Up next in 10
We're all about Easter, with both the Noblegarden festival and the Race to World First this week. Liz starts off recounting the epic Race to World First, which started off a little ho hum with a split tier, but took a few wild turns toward the end. Then, we talk Noblegarden, and Joe and Matt wondered whether Liz needed an intervention because she isn't excited about this year's transmog offerings. But Liz had a lot of heavy lifting to do this week, with both a new Hearthstone Battlegrounds season and a new Overwatch hero announced. But admittedly, nothing is as cute as Jeff the Land Shark. Not even Jetpack Cat.
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0:10
Hello everybody and welcome to the
0:12
Blizzard Watch podcast. Uh, thank you to
0:15
everyone who listens to us. Um, I'm
0:17
saying this for no reason. I I don't
0:20
know why I said it here.
0:22
>> Thank you.
0:23
>> I do. Thank you to everyone who's
0:24
listening to us. Yes, we're
0:25
appreciative. I am glad you're here cuz
0:27
otherwise we would just be talking to
0:29
ourselves and
0:31
>> I mean I'm sure we could entertain
0:33
ourselves all the three of us but
0:34
nevertheless it's better when we
0:36
actually have a show. Uh let's really
0:38
I'm going to just say straight up front
0:40
that was Elizabeth Harper and Joe Perez.
0:42
>> Hello.
0:42
>> They were introducing themselves because
0:44
went off on tangent.
0:45
>> I'd also like to remind everybody that
0:46
I'm here because uh I'm paid to remind
0:49
folks that we didn't kill Lura twice,
0:50
only once. Next.
0:55
>> 0% 0%.
0:58
>> She She got consumed before she died.
1:00
Thank you very much.
1:02
>> At any rate,
1:03
>> health 0% health is dead.
1:05
>> Go check our blue sky for this exchange.
1:08
>> Yes, we're going to be having we're
1:09
going to be having some lore watch
1:11
previews here about that. Um, but before
1:14
we talk any more about that, we also
1:15
should talk about the fact that in World
1:17
of Warcraft, Race to World First has now
1:20
finally gotten to the point where it
1:22
stopped for now because we're at the end
1:23
of currently available raids. And in in
1:27
a surprising move that surprised
1:29
absolutely no one probably except the
1:31
other people trying to get it before
1:32
them, uh, Liquid has claimed the
1:35
victory. So, they they've gotten to kill
1:38
everything there is to kill before
1:39
everybody else did.
1:40
It it was indeed. Uh it was it was
1:43
pretty close there at the end. I mean,
1:46
Liquid and Ekko are always up there
1:48
creating.
1:49
>> Yeah. Huh.
1:51
>> You say Liquid and Echo and it's like
1:52
Yeah. Okay. Liquid and Echo. That's
1:54
that's your
1:55
>> Yeah. Yeah. It gets method.
1:58
>> Method did show up. I mean, that's the
2:00
thing. Getting to race world first, like
2:03
in the pre-show, we were talking about
2:05
being like a a top tier player like
2:07
this. And back in uh back in vanilla, I
2:11
was playing in a guild that did server
2:12
firsts. And that was cuz I thought that
2:15
was just this is how you play the game.
2:16
You do everything, you do it first. But
2:19
um getting a world first in vanilla and
2:22
getting a world first today are wildly
2:24
different things. It's become a really
2:27
it's become very very much a business.
2:29
You know, they produce lavish live
2:31
streams. They make sure all of their
2:33
team is together in one place. They've
2:35
got video footage of everything. They've
2:36
got a social media team. They've got a
2:38
casting team. They've got a series of
2:41
people back analyzing data and making
2:44
add-ons. And it's a big team. It's a big
2:48
production. And they're taking off work
2:51
for like a month or this is just their
2:53
job because,
2:56
you know, the midnight race to world
2:58
first, the season one race to world
3:00
first did not go a full month, but it
3:01
was pretty close. It was it was inching
3:04
in that direction. And you know, a
3:07
normal average person, if you if it was
3:10
20 years ago, World of Warcraft just
3:12
launched, I would not be able to even
3:15
think about doing something like this.
3:17
It's just way too much of a commitment.
3:18
But back in the day, I did I did rate at
3:21
a pretty high level. So, there is a real
3:24
limiting factor to getting into the Race
3:27
to World first. It just takes a big
3:30
organization behind you and that puts a
3:33
lot of guilds, a lot of players out. If
3:35
you aren't in Liquid or Echo, it's hard
3:39
to get a world first kill. You're
3:41
probably not going to do it because
3:43
without that kind of big team backing,
3:46
you just can't get there because they've
3:48
got they've got their players out there
3:50
playing, you know, 16-hour days every
3:53
day in a big facility. They've got
3:55
casters there. you know, it's it's a lot
3:58
of time. It's a lot of money that just
4:00
the the average person does not have
4:02
access to. So,
4:05
>> like there's a a thing where people
4:06
don't really even realize there are
4:07
guilds out there who are routinely
4:09
making world sixth. And it's not like
4:12
they're a lot worse than the people
4:14
getting world first. They're just not as
4:17
advantaged in a lot of different ways.
4:19
Like if I mean the bills you see in the
4:22
hunt, they're all at a level of
4:24
performance that is frankly shocking.
4:26
>> Exactly. If you went in to, you know, I
4:28
think Fat Shark Yes. uh the other day
4:31
got world fifth or world sixth on
4:34
Bellerin. And that's a big achievement
4:37
because Bellerin's really tough boss.
4:39
But you know, why weren't they why
4:41
weren't they world first? Why weren't
4:42
they up there? Not necessarily because
4:44
they're unskilled players, but there's
4:45
definitely um a gap in how much time
4:49
your team has, how much um how do do you
4:53
have people developing add-ons for you?
4:54
Do you have people behind the screen
4:55
scenes analyzing data to help you out?
4:58
If you're doing all of that yourself, uh
5:00
that can be really different. You've got
5:02
Liquid and Echko are both kind of in
5:05
physical locations. they have a chef
5:08
cooking meals for them and making sure
5:09
they're getting wellfed. You know, uh we
5:13
talk about food buffs in game, food
5:15
buffs in real life also important.
5:18
But if you're sitting at home on your
5:20
computer, you know, you're like, "Oh, I
5:22
got to make a meal or I've got to eat a
5:23
granola bar or, you know, you have to
5:25
think about that and you have to do it."
5:27
And you might not be you might not be
5:29
feeding yourself very well. And so for,
5:32
you know, it's there are all of these
5:34
extra things you have to do if you're
5:35
just a normal person at home playing the
5:37
video game that these teams have, you
5:40
know, done for them as like support and
5:43
because they have a big it's a big team
5:45
effort. It's much bigger than just the
5:46
players and it's hard to break into that
5:49
level. But that I think is why you're
5:52
always seeing the same top teams and
5:55
method hangs in there in in number
5:57
three. But you know a lot of them I
6:00
think possibly all of them you know just
6:02
rate at home. So, you know, there's a
6:05
level of how much are we spending to do
6:07
this big race to get cuz I it has to be
6:10
a heck of a lot of money that the teams
6:13
are putting in to get everyone to come
6:15
to one place to get everyone in a hotel
6:18
to feed everyone for weeks. Um, so yeah,
6:22
I mean it's impressive to watch all
6:24
these teams go in and do this just top
6:26
tier gameplay, but it's also this is
6:28
just it's not quite accessible to the
6:32
average person. the the top of the race.
6:34
But I I still find it very fun to watch.
6:37
But yeah, there is there is a
6:38
predictability to it. Liquid has now won
6:41
the last four races. Um Echko has come
6:45
in second on the last four races. Method
6:47
has come in third on the last four
6:49
races. So it's like when you say liquid
6:53
run won race to world first, that's not
6:55
exactly like oh wow I am so surprised.
6:57
But
6:59
>> at the same time, it's quite possible
7:00
for Ekko or even Method to come up and
7:03
do it themselves. It's not like they're
7:04
separated, but
7:06
>> they aren't. And particularly
7:09
this race is uh this race, Echko and uh
7:13
the Liquid were very close for a lot of
7:16
the race because uh first week of the
7:19
race, we had Void Spire and Dream Rift
7:22
out. Both of those raids just fell over
7:24
to these guilds. They just I think I
7:27
think Liquid cleared both of them in
7:29
less than 100 pulls total. Yria took
7:33
something like 34 or 35 pulls. It was
7:35
just they steamrololled their way
7:37
through that raid. And then they had
7:39
like 4 days of nothing to do because of
7:42
the staggered raid release schedule
7:44
Blizzard has done for season 1.
7:47
Then when March on Quilt and Us came out
7:50
uh last week, raids went in there and it
7:53
was a totally different story. These
7:54
were super difficult bosses. There's
7:57
Bellerin the Phoenix who is just uh at
8:00
higher difficulties. Extremely difficult
8:02
boss.
8:03
>> I like that.
8:04
>> I have I I think it's a fun fight. I've
8:06
only cleared it on normal though. I'm
8:08
probably never going to attempt it on
8:10
mythic, but I had a lot of fun playing
8:12
it on normal. Uh um I think part of the
8:16
fun is throughout the fight there's a
8:20
lot of random mechanics. you'll randomly
8:21
be flagged light or void and there are
8:25
there are lots of mechanics that
8:26
interact with that. So there's a light
8:28
or a void puddle that you need to soak
8:30
the right one. There are orbs that fly
8:32
around the room that are light or void
8:34
and you can hit you have to hit the
8:37
appropriate colored one, but if you hit
8:38
the wrong colored one, you will it's not
8:41
good for your health. And there's like
8:43
uh this uh the floor lights up in light
8:46
or void colors and you've got to run
8:48
into the right segment or you die.
8:51
There's a lot of that. You stay
8:52
colorcoded or you die. And um throughout
8:56
the fight you it will proc a color
8:59
switch for you. So you'll swap between
9:00
light and void and you have to just sort
9:02
of
9:02
>> You're either peanut butter or you're
9:04
jelly.
9:05
>> Exactly. That's a good one. And uh the
9:08
patterns are all random. The directions
9:10
things come at you are random. And so
9:12
it's it's a lot of it's not like
9:14
complicated in a like crunching numbers
9:17
coming up with the exact perfect place
9:19
to stand that you have to remember the
9:21
exact perfect place to stand. It's
9:22
you've got to watch and pay attention
9:25
and adapt because it's and I I like
9:27
that. I like that kind of fight and I
9:29
think it's a kind of fight that
9:31
encourages players to play, if that
9:34
makes sense. It encourages you to play
9:36
the game rather than you to lean on an
9:39
add-on to figure out what to do for you,
9:42
which that's a whole another discussion,
9:45
but it's a fun fight. Um, and the final
9:48
fight in this raid here, the final fight
9:50
on March for Quelton is Midnight Falls,
9:53
which is Lura. Lura, our old friend,
9:56
Lura, the Naru.
9:58
>> There's only dead ones.
9:59
>> It's not that depends on your
10:01
definition.
10:02
>> Depends on your definition. I would
10:03
argue that she's technically not dead,
10:05
but we're going to get into that at some
10:06
other point.
10:07
>> Well, whereas agent is really, really
10:09
powerful. That's all I'm
10:11
>> The thing is, no one dies in Warcraft.
10:14
They can
10:16
>> No one stays dead except Uncle Ben.
10:18
>> Yeah, exactly. Anyone can reappear at
10:21
any time except for the fact that we're
10:23
never going to get invited to Lamar
10:25
Theaser's wedding. But other than that,
10:28
there's anything can happen. Um, so
10:32
Lura, very difficult fight. It has, if I
10:36
listed all of the mechanics and tried to
10:37
explain them, we would be here for the
10:39
entire podcast. There is so much going
10:42
on on this fight and most of it is a
10:44
straight, you know, kind of pass fail
10:46
mechanic. Um, there's the first phase
10:49
and the third phase both have a memory
10:51
game that you have to play where symbols
10:53
flash up over Lura and you have to
10:56
remember the order they're in and then
10:58
players will be flagged with those
10:59
symbols and they have to arrange
11:01
themselves in the correct order to be
11:03
hit by a beam Lura casts in the correct
11:06
order. And you you've got to do this
11:08
more than once and it comes back in
11:10
phase three. Um, so Laura can be a
11:13
really a really complicated fight that
11:15
has just
11:16
>> it can be. But it it's it the thing that
11:18
I like about these fights in general
11:20
though too, and I think the race roll
11:22
first really kind of
11:23
>> it highlights it. They they are
11:25
difficult mechanics, but they're not
11:26
unreasonable mechanics. I I I use my
11:30
litmus test of is this better or worse
11:32
than Lean? And no, I'm I'm dead serious
11:36
because I I when Lean was still current,
11:39
we were like the guild I was in, we were
11:41
pushing that as like we were trying for
11:43
server first cuz server first was still
11:45
a thing. And that fight was atrocious.
11:50
There was so much to to memorize, so
11:53
much to do. Everything hit like a truck.
11:55
And if one person messed up, then your
11:58
whole raid wiped. these ones, even
12:00
though some of the mechanics can be
12:03
unforgiving, they don't feel
12:05
unmanageable. Like, yes, the balls on
12:09
Bellerin can go from any direction, but
12:11
also you it's they're not exactly moving
12:14
at light speed. Uh the soak is not
12:17
necessarily a horrible mechanic. It's
12:20
something we've been dealing with for
12:22
generations of raid at this point. So,
12:23
like that's okay. Uh the the the dance
12:27
this dance is nothing compared to doing
12:28
the dance on Hygen. Um
12:30
>> I was just going to say, man, please
12:32
don't tell me.
12:33
>> Yeah. No, like it is it is way easier
12:34
than DDR. Trust me, the the the the
12:37
shapes are much more well- definined. Um
12:39
and again, but I understand these can
12:41
all be difficult things for people, but
12:42
they're all manageable. And like the
12:44
Lura thing, Lura has a lot going on, but
12:48
at the end of the day, as long as
12:50
somebody is is paying attention and you
12:53
have somebody who's making good
12:55
quarterback calls, like the rune thing
12:57
isn't terrible. I think on
13:00
>> heroic and mythic, I think it's five uh
13:03
symbols and I think it's three on
13:05
normal. The real thing about uh higher
13:09
difficulties is how little time you have
13:11
to respond, how you see them, and you
13:13
have to move very fast. It requires
13:15
precise execution because it's a raid
13:17
wipe if you don't do it. And it requires
13:20
>> uh you've got to be precise. You've got
13:22
to be fast.
13:23
>> So, but it's you've got the information
13:26
there. You can process the information
13:27
and share the information. The other
13:29
thing about in mythic uh players are
13:31
split across two phases and you can't
13:33
see all of the runes. Yeah.
13:35
>> So that makes it even more difficult and
13:37
ups the the communication requirement.
13:40
So
13:40
>> that actually reminds me of a throwback.
13:42
It's funny that it's in this raid
13:45
because it reminds me of the throwback
13:46
to the dragon fight with the multiple
13:49
realms in Sunwell uh during the Sunwell
13:54
raid because you literally had to do
13:56
something very very similar when you
13:58
were purging Calos's doubt. Yeah.
14:00
because there was a downstairs or what
14:02
we call in our guild Delaware and then
14:04
there was the realm and the two couldn't
14:07
see what was going on but you had to
14:08
coordinate and I thought when I saw that
14:11
for the lura thing cuz I normally don't
14:12
watch the race to world first but I was
14:14
really curious about lura in general
14:16
>> and I saw that and that was immediately
14:17
what I thought of was like this is an
14:19
amazing call back to Burning Crusade
14:22
phenomenal call back um but sorry go
14:25
ahead I just thought it was a neat
14:26
little thing neat little tidbit
14:28
>> the the complication with Laura is just
14:30
that there are so many things that you
14:32
have to execute fast and quickly and
14:34
you've got to go through, you know, all
14:36
three phases of stuff. You know, it's
14:39
not a it's it's not enough to execute
14:41
one mechanic perfectly. You've got to
14:43
execute a dozen perfectly and you've got
14:45
to do it over the course of like a
14:46
10-minute fight every time to, you know,
14:49
get good enough to do the race to world
14:51
first. And we'd gotten to a point in the
14:54
race where
14:56
both Liquid and uh Ekko and Method were
15:00
all doing pulls on Lura. And we're
15:04
getting pretty close to a kill. Liquid
15:06
had a 1.98%
15:09
pull, I believe, and then Ekko came in
15:13
and got like a a 1%. They were they were
15:16
under 1% and they wiped. So, it was
15:20
really looking like we were going into
15:22
just a photo finish. Who was going to
15:23
win? They were both pulling at the same
15:24
time. And then Liquid goes in. They
15:27
bring Lura down to zero. And Lura does
15:30
not die. Oh, I said it. Ah. Uh, and
15:35
there was a secret phase that Lura went
15:38
into, which it's been a very long time
15:39
since we had a secret phase, and
15:41
certainly a long time since we had a
15:42
secret phase that really was impactful.
15:46
like uh N'oth had a secret phase, but it
15:48
was kind of just
15:49
>> it was kind of just there.
15:50
>> You're It was kind of just there. You're
15:52
sucked into another dimension and then
15:54
you're Yeah, it was not a big roadblock.
15:57
And in the secret phase, uh Lurcast
16:01
reintegration and just kind of pulls all
16:03
the pieces of herself back together and
16:05
respawns at full health.
16:06
>> And not just full health, one billion
16:09
hit points.
16:10
>> That's it. Full health. A billion hit
16:13
points. So, you know, when you put all
16:16
of this time, several days of work,
16:18
working all day on just this one boss,
16:20
and then you go in and you get it to 0%
16:24
and then it
16:26
>> we thought legs was a big deal.
16:29
>> Hey, he's got legs.
16:31
>> But yeah, and the the new the secret
16:35
phase was not very complicated. There's
16:37
uh just you got the luriccast uh beam
16:41
that you've got to run away from.
16:43
And at 100 100 energy,
16:46
>> you've got to dodge. There's constant
16:48
waves of ads coming out of the middle of
16:50
the room that you have to not
16:53
>> Are they coming out of the middle of the
16:54
room? I thought they were going into the
16:55
middle of the room.
16:56
>> They're coming out.
16:57
>> Interesting.
16:58
>> It's like they're crawling out of the
16:59
dark. Well,
17:00
>> okay. Yeah, cuz that I can't talk about
17:02
it, but there's story implications.
17:04
Anyway, continue.
17:05
>> You know, that actually does make sense
17:07
now that you've mentioned that. Um, so,
17:10
so yes, there's but it's basically
17:13
you're running and you're dodging and
17:15
still trying to do damage along the way.
17:17
And it's it's not complicated. What
17:20
makes it particularly hard is that uh
17:24
when Laura fills up her energy bar,
17:26
>> you die.
17:26
>> Lura gains one.
17:29
Yeah. She enrages and you're gone. Gone.
17:33
Everyone is gone. Uh, a paladin can
17:35
survive it with a bubble for brief
17:37
moments. uh prop warrior can survive it
17:39
with their cheaty prop warrior stuff. Uh
17:42
but you're you're usually pretty gone
17:45
pretty fast. And that takes 100 seconds
17:48
for her to get to full energy. So
17:50
>> yeah, it's it's a high pressure survival
17:52
phase.
17:53
>> Yes. And players in this phase have a
17:56
damage buff. So they're doing more
17:57
damage than they usually would. It's not
17:59
like you have to grinder grind through a
18:01
billion health in a 100 seconds without
18:04
any help. But uh it's it's a tough phase
18:08
and it's but the hardest part is you've
18:10
got three really difficult phases. The
18:13
first phase may be one of the most
18:14
difficult that we've ever seen just
18:16
because not just because of the memory
18:18
game, but you're also dodging these
18:19
glaes that can be um that are difficult
18:22
to see. There's a lot of there's a lot
18:24
going on and you've got to execute all
18:25
three phases perfectly. And then you get
18:27
to this last secret phase and you got to
18:31
you got now you have to do it do all of
18:34
that damage all over again under a
18:36
really tight time limit and it took uh
18:38
it it took a lot of work. Uh
18:40
>> see would also imagine that the first
18:43
time that that that happened they had
18:45
been blowing cool downs to get to 0%.
18:48
>> Oh yeah 100%.
18:49
>> Thinking that was going to be the end.
18:51
And then now you here you are he's got a
18:53
billion hit points. Have fun. highly
18:55
recommend watching the uh the reaction
18:57
to getting to that secret phase cuz the
18:59
look on the face is is on point.
19:01
>> Well, it it's very funny because you
19:03
know some of them were getting up out of
19:05
their chairs, jumping up and you know
19:07
like celebrating and then it's like you
19:10
you can watch some of them going from
19:11
that celebration moment to that like
19:13
locked in moment like oh we're still
19:15
playing the game
19:16
>> and it's
19:17
>> uh it it was very fun to watch.
19:20
The thing I like about this the most
19:22
though is again this is it's all about
19:25
execution at that point, not about
19:28
outgeearing or gaming the system. We've
19:30
had so many really difficult end bosses
19:34
in the races to world first or whatever
19:36
the case was where people have resorted
19:38
to cheaty uh garbage to get an edge
19:42
whether it's using an old item that
19:44
Blizzard forgot to balance for the fight
19:46
uh or finding a a weird interaction. And
19:49
yeah, those were stripped away, but it
19:50
sort of took the fun out of it, but they
19:52
also felt like they had to because the
19:54
fights just kept escalating in damage
19:57
and difficulty in unreasonable ways. And
20:00
part of that was that philosophy that we
20:02
saw going into Midnight where it's like,
20:04
yes, this is why Blizzard is trying to
20:05
crack down on add-ons. Um because as the
20:09
arms race of add-ons escalates, the
20:11
add-ons or the escalation of raid
20:14
encounters has also escalated to
20:16
compensate for the new tools that are
20:18
available to players that were not
20:20
intended to be part of the game. And so
20:23
when you get to something like this, it
20:26
feels difficult but manageable. like
20:30
these people were able to lock in and
20:33
sit down and get it done and they did it
20:37
relatively quickly all things considered
20:40
uh after seeing that secret phase but
20:42
like you said it wasn't anything crazy.
20:44
It was here's 100 seconds burn phase
20:48
additional to the fight that you need to
20:50
get through. Hope you saved your
20:52
cooldowns. Hope you got a a potion up to
20:54
get that last edge. But if you execute
20:57
everything perfectly, you get the kill.
21:00
And I think that would I think that's
21:01
really neat versus random gotcha
21:04
mechanics that wipe a raid.
21:06
>> Oh yeah.
21:07
>> Right. So like I I just think it's it's
21:10
a really good example of the design
21:12
philosophy at work. However, I feel like
21:14
at this point we've talked quite a bit
21:16
about race to world first. So, I'm going
21:18
to try to move us on a little um because
21:20
I do actually briefly want to talk about
21:21
the fact that the opposite of world
21:23
firsting is midnight season 1 has now
21:26
opened up story mode and raidfinder for
21:28
the uh pretty much qu Marshall Quelon.
21:31
So, that's everything, right? There's no
21:32
more
21:33
>> everything
21:34
>> everything's available.
21:35
>> We get season 2. This is all the raids
21:37
we're going to have.
21:37
>> Yeah. Uh, I think that's great for a
21:39
completely different reason in that if
21:41
you were just the kind of person who
21:42
wants to see what it's all about, you
21:45
can go and see what it's all about and
21:47
you don't have to perform at any kind of
21:49
cutting edge. And if you want to get
21:50
some gear, but not again, not to like go
21:53
nuts trying to
21:54
>> to do it or just, you know, you don't
21:56
have enough friends on to to run the
21:58
content in a guild or what have you, a
22:00
raidfinder is not a bad way to go. I
22:03
will also say that and I want to
22:04
reiterate this because not not not I I
22:06
don't want to harp on it too much but I
22:08
want to bring up that again gearing in
22:12
this phase of the expansion feels very
22:16
easy. So like my my main is at eye level
22:20
259. I'm a little bit behind some of the
22:22
other members in our guild but I'm at
22:24
259 on my main. My alt is at 255 already
22:28
and I've barely done anything with. So,
22:31
like it's it's not hard to find gear any
22:36
like right now, which I think is a
22:37
really good thing because you have a
22:40
chance of of doing everything um or or
22:43
getting gear from anything like delves
22:45
and world quests and the prey stuff and
22:48
there's so many different options for
22:50
gearing that it makes the game very
22:53
accessible. And I think it's a really
22:55
good time to if you've been kind of on
22:57
the fence about coming back to the game
22:58
cuz you're worried you're too far behind
23:00
on uh gear or whatever, it's a really
23:03
good time to just kind of like putts
23:05
around, right? Like you could do almost
23:08
nothing on a character and just get
23:10
stuff thrown at you. You might be like
23:12
me and have a bag full of nothing but
23:15
useless trinkets that you're keeping
23:16
around as a joke because the game keeps
23:18
giving you the same three bloody
23:19
trinkets uh over and over and over
23:21
again. Uh but you'll still get stuff
23:24
like I think I just think it's funny. So
23:26
yeah, there you go.
23:27
>> And in general, it's just nice that you
23:29
have the range of experience.
23:31
>> Yeah. Where you can you can do what you
23:33
need to do or you can,
23:34
>> you know, just see what you want. Go
23:35
ahead, listen.
23:36
>> And also, there are more ways than ever
23:39
for solo players to uh gear up
23:42
>> with um delves are great for solo
23:45
content. You can do them small group,
23:46
but I almost always do mine uh on my own
23:49
just cuz it's something I can do and it
23:51
gives good gear and I can, you know,
23:54
it's not I don't have to find a raid
23:55
group. I don't have to find an LFR. I
23:57
can just do this on my own. Prey is the
23:59
same way. You can completely solo that
24:02
except I hate it so I don't do that as
24:04
much as I could, except there's transmog
24:07
so I need to push myself and do it
24:09
anyway. But um there are more options
24:12
than ever to gear up right now and it's
24:15
it's really accessible which whether you
24:18
think it's oh it's too easy that's I
24:21
think it feels pretty good right now
24:22
because you can go in you know we're all
24:25
we're we're all grown-ups here
24:28
>> we have demands on our time other than
24:30
the game. So, it's nice that I can go in
24:32
and do something on my own and work to
24:35
gear myself up and, you know, be ready
24:38
to play with my friends, to be ready
24:39
with that more limited time I have to
24:41
get online at raid night and and do
24:44
things with
24:44
>> Absolutely. However, I'm going to now
24:46
talk about Noble Garden because Noble
24:48
Garden started from April 6th and ends
24:51
on April 13th this time around. Um,
24:54
which means you got a week. That's
24:55
that's what you got. You got a week. Um,
24:58
>> I wanted to
24:59
>> go ahead Liz. It's kind of short for a
25:01
Warcraft event, you know. I'm always
25:03
getting on Diablo I for having those
25:05
short oneweek events, but this is at
25:07
Noble Guard just a week.
25:08
>> Yeah. Um, oddly enough, the event that
25:11
they're doing right now, they've been
25:12
doing all month and they're still doing
25:14
it in Diablo 4. So, the Doom event is
25:16
just forever. And Noble Guard,
25:18
>> but the Doom event Doom uh that's that's
25:21
part of the season, so it's just going
25:22
to last the whole season. Yeah.
25:24
>> So, they they've started doing that. Um,
25:26
but I will also point out uh I wanted to
25:28
do this more than anything just because
25:30
you've updated the the duck disguiser to
25:33
explain to people what that is.
25:35
>> I I need you to to do that to tell
25:37
everyone about this
25:38
>> so I can learn I've been like wait a
25:40
minute they they did what? They they
25:44
well my old ones how did this happen? So
25:46
go ahead.
25:46
>> Okay. So there's there is a duck
25:48
disguiser toy that you could get from
25:49
Noble Garden in previous years. It's you
25:53
you use it and you become you can become
25:56
a duck. Except in previous years there
25:58
was a there was a big downside to this
26:00
duck disguiser. I know you would think
26:02
how could there possibly be a downside
26:05
to disguising yourself as a duck. Well,
26:08
the downside was that the duck was
26:10
available in a number of different
26:11
colors, but you could only get one color
26:15
every year and they weren't accountwide.
26:18
So if you wanted to collect every color,
26:20
it was going to take like six years.
26:22
That would that did not feel great. And
26:24
if you switched mains, got to start
26:26
over.
26:28
Um so what they have done is they've
26:31
made the duck disguiser colors
26:33
accountwide.
26:35
So if you collect a color, just have the
26:37
color on any of your characters. You
26:39
just open your duck disguiser toy and
26:40
you have everything you've collected.
26:42
Now, in making this change, there is a
26:45
slight problem in that colors you
26:46
previously collected are now gone. Uh,
26:49
which is not not great, but in exchange,
26:52
the uh one option that you do appear to
26:56
have is the
26:59
wizard duck.
27:01
>> Wizard, sorry.
27:03
>> It's a It's a wizard duck. It has a
27:06
little wand and it wears a flower on its
27:09
head. It's It has a flower.
27:12
>> Well, okay. It doesn't have a It doesn't
27:14
It's a duck. It has wings, not hands.
27:17
How is it supposed
27:22
>> So, um, if you've if you've collected a
27:25
bunch of colors, you may log on and find
27:26
those colors you collected in the past
27:28
are missing. But you will be able to
27:30
transform yourself into a wizard duck
27:33
with a, you know, it's it's wearing a
27:36
little cape. It has a flower on its head
27:38
as a hat and it has a little wand. It's
27:41
obviously that's just how wizard ducks
27:44
look.
27:45
>> I'm a little upset that he's not
27:46
pondering an orb, though.
27:48
>> Well, you know, you could say his wand
27:50
has an orb on it.
27:51
>> Well, maybe
27:53
>> I do. Also, there's also another way to
27:55
get them besides just doing the event.
27:57
You can get them daily, right, from the
27:58
basket
28:00
>> by by killing the boss. Yes, that is now
28:02
the only way to collect uh to collect
28:05
these. It used to be I believe you used
28:07
to get the colors from a quest.
28:09
>> Yes.
28:10
>> So
28:10
>> now it's a drop. You can farm it now
28:13
character and farm it over and over
28:15
again.
28:15
>> Just just like any other thing. All of
28:18
the holiday events are kind of kind of
28:20
they've standardized them a lot. So you
28:22
go kill the holiday boss, you get a box,
28:24
it'll have stuff in it, and you may get
28:26
this or you may get some new transmog. I
28:31
I'm going to go out on a limb and say
28:33
this. Don't be don't be shocked. But I
28:36
actually don't think the transmog is all
28:38
that exciting. I just don't.
28:39
>> Pack it up. We're done, folks. This
28:41
podcast is over.
28:42
>> Liz Liza says she doesn't want a
28:44
transmog. We have peaked. We're We're
28:46
out of here.
28:48
>> Liz. Liz, I have to ask you a question.
28:51
>> Okay.
28:51
>> Are you alone in your office right now?
28:53
If there's anybody there holding you
28:55
under duress, can you blink? Wait, I
28:57
can't see you.
28:59
I'm just uh we have the spring transmogs
29:03
that we've had before. That's a a dress
29:05
in spring colors and then a shirt and
29:07
pants that are in spring colors. And I
29:09
just I don't love them. I don't I don't
29:11
love the colors. They're these they're
29:13
these super bright pastels that do not
29:16
match anything else in the game. So, you
29:18
can't mix and match them with anything.
29:20
And this this color looks a lot like
29:22
some of the other colors we've already
29:24
had. So, I'm I'm not very excited about
29:26
it. I would like to get more ducks.
29:29
>> Yeah, for whatever reason, as Matt was
29:31
saying that and asking if you were
29:33
alone, all I could think of was the last
29:34
scene of Invasion of the Body Snatchers
29:36
with Donald Sutherland just pointing and
29:39
making the Inhuman scream and wanting to
29:41
make take that image and Photoshop your
29:44
gnome's head onto it and just like post
29:47
that because
29:48
>> Go ahead.
29:49
>> Now I'm looking around just to be sure.
29:51
I don't think anyone's here. I hope no
29:54
one's here. That would be concerning. It
29:56
would beh
29:58
Yeah. No, I I'm I'm with you on that
29:59
one. We were also having that discussion
30:01
about the last week about the various
30:04
spring transmogs and whether or not
30:05
people enjoyed them or not. And I
30:07
absolutely decided to turn my hair and
30:09
into a garden gnome because I mean, why
30:11
not?
30:13
>> And I am I am saving my tindies this
30:15
month.
30:15
>> Yeah. I I
30:16
>> not every not all month.
30:18
>> Yeah. I bought everything I wanted and I
30:19
still have about a thousand left over.
30:20
And I'm like, I'm gonna sit on those.
30:22
I'm gonna sit on those till next month
30:24
and then I'll have more for when
30:26
anything else comes out. I don't know
30:27
what they're going to be. Um,
30:29
>> there's always there's always super
30:31
exciting months and you can't buy
30:32
everything. So, save what you can.
30:36
>> Also, if you've got a mount you want and
30:38
you've already spent money on a mount,
30:40
you feel free to freeze the other one.
30:42
Ain't no shame in freezing a mount till
30:44
a month where you don't have a mount you
30:45
want.
30:46
>> I have done that. I absolutely done
30:47
that. But we are going to move on to
30:50
Hearthstone because this is one of those
30:52
ones where I barely have to talk at all
30:54
and Liz does everything and I love it.
30:56
Um, Liz, can you talk to us about the
30:58
new Cataclysm themed battleground season
31:01
because it's going live on the 14th?
31:03
>> It is a new Hearthstone Battleground
31:05
season. Battlegrounds are one of the
31:07
most fun things in Hearthstone, which is
31:11
there a it's not exactly a single player
31:14
mode, but it's an autobler. You can just
31:16
go in. You don't have to find a group or
31:18
anything like that. You go in, you're
31:21
pitted up against different players and
31:23
you just you're drawing cards as you go
31:25
and building a board of cards to fight
31:28
against your opponents. I think it is
31:31
the most fun way to play Hearthstone.
31:33
You don't have to agree to me agree with
31:35
me. That's just what I think. It's also
31:37
a completely freetoplay mode as long as
31:40
you ignore all the things Blizzard will
31:42
try to sell you. Just don't. You don't
31:44
need it. You don't need it. Anything
31:46
they're offering you, you don't need.
31:47
You can just go in and play. You don't
31:50
have to buy cards. The only thing you
31:52
can get for Hearthstone is for
31:54
Battlegrounds is cosmetics. And if you
31:58
pay for the uh battle pass, you also get
32:02
a choice of two extra heroes to choose
32:04
between when you're first starting the
32:06
but you don't need them. You can just go
32:07
in and play completely for free. It's a
32:10
lot of fun. It's a game that I like to
32:11
play. And this doesn't sound
32:13
complimentary, but I mean it as a
32:14
compliment. Uh, you know, I can go in
32:16
with like half of my attention and play
32:18
it. And I just find it, you know, you
32:20
can go in and strategize really hard,
32:22
but you I can also play it with just
32:23
kind of half of my brain. And it's just
32:25
something nice to while away some time
32:28
without just stressing myself out if
32:30
that makes sense.
32:31
>> I mean, I understand completely because
32:32
that's exactly how I play Diablo II now.
32:35
>> Yeah. I mean, sometimes you don't want
32:36
something that's stressful and
32:39
>> Yeah. But at the same time, you could
32:41
think if you if you're feeling up to
32:42
that, you can think hard and you can put
32:44
a lot of strategy into battleground
32:46
games. I usually don't. I I'm the super
32:51
casual battlegrounder here, but uh so
32:54
yes, this is uh every time there's a new
32:58
battleground season, the kind of last
33:00
mechanics of the last season are gone
33:02
and new mechanics are in. So the time
33:05
warped tavern, gone, done. Farewell
33:09
anomalies are out, but we're getting
33:11
trinkets back. Trinkets are kind of uh
33:15
cards you cards you can select
33:17
throughout the game at different points
33:19
that give you various buffs or
33:21
abilities. You usually get two of them
33:23
you can pick during a game. There's also
33:25
a couple of cool new card keywords,
33:28
which there's a demon demon keyword
33:31
called FOD. This one is going to be a
33:33
lot of fun and it plays with mechanic
33:35
that's already in battlegrounds for
33:37
certain cards which certain demons in
33:40
the tavern with this keyword, they will
33:42
be uh they will be consumed by a demon
33:45
on your board when you I'm not I'm not
33:48
entirely clear if this is when you
33:50
purchase them or if it's just they come
33:52
up and they they have this tag so
33:55
they're consumed. Uh, but there are a
33:58
lot of demons that already work this way
34:00
where they'll consume other cards to
34:03
grow more powerful. So, we're going to
34:04
see more things playing into that
34:07
mechanic. Dragons are also getting a new
34:10
kind of uh keyword called chroma drake
34:13
which they're just uh it's really
34:16
playing with the dragon colors where
34:19
each color of dragon each color of
34:21
chroma drake has a different battlecry
34:24
effect to buff your dragons in different
34:26
ways.
34:28
So, so I think that's going to be a lot
34:30
of fun. And it's another thing. This is
34:32
just kind of it feels like here they're
34:34
amping up things that are already in the
34:36
game and kind of making certain types of
34:39
minions lean into these things a little
34:42
more. And there are two new heroes. One
34:44
of them is our old friend Gin Greymane
34:47
who gets to choose two hero powers. So
34:50
his his hero power is to have two hero
34:53
powers that you can select. The downside
34:55
is you can't select them until turn
34:57
four. So, he's going to be someone's
35:00
who's probably going to power up more
35:02
slowly because he doesn't have access to
35:05
a hero power out of the gate. And Mr.
35:08
Clockworth, he's a clock.
35:13
That's It's Hearthstone. It's
35:15
Hearthstone. We're playing fast and
35:16
loose here with any kind of Warcraft
35:19
lore. Um, with Clockworth, cards you
35:22
draw will be golden with just two
35:25
copies. Uh typically in Hearthstone
35:28
Battlegrounds when you get three copies
35:29
of card they combine into a golden copy
35:32
of the card which is more powerful and
35:36
you get a uh triple reward which is you
35:39
can pick you get a choice of another
35:44
card that you can draw because you're
35:46
you had two cards on the board. You had
35:48
two copies of something on the board.
35:50
You drew a third copy and now you only
35:51
have one copy if that makes sense. So,
35:55
uh, it gives you a free kind of extra
35:57
card when you get a triple, but with
36:00
Clockworth, you only need two cards to
36:02
get that golden double powered card, but
36:05
you don't get the triple reward. You
36:07
just get a coin instead. So, Mr.
36:11
Clockworth is going to kind of speed up.
36:14
He's going to have a faster early mid
36:16
game play, but may I wonder if he's
36:20
going to peak in power earlier. We're
36:23
going to have to see him in play. So,
36:26
if if an auto battler alert sounds
36:28
interesting to you at all, completely
36:29
free. The new season starts on April
36:32
14th and you can just download
36:34
Hearthstone. Give it a try. Go into
36:36
Battlegrounds. Uh it's Hearthstone has
36:40
the most confusing user interface ever.
36:42
But go into Battlegrounds. Don't buy
36:44
anything. You don't need it. Just play
36:46
and have fun. And if you don't have fun,
36:48
uninstall it. Forget it forever.
36:50
>> All right. Um, also I have to admit I
36:52
went and looked up Mr. Clockworth's
36:54
before the show because I'm like, I
36:56
gotta see this. Mr. Clockworth does not
36:59
disappoint in appearance. That is one
37:01
jaunty looking clock thing. Uh, if I saw
37:06
that thing running at me, quite frankly,
37:07
I'd also jump behind Game Ray Main.
37:09
Like, no, you take him, G. Seriously,
37:11
this clock is mess.
37:12
>> You deal with this. Yeah. I mean, with a
37:15
name like Mr. Clockworth, you can't go
37:17
halfway on that. No, you got to go all
37:19
out.
37:20
>> You just turn into a character from
37:21
Beauty and the Beast. Uh, and
37:23
specifically, you know, the one that was
37:24
hanging out with Lumiere. Um, but this
37:27
next one we're going to talk about is
37:29
because, um, I don't know. I don't know
37:32
what to feel about Overwatch anymore. I
37:34
don't know if if we can be happy about
37:35
it again. I don't know if it's gotten to
37:37
a place where people are actually
37:39
enjoying it. But I do have to ask, who's
37:41
who's who wrote this? Was that Liz or
37:43
Joe?
37:44
>> Might have been Anna.
37:46
>> Okay. I wanna I wanna see if either of
37:48
you can explain this to me.
37:49
>> I mean,
37:50
>> um, they they've got Hero 51, but they
37:52
didn't
37:53
>> Let us explain to the listeners at home.
37:55
>> I We should probably explain to the
37:57
listeners at home what it actually what
37:59
is actually going on here.
38:01
>> Yes, that's what he's asking us to do.
38:03
So, astensibly
38:05
sensibly, uh, they're doing a teaser.
38:08
So, at the beginning of the season, uh,
38:10
or the new season, uh, I don't even
38:13
remember when it was at this point, they
38:15
did a giant, uh, picture, splash picture
38:19
with silhouettes of all the heroes that
38:21
are coming out. Uh, and we have received
38:24
six of the heroes, well, five of the
38:26
heroes. And then now this is the six
38:29
which is a teaser uh where we've gotten
38:33
sort of a little bit about her um in so
38:37
much as
38:38
>> very little.
38:38
>> And what I mean by a little bit about
38:40
her is she's Cammy. She's a thousand%
38:43
Cammy from Street Fighter. Um except
38:46
she's wearing pants. Um they're very
38:48
very tight pants that are probably just
38:49
colored skin, but they're pants. Um
38:53
>> does the butterfly fish thing have to do
38:55
with her? It is. It's
38:57
>> we have all all we know is this art.
39:00
>> No, we we do know that it is hers from
39:03
the art because it was blacked out until
39:04
this was filled in.
39:05
>> Yeah.
39:06
>> So, we know that it is associated with
39:08
her. It's probably an ability. Uh looks
39:10
like it's going to be potentially like a
39:11
drone or something of that nature. Uh we
39:14
know that she has some form of what
39:16
looks like a Gaussian rifle. Uh which is
39:18
essentially a handheld rail cannon. We
39:21
don't know if that's a healing gun, a
39:22
DPS gun, or whatever it is. Uh she has a
39:25
long recognize it from Cyberpunk 2077
39:28
because it looks exactly like the Gaus
39:29
guns from that.
39:30
>> Really does. Um she's got her pink beret
39:34
uh with looks like the Overwatch symbol
39:36
on it. Uh she looks like she has uh
39:39
cybernetic uh potentially a cybernetic
39:41
arm or at least an upgrade and a long
39:45
braided pink hair that is just because
39:48
that's what Neo Future is. So we don't
39:51
know anything else about it. It's it's a
39:53
teaser. Um,
39:56
>> yeah,
39:56
>> but the interesting thing is not too
39:58
long ago, we did have a Street Fighter
40:01
paid collaboration with Overwatch, which
40:04
we talked about very briefly, uh, in
40:06
which Widowmaker has a Cammy skin and it
40:10
looks very similar. So, yeah, I don't
40:12
know. Uh, it's a thing. It's a thing
40:15
that exists.
40:16
>> I mean, it looks very similar because
40:18
this is basically Cammy. It's just the
40:19
silhouette is so
40:21
>> even the stance like even the stance is
40:24
is very much like what you'd see from
40:26
Camu and when Cam's
40:27
>> however the Cammy skin for Widowmaker
40:29
has two braids
40:32
completely
40:32
>> different completely different.
40:35
>> Well, and also the the Widowmaker skin
40:37
doesn't have pants.
40:39
>> Yeah, exactly. Pantsless.
40:41
>> Yeah. You know Kimmy goes without pants.
40:44
She just straps stuff to her naked legs.
40:46
She's like a Leafeld character.
40:47
>> Yeah. Well, I mean, getting getting into
40:49
the nitty-gritty of it, like, and this
40:50
is just my opinion, and y'all can tell
40:52
me to shush, but I don't know. Like,
40:54
again, the the only thing that I was
40:56
excited for out of all the Overwatch
40:57
announcements was Jetpack Cat because it
41:01
started as a joke and now I can play as
41:03
Jetpack Cat,
41:04
>> but then I compare it to Jeff the Land
41:06
Shark and I'd rather go play Jeff the
41:08
Land Shark. Um, but everything else is
41:10
just like a lot of these designs,
41:12
they're cool looking, but they just look
41:15
generic. Like
41:16
>> I don't think that was a fair comparison
41:18
at all. I mean, I don't play either of
41:19
these games that I'd want to play with
41:20
Jeff the Land Shark. I mean, come on.
41:22
>> It's Jeff the Land Shark. But but I
41:23
mean, and I'm not trying to say like and
41:25
I want to make it clear that I'm not
41:27
saying that this is not that there's not
41:29
effort and work going into it. It's just
41:31
that nothing really stands out like to
41:34
me aside from Jetpack. Everything else
41:36
just it even the silhouettes, they just
41:39
look like they could have been skins for
41:40
other heroes. So like it's I don't know.
41:42
It doesn't feel as exciting as it used
41:44
to. I mean, we've talked about this
41:46
before. I've talked about this before
41:48
that I'm really interested in Overwatch
41:50
for the story, which is largely not a
41:53
part of Overwatch anymore. Uh, and one
41:58
of the things about going back to
41:59
Overwatch instead of Overwatch 2 was
42:03
that, you know, they were going to do a
42:05
new focus on narrative. and they they
42:08
did this sort of splashy re-release that
42:10
had some cinematics and some stories,
42:12
but the new heroes have not had any more
42:14
story than average, which is very
42:17
little. So,
42:19
>> yeah, I will say this
42:20
>> it just feels like it feels like the
42:21
same old same old heroes.
42:23
>> I I will say that I wanted Enron to get
42:26
a lot more than she did. Uh she's the
42:28
one character that I was immediately I
42:30
mean, again, we all love Jetack Hat. I
42:32
remember I actually almost died over
42:34
Jetpack hat. So, I'm not going to say
42:36
that I wasn't excited about that. But of
42:39
these characters, the one that I
42:40
immediately look at and know who it is
42:42
every time is Anron. Uh because a cool
42:47
firebased thing that we don't really
42:49
have anywhere else. We have um we have
42:51
an icebased character. We haven't really
42:53
had a fire one yet. And I just her look
42:57
is unique to this G. It's not something
42:59
I've seen before in the game. It doesn't
43:01
look like anybody else. It's not yet
43:04
another like grim scowlly guy with a gun
43:07
uh who's standing right next to her on
43:10
the, you know, silhouette thing half
43:12
revealed. I just feel like Anan and
43:15
others like her could be cool
43:17
characters. We just really haven't seen
43:19
enough. But I I really look at um
43:21
butterfly fish cammy and I'm like I'm
43:25
hoping there's some unified thing that's
43:26
going to tie this all together for me
43:28
cuz right now I'm like okay
43:32
>> I think that's I think that's part of
43:33
the Oh, go ahead Liz. I'm sorry.
43:34
>> I I admit I am curious about the
43:36
butterfly fish thing that is floating
43:39
next to her. Tell me more about this
43:42
butterfly fish.
43:43
>> If the butterfly fish is the character
43:46
and and that's the Tammy person is a
43:49
drone. It's It's got taking it places. I
43:52
mean, I'm I I'm interested in hearing
43:53
this.
43:54
>> Yeah. But we all know it's not going to
43:55
be anything nearly as cool as that. It's
43:57
going to likely it's going to be like
43:58
this is her E ability where she can see
44:00
through walls for 10 seconds.
44:01
>> Yeah. Yeah. Probably. Which is, you
44:03
know, nice to it. But uh but at this
44:06
point, because we're getting near the
44:08
end, Liz, you had something. I'm sorry.
44:10
>> I I still just Overwatch. I want more
44:12
story. I want to know more about the
44:14
characters. And until I know about the
44:16
characters, I can't it's hard to care
44:17
about them. I was literally just going
44:19
to say
44:20
>> it's another character.
44:20
>> I was just going to say that. Yeah. Like
44:22
that's one of the reasons why I think
44:23
it's for me another reason why like I
44:26
play a Marvel Rivals now over Overwatch
44:31
uh is because like I already have a
44:34
connection with all these characters
44:35
they're introducing because I'm a huge
44:36
comic buff, right? Like it's part of my
44:39
daily life. And like Overwatch one, I
44:42
cared about the characters because they
44:43
did things to make me care about the
44:45
characters. And now,
44:47
>> I'll tell you right now, if they decided
44:49
to bring back the kind of cinematic
44:51
storytelling they were doing with
44:52
cinematics,
44:53
>> uh,
44:53
>> uh, when they first did the game, I
44:55
think a lot of people would be like, "Oh
44:57
my god, yay, finally."
44:58
>> I I would agree. Or if they did
44:59
something like comics or if they did
45:01
something like, you know, actually
45:02
invested in storytelling, even if they
45:05
didn't want to do it in the game, like,
45:07
and again, I will bring this up till I'm
45:10
blew in the face. Arcane was a Smash
45:13
success. the fact that we are not seeing
45:16
other franchises that have cool stories
45:19
that could have the same treatment and
45:22
make you invested in the game uh like
45:25
Overwatch getting the same type of
45:27
treatment
45:28
>> is bonkers to me because one I mean cap
45:33
capitalist hellscape you're leaving
45:35
money on the table and two League of
45:37
Legends got a marked increase in
45:40
returning players and new players after
45:43
season one of Arcane aired like a not
45:47
insignificant rebuff in players. So like
45:51
why wouldn't you want to do that with
45:52
Overwatch if you're trying to get people
45:53
to come back to Overwatch? Like find
45:55
another way to make people care about
45:57
your characters in game. That's what's
45:59
missing.
46:00
that
46:00
>> I will admit that they did do several
46:03
cinematics when they did that kind of
46:05
relaunch as Overwatch, but uh yeah,
46:09
>> but nothing really,
46:10
>> but there wasn't anything like
46:12
>> Well, compare that to the first ones.
46:14
Compare that to the early ones. There
46:16
was
46:18
>> Gohead. It I I would say it's media. I
46:20
didn't find it personally very interest
46:22
very engaging.
46:23
>> I mean, we can rant about Vendetta.
46:24
>> Vendetta.
46:26
>> Yeah. I well it was it was
46:28
>> I still like Vendetta.
46:29
>> There's nothing wrong with liking
46:30
Vendetta. I just her story seemed very
46:34
her character seems very one note. It's
46:36
like
46:36
>> look she's just the anti-Batman. I don't
46:38
know why everyone's surprised. You know
46:40
her she's like you know
46:41
>> my father died and now I'm evil but I'm
46:44
rich and I'm rich and evil. I have no
46:46
moral obligations. like yeah
46:49
>> it's I mean who who cannot relate to uh
46:53
someone and their father died so they
46:55
went to become a gladiatorial combat
46:58
>> I I will say that I have a I have a hard
47:00
I have a hard time identifying with this
47:02
cuz when my father died and I wanted to
47:04
go to gladiatorial combat and fight god
47:07
I wasn't rich so kind of kind of losing
47:10
me there
47:12
>> vendetta's story is that you know
47:14
>> her story is vendetta her name is
47:16
vendetta
47:18
her all of her all of her father's money
47:20
was stolen from her, her father's
47:22
position, all of that. So, she went out
47:24
and became a a gladiator and that is how
47:28
she became rich and powerful and now
47:30
she's a super villain. It's it's it's a
47:33
narrative through line that is it's a
47:36
little hard to follow.
47:37
>> I'll go back and and watch Red Sonia
47:38
instead. Anyway,
47:41
>> you got to admit that they could do some
47:43
cool things with it. Anyway, however,
47:44
they could at this point
47:45
>> at this point before we get sidetracked,
47:47
I am going to turn to Liz and say Liz,
47:50
uh, we're getting near the end. So, if
47:51
you could do the site news for
47:52
everybody, uh, then we can move on to
47:54
maybe cover some Diablo stuff. I hope
47:56
>> I want to we started out the show
47:58
thanking everyone at home for listening.
48:00
I appreciate every every last one of
48:03
you. Thank you for tuning in. But I also
48:05
want to give an extra special shout out
48:07
to our supporters on Patreon. you guys
48:10
keep the site going and thriving. Uh the
48:15
financial support we get on Patreon and
48:17
Patreon's kind of low right now. It's
48:20
lower than we'd like to be. Uh but it's
48:22
that support that really keeps the site
48:25
going and keeps us going in, you know,
48:27
months where advertising money isn't as
48:30
good or, you know, just months when
48:32
traffic isn't as high. All of those
48:33
things. Patreon is kind of our reliable
48:36
baseline that keeps us going. you know,
48:38
if it's if it's sunny or if it's rainy.
48:40
Yeah, I think that makes sense. So,
48:42
thank you if you support us on Patreon.
48:44
A special shout out to Nick for uh
48:47
pledging this week. I I think I know who
48:49
Nick is, but I'm not going to call him
48:51
out. I just Thank you very much. I see
48:53
you. I appreciate you. Now, if you can
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49:36
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49:38
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thank you. So, thank you so much for
50:41
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50:43
Patreon supporters and uh yeah, thanks
50:46
for tuning in everybody
50:47
>> and thank you to Liz for being able to
50:49
read all that because my word you have
50:51
to get through it in a very amount of
50:53
quick amount of time and you do it every
50:54
week and quite frankly I am incredibly
50:56
impressed and also thankful to quit. Ah
51:00
Diablo I it's coming out this month.
51:02
It's April 28th guys. If you're not for
51:04
if you're not excited for that I
51:05
understand. I am personally very
51:07
excited.
51:07
>> It's so close.
51:08
>> Yeah it is this month as we're speaking.
51:11
I feel like that's okay to say. Um, and
51:14
we've got we've got some videos like I
51:16
IGN got a 12minute preview which shows
51:19
the the first looks at the Sco Isles
51:21
since actually ever cuz we've we've had
51:24
characters from the Sco Isles. We've
51:26
never actually gone to Scoos until now.
51:29
>> We've we've heard a lot about Sco and
51:32
that's it.
51:33
>> There's actually what's really cool
51:34
there's also a cinematic that they've
51:36
released. It's an early cinematic we
51:38
think. Uh, it's got a Go ahead.
51:41
>> I assume I assume it's an early
51:42
cinematic because if not, it's it's a
51:44
big spoiler. Uh
51:46
>> yeah, I I don't think it's I think it
51:48
is. Yeah,
51:49
>> I suspect this is a an initial
51:51
cinematic, but uh they have not they
51:53
have not specified, but it's out there
51:55
if you want to look and see where we're
51:57
going. Uh since this is Sanctuary and
52:00
everything is bad on Sanctuary, we're
52:01
going to bad places. That's that's just
52:04
a given. I will say that u one of the
52:07
things I like about this is that it
52:08
references a lot of history in um
52:11
Diablo, not just Diablo II, but it
52:14
references a throwaway reference at the
52:16
end of Diablo II. And I'm not going to
52:18
say any more than that. If you've played
52:20
Diablo II, you will have heard the
52:22
character make the reference and that
52:25
plays into this cinematic. It's actually
52:27
kind of mentioned here,
52:29
>> which I like. Uh it it it's I like it
52:32
when these things show an understanding
52:34
of and a a sort not reverence exactly,
52:37
but a willingness.
52:40
>> Yes, exactly. Um the boss fight looks to
52:44
be about as ridiculous as boss fights
52:48
tend to get in Diablo. Uh Diablo I has
52:51
gotten its boss fights up to the point
52:52
where I call them mini Dark Souls where
52:55
unless you are geared to the point where
52:56
you can just ignore mechanics, there is
52:59
a lot of dying and or figuring out when
53:02
to jump away from um I like them. But
53:05
nevertheless, that is that is the the
53:07
core mechanic of every Diablo boss fight
53:09
when it's hard is can you get out of
53:11
this thing before it just annihilates
53:13
you.
53:14
>> Yeah.
53:14
>> And they've added a dodge mechanic. Uh I
53:17
like that. But nevertheless, um I'm just
53:20
I'm just chuffed to see Scoos finally to
53:22
actually see it.
53:23
>> Yeah.
53:24
>> Because we've never gone there. Um I I
53:28
don't know. I don't again I don't want
53:30
to do a lot of spoilers, but I think
53:31
everybody knows that the Amazon from
53:34
Diablo II was from the Sco and
53:37
>> the sightless eye that we see in Diablo
53:39
I is an artifact from the Sco Isles. Uh
53:43
I
53:44
>> go ahead. Sorry. back in uh back to
53:47
Diablo I the uh we were working with
53:50
some of the sisters of the sightless eye
53:51
what was her name identified items for
53:54
you but also that she was an oracle
53:57
right the
53:58
>> woman in act one
54:00
>> oh no you're right you're right I think
54:01
you are right
54:02
>> it is the oracle yeah
54:03
>> yeah I think it's just called the oracle
54:05
>> we we've seen people from this space but
54:08
just not uh
54:10
>> yeah I really
54:11
>> never been there
54:12
>> they incorporated a lot of the the
54:14
architecture that I could see looks like
54:16
what you'd expect for a place where
54:19
Cassia, the the Amazon from D2 would
54:23
come from. It's very Greek Roman
54:25
influenced, which is not something you
54:28
see a lot in Diablo
54:30
>> as a general rule. Buildings tend to
54:32
look more cyclopian or medieval or in
54:35
the case of Kystan, they tend to have
54:38
more of a a Middle Eastern look. This is
54:40
the first time we've had a city that
54:42
really looks like coliseumy and all that
54:45
stuff and I'm I'm I'm here for it. Uh
54:48
the cinematic makes it I again don't
54:50
want to spoil anything and it's very
54:52
hard for me because I am the kind of
54:54
person who just dumps plot references
54:55
everywhere. I'm the Tom Holland of this
54:57
podcast.
54:59
>> Um but nevertheless, well just in the
55:01
spoilering thing, not in the, you know,
55:03
I can't dance. Uh, but there's just
55:08
there's there's a level of stuff that I
55:09
like and a level of stuff I don't like
55:12
from this brief little this brief little
55:14
view. I'm not making a judgment on the
55:17
expansion because I can't. I just some
55:20
stuff I just saw was like, yes, that's
55:22
what I should be seeing. And some stuff
55:24
was like, again, that's all.
55:26
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I do feel a little
55:29
like are we just do we feel like no one
55:32
understood the backstory of Diablo II so
55:34
we're just going to do it again?
55:35
>> It does feel that way sometimes. Yeah,
55:37
>> I am I am happy to be going to Scooas
55:40
because I think it's an interesting
55:41
place with a lot of history and it will
55:43
be interesting to check it out in
55:46
person.
55:47
>> Yep. I agree.
55:49
>> I I will note that there's actually a
55:52
Diablo I novel coming out before the
55:54
expansion called The Lost Herodum. uh
55:57
which is
55:59
uh due out on April 21st. So that's
56:02
coming soon and that's going to tie
56:03
directly into the expansion.
56:06
>> It's kind of like a prequel to Diablo I
56:08
but it also ties into the expansion. It
56:10
it's it's basically going to be about
56:13
why certain people are in this cinematic
56:15
in the first place. Like how do you know
56:16
them? Here you go. Here's a book. So
56:18
that's cool. I'm trying again not to
56:20
spoil things and I hope to God people
56:22
can still hear.
56:22
>> I can hear you. Yes. I but if you're
56:25
interested in Diablo's story and some of
56:27
the the deep lore one we got a novel two
56:31
we got a new expansion very soon on both
56:34
of those
56:35
>> and we will be talking about the novel
56:37
uh relatively soon on lore watch so look
56:39
forward to that
56:40
>> um finally I guess we could mention uh
56:43
Chan uh for people who haven't been
56:45
playing Diablo I this week I'm one of
56:47
them so I can I can introduce you to
56:49
Chan Chan the foul beast is it's a
56:53
gigant gigantic chicken trapped in a
56:55
chicken coop. And when I say trapped, I
56:57
mean its head and wings and feet have
56:59
all punched through and it's wearing the
57:03
chicken coop like armor. It's like a
57:05
tortoise if the tortoise was a chicken
57:07
with a chicken coop on it for armor. And
57:10
it's not the biggest world boss, but it
57:12
is pretty big. And you want there to be
57:15
more people on this this fight when you
57:18
fight Shakon because despite the fact
57:19
that it is an April Fool's type joke. Uh
57:23
Chan was hard. Um if you had only a
57:28
couple people on it, one of those people
57:30
would be getting one shot every single
57:31
time.
57:33
And I was I basically as a barbarian I
57:37
spent a lot of time either desperately
57:40
hitting iron skin so that I wouldn't die
57:42
immediately or dying immediately. That
57:45
that's that was those were the two
57:47
options. I think I I death zurgged him
57:49
12 times on one pole before I got the
57:51
rhythm down. So very hard and also
57:54
dropped loot with names like Agus for
57:57
Aegis E Gis
57:59
and the executioner again. eggs.
58:03
Eutioner.
58:05
>> Yeah.
58:06
>> And these things were they were what
58:08
we'd call egg themed because it's a big
58:12
chicken dropping them. Um I I I don't
58:15
know why this happened to me. Um I got
58:19
the scythe that dropped off of him like
58:23
15 times. He was just dropping that
58:26
scythe constantly. He he dropped an an
58:28
you know an ancient bloodied version of
58:31
it for me. Not not just here's a unique.
58:35
Not just here's an ancient unique.
58:36
Here's an ancient bloodied unique which
58:38
means it's not going to even be bloodied
58:39
anymore uh once the the the season's
58:42
over. But in the meantime here it is.
58:44
Oh, and I can't use it because it's a
58:46
necromancer only weapon.
58:48
>> Thank you.
58:49
But, you know, if I ever start a
58:51
necromancer, I've got five of them in
58:53
the bank, so I'm sure he'll be happy.
58:56
Uh, but yeah. No, it it was really odd
58:59
because they didn't really there was no
59:01
fanfare for them. Like just on April
59:03
1st, instead of the regular world
59:06
bosses, this giant chicken would be
59:08
waiting for you and he'd be incredibly
59:10
hard and you didn't know why he was
59:13
there. Every boss like I the first time
59:16
I went, I'm like, "Wow, that's okay.
59:18
That's interesting." April Fool's joke.
59:19
And then we went to the next world boss
59:21
spawn and it was him again and again and
59:24
again and I'm like and this continued
59:27
all week cuz I I didn't see him. I
59:30
haven't been on today. I don't think
59:31
he's still there.
59:32
>> Yeah, it lasted a week.
59:35
>> So, it is gone. But, uh
59:36
>> yeah,
59:37
>> I thought that's a pretty good joke.
59:38
>> It was a joke, but more importantly, it
59:41
was an actual fight. It wasn't a joke
59:44
joke joke. It was everything about it
59:46
was real. It was hard. It did a lot of
59:49
damage. It jumped on you constantly. And
59:52
it was a joke. And I think for Diablo,
59:55
that's the best way to do it. Like when
59:57
they did the the the Winter Festival
59:59
thing and they've got the the Kazra with
1:00:01
a red hat who's also crazy hard. Like
1:00:06
>> he's real. He's also a joke, but he, you
1:00:08
know, he's basically, you know, Krampus,
1:00:10
but he's real. You when you fight him,
1:00:13
it will not be funny. You will actually
1:00:15
be trying to kill him. It's just
1:00:16
afterwards you'll chuckle a little bit
1:00:18
as you that feels like a good a joke
1:00:20
timed to its audience whereas some of
1:00:24
the holiday stuff they've done just
1:00:26
hasn't hit well in my opinion. Um
1:00:28
>> you know it's it's been kind of it's
1:00:30
been there.
1:00:31
>> I'll give Chan credit for being very
1:00:34
hard. Um trying it on tournament three
1:00:37
might have been the problem right there.
1:00:38
Maybe I should have dropped it.
1:00:39
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
1:00:41
>> But tournament three he was he was crazy
1:00:43
hard. Um, and finally, because Liz put
1:00:46
this in there. Yeah, there's still not a
1:00:48
cow level. We got a chicken level. No
1:00:50
cow level. Great that the chicken level
1:00:52
is
1:00:52
>> unacceptable. This is This is
1:00:55
unacceptable. There is still no cow
1:00:57
level in Diablo I. Worst Diablo game
1:01:00
ever.
1:01:00
>> Yeah.
1:01:01
>> Can't be a Diablo game without a cow
1:01:02
level.
1:01:03
>> It's just It's just wrong.
1:01:05
>> I'm I'm quite frankly sad that we never
1:01:06
got another We never got whimsy again.
1:01:09
So is isn't that weird to anybody else
1:01:11
that we haven't had like Diablo II had
1:01:13
the cow level. Diablo II had whimsy
1:01:15
veil. Diablo I has
1:01:17
>> like
1:01:17
>> Diablo II also had the cow level though.
1:01:20
>> Yeah. You got there from a pole arm but
1:01:22
it was there.
1:01:24
>> Um Diablo 4 got anything like that.
1:01:26
>> I think the thing is that Diablo I was
1:01:29
such a hard rejection of Diablo III in
1:01:32
its philosophy and gameplay style. And
1:01:35
one of the things,
1:01:38
>> go ahead.
1:01:40
>> I may be saying this wrong. One of the
1:01:42
one of the things that it was really uh
1:01:46
going against was, you know, Diablo III
1:01:48
was so colorful and bright and it had
1:01:51
its whimsy dale. And Diablo I is not
1:01:54
whimsical. There is no whimsy to this
1:01:57
world except now they had a giant
1:01:58
chicken boss. That is kind of whimsical,
1:02:00
guys. So, you go into Diablo II, it has
1:02:05
a very drab color palette. It is very
1:02:09
der. It is taking this tone
1:02:10
intentionally. It is trying to be grim
1:02:13
dark and it's trying to echo Diablo II
1:02:17
in tone more than Diablo III. So, it's
1:02:20
it it really dialed back the whims
1:02:23
whimsy, even though I would say, you
1:02:24
know, Diablo 3 was not actually all that
1:02:27
colorful, but it just it just wasn't,
1:02:30
you know, grim. Yeah, I would I would
1:02:32
say that if they were going to reject
1:02:34
Diablo III that hard, and I understand
1:02:36
what you're saying, but the the the
1:02:38
angry man in me is just going to point
1:02:40
out maybe they could have left the
1:02:42
seasonal structure uh in Diablo II and
1:02:45
maybe updated it to a new one instead of
1:02:48
taking away my cow level. Uh that maybe
1:02:50
would have been more beneficial. Don't
1:02:52
get me wrong, I love Diablo, but man,
1:02:55
>> Diablo Diablo II infamously didn't have
1:02:58
in quotes a cow level that was there. It
1:03:02
just wasn't there. Um, you know, it's
1:03:05
nobody talks about it. You could easily
1:03:07
have something like that. I I also
1:03:09
remember one of the things Diablo III
1:03:11
had that they brought into Diablo I, but
1:03:14
they did it instead of going to a
1:03:15
dimension of greed to fight the greed
1:03:18
boss monster, they just have it show up
1:03:21
in in Sanctuary and attack you as a
1:03:23
world boss. Like that's that's not what
1:03:26
do you think now suddenly it's grim just
1:03:28
because it's slightly darker?
1:03:30
>> Yeah, I will say that I I we're we're
1:03:33
definitely over on time and I'll I'll
1:03:34
leave it at this. Like one of the things
1:03:35
that I I think is just a a a flavor fail
1:03:39
for Diablo 4 in particular is that
1:03:43
Sanctuary is the one that survived the
1:03:47
most, but it is not the only world that
1:03:50
survived. There are fragments of the
1:03:51
other realms. That's a whole story
1:03:54
point. It's a whole plot point that has
1:03:56
existed since Diablo has been around.
1:03:59
It's part of the core story elements of
1:04:01
it. It's part of the whole thing with
1:04:03
like the howitzer and and and and uh you
1:04:07
know there's theories about the Scoville
1:04:08
Isle not actually being part of
1:04:10
Sanctuary but being part of like one of
1:04:12
the other failed realities that that's
1:04:14
all that's left and has been uh
1:04:16
essentially bootstrapped on to Sanctuary
1:04:19
to survive. Like there's all these
1:04:21
different things that that allude to the
1:04:24
fact that tons of universes and worlds
1:04:26
existed in the the the scope and
1:04:29
storyline of Diablo and little tiny
1:04:31
pocket things like going to the greed
1:04:32
dimension allude to that and then
1:04:35
instead of having them come here let us
1:04:37
go there like make an instance or do
1:04:39
something like that like do the nod to
1:04:41
the thing that's been going on for
1:04:42
Diablo since Diablo I like
1:04:45
>> yeah and you know if you wanted to say
1:04:46
have us go and confront Durgus I'd be
1:04:48
okay with that guys deep cut But um but
1:04:51
yeah, at this point I think we going to
1:04:53
say good night. Yeah. You guys have
1:04:54
anything else to say about Chickon
1:04:55
before we do?
1:04:57
>> Rise. Chicken. Chicken. Rise.
1:05:00
>> Yeah.
1:05:01
>> I'll say this. He was hard. He was a
1:05:03
hard boss. He was no joke. Even though
1:05:04
he was completely and totally a joke. Uh
1:05:07
and I feel like we could we could
1:05:09
actually have Lindsay Dale and have
1:05:10
>> Would you say he was a Would you say it
1:05:12
was a real big clucking joke?
1:05:14
>> No, because I don't want to get hit by
1:05:16
my wife. Uh anyway, however, uh on that
1:05:19
note, um this has been the Blizzard
1:05:21
Watch podcast. Thank you guys very much
1:05:23
for being here with us and we'll be back
1:05:25
next
1:05:26
>> by