A new patch for The Witcher 3 is here, and it fixes a bunch of bugs including a lot of quest bugs.

1.08 stops some quests from being uncompleteable by having certain things happen (such as an NPC dying or the player leaving an area too soon), implements groundworks for the New Game+ that’s coming and oddly stops decapitated heads from vanishing once they’ve been separated from bodies. Who knew that was a feature players asked for to be fixed?

It also provides a sort of fix for an issue that was introduced with the 1.07 patch, which saw requirements for some level-dependent gear ramped up rendering some player’s equipment useless. CD Projekt are giving all players one ‘Wolven Hour’ potion, which will lower the requirements down again for a temporary period so players can level up to the point they can use the gear again or else not have such a difficult time finding new, lower level gear to wear.

 

Full Patch notes:

PERFORMANCE:

• Overall improvements to performance, including some issues that may have been caused by 1.07.

UI:

• [Japanese Only][PS4 Only] Fixes an issue where the background text of certain books would flicker.
• Fixes an issue where part of the Kaer Morhen map would not display properly.

GAMEPLAY:

• Fixes a rare issue where items would disappear from the stash.
• Fixes a very rare issue which would cause Geralt to get stuck when trying to run.
• The interaction pop-up will no longer appear on lootable objects that are empty.
• Fixes an occasional glitch in one of the dwarf combat animations.
• Heads chopped off during finishers will no longer disappear.
• “Players can perform a roll just before landing to significantly reduce the damage caused by falling.
• We’ve added a tutorial pop-up window explaining this to make it clearer.”
• In patch 1.07, the level requirements for certain items were scaled up, leaving some players stuck with only unusable gear. With patch 1.08, we are introducing the Wolven Hour potion. This potion will be available in everyone’s inventory once they install the patch. It will reduce level requirements on all gear for a period of one hour. This will give players time to level up or find alternative equipment using the gear that was available to them in patch 1.05 but became unusable after patch 1.07. After one hour, the potion’s effects will cease and the requirements for all gear will revert to their original, pre-potion values.
• Fixes an issue where players were unable to compare their items with ones sold by merchants.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

• Players will now be able to complete the Card Collector achievement.
• Achievements are now working properly again and will be unlocked if players meet their requirements after installing this patch (PC version).

GRAPHICS:

• Fixes an issue where interiors would sometimes not display properly on the minimap.
• Fixes an issue where certain world elements would sometimes be missing and noticeable visual glitches would be present while in Novigrad.

QUEST:

• Fixes an issue where players were unable to finish the “It Takes Three to Tango” quest, even though they had obtained wine at the Kingfisher.
• Fixes an issue where Geralt would sometimes die after traveling to Velen in the quest “Something Ends, Something Begins.”
• The entrance to the area where the Sunstone is obtained will no longer be blocked off if the player exits it prematurely during “The Sunstone” quest.
• Fixes an issue where players were unable to complete the “Get Junior” quest on certain occasions.
• Fixes an issue where players were unable to finish the “Scavenger Hunt: Viper School Gear” quest due to a closed gate.
• Fixes an issue where some players were unable to investigate rooms during the “Family Matters” quest, effectively blocking their progression.
• Fixes an issue where players were unable to finish the “Hey, You Wanna Look at my Stuff?” quest.
• Fixes an issue where players were unable to talk to Roche during the “An Eye for an Eye” quest.
• Fixes an issue where Roche would stay at his camp instead of going to the Oxenfurt Bridge in the “Get Junior” quest.
• Fixes an issue where, under certain circumstances, Yennefer would not appear in Oxenfurt during the “The Great Escape” quest.
• Drowners will have a harder time killing Nidas during the “Black Pearl” quest.
• Fixes an issue which led to an infinite loading screen during the “To Bait a Forktail…” quest under certain circumstances.
• Fixes a rare issue where the basement was locked during the “King’s Gambit” quest.
• Fixes an issue where players were unable to free the merchant during the Person in Distress event in the Claywich area.
• The trolls at the Circle of Elements will no longer attack Geralt if he opts for a peaceful resolution.
• Fixes an issue where players were unable to talk to Roche during the “Brothers in Arms” quest.
• Fixes an issue where Zoltan’s card was unobtainable.

GENERAL:

• Preparatory features paving the way for the introduction of New Game + in the future.

It’s that time again, and this week’s Gamecom has given us a lot more to think about with reveals to the next Hearthstone expansion; The Grand Tournament.

We got to see another new mechanic that’s being added to the game, although it’s not got its own effect text – rather it’s a sub-type of a Battlecry. The Joust sees both players draw a card from their deck, and in order for the Joust player to win their card must cost more in mana than the opponent’s. In other words, it’s a Battlecry with a condition based on RNG draw.

Ranked play will also see an update in that all players who progress past Rank 20 will gain extra rewards based on their highest reached rank during the month – even if you’ve no longer got that rank it seems. They’ll be presented in a chest that’ll contain the month’s cardback, some arcane dust and one or more golden cards. Nice incentive to play Ranked again there.

And of course, there’s the new cards that have been revealed. Let’s get to seeing them shall we?

Neutral

Paladin

Warrior

Shaman

Rogue

Druid

Priest

Warlock

Hunter

All of them look pretty sweet, I just have one question…

… how the heck did the Hamburglar get into Hearthstone? o.0

The Burning Legion is back in the next expansion for World of Warcraft, which will raise the level cap to 110 and add a new hero class, Demon Hunter, to the longrunning MMORPG.

It’s called Legion.

At a live presentation at Gamescom in Germany today, Blizzard showed off the new expansion pack, first showing off this Gul’dan-helmed teaser:

And here’s a sizzle reel for the expansion pack’s new features:

Blizzard says before the new expansion even launches, players will have to face hordes of demons in a zone called the Tomb of Sargeras, which will be a familiar name to anyone who’s familiar with Warcraft lore.

HiRez Studios has been hard at work this year. New gods, map redesigns and balance changes have made the pace of change in SMITE seem fast and frenetic. And now, the studio has revealed that Joust, the popular 3v3 laning mode is getting an overhaul as well. Drawing inspiration from the Chinese legend of Sun Wukong and the sky palace, the map will be reowrked in a chinese motif. Check it out below!

Anno 2205 was announced earlier this year at E3 with a fairly awesome little trailer that excited quite a few and certainly made me smile. When it was announced it came with a beta that pre-order customers would be able to play and give feedback on before its release date.

However, in a post on the German Ubisoft forums, the publisher of the game has announced that the beta has now been cancelled. The reason why it was cancelled was not included, but the release date of November 3rd is not expected to be changed as a result.

An in-game bonus is now being offered to pre-orderers instead, although once again we don’t actually know what said bonus will be. Gamescom is just around the corner though and Anno 2205 will be there with Ubisoft and developer Blue Byte, so I’d expect to see the details of the bonus revealed to the public there.