Phil Xavier

Phil Xavier — Phil Xavier, also known as Red, began his Blizzard adventure many years ago, with such titles as Rock N' Roll Racing and Blackthorne -- but it was the one-two punch of Warcraft II and Diablo that really took hold of his nerdy heart. He is also deeply interested in other games, especially for the Switch (but without ignoring the PC and PS4), and in discussions about game design (and game-making) in general. There is a place called rcnsk.com where he writes stuff unrelated to Blizzard Watch, but the truth is that there's nothing really in there yet.

Hearthstone

Hearthstone Battlegrounds gets its own progression system, a Season Pass, and Legendary cosmetics

by Phil Xavier on August 23, 2022 at 1:00pm

Hearthstone Battlegrounds is about to get many new features for its Season 2, including its own exclusive progression system.

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Diablo 4

What do you think about subscriptions, Season Passes, and other types of “live service” monetization?

by Phil Xavier on August 19, 2022 at 8:00am

We've recently learned that Diablo 4 will feature Seasons, much like Diablo 3.

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Hearthstone

Hearthstone patch 24.0.3 brings impactful balance changes to Constructed and Battlegrounds

by Phil Xavier on August 16, 2022 at 2:00pm

A pretty substantial balance patch is hitting the Hearthstone servers today, promising to make things more balanced in Constructed and Battlegrounds.

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Hearthstone

As Grease Bot is removed from Hearthstone Battlegrounds, Chromawing and Ysera carry Dragons to the top of the meta

by Phil Xavier on August 11, 2022 at 10:00am

Hearthstone Battlegrounds has an ever-shifting meta, and sometimes the unlikeliest strategies emerge as soon as a previous menace is taken down -- and that's exactly what's going on right now.

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Discussion

How do you keep track of your characters?

by Phil Xavier on August 9, 2022 at 8:00am

Some of us love spreadsheets, and we may even use them to keep track of their World of Warcraft characters.

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Hearthstone

How to play as Heistbaron Togwaggle in Hearthstone Battlegrounds

by Phil Xavier on August 4, 2022 at 2:00pm

The newest hero introduced to Hearthstone Battlegrounds, Heistbaron Togwaggle, is a very unique one — his power level is high, but he's not trivial to play.

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Hearthstone

The 9 most interesting cards coming in Hearthstone’s Murder at Castle Nathria expansion

by Phil Xavier on August 2, 2022 at 1:00pm

A new Hearthstone expansion means a new batch of interesting mechanics and flavorful cards, and Murder at Castle Nathria is certainly no exception.

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Diablo

How much do lore, fantasy, and gameplay influence your class choices?

by Phil Xavier on August 1, 2022 at 8:00am

Do you ever find yourself thinking, "I love the fantasy for this class, but I don't like playing it?" Or, perhaps, it's the other way around: Is there a class that you love to play, but you don't really connect with lore-wise?

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Gallery

Gallery: First look at the Waking Shores zone from the WoW Dragonflight alpha

by Phil Xavier on July 28, 2022 at 10:00am

The Waking Shores zone features an assortment of environments, with Proto-Drakes, raging Elementals, beautiful sunny valleys, golden shores, ashen desolation, dragon architecture, and breathtaking Red Dragonflight areas.

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Hearthstone