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As we wind down the year that was 2015, we like to look back and think about certain events. Then, if you’re like me, you like to ask yourself “Did that happen this year, or the last one?”
No worries. If you’re wondering what happened in the world of Hearthstone this year, this article has you covered. And what a busy year it was, with two adventure arcs being made available to play and an expansion that added over a hundred new cards to the game and made the Paladin hero one of the most popular in the current meta.
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Undertaker Nerf – Jan 29th
We started off the year with Blizzard addressing the problem of a card that had been added with the Naxxramas adventure earlier – the Undertaker card. A 1-mana cost Minion, it gained +1/+1 for every Deathrattle Minion that was played after it on the friendly player’s side, which led to it sometimes getting bloated quite fast for a simple 1-cost Minion. Blizzard decided shortly after the year started that the time had come to nerf the card slightly, removing its health buffing ability but letting it keep its attack buffing in a patch applied January 29th.
“Undertaker was frustrating to play against. It often gained both Attack and Health stats significantly above those of other inexpensive minions very early in the game. With this change, we expect Undertaker will still be better than other 1-Mana minions when played in a deck with a Deathrattle theme, but more likely to die in combat against other minions.“
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Blackrock Mountain – April 2nd/3rd
The first adventure of the year came out at the beginning of April, allowing us to journey through a single-player route that saw the bosses and setting matching that of the Blackrock raid from World of Warcraft (adding in its own Hearthstone twists of course). Having been announced March 6th at PAX East, Blackrock Mountain saw you fighting first against Ragnaros for Nefarian, then later wings saw you then taking on the black dragon himself as well as his sister and other associated creatures from the Blackrock Spire. It also introduced to the game the new Dragon Minion type, with several new Dragon cards being released as well as some older cards being re-designated Dragons. New card effects came to use what was in the hand of players now, such as the combinations of cards that rely on held Dragon Minions that now see wide use in the like of the Dragon Priest decks.
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Hearthstone on mobile – April
April also saw the release of Hearthstone onto mobile devices at last, with the delay being partially down to the need to reorganise the elements on screen to fit the smaller screen of a phone. The mobile versions were to be updated at the same time as the computer and tablet versions and the same account data was shared between devices.
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Tavern Brawl – June 17th
The middle of the year brought a surprise with the implementation of a new game mode that Blizzard had apparently been working on since Hearthstone launched. Starting with the “Showdown at Blackrock Mountain” Brawl that let players randomly play either as Ragnaros or Nefarian as they had appeared in the Blackrock Mountain Adventure, Tavern Brawl launched on June 17th. With new rules every week, the Tavern Brawl opens for five days every week to allow players to take on random other players using pre-constructed decks for the fight or constructing decks to take advantage of crazy rules in play, such as each destroyed Minion spawning a new Minion that cost 2 less mana in its place or both players having the costs of cards in their hand randomised each turn. The first win each week also nets the winner a free Classic pack of cards to open (except for the Gift Exchange Brawl which gifted the Winter Veil Wreath card back).
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New Heroes; Magni Bronzebeard – June
Also at the beginning of June the news was announced that Blizzard were going to make alternative Heroes available for classes, with Magni Bronzebeard being the first as another Warrior. The Heroes were purchasable cosmetics from the store and some criticized them at time of release because it was felt that the price was a little bit excessive, as the Hero Powers remained the same and all the changes were just purely cosmetic.
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The Grand Tournament – August 24th
On July 22, 2015 Blizzard hosted a special event at The Folsom Street Foundry, San Francisco at which Eric Dodds announced the next big Hearthstone expansion that was coming – The Grand Tournament! Released on August 24th and based around the Argent Tournament (or at least what happened in the years after the major lore-important Argent Tournament), Blizzard had an offer on that saw players able to pre-order 50 of the new packs at a discount before the expansion released which also gifted an exclusive cardback. Added were 132 cards, with all the Heroes getting a few decent new spells and Minions from it. A new keyword was added to the game with Inspire – a special effect that triggered upon the player using their Hero Power. Joust was also added, although not as a keyword but rather a sub-type of Battlecry. Jousts require both players to draw a Minion from their decks, and if the Jousting player has the higher cost card, an effect is triggered based on what the Minion has on their card (example: Armored Warhouse gains Charge). This led to an upsurge in the popularity of the Paladin Hero (including with myself mostly due to Murloc Knight), and with the Mysterious Challenger led to the deck now known as the ‘Secrets Paladin’ (or the Christmas Tree Deck).
In the same patch Ranked now had a change made so that based on how high a rank you achieved during a month, you also now earned golden cards, gold and arcane dust at the beginning of a month. Blizzard made this change after feedback made them realise that players didn’t see much point to leveling beyond Rank 20 and getting the month’s new cardback anymore. Arena was also changed so that card packs given as prizes could now be of any of the 3 packs types.
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Warsong Commander Nerf – October 30th
Blackrock obviously had brought with it some new cards as well as winnable prizes for completing bosses, one of which was the Grim Patron. A 3/3 5-cost mana Minion that could summon another full health Patron upon being hurt as long as it wasn’t fatal damage, it quickly found a place in the hearts of Warrior players and the Grim Patron deck was born. This deck relied on the use of the Patron’s effect as well as that of a Warrior exclusive card, Warsong Commander, that gave Charge to all Minions with 3 or less attack. As this was a deck that was almost impossible to fight back against, Blizzard stepped in again for the second time in the year to apply a nerf in the October 20th patch. It was the Warsong Commander who felt the blow, as its effect was changed to merely giving all Charge Minions +1 attack. The change was met with mixed reception, although mainly positive from players there were some that called it the end of the Patron deck (although the deck itself hasn’t suffered too much so far, still being played a lot in tournaments).
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Hearthstone World Championship – October & November
The next big Hearthstone event was of course the World Championship where players from across the world competed to become the Champion of the world, succeeding last year’s winner Firebat. The best four players from the four representing regions (North America, EU, China and Asia-Pacific) came together atthe end of October to fight double-elimination brackets to see which 8 of them would journey onwards to Blizzcon the next week. Then at Blizzcon the eight remaining players were matched up and took on each other to advance higher in the standings for a chance at first place. It eventually came down to Ostkaka of Europe and Hotform of America in a grand final match fought on the 7th of November. Eventually Ostkaka walked away the winner, only the second ever Hearthstone World Champion.
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The League of Explorers – November 12th/13th
Of course, that wasn’t the only Hearthstone related thing that came from Blizzcon, with the second Adventure of the year announced in fairly retro and inspiring little trailer to set up The League of Explorers. A slightly shorter Adventure at four wings, The League of Explorers was released on November 12th/13th depending on region and took a break for a week for Thanskgiving part way through. Again, something new was added to the game through this Adventure, and it was the keyword of Discover. Playing a Discover card would then present you with 3 random cards that fit the boundaries of what you were allowed to Discover. You then chose one of the 3 and it would be added to your hand. It also introduced us to a special type of Adventure battle, one where there was no actual opponent and you merely had to survive 10 turns without dying to win.
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Sanitarium.FM Hearthstone Winter Open Tournament – December 5th/6th
Finally on a slightly more personal level, one of the big Hearthstone highlights for us at the Sanitarium.FM was the Winter Open Tournament we hosted at the beginning of December on the 5th and 6th. Eight listeners of the station entered hoping to win the prizes offered to them (first: an Expansion or 15 Card Packs; second: a Hero or 7 Card Packs). The tournament was streamed live from the station’s Twitch channel as the matches happened and were commentated upon by myself, with Scarlet and Digmbot joining in as well. The tournament did of course see Agtheo take top prize with a strong Dragon Priest deck and we look forward to seeing everyone for the next tournament as he defends his title.
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And that was what happened in the world of Hearthstone in 2015, big major events and a smaller one too. We’ve seen the introduction of new Minion types, new keywords, new ways to trigger effects as well as a couple of nerfs to rein in parts of the meta that were getting out of control.
Let’s hope 2016 will be just as good for those of us who play this card game.
The tablet market is a crowded place these days. Samsung and Apple dominate their respective markets and it sometimes seems as if they are the only two options available if you don’t have the cash to spring for a Surface, or simply don’t want a windows tablet. Google, in their infinite wisdom has seen fit to offer us a high end alternative in the Pixel C. However, this tablet sits in an odd spot. Hasving recieved one for Christmas, I’ve been playing around with it for the past 24 hours. So, what do I think?
*Note: This review was written entirely on the Pixel C using the Pixel keyboard.
**Further note due to fussbudget Crimsonshade: All typos the result of the Pixel keyboard and are included for authenticity.
Adjustable screen angle: 100 to 135-degrees
Pitch: 18.85 mm (99 percent)
Battery
0.5 WHr
Charging
Inductive charging from Pixel C (no charger or cable required)
Connectivity
Bluetooth LE
Dimensions
242 x 179 x 5.5 mm
Weight
399 g / 0.879 lb
Theres no doubt that the Pixel C is a powerful piece of hardware. The screen is bright and colorful, playing back video and rendering games such as Tales From The Borderlands in crisp detail with no sign of artifacting. Plentiful RAM means that animations on menus, switching between apps and loading high content webpages is a fast, hassle free experience. Voice is a key part of Android 6.0 Marshmallow and the four microphones located on the top of the Pixel C guarantee that the tablet will hear you loud and clear when you say “Ok Google”. Of course, the cameras are nothing to write home about. The rear facing camera has no flash, meaning you’ll need good lighting if you plan on taking pictures with it. This is further complicated by the unwieldiness of taking pictures with something as large as a tablet. You’ll get better performance out of the camera in your smartphone. Then again, if you are relying on a tablet keyboard for your photography needs, we may need to have a chat. Likewise, the front facing camera is servicable, but please don’t use it for anything but video calling.
The speakers on the Pixel C are crisp and strong. Obivously, you aren’t going to get a ton of bass out of something as small as a tablet speaker, but highs and mids sound crisp without being tinny. Turning them up reveals a truly deafening amount of power for such a small device, and again with little to no distortion. Headphones are obviously the way to go, but if you find yourself without or are sharing a video with friends, the Pixel C’s speakers are great in their own right.
The Keyboard
The Pixel C keyboard gets its own section because its such an integral part of the way Google is marketing the device. The keyboard snaps onto the Pixel via magnets. Very strong magnets. Picking the tablet up and shaking it won’t dislodge the keyboard. It’s rather impressive actually. The magnets allow you to use the Pixel more as a laptop, letting the tablet tilt through a wide range of motion to accomodate being used on a desk or in your lap. I’m currently sitting on my bed with the Pixel in my lap typing this review, and the experience is as comfortable as any I’ve ever had on a high end laptop. Naturally, the keys are a bit more cramped than a traditional keyboard, but thats to be expected on a keyboard of this size. Google has done an admirable job of allowing the keys to travel, giving a good tactile feedback as you type. They’ve also eliminated some keys, opting instead to include a button directly to the right of the spacebar that opens an on screen menu filled with common symbols. Reaching up to the screen to tap these does feel a bit odd and takes some getting used to, but in my opinion it’s worth the extra reach if it gives me an excellent typing experience on a relatively uncluttered keyboard.
The keyboard also doubles as a cover for the Pixel C’s gorgeous screen, and sliding it up and over the tablet is a simple and satisfying proocedure. Similarly, when you want to use the tablet as….just a tablet, simply slide the keyboard around to the back or remove it entirely. The entire process is quick and easy, and makes the Pixel feel like a versatile and robust machine. Its also nice to know that I don’t have to worry about charging the keyboard seperately. The Pixel charges they kehboard inductively, so as long as it’s attached to the body of the tablet, you’ll never have to worry about it’s battery level. And even if you forget, Google promises a staggeringly long battery life for the keyboard.
User Experience
This is one of those hard to quantify categories, but something vital to the review of any piece of hardware. How does it FEEL to use the tablet?
In short: It feels great. The Pixel’s case is sleek and feels high quality. The screen looks fantastic. Apps open quickly, swapping between apps is easy, and gaming is great thanks to the powerful GPU housed inside. Of course, the Pixel sits somewhere between Apple’s pure tablets and the Windows user experience of the Surface. It’s great for browsing the web, playing games and watching YouTube. However, Android doesn’t have a dedicated suite of productivity apps like the Surface does. Of course you can use Google Docs, but thats not quite the same as the full Microsoft Office suite. Another hinderance to getting serious work done on the Pixel C is Android’s lack of multitasking. There is an experimental dual window mode, but in my tests I found it to be extremely buggy. It’s still a work in progress, but for now it leaves the Pixel in a spot where using more than one app at once evokes the tedious experience of opening your app manager and swapping through apps. Its cfertainly doable, but not intuitive or efficient.
The Verdict
The Pixel C is a fantastic piece of hardware. It has some great features, like the powerful speakers and beautiful display. It makes gaming, browsing the web and watching cat videos on YouTube a fast and easy experience. The keyboard is a godsend for those that hate typing emailson a touchscreen. And I must say, I enjoy the ability to tap on the back of the tablet and see the lightbars illuminate to show me how much charge the tablet has without having to unlock the screen. However, the Pixel C sits in an odd spot. It seems Google was thinking for the future, as they often do with products in the Pixel line. Android in it’s current form is severely limiting on the productivity of any power user.
In short, the Pixel C is a great pickup if you simply have to have the most powerful Android tablet available and have the cash to burn. If you are having a light work day, taking it with you is a viable option if you don’t want to lug a laptop around. Still, it has room to grow if Google can only take it in the right direction.
Update 3: Valve has issued a statement regarding today’s issues.
“Steam is back up and running without any known issues,” a Valve spokesperson told GameSpot. “As a result of a configuration change earlier today, a caching issue allowed some users to randomly see pages generated for other users for a period of less than an hour. This issue has since been resolved. We believe no unauthorized actions were allowed on accounts beyond the viewing of cached page information and no additional action is required by users.”
Update 2: Steam appears to be back online, and the issues have seemingly been resolved. Valve has still yet to release any kind of official statement regarding today’s incident.
Update: It now looks as if the Steam store may be down; numerous users, myself included, are unable to access it and are receiving an error when attempting to do so.
Also, while it’s still unclear what’s going on, Steam tracking website Steam Database has suggested this is all due to a caching issue. That said, the site recommends not attempting to remove your credit card, PayPal account, or anything of the sort. Whether that is indeed the best course of action remains to be seen, as Valve has still yet to officially comment on the situation.
Original Story: Steam is running into something of a catastrophe right now, giving players across the world access to other people’s accounts. It’s not yet clear how this is happening, but it’s a doozy.
Various players across the world are logging into their Steam clients to find that their homepage has changed to Russian or another random language. When they check the “account info” section of Steam, they find that they have access to another user’s account, complete with e-mail addresses, buying history, and other private information.
Going to Steam’s website will also grant you access to a random user’s account.
Based on some rudimentary testing I’ve done on my own Steam client, it seems like trying to view purchase histories and licenses will bounce around other random accounts, too, which is fun…
The account that my client accessed is using Steam Guard, the tool Valve provides to help prevent unauthorized account access. So clearly that hasn’t helped.
We’ve reached out to Valve for more information and will keep updating you guys as we learn more.
Until then, join us laughing at this, cos we all know it’s about right…
Recently Blizzard have brought down the banhammer on a number of World of Warcraft accounts who were found to have been using third-party bot programs to play parts of the game for them.
The Community Manager Lore was the one who revealed the bans on the forums saying “We’ve recently taken action against a large number of World of Warcraft accounts that were found to be using third-party programs that automate gameplay, known as ‘bots.’ As a part of this action, we have removed various currencies and inventory from these accounts including, but not limited to, gold, PvP currencies, and gear. The penalty for those identified as repeat offenders has also been increased.”
The accounts in question haven’t been permanently banned though, instead given six months time out in suspension. The reasons why Lore says is that research has revealed that it’s the better way to cut down on botting players.
Those with banned accounts apparently often go to buy a new account and most often continue where they left off, while those with suspended accounts are more likely to just wait out the suspension period and then when they do get their accounts back they may give up the botting out of fear of being caught again and permanently kicked next time. In other words the shock of being caught and almost losing what they worked on often acts as a better deterrent than actually permanently losing it all.
Following on from the hints gotten from job listings that were posted last week, we’re beginning to get a sketchy picture of the type of game that Ken Levine’s hoping to make next, albeit a really bare bones picture.
Speaking on NPR’s On Point, Levine emphasized the importance of replayability in games and this new game is apparently an experiment in achieving that; one that he’s been working in some way since Bioshock Infinite was finished.
“We started this experiment after we finished BioShock Infinite, which was, ‘How do you make a narrative game feel like the kind of games we’ve made before but make it replayable and make it extend and make it react to the players?’ Make it replayable by giving players different ways to approach the problems and really letting them dictate the experience.”
He spoke about how he felt that because players no longer wanted to spend $60 on an experience that was only 10-12 hours long, he felt that the triple-A single-player narrative in games is vanishing. He’s using something that he called “narrative Legos” that he mentioned back at GDC 2014, where dialogue, relationships and other parts of a game can be used to form several non-linear narratives.
On the clue that we got form the job listing – that the game could be an open-world one – Levine says that it won’t be an open-world game in the way we might think of it traditionally.
“The thing we’re working on is sort of a small-scale open-world game,” he says. “And the reason ours is an open-world game is because if you want to give the player the agency to drive the experience, that really fights against the linear nature of the games we made before like BioShock and BioShock Infinite. What it really means though is, ‘How do you make your content so it feels like the quality of the content you’ve made in games before but reacts to the players’ agency and then allows the player to do something in one playthrough and something very different in another playthrough?’”
Of course, this is all experimentation right now. Levine isn’t ready to make any big concrete reveals about the game yet, so we can keep on guessing what we’ll be getting at some point in the future.
