Heroes of the Storm's new ranked mode detailed; influenced by Hearthstone
Blizzard’s universe-colliding MOBA, Heroes of the Storm, is getting ready for the competitive crowd. The new Ranked Play is on its way, that will allow for players and teams of similar skill to compete against one another.
Draft mode will be at the centre, allowing both teams to pick heroes for their team that are effective at the random battleground chosen - which is made known before hand. There’ll also be no duplicate heroes in ranked play, unlike that of the current versus mode.
People who abandon games - known as “leavers” - will face appropriate retribution too. Instead of being directly punished, they’ll be paired up with other leavers to help them “play the game the way they want to play”. However, if they decide they’d rather get back to the normal pool of matchmaking, they can work their way out by not leaving games consecutively.
Here's all the new multiplayer units coming to Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void
With any new expansion for Starcraft 2, you can be sure that there’ll be new units to wreak havoc with in multiplayer (and the campaign). Each of the three races will be receiving new tools of destruction in Legacy of the Void, and also applying updates to existing ones too.
We’ve got video previews of the new units and updates for you to take a look at, and start planning which race you’ll be playing going into Legacy of the Void.
Blizzard on Overwatch and Team Fortress 2 comparisons: "They're an enormous compliment"
Blizzard’s new game is Overwatch: a six versus six objective multiplayer FPS, and their first new IP in over 17 years. The game looks great - it’s already starting to grow on our Rob - but that didn’t stop the comparisons to one particular game: Team Fortress 2.
Blizzard are confident that there’s enough difference between the two; so much so that Overwatch will have it’s own niche in the market.
“[Team Fortress 2] is one of my favourite games of all time” said Overwatch's game director, Jeff Kaplan. “But we’re going in a different design direction than they are.”
Decoding Overwatch: Blizzard’s best new game since World of Warcraft
There was a moment, in the press conference immediately following Blizzard’s unveil of Overwatch, when Chris Metzen, Blizzard’s most public and high-profile exec, looked near close to tears. Overwatch is clearly a big deal for the company. Not just because of what the game is: a very fast paced first-person shooter. But also what it represents: a chance to salvage something good from the wreckage of their cancelled MMO, Titan.
How Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void makes your Protoss fantasies come true
According to the Blizzard developers working on it, the Legacy of the Void campaign is about one thing: Protoss fantasy. It’s a campaign made for people who take internet quizzes like “Who is your Protoss crush?” and “Are you High Templar, Dark Templar, or Tal’Darim?”
But even if you think the Protoss are a bunch of mouthless space know-it-alls, Legacy of the Void looks like it’s going to offer one of the most interesting single-player campaigns in a trilogy that’s become known for space operatics and innovative mission and campaign design.
New Mass Effect 4 concept art shows off two new alien homeworlds
Some concept art from the upcoming but mysterious Bioware game, Mass Effect 4, has revealed. They showed multiple environments, but notably two new alien homeworlds. The alien species weren’t shown themselves, but Bioware said that much could be taken from their homeworlds.
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