Tag: blizzard

New ‘World of Warcraft’ Community Council lets players give Blizzard in-depth feedback

Blizzard wants detailed feedback from WoW fans.

The World of Warcraft Community Council is a new program from Blizzard to gather comprehensive feedback from players. 

Specifically, the development team wants to create a more open discussion with players to improve World of Warcraft  overall. Anyone can apply to be part of the World of Warcraft Community Council, and those selected (at least 100 players) will have access to a forum where they can chat with Blizzard developers about the game. A semi-curated space, of sorts.

“Part of the application process will involve sharing your areas of interest and expertise,” Blizzard said in a blog post. “Whether it’s cutting-edge raiding, playing alts, completing achievements, accessibility, or collecting transmog, we want to know your perspective and ensure you’re heard.”

Blizzard also shared a trailer for the World of Warcraft Community Council announcement. Check it out for yourself below!

If you’re a World of Warcraft  fan interested in the program, you can apply here. 

Blizzard is changing the board after the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing  filed a lawsuit against the company. Renaming the cowboy hero in Overwatch  to Cole Cassidy is a recent example, though not all fans are happy about that one. The World of Warcraft Community Council announcement will likely go over much more smoothly than that, though. 

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Not all ‘Overwatch’ fans are happy about the Cole Cassidy name change

Overwatch fans are all over the place with this decision.

Well, Overwatch’s  cowboy hero is officially named Cole Cassidy now, and fans are all over the place about it.

The hero, formerly known as Jesse McCree, was named after an employee no longer at the company after  some serious allegations were labeled against them. So Blizzard announced back in September that the character would get a name change, and at the time,  not every fan was on board. Regardless of that initial blowback, however, the studio decided to change the character’s name anyways, and thus, Cole Cassidy was born.

Blizzard unveiled Cole Cassidy as the hero’s new name on Friday, and it seems like they put a lot of thought into it, too.

Some fans are cool with it, while others see it as little more than a band-aid fix to the  real problems happening at the studio. While others still posted plenty of quality memes about the whole situation. It’s something, I tell you. Check it out for yourself below.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF. 

‘Diablo 2: Resurrected’ is still having server issues weeks after launch

Stay awhile and disconnect.

Server issues are becoming a regular thing in Diablo 2: Resurrected even several weeks after launch, with login and connection woes happening daily, Eurogamer reported Monday. 

A glance at developer Blizzard’s customer support pages on Twitter paints a somewhat bleak picture of Diablo 2: Resurrected. Since the game’s Sept. 23 launch, nearly every support tweet has addressed connection problems — over 20 on Blizzard’s Americans support page alone. Resorting to emergency maintenance for Diablo 2: Resurrected  on Friday, which lasted several hours. 

“We will be performing emergency maintenance and the game will be unavailable during this time,” Blizzard said on Twitter. “Thank you for your patience and apologies for any inconvenience caused.”

Blizzard restored Diablo 2: Resurrected  servers later that day, but things went to hell the next day. Loads of players were unable to authenticate and log in yet again. 

“We’re currently investigating an issue affecting our authentication servers, which may result in failed or slow login attempts,” Blizzard said later on Twitter. That notice came barely 24 hours later after everything was allegedly ship-shape.

Naturally, the memes from disgruntled fans were top-tier. Sometimes, laughter is the only way to cope with frustration.

Keep in mind that connection problems are going to hit every video game that utilizes online play. For example, Amazon’s New World is  still experiencing massive login queues, and it came out two weeks ago. Heck, Marvel’s Avengers couldn’t even flawlessly transition to Xbox Games Pass without leaving some players with issues. 

All these server complications weren’t present during  my review for Diablo 2: Resurrected, strangely enough, even if I wasn’t a fan of the game in general.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF. 

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New ‘Overwatch 2’ details to come during the Overwatch League Grand Finals on September 25

Sombra and Bastion reworks will be shown off during the pre-show and halftime breaks

Anyone eager for more Overwatch 2 updates should tune in to the Overwatch League  Grand Finals happening Sept. 25, as Blizzard will show off more of the highly-anticipated sequel during the show. 

It looks like we’ll get a look at the hero reworks for both Sombra and Bastion, in addition to seeing some updated character designs. Better yet, there’s going to be an actual exhibition match of Overwatch 2 between several pro players —which is pretty bananas considering the game isn’t due out until next year. All of these sneak peeks will happen during the pre-show and halftime breaks. 

Check out the snazzy trailer for this announcement for yourself below.

It’ll be pretty interesting to see pros play Overwatch 2, particularly because of how different the game is likely to play since it’s 5v5 rather than the original Overwatch’s 6v6. It makes sense that top players would get access first, though, as they will be playing an early build of Overwatch 2 during the 2022 season of Overwatch League. Here’s to hoping the upcoming exhibition match is exciting! 

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF. 

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Overwatch League’s celebratory All-Star skins are back for a limited time

Missed Celestial D.Va the first time? Well, here’s your chance to get it.

Plenty of Overwatch League’s legendary hero skins have come and gone over the years, but six of them are making a surprising yet welcome return. For a limited time, Overwatch is hosting its second Vault event where players will be able to pick up several legendary All-Star skins from past seasons.

The six All-Star skins include:

  • 2018 Atlantic All-Stars Tracer
  • 2018 Pacific All-Stars Genji
  • 2019 Atlantic All-Stars Mercy
  • 2019 Pacific All-Stars Lúcio
  • 2020 Gaia Reinhardt
  • 2020 Celestial D.Va

These skins are available now through Sept. 26, so there’s plenty of time to grab them if you haven’t already. Each one costs 200 Overwatch League Tokens a piece, which you can either buy with real money or earn through viewing Overwatch League broadcasts. Don’t forget to link your YouTube and Overwatch accounts together should you chose the latter method, though. Given that the 2021 Grand Finals are happening on Sept. 25, there’ll be plenty of opportunities to get those hours in!

Check out a teaser trailer showing off all of these skins for yourself below.

The All-Stars line are some of Overwatch’s rarest hero skins, so tune in to the Gran Finals if you want them! Unless you would rather just fork over the cash for them, of course.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF. 

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Early version of ‘Overwatch 2’ to be used in next Overwatch League season

Overwatch League VP Jon Spector confirms that the sequel will be in use during season 5.

When the next season of Overwatch League hits in April 2022, it will be using an early build of Overwatch 2,Kotaku reported Friday. Meaning pro players will get to test the competitive waters long before the game comes out for everyone else.

While additional information on season five of Overwatch League beyond its start date of April 2022 is noticeably light, Blizzard themselves quickly confirmed early reports that Overwatch 2 will be part of it. 

“Oh yeah, also this,” Jon Spector, Overwatch League VP at Blizzard, said on Twitter while quoting mentions of an early build of Overwatch 2 being in use during the 2022 season. 

Check out that thread from Spector for yourself below. 

Given that Overwatch 2 is making sweeping changes to PvP, it makes sense that Blizzard would want to get it into the hands of pros before anyone else. PvP, for example, will opt for 5v5 rather than Overwatch’s 6v6. Teams will also only be allowed to use a single tank, which upset a lot of people.

Here’s to hoping that these changes, in the end, will make Overwatch League even more exciting than it was before. 

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF. 

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Malevento is the new deathmatch map for ‘Overwatch’

Hop on the PC public test realm to get in on the free-for-all action.

Overwatch doesn’t get too many content updates these days, but Malevento, its new deathmatch map, is currently live on the public test realm (PTR). Though as is always the case with PTR updates, it’s only available to PC players at the moment.

This new map challenges players to fight for dominance on the gorgeous cliffsides of Duomo di Malevento. “Circle your opponents beneath the mournful stone eyes of Caterina Pastore, a Renaissance painter with a tragic past,” reads a statement from the Overwatch Team. “Or plot the downfall of your enemies in the mysterious safe house.” Given that Overwatch 2 is the team’s priority right now, there’s a good chance this will be the last deathmatch map Overwatch gets until the sequel. 

Check out some slick screenshots of Malvento for yourself below.

The PTR release of Malevento coincides with back-to-back bits of rough news regarding Overwatch. The first being the controversial decision to rename McCree, its cowboy-themed hero, due to the Activision-Blizzard lawsuits and the cancellation of Overwatch League post-season events. So this new map is a tiny bright spot of fun amid everything else going on regarding the game.

Malevento is set to exit the PTR and come out proper on September 28 for both PC and consoles.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF. 

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