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StarCraft 2 beta getting multiplayer XP progression system
The StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm beta is still ongoing, and Blizzard has posted a preview of a new leveling feature coming soon to the game-in-progress.Blizzard's adding a progression system to the multiplayer mode, in which players will earn experience, on a race-by-race basis, as they play in matchmaking and custom games. Gaining XP for each of the various factions will unlock special portraits and decals for player profiles.Blizzard has plans for XP bonuses as well, either for specific awards like your first win of the day, or for more general happenings like XP bonus weekends and other special events. The leveling system is being added to the beta in the next patch (and will likely be reset a few times during testing), and will eventually be available in Heart of the Swarm when it's released.
Blizzard looking at F2P for StarCraft 2 multiplayer
Blizzard is "looking at free-to-play as an option" for the game's multiplayer mode, StarCraft 2 Lead Designer Dustin Browder said at the Valencia eSports Congress panel.The free-to-play model brought its share of concerns for Browder as well. "We don't know how we would monetize it," he said. "While it might be good fun for me to play against someone with only half the units available to them, that's not going to be an enjoyable experience for them."Blizzard began rolling out beta invites for StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm earlier this month.
StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm beta starts sticking out feelers
Blizzard is gradually rolling out the beta for StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, starting with a select few from the pro-gaming and shoutcasting communities, Arcade contest winners and games press. And because there is no NDA with this latest beta test, participants can stream and capture footage as they please. Heck, look at all the videos that are already live on YouTube.Sure, right now the number of participants is low but, like all Blizzard betas, more players will be added gradually. If you want in on the Heart of the Swarm beta, you'll need to first opt in to the beta through your Battle.net account, and then exercise patience – this is perhaps the most crucial step. "Signing up from a Battle.net account that's actively playing StarCraft 2 will help your chances of being selected," Blizzard says.No exact beta period has been determined and, if you do get in, you'll only be able to sample the multiplayer side of Heart of the Swarm, compatible with both PC and Mac. Blizzard will open up the beta to more people through giveaways and fansite promotions eventually, so we'll let you know if more (and faster) opportunities become available.
Tickets for Battle.net World Championship on sale soon
This year's Battle.net World Championship will be held Nov. 17 and 18 in Shanghai, China. If you're looking to go, the tickets will be on sale via Blizzard's Chinese website. If you have difficulty paying through that site for whatever reason, Blizzard has also given tickets to various fansites listed here. So if you're interested in attending the event to watch some of the best StarCraft 2 and World of Warcraft players in the world compete, hopefully you can find a way to do so. You can read the Blizzard post above or head to their Battle.net World Championship page for more details. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
PSA: StarCraft 2's 'Arcade' update now live
StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty has been patched to version 1.5.0 today, the big "Arcade" update that adds new UI elements and functionality to the eSports poster child.Basically there are now two big buttons on the front screen. Hiding behind the "Arcade" button is a list of custom game modes that lets users quickly rate and find specific custom matches with a rotating carousel of choices always on offer. The "StarCraft 2" button hides all of the traditional multiplayer stuff, the single-player campaign, leaderboards and the like.The other big addition in this update is a new pipeline for speedy patching. This new data streamer will allow the game to download patch data during play, which Blizzard hopes will expedite wait times in the future. The full patch notes can be found through the source link below.
SRK contest produces a 26-button Starcraft II arcade controller, probably won't stop Zerg rushes (video)
Almost as a dare, Shoryuken (SRK) challenged its fans to produce a fighting game-style controller for Starcraft II. Mauricio Romano took them up on that contest and won with a surprisingly polished arcade stick of his own. Its cornerstone is a heavily modified Ultrastik joystick that's turned into an on-controller, two-button mouse. You didn't think a PC gamer would cling to a plain joystick, did you? In the process, the usual 101 keys of a typical keyboard have been pared down to a set of 26 buttons most relevant for Blizzard's real-time strategy epic. Packaged up in a single, polished USB peripheral, the one-off prototype's design is good enough to imagine a Major League Gaming pro taking it out on the road. We'd put that idea on ice for now, though: as Mauricio shows in the video below, the learning curve is steep enough that most players won't be fending off diamond-league marine and zergling blitzes anytime soon.
Mists of Pandaria opening cinematic will premiere at Gamescom 2012
Folks attending Gamescom 2012 in Cologne, Germany, will be the first to feast their eyes on the opening cinematic for World of Warcraft's next expansion, Mists of Pandaria. Blizzard will also be showcasing the game itself as well as Diablo III and StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. Players can check out the games and also meet members of the development team. If you happen to be at the convention, be sure to check out the company's booth in Halle 6.1 (B21) at the Koelnmesse.
South Korea forces Blizzard to give Diablo III refunds
After investigating numerous complaints that Blizzard wasn't granting refunds to dissatisfied South Korean Diablo III players, the government there demanded that the studio do so anyway. The South Korean consumer protection law ensures a refund if there's a problem with the product that isn't related to the customer. Many South Korean players were angered due to massive server crashes and high latency while playing Diablo III. The Wall Street Journal reports that 66% of Diablo III online traffic in Asia comes from the country. As for the refund itself, there are a few stipulations. It currently extends to players who haven't reached level 40. If eligible, the customer has to file for a refund between June 25th and July 3rd. Past that date, Blizzard said that it will offer refunds for any players under level 20 within 14 days of their purchasing the game. The studio is also extending an olive branch to upset gamers by handing out 30-day trials to StarCraft II.
Blizzard issues account security alert after Riot Games breach
Not the first time we've seen something like this: Nakatoir of the EU community team posted this account security alert after Riot Games' EU branch warned its users that hackers "gained access to certain personal player data contained in certain EU West and EU Nordic & East databases." This information included email addresses and encrypted account passwords, and more than half of the passwords were considered simple and at risk of being cracked. Blizzard issues its security alert because many players who play various Blizzard games like WoW and Diablo III or StarCraft II also play League of Legends; therefore, if they use the same email address for Battle.net as League of Legends or the same passwords, those Battle.net accounts may also be at risk. This is not an announcement that Blizzard itself has been hacked, mind you. It's simply a precaution based on the habits of players of many games to use the same passwords and login information for multiple accounts. If you're not a League of Legends player in the affected EU regions, there's no way for this to affect you. The full announcement is after the break.
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm playable at MLG, Wings of Liberty on sale
The upcoming weekend is a big one for StarCraft fans: The United States Nationals of the StarCraft II World Championship is taking place at the MLG Spring Championship all weekend long. For those of you not interested the e-sports scene, there's another event coinciding with this one: The Heart of the Swarm press event is taking place this weekend, and an early build of the upcoming expansion is playable at demo stations on the MLG floor. Heart of the Swarm isn't officially in the beta phase yet, so this will be the first time players have an opportunity to see the expansion first-hand. To celebrate both the Nationals and the Heart of the Swarm preview, Blizzard has put StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty on sale for the weekend. Blizzard has taken 33% off of the standard box price of $59.99, bringing the price down to $39.99. Update: Check Battle.net for further information on this weekend's events as well as a pair of video previews of Heart of the Swarm. You can also find the videos embedded below.
Play Diablo 1 with World of Warcraft models in StarCraft 2
The StarCraft II Arcade feature, a tool intended to help the community highlight quality custom maps and game modes created with the StarCraft modding tools, has recently gone into beta. Coinciding with that beta, Blizzard has launched a contest that requires you to play, rate, and review an Arcade game for a chance to win a Heart of the Swarm beta key. One of the delightful custom game modes that has become an Arcade chart-topper is an incestuous mix of all of Blizzard's major franchises: It's the first Diablo game ported into StarCraft II using World of Warcraft art assets for the 3-D models. The gameplay doesn't match the original Diablo click-for-click, but the core mechanics and all of the sound files have been carried from one game to the next, including Deckard Cain's signature "stay awhile and listen." StarCraft II shoutcaster Husky recently featured the game mode on his YouTube channel, and you can watch his 18+ minute preview/review embedded below.
Diablo 3 beta servers go down for good on May 1
The Diablo 3 beta servers, running on and off for testing since last September, are coming down for good on May 1. At that point, all of the characters currently in the game will disappear forever. You'll be able to being the full quest anew when when Diablo 3 launches on May 15.The forums for the game are also being locked down. To post there after May 1, you'll need to either have pre-purchased Diablo 3, or have an active StarCraft 2 or World of Warcraft account. So, if you have complaints about Diablo 3 but don't meet that criteria, you'll have to go, oh, you know, anywhere else on the internet.
Blizzard cuts 600 employees, most not in game development
Blizzard has laid off 600 employees, 90 percent of whom are not involved in game development, a statement from Activision Blizzard reads. The cuts do not impact the World of Warcraft development team, the publisher was quick to assure, and its development and publishing schedules will not be affected."As Blizzard and the industry have evolved we've also had to make some difficult decisions in order to address the changing needs of our company," Mike Morhaime, CEO of Blizzard Entertainment, said. "Knowing that, it still does not make letting go of some of our team members any easier."In the same statement, Blizzard announced that it is "recruiting and looking to hire qualified developers for a number of open positions."
The Summoner's Guidebook: Get back, get back!
Last week, I said I would avoid doing articles on the situational "soft skills" in League of Legends. Well, this week kind of ruins that already. Today we're going to talk about lane positioning, zoning, and harassment. These things are not something I can just give you blanket tips on. There are a lot of nuances involved in good positioning, and every single matchup is completely different. You do not stand in the same places laning against Cassiopeia as you do against Kennen, and those positions change depending on which character you're playing, too. Even though there is a lot of matchup-specific knowledge involved in lane positioning, there are some general tips I can provide. This week I'm going to only teach you about the basics of lane safety but give you some dirty mindgame tricks that will absolutely ruin your opponents. Interested? Read on!
StarCraft vs. Warcraft: What is the WoW community missing?
For the past year or so, I've been living a double life. To some, I am a skilled and tenacious night elf priestess, adventuring through Azeroth at the charge of the Holy Light, healing the injured and saving the incompetent. To others, however, I am but a lowly brood mother, commanding a swarming, parasitic army with occasional success against my enemies across the Koprulu sector. Don't follow me? Basically, I've just been playing a lot of StarCraft 2 whenever I'm not raiding. Still, being heavily invested in WoW and StarCraft has really felt like living two lives at times, especially when you consider how dramatically different they both are. And I'm not talking about the gameplay; obviously one would expect an MMORPG and an RTS to be incomparable. What I mean is that that the culture and community that surrounds these two games are distinctively different, despite the fact that the games share some of their playerbase with one another. You'd think that one game community would be pretty similar to the next, but they're not. The whole thing has left me with a lot of questions to turn over in my mind. Is it possible that the WoW and StarCraft communities could learn from the other? Seven years in, is it even possible for the WoW community to change in any significant way at this point? And if so, is there something missing in the WoW community? To explore the idea further, I started making a list of all the things I thought the StarCraft community had that the WoW community was lacking.
Blizzard brings Balance and Battletags to Battle.net
Blizzard Entertainment has been steadily updating the Battle.net online multiplayer service recently, presumably in anticipation of Diablo 3's release next year. Last week, the company introduced what it's calling the Battle.net Balance, a currency total stored on its servers that players can use to pay for Blizzard items -- from a World of Warcraft subscription to in-game items and plushies in the company store. This is where funds not translated directly into cash will go from the real money auction house in Diablo 3, whenever it arrives. Today, Blizzard introduced the BattleTag system, which is a specific public username that will identify players publicly on Battle.net services (similar to Xbox Live's Gamertag name). This is likely the compromise Blizzard came up with over its controversial Real ID service, which was originally meant to utilize real player names. BattleTags are not unique, but players will have a number in their public profiles that will let you identify just which "touchFuzzygetDizzy" you're talking to. BattleTags will appear first in the Diablo 3 beta, and get used in all of Blizzard's games and services sometime after that.
Blizzard introduces universal BattleTags to its titles
When Blizzard first rolled out Battle.net's Real ID feature, many players were timid (read: incensed) about using it due to the fact that it revealed players' real-life names to fellow gamers they added. These worries can be easily laid to rest with Blizzard's latest announcement: the addition of BattleTags. What's a BattleTag, you ask? Well, simply put, it's a screen name by which you are identifiable across all Blizzard games, only without the privacy concerns of Real ID. Real ID, however, will continue to exist along with BattleTags, so players can use whichever method they so desire. BattleTags are currently being tested in the Diablo III beta, and the feature will be available to Diablo III players when the game launches. The feature will also be rolled into World of Warcraft and StarCraft II, but the studio isn't ready to give solid dates on when that may take place. For the full details on BattleTags, including instructions on how to claim your own, head on over to WoW Insider and have a read.
StarCraft 2 for $30 this weekend from Blizzard Store
Imagine, if you will: Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffing, more gravy and a mountain of dead Zerg. This could be your Thanksgiving weekend if you pick up StarCraft 2, which is on sale for $30 until Monday at the Blizzard Store. Don't forget the gravy (or the Goliaths).
StarCraft 2 Mega Block Battlecruiser assembled in time-lapse
Check out this one minute and forty second time-lapse of a Mega Blocks StarCraft 2 Battlecruiser picked up at Blizzcon 2011, being put together over six and half hours. In the end, we're treated to the sound that lets us know it's ready for action.
Watch the MLG Providence National Championships live, right here on Joystiq!
A roaring crowd, concession-stand popcorn and panicked cries for additional pylons can only mean one thing: It's pro-gaming season. The sound of furiously clicking mice can be heard for miles around in Providence, Rhode Island, where Major League Gaming's Pro Circuit National Championships are happening right now. The greatest Starcraft 2 players from around the world have assembled and are putting on one hell of a show, which you can enjoy irrespective of your proximity to The Ocean State thanks to the embedded stream above. Jump past the break for the day's complete schedule, and peep the tournament bracket here.
