New heroes for Hearthstone - or class skins - are they worth it?

It comes down to the same thing in the end, but doesn't the first one sound way more epic?  Blizzard apparently thought so too, as I have yet to find anywhere in the Blizzard press release referring to the "fresh face" for each class as new skins.  I'm sure it didn't hurt their decision that it's far easier to pitch a 10 dollar price tag for a new hero than it is for what essentially amounts to a shiny new portrait.  So far new representatives for the Warrior (Magni Bronzebeard), Hunter (Alleria Windrunner) and Mage (Medivh) classes have been unveiled.  

The Heroes of the Storm join the Eternal Conflict in Diablo event

It's common knowledge that for a lot of people, the number seven holds special significance - from the simple concept of "lucky sevens" to the regular usage in fantasy stories as particularly magical quantity.  Whatever your thoughts on the superstition however, it looks like the sevens have struck again - or someone at Blizzard subscribes to the belief.  After seven maps centered around the new Nexus setting, Blizzard has decided the time is right to start drawing on its existing universes for battleground inspiration, starting with Diablo.  Ready to pick a side in the Eternal Conflict?    

Heroes of the Storm Open Beta - transitioning from other MOBAs

So it's been about 10 days since Blizzard opened the Nexus to all with the start of the Heroes of the Storm Open Beta on May 19.  Though the game's official launch is this Tuesday, June 2, for all intents and purposes, it can be considered released.  Anyone who was excited for it yet never received an alpha or beta invite is unlikely to have held off another two weeks for the "beta" label to be removed.  After all the quality assessment that's been done over last year, there's unlikely to be much difference between the version we're playing now and the one after June 2.

The massive influx of new players can be felt within the course of a single match.  It feels like the Technical Alpha all over again, with every team having a few members fresh from League, Smite and the like, still learning the ropes of concepts that differentiate Heroes from the rest.  It's true that until recently new players were being added weekly but those were in gradual measured quantities as opposed to the exponential growth the player base has undergone in the last couple weeks.  While I welcome our new arrivals to the Nexus, I figured now would be a good time to talk about a few of the ways you're not in DOTA anymore....

Chen Stormstout - assassin tank?

So that title probably sounds inane but I cannot think of a better way to describe my experience playing the Legendary Brewmaster's incarnation in Heroes of the Storm.  The most famous panda in Warcraft can just as easily take hits for the team and disrupt enemy positioning as he can burst down priority back line targets and chase down fleeing survivors.  The result is the line between assassin and tank blurring to a point it should not be able to without the aid of beer goggles.

Kalypso Media rep hints at upcoming Dungeons 2 expansion or DLC

So I beat the campaign for Dungeons 2 the other day.  Overall, it was pretty fun, even if the narrator was just a little too chatty and the ending more than a little abrupt.  Like in many games, in Dungeons 2 you get a reasonable idea how far along you are by how much the campaign map has been filled out with completed missions.  However, the story introduced a couple of, what appeared to be, important plot threads, which it left unresolved, leaving you surprised when the credits rolled.

Dungeons 2 first impressions

Developer Realmforge's new game, Dungeons 2, was released on Steam today.  My first couple hours through the campaign were enough to show that it's not so much a sequel as a rework.  Dungeons: The Dark Lord, dubbed a "stand alone expansion" was more in line with a traditional sequel, where a game takes the same mechanics and expands on them.  Dungeons 2, while staying true to the vision of the original, takes a completely different approach to execution.

Hearthstone: Crafting versus card packs for beginners

Blackwing Lair was released today, and with it the new cards to be unlocked from defeating bosses and completing class challenges.  Playing through it got me thinking about the two primary ways of getting new cards in Hearthstone - purchasing packs and crafting.  Writing this, that does seem a bit of a weak connection but it's totally what happened.  I'm sure we've all had the dilemma of deciding whether to craft that card you want right away or waiting to see if it pops up in the next batch of card packs (I suspect a lot of us have been on a pack buying spree too, but that's another story).  Both arcane dust and in-game gold take a while to build up and crafting one card or purchasing one pack makes a pretty major dent.  So which one's better?  The answer may surprise you.