So this past week has been busy with news related to WOW. A new game called Hearthcast based in the WOW universe, several hotfixes and released patch notes for 5.3. Busy, busy, busy folks there at Blizzard. So lets get into it.
Hearthstone announced at PAX East.
So Blizzard has decided to create a collectible card game that is online only. The setting is WOW. You take on the persona of a "champion" from WOW lore and duke it out with another person sling spells and sending minions in. The board and cards all have animations to trick out the look of the game. And as you play you get to collect more cards. It is free game with the option to buy cards. I see this as a brilliant move. Not only will they create a new casual game that looks visually stunning but they are also introducing more people to WOW. I am sure that as people play Hearthstone they will learn of WOW and this will help drive subscription to WOW. It also will let younger kids start getting a feel for the game and for WOW parents to get their kids involved in WOW without having to get them a subscription. The game itself looks good enough to me to give it a try. And once it works on my iPhone it may very well be the game I play when I am bored and not at home. I do think that a pet battling game or a Sunsong Ranch game would have been a better use of their time. And I think it would draw more people into the game that way. But that's just me.
Hotfixes
So several hotfixes have been released over the past week. The one of major note is the nerfing of Oondasta's hp. After making sure that CRZ friends can't loot the boss, they reduced it's health. I think for low pop or under pop factions, this is a good move. It gives them a chance to kill this boss. High pop servers and factions just made it easier for them. Oondast also spawns more often so that means that everyone has better chance at it. The rest of the hotfixes are just balancing issues for the most part, or nerfs to content that proved more deadly than planned. All good to me.
5.3 Patch Notes
So the patch notes came out for the next expansion. New content was expected. The changes to PVP was not. I think the removal of PVP Resiliance is good start. nd if PVP Power only is found on PVP gear then this will make make each gear type (PVE vs PVP) King in their respective fields. I know lots of people are complaining about world pvp still favoring PVE gear. But I look at it this way. You chose a server in which the 'environment' or 'world' is free for fall for gankers. PVE gear should be king everywhere but in the PVP gladiatorial combat locations. Now if they can just make it so that uppper end PVP gear and the upper end PVE gear are the same iLevel then I think the balancing act would be completed. And this new notion of elite gear being for prestige only is pure bunkery. That is not reason to get it. And for me, would not be worth my time. If I want the gear to have a unique look, I would just transmog it into what I like. Elite gear has to have stats on it to make it elite otherwise it's just gear. Nothing elitist about it. Nothing to drive an elitist to get it. I think PVP is starting down the right path, but still needs to work on some of the details, and rewards.
So that's it's for news for today. Tune in tomorrow to find out what I talk about next.
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