News | Fourth Diablo 4 season is called Loot Reborn

The fourth season of Diablo 4, called Loot Reborn, will start on May 14.

In an extensive blog post, Blizzard tells more about what players can expect. In addition to temporary seasonal content, the season will also make permanent major changes to the game. As a result, the new season not only adapts the Seasonal Realm, but also the Eternal Realm.

As the title of the season indicates, there is a major focus on loot. How this loot is unlocked, functions and influences the levels of players is being overhauled.

According to Blizzard, it will be easy to see at a glance how good loot is. “We have moved the complexity and customization of the loot to our new crafting systems, Tempering and Masterworking.” Tempering is a new crafting system for attaching affixes to items. With Masterworking, items can be upgraded by twelve ranks via existing affixes.

Furthermore, Helltide events will be available across all World Tiers and there will be a new Threat Level that increases as players defeat enemies. Once they reach Threat Level 3, players will face an “immensely powerful agent of Hell” called Hellborn. Also new is a new endgame challenge called The Pit, which can be done by up to four players simultaneously once enough Runeshards have been collected. In The Pit, players must defeat a predetermined number of monsters and a boss within a time limit, which will yield valuable Masterworking materials. The Pit has a total of two hundred difficulty levels.

The fourth season of Diablo 4 starts on May 14 at 7:00 PM.

by GamersInfuzed

News | Collector's Edition of World of Warcraft: The War Within revealed

Blizzard this week unveiled the 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition of upcoming World of Warcraft expansion The War Within.

The Collector’s Edition can now be pre-ordered and costs 200 euros. In return, you will not only receive a code for the game, but also an art book, a statue of the Gryphon Rider, a pin featuring Anduin, Thrall and Alleria and additional game content.

Since this week, it has been possible for interested parties to register through the beta of The War Within. People who register have a chance to receive an invitation, and Blizzard indicates that invitations will be sent out regularly during the beta test.

Following The War Within is Midnight, set in the ancient world of Azeroth, Quel’thalas, where the Void attempts to destroy the Sunwell to shroud the world in darkness. The twelfth expansion is called The Last Titan, which is set in Northrend, known from Wrath of the Lich King. Players will uncover an intricate plot surrounding the returned Titans.

by GamersInfuzed

News | New Overwatch 2 heroes will immediately be available for free from the tenth season

New playable heroes in Overwatch 2 will be completely free from the upcoming tenth season.

Blizzard has announced this. Previously, new heroes could only be unlocked immediately with a paid battle pass, or by completing different tiers of the free battle pass. But from season 10 onwards, all players can immediately start working with new heroes. This also applies retroactively to all previously released Overwatch 2 heroes.

In the tenth season, which starts on April 16, players will also be able to earn Coins through the free and premium battle pass. The amount of Coins that can be unlocked for free each season will increase from 540 to 600. Weekly Challenges will now award Battle Pass XP instead of Coins.

Blizzard is also adding a new way to unlock Mythic skins in the tenth season. These could previously only be unlocked through seasonal battle passes, but older Mythic skins will also be available for purchase through a new Mythic Shop. When this in-game store launches during season ten, the Mythic skins from seasons one through seven will be available.

by GamersInfuzed

News | World of Warcraft is getting battle royale mode named Plunderstorm starting today

As of today, the mmorpg World of Warcraft includes a limited-time battle royale mode called Plunderstorm.

Plunderstorm will be added to the popular online RPG with content update 10.2.6 and will last a few weeks. The mode has a pirate theme, with players searching the Arathi Highlands for skills, upgrades and loot to plunder. Each game lasts ten to fifteen minutes and starts with sixty players. The winner is the last one standing.

Players must create a separate character for Plunderstorm, which is unique to that mode. You can play the mode alone, or pair up with another WoW player. You find spells and skills in the world, which are then automatically added to your action bar. In chests you can find even stronger variants of all skills.

Players will be rewarded for their efforts with cosmetic items, pets, titles and mounts. A special reward route is available, including a Plunderlord parrot to string up and Bubbles the pet crab.

No additional expansion is required for Plunderstorm. Players of World of Warcraft Classic can also play the battle royale mode. More information can be found in Blizzard’s blog post. Below you can see the announcement trailer for Plunderstorm.

by GamersInfuzed

News | Three new World of Warcraft expansions make up The Worldsoul Saga

During Blizzcon yesterday, The Worldsoul Saga was unveiled, a new narrative for World of Warcraft that will be spread across three new expansions.

Chris Metzen talked more about the onstage expansions, calling it “the culmination of twenty years of storytelling.” This is the tenth, eleventh and twelfth expansion of the popular mmo. The first of these three expansions will be released next year and will be called The War Within.

In The War Within, players will go underground in Azerioth, where Nerubians and an Allied race called the Earthen Dwarves can be found. Players can explore new zones such as Isle of Dorn, Azj-kahet, Hallowfall and The Ringing Deeps and take part in a new treasure hunt called Delves.

Some details are also known about the eleventh and twelfth expansions. Following The War Within is Midnight, set in the ancient world of Azeroth, Quel’thalas, where the Void attempts to destroy the Sunwell to shroud the world in darkness. The twelfth expansion is called The Last Titan, which is set in Northrend, known from Wrath of the Lich King. Players will uncover an intricate plot surrounding the returned Titans.

by GamersInfuzed

News | BlizzCon 2023: All the news from Blizzard’s grand opening ceremony

BlizzCon is back and in-person for the first time in four years. BlizzCon 2023 runs Nov. 3-4 in Anaheim, but Blizzard fans can watch the show from anywhere, with two days of live broadcasts.

The biggest newsmaking event took place this  Friday, when Blizzard held BlizzCon’s opening ceremony, a nearly two-hour event that promised “exciting announcements” for World of Warcraft, Diablo 4, Hearthstone, Warcraft Rumble, and Overwatch 2. Blizzard delivered, revealing multiple new heroes for Overwatch 2, Diablo 4’s first expansion, a staggering three expansions for World of Warcraft, and Cataclysm for World of Warcraft Classic.

OVERWATCH 2’S NEW HERO(ES)

Blizzard revealed the next hero coming to Overwatch 2, the Samoan tank Mauga, on Friday. The dual-chaingun-wielding Mauga is coming to Overwatch 2 in season 8 of the free-to-play hero shooter, but fans of the franchise can try him out early this weekend.

Overwatch game director Aaron Keller also offered a sneak peek at the next year of Overwatch 2, including a new PvP game mode called Clash, which he described as a five-point capture gameplay mode. Clash will feature the return of a reworked location from the original Overwatch: Deprecated map Hanamura is coming back, re-imagined as a Clash map called Hanaoka.

Keller also promised overhauls to Overwatch 2’s most important in-game systems, including a reworked version of Competitive play and all-new Competitive rewards. He teased themes for upcoming seasons, which will focus on Eldritch horror, Egyptian mythology, witches, and a mirror universe “where heroes become villains and villains become heroes.”

Finally, Keller teased two more heroes coming to Overwatch 2 in 2024: a new damage hero, Venture, coming in season 10, and a new support hero currently codenamed “Space Ranger,” coming in season 12.

DIABLO 4’S FIRST EXPANSION, VESSEL OF HATRED

In the midst of season 2 of Diablo 4, Blizzard teased season 3, which will introduce a new type of weekly challenge dungeon called The Gauntlet.

But the bigger news was the reveal of Diablo 4’s first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, which is coming to the game in late 2024, Blizzard announced. Players will visit a jungle region new to Diablo 4, once again face Mephisto, and get access to a “completely new class, never seen before in the Diablo universe,” Diablo 4 production director Tiffany Wat said.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT CLASSIC

Holly Longdale, executive producer for World of Warcraft, revealed that “a new way to play hardcore mode” in World of Warcraft Classic is coming in 2024. But the bigger addition for WoW Classic will be an updated version of the Cataclysm expansion that originally launched in 2010. Longdale said that World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Classic will include changes based on player feedback.

In the shorter term, Longdale also teased Season of Discovery for World of Warcraft Classic, describing it as “vanilla WoW with a spicy twist,” with new secrets and class-altering abilities. That means players could become a Mage healer or a tanking Warlock. Season of Discovery launches Nov. 30.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT’S NEXT EXPANSION(S)

Chris Metzen, executive creative director of the Warcraft universe, returned to the BlizzCon stage to talk about the future of World of Warcraft. Metzen laid out an ambitious plan to chart the next two decades of World of Warcraft, which will start with the Worldsoul Saga. That’s not just one expansion, it’s three.

Metzen announced:

  • World of Warcraft: The War Within, which will send players to the subterranean kingdom Nerubian Empire to dispense justice;
  • World of Warcraft: Midnight, a return to the old world, sending players to the fabled lands of Quel’thalas to battle the forces of The Void;
  • World of Warcraft: The Last Titan heads to the wintry lands of Northrend, where players will bear witness to the Titans of Azeroth, uncovering a vast conspiracy that stretches throughout the history of the world and reveals the true nature of the Titans.

The first expansion in World of Warcraft’s Worldsoul Saga trilogy, The War Within, will be released in 2024. It will be WoW’s 10th overall expansion.

HEARTHSTONE

Cora Georgiou, senior game designer for Hearthstone, showed off the trailer for Showdown in the Badlands, a new expansion which takes place in Azeroth’s version of the wild west and tells an origin story for characters Reno Jackson and Elise Starseeker.

Georgiou also revealed a new way for Hearthstone players to get new cards: Catch-up packs are “game changing for getting your collection caught up,” because players can get up to 50 cards from a single pack.

There’s also a new mode coming to Hearthstone Battlegrounds called Battleground Duos, a new cooperative way to play.

WARCRAFT RUMBLE

Blizzard’s mobile action-strategy combat game set in Azeroth, which creators say “harkens back to our RTS roots,” Warcraft Rumble, is out now. Season 1 of the mobile action game kicks off with a new tabletop mini-style version of Sylvanas Windrunner.

by GamersInfuzed

News | Activision Blizzard Acquisition Preliminarily Approved by CMA

The Competition and Markets Authority has provisionally approved Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The British agency says that Microsoft’s new proposal has largely resolved its concerns, although there are still some minor points that need to be negotiated. The earlier announcement that Ubisoft, not Microsoft, will receive the right to release Activision Blizzard games on cloud services was a decisive factor for this preliminary approval.

The Competition and Markets Authority disapproved of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard earlier this year – as did the US Federal Trade Commission. However, last July the FTC lost the lawsuit against Microsoft to block the takeover, after which the CMA indicated that it wanted to sit down with Microsoft again. Shortly afterwards, a new deadline of October 18 for CMA’s ruling was set, but a preliminary ruling has now already been issued. The final decision must therefore be made no later than October 18.

Microsoft is willing to pay approximately $68.7 billion to acquire Activision Blizzard. In addition to Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard also owns franchises such as World of Warcraft, Diablo and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. King is also part of the company, a developer of mobile hits such as Candy Crush.

by GamersInfuzed

News | Diablo 4 season two revealed

Blizzard showed a trailer for the upcoming second season of Diablo 4 during the Gamescom Opening Night Live show.

The second season is called Season of Blood and will be released on October 17. Players fight alongside the computer-controlled Eris, a skilled vampire hunter voiced by Eternals actress Gemma Chan. Players can expect five endgame bosses, as well as unlock vampire powers as they complete new missions.

Blizzard’s Rod Fergusson announced on stage at the Gamescom show that there are now twelve million Diablo 4 players. In addition, he promises that new content will be added to the game for years to come.

Diablo 4 is available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One and PC.

by GamersInfuzed

News | The Boys characters are coming to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 as Operators

Three characters from the Amazon television series The Boys are coming to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0 as Operators.

A bundle featuring the Starlight character will be available this Wednesday, followed by Homelander on July 16 and Black Noir on July 20. The bundles cost 2400 COD Points each. In addition to the new Operators, the superhero stuff Temp V can also be picked up in the games, which temporarily unlocks one of the four available superpowers: Laser Vision, Charge Jump, Electronic Shockwave or Teleport.

Season 4 Reloaded kicks off in the games on Wednesday at 6:00 PM GMT, and in addition to the aforementioned Operators, Activision Blizzard has also revealed the other content coming to the games. For example, a smaller version of the Warzone 2 map Vondel is added to Modern Warfare 2, called Vondel Waterfront. Also, the Special Ops mode will receive the fourth installment. Task Force 141 is kidnapped by Hadir and it’s up to players to escape.

by GamersInfuzed

News | Diablo 4's first season begins on July 20

The first season of Diablo 4 will start on July 20, Blizzard announced yesterday.

It was already known that the first season would start sometime later this month and that Blizzard would announce the first details yesterday.

The first season is called Season of the Malignant and, as the name implies, pits players against more powerful Malignant enemies. By defeating them, players gain access to the hearts of these enemies, which can be used to craft powerful items called Caged Hearts that can add additional effects to gear. Blizzard likens it to Legendary powers that can bring “new, crazy, and broken builds.” There are a total of 32 Malignant powers.

The first season should also add a new questline. According to Blizzard, it is a “side story” to the main story of the game. As mentioned before, players must first have completed the game’s campaign in order to participate. So is the Malignant gameplay. The seasonal battle pass can also only be used with a new character created specifically for the season.

Finally, Diablo 4 is receiving a patch today that will allow Unique items to be found in Helltide chests. This should make it easier for players to unlock these hard-to-find items. Blizzard also announced a completely new class for the mobile game Diablo Immortal, the Blood Knight. Diablo Immortal is not playable in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Diablo 4 is now available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One and PC.

by GamersInfuzed