Month: February 2020

Blizzard’s president has acknowledged that it’s been a tough week for the developer following the launch of Warcraft 3: Reforged due to the criticism from the community the game received.

During the Activision Blizzard earnings call held on February 6, 2020, Blizzard president J. Allen Brack answered a question about the criticism that Warcraft 3: Reforged drew from players since its launch on January 28, 2020.

“Honestly, it’s been a bit of a hard week,” Brack said. “Our community has come to expect really amazing things from us, and we’ve heard from them that we did not achieve that bar.”

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Warcraft 3: Reforged was criticised by players for a number of reasons. Cutscenes don’t feature cinematic camera angles that were promised, some have reported connectivity issues, while others are disappointed at the lack of a competitive ladder.

Another issue is a change to Blizzard’s End User License Agreement that gives Blizzard complete copyright of custom games made in Reforged. If anyone comes up with a great game idea in Reforged then they aren’t able to take it out of there and turn it into a standalone game without Blizzard’s permission.

“But we stand behind our games, and have consistently shown that not only do we support them, but we continue to build on them even after launch, and we’re committed to doing that here as well,” Brack continued. “And so we’re going to continue to update the game, and we’ll continue to update the community with our plans going forward.”

Warcraft 3: Reforged received its first post-launch update today, which comes in at 2GB in total. However, it doesn’t make any huge changes to the game, mostly fixing bugs and addressing some issues with the game’s Classic mode.

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Blizzard has also changed its refund policy for Warcraft 3: Reforged, at least for now. Rather than having to wait for Blizzard to review each refund application, players can now ask for a refund through the support system and get it automatically, or near enough.

We gave the game a 7 in our Warcraft 3: Reforged review, saying that it’s “an uninspiring remaster, but Warcraft 3 itself is still a great game nearly two decades later.”

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Chris Priestman is a freelancer who writes news for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Diablo 3 has released its latest patch for public testing, letting you dabble with some new class sets. If you’re in the public test realm on PC, you can try out the new sets for Barbarian, Witch Doctor, and Wizard, among other changes in the 2.6.8 update.

Barbarian’s “Horde of Ninety Savages” class set boosts Frenzy, the Witch Doctor gets “Mundunugu’s Regalia” to change its Spirit Barrage ability, and the Wizard’s “Typhon’s Veil” maks changes to the Hydra ability. Blizzard also noted that it added extra Legendaries to round out the new builds. If you want to help test the new sets, Blizzard recommends focusing on one during the limited time, rather than trying to dabble in all three.

In addition to these class sets, the patch is introducing a new Season 20 Theme, Season of the Forbidden Archives. That theme will be accompanied by a revised Kanai’s Cube that removes many of its usual restrictions. The focus is on letting players boost their own power level rather than focus on environmental effects. Playing Season 20 will earn a new pet and portrait frame.

Blizzard has been updating Diablo 3 regularly with new class sets, updates, and other items to collect, along with seasonal challenges. Meanwhile, the company is working on Diablo 4, and just brought in a notable name to help steer the Diablo franchise: former Gears of War head Rod Fergusson.

Diablo 3 PTR Patch 2.68

General

• Infernal Machines and Organs are now subject to vacuum pick-up
• Crafting plans from Bounty Caches are now guaranteed to drop unless all plans have been learned

Seasons

• A new Season Theme has been added for Season 20, the Season of the Forbidden Archives:
  • For the duration of Season 20, all slots in Kanai’s Cube will be able to select Legendary powers from Weapon, Armor, or Jewelry
    • This means you could select three Armor powers, three Weapon powers, three Jewelery powers, or any other combination thereof across all categories
    • Items are not self-additive or multiplicative (meaning, you cannot stack multiples of the same item’s power)
    • Once the Season has ended and characters roll over to Non-Season, players will have all currently active powers in their Kanai’s Cube reset
    • Developer’s Note: As we outlined in our Developer Insight blog, we want to continue to get creative (and maybe a little crazy) with the Season Themes and powers we add to the game. We heard from some players that they preferred themes that made your character directly feel more powerful rather than needing to focus on the environment around you. If that describes you, then the Season of Forbidden Archives should be right up your alley, and we’re really interested to see how this changes the game for Season 20.
• Two new Seasonal rewards are available for players who fully complete the Season 20 Journey, including a new portrait frame and pet

Classes

• Crusader
  • Heaven’s Fury
    • The animation for the Fires of Heaven rune can no longer be cancelled early.

Items

• Developer’s Note: With Patch 2.6.8, we’re adding three(!) new class sets with similar goals to those we included in the previous patch. Each set was designed primarily with boosting long-requested skills and play styles we lifted directly from community feedback. Frenzy, Spirit Barrage, and Hydra were requests that offered a lot of opportunity for gameplay exploration, and we’re looking forward to seeing what players do with these new tools at their disposal. Additional changes to associated supplemental Legendaries have been included to round out these builds. It is critical when providing feedback on these sets to include whether or not you were using the Season 20 buff during your testing; while feedback of any kind is welcome, we’re especially interested in Non-Seasonal testing as that will better reflect the long-term performance of these sets.
• Mantle of Channeling
  • The bonus granted by this item now occurs 1 second after channeling has begun
• Barbarian
  • New Class Set: Horde of the Ninety Savages
    • 2-Piece Bonus: Double the effectiveness of all Shouts. Feared Enemies take double damage.
    • 4-Piece Bonus: Each stack of Frenzy reduces damage taken by 5%.
    • 6-Piece Bonus: Frenzy deals 1000% increased damage per stack.
  • Undisputed Champion
    • Frenzy gains the effect of every rune and deals 300-400% increased damage.
  • Bastion’s Revered
    • Frenzy now stacks up to 10 times and hits an additional time per attack. Each additional hit will chain to any enemies within 15 yards and the damage is split between all affected enemies.
• Witch Doctor
  • New Class Set: Mundunugu’s Regalia
    • 2-Piece Bonus: Big Bad Voodoo now follows you and lasts twice as long.
    • 4-Piece Bonus: Gain 50% damage reduction for 30 seconds when you enter the Spirit Realm.
    • 6-Piece Bonus: Spirit Barrage deals increased damage equal to 50 times your Mana Regeneration per Second.
  • The Barber
    • Instead of dealing direct damage, your Spirit Barrage now accumulates on the target. When you stop casting, it explodes dealing 225-250% 400-500% of the accumulated damage to all enemies within 15 yards.
  • Gazing Demise
    • Spirit Barrage gains the Phantasm rune. Each active Phantasm lasts twice as long, increases the damage of Spirit Barrage by 40-50% 100-150%, and also increases the attack rate from Manitou spectres.
    • Now always rolls with Critical Hit Chance instead of Life Per Second.
• Wizard
  • New Class Set: The Typhon’s Veil
    • 2-Piece Bonus: Double the duration of Hydras and increase the number of heads on multi-headed Hydras by two.
    • 4-Piece Bonus: Damage taken is reduced by 8% for each Hydra head alive as long as there is one available. Each time you take damage, a Hydra heads dies.
    • 6-Piece Bonus: Hydras deal 1000% increased damage for each Hydra head alive.
  • Serpent’s Sparker
    • You may have one extra Hydra active at a time and they deal 450-600% increased damage.
  • The Magistrate
    • Frost Hydra Your Hydras now periodically casts Frost Nova and deal 450-600% increased damage.
  • Etched Sigil
    • The bonus granted by this item now occurs 1 second after channeling has begun.
  • Deathwish
    • The bonus granted by this item now occurs 1 second after channeling has begun.

Bugs

• Several issues with adding/removing players to group and starting new games as a group have been resolved
• Captain Crimson’s Trimmings
  • Fixed an issue where the set bonus did not increase damage reduction when using Devour – Voracious
• Crusader
  • Corrected the spelling of “Imperius” on the flavor text for several pieces of the Aegis of Valor set
  • Fixed an issue where the bolts cast by Fist of the Heavens – Divine Well failed to zap enemies

Animal Crossing: New Horizons‘ release date is quickly approaching–the highly anticipated game will launch March 20, 2020 exclusively on Nintendo Switch. Physical pre-orders for New Horizons have been available for a while, but the new Animal Crossing game has finally arrived on the Switch Eshop, meaning you can now pre-order your copy digitally. And if you’ve been holding onto one of Nintendo’s game vouchers from last year, you’re in luck, because Animal Crossing: New Horizons is also eligible for that offer.

Nintendo’s game voucher program was rolled out last year, offering two vouchers for $100 USD / £84 / AU$134.95. Assuming you redeem the vouchers on two full-price Nintendo Switch games, you could save yourself $20 / £16 / AU$24.95 overall. It was a great deal considering first-party Switch games just don’t drop below list price when they’re brand-new, and you could redeem the vouchers any two eligible games, from Pokemon Sword and Shield and Luigi’s Mansion 3 to Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Unfortunately, vouchers are no longer available to be purchased in the United States or Australia, so hopefully you took advantage of the promotion last year.

If you want to redeem your voucher on Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you can do so in the Nintendo Switch Eshop, or on Nintendo.com if you’re in the US or Canada. The newly released Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore was just added to the list of eligible titles as well, if you have more than one voucher saved up.

If you prefer to pre-order a physical copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Best Buy is offering $10 reward credit as well as a Tom Nook peel-and-stick accessory with all purchases. There’s also a wide range of Animal Crossing: New Horizons merchandise, including some very cute Animal Crossing Switch controllers, available to pre-order now.

Despite first releasing in 2013, Grand Theft Auto V continues to sell like it’s a brand-new game. It managed to top the U.S. PlayStation Store’s January charts, beating out the likes of the new Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot as well as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Madden NFL 20.

Those games were joined on the PS4 charts by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition, which has seen a surge in popularity since The Witcher debuted on Netflix. It has also experienced renewed success on PC, where its player count has even risen past where it was at launch. Star Wars Battlefront II, Minecraft, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and EA Sports UFC 3 all managed to crack the top 10, as well.

On the PlayStation VR side, the biggest games continue to perform well. Beat Saber and Superhot VR led the pack, with Job Simulator and Arizona Sunshine also included. Though none of these games are new, they’re certainly among the most-polished titles available on the platform.

The full sales chart information is listed below.

PS4 Games

1. Grand Theft Auto V

2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

3. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

5. Star Wars Battlefront II

6. Madden NFL 20

7. Minecraft

8. EA Sports UFC 3

9. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen order

10. Payday 2: Crimewave Edition

11. NBA 2K20

12. God of War

13. Need for Speed Heat

14. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

15. Red Dead Redemption 2

16. Rocket League

17. Resident Evil 2

18. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition

19. Need for Speed Payback

20. Marvel’s Spider-Man

PSVR Games

1. Beat Saber

2. Superhot VR

3. Job Simulator

4. Arizona Sunshine

5. Surgeon Simulator: Experience Reality

6. Creed: Rise to Glory

7. Doom VFR

8. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR

9. Vacation Simulator

10. Drunkn Bar Fight

Free-to-Play Games

1. Fortnite

2. Darwin Project

3. Cuisine Royale

4. Apex Legends

5. Brawlhalla

6. Dauntless

7. Warframe

8. Paladins

9. DC Universe Online

10. H1Z1: Battle Royale

DLC and Expansions

1. Fortnite – The Wavebreaker Pack

2. Kingdom Hearts III Re:Mind

3. Fortnite – Polar Legends Pack

4. GTA Online: Criminal Enterprise Starter Pack

5. Star Wars Battlefront II: Celebration Edition Upgrade

6. Fortnite – Frozen Legends Pack

7. Fortnite: Save the World – Standard Founder’s Pack

8. Kingdom Hearts III Re:Mind + Concert Video

9. Fortnite – Darkfire Bundle

10. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep

Bungie is starting to tease some of the big gameplay changes in store for the next season of Destiny 2, which is set to kick off in just a few weeks. Swords are the first item on the list, and Bungie is completely reworking what role they will play in combat.

Previously, swords occupied the same space as shotguns, slotting into the close-quarters, high-damage role making them almost interchangeable. Bungie wants to shake this up, primarily by giving players more flexibility when it comes to how swords consume ammunition, and how that ties into the new sword energy meter.

Sword energy will replace your melee meter when you have a sword quipped, slowly recharging over time in the same way. Although you will still consume ammunition when attacking, this energy will be used when initiating a heavy attack. The more energy you have, the stronger the attack, adding more nuance to previous strategies that just relied on getting up closing and mashing attack as fast as possible.

Energy will also be consumed when guarding. Although you’ll still need at least one ammo to start a guard, each stance and damage resistance type will now only drain your energy in different ways without consuming any ammunition. The changes were influenced by how Stronghold, a Titan exotic from Season of the Drifter, influenced the otherwise unused guarding mechanic. Bungie have now applied its influence across the board, but promise that Stronghold will be adapted accordingly so that it still feels unique.

Light attacks won’t consume energy at all, but have been reworked to allow for the standard three hit combos to loop indefinitely now too. Bungie hopes that this will leave players less open at the end of combos, while also adding to other changes to give all sword a “hack and slash” feel.

A detailed breakdown of all the changes to swords can be read in Bungie’s weekly Destiny 2 update, which includes details about Crimson Days, a patch note preview for Season 10, and more.

As part of Take-Two’s latest earnings report, the publisher revealed that two of its studios have been working on unannounced games that we’ll be hearing more about “in the coming months.”

The first is from developer Hanger 13, the team behind 2016’s Mafia III. Take-Two president Karl Slatoff wouldn’t say what exactly the project is, only that we’ll be finding out at some point later this year.

The other project we’ll soon discover more about is from 2K Silicon Valley. The studio was only established a year ago and doesn’t have an official name yet, but the team, led by Sledgehammer co-founder Michael Condrey, has already been cooking up something.

Take-Two also reiterated during the earnings report that the newly founded Cloud Chamber Studio is very early in the development of a new BioShock game, noting that it’s still years away. The rest of the news out of the call revolves around Take-Two’s finances, with Grand Theft Auto V reaching a new sales milestone, Rockstar Games being in a position that’s “never been stronger,” despite the looming departure of co-founder and writer Dan Houser, and The Outer Worlds selling two million copies.

Overwatch has now hit 50 million players since launch, bolstered by the recent release of the Nintendo Switch version, according to Activision Blizzard. The company revealed the new player count in its quarterly fiscal disclosure.

This comes just after the latest update, 1.45, added Hero Pools at the start of Season 21. That disables certain characters from competitive play, with rotations coming weekly. This was largely seen as Blizzard’s solution instead of a pick and ban feature, which had been rumored just before the announcement. The Hero Pools feature may not return for Season 22, depending on how Blizzard assesses its performance. This is part of a new strategy to iterate with balance changes more frequently.

Overwatch was also impacted by the recent coronavirus outbreak, prompting the studio to cancel several esports events slated for China.

Meanwhile, Blizzard is working on Overwatch 2, which will introduce new story content as well as characters, maps, and modes that will come to the original game too. The development of Overwatch 2 did impact the original one for a time, though, leading to less frequent updates.

The Activision Blizzard financial statement also revealed that Call of Duty Mobile is doing very well for Activision, prompting even more mobile ports for the future. And sure enough, another Call of Duty is coming this year.

The reception to Warcraft 3: Reforged has not been great. Activision acknowledged as much in earnings call yesterday, extending the refund window for the remaster while also committing to upcoming patches to fix current issues.

The first update for Reforged, which is out now, is meant to be the first step in that process, and it does some cleaning up around the outskirts. It addresses bugs in the campaign involving mission event triggers and fail states. Blizzard notes that some of these fixes will invalidate prior saves, but will not reset any campaign progress.

Aiming at online fixes, the patch should address issues with invalid map names in multiplayer, as well as crashes associated with Multiboards on custom games. There’s no word yet on when some missing functionality from Classic Warcraft 3 will be restored in Reforged, however. Blizzard indicated that they intend to add much of that functionality in a major update for Reforged in the future.

You can read through the full patch notes below:

• Campaign
  • Players should no longer be met with a “defeat” screen after loading into a mission.
  • Audio levels for some dialogue have been adjusted.
  • The animations, triggers, and cameras for some cutscenes have been tweaked.
  • Disconnecting or logging out will no longer change the save file folder.
  • Fixed a number of issues that would block progression or not give credit for completing missions.
    • Developer’s note: Updating a map for these types of fixes invalidates prior saves. This is similar to how replays from prior game client versions no longer work. Campaign progress will not be lost.

• Custom Games
  • Multiboards should no longer crash custom games.
  • Joining lobbies for the same map no longer creates duplicate versions of the map.
    • Developer’s note: This also resolves disconnects from improper map names.

• Gameplay
  • The rendering of Classic mode has been updated.
  • Resolved an issue with hitching when constructing buildings or training units for the first time.
  • Fixed Ziggurat upgrade animation in Reforged mode.
  • Adjusted animations and portraits for multiple units and buildings.
  • Units completing training while off-screen again have voices.
  • Starting locations are again obscured by the fog of war.

• Interface
  • Whispers now include the name of the sender.
  • Locale settings for audio and subtitles can now be adjusted independently in Battle .net prior to launching the game.
  • Non-Latin glyphs no longer overlap.
  • A tooltip now displays when hovering over truncated text.
  • Chat keeps up with the latest messages.
  • Heroes on the match results screen are now contained by boundaries.
  • All menus are now distinct between Classic and Reforged graphic settings.
    • Developer’s note: We’ve implemented a temporary solution to better inform whether you are playing in Reforged or Classic mode, by applying a sepia tone to the background images for Classic.