Up next in 10
Because Cory has the courage to say that, quote, "bugs are bad. I'm glad they got fixed," that is the theme of this week's Blizzard Watch Podcast. Well, not all of them are really bugs -- is it a bug that five Guardian Druids did an M +20? Well, that bug was fixed. And the bug with Ascendant Voidcores was fixed, and players can use them to upgrade their gear. We had a lengthy discussion on the future of Diablo 4, which is necessarily going to touch on some bugs, even if we try our best to avoid spoilers.
Also, there was a list of bug fixes and other changes for Heroes of the Storm this week, so it's a good thing Cory's here.
But elevators? There's no fixing the bugs with those bosses.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:09
Hello everybody and welcome to the
0:11
Blizzard Watch podcast. I'm Matt. I'm
0:12
your host and I'm doing the voice I did
0:14
on the weekend role playing game. I
0:17
apologize. Um but it's you know
0:19
whatever. Uh with me this week we have
0:21
Joe who's just awesome. Hi Joe.
0:23
>> Hi. We have Liz also awesome. I might
0:26
even say amazing. Oh, well, thank you.
0:30
>> And we have Corey, who actually has an
0:32
exclamation point built into his name in
0:34
our in his writer, so he must be just
0:37
>> Hi. Hi, Corey.
0:39
>> Hey, how's it going?
0:41
>> I just love exclamation points so much.
0:43
They
0:44
>> I'm a very enthusiastic person about
0:47
stuff, especially when I like that
0:48
stuff. So, they just kind of slip out.
0:51
>> Much to my editor's chagrin.
0:54
>> Will not apologize for just being me.
0:56
Sometimes it's good to see exclamation
0:57
points, but like say you get a text
0:58
message, we need to talk with like 16
1:01
exclamation points. That ain't good.
1:03
>> No, no, no. That that is good. That is
1:06
we need to talk 16 exclamation points is
1:08
I just won the lottery in my mind.
1:11
>> Okay. See, I need like go ahead.
1:13
>> We need to talk period is we need to
1:16
talk and it's bad.
1:17
>> And we need to talk exclamation point is
1:19
I got a free ice cream.
1:20
>> Cory, stop. I'm trying to get Liz in
1:22
here. Go ahead, Liz. [laughter]
1:24
It's if you if you've won the lottery,
1:26
don't say we need to talk. Exclamation
1:29
point. Exclamation point.
1:30
>> Great news.
1:31
>> I've won the lottery. We need to talk
1:33
about the great vacation we're about to
1:35
have.
1:35
>> I'm I'm finally going to buy that, you
1:37
know, D and D womb cave I always wanted
1:39
to live in. Uh we've got some stuff to
1:42
talk about. The first up is going to be
1:44
World of Warcraft. Uh I don't know if
1:45
you guys know this. I'm going to read
1:47
this in slightly different order than
1:49
was originally on the document because I
1:50
think one leads to the other. Recently,
1:52
five druids just timed anard guardian
1:56
druids.
1:57
>> Five guardian druids were all bears.
2:00
Everyone was a bear. It It's like if you
2:02
went to the the country bear jamboree
2:04
and then the country bear jamboree
2:05
tanked uh mythic plus a mythic 20. So,
2:10
>> not only did they complete a mythic, but
2:12
a mythic 20 like that is not a small
2:14
small dungeon.
2:15
>> And they're all tanks again. There
2:17
there's no no healing classes. this five
2:20
tanks. Immediately after doing this, of
2:22
course, because this was what Blizzard
2:24
does when they see something they did
2:25
not anticipate and did not want, uh,
2:27
nerfs started coming and the additional
2:31
nerfs that Guardians got, I would
2:33
actually say were pretty were pretty
2:34
hard. These are pretty significant to
2:36
begin with. Um, I'm not going to read
2:38
them all, but I will mention we see
2:40
while Guardians Echo gets a reduction of
2:42
200%, before you go 200% still sounds
2:44
pretty good, it was 300%. And then you
2:46
see a whole bunch of damage nerfs after
2:48
that. And especially Thrash. Um where
2:52
Thr gets its uh Thrash actually gets
2:55
buffed. Uh initially it was 200% to
2:57
Thrash damage and 100% to Thrash's bleed
3:01
damage. But the reason they had to do
3:03
that was because they nerfed literally
3:04
everything else like Red Moon, Maul,
3:08
Ray, and Ravage all got her. And that
3:10
was the initial change. They then made
3:12
more changes. They reduced thrash
3:14
directly by another 25% which means that
3:17
they buffed it and then they reduced
3:19
they nerfed it and then Aloon favored it
3:21
doesn't heal for the 25% it used to heal
3:24
for it now heals for 15% of that you
3:27
deal which is again it's I understand
3:30
why they did that because it was
3:31
designed to to affect the thing that
3:33
they used to keep themselves up during
3:36
the mythic 20 because if you can heal
3:38
for 25% of the arcane damage you're
3:41
doing and you're all doing
3:43
Like there's a continuous stream of
3:44
healing going on for everybody and
3:46
everybody just takes care of themselves.
3:48
I get that. But I do think it's a pretty
3:51
significant hit on druids followed up by
3:54
a series of adjustments to every other
3:57
tank that I would have to describe as
3:59
buffs. I don't Cory, did you get a
4:01
chance to read any of this?
4:03
>> I think it was the
4:04
>> I think it was the other way around. The
4:06
buffs hit and then the nerves hit.
4:08
Everyone got buffed and then druid
4:09
everyone except druids got buffed and
4:12
then druids got nerfed
4:13
>> and have been all over the place in
4:15
strength in this expansion. Like we saw
4:17
a race to world first with guardian
4:19
druids in world first mythic kills. Um
4:22
so they were obviously strong and that's
4:23
it's it's rare to see that because
4:25
usually the utility brought by a monk or
4:28
a death knight is usually wins out over
4:31
just having a big old bear in your
4:33
group. So druids were having their time
4:36
in the sun. They were or the moon, I
4:38
guess. And they were having fun.
4:39
>> Whatever they chose,
4:40
>> whatever they chose. Yeah. And they were
4:43
having fun and they were they were doing
4:45
fun shenanigans in the in the I don't
4:48
want to call it downtime cuz we're
4:49
still, you know, in a in the middle of
4:51
the raid tier, but they they found some
4:53
time to go and bust out a mythic 20. So,
4:56
they were having too much fun and they
4:59
were just too much of an outlier. We
5:01
could see they were doing more damage
5:02
than DPS and that was bad. So,
5:06
>> and they were healing for it
5:08
>> and they were healing more than healers
5:10
could heal them. So, yeah, they were a a
5:12
smart guardian druid would elevate your
5:15
key to a level that was just too much, I
5:18
guess, for that one person in your
5:19
group. They were carrying too hard.
5:21
>> Well, I also say that when you can put
5:23
five tanks in a group and the five tanks
5:25
can basically heal themselves through
5:26
everything, uh, it makes everybody else
5:28
feel bad, not just other tanks.
5:30
Especially when they're especially when
5:32
they're not like paladins who have lay
5:34
on hands and holy light and all that
5:36
stuff or monks that have all the healing
5:38
stuff. Like I know druids have healing
5:39
stuff too but
5:40
>> paladins have let's say this uh it's
5:42
never been paladins even as tanks who
5:45
could do that kind of soloing. Um
5:47
paladins usually have used to have like
5:49
I have this one ability that allows me
5:51
to cheese this fundamental debuff you've
5:54
given the boss to make tank swapping
5:55
happen. I can obiate that so we don't
5:58
need to tank swap. So we could bring in
6:00
extra DPS. That's been Paladin's thing
6:02
for um I all the way back to like uh
6:04
Missandaria with the giant rhino the
6:07
giant triceratops boss. Horodus. Was his
6:09
name Hardis?
6:10
>> Orodon.
6:11
>> Horrodon. Yeah. Well, I remember we used
6:14
to even say like they used to say to me,
6:15
Matt, we love you, but go DM, go DPS on
6:18
this fight. We're just going to have um
6:20
I forget which his name was. I'm going
6:21
to call him Chank, although Chank was
6:23
the Drew. It was the rogue, but I think
6:24
it was his paladin. Uh Chank was just
6:26
going to tank the whole thing. And I'll
6:27
be like, "How?" He go, "Oh, he's just
6:29
going to blessing himself and and clear
6:31
the debuff before it stacks up too
6:33
high." And that's bad. But having it so
6:37
that druids can do literally everything
6:38
by themselves and don't need anybody,
6:40
that's the kind of stuff death knights
6:41
used to do all the time. And death
6:42
knights got hammered for it. And demon
6:44
hunters got hammered for it, too. So,
6:46
I'm not surprised they got hammered. I
6:47
just think the amount of hammering is a
6:50
bit much. Like the reductions are high.
6:53
If you want to believe their developer
6:54
note, they will still be a high damage
6:57
relative to other tanks, but not
7:00
abnormally so. And that is from Kyax, a
7:02
community manager. They they're aiming
7:04
to bring them closer to the expected
7:05
output, which is higher than others, but
7:08
not excessively so, which means that the
7:10
other tanks should have more
7:11
survivability baked into them. And maybe
7:13
with these patch notes, these buffs and
7:16
to the rest of the tank squad, um, they
7:19
will because I I've seen a lot of people
7:22
talking about how death knights are just
7:23
so yo-yo all over the place. These these
7:26
all look like changes that will make the
7:28
death knight a lot smoother to heal for
7:30
people on the uh healing side of things.
7:33
And for death knights themselves, this
7:34
looks like you will maybe be able to
7:36
relax a little bit and unclench and uh
7:40
have a more fun time in your in your
7:42
dungeons and raids.
7:43
>> Yeah, pretty much all these changes in
7:45
my opinion, especially the demon hunter
7:47
and the the paladin seem to be aimed at
7:50
smoothing out damage as opposed to
7:52
making them invulnerable to it. Um, like
7:54
Blessing of Dusk is the one I I was
7:56
looking at. Uh, because it increases as
7:59
your health decreases and it goes up to
8:02
20% when it's at its maximum damage
8:05
reduction, which I it doesn't feel like
8:08
it's aimed to keep you alive at all
8:10
costs. It feels like it's aimed to make
8:12
it so you take damage slower. It just to
8:14
smooth out the curve so you don't go
8:16
from from I'm at full health to please
8:18
heal me before the wind kills me. Uh,
8:21
and there's a lot of other changes that
8:24
they have. Like if you look at the
8:25
stamina increase they've got going on
8:27
from sanctified plates or ardent
8:29
defender, that's these are both up.
8:31
They're buffed. One's in duration, one's
8:33
in terms of effect. The warrior changes
8:36
are all survivability. There's nothing
8:38
here that's going to increase threat in
8:40
any significant way or increase damage
8:41
dealt. It's just uh fight through flames
8:44
reduces the magic damage you take by 6%.
8:47
It was 4%. I honestly think that needs
8:49
to go up. Uh, failank reduces damage
8:51
done to you by, you know, just generally
8:53
8% from 5%. That's a pretty solid buff.
8:56
And ignore pain effectiveness is
8:57
increased by 8%. Uh, good, but nothing
9:01
nothing there is going to make a prop
9:03
warrior do much more damage. And so
9:07
that's cool if they if they've managed
9:08
to to balance the changes for druids. I
9:11
feel a little bit like they went a
9:13
little over um nerfing everything but
9:16
Thrash and then having Thrash go up like
9:20
and now nerfing the the Thrash that went
9:23
up because Thrash went up the second
9:25
they they they nerfed everything and
9:26
buffed Thrash like I want to say two
9:28
weeks ago like it's like the first time
9:30
they first noticed it. Yeah, it's on
9:32
this No, last week it was on the 6th.
9:34
Last Tuesday. So they've had a week and
9:37
then they decided to nerf Thrash. Uh,
9:40
okay. Uh, we'll see what happens. We'll
9:43
see if the changes make uh the balance
9:45
where they want it. Um, but I I do feel
9:47
these are really kind of strange changes
9:49
and at least the Drew ones. Everybody
9:51
else I'm I'm down for. Uh, I I
9:54
absolutely think that those were good
9:56
adjustments, especially for I think uh
9:59
death knights and paladins. I think they
10:01
got the the overall the most changes. If
10:04
you look at the death knight changes
10:06
there, some of them are real strong.
10:07
Like if you're worried about healing a
10:08
death knight, uh you will not be
10:10
worrying about it nearly as much. Uh
10:12
between the straight up um 40% stamina
10:16
from blood fort over 35% and 25% parry
10:20
over 20%. You just everything is up. Um
10:23
I think improved death strike is up to
10:25
is up 10% from where it was. It's from
10:27
15% from 5%. All of that's going to make
10:29
death knights just easier to keep alive.
10:32
And I not that I think it should it
10:34
shouldn't ever be impossible to keep a
10:35
tank up. It just I don't feel like any
10:38
of the these class changes are bad
10:40
except maybe the druid one is
10:42
overzealous and I can't speak to it yet
10:44
because we they did they just started
10:45
doing this like they did some of the
10:47
changes last week and they're doing some
10:48
of the changes this week. You can't
10:50
really gauge how effective they were
10:52
until at least some raiding has gone on
10:56
and some dungeons have gone on so you
10:57
can see it. So that's just my take on it
10:59
when you see if you
11:00
>> I just feel bad for druids whenever they
11:02
get hit by the nerf bat like that. Bears
11:04
just want to have fun.
11:05
>> Yeah. And whereas I've played every
11:06
other tank class more than I've played
11:08
droids. So I basically like everybody
11:09
else more than droids. I kind [laughter]
11:11
of I remember Burning Crusade man uh
11:13
going into Sunwell and being told no so
11:16
and so is going to tank it. Uh it's like
11:18
you you know the only time they they
11:20
pulled me out was oh yeah's here. We
11:22
need someone with with shield block
11:24
otherwise just let the druids do it. So
11:27
yeah, I I get it. But I I know I say
11:30
like I said, I think that this they were
11:31
overzealous on the nerf bat, but I get
11:33
why. I think the only thing they really
11:36
needed to balance was the ability to
11:39
just constantly heal. Uh that's that's a
11:41
and it's a lot. It was a lot of healing.
11:43
It still is a lot of healing. It's just
11:45
less because they've reduced Thrash and
11:47
they've reduced the amount of healing
11:48
Thrash does. Um, so yeah, I'm going to
11:52
turn to both Liz and Joe who have
11:54
healed, but I don't think you guys tank
11:55
all that much and see what you guys
11:57
think.
11:57
>> I don't really have a strong opinion
12:00
because I haven't really tanked this
12:01
expansion yet, so I don't really have
12:03
much to to contribute to that. Um, I
12:06
will say that I'll be very interested to
12:09
see how all the changes really shake
12:11
down in terms of uh healing requirements
12:15
as far as tanks go. Um it does seem like
12:18
it's mostly uh damage related, but we've
12:22
we've seen a phenomenon already this
12:24
expansion where uh certain tanks are
12:28
just crazy threat generating machines in
12:32
like new and unusual ways. Uh
12:35
particularly warriors. Warriors are back
12:37
to this point where they just generate
12:39
an insane amount of threat while
12:41
tanking. And sometimes that can cause uh
12:45
transitions to be a little rougher than
12:47
they would uh they would be. So I'm
12:50
curious how further nerfs to, you know,
12:54
my my guardian friends are going to uh
12:57
affect that or how the buffs to the
12:59
other ones are going to affect that.
13:00
We'll find out. So until I see that, I
13:02
really don't have much of an opinion,
13:04
but it Yeah, we'll see. Liz,
13:07
>> eh, tanks. Tanks are going to tank. I I
13:11
hope they're having fun. I hope they're
13:13
doing well because I don't I don't
13:14
understand tanking. It's beyond It's
13:17
beyond my mental capacity. I just hope
13:20
tanks are happy because they keep me
13:21
alive and I love them.
13:23
>> Yeah. I don't think anybody wants to see
13:26
any class feel like it's not rewarding
13:28
to tank on. Like any class that tanks,
13:31
just want them to feel rewarding. Um I
13:33
think it's interesting to see that at
13:34
least uh there's no monks mentioned here
13:37
at all. I thought monks were I thought
13:39
monks were pretty strong right now.
13:41
>> Monks are very strong.
13:43
>> I just I don't understand like is the
13:45
argument that monks are this much more
13:47
resistant to damage cuz I
13:49
>> No. So the the the the difference
13:51
between monks and the rest of them is
13:54
unless a monk knows how to manage their
13:57
uh their cooldowns properly, there's a
13:59
very very very very hard ceiling to
14:02
where they will just fall over like
14:04
paper. So, the difference between an
14:07
average brew master being able to push
14:08
keys and uh a really good brew master
14:12
being able to push keys is pretty
14:14
insane. Um
14:16
>> Oh, it's night and day.
14:17
>> Yeah, I I've I've healed for several
14:21
monks this expansion um in guild alone,
14:25
let alone just randoms. And there is a
14:28
very distinct like I I I hate I I I
14:32
hesitate to call it caliber of player.
14:34
Um, but there is a ceiling there.
14:37
There's a a skill cap that that you
14:39
think need to be able to hit in order to
14:41
like do 12elves, 14s, 15s, 20s, um, you
14:46
know, 30s, whatever you want, however
14:48
high you want to push it. Um, like
14:52
without just being completely pasted on
14:55
the first pole. I think there's actually
14:56
something um something that happens in
14:58
every game, especially games like WoW
15:00
and other games that have a kind of a a
15:02
progressive talent thing as you go
15:04
through levels. Sometimes you don't
15:06
grock right away the synergies of
15:08
things.
15:09
>> Mhm.
15:10
>> And when you do, I use grock because I
15:12
think it is the best term. It's not that
15:13
the other person is smarter or better.
15:15
It's that they understand.
15:17
>> Yeah. I know that there's reasons why
15:18
it's a terrible word to use, but it's
15:20
just that it's that ability to
15:22
understand the things below the surface
15:25
that are not necessarily openly talked
15:28
about by most players. You just suddenly
15:30
realize, wait, if I do this and then
15:32
this and then this, this will hold up
15:35
and I will I will not die. Um, and I had
15:38
that recently,
15:40
you know, other games. It's just you you
15:42
come to a moment where you suddenly
15:44
understand, wait, there's synergies
15:45
built in here.
15:46
>> Yeah. and and and it takes time and
15:48
effort, but it's also one of those
15:49
things where it's really easy to get
15:50
discouraged, especially on brew master.
15:53
Um because if you are I've seen it where
15:57
there's a big jump up from like I'll say
15:59
from a seven to a 10 when it comes to
16:01
like my experience of having uh brew
16:04
master tanks, at least from what I've
16:06
been able to heal. I'm not a slouch with
16:08
a healer. I know I say that a lot and
16:10
and it sounds like it sounds like I'm
16:12
tooting my own horn. I I am a very good
16:14
healer. It is one of the few things my
16:15
brain in this game just zeroed in on and
16:18
has never let go of. I have had more
16:21
failed timed runs with brew masters
16:24
because I cannot keep them alive when
16:27
they're in that 7 to 10 range. Uh
16:30
because they haven't quite aligned what
16:33
they and then the other side of it that
16:34
I've noticed too is of all the tanks,
16:37
brew masters seem to have a weird I
16:40
don't want to call it a dead zone, but
16:42
at least like with snap aggro, I've I
16:45
I've noticed it more with brew masters
16:47
than I have the other classes right now.
16:49
The other tanks don't seem to have much
16:51
of a problem with snap aggro. Every
16:54
every brew master I have healed for,
16:56
including the ones that are like I
16:58
consider elite, um I wind up getting
17:02
snap aggro off them on big pulls almost
17:04
immediately because of earth shield,
17:05
which shouldn't. So
17:06
>> yeah, I say nerfed keg.
17:08
>> Yeah, they nerf they nerfed the heck out
17:09
of keg and it is noticeable.
17:11
>> Yeah, keg used to be amazing. I I loved
17:13
playing uh when we did leveling stuff, I
17:16
loved playing my my brew master because
17:18
I could just keg a group and they would
17:21
be on me. They would be on me like I'd
17:23
personally insulted each of their
17:24
mothers
17:25
>> and it was just it was beautiful. And
17:27
then they nerfed it and they've been
17:29
nerfing it for literal years now.
17:30
>> Um every time Keg looks like it might
17:32
come back, it gets hammered into the
17:34
ground. So yeah, that's but uh at this
17:36
point I'm going to move on because we've
17:38
kind of talked a bit about this and we
17:39
do have other things to talk about like
17:41
Burning Crusade Classic which is now in
17:43
phase two. Um actually it's May 14th.
17:46
>> Yeah. But that'll that'll be out before
17:47
the podcast is out. So yeah, it's
17:51
essentially live because time
17:54
>> Yes. And since this is the anniversary
17:56
edition uh of these, you know, raids and
18:00
all so forth, we're we're going to get
18:02
the the eye in Serpent Shrine Cavern.
18:04
I'm going to say right now, if for some
18:06
reason you've never played Serpent
18:07
Shrine Cavern, don't trust the elevator.
18:10
>> It is [laughter]
18:11
It is the second most treacherous
18:13
elevator in any World of Warcraft
18:15
instance, period. There's only one
18:17
worse.
18:18
>> Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say SSC. Oh,
18:22
man. Yeah. So,
18:24
>> which which one would you which one
18:27
would you consider worse, though?
18:29
>> Argus. The one that if it lands on you
18:30
actually kills you. [laughter]
18:32
>> I'm talking about Cataclysm and
18:34
specifically the uh Descent Blackwing
18:37
Descent Elevator, which would just
18:40
suddenly it would pull up and you'd go
18:42
to get on it. Don't jump cuz if you jump
18:45
it starts dropping and you never catch
18:47
up to it. So you just fall [laughter]
18:49
all the way down while the elevator is
18:52
dropping and everyone's on watching you
18:54
fall to your death. It's like ah
18:57
>> where's the priest when you need that
18:58
life grip?
18:59
>> I had to heroic leap my way onto the
19:01
thing though I didn't die that thing.
19:04
And also it does kill you if it land if
19:06
you are standing there and it comes down
19:08
it'll which is the other thing I I
19:09
absolutely don't like that one. Uh does
19:11
anyone else have a favorite murderous
19:13
elevator they want to use here? I
19:15
>> I I honestly think the elevator that has
19:18
killed me the most in this game is the
19:20
unders city. Whenever you're in the un
19:22
You're You always think you can make it.
19:24
You always think you can make that
19:26
elevator. No. No. Don't even try. Don't
19:29
th Don't even think it. Do not get on
19:32
the elevator unless you're standing
19:34
there and the elevator arrives. No other
19:36
time. I can't argue with that, but I
19:38
still think that the uh black black wing
19:40
descent
19:41
>> I'm sure I'm sure others are worse, but
19:43
that that's the one that's gotten me the
19:45
most.
19:46
>> That's one that's got spikes on the
19:47
bottom. Like it's got spikes on the
19:50
freaking bottom. They know what they're
19:51
going to do. That's all.
19:54
>> I like the Oh dear first fight where you
19:56
fight the um the construct and in the
19:59
middle of the fight you go down the
20:00
>> elevator. Yeah.
20:01
>> Yeah. That's good times. That's less
20:04
That's less scary and more just
20:05
ridiculous. Like I
20:06
>> This is part of the fight. I know. But
20:08
it's They took an elevator boss and they
20:11
>> they made it an elevator boss.
20:13
>> Yeah.
20:15
>> Joe,
20:16
>> no. I I'm I have nothing else to add to
20:18
the elevator conversation.
20:19
>> I don't trust you. I think you have
20:21
more, but I'm going to let let
20:22
[laughter] that go. We also have in
20:24
addition, we've got the eye, which is
20:26
means that you guys want to start
20:27
farming for your uh your, you know,
20:30
Ashes of Allar. You can finally hit that
20:32
up. Uh go for it. Uh also means you're
20:35
going to start collecting unlock
20:36
materials for the raids that aren't
20:38
there yet. Um I think you need materials
20:42
from these two or at least from the eye
20:45
to run um Mount Hyel and the Mount Hydel
20:49
will then give you materials to open uh
20:51
the Black Temple. If I'm not if I'm
20:53
wrong, please clear me up on this
20:55
because I am trying to remember, but
20:57
that's that does feel like it's the
20:58
progression. So, these two, the eye and
21:02
um Serpent Shrine Cavern um basically do
21:04
head give you materials for the next you
21:06
need to get the uh the vial frag the
21:08
vials off of them that Illan gave them.
21:10
He gave one to Lady Vos. So, Serpent
21:12
Shrine and he gave one to Kelos, thus uh
21:14
the eye. So, you got to get those to do
21:17
those raids down the also there's the
21:19
factions. There's the Ogrelaw and I
21:22
remember Ogrela poorly like I didn't
21:24
enjoy it but it was also the Shita
21:25
Skyard which I liked fine and I even got
21:28
the the the flying manta ray mount. So
21:30
yeah. Um Arena season 2 new new
21:34
professional recipes. I think the the
21:36
the unique crafting legendary I'm not
21:40
legendaries. I'm calling the
21:40
legendaries. My god. You know I've been
21:42
playing too much Diablo. [laughter] Um
21:44
the crafting epic weapons and armor and
21:46
all that stuff were in this this run.
21:49
they they got the second level of them
21:51
that you started farming resources from
21:53
the eye and serpent and caverns to make
21:55
those the upgraded versions of the
21:57
various blacksmithing items. And then
21:59
there's druid swift flight form or as
22:01
everyone likes to call it, the thing
22:03
that makes druids the best gatherers
22:04
this game has ever seen.
22:07
Um, so yeah,
22:08
>> Drew Swift flight form was like just the
22:11
way they could just pop into it and
22:13
immediately fly at at full like epic
22:15
[snorts] flying speed and just just go
22:18
node node node node node node. I got all
22:20
the nodes. I'm done. I I think in some
22:23
ways it is the most lasting legacy of
22:26
the burning crusade because it's still
22:27
there. You It's still Yeah, a druid is
22:30
still a great choice for any kind of
22:32
picking anything. Yeah. Is there
22:34
anything we want to craft? You want to
22:35
gather up? Yep. Druids swift flight form
22:38
go. Uh even lumber like right now if you
22:41
wanted to get some lumber they're
22:42
probably the best bets even though
22:43
lumber is ridiculous.
22:45
How much lumber?
22:46
>> Like normal non druid people can go and
22:50
get lumber and they can get instant
22:52
lumber gathering so you don't have to
22:54
dismount. But to get that instant lumber
22:57
gathering you have to get an
22:58
achievement. And the achievement
23:00
requires you to collect 250 pieces of
23:03
lumber. Not just all types of lumber.
23:06
250 pieces of each different type of
23:08
lumber to be able to gather that type of
23:10
lumber without
23:12
>> Mhm.
23:13
>> dismounting.
23:14
So, frankly, you think about it and it's
23:17
like maybe I'll just roll a druid. Maybe
23:19
I could just That druid thing sounded
23:21
pretty good.
23:22
>> Legitimately, my druid is what I farm
23:24
lumber on at this point because of that.
23:26
>> I mean, your your druid could ostensibly
23:28
get the achievement for you. So that
23:30
could be
23:32
>> that could be a thing.
23:34
>> That'd be sounds like the best way to do
23:35
it honestly.
23:36
>> Yeah.
23:37
>> So yeah, if nothing else, if you're
23:39
playing
23:39
>> then I'd have to then I'd have to play a
23:41
druid. And you know,
23:44
>> Liz, no.
23:45
>> Nobody's more comfortable playing a
23:47
druid than me.
23:49
>> No one no one thinks druid e more than I
23:51
do. But I have to say, if the choice is
23:55
play a druid or have to manually harvest
23:57
all this lumber, I'm starting to go back
23:59
to that that Wargan I left in the woods
24:02
like, "Hey buddy, how you been? You left
24:04
me here to die." Yeah. Would you like to
24:06
gather some lumber for me?
24:07
>> See, Matt, I don't I I understand the
24:10
appeal of organs, don't get me wrong,
24:11
but I would have assumed that you would
24:12
have been a Xandelari druid 100% of the
24:15
way.
24:16
>> See, here's the thing. I rolled the
24:17
Xandelari druid. I made the Xandelari. I
24:20
took some Xandelari forms. I was very
24:22
happy with them. And then I said to
24:23
myself, am I going to play horde when I
24:25
don't have a horde guild and my alliance
24:28
guild are actually doing things and I'm
24:32
in in Battle for Azeroth and my the
24:34
three Horde people I know are never on
24:36
because they live in Australia. And I
24:38
was like, "Okay, well, thank you for
24:40
giving me a good experience with getting
24:41
to be a kitty cat that is also a lizard.
24:44
Um, I've had a lot of fun pretending
24:46
that you are uh Gorgonopsid, but
24:49
unfortunately I want to go back to
24:51
playing a class where I can actually
24:53
interact with people I know. So, I ended
24:55
up
24:55
>> I've heard that they've increased the
24:57
amount of cross factioning stuff that
25:00
you can do now. So, you could go
25:02
>> Yeah, dinosaurs. Just saying.
25:04
>> I I mean, the problem is is that their
25:05
their forms are still like cats and
25:08
stuff. They're just scaly and weird. And
25:10
like I said, I pretended that they were
25:12
Gorgonopsids and I had a lot of fun, but
25:14
they don't have a lot of really dinosaur
25:16
modes. The only one that I can remember
25:18
is the raptor form. And that one's fine,
25:20
but in the end, it wasn't cool enough.
25:24
Like I I honestly wish it was like a
25:26
Diablo Druid where I could basically
25:27
just decide I am this animal 95% of the
25:31
time. The only way I could be happier
25:32
with Diablo Druids is if I could just
25:34
literally park myself in bear or
25:36
werewolf form and never come back. like
25:39
sit.
25:40
>> There are legendaries for those.
25:41
>> Yes, there are. But, you know, when
25:43
you're leveling up, I I want the I
25:45
honestly could imagine just sitting
25:47
there in in bear form or in were bear
25:51
form or in werewolf form and just being
25:53
there all the time in that cuz I I was
25:56
one of the things I loved about third
25:57
edition D and D. It was real easy to be
26:00
a to be a druid in in your animal form
26:02
all the time. Like, it literally almost
26:05
never came out of it. to the point where
26:06
in one campaign I played the group cat
26:10
and they didn't go. Why does the cat
26:12
have his own character sheet? Why is a
26:13
person playing the cat? And then one day
26:16
I started I started like casting healing
26:19
spells and raising people from the dead
26:21
as a cat. And we were like 10th level at
26:23
this point. I'd been a cat for 10
26:24
levels. They had they had no idea how
26:27
the cat was doing any of this. And
26:29
finally I had to pop out of druid form
26:31
to save someone from dying. And they
26:33
were like you're a person. I was like,
26:36
"Yes, yes, I am. I'm a person." Pop back
26:40
into cat form.
26:41
>> So, yeah, I I I liked them, but in the
26:44
end, for me, the the idea that they
26:46
could do the farming for the the lumber
26:48
cuz I I I've tried now like three times
26:50
to get serious about um Midnight because
26:53
I really want to get to the point where
26:55
I'm ready for the next level of raiding
26:57
and I want to get my house ready and all
26:59
that stuff. And the thing that's really
27:00
stopping me is stuff like having to farm
27:02
all the different kinds of lumber up to
27:04
enormous amounts to get an achievement.
27:06
So I don't have to use
27:07
>> I mean lumber the lumber isn't strictly
27:10
necessary it for for that type of stuff.
27:14
Um
27:14
>> for the first five levels or so, right?
27:16
>> You can do a ton of stuff without
27:18
farming any lumber.
27:19
>> You you can you can max your house out
27:21
without touching lumber at all.
27:23
>> Yeah. Like I mean lumber is used to
27:25
construct certain special things, but a
27:27
lot of things you buy or a lot of things
27:30
are just drops. Uh there's just a ton of
27:34
things you earned through gameplay.
27:35
Lumber is specifically for crafting
27:37
things. So there are some cool things
27:39
that require lumber, but you can do a
27:43
ton without any of that.
27:44
>> I love that I've managed to talk this
27:46
much about housing in a Burning Crusade
27:48
classic. [laughter]
27:49
But regardless, I I will say that I
27:51
liked the Ogrelaw and Chitauri Skyguard
27:54
reputations. I liked Ogrelaw mostly for
27:56
that flying bombing quest. You guys
27:58
remember that one?
27:59
>> I do.
27:59
>> I do. Yeah, that was fun.
28:01
>> I like the bombing.
28:01
>> Is that not Oh, yeah. You're bombing the
28:03
the Legion outpost thing.
28:05
>> Yep. Yeah. The the ogres are like, you
28:07
know, it will give you a ton of Aexus if
28:09
you just fly around and drop bombs on
28:10
these people. And I'm like, you had me
28:13
at drop bombs. Um and the Chitauri Sky
28:16
Guard actually had some pretty
28:17
interesting lore stuff. I think it was
28:18
through Chitauri Skyard quest that I
28:20
started figuring out that there's a lot
28:22
of creepy weird old god stuff on Outland
28:24
that I did not initially realize was
28:26
there. Um, so yeah, those are both cool.
28:28
Uh, in general, Burning Crusade phase 2
28:31
is is [snorts] a period of the game that
28:33
I remember fondly.
28:35
>> I I I was a main tank for a guild when
28:38
we were doing um the eye and serpent
28:40
shrine. And I'm really happy that if I
28:42
start if I were to start playing this
28:44
and no, I know I'm not going to. It's
28:45
just too many other things. But if I
28:46
could,
28:47
>> I would be able to finally tank the eye
28:49
without having to point my camera
28:51
directly at the floor because if I see
28:54
any of the spell effects, I'm going to
28:56
switch down to two frames a second. It's
28:59
real hard to hold aggro on multiple
29:00
people and avoid their instant kill if
29:03
you don't use the legendary abilities at
29:06
two frames per second. Like that's just
29:08
that's just not it wasn't fun at all.
29:10
The only
29:11
>> you might as well just raid through
29:12
PowerPoint at that point.
29:13
>> Yeah. And actually the eye in
29:15
particular, the last fight in the eye
29:17
often did feel like you were rating a
29:18
PowerPoint presentation because
29:20
everything was like there's always like
29:22
six or seven things happening at once in
29:24
your line of vision and your like if you
29:27
unless you had a really decent rig for
29:29
the time, you'd be sitting there going,
29:31
"Okay, I can feel the the my room got
29:33
warm. Uh, so I'm pretty sure my computer
29:35
is currently dying. I'm just going to
29:37
point the camera down. Okay, there we
29:39
go. I can't see anything happening, but
29:41
I can at least push buttons and have the
29:42
thing happen. And that's all I need
29:44
right now. I don't need to see what
29:45
Kalethos is doing. I just need to hit
29:47
the button when the raid leader starts
29:49
screaming at me to hit the button.
29:51
>> So, you know, I would like to be able to
29:52
actually see it. So, that's cool. Um,
29:54
but okay, what else do we have? This one
29:57
I don't really understand, so I'm going
29:58
to be able to shut up and let other
30:00
people talk about it, but it's Blizzard
30:01
has added and then fixed ascendant void
30:03
cores for for item upgrades. Uh, I'm
30:06
going to assume Liz, you going to
30:07
explain to me what this is? don't know.
30:09
>> It was me.
30:09
>> Oh, go for it, Joe. [laughter]
30:12
>> Uh, so the void forge was a a new system
30:15
that was introduced in the the Midnight
30:18
expansion uh and went live in the latest
30:20
patch that allows players to get bonus
30:22
rolls for loot inside of raids. Uh, as
30:25
well as upgrade maximum tier mythic gear
30:28
uh, and supposedly at the time of
30:30
release, it was supposed to allow you to
30:32
do this with uh, uh, maximum crafted
30:36
level gear as well. The problem was that
30:39
it wasn't letting you do this with
30:40
crafted gear. Um, so you'd get your five
30:44
ascended void shards, uh, make your
30:46
ascended void core, uh, and then it
30:48
wouldn't work on your max level radiant
30:50
weapon. Uh, and when you go to add it
30:52
and hit accept, nothing happens. Uh,
30:54
they fixed it. So now that it is
30:55
actually functional again, it is uh
30:57
another in a string of system updates
31:00
that uh seemingly needed to be uh
31:05
adjusted in order to work properly upon
31:07
release. Uh but the good news is it is
31:10
fixed. Uh it was fixed uh as of today.
31:13
So, people can go ahead and uh get their
31:16
crafted weapons and trinkets uh upgraded
31:20
with the uh ascended void cores where
31:22
they weren't for Eve of Time. So, there
31:25
you go. It was broken and they fixed it.
31:28
Rejoice. I'm sorry. I I have to
31:31
interrupt you guys conversation which
31:32
going to be a perfectly good
31:33
conversation to say that I read ahead in
31:35
the document saw that Marvel Rivals has
31:37
introduced Devil Dinosaur and now I have
31:39
to start playing Marvel Rivals and I
31:41
don't have time. But at least Double
31:43
Dinosaur is in it, guys. Anyway, go
31:45
ahead and talk about the void core some
31:47
while I sit here and panic.
31:49
>> I mean, that's it. That's all there
31:50
really is to it. So, I mean, we can talk
31:52
about Double Dinosaur if you want to,
31:54
Matt, but we should probably go out to
31:55
Diablo 4 for now.
31:56
>> But I just want to make sure before we
31:58
leave, do either Liz or Corey have
32:00
anything to say about the void cores and
32:01
the bugs and
32:02
>> uh bugs are bad. I don't like bugs. I'm
32:05
glad they've got fixed and I'm glad that
32:07
they fixed the thing that was bugged. I
32:09
I will say they did come out with a fix
32:11
pretty quickly because the item upgrade
32:14
Yeah, the item upgrade portion of the
32:16
void forge, which was added in patch
32:18
12.0.5,
32:20
did only go live today and it went live
32:23
broken and and it's fixed. Woohoo.
32:25
>> That's a really quick turnaround time.
32:27
So, good.
32:27
>> Yeah, for for Blizzard, it's pretty
32:29
good. It's
32:31
I I I'm happy we have a game to play
32:33
that's mostly and I maybe I've lowered
32:36
my expectations, but uh we're doing
32:38
pretty good
32:39
>> coming back. I mean, we've been playing
32:40
World of Warcraft for a while, the bunch
32:42
of us who were here,
32:43
>> a couple of years. Yeah,
32:44
>> maybe one or two.
32:46
>> I remember going all the way back to
32:47
vanilla when when my boat to Calumdor so
32:51
we could go do the the opening events
32:53
for, you know, the onarage raids ended
32:56
up in the Stone Talon Mountains. We were
32:59
just we were on a boat. We were in Stone
33:00
Talon. We were on top of some mountains.
33:02
We couldn't even jump off of the boat
33:04
and get away because we were on top of a
33:06
mountain and we would just fall. So, all
33:08
I'm going to say is [sighs] like anybody
33:11
who who remembers trying to run
33:13
Blackwing Lair on Horde remembers the
33:16
you know the Earthbind Highway and how
33:18
sometimes it would just stop working. Uh
33:20
everybody remembers all these different
33:23
bugs that would just happen at Oddom.
33:24
They've they've become very responsive
33:26
to bugs over the years. I I would say
33:28
things were a little weird this
33:30
expansion, but it does feel like they
33:32
still have this they have a good
33:33
response time. That's it.
33:35
>> It has it's it's been a bad expansion
33:36
for bugs. It has been and this has
33:38
particularly been a bad patch for bugs,
33:42
but they this one it came and went
33:44
pretty quickly. So that's that's good.
33:45
I'll take what I can get.
33:47
>> Right. So now we will move on to Diablo
33:48
I. Um I'm the one who posted the initial
33:51
thing, so I guess I should talk about
33:53
it. Um, basically I ran through the
33:56
second that the the new expansion came
33:58
out. I I got on one of my Eternal Realm
34:00
characters and I did 60 to 70 and did
34:03
the whole story of Sco before I started
34:06
the season character because a I wanted
34:08
my Eternal character to get to do all of
34:10
it. Um, and B, I didn't want to wait
34:14
because I had this ambitious plan in my
34:16
mind to start at level one on a a new
34:19
character and play through all the
34:21
content, go through the original
34:23
campaign, then go through Vessel of
34:25
Hatred, and finally go through Sco. What
34:28
I didn't understand was that even on
34:30
just plain hard, not not anything like
34:34
expert or penitent, certainly not any
34:36
tournament levels. Um, I would I would
34:38
get to level 70 before I killed Lilith.
34:43
>> Yeah. Yeah.
34:45
>> By before I killed Lilith, I mean I was
34:47
level 70 and we still had the entirety
34:51
of How is Art? Like, so
34:52
>> I mean, yeah.
34:55
>> And so,
34:55
>> yeah,
34:56
>> that happened. That's the first thing.
34:58
Um, they have definitely made leveling
34:59
faster. Uh, there's absolutely no way to
35:02
argue it because the first time I did
35:03
this, I killed Lilith and I was still
35:05
mid like like early 50.
35:07
>> Well, remember too that original
35:09
leveling was one to 100, but the last
35:11
half of that was Paragon points and now
35:13
it's
35:14
>> now one to whatever
35:16
>> 70
35:18
Paragon. But still, the experience was
35:20
night and day. Uh secondly, um and this
35:24
is when I I will then stop and have you
35:26
guys to give me your thoughts about it,
35:28
but the story hangs a lot more
35:30
coherently when all three are in one
35:34
place. When you don't have to wait two
35:36
years to see Vessel of Hatred and then
35:38
wait a year to see Lord of Hat. When you
35:41
can go from one to the other to the
35:43
other. I currently just started Scovos
35:45
on this character. Um, when you can do
35:48
that, it's a much more coherent story
35:51
and it's very satisfying. Uh, I think it
35:53
is kind of a bummer that it was chopped
35:57
up the way it was, especially Vessel of
35:59
Hatred. I feel like I I think I don't
36:01
remember somebody here, I think, said
36:03
this. They said that Vessel of Hatred
36:05
gets to the point where it's like,
36:06
"Okay, this is interesting." And then it
36:07
stopped.
36:08
>> That was me.
36:09
>> Yeah, that sounds like Liz.
36:10
>> Uh, well, that was the thing. The Vessel
36:13
of Hatred was the middle expansion in a
36:15
three expansion trilogy, but it felt
36:19
like you could have gone in and made an
36:21
expansion that had kind of a beginning,
36:24
middle, and end. And instead, it had a
36:28
beginning and middle and it stopped. You
36:30
know, it stopped right as the story was
36:32
getting going. So, it felt like a really
36:34
disappointing expansion to me because it
36:36
did not tell a complete narrative on its
36:38
own and it ended on a cliffhanger. You
36:41
know, it's like they clearly want you to
36:42
tune in next week when the next season
36:44
starts, but it just did not make for a
36:47
sat satisfying narrative experience,
36:49
which the initial Diablo campaign, the
36:52
vanilla campaign in Diablo I was really
36:55
good. It was shockingly good because
36:57
Diablo has certainly had stories before.
37:01
I mean, this isn't like completely new
37:04
to the franchise, but it hasn't been
37:07
like a story first game. It's been a
37:09
killing demons first game and also
37:12
there's a story tacked on to give us a
37:13
reason to go and kill these demons.
37:15
>> Yeah, I I will I was going to say I was
37:17
surprisingly
37:19
okay with like the conclusion of the
37:21
vanilla campaign. Like you said, it was
37:24
one of those things where it didn't feel
37:25
bad. It felt satisfying. It still felt
37:28
like there was more to come, but it
37:30
didn't it didn't
37:31
>> it didn't feel like I had missed out on
37:33
anything. And uh Vessel of Hatred was
37:37
one of those things where and we talked
37:39
about this I think on lore watch as well
37:41
where you you get to a point and it's
37:44
just like it feels like you just stop
37:47
halfway and that that doesn't feel good
37:50
from my viewpoint, but then you get to
37:53
this one and you know, Lord of Hat is uh
37:58
pretty solid all the way through. Like
37:59
I'm still remembering how to do things
38:00
that I forgot how to do in Diablo. Uh,
38:03
but like it the story feels fine. Like
38:05
it there's things that I disagree with.
38:07
We haven't talked about a lot of them
38:08
yet and we're probably going to do a
38:10
deep dive in in a lore watch in the very
38:12
near future once people have had a
38:13
chance to once we feel that the campaign
38:16
has sufficiently had time to breathe.
38:18
But yeah, like it it I feel ways about
38:22
the story, but I'm not unsatisfied if
38:25
that makes sense. Yeah, it does feel
38:27
very much like if Vessel of Hatred and
38:30
Lord of Hatred had been released as one
38:32
expansion, just the whole thing.
38:34
>> Yeah.
38:34
>> Uh that it would have been long. Like
38:36
you would have been like, my word, this
38:38
is huge. But you also wouldn't have felt
38:40
like, uh, okay, wait, what? We're we're
38:42
going to just stand here now
38:44
>> for a year. And we're like, we're likely
38:47
going to have to get used to that
38:48
though, too, because
38:50
>> uh with the uh way that the the they
38:55
want to do like expansions and releases
38:57
and things like that, we're likely going
39:00
to be in this cycle again in the future,
39:03
which we're going to talk about probably
39:04
in a minute, but it's one of those
39:06
things, right?
39:07
>> So, just to to to get ahead, I'm not
39:10
going to talk about what the things are,
39:12
but there is a lot I like about both. I
39:15
think Vessel of Hatred has a lot of good
39:16
things in it, but it just again the
39:17
ending is kind of weird. The opening of
39:19
Lord of Hatred has one note that I do
39:21
not like and I don't want to talk about
39:24
it because it is a spoiler. Um, so you
39:27
just
39:29
>> Blizzard has spoiled Wow.
39:31
>> Yeah, [laughter]
39:33
>> they spoiled so much about it too like
39:35
all the official channels. Yeah,
39:37
>> but I managed to avoid most of that. So,
39:39
I'm not going to I am bad at doing
39:41
spoilers, so I've become cautious. like
39:43
I am not going to spoil it even if to my
39:46
brain but everyone knows I'm not going
39:47
to do it. So I will just say I did not
39:50
like that and there is an element of
39:53
this story that you have to go around
39:56
after the main boss fight and do a lot
39:59
of world quests that only open up after
40:01
the main boss fight to see the effect of
40:05
it. And I think that I love that. But I
40:07
think for a lot of people they're not
40:08
going to do it. And so they're going to
40:10
be like I don't get it. What happens
40:11
now? like, "Well, if you go and do this,
40:13
you'll find out." Like, "But I don't
40:14
want to go and do that." I'm like,
40:15
"Well, I mean, unless you want the
40:17
developers to come to your house and
40:20
tell you this is what this is the
40:22
intended means of you learning this. You
40:24
go and do these things." Uh there's one
40:27
character who from a Diablo season, I
40:29
think it's season Diablo season 4, the
40:32
character shows up and has a loreheavy
40:34
quest. Uh that basically deals with
40:36
warlocks and weird cults and things that
40:39
are not like the primevals that are out
40:42
there menacing sanctuary. And there's a
40:44
thing Joe used to talk about a lot about
40:46
other like this goes back to the
40:48
original campaign. Joe would talk about
40:50
the weird fact that there have been
40:52
other worlds made
40:54
>> with the world stone and they flat out
40:56
say it
40:57
>> like in this quest they're like other
40:59
worlds were created other entities exist
41:02
and it's it's really it's cool but it's
41:04
also it's a tidbit that I feel a lot of
41:08
the storytelling elements are put in
41:10
places where people will not initially
41:12
see them and that's whilst the the story
41:14
of the expansion is really good in my
41:15
opinion there are moments that I feel it
41:17
could have been more integrated. Go
41:19
ahead, Liz, because I heard you.
41:20
>> I I think seasonal storytelling is one
41:22
thing where Diablo 4 has really dropped
41:25
the ball because I I mean, you're
41:28
talking about a seasonal story, but I
41:30
think seasonal stories have been bare to
41:32
the point of non-existence. They really
41:34
fall into that thing that format.
41:37
>> Yeah, I agree with you. And I don't
41:38
think this counts as seasonal
41:39
storytelling. I think it is just the
41:40
stuff after the the the main
41:43
>> after the after the main. Yeah, cuz this
41:45
uh
41:45
>> there's a lot of like season there's a
41:46
lot of side quests after that are not
41:48
seasonal.
41:49
>> Yes.
41:49
>> Yeah.
41:50
>> Yes. There this season is actually not
41:53
>> does not have a season of its own. It is
41:55
just the expansion. Yeah. I hope you
41:57
like the expansion.
41:59
>> They do call it the season of reckoning,
42:01
but there is not actually any seasonal
42:04
content other than a fresh battle pass
42:06
to work through and a new season
42:08
journey. Uh which they aren't calling it
42:10
season journey anymore. It's season
42:12
rank. Uh, but
42:13
>> there's lots of changes, but but they're
42:15
not unique to the
42:16
>> Nothing is seasonal. And so when And the
42:19
problem is when you get into the
42:20
seasonal stuff, it's like,
42:22
>> okay, I'm just going to do this over
42:25
again now.
42:26
>> Yeah.
42:26
>> Oh, I'm just going to do this over
42:28
again.
42:29
>> The one thing that really got me is the
42:31
the first tier of the season is, you
42:34
know, reach level 30 on a on a paladin
42:36
or or warlock, go do five whispers on
42:39
Scovos. I'm like, I'm playing from the
42:42
beginning of the game. Sco is not till
42:45
much later, guys. Why are you putting
42:48
the season journey first rank on Sco?
42:51
Put the fourth rank on Sco.
42:53
>> You can you can do all of these things
42:54
as you go. I mean,
42:56
>> but you shouldn't have to.
42:57
>> You Well, that's the thing with the
42:59
season rank system as it works now. You
43:03
technically you don't have to do any of
43:05
the individual achievements in each one.
43:08
You have to do them to get the rewards,
43:09
but if you want to unlock the next level
43:12
of season rank, you just have to do
43:14
whatever it says for the level. Like for
43:16
the first I think it's capstone
43:18
dungeons.
43:19
>> Yeah, you can just run those too. So
43:22
yeah.
43:22
>> Yeah. Run those at whatever at whatever
43:24
point you can run them
43:26
>> basically. It's I think it's like you
43:27
have to do a couple of the season
43:29
achievements just but easy ones and then
43:32
once you're at a certain level they're
43:34
like here go ahead and go do that and
43:36
you go do it and it's really long
43:38
because it's a capstone dungeon
43:40
>> and then you get out and you're like
43:41
okay boom I got some presents and now I
43:43
can do more achievements and once I get
43:45
to a right level I can do the next one.
43:47
And that's that's how it runs. It still
43:49
runs that way. But the the original
43:51
season journey was like you have to do
43:53
eight of these things in this list.
43:56
>> And the new the new season rank system
43:59
is like
44:00
>> do do whatever you want and when you're
44:03
ready to move on to the next rank do the
44:05
capstone dungeon or whatever the big
44:06
goal is and you're just naturally going
44:08
to finish things as you go.
44:10
>> Yeah. It's just it is weird that when
44:12
you are like ordinarily if you start a
44:15
fresh character at level one on Scoos,
44:18
you'll be doing the the stuff just
44:20
because you're doing stuff on Sco. If
44:22
you start level one back in the original
44:25
campaign, you will not be completing a
44:27
single one of these until much later.
44:30
And that's fine,
44:31
>> but it is what happens.
44:34
The weird dichotomy with Diablo I is how
44:38
it has it really pushes you to make a
44:42
new character and level from scratch.
44:44
And if you do that, I think right now
44:47
leveling feels really good. Progression
44:48
feels really good. It's very smooth. But
44:51
if you come into Lord of Hat and you're
44:53
like, I'm going to grab my old Eternal
44:55
character and play Lord of Hatred,
44:57
that's when things get kind of janky
44:59
where the because there have been so
45:02
many changes to Diablo I over the years
45:05
patch to patch. They've made some really
45:06
radical changes to gameplay and it feels
45:10
it just feels janky if you come in with
45:12
those old Eternal characters because
45:14
they were built created using systems
45:16
that don't exist or have been radically
45:18
changed and it can be hard to adjust an
45:21
old character into these new systems.
45:23
>> Yeah. I'm going to turn to Joe for a sec
45:25
because Joe actually has experience with
45:26
this. Joe, you've been trying to to get
45:28
used to the game again on your Druid,
45:30
right?
45:30
>> Yeah. So talk about whether it is to
45:32
come back or the character that you
45:33
played for a long time and then
45:35
everything's different.
45:36
>> So I mean it's it's not necessarily
45:39
the game itself like the the core of the
45:41
game getting back into the game is easy
45:42
as far as like what I've experienced. So
45:45
again I I beat the campaign of Vessel of
45:48
Hatred and then I noped out until this
45:52
expansion. I'm not going to lie. I just
45:53
was not having fun. I'm having fun in
45:56
the current uh expansion. and I'm having
45:58
fun with the way that the game is
46:00
running. Maybe partially because it
46:02
isn't that that other generational or
46:04
generational seasonal content. um where
46:07
like I feel like I just got to leave my
46:10
main behind. But learning where
46:13
everything is again and how the systems
46:15
have changed, getting used to the new
46:17
talent systems, getting used to the new
46:20
builds, remembering how to uh put
46:22
aspects on my legendaries and and stuff
46:25
like that has been an experience. Like
46:28
I'm trying to figure out what build to
46:30
go with my druid right now and I'm I'm
46:32
currently in a summoner build and and
46:33
playing around with that. uh but then
46:35
figuring out again how to farm uniques
46:38
or farm legendaries and you know what
46:41
the best methods are for doing that and
46:43
what difficulty to do it at that will
46:45
make the most efficient sense and and
46:47
things like that. So it's it's been I I
46:51
not an insurmountable task and I haven't
46:55
really felt out of my element. It's just
46:58
it almost feels like a fresh game again
47:00
which I think is is interesting right
47:03
>> especially because I haven't
47:05
Go ahead.
47:06
>> Sorry. It feels very odd to personally
47:09
it feels very odd to hear someone talk
47:10
about their main in Diablo I because
47:12
I've never played Diablo I as a game
47:14
where I have a main
47:16
>> because they started the seasons right
47:17
away
47:18
>> and every time I just make a new
47:20
seasonal character, play it for the
47:21
season until or until I get bored and
47:24
abandon it.
47:25
>> Yeah, I I understand that I'm in the
47:26
minority, but I'm a Diablo II player at
47:28
heart. Um, and that's one of the things
47:31
that like I I will always be when it
47:33
comes to ARPGs. I want a single
47:37
character that I can invest a lot of
47:39
time into and build up and live my power
47:42
fantasy of destroying demons or uh
47:46
chasing mcguffins or whatever on that
47:49
character, right? That's just the way my
47:51
brain works. And I know that I'm not I I
47:54
don't speak for everybody. Um, and a lot
47:56
of people really liked the seasonal
47:58
content of Diablo III and they really
48:00
liked the seasonal content of Diablo I.
48:02
It's just not
48:02
>> no one likes No one likes the seasonal
48:05
content of Diablo I.
48:07
>> Some people there have been there like
48:09
there has to be somebody that does. I'm
48:11
not discounting things.
48:14
>> There are things you like about the
48:15
season, but you're not like, "Oh, man. I
48:17
really love that season."
48:18
>> Yeah. But but it's it's it's just the
48:20
the core point is it's just not the way
48:22
my brain works. When I identify with a
48:25
character or two characters in an ARPG,
48:28
nothing else exists for me. Like I I
48:31
love the druid. The druid has always
48:33
been my Diablo favorite class since
48:35
Diablo II when it released. And I put
48:38
thousands of hours into my Diablo II
48:41
druid on my original Battlelet account
48:44
with all of my uniques and everything
48:46
else. Miss you, John Naveid. um
48:51
Paladin being the second one. And now
48:53
that I can do both of those, nothing
48:55
else exists for me. I've tried the other
48:57
classes. I don't like them. They like,
49:00
and it's not because they're bad. It's
49:02
my brains. It's like, "This isn't a
49:03
druid. This isn't a paladin. What are
49:04
you doing? You you you could be throwing
49:06
shields. You could be summoning
49:08
werewolves to go maul your enemies for
49:10
you while you sit in the backline. What
49:12
are you doing?" Uh so that's that's just
49:15
where I'm at. So, yes, I know it's maybe
49:16
weird to hear me talk about it as my
49:18
main, but my druid will always be my
49:20
Diablo main.
49:21
>> I'm going to [clears throat] turn to Liz
49:22
because I want to talk to you about
49:23
something we were just talking about.
49:25
>> Um, would you think do would you say
49:27
it's accurate that there are specific
49:28
seasons that introduced things to the
49:31
game that people do still love, but that
49:33
doesn't necessarily mean that they loved
49:35
those seasons. They loved the the
49:37
changes those seasons made that are
49:39
still in the game.
49:40
>> I mean, yeah. And even like if you go
49:42
back to what season three or maybe even
49:46
season two was the season of blood and
49:48
Blizzard introduced
49:49
>> the vampire season. Yeah. where you had
49:51
this whole this whole collection of new
49:54
blood powers to collect and they made
49:56
you play in new ways and that was really
49:59
fun and exciting because they'd never
50:00
done that before and it introduced this
50:03
it made going into the season felt like
50:06
doing something different and it felt
50:08
like there was a reason to start and
50:09
advance a new character because you were
50:11
doing new things that were really cool
50:14
and
50:16
>> I think the infernal horde season is
50:17
absolutely one of those when the
50:18
infernal horde show before the infernal
50:20
hordes and not the the ones where you go
50:23
individually. I mean the ones that would
50:25
invade during um hell tides cuz before
50:28
they started having stuff happen in hell
50:30
tides, it was basically just fight
50:31
demons until you got killed. Do you
50:33
>> Yeah. I just I feel like the problem
50:37
with Diablo seasons is that they've
50:39
gotten very formulaic and repetitive. So
50:41
it got to the point where they looked
50:43
back and they're like, "Oh, Season of
50:44
Blood. Everyone loves Season of Blood."
50:46
And so
50:48
>> here's another one.
50:49
>> Here's another one. And it's like, okay,
50:51
let's do season of blood, but we're
50:52
calling all of these these are witch
50:54
powers now. Okay, let's do season of
50:56
blood, but we're calling these, you
50:58
know, it's just kept going and now it
51:01
feels really sy.
51:05
There's one that I absolutely loved. The
51:06
one where you could put any piece of
51:08
gear you wanted on any slot. So, if you
51:11
had boots, you could wear them on your
51:13
head. If you had a chest plate, you
51:14
could wear it on your hands. I I I know
51:17
it was ridiculous, but I loved it
51:18
because you could just you could have
51:20
the weirdest combos. You could have all
51:22
these like you could have all these hat
51:23
powers. You could just have hat powers
51:25
on every slot is, you know, just
51:28
whatever happened. I liked it. I did
51:30
think it was a cool season, but I
51:31
couldn't tell you what the story was.
51:32
Like
51:33
>> Well, I mean, that's that's the thing.
51:34
None of them have had stories other
51:35
than, hey, get some witch powers,
51:38
>> get some cool blood powers. You know,
51:40
the story is paper thin. you get an hour
51:43
of content and then the rest of it is
51:45
just chasing the same
51:46
>> is just okay now kill things for a 100
51:48
hours
51:50
>> but because I know there's one thing we
51:51
should want to talk about and I also
51:52
know we're running low on time I'm going
51:54
to move us on to what's next for Diablo
51:57
uh because I do think there's an
51:58
interesting conversation to be had there
51:59
what do we think with again without
52:01
trying to avoid spoilers what do we
52:03
think we're going to get next uh I'm
52:04
going to do this round table so I'm
52:06
going to start on Joe move to Liz and
52:07
then to Corey Joe what do you think is
52:09
coming up next
52:10
>> the next three expansions will be
52:12
focused around Bale. So,
52:13
>> you think we're going to go full three?
52:15
>> I think we're I think it's I think
52:17
they're liking the trilogy idea, and I
52:19
don't I I I agree with it. I think that
52:22
it works. Um, and I think they've maybe
52:24
learned some lessons hopefully in the
52:26
way that they released the story for
52:27
these three, but they've already from
52:30
the very beginning of the game in the
52:32
very opening of the vanilla experience
52:34
when you are the wanderer in the
52:36
snowstorm and are saved by the the wolf.
52:40
Uh, literally it says hatred leads to
52:44
destruction. Destruction leads to
52:45
terror. They are literally telling you
52:47
from the very beginning in my opinion
52:50
what we're doing next because they're
52:52
basically laying it all out. Um it it we
52:56
dealt with the Lord of Hatred. Uh we are
52:59
going to be dealing with the Lord of
53:00
Destruction, Baal. Uh and then they're
53:03
going to probably bring it home with a
53:04
huge event when we wind up coming uh to
53:07
terms with fight facing fighting or
53:09
hunting uh Diablo cuz that seems to be
53:12
the way it goes. Cuz in Diablo II, you
53:15
had you you fought Meisto, you fought
53:17
Diablo, then you fought Bale. Uh, and it
53:20
was like, but it's the game's called
53:21
Diablo. Why isn't he the last one that
53:23
I'm going for? Um,
53:24
>> yeah. And then Diablo II has the same
53:26
problem, doesn't it?
53:26
>> It does. It absolutely does.
53:28
>> Diablo at the end, and then you fight
53:29
Malio.
53:30
>> Yeah. where which I understand that's
53:32
that's sort of the the thing that you go
53:34
into, but the way that they've sort of
53:35
like I don't want to say fixed the
53:38
story, but I the TLDDR is I I don't see
53:43
us getting a Diablo 5. I see us
53:46
continuing Diablo I as a Diablo I
53:48
eternal for as long as it can because
53:51
they have the framework. it works really
53:54
well and until it's time to make a whole
53:55
new system or a whole new coding
53:57
language or something uh a game engine
54:00
to make a something new work, I don't
54:03
see us moving into something like that
54:04
while they can still release expansions
54:07
in something that we know is functional.
54:09
And honestly, out of all the ARPGs out
54:12
there, looks pretty blank and good,
54:14
right? cuz like I I'm comparing this to
54:16
like Path of Exile 2, which I'm in like
54:18
I play and Diablo I especially getting
54:23
to the current expansion is gorgeous
54:25
compared to to Path of Exile or most of
54:29
the other ARPGs out there. So, but
54:32
again, I think that we're going after
54:33
Bale and I think that Diablo will be
54:35
this huge capstone piece and it'll be
54:36
this a huge event when we finally get uh
54:39
Diablo coming back to Sanctuary. And
54:41
also some of the side quests also hint
54:43
that way as well, which we can't talk
54:45
about yet. Uh, but there are a lot of
54:47
side quests that sort of hint at that
54:49
being the next thing.
54:50
>> Yeah, I would agree. Uh, Liz,
54:52
>> I mean, I am I am worried that Blizzard
54:56
might decide to do a Diablo 5. I don't
54:59
think that would be a good call because
55:02
it's taken them a couple of years to get
55:04
Diablo I into really good shape. I think
55:06
the game is in really good shape right
55:08
now that, you know, they've spent the
55:11
past couple of years refining systems,
55:13
improving gameplay, but this is also
55:15
what happened with Diablo III. They
55:17
spent years improving the game. It it
55:19
launched kind of rough and they spent
55:22
years improving the game, responding to
55:24
player feedback, adjusting things. Then
55:26
they came out with Rebirth of Souls,
55:28
which really revolutionized the game and
55:30
made it really super solid, very good.
55:34
And then they did nothing but seasonal
55:36
content and worked on Diablo I.
55:38
>> Yeah.
55:39
>> Which and Diablo I threw a lot of the
55:42
changes Diablo III had made over the
55:44
years into the garbage and now has spent
55:46
two or three years adding a lot of
55:48
Diablo II stuff back into Diablo I. So
55:52
while I would I I think Joe is Joe's
55:55
making the smart call here and saying
55:57
no, there's not going to be a Diablo 5.
55:59
We're going to keep doing Diablo.
56:01
>> Not in the near not in the near future,
56:02
I don't think. But also, I Blizzard has
56:06
has shown very strange decision-making
56:08
with Diablo in the past where
56:12
>> you all have phones, right?
56:15
>> Okay. We do all have phones, Matthew.
56:19
>> I know that was not the right response
56:21
at the time. That's all I'm saying.
56:22
Well, it it it it wasn't right either to
56:26
go up on sta to go up on stage and ask
56:29
someone who is clearly working hard and
56:30
put a lot of time and passion into a
56:32
project, hey, is your project a joke?
56:34
>> Yeah, that question was
56:36
>> is this a joke?
56:37
>> Yeah, we we there that whole thing was
56:39
handled poorly. So, we can
56:41
>> Well, and and then and then you have a
56:43
developer up there who's just not
56:45
prepared for that sort of question. They
56:46
did not come expecting this. who had
56:49
missed expectations right there that
56:51
were came together in a really
56:53
unfortunate way for everybody.
56:54
>> Yep.
56:55
>> And they tried so hard to manage those
56:57
expectations but they failed.
56:59
>> They didn't.
57:00
>> But we are we are not talking about
57:01
that. We are talking about
57:04
>> basically Liz what you're saying is
57:06
you're afraid they will they will start
57:08
working.
57:08
>> Yeah. I'm I'm afraid they might decide
57:10
okay well you know Diablo I is in really
57:12
good shape. Let's do the next thing.
57:14
let's do the next big thing and uh you
57:16
know not learn the lessons they've spent
57:18
all these years learning because that's
57:20
what they did three to five to
57:22
>> four and you may be right but also I
57:25
think that Diablo I is receiving more
57:27
financial success than Diablo II ever
57:29
did
57:30
>> and they have a model that now monetizes
57:32
the game in a way that Diablo II didn't
57:36
>> know in a horrifying way
57:38
>> the microtransaction film
57:40
>> you know I'm right
57:41
>> it's 100% right but sucks so hard.
57:44
>> I I am I am trying to resist the
57:47
microtransaction factory that is Diablo
57:49
I. But man, that's where all the cool
57:53
stuff is.
57:53
>> But and again that and it's not we're
57:55
not shaming. It's some people feel very
57:58
strongly about the way that
57:59
microtransactions work. And again, for
58:02
me, because 99% of it is just cosmetic
58:05
stuff. It's cool cosmetic stuff, but
58:07
it's cosmetic stuff. Like
58:08
>> there's literally nothing in there
58:10
microtransactions that will actually
58:11
make your character Yeah, that's
58:13
completely true.
58:14
>> Which which is different than Diablo III
58:16
when you had the real money auction
58:18
house. Uh that was that was a disaster.
58:21
>> But the the thing with the real money
58:22
auction house was that they were
58:24
attempting to make a safe place for
58:27
because people were doing these kinds of
58:29
transactions anyway. And they're like,
58:30
>> "Oh, I bought I bought and sold plenty
58:32
of staff of Jordans. I know how this
58:33
works." But like [laughter] but like
58:36
they went into that with good
58:37
intentions. Not to let's make a ton of
58:40
money off of people, but hey, let's make
58:42
a safe space for people to have
58:43
transactions without having any risk.
58:45
And I mean it went terribly, but they
58:48
were they were trying they were trying
58:49
their best. I I look back on the D3 team
58:52
and think they did a lot of great work.
58:54
>> Yeah.
58:54
>> And they learned a lot of lessons.
58:56
>> Yeah.
58:56
>> And they learned a lot of lessons the
58:57
hard way.
58:58
>> They did. And Go ahead. Sorry. I was
59:01
going to say they also had to come out
59:02
of the shadow of Diablo II, which I mean
59:05
Diablo II is a monster. Diablo II is is
59:08
the what most people in my generation
59:12
and generations surrounding mine view as
59:15
like the pent ultimate or ultimate like
59:18
ARPG experience and weigh
59:20
[clears throat] everything else against
59:21
it. Right.
59:22
>> I will actually go as far as to say
59:24
this. Diablo II is not necessarily the
59:27
best Diablo game, but it is the
59:30
fundamental.
59:31
>> It's the gold standard.
59:33
>> It's when you think of this genre, you
59:35
think of Diablo II. Diablo II was better
59:38
in every way than the original Diablo.
59:40
And it was almost monumental in the
59:43
community it built to the point where it
59:46
doesn't matter how good it is.
59:47
>> Mhm.
59:48
>> Like it it is it's weird to play Diablo
59:51
II resurrected now. It feels strange.
59:54
I've done it. I do it all the time. It
59:56
just feels a little weird now.
59:57
>> I just did I just did I just did a Bale
59:59
run the other day because I was feeling
1:00:01
nostalgic, right?
1:00:02
>> Yeah. And you want to kill Bale. Who
1:00:03
doesn't? I And I'm I'm looking forward
1:00:05
to it. Uh but when you play Diablo II,
1:00:07
it does feel strange, but it's it
1:00:10
doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that I
1:00:12
think Diablo II in a lot of ways was a
1:00:14
better game because people aren't
1:00:17
looking for better. They're looking for
1:00:19
that.
1:00:20
>> Yeah. And I think I think Diablo I
1:00:22
Sorry, go ahead, Liz.
1:00:23
>> It's meeting player expectations. Going
1:00:26
from Diablo I to Diablo II is
1:00:28
practically impossible. It's just Diablo
1:00:30
I was so iconic. It set the stage.
1:00:33
>> Diablo I
1:00:35
>> Diablo I Yeah.
1:00:36
>> But I mean, I think Diablo I is at least
1:00:39
beneficial in that fact that like Diablo
1:00:40
II Diablo II stumbled and crawled so
1:00:44
that Diablo I could could walk and run.
1:00:46
And yeah, they made a lot of mistakes
1:00:48
and they're correcting those mistakes,
1:00:50
but again, I do think that overall it's
1:00:53
in a healthy place. Uh I I they don't
1:00:57
release numbers anymore, which is a
1:00:58
shame.
1:00:59
>> No.
1:00:59
>> Um but I they're very clearly continuing
1:01:02
development of expansions, which means
1:01:04
that it is financially successful.
1:01:06
Otherwise,
1:01:08
>> they sort of know the sales numbers.
1:01:10
>> Yeah.
1:01:10
>> And the sales numbers are good. There's
1:01:12
there's nothing you can do. You can't
1:01:13
get a complete sense of them anymore,
1:01:15
but just from stuff on Steam, just from
1:01:18
purchases at various retailers, we know
1:01:21
that this thing sells. Um, we know it
1:01:23
sold better than say Doom: The Dark
1:01:25
Ages, which sold pretty well. But, um,
1:01:28
unlike Doom: The Dark Ages, uh, Lord of
1:01:31
Hat is not immediately on Game Pass.
1:01:35
>> Mhm.
1:01:36
>> You know, you can't just Game Pass your
1:01:37
way into it. And as a result, people
1:01:40
actually have to buy it. And that's the
1:01:42
thing people are you you those qualities
1:01:45
that's out there. You can look at that.
1:01:46
However, Cory still hasn't gotten to
1:01:48
talk and we actually have to get the
1:01:50
show moving. So Cory, you got anything?
1:01:52
>> Um Diablo is going to get Diablo I is
1:01:56
going to get two more expansions. Uh
1:01:58
it's going to leave us on a cliffhanger
1:02:00
off to the fourth one. Four total
1:02:01
expansions to Diablo I. And then they're
1:02:04
going to use that to launch into Diablo
1:02:05
I with whatever. It's going to take us
1:02:08
like three or four more years to get to
1:02:10
that point. We'll get so many more
1:02:12
seasons across the line. They're gonna
1:02:14
charge us so many more dollars to throw
1:02:15
in more Starcraft and Warcraft armors to
1:02:18
the game.
1:02:19
>> If they start putting [laughter] actual
1:02:20
Starcraft armor into this game, I'm
1:02:22
going to die.
1:02:23
>> They did.
1:02:23
>> It's in It's in Demortal right now.
1:02:26
>> Yeah, they did add Starcraft stuff in
1:02:28
the There was a Starcraft crossover
1:02:30
because I remember the Carrian
1:02:32
>> uh spirit armor which was really weird.
1:02:35
>> Yeah, that that wings are cool though.
1:02:38
>> They are so cool. Oh, it's so good. But
1:02:40
>> the Warcraft ones are a lot more
1:02:42
accessible ones. I
1:02:44
>> Drew's going to run around in a druid
1:02:45
set and it that's all that matters.
1:02:48
>> Yeah. [laughter]
1:02:49
>> So Diablo's gonna do two more
1:02:51
expansions. We're going to get the
1:02:53
[clears throat] the setup and [laughter]
1:02:56
>> four expansions in a movie.
1:02:57
>> Set up four expansions in a movie. The
1:03:00
setup. Hey, you know what? We are still
1:03:02
due for our Diablo or any other kind of
1:03:05
Blizzard entertainment TV show movie
1:03:08
thing other than obviously the the
1:03:10
Excellent Warcraft movie. But four total
1:03:13
expansions for Diablo I moves into
1:03:15
Diablo 5 as the big kickoff conclusion
1:03:18
to whatever the last expansion setup.
1:03:20
Could it be Ball? Probably. Could it be
1:03:23
Diablo? That would be a good way to do
1:03:25
it. Bring back Diablo in a big way in
1:03:27
Diablo 5. I would also not be surprised
1:03:30
to see a lot more um fighting in the
1:03:32
heavens concept again because like the
1:03:34
angels have been not as prevalent in
1:03:36
this game as I thought they would be. So
1:03:39
give us the give us some angel stuff.
1:03:41
Send us back to the high heavens and uh
1:03:44
let's do that. Let's have some fun up
1:03:45
there.
1:03:46
>> I mean I have I have my opinions at this
1:03:48
point. I'm just going to turn to Liz and
1:03:49
say hey uh can you please do the site
1:03:52
news because we have to thank people for
1:03:54
well allowing us to do this. [laughter]
1:03:56
Uh that is completely true because
1:03:58
Blizzard Watch is made possible by you,
1:04:00
all of our listeners out there at home.
1:04:03
Uh you guys are what m allow us to keep
1:04:06
doing this podcast, to keep writing all
1:04:08
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1:04:10
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1:04:13
hope I'm blaming you for a good thing.
1:04:16
Um, but I want to give out I an extra
1:04:18
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1:07:14
>> Thank you, Liz. Okay. I thought I heard
1:07:17
that. [laughter]
1:07:19
>> Okay.
1:07:19
>> Live production.
1:07:20
>> Well, the thing is is unfortunately,
1:07:21
Joe, um the thing I wanted to talk about
1:07:23
before we leave is the thing you put up
1:07:25
because we didn't talk about it for like
1:07:27
two weeks now.
1:07:28
>> Whoa, whoa, whoa. What about the thing I
1:07:29
put up? Actually, Liz put it up, but
1:07:31
it's about it's for me.
1:07:32
>> It is for Cy.
1:07:33
>> Well, we can take a couple minutes. It's
1:07:36
not It's not a big deal. We can take a
1:07:37
few minutes.
1:07:38
>> Look, I'll be I'll be quick this time.
1:07:39
It's It's fine.
1:07:40
>> There's no way that's true. So, don't
1:07:42
even lie to me. Don't don't raise false
1:07:44
hopes. Just just talk about Heroes of
1:07:46
the Storm, Cory. [laughter]
1:07:49
>> Look, I swear, mate. This never happens
1:07:51
to me. But, uh, hey, Heroes of the Storm
1:07:53
to the patch. Uh, but this isn't the
1:07:56
usual what we've come to expect. This
1:07:59
isn't a PTR patch and then 3 to 6 weeks
1:08:01
later, we get an a live patch. This is a
1:08:04
a live balance hot fix. And uh, oh boy,
1:08:08
is that so nice to say. They they
1:08:10
released a patch just a little while ago
1:08:13
and on May 11th, 2026, they released a
1:08:16
hot fix. That is yesterday as we are
1:08:18
recording. Hot fixes came out. Balance
1:08:20
updates came out to the patch that just
1:08:22
came out. And doesn't that feel good to
1:08:25
say? Isn't that amazing? Doesn't that
1:08:28
fill you with hope and joy? Because, you
1:08:32
know, it hasn't it has been so long
1:08:34
since we got something like that. Heroes
1:08:36
of the Storm is alive and well. Well,
1:08:39
it's alive. Maybe not well, but
1:08:41
[laughter]
1:08:43
>> we're doing great over here.
1:08:44
>> Here's this farm is well, not alive so
1:08:47
much as constructed out of a bunch of
1:08:49
undead parts and hit by lightning, but
1:08:51
that's great. It's it's up in shambling.
1:08:53
The the peasants are afraid.
1:08:56
Regardless,
1:08:57
>> it is Frankensteining along just fine
1:08:59
and dandy. And they release a hot fix.
1:09:02
The specifics don't matter. It's all hot
1:09:04
fix stuff. It's all balanced stuff. Some
1:09:06
people do more damage now. Some people
1:09:08
have different cooldowns now. Arthus got
1:09:10
some tweaks after his big rework. You
1:09:13
know, Murky's cool down on March the
1:09:14
Murlocs at level 20 lost 10 seconds off
1:09:17
the cool down. So, it's now n a minute
1:09:19
and a half rather than a full 100
1:09:21
seconds. It's all it's all fluff. It's
1:09:24
all just stuff to make the game flow a
1:09:26
little better and play a little better.
1:09:29
And it's so nice to see because that
1:09:31
means that somebody has looked at that
1:09:33
and has looked at the data after a week,
1:09:35
two weeks of patch being live and said,
1:09:37
"You know what? We can do a little bit
1:09:39
better and we can make this a little bit
1:09:41
better." And thank you for that. Thank
1:09:43
you to that for the Blizzard Classic
1:09:45
Games team who are currently working on
1:09:47
Heroes of the Storm. I hope you're all
1:09:49
having a wonderful day and that many
1:09:51
good things happen to you. that you find
1:09:53
the 20 bucks in that pair of pants that
1:09:54
you put in the closet a week ago.
1:09:57
[laughter]
1:09:59
Uh thank you. You know, we just love
1:10:01
seeing it and I'm so glad that Heroes of
1:10:03
the Storm is getting some attention like
1:10:05
this because yeah, I'm sure any day now
1:10:07
we're going to hear that announcement.
1:10:08
Hey, pay attention to Blizzcon 2026.
1:10:11
September's not that far away,
1:10:12
surprisingly.
1:10:14
>> Yeah, I don't want to think about that
1:10:16
though.
1:10:17
>> No, no, that that way madness lies. But
1:10:19
2026 Blizzcon, I'm sure we'll see
1:10:21
something from Heroes of the Storm.
1:10:23
They're definitely doing at least that
1:10:24
community tournament. And it's it's
1:10:27
going to be great to see it get some
1:10:29
attention and get the love that it
1:10:31
deserves because everyone who is still
1:10:32
working on this game, everyone who is
1:10:34
still playing this game, everyone who is
1:10:35
still casting this game, uh you're all
1:10:39
AAA legends and I cannot thank you
1:10:41
enough.
1:10:42
>> Okay. Uh thank you, Corey. Joe, please
1:10:44
talk about Dead as Disco because we
1:10:46
didn't get to talk about it last time
1:10:47
and I think we should at least get a
1:10:48
little of it here.
1:10:49
>> Yeah, I I'll keep it quick. So, uh I
1:10:51
love rhythm games. Uh I love all sorts
1:10:54
of them. They then I love when they
1:10:56
cross into different genres like uh
1:10:58
FPS's like I've loved Metal Hell Singer.
1:11:00
I've loved Beats Bullets per minute. Um
1:11:03
like there's a whole bunch of really
1:11:05
cool games out there that that use
1:11:07
rhythm as the mechanic. And now we have
1:11:10
a uh beat him up Arkham Asylum style
1:11:14
game uh where the combat is very much
1:11:17
that's the really the best way I could
1:11:19
describe it called dead as Disco where
1:11:22
it is you're coming back from the
1:11:24
afterlife you're former like going after
1:11:27
your former bandmates that have sold
1:11:28
themselves out to the man and it's it's
1:11:30
the story is is not the strongest part
1:11:32
of it. However, it is a fantastic rhythm
1:11:35
game that they've they've polished a lot
1:11:37
in early access. It just went into early
1:11:39
access. Um, and the songs that they have
1:11:46
for this is amazing. The first thing
1:11:49
that they showed they highlighted was
1:11:51
literally you beating up people to the
1:11:53
song Maniac while it was playing like
1:11:56
just just completely insane. Um, and it
1:12:00
rewards you for doing combat to the
1:12:02
beat. you get better dodges, better
1:12:04
damage, and uh it has a vague uh roguel
1:12:07
like advancement system. Uh but again,
1:12:10
it's an early access, but it's really
1:12:11
cool. It's very ambitious. Um and like I
1:12:14
said, it's in early access right now. Uh
1:12:16
so if it's something that you're
1:12:17
potentially tangentially interested in
1:12:18
like me, you may enjoy it. Um yeah, so
1:12:22
it's it's just it's great. Uh they also
1:12:25
have a streamer safe uh which a streamer
1:12:28
safe uh soundtrack for anybody who wants
1:12:32
to stream it. So uh yeah, there you go.
1:12:34
That's that's dead as disco.
1:12:36
>> Also, I'm going to mention since he
1:12:37
mentioned that um Aether and Iron is
1:12:40
out. And Ether and Iron is basically a
1:12:42
tactical RPG that has a rhythm car
1:12:46
combat system in it.
1:12:47
>> Mhm.
1:12:48
>> I'm going to mention that just because
1:12:49
if you like weird rhythm stuff added to
1:12:52
other kinds of games. Sorry, one last
1:12:54
thing real quick. Uh, Dead Is also
1:12:56
allows you to import your own songs into
1:12:57
the into the game. So, you can do
1:12:59
whatever to you can beat people up to
1:13:01
whatever song you want. So, you want to
1:13:02
go full Deadpool and uh and beat
1:13:04
somebody up to, you know, No Scrubs or
1:13:06
TLC Waterfalls, you can.
1:13:09
>> Don't just choose through the through
1:13:10
the fire and flames because that's going
1:13:12
to be a really hard time.
1:13:13
>> Somebody did already.
1:13:15
>> Ah, everyone beat me to the good joke.
1:13:18
>> Okay, but also finally um Marvel Rivals
1:13:21
added Devil Dinosaur. The devil dinosaur
1:13:22
is a big red dinosaur. He's been around
1:13:24
since the 70s. Uh Kirby invented him.
1:13:27
Originally, he hung out with a
1:13:28
Neanderthal named Moonboy. Then he hung
1:13:30
out with an inhuman super genius named
1:13:32
Moon Girl. I don't know why everybody
1:13:34
involved with Devil Dinosaur is named
1:13:35
Moon something cuz he doesn't have
1:13:37
anything to do with the moon. Um but the
1:13:39
Marvel Rivals version of Devil Dinosaur,
1:13:40
who again is a big red T-Rex. He now
1:13:43
also has devil horns if you're playing
1:13:45
him on Marvel Rivals. And
1:13:49
>> I I'm I'm trying desperately to tell my
1:13:52
brain that I don't need to play Marvel
1:13:55
Rivals and I'm losing.
1:13:57
>> Well, he's Devil Dinosaur
1:13:59
>> and he's going to go save Moon Girl
1:14:00
who's been captured by Alchemax.
1:14:02
>> If at any point I watch a stream of this
1:14:05
and we've got Devil Dinosaur and Jeff
1:14:07
the Shand Shark in the same team, I'm
1:14:10
going to die.
1:14:11
>> Jeff Jeff the Land Shark is a support,
1:14:13
Devil Dinosaur is a tank. They're going
1:14:14
to be basically the meta. I'm going to
1:14:17
die. Although, I will say if at some
1:14:20
point Blizzard and Marvel manage to make
1:14:23
friends again and we get a Devil
1:14:25
Dinosaur mount in Diablo I, I will spend
1:14:29
the money so fast that that you guys
1:14:31
won't even know. You also like, oh, did
1:14:33
you hear this is coming? I've had I got
1:14:34
six of them.
1:14:35
>> I would also like to point out that
1:14:36
Devil Dinosaur marks the 50th hero that
1:14:38
is being added to Marvel Rival
1:14:40
>> and the best one they've ever done by a
1:14:42
mar, you know, of all.
1:14:43
>> That's funny. They don't look a day over
1:14:44
40.
1:14:45
>> Oh. Would you like to know how the
1:14:46
Punisher can mount on the back of Devil
1:14:48
Dinosaur spine and then uh go into a
1:14:50
firing rampage while receiving reduced
1:14:52
damage?
1:14:53
>> I want to know if Ghost Rider comes in
1:14:54
at some point. Um if go if we get Ghost
1:14:57
Rider riding on him because there's
1:14:58
actually a devil dinosaur that is just a
1:15:00
T-Rex.
1:15:02
>> Um
1:15:03
>> but also finally before we leave um I
1:15:05
will also say this of all the characters
1:15:09
on Marvel Rivals only one made friends
1:15:13
with Godzilla.
1:15:14
>> Devil dinosaur. The rest tried to fight
1:15:16
Godzilla and they lost because you can't
1:15:18
beat Godzilla. But only Devil Dinosaur
1:15:21
realized this
1:15:22
>> technically too. Moon girl was also
1:15:23
chill with with Godzilla.
1:15:25
>> Yeah. Oh, I was actually talking about
1:15:26
Mboy. So, if they've met again since
1:15:28
they have
1:15:29
>> um So, Devil Dinosaur and Godzilla are
1:15:31
canonically friends and that makes Devil
1:15:33
Dinosaur the best possible character in
1:15:35
Marvel Rivals. Uh if they've ever
1:15:38
brought back the original Godzilla from
1:15:39
the Godzilla comic book, I' I'd go
1:15:42
crazy. I I'd lose my mind. Anyway, this
1:15:45
has been the Blizzard Watch podcast.
1:15:46
Kind of went off the tail at the end,
1:15:48
but hey, Devil, Dinosaur, Diablo, it's a
1:15:51
thing. You could see it happening. Um,
1:15:54
this this has been the podcast. Thank
1:15:56
you guys so much for being here with us.
1:15:58
Uh, thank you to Corey for being our
1:16:00
special guest.
1:16:01
>> Hey, that's me.
1:16:02
>> Yes. Thank you to Joe and Liz for making
1:16:04
this show work at all. And thank you to
1:16:07
all of you for giving us people to talk
1:16:09
to. We'll be back next week.
#Games