Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
New Features
Timewalking: The Black Temple The time has come to join a raid of 10-30 adventurers and venture back in time to The Black Temple in Outland. You'll be scaled to player level 70 and item level 141 on your way into this memorable highlight of the Burning Crusade expansion.
All New Story Scenario In this new scenario, you'll use the time-twisting powers of the Bronze Dragonflight to help Chromie prevent her own assassination.
New Events
The Trial of Style
The Blood Elves have teamed up with the Ethereal transmogrifiers to put on a grand Azerothian fashion tournament. Compete against five other players to determine who's the best dresser.
Moonkin Festival
A wondrous celebration of all things moonkin is happening in Moonglade. Stop by and see what you can learn!
Auction House Dance Studio
The main auction houses in Orgrimmar and Stormwind have been cleaned out and turned into dance parties for the day. Crowd on in and show some faction pride!
The Great Gnomeregan Race
The Gnomes: they run.
Pet Battle Dungeon: Deadmines Something is amiss in the Deadmines and it will take you and your battle pets to put a stop to it. Speak to Breanni in Dalaran to begin the quest. Requires completion of Pet Battle Dungeon: Wailing Caverns.
Darkmoon Faire Rocks The forsaken band Blight Boar has invaded the Darkmoon Faire! Every hour on the half-hour, the band will rock out with a death metal tune. Battle the Metal Knight to earn achievements, consumables, and a monthly chance at a brutal helm or killer guitar mace.
Changes
Classes
Smart heals such as Wild Growth and Holy Word: Sanctify now favor player targets over non-player targets, regardless of their health.
Instructor's Fourth Lesson now activates 1-2 Festering Wounds (was 1-3).
Developers' notes: The random number of Wounds that could drop off your target made the rotation very unpredictable to manage at times, and we're reducing that a bit.
Shadow Infusion now reduces Dark Transformation's cooldown by 7 seconds (was 5 seconds).
Chaos Blades now increase damage done by 30% (was a scaled increase based on Mastery), duration increased to 18 seconds (was 12).
Fel Barrage no longer uses charges, and now has a 1 minute cooldown (was a 30-second recharge time). Your damaging abilities now have a chance to reduce the cooldown by 5 seconds.
Fel Barrage damage increased by 100%, and now deals damage over 2 seconds (was 1 second).
Prepared now generates 100 Fury over 10 seconds (was 40 Fury over 5 seconds).
Vengeance
Damage of all abilities, including talents, increased by 15%.
Blade Turning redesigned: Parrying an attack increases your Pain generation by 20% for 5 seconds.
Demon Spikes can only be extended to a maximum of three times its base duration.
Demonic Infusion cooldown reduced to 1.5 minutes (was 2 minutes).
Immolation Aura periodic damage increased by an additional 22%.
Last Resort will not absorb a killing blow of more than 200% of the player's maximum health.
Lesser Soul Fragment generation from Shear has been increased by 10%.
Soul Cleave now costs 25 to 50 Pain (was 30 to 60), and now heals for 6.6 times Attack Power per 25 Pain spent.
Spirit Bomb redesigned: Consume all Soul Fragments within 25 yards and then explode, afflicting nearby enemies with Frailty for 20 seconds and damaging them for 3.0x Attack Power fire per fragment. You heal for 20% of all damage you deal to enemies with Frailty.
When Demon Spikes is activated and a Demon Spikes buff is already present, the values of the two buffs are now correctly averaged.
When Soul Fragments are created that exceed the cap of 5 active fragments, the oldest fragment is now automatically consumed if it is within 60 yards of the Demon Hunter. If it is more than 60 yds from the Demon Hunter, it despawns.
Maul damage increased by 650%, cost increased to 45 Rage (was 20). Maul is now on the global cooldown, and has no self-cooldown (was 3 seconds). Maul damage not increased in PvP.
Developers' notes: This set of changes preserves the damage of all the abilities while affected by Vulnerable, but substantially reduces the downside of hitting a target without Vulnerable.
Thermal Void redesigned: Increases Icy Veins' duration by 10 seconds. Your Ice Lances against frozen targets extend your Icy Veins by an additional 1 second.
Repentance and Blinding Light no longer deal damage.
Holy
Fervent Martyr no longer has a Beacon of Light requirement, now reduces health as well as mana cost of Light of the Martyr, and now reduces mana cost by 25% per stack (was 50%).
Pickpocketing: Griftah in the Hall of Shadows has found a lamp, which may lead the sticky-fingered among you to interesting challenges and great profit.
Griftah now sells a selection of items for Coins of Air to his distinguished clientele.
Items purchasable with Dingy Iron Coins are now also purchasable with Coins of Air.
New talent added, replacing Agonizing Poison: Toxic Blade
Costs 20 Energy, generates 1 Combo Point, 25 second cooldown.
Stab your enemy with a toxic blade, dealing [600% Weapon Damage] Nature damage. Your Nature damage abilities against the target are increased by 35% for 9 seconds.
Exsanguinate now causes your Bleed effects to bleed out 150% (was 100%) faster.
Developers' notes: Our overall goals here include smoothing out Energy regeneration and reducing the frequency of both resource drought and Energy capping.
All damage increased by 8%.
Adrenaline Rush Energy regeneration increase reduced to 60% (was 100%). Duration increased to 20 seconds (was 15 seconds).
Combat Potency proc rate increased to 30% (was 20%), and Energy per proc reduced to 10 (was 15).
Curse of the Dreadblades (Artifact trait) now works with Ambush.
Fortune Strikes redesigned. Now increases Combat Potency's proc rate by 2% per point (was +1 Energy per Combat Potency proc per point).
Developers' notes: The net result of the two Combat Potency and Fortune Strikes changes is that Combat Potency should generate half as much Energy, twice as often.
Restless Blades has returned. Finishing moves reduce the remaining cooldown on Adrenaline Rush, Between the Eyes, Sprint, Grappling Hook, Cannonball Barrage, Killing Spree, Marked for Death, Death from Above, Vanish by 0.5 seconds per combo point spent.
Slice and Dice now increases attack speed by 125% (was 100%).
Roll the Bones
Developers' notes: The distribution of the number of buffs you get from Roll the Bones has changed. On average, you will get fewer buffs. Our goal is to significantly reduce the desire to frequently recast Roll the Bones when you get 1 buff.
Broadsides now also increases the damage of your combo-point generating abilities by 20%.
Buried Treasure increases Energy regeneration by 30% (was 25%).
Grand Melee now increases attack speed by 55% (was 50%).
True Bearing causes Finishing moves to reduce the cooldown of many abilities by 1.0 seconds (was 2.0 seconds) per combo point.
Subtlety
Developers' notes: Our overall goals are to remove uncontrolled player teleport from the baseline DPS rotation, to reduce the frequency of teleporting in PvP, to allow players to choose between more frequent or more impactful Shadow Dances, which equates to more frequent CC/utility or damage in PvP, to keep the PvE rotation engaging, and to make Symbols of Death more engaging.
Backstab damage bonus from being behind the target reduced to 20% (was 30%).
Dark Shadow is a new talent at level 90: While Shadow Dance is active, all damage you deal is increased by 30%.
Deepening Shadows now causes your finishing moves to reduce the remaining cooldown on Shadow Dance by 1.5 seconds (was 3 seconds) per combo point spent.
Energetic Stabbing (Artifact trait) now has an increased proc chance of 50% (was 25%), now refunds 2 Energy per point (was 5), and now also works with Backstab.
Enveloping Shadows redesigned. Deepening Shadows reduces the remaining cooldown of Shadow Dance by an additional 1.0 second per combo point spent. Shadow Dance gains 1 additional charge.
Etched in Shadow (Artifact trait) is now named Weak Point: Increases the critical strike damage of Backstab and Shadowstrike by 5% per point.
Feeding Frenzy (Artifact trait) now lasts for 30 seconds (was 20 seconds).
Flickering Shadows (Artifact Trait) redesigned: Now reduces the cooldown of Sprint by 10 seconds and Vanish by 30 seconds.
Marked for Death's cooldown reduced to 40 seconds (was 60 seconds) for Subtlety.
Developers' notes: This is to balance it against Premeditation, which is now on the same row. It's a buff in a raid setting, where the talent was very weak.
Master of Shadows now gains 25 Energy over 3 seconds when you enter Stealth or Shadow Dance.
Developers' notes: Pooling energy going into a Shadow Dance has long been the way to play Subtlety, and we'd like to bring that back. This design still gives you more energy for a Shadow Dance, but in a way that allows the Rogue to fully utilize pooling gameplay.
Nightblade now increases your damage dealt to the target by 15%, with damage over time component reduced by 35%.
Developers' notes: Further pushes Subtlety away from maintaining Nightblade on all secondary targets and instead into focusing their damage into 1 target. Additionally, gives Nightblade a mechanical interaction with the rest of the core rotation that fulfills the "setup" feel of Subtlety.
Shadowstrike now hits at melee range (was a 15 yard range) and generates 2 combo points (was 1).
Shadowstrike, when used while Stealthed, now deals 25% increased damage (was 9%) and teleports you up to 25 yards behind your target. This does not happen while in Shadow Dance or during Subterfuge.
Shuriken Combo is a new passive talent available at level 70: Shuriken Storm increases the damage of your next Eviscerate by 10% for each enemy hit beyond the first. Stacks up to 5 times.
Developers' notes: This aims to remove maintaining Nightblade on every target from your AOE rotation on 4+ targets. Instead, Subtlety will deal increased damage during AOE by focusing it into one target.
All Warlock pets and summons now have the same bounds and combat reach, including the glyphed versions of the base pets.
Soul Harvest duration is now 12 seconds + 4 seconds per target, for a maximum of 36 seconds (was 15 seconds + 2 seconds per target, maximum 35 seconds).
Siphon Life damage increased by 30%, and healing reduced to 60% of damage done (was 100%).
Soul Flame damage reduced by 20%.
Wrath of Consumption (Artifact trait) damage per stack reduced to 1% (was 2%).
Demonology
Hand of Gul'dan impact damage increased by 180%.
Infernal Furnace (Artifact trait) damage increase per point reduced to 8% (was 10%).
Left Hand of Darkness (Artifact trait) now increases the damage of your pet by 2.5% (was 5%) when the Grimoire of Supremacy talent is chosen.
Destruction
Developers' Notes: Soul Shards are now divided into 10 Soul Shard Fragments for Destruction Warlocks, in order to provide more reliable, granular Soul Shard generation, prevent random overcapping of resources, rein in Soul Shard generation slightly, and reduce the number of Chaos Bolts being cast.
All damage increased by 10%.
Cataclysm cooldown reduced to 30 seconds (was 45 seconds), cast time reduced to 2.5 seconds (was 3 seconds), and damage reduced by 25%.
Channel Demonfire damage increased by 56%, and cooldown increased to 25 seconds (was 15 seconds).
Chaos Bolt's damage increased by 40%, and projectile speed increased by 25%.
Chaos Bolt cast from the Chaos Bolt rift now deals 60% increased damage.
Conflagrate now generates 6 Soul Shard Fragments (was 1 full Soul Shard/10 Soul Shard Fragments).
Conflagrate now generates double resources from hitting a second Havoc target.
Dimensional Rift (Artifact trait) now generates 3 Soul Shard Fragments
Eradication's damage bonus increased to 15% (was 12%), and duration increased to 7 seconds (was 6 seconds).
Fire and Brimstone now causes Incinerate to generate 1 Soul Shard Fragment per target.
Havoc's duration increased to 10 seconds (was 8 seconds), and cooldown increased to 45 seconds (was 20 seconds).
Immolate's periodic damage has a 50% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard Fragment (was: periodic damage has a 15% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard).
Immolate's periodic damage critical strikes have a 100% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard Fragment (was: periodic damage critical strikes have a 30% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard).
Incinerate now generates 1 Soul Shard Fragment, and now generates 2 Soul Shard Fragments on a critical strike.
Opportunity Strikes now causes your extra attacks to generate 5 Rage, with a 0.5 second internal cooldown.
Overpower no longer costs Rage, no longer procs from auto-attacks, and may not proc itself.
Precise Strikes (Artifact trait) now causes Colossus Smash to increase the critical strike chance of your next Mortal Strike or Execute by 10% per rank.
Ravager now generates 7 Rage per tick if it damages at least one enemy, for a maximum of 49 Rage over its duration if every tick deals damage.
Rend's duration decreased to 8 seconds (was 15 seconds).
Rend now deals damage every 2 seconds (was 3 seconds).
Rend's periodic damage has been increased to 2.5x attack power (was 2.4x attack power).
Initial hit decreased to 150% weapon damage, down from 280%.
Periodic damage increased to 2.5x AP per tick, up from 2.4x AP.
Shattered Defenses (Artifact trait) now causes Colossus Smash to increase the damage of your next Mortal Strike or Execute by 60% (was 30%). This effect no longer increases the critical strike chance of Mortal Strike or Execute.
Titanic Might now increases the duration of Colossus Smash by 8 seconds (was 16 seconds), and now also reduces the cooldown of Colossus Smash by 8 seconds.
Shield Block can only be extended to a maximum of three times its base duration.
Dungeons and Raids
Mythic Keystone enemy health and damage now increase by 10% per level (was 8% per level).
Added Group Finder activities for Mythic Trial of Valor and Nighthold.
Mythic Trial of Valor and Nighthold can now be entered by cross-server groups.
Events
Midsummer Fire Festival
The Flame Wardens have constructed new bonfires in Draenor and the Broken Isles.
Igneous Flameling (pet) and Set of Matches (toy) can now be purchased with Burning Blossoms.
The Frost Lord Ahune is now available to players beginning at level 60, and scales with player level.
Items
Heirlooms can now increase to a maximum level of 110. Visit Estelle Gendry in the Undercity or Krom Stoutarm in Ironforge to purchase upgrades, or collect new upgrades during holidays.
Heirloom vendors now offer toy items that can be used to teach the flight paths of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms to Azeroth's adventurers.
Draught of Souls effectiveness has been reduced by 40% for Arms and Fury Warriors.
Majordomo's Dinner Bell: The secondary stat buff granted by this trinket now only matches your Well Fed buff if you are a Tank specialization. For non-tanks, the secondary stat is always random.
Whispers in the Dark's casting speed bonus and penalty now scale like a secondary stat.
Death Knight - Dreadwyrm Battleplate
Frost 4-piece: Howling Blast now generates 6 Runic Power (was 8 Runic Power) while Rime is active.
Demon Hunter - Vestment of Second Sight
Havoc 4-piece: Now increases your Chaos Strike critical strike chance by 8% (was 10%).
Hunter – Eagletalon Battlegear
Beast Mastery 4-piece: Dire Beast/Dire Frenzy nowreduces the cooldown of Bestial Wrath by an additional 4 seconds (was 8 seconds).
Marksmanship 2-piece: Every 45 Focus you spend reduces the cooldown of Trueshot by 1 second (was 35 Focus).
Survival 2-piece: Flanking Strike now has 2 times the normal chance to trigger Hunting Companion (was 3 times chance).
Survival 4-piece: When Mongoose Fury reaches 6 applications, you gain 15% increased damage to all abilities for 10 seconds (was 20%).
Mage – Regalia of Everburning Knowledge
Fire 4-piece: Hot Streak has a 10% chance to also grant you 15% Haste for 10 seconds (was 20% Haste).
Frost 2-piece: Frost Bolt has an 5% increased chance to trigger Brain Freeze (was 10%).
Monk – Vestments of Enveloped Dissonace
Mistweaver 2-piece: Renewing Mist has a 1% increased chance to increase the healing of your next Vivify (was 2%).
Paladin – Battleplate of the Highlord
Protection 4-piece: Shield of the Righteous has a 25% chance to reset the cooldown on Light of the Protector (was 35%).
Retribution 2-piece: Your Holy Power spending attacks deal 7% more damage (was 10%).
Priest – Vestments of the Purifier
Shadow 4-piece: For 2.5 seconds after activating Voidform, the cooldown on Void Bolt is reduced by 100% (was 4 seconds).
Rogue – Doomblade Battlegear
Assassination 2-piece: Mutilate also causes the target to Bleed for 20% additional damage over 8 seconds (was 30%).
4-piece: Envenom deals 7% additional damage per Bleed you have on the target (was 10%).
The Emerald Dreamcatcher: Starsurge reduces the Astral Power cost of your Starsurges by 5 Astral Power (was 7) for 5 seconds (was 3 seconds), stacking up to 2 times.
Restoration
Aman'Thul's Wisdom now increases Rejuvination's duration for a maximum of 9 seconds (was 15 seconds).
Hunter
Beast Mastery
The Mantle of Command: Redesigned. Dire Beast / Dire Frenzy increases the damage done by your pets by 5% for 8 seconds.
Priest
Discipline
Estel, Dejahna's Inspiration: Plea now increases your Haste by 1% per stack (was 2%) for each target with your Atonement for 8 seconds (was 5 seconds).
Kam Xi'raff: Using Light's Wrath reduces the mana cost of all spells (was damaging spells) by 50% (was 75%) for 1 second, increased by 1 second per ally affected by your Atonement.
Entangling Bark grants the target of your Ironbark Nature's Grasp, which roots the first two enemies that attack the target. Nature's Grasp will not proc if the enemies are already affected by Entangling Roots or Mass Entanglement.
Nourish no longer reduces the cast time of Healing Touch.
Rejuvenation (and Rejuvenation (Germination)) grant the target 2 stacks of Revitalize. Revitalize will heal the target for 2x spell power and increase the duration of Rejuvenation or Rejuvenation (Germination) by 3 seconds (whichever has the lowest remaining duration).
Hunter
Beast Mastery
Beast Mastery PvP template agility has been reduced by 5%.
Separation Anxiety increases your pet's (and Hati's) movement speed by up to 50%, and damage taken reduced by 25%. Effect only occurs when your pet is 20 or more yards away from you, and scales up to your pet at 50 yards away.
The Beast Within's Bestial Wrath cooldown reduction has been reduced to 10 seconds (was 15 seconds).
Wild Protector reduces damage done to allies by 10% (was 15%).
If your pet is within 10 yards of your Interlope target, the next hostile spell will be redirected to your pet. Once this occurs, your pet will redirect the next 3 seconds of hostile spells.
Interlope's cooldown begins when the aura is consumes.
Ranger's Grace reduces the remaining cooldown of Aspect of the Turtle, Aspect of the Cheetah, and Exhilaration by 5 seconds when casting Aimed Shot on a Vulnerable target.
Fully-channeled Mind Flays (duration ends normally, this will not count a late refresh on Mind Flay) steal 1% haste from the target for 20 seconds. If the target's Mind Trauma debuff is removed by any source (dispels, duration ending), the Priest loses that amount of stolen haste. Only 10% haste can be stolen per target, up to 20% haste total.
Dagger in the Dark's duration is increased to 10 seconds (was 5 seconds).
Dagger in the Dark no longer activates during Shadow Dance, only Stealth or Vanish.
Veil of Midnight no longer activates when Shadow Dance ends, only Stealth or Vanish.
Phantom Assassin has been redesigned: Phantom Assassin now increases your critical strike chance by 35% while Stealth or Shadow Dance is active (including Vanish).
Thief's Bargain no longer increases your damage while stealthed, now always increases your damage by 10%.
Thief's Bargain now reduces maximum health by 15% (was 25%).
Thief's Bargain now reduces Vanish's cooldown by 60 seconds (was 90 seconds).
Shaman
Spiritual Recovery now additionally increases the minimum and maximum speed of Ghost Wolf by an additional 10%.
Elemental
Frost Shock's PvP duration now scales correctly with Maelstrom: 4-8 seconds based on Maelstrom consumed (was 8-8 seconds based on Maelstrom consumed).
Your Flame Shock and Frost Shock no longer consume up to an additional 20 Maelstrom. The duration of your Frost Shock and Flame Shock is increased by 100%, and the damage of your Frost Shock is increased by 100%.
Warlock
Affliction
Endless Affliction now increases the duration of Unstable Affliction by 6 seconds, but now causes Unstable Affliction to deal the same damage over time as without the talent.
Nightfall (new talent) replaces Death's Embrace:
Nightfall gives Corruption ticks a chance to reduce the cast time of your next Seed of Corruption by 100%.
Amplified Afflictions has been removed.
Gateway Mastery (new talent) replaces Amplified Afflictions:
Increases the range of Demonic Gateway by 20 yards.
Decreases the cast time by 30%.
Players can use your gateway 30 seconds more often.
Obliterum-modified items can now be increased to a maximum item level of 885 (was 875).
Alchemy
Significantly increased the drop/proc chance to receive rank 3 recipes.
The amount healed by Ancient Healing Potions and Ancient Rejuvenation Potions was increased.
Cooking
Added Nomi Snacks, a new item that can be used to complete the next 5 Nomi recipe researches instantly. Nomi Snacks can be obtained from any Nomi research, and it is tradeable.
Mining
Significantly increased the proc chance to start each of the rank 3 questlines.
Herbalism
Significantly increased the drop/proc chance to start each of the rank 3 questlines.
Skinning
Significantly increased the drop chance to start each of the rank 3 questlines.
Tailoring
Bloodtotem Saddle Blanket comfort reduced by 50% to thwart the Burning Legion.
UI
Death Knight Runes are now sorted from left to right based on their cooldown status, to make it easier to differentiate between available runes and those on cooldown. Each specialization now has a different rune color.
The Warlock soul shard UI has new art.
Unobtainable battle pets are now hidden from the list unless collected.
A death counter has been added to the Mythic Keystone tracker.
Dispellable debuffs have been added to friendly nameplates.
Appearances
Arsenal: Armaments of the Silver Hand now includes the Silver variant of the 1-Hand mace. This will be added retroactively to characters who have purchased the armament.
Pandaria Challenge Dungeon sets have been added to Appearances for players who have completed them.
The Appearance Collection now includes Holiday cosmetic items, which can be transmogged during the holiday.
Favoriting an appearance in your Appearance Collection will now soulbind the item granting you the appearance.
Premade Groups
Mythic Keystone level searches will now display flexible results. For example, searching for "+5" will also display results for "+4" and "+6".
Groups under the Questing category will be delisted when it reaches a full party.
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If Halloween is the in-season for a Resident Evil game, this is the off-season. As of writing big deals are available on Resident Evil PC titles in a new series weekend sale at GamersGate. Steam keys are being sold for a fraction of their usual cost, though pointedly the sale doesn't even run through the entire weekend.
The key deal in the sale is the lowest price ever on this year's Resident Evil 7. The Standard Edition for $30.23 is a new low by about $6 while the Deluxe Edition (which includes the game + season pass) is at a historic low by $8. At half-off, these are both great prices for those waiting for summer sale pricing.
Another top deal in the sale is the Resident Evil HD Remaster Steam key dropping to $8.60. This 57% discount off the usual $20 is actually quite rare and only pennies off its best price to date.
The sale at GamersGate is for a very limited time and won't even last the weekend. The official expiration is Sunday, June 11 at 7:00pm Eastern, so if the titles look enticing enough don't wait until Sunday night.
Anjali Bhimani, the voice of Symmetra, has rounded up her extended Overwatch family for one of life's greatest joys: a dance party! Watch the crew adorably recreate their dance emotes from the anniversary event and then rewatch the whole thing because they're super into it and it's so dang good.
To quote a famous smuggler, the HP Power Laptop may not look like much, but it definitely has the right specs. Since the middle of this week, HP has been running a limited-time sale on select HP Pavilion laptops -- which are of course the budget/mainstream lineups that you'll often find at ubiquitous box stores such as Costco and Best Buy.
While neither store is exactly what you'll think of in terms of places to see enthusiast-level laptops, tucked away on HP's website are the great value Pavilion Power Laptops. In outward appearance, they look like any other HP Pavilion budget laptop, but in these machines, you'll find the latest 7th Gen Intel Kaby Lake Quad Core processors, a respectable Full HD IPS display panel (even with an option of a 2160p display), and an equally capable GeForce GTX 1050 Ti discrete graphics processor. It's a decent gaming laptop that won't break the bank.
If budget gaming isn't your forte and you simply need a laptop for the upcoming college life, you'll also find a dirt-cheap 15-inch laptop starting at $249, a convertible 13-inch laptop at $429, and a 17-inch desktop replacement for $439. The premium "Omen" gaming laptops can also be found in the weekly sale offer, but with only nominal $50 and $100 off discounts for the 15- and 17-inch versions, you'll find the Omen missing in the roundup below as they're not exactly noteworthy deals.
There was once a time when video game soundtracks weren't fully orchestrated or composed by rock musicians. Technology limited composers to MIDI tunes, so there wasn't a need to call in more "professional" acts to spruce up your game. ID Software, though, thought differently for Quake in 1996. They wanted the game to be gritty, dark and violent with a soundtrack that packed all those same adjectives.
I can ruminate all day about how substantial Trent Reznor's soundtrack was for gaming. Not only did it show that the industry was moving beyond being targeted solely at children, but it pushed the action of its game into overdrive, making for intense shootouts in spooky gothic environments that still hasn't been matched by anything else. Quake is a bonafide classic and its soundtrack contributed to that status.
Trent's band Nine Inch Nails looks set to be releasing the soundtrack on vinyl format. There isn't a release date or even pre-orders up, but an image of the disc comes straight from the official website for the group. Unless this is a clerical error, I'm pretty sure we're getting the seminal work on a format it deserves.
I actually still have my CD of the game, solely because of its soundtrack. I love that ID used a dual layer disc to encode data on one layer and music on the other. CD drives back in the day had a slight delay, though, so I always remember the music skipping a bit.
Howdy there my fellow fellers. Today's Comments of the Week is brought to you by this old man from 1992's Phalanx box art and yours truly, ZombZ. This is my first go at this and I'm hoping to do this beloved blog series justice, like FakePlasticTree, TheLimoMaker and Gmana have done before me these past three weeks. I'm glad they tested the waters for me first, although I'm a little concerned, because from growing up, I remember being the fourth person to hop into a bathtub doesn't really make you feel all that great. Well, moving on.
As always here comes the funny and/or insightful stuff you've thrown out into the vast emptiness of the internet. Okay. Some of the stuff you've thrown out. No, some of the stuff, some of you have thrown out. Actually, very little of what you, as a collective, have written. Well, moving on.
Ahead of Electronic Arts' press conference tomorrow, the company has solidified some details about the Star Wars Battlefront II beta. Similar to the last game's multiplayer beta (which brought in upwards of 9.5 million people), it will be available "this fall" on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Folks who pre-order the game will get early access, among other digital extras and head-starts.
Aside from the diehard fans who still play DICE's Battlefront to this day, I think it's safe to say most of us who found enjoyment in that game are firmly in wait-and-see territory for the sequel. There's much to prove. If they can flesh out the mechanics and get their DLC strategy correct, I'm probably down.
A curious note from the Origin page for Battlefront II: "Each season brings fresh, new downloadable content, available to all players***. With exciting new locations, characters and quests, you can take part in a connected universe and be rewarded..." Looking at the asterisks further down the listing, you'll need a copy of the game, the latest updates, an internet connection, an EA account, and PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live Gold if you're on a console. Based on that wording, this is a reassuring step up.
DiRT 4’s tagline is "Be Fearless" and it definitely makes sense. This is a game more concerned about accurately recreating the sensation of Rally Sport than it is about accommodating lesser-skilled players. You need to be willing to throw away your conception of what racing games are and engage with how brutal this game can be. You have to push yourself to your limits to get better or else go home with nothing.
To put to bluntly, DiRT 4 is not for everyone. This is a game for people who are willing to work for their entertainment and the rewards can be sweet. The biggest issue plaguing the whole package, though, is a lack of content beyond basic modes.
For all the good that the latest Hitman game has, a lot of people are turned off by the episodic structure of its content. I suppose there isn't much IO can do to actually change how the game is coded, but you'll soon only have a single option for purchasing the game before season two kicks off.
In two weeks time, Hitman will be sold as a complete experience. The introduction pack and upgrade option will be discontinued in favor of a single option that includes everything. Individual episodes will also no longer be available on PC, though if you have only certain episodes, you'll be given discount pricing based on what content you have when buying into the full game.
On consoles, things are a little bit less clear. Xbox One owners will get a discount on "The Complete First Season" if they own any of the previous episodes. All episodes will still be available for regular purchase. PS4 owners won't receive any kind of legacy discount, but can still opt to buy episodes individually.
As for why this is now happening, IO has taken to their blog to explain the decision. "These changes have been planned since early March and will make it easier and simpler to buy the game. These changes will help us to lay the foundations for our future plans for Hitman." Hopefully this means that season two will release as a full game, but who knows?
Let's take a few minutes to talk about the most horrible thing that's happened to anyone ever. Like, ever-ever. A snail bit my uncle's wiener off, and even that wasn't as horrible as the worst thing that's ever happened to me. But before I further hyperbolize an event more or less meaningless in the grand scheme of life, let's take it back a little.
Do you remember E3 growing up? I do. I'm 30, and back in the days before the internet we had to go to the Barnes & Noble's with our step dads and camp in the magazine section while Terry read Guns, Germs, and Steel chapter-by-chapter because he was too cheap to buy the damned thing for $17.99 (like, seriously Terry, just skip the Molson's for one weekend and buy the book!). Anyway, while Terry was getting his step dad on, we nerdy, red-headed step children would plop down in front of EGM, GamePro, and, my personal favorite, PSM and ingest all of the wonderful gooeyness drip-fed to us once a month in print publications. Did it suck that you really only got news once every thirty days? Kinda. Did that one day out of thirty fucking rule? You know it.
E3 starts on Saturday this year, which seems absurd considering that it was just three years ago that Monday morning was the designated spot for the first press conference. But Bethesda and EA swooped in, doing their best to push back the boundaries of E3 as best they could. (Ironically, EA did this by completely separating itself from the actual convention.)
The ripple effect is akin to having an airplane row all to yourself. You've got room to stretch out, to sprawl without disrupting your neighbors. Each publisher and platform-holder has more time in the spotlight because its competition isn't stealing all the attention mere hours later.
That being said, it's somewhat tougher for you, the audience, to plan for. The grueling gauntlet of Monday press conferences doesn't exist anymore. Now you have to be readily available over the course of three days. It can be tough to manage.
So, in the interest of getting you prepared, we're documenting how long each presser is expected to last, along with where you can watch them. Without further ado:
Following its skateboarding series OlliOlliand its side-scrolling shooter Not a Hero, developer Roll7 is now shifting to Laser League, a team-based arcade future-sport game.
Players work to control nodes in an arena, dodge the other team's beams, and "fry their opponents with speed, strength, and strategy." There are power-ups, character classes, and you can play offline or online. That's the basic setup, but something tells me this is better played than seen
Speaking of, you may need to set this rapid-fire trailer to half speed to really follow along.
Laser League is looking at a 2018 release on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with a Steam Early Access version showing up sometime this summer. Multiplayer-centric games like this can sometimes be a tough sell for the general game-playing public, but I like Roll7's prior work well enough.
Does anyone really care what happens in an Ace Combat game? I know there has to be at least one person that is sincerely invested in the plight facing the protagonists of each entry, but I've never been able to even understand what is going on. Everyone sounds so serious and is asking a bunch of hokey existential questions that I just tune it out. I just like the art of soaring through the air and dodging incoming missiles.
Ace Combat 7 looks to contain that, at least from what I can gleam in this trailer. There isn't an ounce of gameplay present with the entire thing being made up of an FMV introduction to the game. I mean, it looks pretty, but it also isn't representative of anything we'll actually be doing gameplay wise.
T-minus less than two weeks for Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood's arrival on both the PC and PS4. We're rounding up some last minute deals for fans of the Square Enix MMO. If you're a PS4/PS3 gamer you can check out immediately from this post as unsurprisingly, deals are reserved only for PC gamers.
If you're a PC gamer that owns Final Fantasy XIV through Steam? You too should also go shovel some dirt because you too - are getting zilch in savings. For the rest of us who have been playing FFXIV on MogStation/Square Enix's platform since Day One - your undying loyalty has been rewarded with an odd numbered 17% off pre-order discount on Stormblood.
GMG's key will work for all region except for Japan, provided you purchase at the proper regional version of the retailer's website (re: don't use VPN) during checkout (more details here). Included in the pre-order deal is are these pre-order bonuses: early access for June 16 next week, along with a red mage minion plus an in-game earrings accessory that works for all classes and level.
Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood is the latest expansion to Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, and will require the base game to play. Included in this expansion is also the Heavensward expansion, so if you only have AAR you won't need to buy the previous one.
The game releases June 20, 2017.
Note: Support on FFXIV for the PS3 version ends with this release. Details here.
It's kind of amazing that Crash Bandicoot got as big as it did. Naughty Dog has a lot to be proud of (and even commemorated it in Uncharted 4), as they crafted a great platforming trilogy and one of the best kart racers ever made.
But now that duty has been handed off to Vicarious Visions in the form of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, which is set to debut later this month -- a full year after it was announced at E3 2016. Is it the end for Crash? Maybe not, because Activision isn't even waiting to see the N. Sane Trilogy's sales before making another announcement.
According to Activision's full E3 listing, in addition to Call of Duty: WWII, Destiny 2, and the Trilogy, there's also going to be a "special Crash announcement" during the show. I know I'm setting you up for disappointment here as it might even be the long rumored declaration that the Trilogyisn't exclusive to the PS4.
For the weekend leading up to E3, Ubisoft has decided to discount a bunch of their games on Uplay to get people ready for upcoming games...somehow. I'm not sure how that works, but if you've been holding out to get some Ubisoft titles on PC, first, you have my sympathy. Secondly, your time has come.
Ubisoft's "Crazy E3 Sale" runs until June 18 and features up to 75% off certain games. Obviously newer titles won't be that heavily discounted, but you can get some actual classic games from Ubisoft's store for a small chunk of change.
In addition to all the savings, Ubisoft is also holding a free weekend for Trials Fusion, The Division and Steep. Called the UbiE3 Weekend (how did you guys miss UbE3?), you'll need to head over to this website to register your Uplay account for access. You won't be able to try them from Steam, so that might suck for some people.
Let's do a quick recap on Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night's development process.
Back in 2015, former Konami developer Koji Igarashi managed to scrape up $5.5 million in funding, Inafune style, with a "stick it to the man" Kickstarter campaign. Originally it was set to debut on every platform under the sun with every DLC stretch goal at once, but the Wii U version was scrapped in favor of the Switch, and the team shifted to a "we'll get the extra content out later" approach.
That wasn't so bad, even amidst multiple delays, but when IGA and crew stated that they were "only 20 to 30 percent done" after two years and they're still set for an early 2018 date, people got a little worried. Now some are getting even more concerned as more footage is shown, including is semi-floaty gameplay that was unveiled today, complete with some odd particle effects (the bell crashing down at :025 is rough looking).
Still, it doesn't look like a disaster, and if they need to delay it even more, so be it.
Gaming headsets priced less than a nice steak dinner often fall somewhere between the meh to soon-to-be-snapped-in-half categories, but there are some exceptional standouts. I found such a unicorn among the hot garbage this time around.
The IC-HS20 by iClever are a curious set of headphones for $29.99. They're made of premium materials, they're YUUGE, come with LED lighting, sport a stylish design, have an almost eight-foot cord, and include a glossy headphone stand. I was dying to know -- at that price, what the hell is wrong with it?
Overwatch's anniversary event is coming to a close soon, but before that happens you can snag double the amount of experience for playing. The switch for XP was flipped last night, and will run until Monday June 12 at 11:59 PT.
While people are happy enough about the new arenas and costumes, it's come up that the amount of credits required to get everything in the Anniversary event is astronomically high (roughly 20,000 more credits than the last few). While no one is expected to unlock everything, the issue of currency creeping is valid, and director Jeff Kaplan recently stated that he and his team have taken note of it, and will possibly respond in the future (which they have a track record of doing).
I'm still salty about the first ever event, the Summer Games, which didn't allow users to buy any items with coins. They subsequently changed that rule, thankfully, but the Summer items remain locked until the event happens again.
Active Gaming Media and Tezuka Productions have announced that Astro Boy: Edge of Time, a digital card game, will be coming to Stream this month. The game utilizes a free-to-play model and will be available in English and Japanese.
Even though I had some problems with Arms, no one can deny that it's one of Nintendo's most stylish games as of late.
That flair includes the amazing theme song (that Nintendo just released in video form below) that gets me jacked up every time I boot it up -- so much so that I find myself just listening to the entire thing. I do the same with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, with its rocking guitar solo. According to Nintendo the track is sung by Japanese artist Eliana.
Hopefully they can keep up the pace with new fighters, arenas, arms, tweaks, and modes. If that's the case it'll end up just like Splatoon and could foster a healthy fanbase.
Bandai Namco has announced a new fighting game based off of the Dragon Ball series titled Dragon Ball Fighters. The game will be released worldwide in early 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, and is being developed by Arc System Works, makers of Guilty Gear Xrd.
While not much is known at the moment, as the announcement was accidentally posted early by Bandai Namco, it seems like fans will be in for a treat. The game will be using a three versus three format, similar to games such as King of Fighters and Marvel vs Capcom, allowing fans to create their dream team ups. Arc System Works will be looking to recreate the flashy, high-speed battles that the series is known for.
Everybody wants a superhero movie universe now. Thanks to Marvel's insane success at stringing together a cinematic comic universe, every movie studio out there wants a piece of the pie. You can't really blame them. Cinematic universes put consistent butts in seats, and there is nothing studios like more than consistent butts in seats. The problem is that these universes rely on established comic book IP to draw in the initial crowd, and there are only so many of those to go around.
Enter Universal's Dark Universe, of which The Mummy is the first entry (Dracula Untold totally doesn't count anymore). Here we have a studio trying to make a superhero universe out of what they've got: classic movie monsters. All our favorite movie monsters are about to become action heroes played by very famous movie stars. The question is, does anyone really want that to happen? If The Mummy is a sign of things to come, then no, no we do not.
As you might have guessed (if you weren't aware already), the Forever in the name indicates that it's an endless runner, but Team Meat's crew has vowed multiple times that it's not as shallow as a lot of other mobile titles. There's lots of examples of that already (Jetpack Joyride for one), but I'm still in wait and see mode for this one.
Demon Hunter 
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Hunter 
Mage
Paladin
Priest
Rogue
Shaman
Warlock
Death Knight (
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