Carzy Zarx’s PC Gaming Emporium - Catch Up on All the Latest PC Gaming Related News

[JEMC]

And there are so many articles after Blizzard's livestream for Warcraft's 30th anniversary, that I've put them all but one in this post:

Blizzard leans into maximum nostalgia by bringing back the Battle Chest to celebrate Warcraft's 30th anniversary
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/blizzard-leans-into-maximum-nostalgia-by-bringing-back-the-battle-chest-to-celebrate-warcrafts-30th-anniversary/
Blizzard isn't just releasing remastered versions of its first two real-time strategy games today: it's also bringing back the Battle Chest, a bundle containing both games that was a stroke of marketing genius back in the mid '90s.
(...)
Or, well, at least an old name. The Warcraft Battle Chest out today sadly isn't a box you can place on your shelf; it's just a digital bundle available on the Battle.net store. But it does still scratch that same "what a value!" reaction as the very first one did. It includes not just Warcraft 1 and 2 Remastered, but also Warcraft 3: Reforged (and the expansions, of course), and it's available today for $39.99.

Blizzard is trying to atone for the disaster that was Warcraft 3: Reforged nearly 5 years later with the 2.0 update, out today
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/blizzard-is-trying-to-atone-for-the-disaster-that-was-warcraft-3-reforged-nearly-5-years-later-with-the-2-0-update-out-today/
Warcraft 3: Reforged is "an exceptional RTS let down by a very disappointing remaster," I said back in 2020, before slapping it with a 59% score. Most of that 59% was simply down to the original Warcraft 3 being rad. After waiting nearly two decades for a sequel, all we got was a bad remaster.
(...)
Today sees the arrival of Warcraft 3: Reforged 2.0. "Throughout my career I've stuck to a few guiding principles," says Brad Chan, Warcraft RTS senior manager. "When something is broken, you fix it. When something is wrong, you make it right. And if things aren't good enough, you make them better."

Blizzard is relaunching WoW: Classic with 'all-new, fresh realms,' giving players another chance to experience WoW's earliest era
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/blizzard-is-relaunching-wow-classic-with-all-new-fresh-realms-giving-players-another-chance-to-experience-wows-earliest-era/
When WoW: Classic launched back in 2019, I held off. I'd lived through vanilla WoW once already; the nostalgia of revisiting Azeroth's early days didn't feel like it was worth losing the modernizations WoW's gotten in the years since. Eventually, though, I grew more fond of the idea—only to realize that WoW: Classic had moved on through three expansions, meaning Azeroth as it existed at launch was inaccessible all over again.
Luckily, Blizzard's about to reset the WoW: Classic clock once more. Announced during today's Warcraft 30th Anniversary livestream, Blizzard will soon be launching WoW: Classic 20th Anniversary Edition, a set of "all-new, fresh" Classic realms offering players a new start and an even playing field for another run at vanilla WoW's early years.

World of Warcraft's next major patch will let you drift in a car '4 to 5 times faster' than a normal ground mount, all while learning 'more about goblin culture than ever before'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/world-of-warcrafts-next-major-patch-will-let-you-drift-in-a-car-4-to-5-times-faster-than-a-normal-ground-mount-all-while-learning-more-about-goblin-culture-than-ever-before/
World of Warcraft'll be getting its next major update—patch 11.1—early next year, as announced during the Warcraft 30 year celebration stream. Dubbed Undermine(d), this update will take you to, well, Undermine—the centre of the goblins' OSHA-violating trade empire, deep underground.
"We'll learn more about goblin culture than ever before … beyond the humour and the explosions," states Ion Hazzikostas, game director for World of Warcraft. "Though to be clear, there's gonna be a lot of explosions." Phew.
The city will feature all the major goblin enterprises, with Steamwheedle, Blackwater, Bilgewater, and The Venture Co. all making an appearance. Each will have faction goodies to earn from the company store of your choosing, given they've all been pitted against each other. But who cares about goblin politics (actually, writing that out, maybe I do): World of Warcraft's getting drifting, baby!

Player housing is coming to World of Warcraft after 20 years, though you'll have to wait until the next expansion: 'It's a tremendously large undertaking'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/player-housing-is-coming-to-world-of-warcraft-after-20-years-though-youll-have-to-wait-until-the-next-expansion-its-a-tremendously-large-undertaking/
World of Warcraft has been the biggest of big boy MMOs for most of its lifespan. But one thing always staggered me about it: despite being out for over 20 years, WoW has never taken an honest stab at player housing. Of course, there were garrisons, mind—but while games like FF14 and The Elder Scrolls: Online have had entire communities sprout up around their customisable homesteads, WoW has abstained. Until now.
As revealed at the tail-end of the Warcraft 30th anniversary stream, Ion Hazzikostas casually notes that the team "does have one more thing to share with you". Fade to black. Cue a warrior opening the door like me after a drunken night out and staggering, world-weary, into his chair by a fireplace, only to plonk down a mug that says "home sweet home".
This has been confirmed, in an interview with PC Gamer's Tyler Colp, to be player housing: "It is, in fact, what it appeared to be—player housing is officially coming to World of Warcraft", alas, as the big logo slapped over the end of the trailer says, "in the Midnight expansion."

Mists of Pandaria Classic is coming summer 2025
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/mists-of-pandaria-classic-is-coming-summer-2025/
World of Warcraft Classic is going to Pandaria.
Blizzard's relaunch of the original 2004 World of Warcraft (plus some modern features) has been working through the MMO's 20 years of expansions—it's currently on 2010's Cataclysm—and it'll reach 2012 next year with Mists of Pandaria Classic.

Warcraft Rumble, Blizzard's first new RTS in years, will finally shed its mobile shackles and come to PC in December
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/warcraft-rumble-blizzards-first-new-rts-in-years-will-finally-shed-its-mobile-shackles-and-come-to-pc-in-december/
We didn't get too excited when Blizzard unveiled Warcraft Rumble in 2023: It was the company's first new RTS in years, which made it kind of a big deal given that Blizzard made its bones on legendary RTS games like Warcraft and StarCraft, but it was a mobile game, and so we were left out of the fun. Until now, that is.
As part of today's celebration of the 30th anniversary of Warcraft—and boy, am I feeling old right now—Blizzard announced that Warcraft Rumble is on the way to PC, with a beta test set to begin on December 10.

'It's about time!': Hearthstone is getting a StarCraft crossover set starring Raynor, Kerrigan and Artanis
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/its-about-time-hearthstone-is-getting-a-starcraft-crossover-expansion-starring-raynor-kerrigan-and-artanis/
It's pretty wild that over its decade-long life, Hearthstone hasn't done any major crossovers with other Blizzard games. Obviously it's based on the Warcraft universe, but given the liberties taken with that source material (the current expansion involves launching spaceships) it's a surprise that we haven't seen any significant team-ups. That changes next January, with the launch of the Heroes of StarCraft mini-set.