been implemented in the Warlords of Draenor alpha, accessible through a new, third tab on the pets and mounts UI. Unfortunately, I'm playing through the alpha on a template character -- an automatically generated level 90 with no toys whatever, as you can see in the screenshot above. Alliance characters, where most of my toys rest, are disabled entirely for the current phase of testing. A larger screenshot of the full UI can be found below the cut along with a list of all items currently categorized as toys.
CCP lays off 49 at Reykjavik office [Updated]
According to Polygon, CCP is currently undergoing a "gigantic cut" in its Reykjavik offices. The EVE Online developer confirmed that 49 people are being let go. "As part of our strategy to focus on the EVE Universe, today CCP conducted a restructuring that resulted in the layoff of 49 people in our publishing organization," the firm said. "Though it is hard to say goodbye to our friends and family, this action concludes the process we started several months ago. CCP has provided severance packages and job placement assistance for those affected. Development teams and plans for EVE Online, EVE: Valkyrie, DUST 514, and Project Legion are not impacted by the restructuring." [Update]: CCP has told Massively that the 49 layoffs were from multiple offices and not just Reykjavik.
Warlords of Draenor alpha invitations being distributed
After months of eager anticipation, it appears the Warlords of Draenor Friends & Family Alpha Test may finally be upon us. Community members are reporting that they have received invitations and others state the alpha client has appeared on the Battle.net launcher, as seen above. Though invitations are being sent, the alpha doesn't appear to be playable quite yet -- launching the client yields an "unable to validate game version" error. As soon as the alpha becomes playable, WoW Insider will be diving in.
Dev Watercooler: Warlords of Draenor stat update
Blizzard has just posted a large blog detailing updates to many of the stats in WoW. There has been a lot of work behind the scenes on these stats since BlizzCon 2013, and it's clear that Blizzard is working hard to get through various design issues they've noticed. It's also clear (as in the case of a stat like Multistrike) that they've taken feedback from the community and ran with it. Blizzard's post provides a handy list summarizing the changes coming up in Warlords: Secondary Stats Haste: (Unchanged) Increases attack speed, spell casting speed, and some resource generation Critical Strike: (Unchanged) Increases your chance to critically strike, dealing double damage Mastery: (Unchanged) Increases the effectiveness of your specialization-specific Mastery Multistrike: (New) Grants two chances for your damage and healing effects to fire an additional time, each at 30% effectiveness Versatility: (New) Increases damage and healing, and reduces damage taken Spirit: (Unchanged, healer-only) Increases mana regeneration rate Bonus Armor: (New, tank-only) Increases your armor Minor Stats Movement Speed: (New) Increases your movement speed Indestructible: (New) Causes the item to not take durability damage Leech: (New) Causes you to be healed for a portion of all damage and healing done Avoidance: (New) Reduces your damage taken from area-of-effect attacks. The full post, after the break.
Star Citizen's Arena Commander is live
Cloud Imperium has released Star Citizen's dogfighting module, more commonly known as Arena Commander. Qualified backers can now access the Vanduul Swarm and Freeflight modes using three different spacecraft: the Aurora, the 300i, and the Hornet. The current version includes limited multiplayer for a handful of backers in the form of the Battle Royale and Team modes. CIG says that these modes will open up to more players as it hunts down lag and synch issues. The announcement post also features a lengthy blurb from Chris Roberts on the future of open development as well as a poll to gauge interest in internal date targets. Finally, there's a launch trailer with gameplay footage after the cut! [Thanks everyone who tipped us!]
WildStar launches with new trailer, patch, and free realm transfers
It's the official launch day for WildStar, and Carbine's got a lot for you to digest this morning! We'll start off by pointing you to Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney's speech to the community. "If we're going to play with the big boys, we have to earn the right to be one of the few MMOs that can not just draw gamers in, but can earn those gamers' loyalty over time," Gaffney vowed. There's a new patch for launch day that includes more optimization and the ability to roll both factions on a PvP server. Carbine's also allowing players to transfer to and from certain realms for free in order to alleviate population issues. Finally, the team posted a new launch trailer, which we've got for you after the jump!
Ben Foster playing Medivh in Warcraft movie
IGN spoke with actor Ben Foster about his role in the upcoming Warcraft film, and Foster revealed that he's playing none other than Medivh, the last Guardian of Tirisfal, opener of the Dark Portal, and later savior of the world. From the interview, it seems as though the story for the film -- which has never really been properly revealed -- may be a little more clear. According to Foster, "He came up in a time protecting an area, and the way he protected this area was through magic. As peace returned to this land he took a break. He hung up his staff, so to speak, or let his guns get dusty. We meet him as his friends are returning asking for his help in a battle." If Medivh's friends are asking for help regarding a certain portal to another world, we could be looking at a modified retelling of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, one created with a proper cinematic twist. It would certainly be a nice counterpoint to Warlords of Draenor, which is sending players to explore an alternate version of Draenor. Needless to say, Medivh's confirmed appearance, and confirmed actor in the film are a nice surprise -- head to IGN for more from Foster and his role in the Warcraft movie, hitting theaters in 2016.
Patch 5.4.8 hotfixes for May 27
A small set of hotfixes for patch 5.4.8 have been released and posted on the official blog. The short list includes some adjustments to items, as well as a change for PvP enthusiasts in tank spec that are playing in either Temple of Kotmogu or Deepwind Gorge. Black Grasp of the Destroyer's drain mana effect no longer affects targets above level 73. Similarly, Soul Breaker's draen mana effect no longer affects targets above level 63. An issue in which Going to Need A Bigger Bag wasn't being tracked across all characters on an account has now been resolved. Read on for the full list of hotfixes.
