Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

System Shock Remastered is Looking Good After a Switch to Unreal Engine 4

The folks at NightDive Studios have released a new pre-alpha trailer of their System Shock remake, and it looks beautiful! Successfully Kickstarted last year, the game is a full re-creation of the 1994 cult classic in a modern engine. They had previously decided to use the Unity engine but after wanting a little more out of what the engine could give them, they switched to Unreal.

I appreciate the way they went about it. They switched engines back in October but didn't say anything about it until they had something to show for it. An engine switch is a big prospect-- best to announce it when you can show that you're up to the task!

See the info about it on their... Read All

More Fun with Borderlands 2

http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/49520/header.jpg?t=1485219026

Azurephile gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Azurephile gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Review

Recommended

Visual upgrade over first game

Large variety of weapons

Recurring characters

I thought the first Borderlands game was ok, not bad. It had it’s fun and challenges, which in some cases were polar opposites. I left two missions behind for another time, Moxxi’s DLC and Crawmerax. I had fun running over enemies. I chose to play as Roland, the Soldier and went with a Commando Class Mod. So, when I got to Borderlands 2, I decided to chose Axton, the Commando with a similar ability. In the first game, I stuck mostly with a good shotgun and sniper rifle. I liked using the grenades that heal me.

I had a friend that told me he was playing BL2 on his Xbox and... Read All Review

Recommended

Visual upgrade over first game

Large variety of weapons

Recurring characters

I thought the first Borderlands game was ok, not bad. It had it’s fun and challenges, which in some cases were polar opposites. I left two missions behind for another time, Moxxi’s DLC and Crawmerax. I had fun running over enemies. I chose to play as Roland, the Soldier and went with a Commando Class Mod. So, when I got to Borderlands 2, I decided to chose Axton, the Commando with a similar ability. In the first game, I stuck mostly with a good shotgun and sniper rifle. I liked using the grenades that heal me.

I had a friend that told me he was playing BL2 on his Xbox and liked it. I also noticed many of my Cheerful Ghost friends playing it as well, including an event I didn’t participate in. I tried it out during a free weekend on Steam and started as Zero. I didn’t play long, I was probably occupied with another game at the time. I decided to get the bundle on Steam during a recent sale.

I’m not sure if my friends played the first game before the second, but I think it makes BL2 much more enjoyable. Right away I noticed the visual upgrade within BL2, but there are other changes, additions, and improvements. The AI seems to behave much more intelligently. The RPG element seems to be deeper. You can run over enemies, but it doesn’t do as much damage as it did in the first game.

I haven’t explored the DLC yet (I’m only 31 hours into the main game), but I’ve already unlocked things and I’ve found numerous skins. It’s pretty cool, I am enjoying it. I obtained a good shotgun that does explosive damage, but I’ve later migrated to pistols with fire or corrosive damage. Now, I’m back with another good shotgun that does fire damage, which is against “flesh” and a sweet pistol that does corrosive damage, which is great against robots. There seems to be a larger variety of weapons in this game, they have new features, they look cool. It’s nice to see returning characters, like Roland, Moxxi, Marcus, Scooter, etc.

I found a relic, which I think I’ve had since creating my character, which increases the chance for rare loot from enemies, so that’s the one I’ve been using. I have a few others I like, too, but haven’t used. As for class mods, I’ve been going with the Point Man, which increases health regeneration.

If you’ve played this game, feel free to let me know about your gameplay(s). What characters, class mods, relics, guns, etc. did you use? Feel free to share whatever you like below in the comments.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/03/2017 at 08:22pm

I finished the game and now I'm exploring the DLC, beginning with the Oasis. BL2 is, to me, a sequel done right.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/03/2017 at 09:10pm

I agree. The only negative I have is the story gets a bit old after a few playthroughs but it's a solid game and holds up incredibly well for replays.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/04/2017 at 01:11am

I died a lot in the beginning, it reminded me of starting out with the first game. But, I've found BL2 to be much more fun and entertaining. I still get amazed by how it looks and behaves.

I really haven't messed with class mods and relics much. I use the relic that increases the chance of rare loot from enemies by 5%. It may not be significant and I'd probably be better off with the max health bonus relic I have been carrying. I'm using the Pointman class mod, which increases health regen and max health.

I have a variety of weapons, I pretty much use a fire shotgun on nearly everything. Yesterday, the game told me that if enemies have a yellow bar of health then to shoot with with corrosive weapons, so I have a weird SMG I use for that. There's a pistol from Moxxi I don't need anymore, should find a place to stash it, I don't want to sell it.

So far, I've only run into one boss that has a skeleton by it's name, which opens up after you defeat the game and get the mission from Tannis, I think. I may come back to that mission later. I'm almost level 40 and I've recently been getting rich from killing Cave Crystalisks in the Oasis area.

Oh and the skit/vehicle you get in the Oasis is the best! I usually use the Light vehicle with rockets.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/06/2017 at 03:09am

> Oh and the skit/vehicle you get in the Oasis is the best! I usually use the Light vehicle with rockets.

The light vehicle is good, I really like the truck with rockets. I wanted to see more vehicles in BL2 but the ones we got were pretty good. Hopefully Bl3 includes a few kinds and maybe a flying vehicle.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/06/2017 at 03:26am

It wasn't called a "skit" I was incorrect, but I really enjoyed it. The one in the swamp (Hunter DLC) is cool, too, because it can use fire, corrosive, or shock. I went with shock.

The Badass Crater of Badassisittude was BADASS because I learned that, "NOTHING'S MORE BADASS THAN TREATING A WOMAN WITH RESPECT!!!" Ah, these characters are cool. Now I'm working on Tiny Tina's DLC.

I saw something of BL3 and an Unreal Engine test, but I didn't look at it or into it....yet. I'm cool with more BL though.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/07/2017 at 09:48pm

I'm missing the BL2 Headhunters missions. I may look into buying them later. There's still some other things to do in BL2, but I'm done. I don't feel like taking on extremely hard bosses or continuing to go through "rounds" or repeating certain missions at a higher difficulty level. It's time to move on to the Pre-Sequel!

Overall, I've enjoyed BL2 and I think playing the first game helped me enjoy this one much more.

If there's another BL Cheerful Ghost event, I am ready for it (except for the Pre-Sequel). Some missions or bosses pretty much require four people. I can wait, though. I may replay these two games sometime with another character, but it's now time to move on.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/08/2017 at 02:18am

So you beat the base game and what DLC exactally? Awesome you did it that quick!

I still have yet to finish up BL2 but I'm in the last area doing a mission to save Jacks Grandmother?

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/08/2017 at 02:24am

Pretty much all of it, yes. I also forgot that I have $40 in my Steam wallet, so I can actually get those Head hunter packs without spending any more money.

I don't recall Jack's grandmother, but his body double is the character I've chosen for the Pre-Sequel.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/08/2017 at 04:15am

> I don't recall Jack's grandmother, but his body double is the character I've chosen for the Pre-Sequel.

I still haven't played the Pre-Sequel but when I do(I picked it up in some bundle) I'd play as Jack. I've heard good things about it and moon stomping or something like it.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/08/2017 at 04:19am

Moon stomping is fun as hell.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/08/2017 at 04:57am

I played as Roland and Axton and I wasn't sure which character best suited me for the PS. I could have chosen to play as Clap-trap! I don't really like the ability/skill tree for Jack's body double, but I'll work through it and figure out what to get as I go.

I haven't done any moon stomping, other than when having to jump on that first jump pad.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Take a walk in the past with the first Terraria trailer!

If you've been around here for a while, you know we can't stop talking about Terraria. I think most of us got into it with 1.1, when hardmode was added. This trailer is from around the original release in 2011, so it was before our time in it.

Back then, molten armor was the strongest, Skeletron was the last boss. Based on the trailer, the physics were different in many ways, flails worked a bit differently, and tons of sprites and blocks were different (look at those smooth doors and shiny dungeons).

We're coming up on *six years* since the game released, if you can believe that, and updates are still coming. Here's a brief look at the game's history, discounting minor... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/26/2017 at 07:00am

I'm so glad you created this post, after our discussion a few days ago! As I said, I've been checking every now and then on the status of Otherworld. We haven't had an update about it in about 8 months.

I didn't realize 1.3.5 until you told me about it in that discussion of ours. What has my mind cranking away though is why Redigit is coming back to work on this update. Does that mean Otherworld's development has progressed to the point where the lead developer can take off and work on Terraria's update? What about this update requires the work of Redigit. From what I read in the "upcoming features" section, it doesn't seem like a major update. Since Redigit is working on it, I think there may be something he's doing that they're not telling us yet.

Anyway, I can't wait for our next Terraria server! The memory of us playing 1.3 together is very strong, I think about it very often. We need to take on Expert Mode!

Oh and as for the game, I didn't know about it until you and Jon told me about it. You gave me a copy and I started out in 1.2, but I think 1.3 is my favorite update. Granted, I love what was added after I played it that first time, like fishing! It's exciting that the game is getting more attention and I'm eagerly awaiting the future of Terraria!

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/26/2017 at 08:50pm

I don't think Redigit is the lead on Otherworld, but I could be wrong. It's a joint venture between two different game studios so they probably have a ton of people on it. In more exciting speculation, it could be that the 1.3.5 update will have some tie to Otherworld! But I'm not holding my breath. And honestly, the lack of updates on Otherworld is a bit concerning. I think they announced it way too early. It's Starbound all over again, in some ways.

As for those upcoming features, that's just what's known so far. There hasn't been much discussion about it at all, and that feature list will flesh out. The big ones don't get spoiled until closer to release, and there hasn't even been a discussion on when that might be yet.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/01/2017 at 02:35pm

> It's Starbound all over again, in some ways.

Well, no. I see what you mean, but it's not really. For instance they haven't promised much but a new Terraria game with a story mode. They also backed off the release date entirely and didn't take massive pre-orders. For me, those are really big differences and so far I think they've done fine on messaging and handling the community.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 03/01/2017 at 06:33pm

Right, I agree. That's what I meant by "in some ways." I don't think they have done poorly messaging and handling the community, but not great either. There were very frequent updates until suddenly there weren't, and there hasn't been any news for months. The things you said mean I'm not disappointed, just a bit concerned with the big gap.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/01/2017 at 07:22pm

> just a bit concerned with the big gap.

Yeah, that makes sense. I still hope it launches at some point, it would be sad to see it go away.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 03/01/2017 at 07:50pm

I assume it will at some point sure, I do wonder how the dev cycle has gone. It may be that there's uncertainty and they don't know what will make it to the final cut so they don't want to say much, or there's just nothing new to show.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/10/2017 at 04:52am

So I finally watch the trailer and WOW the game has come a long way. I remember the 1.2 update and how massive that was and we created a new game to play the Crimson on. I think the Crimson area was my favorite until the...

https://media.giphy.com/media/dcubXtnbck0RG/giphy.gif

Update, which is the best update ever. 4K resolution will be welcomed as I have to have the game Windowed or it is a bit artifacty fullscreened on my monitor. It's amazing how they've kept the game updated so well over time and not let it be given to game rot and just made people get the sequel. Which i'll get the day it launches.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 03/10/2017 at 03:51pm

I KNEW that was going to be that gif. :D

I'm looking forward to the scaling, which is something Starbound has. Assuming I'm interpreting it right. In Starbound, at least last I played, you could have three zoom levels. On a smaller monitor the default would have been fine but on 1080p it seemed super zoomed in, and Terraria does a little as well. Plus it's nice to have a wider view when exploring and a tighter view when building.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

New Mass Effect: Andromeda teaser Shows Off the Characters | PC Requirements Released

This game keeps looking better. The end of next month can't come soon enough! I was a huge fan of the original trilogy and I'm stoked to get out into the new galaxy. The video above is the second in a series of Gameplay videos; this one shows off the character customization and it looks like a major extension to what we've had in the past.

A teaser at the end seems to indicate that the next video will be about planet exploration, one of my favorite and most frustrating parts about the series, so I'm hoping to see them really get it right with Andromeda.

The first one in the series is here, showing off weapons and skills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrWgLMH8yRU

In... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/26/2017 at 03:16am

No floppy drive?

So you will have to get Mass Effect on Origin right? What do you think about that?

That gameplay looks incredible! I haven't played a Mass Effect before though. I got 2 free on Origin but this series has been on my wall of shame for quite some time.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/26/2017 at 04:45am

I played Mass Effect 2 and 3 on Origin because the DLC was weird for 2 on Steam (I can't remember the details here), and 3 isn't even on Steam so Origin was the only option. So I'm not going into it for the first time, I've used it for other games.

As for what I think about it? I wish they still released their games on more platforms than their own, I tend to favor customer choice. But I totally get why they don't. Getting their games into their own system means they don't pay the Steam tax. But since I've used Origin a couple times in the past, I'm less upset. Honestly, it's a decent system. It lets me download and play games and I had no trouble doing so. I think they went from being a mess to being stable and dependable faster than Steam did, but they also got a chance to learn from Steam's mistakes.

So I guess I'm mostly neutral, but having everything under one umbrella would be more convenient.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/26/2017 at 07:03am

I've noticed the development of this game in the news stories I read every day. I haven't read anything about it, but I have at least one friend that's eagerly awaiting for it's release. As for me, I only own ME2 because it was free on Origin. However, I'm planning to change that, possibly soon. I'm planning on buying the ME trilogy (and possibly this new game). I'm hoping to catch a season sale on Origin, since the third game isn't even on Steam. I had a demo of ME and tried to play it, but it couldn't connect to the EA servers. I found out that the servers that the demo would normally connect to are no longer running.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/26/2017 at 08:52pm

> " I have at least one friend that's eagerly awaiting for it's release"

If that isn't me that you're talking about, then you have at least two friends eagerly awaiting its release :D

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/26/2017 at 11:44pm

Yeah that isn't you, not that you're not a friend. :) I should have stated one of my more local friends. He's another friend who's suggested I play the ME games.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/27/2017 at 03:04am

Haha, I know I was just joking. You really should. It's an RPG in space! :D

You played one of the Dragon Age games, right? It's the same developers, and same basic systems at a very simple level, but obviously... space!

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/27/2017 at 03:05am

Seriously, it edges right up against Bethesda games for my favorite series. It might be the top, but I can't decide that.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/27/2017 at 04:44am

Wow, that great!? It may have slipped my radar, like everything else. Then there's the whole, oh look another shooter game, but I did see it classified as an RPG. So a shooter-RPG, then I guess, right? "RPG in space does sound found." You know that it was FFVIII that got me hooked into RPGs, especially the Final Fantasy series. Later, I got into Pokemon, then the Elder Scrolls series.

I'm already playing a shooter-RPG, Borderlands 2. It's pretty cool though and I imagine ME probably is as well. I'll check it out.

I haven't finished DA:O. I have the Ultimate Edition on the PS3, but didn't play it much. Then, it came free with Origin w/out DLC. I recently bought the DA series, though. I got DA:O Ultimate Edition and DA2 on Steam. I got DA:I and all DLC on Origin. I'm planning to play those after Borderlands the Pre-Sequel.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/27/2017 at 05:18am

Here's some news I found about the day 1 patch and file size: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/mass-effect-andromeda-will-have-day-one-patch-full/1100-6448213/

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/27/2017 at 02:29pm

Man, games keep getting bigger!

And yeah, it's a shooter-RPG but you have some "magic" abilities through the use of biotics. It's more shooter than the Fallout games (since VATS kinda negates the need for most FPS mechanics).

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/01/2017 at 02:39pm

> As for what I think about it? I wish they still released their games on more platforms than their own, I tend to favor customer choice. But I totally get why they don't. Getting their games into their own system means they don't pay the Steam tax. But since I've used Origin a couple times in the past, I'm less upset. Honestly, it's a decent system.

I agree, Origin is a really good system. I'd maybe even buy games on it but I don't know of any must play(for me) EA games. I've received quite a few free games from them though and don't mind going that route until something moves me to get it. Not sure what that would be but it's possible.

> It lets me download and play games and I had no trouble doing so. I think they went from being a mess to being stable and dependable faster than Steam did, but they also got a chance to learn from Steam's mistakes.

Launching a new digital PC game service now, in many ways, is easier than doing it back when Valve did. Plus Valve worked out lots of the kinks and paved the way so other companies can start now and many of the "right choices" are known so it's easier to begin and differentiate.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 03/01/2017 at 06:50pm

Yeah, Valve was the brave plucky band of heroes that put in the work to make it viable. Remember how much people used to hate Steam? Now I can't imagine not having it. It's far from perfect but I depend on it now. I should probably diversify more, honestly, but I prefer having everything under one roof.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/03/2017 at 05:59pm

> Remember how much people used to hate Steam?

Yeah, I was a big hater for a while. With limited Internet Access the idea of Steam wasn't something I liked. When I had fast Internet and such, it was a much easier prospect.

I like having things in one place too, but I do like spreading things out as well. I like that I have DRM free games on GOG and Humble and then games on Steam too. The other stores are fine, I just wonder when we will reach "peak game store" mode and then stop getting more? Never?

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 03/04/2017 at 03:31am

Andromeda is now sitting in my Origin library, taunting me for 18 days.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/04/2017 at 04:31pm

Does Origin allow pre-loading?

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 03/05/2017 at 04:01am

Yep, pre-load is four days before launch. I love that pre-loading is a thing.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Season 11 of Mystery Science Theater 3000 Hits Netflix April 14th!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5T30hYVYAAHKQC.jpg

In the not too distant future the brand new Mystery Science Theater 3000 season will drop on Netflix bringing this classic show back to the fans and an entirely new audience. It will release on Netflix and to Kickstarter backers on April 14th, which is a bit odd as I thought Kickstarter backers would get a few days lead time but at least this way everyone can see it at the same time. Joel also released the new cast photo above featuring the new star of the show Jonah Ray playing Johan Heston, Felicia Day as Kinga Forrester, Patton Oswalt as Son of TV's Frank, Hampton Yount as Crow and Baron Vaugn as Tom Servo. There has been a lot of secrecy around the new episodes so... Read All

Even More Incredible AGDQ Speedruns!

As I finish up watching all the Awesome Games Done Quick speedruns from 2016 I missed watching live I wanted to share a few more you might find enjoy. The above Borderlands 2 co-op run is great as they beat the game in 1:44:50 which is an impressive feat considering it's a run that takes two people to pull off. It uses some fun weapon switching dupe bug glitches as well as some interesting speed bugs that make progressing through areas incredibly fast and interesting to watch.

The final run you should watch is of the Action 52 NES Classic Cheetahmen and if you know of the game and it's epic terribleness you also know the game is very hard. The runner huey beats the... Read All

Evans/Davis/Packard: Battle for the Cash

Jack and Rich (from Previously Recorded/RedLetterMedia) and Josh (frequent guest) play WWE 2K16 in a three-way brawl in The Battle of The Ladders. Jack and Josh have created characters that look like the two of them and Rich plays an actual character. It's stupid and hilarious. Enjoy!

Blizzard Dropping XP and Vista Support

In a move that shouldn't be too shocking to anyone Blizzard will drop support for Windows XP and Vista in World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm. Windows XP was a staple of Desktop computing for years but has been very unsupported by Microsoft since 2014. If you are on XP or Vista I seriously recommend you upgrade to 7, 8 or 10 as those offer you security updates and a more streamlined experience. With that, I imagine many people own old hardware that a modern OS just won't run on and if that's the case then i'd consider those machines a sort of retro game PC. Lots of older Blizzard games on CD will still work on XP as well... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 02/19/2017 at 03:48am

I imagine any PC without at least Windows 7 isn't getting much gaming love these days.

It's possible those old machines could still have a life in modern times, though. XP is one thing, but even crappy PCs that came with Vista run better with 7, 8, and 10. They haven't changed a ton of the functional system requirements. I upgraded a crappy Vista pc through 7, 8, and 10 and it runs better now than ever. I use it for things I want to watch on TV but can't do so in any other way than through a browser.

That said, OS upgrades from Microsoft didn't always come with a free upgrade window like they did for 10, so you may not have a cheap/free upgrade path. If you have spare licenses and you don't mind potentially wasting one on a PC that might not have much of a life left, give it a shot.

If you have a Vista PC and this is causing you headaches I don't recommend paying for an upgrade to your OS; put that money toward a new computer.

But as for Blizzard's statement that "the games will not run on them," I bet an enterprising XP holdout could figure out how to make it work. I highly doubt there's a major audience for it, though.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 02/19/2017 at 02:55pm

Noooooo!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/19/2017 at 05:21pm

Noooooo!

It might be a smaller percentage but some people in that thread were upset about this. When we shipped Starship Rubicon XP was a target OS and I do remember a few people submitting bug reports on it(If memory serves). I respect people getting as much life out of a computer as they can. I love for things to last forever too and I have a machine or two with XP on it kicking around. I don't use it as a daily driver though.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/19/2017 at 09:27pm

> I have a machine or two with XP on it kicking around

I hope by "kicking around" you mean "disconnected from the internet unless absolutely necessary," because there are some serious security issues with XP that will never get patched. One big reason Microsoft tries to get people to upgrade for really amazingly cheap (Windows 8) or free (Windows 10) is because of "vaccination" in a sense. Unsupported operating systems get infected more easily leading to more crap spreading around and more botnets. Don't be part of a botnet, Jon! :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/20/2017 at 04:49pm

Thanks Travis.

Connecting a insecure device to your personal network doesn't get it compromised in seconds but if I connected it direct to the Ineternet it might. That might be a fun thing to try too. Connect a Windows XP box to the net and wait to see how long it would take till it gets owned. Since I can turn it off easily enough that might be a fun experiment.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/20/2017 at 08:35pm

Haha, yeah. I've seen that done for a laugh and it really takes next to no time at all. It's nuts!

And that was even when it was still a supported OS!

But I wasn't even talking about using it directly connected, and I wasn't saying just having it there would get it infected in seconds. Just sitting there doing nothing on your network, it's fine for the most part (not entirely), but it has a nutty amount of security holes just waiting for a malware download. Even using what you'd think is secure software. Since there's no UAC like there is in Windows Vista and above, even a responsible user with a trusty install of Firefox (not including Chrome since you can't run a secure Chrome on XP anymore) can get screwed if an ad network gets compromised, which happens. Even the most trusted ones. Microsoft was handing out malware once because the ad network they used got compromised.

If you disable the hell out of unneeded services and install an outgoing firewall (your router has you covered on incoming, for the most part but again not entirely) and only use it for old games that don't work on Vista and above, and you do no web browsing, you'll heavily mitigate the risk.

And just to be clear, it's a matter of percentages. I'm not saying XP is 100% guaranteed to get malware, not by a long shot. But it's an entirely static target now since it will never change, and it's facing dynamic threats now, and anything can happen.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Hearthstone's Year of The Mammoth Standard Shakeup Coming!

When the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion launched the new Standard and wild formats became permanent in Hearthstone creating a yearly migration of older cards to the wild set. The details of the upcoming standard rotation hit today and Blizzard repeated which card sets were rotating out and also a bunch of new information that should shake things up even further.

Firstly the Blackrock Mountain, The Grand Tournament, and League of Explorers cards are rotating to the wild set. This isn't new news but if you've stepped away from Hearthstone for a time you might not know what cards are going to rotate out of standard. On top of that Blizzard is also moving 6 classic... Read All When the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion launched the new Standard and wild formats became permanent in Hearthstone creating a yearly migration of older cards to the wild set. The details of the upcoming standard rotation hit today and Blizzard repeated which card sets were rotating out and also a bunch of new information that should shake things up even further.

Firstly the Blackrock Mountain, The Grand Tournament, and League of Explorers cards are rotating to the wild set. This isn't new news but if you've stepped away from Hearthstone for a time you might not know what cards are going to rotate out of standard. On top of that Blizzard is also moving 6 classic cards to a new set they are calling the "Hall of Fame." The Hall of Fame aims to rotate out certain classic cards Blizzard deems to powerful to stay in the standard set because they seem to limit the design space. Whereas I like each card in The Hall of Fame rotating them to wild does make sense. Nearly each of the 6 cards have no equal and it would be really hard to make cards that are better in some way. The cards rotating to the Hall of Fame are Azure Drake, Sylvanas Windrunner, Ragnaros the Firelord, Power Overwhelming, Ice Lance & Conceal. Again, I get why Blizzard is doing this but the top 3 cards rotating to wild is a bit sad to see. That said they are going to refund us the full dust cost of the cards while allowing us to keep them in our wild set collections. Not a bad deal but i'll miss Rag and Sylvanas in standard anyway!

"We wanted to allow players to disenchant Classic cards that are being added to the Hall of Fame set for full dust refunds, but then felt that incentivizing players to dust their cool Wild cards was counter to our goal of making Wild awesome.

So instead, we're just going to give you the dust, and you can keep the cards!

Up to the maximum number of cards you could put in a deck, we will give you the full dust value of any cards you have that are being added to the Hall of Fame set. (Yes, that means if you have at least one Golden Ragnaros, you'll get 3200 dust!) The dust will be automatically awarded upon log-in once the Year of the Mammoth begins."

Originally Blizzard planned on releasing a full expansion, an adventure and another full expansion in 2017 but instead they will release three full expansions.

"Looking back, we learned a lot in 2016 with the introduction of the Year of the Kraken. One of the things we’d like to put additional focus on for the Year of the Mammoth is having additional deck-building options and deck variety in Hearthstone. To help give players additional tools and options to accomplish this, we are changing up the way we handle our release cycle. Previously, a Hearthstone Year alternated between Expansions and Adventures.

For the Year of the Mammoth, our release cycle will include a ~130 card expansion at the start of the year, a ~130 card expansion in the middle of the year, and another ~130 card expansion at the end of the year.

Why the change of release cycle?

At their core, Adventures paint colorful and thematic stories about the Hearthstone universe. Imagine being able to learn about the history and lore behind each of our sets inside the game in a similar way! Defining who the Jade Lotus are through a series of battles between the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan families would have been a great way to supplement the overall Gadgetzan story arc. That concept is something we would like to do more of in future sets: Take the storytelling and cool missions of Adventures, and combine them with the card pools of expansions.

Cards will be acquired via packs like other expansions in the past; additionally, each release will include optional single-player missions that will help develop the expansions’ thematic narratives and offer fun challenges."

Blizzard hasn't let us know when the new expansion drops but when it does it will start off the Year of the Mammoth. Since I love all things Hearthstone i'll let you all know when news of the new expansion hits and I keep with tradition a new pack opening video to celebrate.

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/20475356

The Humble Freedom Bundle Is An Amazing Cause And Pack of Games

The Humble Freedom Bundle launched today bringing one of the most insane game bundle values i've seen in quite some time. At the top of the Bundle it comes packed with The Witness, Stardew Valley, Day of the Tentacle Remastered, Subnautica, Nuclear Throne, Super Meat Boy & The Stanley Parable. This bundle also comes with some Audiobook love in the form of Cory Doctorow's "Information Doesn't Want To be Free" and "Walkaway" plus a ton of more indie games you might not have had a chance yet to play. Since I wanted to pick up The Witness and Stardew Valley I pulled the trigger on this immediately and then chipped in a bit more because it's a great cause.

"Take a stand... Read All