I pretty much spent all of February ignoring WoW, Blizzard, or anything related.  The call of Valheim and the need for a break was strong I guess.  I suppose it is time to take a minute to catch up with a new month on hand.  And hey, it is Friday, so bullet points look like the path forward.

• Season of Discovery Season 2 and XP Boosts

WoW Classic: Season of Discovery hit phase 2 early in February, so that is hardly news I suppose, except to acknowlegde that it happened and that I haven’t logged in since before that occured.  I had done the WoW Classic zones already a few times, and for anybody who was neither raiding nor interested in PvP, Season of Discorvery doesn’t have much new to offer.  The idea of “Classic Plus” was always a fantasy.

The Gnomeregan raid was the headline of phase 2

Well, Blizz has apparently at least realized that making everybody grind through vanilla yet again… they’re on a mission to make us do this once a year I guess… so will be introducing the Discoverer’s Delight buff, which brings a 100% xp boost for level 1-39 characters.

They have also decided to cut the price of level 40 mounts in half and to increase the coin reward for all level 1-39 quests, because while penury was all fun and laughs back in 2004, asking us to scrimp and save to just buy our basic class skills yet again is turning into a non-starter for some.

That will all land next Tuesday next week, March 5th, which is also “Super Tuesday” (of “Stupid Tuesday” as it may turn out) here in the US.

The team did say they won’t change the price of epic mounts, but I am not convinced they will stick with that.  Grind for that fast mount just on a server that will go away soon enough?

Blizz is also going to adjust a bunch of raid related things, because raiders are always the main concern of the company.  There is also some discussion of level 60, end game, and what happens to these characters with all the special skills and runes when Blizz ends the season.  My bet is that they will managed to make people angry somehow when they shut down the Season of Discovery servers.

Read all about it here.

• Diablo IV on XBox PC Game Pass

Microsoft… and I should probably just stop using “Blizzard” or “Activision” now, it is all the Microsoft show, layoffs and all… has announced the first formerly Blizzard title to show up on the Microsoft XBox PC Game Pass:  Diablo IV.

Diablo IV

Coming March 28th, you will be able to play Diablo IV by just subscribing to the XBox PC Game Pass, which last I checked was $10 a month, though rumor has it that price will be going up before the end of the year.

Announcement here.

• Prime Gaming WoW Tabard Give Away

Blizz has another WoW item available on Prime Gaming, the tabard of frost.

The promo shot for the tabard

While a tabard is kind of small potatoes, it still looks better than what you can make with the guild tabard generator, a bit of the game still stuck in 2004.  Also, only available for retail WoW.

Find out how to claim the tabard of frost here.

• Harder WoW Classic Hardcore

Is WoW Classic Hardcore not challenging enough?  Want to prove you’re even tougher than the run of the mill no-lifers who made it to level 60?  WoW Classic Hardcore introduced “self found” mode so you can prove you’re a step above the average hardcore survivor.

Hardcore for all your… something… needs

Self found mode restricts your character from using the auction house, recieving in-game mail, or trading with other players so that you can prove the purity of your efforts.

If you decide you have made a horrible mistake in choosing that mode, you can turn it off.  But once turned off, it can never be restored.

Read all about it here.

• The War Within Hero Talents Preview

I feel like I should be interested in what Blizz has going on when it comes to the next retail expansion… though I also feel like I shouldn’t care since I haven’t played since early Shadowlands… so I did poke my nose into the early look at the hero talent trees for The War Within.  So, for example, Paladins will have hero talents that work between spec pairs it seems.

This is one piece of a giant chart, let me assure you

And, at some level, “hero talents” sounds pretty cool.

But then the history of the game starts to weigh on me.  Specs and talents get thrown in the air and redone with EVERY expansion.  Nothing ever builds on the past, everything is a complete rug pull, changing up what you’ve grown used to in order to try and be fresh and new.  Also, anything with “hero” in the name is doomed to be nerfed it is as all useful.  The history of the game demands it.

Still, they have something in play.

More on that available, including large and complicated charts, here.

• Hearthstone Anniversary Rewards for WoW

Remember when Hearthstone came out… oh… ten years ago!  Yeah, back then for launch to get WoW players to try it out, they gave away the Hearthsteed.  I will admit, that was enough to bribe me to try it out.

Well, now that Hearthstone is turning ten, they are doing it again, this time offering the Fiery Hearthsteed mount to WoW players who log in between March 11 and May 14 2024.

Hearthsteed, hearthsteed, burning bright…

This reward, like the frost tabard above, is only available to be redeemed in retail WoW.  Classic players can suck it… which makes me wonder if I should bother.  Oh, who am I kidding, I do Twitch drops for games I’ll never play again, I can log into Hearthstone for this.

For all the detail about that and the Hearthstone anniversary click this link.

So it goes, here on the first day of March.  Spring is in the offing, at least here in the US, but so is Daylight Savings Time, so your mileage may vary.

I pretty much spent all of February ignoring WoW, Blizzard, or anything related.  The call of Valheim and the need for a break was strong I guess.  I suppose it is time to take a minute to catch up with a new month on hand.  And hey, it is Friday, so bullet points look like the path forward.

• Season of Discovery Season 2 and XP Boosts

WoW Classic: Season of Discovery hit phase 2 early in February, so that is hardly news I suppose, except to acknowlegde that it happened and that I haven’t logged in since before that occured.  I had done the WoW Classic zones already a few times, and for anybody who was neither raiding nor interested in PvP, Season of Discorvery doesn’t have much new to offer.  The idea of “Classic Plus” was always a fantasy.

The Gnomeregan raid was the headline of phase 2

Well, Blizz has apparently at least realized that making everybody grind through vanilla yet again… they’re on a mission to make us do this once a year I guess… so will be introducing the Discoverer’s Delight buff, which brings a 100% xp boost for level 1-39 characters.

They have also decided to cut the price of level 40 mounts in half and to increase the coin reward for all level 1-39 quests, because while penury was all fun and laughs back in 2004, asking us to scrimp and save to just buy our basic class skills yet again is turning into a non-starter for some.

That will all land next Tuesday next week, March 5th, which is also “Super Tuesday” (of “Stupid Tuesday” as it may turn out) here in the US.

The team did say they won’t change the price of epic mounts, but I am not convinced they will stick with that.  Grind for that fast mount just on a server that will go away soon enough?

Blizz is also going to adjust a bunch of raid related things, because raiders are always the main concern of the company.  There is also some discussion of level 60, end game, and what happens to these characters with all the special skills and runes when Blizz ends the season.  My bet is that they will managed to make people angry somehow when they shut down the Season of Discovery servers.

Read all about it here.

• Diablo IV on XBox PC Game Pass

Microsoft… and I should probably just stop using “Blizzard” or “Activision” now, it is all the Microsoft show, layoffs and all… has announced the first formerly Blizzard title to show up on the Microsoft XBox PC Game Pass:  Diablo IV.

Diablo IV

Coming March 28th, you will be able to play Diablo IV by just subscribing to the XBox PC Game Pass, which last I checked was $10 a month, though rumor has it that price will be going up before the end of the year.

Announcement here.

• Prime Gaming WoW Tabard Give Away

Blizz has another WoW item available on Prime Gaming, the tabard of frost.

The promo shot for the tabard

While a tabard is kind of small potatoes, it still looks better than what you can make with the guild tabard generator, a bit of the game still stuck in 2004.  Also, only available for retail WoW.

Find out how to claim the tabard of frost here.

• Harder WoW Classic Hardcore

Is WoW Classic Hardcore not challenging enough?  Want to prove you’re even tougher than the run of the mill no-lifers who made it to level 60?  WoW Classic Hardcore introduced “self found” mode so you can prove you’re a step above the average hardcore survivor.

Hardcore for all your… something… needs

Self found mode restricts your character from using the auction house, recieving in-game mail, or trading with other players so that you can prove the purity of your efforts.

If you decide you have made a horrible mistake in choosing that mode, you can turn it off.  But once turned off, it can never be restored.

Read all about it here.

• The War Within Hero Talents Preview

I feel like I should be interested in what Blizz has going on when it comes to the next retail expansion… though I also feel like I shouldn’t care since I haven’t played since early Shadowlands… so I did poke my nose into the early look at the hero talent trees for The War Within.  So, for example, Paladins will have hero talents that work between spec pairs it seems.

This is one piece of a giant chart, let me assure you

And, at some level, “hero talents” sounds pretty cool.

But then the history of the game starts to weigh on me.  Specs and talents get thrown in the air and redone with EVERY expansion.  Nothing ever builds on the past, everything is a complete rug pull, changing up what you’ve grown used to in order to try and be fresh and new.  Also, anything with “hero” in the name is doomed to be nerfed it is as all useful.  The history of the game demands it.

Still, they have something in play.

More on that available, including large and complicated charts, here.

• Hearthstone Anniversary Rewards for WoW

Remember when Hearthstone came out… oh… ten years ago!  Yeah, back then for launch to get WoW players to try it out, they gave away the Hearthsteed.  I will admit, that was enough to bribe me to try it out.

Well, now that Hearthstone is turning ten, they are doing it again, this time offering the Fiery Hearthsteed mount to WoW players who log in between March 11 and May 14 2024.

Hearthsteed, hearthsteed, burning bright…

This reward, like the frost tabard above, is only available to be redeemed in retail WoW.  Classic players can suck it… which makes me wonder if I should bother.  Oh, who am I kidding, I do Twitch drops for games I’ll never play again, I can log into Hearthstone for this.

For all the detail about that and the Hearthstone anniversary click this link.

So it goes, here on the first day of March.  Spring is in the offing, at least here in the US, but so is Daylight Savings Time, so your mileage may vary.