In recent days, more and more players have been stating that the v8.30 patch should revert the previous changes to provide an overall playing experience. When news broke that Epic was not backtracking, popular community figures took to Twitter to express their frustration.
For those that are unsure of what they want to play right-off-the-bat, we have compiled a list of decks that some of the most popular players are using and streaming live on Twitch. If you want to try out the decks themselves, the deck string is below as well.
There is a common stigma about the gaming industry from the general public that it's a "kids hobby" and they will "grow out of it eventually." Well, apparently Brian Kibler missed that memo as he is set to celebrate his 39th birthday in September. Kibler is currently one of the most well-known and accomplished individuals in the industry. His storied career that spans two decades has led him down the paths of a professional player, game designer, streamer, broadcaster, and more. Last weekend, Kibler attended PAX East, a gaming exhibition held in Boston, Massachusetts where he took to the casting desk for the Magic: The Gathering Arena $1 million Mythic Invitational event. In between matches, Kibler took a few moments to reflect on his journey in the game's industry and if it at all feels weird to see teenagers-- no younger than himself when he started--making tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars playing games in 2019.
Depending on who you ask, seeing Sheila 'Pterodactlysftw' Weidman at a Magic the Gathering tournament is the first or last place you'd expect her to be. Although Weidman's current game of choice is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, her roots in collectible card games goes back almost a decade, before she grew one of the largest Twitch streams on the platform and joined OpTic Gaming. Over the weekend, alongside 63 other Magic: The Gather Arena players from around the world, Weidman put her skills to the test in the Mythic Invitational held at PAX East in Boston. Up for grabs was a $1 million prize pool.
Fans of all variety of games flocked to downtown Boston, Massachusetts over the weekend for the Penny Arcade Expo, commonly referred to as PAX East. With the number of cosplayers in the thousands, standing out from the rest of the pack requires creativity, execution, and dedication. On Saturday, a cosplayer was watching the Magic: The Gathering Arena tournament taking place with $1 million on the line. What made him different from everyone else was what he was holding not only in one of his hands but the other as well. A plate of waffles and the Infinity Gauntlet? The combination seemed too unique to pass up the opportunity to learn more. A cosplayer whose name was Veldon, decided to tell the story of his outfit and the inspiration behind it.
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Over the weekend fans of the gaming industry from around the world gathered at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in downtown Boston, MA for the Penny Arcade Expo. Starting on Thursday and ending Sunday afternoon, developers of video, virtual reality, tabletop, card, and other game genres came together under one roof to showcase upcoming and newly released content.
Chromie and reworks: name a more iconic duo. For the third time in the past 18 months, the long-ranged Assassin in Heroes of the Storm has been reworked to provide an overall better playing experience for those piloting and playing against her. The newest iteration of her kit, which can be found here, is one that the design team hopes might stand the test of time. Most Heroes in the game have not experienced drastic reworks, yet Chromie continues to receive attention from the development team. I spoke with Alex Neyman, Senior Live Designer, to shed some light on why it’s, once again, Chromie's time in the re-design spotlight.
What was meant to be an exciting day in the world of Hearthstone turned out to be, for many, a big letdown. Prior to launching a new card expansion for the game, it’s routine that a member of the Hearthstone development team pairs up with a popular figure within the community to showcase some new content being revealed in the upcoming weeks via Twitch. To show off some new cards for the upcoming “Rise of Shadows” expansion being released on April 9, a trio was assembled to get the playerbase hyped. Peter Whalen (Senior Game Designer), Cora “Songbird” Georgiou (Hearthstone competitive player/esports caster) and Chris Sierra (Community Manager) were paired together for the event. The stream started with 15-minutes of back-and-forth banter between the three about content that had already been revealed and some developer insight into the expansion as a whole. Those tuned into the stream to see new content (which was in the tens of thousands) grew bored of the conversation only a few minutes in.
Last week the Heroes of the Storm development team revealed the two newest heroes to receive an overhaul or “rework” to their existing in-game kits. One of them, the Support hero, Lucio, was released into the game back in February of 2017. Upon his entrance into the nexus, his healing output--thus his power level--was quite high. All a player had to do while manning the character was stay within range of his teammates while his healing and speed auras would do the rest of the work. Occasionally, if the team was in trouble, his Sound Barrier heroic would provide a massive burst heal that would either turn the tide in a fight or save the team long enough for them to scurry away to safety. Over time, through tweaks to his kit, the design team provided a more interactive experience when playing with and against Lucio. But, it wasn’t enough.
Beginning this weekend, the META Madness tournament hosted by long-time Heroes of the Storm caster Thomas “Khaldor” Kilian will kick off with six teams fighting it out for a €1,000 prize pool. The event is being sponsored by RUNTIME, a nutrition company based out of Europe. Taking place over a two-day span, the bracket-style tournament will feature best-of-five matches until a winner is crowned. What separates this event from the other Heroes’ tournaments that have popped up since Blizzard stated they would no longer support the competitive Heroes of the Storm scene is the “Madness” aspect. According to the rules, heroes that are banned during the Draft phase are not eligible to be selected for the entire tournament. With numerous top-tier threats off the board, players will need to adapt over time and test their abilities to perform with unique and off-meta heroes.
Ever since Chrome, the Keeper of Time, went live in Heroes of the Storm back in May of 2016 the development team has had their hands full finding out what they want to do with her. A Ranged Assassin who can one-shot an enemy with a couple of well-timed abilities is a delicate balancing act. In theory, if a hero relies on landing long-range skill shots for the majority of their effectiveness in battle the balance team needs to consider a few design aspects: It’s important to make the damage output impactful enough to make up for that character’s low health pool while rewarding a good player who is able to land difficult skill shots. If the range on those abilities is too long and the damage is too high, they will be able to poke away at the opposition while remaining at a safe enough distance, providing very little counter-play and a frustrating experience for the opponent. If the opposite is true then players will not feel rewarded for playing that hero if they can be engaged upon very easily, blown up and lack the necessary tools to keep themselves safe while not putting out enough damage to make the risk worth the reward. In the past 18 months, Chromie has experienced three reworks to her kit, including two in the past seven. By following the clues left in the patch notes since her inception and developer comments left by the balance team, a tale can be told about what they may have intended her to be and what they learned along the way.
One of the grooviest heroes in the Nexus, Lucio, is the newest recipient of a rework in the latest Heroes of the Storm Public Test Realm as the patch went live Monday morning. Since he was introduced into the game in February of 2017, Lucio’s popularity--similar to his rhythmic jams--have had its’ ups and downs. There was a time when he was arguably the strongest Support character and helped push the Double Support meta into existence. Then, once the development team knocked Support characters down a peg as a whole at the end of 2017, his relevancy disappeared along with it. Times are changing, however. The development team ripped apart his outdated tools and reassembled it in a way that makes him more interactive to play with and against.
In a world of rapidly evolving technology, you either have to catch up or stay ahead to maintain relevance in the space. Socios.com is aiming to be the latter.
For one night the world of video gaming, pop culture, professional sports and the music industry seamlessly merged over a game of Fortnite streamed on Twitch.
At last, the eleventh expansion of Hearthstone’s franchise was revealed moments ago. Titled “Rise of Shadows,” the central theme revolves around a group of villains from the game’s past all working together to take down the floating city of Dalaran, for reasons that will likely be revealed throughout the single-player campaign. The first card set in the Year of the Dragon will introduce a new keyword: Twinspell. Similar to Echo-- a previously added keyword-- when you cast a spell another copy of the card will be added to your hand to be played again at a later time. The copied card does not have the Twinspell keyword available.
Over the course of the past week, Hearthstone’s Creative Team has been hard at work slowly teasing the upcoming in-game expansion and Wednesday’s Youtube video might be the final one before the official reveal. Throughout the four sub-minute long videos, the Fortune Teller, a character shown during the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion talks about assembling a team of plotters and schemers. Each of the tarot cards she has turned over has revealed a member of the evil squad being assembled for a reason that has yet to be revealed. It started with King Togwaggle, a final boss in the Kobolds and Catacombs expansion who lost all of his wealth and treasure to adventurers who defeated him in the single player game mode. The Fortune Teller knows he values fortune more than anything else and promises working with her will help him recover that.
If you blinked, you missed it. In a six-second span, an elite display of professional game knowledge, team coordination and mechanical skill was put on display during the Heroes Lounge Nut Cup over the weekend that left Twitch chat, Reddit and the Heroes of the Storm community with their jaws on the floor. In Game Two of their series, team “Washed Up” consisting of former professional players Thomas “Ménè” Cailleux, Dennis “HasuObs” Schneider, Filip “SmX” Liljeström, Aleksandar "ethernal" Milanov and Ivan "SportBilly" Koturić pulled off a team wipe of “Coming Through”’s roster that all but sealed the match and series.
They didn’t make the decision to have their employer, Activision Blizzard, cut support to the competitive scene. They certainly didn’t have a say in numerous individuals who were working on the game being transferred to other titles, making their lives more difficult. And, they didn’t intentionally alienate thousands of players who have slowly stopped playing the game over the last four months. What is in their control, is how the inner workings of the game itself will operate going forward to ensure that the current playerbase is given the best playing experience possible. On Wednesday afternoon, members of the development team held an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) on the game’s subReddit (/r/heroesofthestorm) where fans were chomping at the bit to get the opportunity to have their questions answered.
What transpired over the weekend was a spectacle within the Heroes of the Storm community that many feared would never happen again after Activision Blizzard stated they would no longer support the game’s competitive scene back in December. A competitive Heroes of the Storm tournament reached over 11,500 --11,537 to be precise-- viewers on Twitch at a single moment, according to twitchtracker.com.
