It's Diablorama week for Blizzard games

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Hello everyone and welcome to Blizzard
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Watch. We're going to watch Blizzard and
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other other games too. Maybe we'll see
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what happens. Uh but but right now I am
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Matt. Uh we got some Diablo news coming
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up and I'm already kind of like
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affected. So, I'm trying to be normal
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and I'm failing because who the heck
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ever thought I could succeed at that
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regardless. However, we also have Joe
0:34
Perez, Liz Harper, and special guest
0:37
star Corey with an exclamation point.
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It's not actually there, but it's all
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caps there and I have to give you
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emphasis somehow. Say hi,
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>> I do like exclamation points. It is
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known.
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>> Yes,
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>> I'll take it.
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>> You know who else liked exclamation
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points? Elliot S. Magg.
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Joe knows who I'm talking about. I don't
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know if anybody else
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>> I'm not I'm not responding.
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>> Yeah. Anyway, Diablo. Let's talk about
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Diablo. Let's talk about the fact that
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Diablo II has its first new class in 20
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something years.
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>> I have
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>> I believe 25 years. 20
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>> 25
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years. 25 long years.
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If we think of the original Diablo II as
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was born in in 2001 2000 with an
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expansion in 2001, it is now a
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25year-old person and just had a kid.
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And that kid is the Warlock. And let's
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let us talk about the Warlock because
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the Warlock is in Diablo II. Uh more
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specifically, it's in Diablo II
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resurrected. It's not in base Diablo.
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>> Correct. Correct. Ibased Diablo II,
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that's still its old thing. You're I
1:49
Good luck to you getting it to run on
1:51
your computer, but uh yeah, that's a
1:54
completely different thing. But Diablo
1:55
II resurrected will have the Warlock
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does have the Warlock right now. You can
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buy it right now.
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>> They announced it and it went live
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immediately. So
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>> there it is.
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>> It started trying to Here's the other
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thing. I This isn't news. This has been
2:09
for a while, but Diablo II Resurrected
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is on Game Pass. Yeah, they kind of they
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kind of shadow dropped it during the the
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the announcement of the Warlock.
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>> And as a result, I downloaded it because
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I'm like, you want me to have a third
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Diablo game on my Xbox? Okay. Uh so I
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went I went for it and I I started
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playing and they immediately there's a
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when you you see the table of
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adventurers all around the fire.
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>> Uh there's the word uh right there and
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you click on it and it takes you to
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Microsoft saying give us money.
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Yeah.
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>> And I'm like, I don't have any money
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right now. Thanks for thinking of me.
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And I went back to playing Diablo II
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Resurrected because
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>> that's that's very convenient that
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they've got the purchase right there in
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the game. They're like teasing you with
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it. It's right there. Oh, new class. Um,
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>> you click right on. There he is.
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>> So, Blizzard is calling this a DLC, not
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an expansion. So, it's not the second
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Diablo expansion.
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>> It's very 20 years later.
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>> Yeah. It's very similar to what they did
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with uh the necromancer in Diablo II.
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>> Yeah,
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>> they just put him into Diablo II. This
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is the Warlock is now just in Diablo II,
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>> except the there's also some uh quality
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of life changes that went in with this.
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And Blizzard is also
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maintaining you can choose, okay, do I
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want to play classic Diablo II or do I
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want to play this new warlocky Diablo II
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with its quality of life changes which
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include loot filters. That is right.
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Loot filters are live in Diablo II
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before they are live in Diablo I. So
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enjoy that.
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>> You know what gets me about that? Hm.
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>> It's like on the one hand,
3:57
why didn't we have loot filters in
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Diablo II before? Now, on the other
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hand, I almost feel like there's going
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to be purists who are going to be mad
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about loot filters.
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>> There's already purists who are mad
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about the warlock. So,
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>> yeah. Well, that that's different
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because quite frankly, I'm a little mad
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about the Warlock, but I'll talk about
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why.
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>> Uh, not right now,
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>> but I mean, they they did they did offer
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the option. So, you can play Diablo II
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Classic or Diablo II not classic. Diablo
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II War Warlock Edition.
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>> It's weird, but sure. I mean, I I I like
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anything that lets people feel happier
4:32
with what they're doing. Quite frankly,
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if you if you're enjoying your game,
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then that's what I want for you. Um, but
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I I do feel like it's fascinating to see
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they did Diablo. They did the Warlock
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class across three games. Uh it's it's
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out right now for one of them, but it
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will be out in all three. Um is it
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actually it's not in Immortal yet,
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right? Uh
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>> no, it's coming to Immortal in June and
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it's coming to Diablo I 4 in April with
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the launch of the Lord of Hatred
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expansion.
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>> Ironically, Diablo I will get it before
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Diablo Immortal, but cool, I guess. Uh
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there's a lot of other stuff going on
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for Diablo I. I'm just going to quickly
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say this one thing. Put it in Diablo II,
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you cowards. You've already hit
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everybody else. You've got four Diablo
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games. Put the Warlock in all four.
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Sneak it in. I don't care how you do it.
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Just show up.
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>> It is.
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>> I did find it interesting. They had this
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big press event and they're like Diablo
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Diablo Diablo. We're doing this in
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Diablo Immortal. We're doing this in
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Diablo II. We're doing this in Diablo I.
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And it's like I think you've forgotten a
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Diablo game, which is
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>> What about Diablo II? Cricket sounds.
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Yeah.
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>> Which is actually It still seems very
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popular. It still seems to get a good
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player base though, you know, that's an
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outside perspective. We don't know
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numbers and but yeah. Yeah, it seems
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like you could have done this. You could
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have done this. It would have been fun.
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But
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>> here's my thinking about that. And I'm
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going to admit this is purely
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speculative, but
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>> of those games we just mentioned, one of
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them has practically no monetization to
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speak of. Diablo II Resurrection, the
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only monetization is buying Diablo I.
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Uh,
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>> well, and now this DLC.
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>> And now this DLC, it's still it's just
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25 bucks and you're done.
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>> Uh, but
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>> yeah, that's true. Think about
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>> what if they release another class next
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year.
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>> Yeah, Immortal and four have a lot of
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monetization.
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A lot of it.
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>> Diablo has so much monetization, it
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it'll make you blush. And well,
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>> Diablo I Diablo 4 is not quite to that
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level, but it's the plucky engine that
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could of monetization. They're going to
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try. They're going to try to get you to
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spend money on things.
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>> You know, honestly, watching
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monetization evolve in Blizzard games.
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I'm I'm kind of nostalgic for the days
6:56
when I was just upset about Diablo
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Immortal because
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>> does feel like a bad day is gone. Well,
7:03
in Diablo I 4, it's like they're it
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seems like half of their development
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time goes to making $25 cosmetic sets
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because seasons are getting less
7:15
exciting every season. There's less
7:17
content. The content is more repetitive,
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but there's always these $25 cosmetics.
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There's always these splashy battle pass
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things that you don't just have to it's
7:29
you can't just buy the battle pass.
7:30
You've got to buy the battle pass and
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make sure you're boosting Diablo's
7:34
engagement numbers by playing all month.
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>> Yeah. Then you have to grind.
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>> You've got to do a ton of grinding.
7:38
>> Yeah, absolutely. I've been playing a
7:40
lot of Diablo I lately, but I've also
7:43
actually been playing a lot of Diablo II
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because Diablo II doesn't make me feel
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like this season is also an endurance
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test.
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Like, you know, how much Diablo can you
7:52
play? I can play a lot, but I'm going to
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play it over here
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>> because that way I don't have to like
7:57
worry about your engagement numbers.
8:00
Um,
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>> I have I have not played Diablo I in a
8:02
couple seasons just cuz because it's
8:04
it's kind of exhausting because you
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start the season and it's fun, but then
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it's like, oh, I bought the battle pass,
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so I have to play like I'm kind of tired
8:11
of playing cuz I played a lot, but I've
8:13
got to keep playing if I want to get all
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the rewards I bought.
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>> Yeah. It just
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>> the reason I came back was the paladin.
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>> Straight up. That's why I came back. And
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once I got the paladin to max level, I
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had to level a barbarian to max level.
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And then immediately I stopped playing
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the the Paladin because Paladin is
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extremely powerful leveling.
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>> Mhm.
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>> And it's like when you hit max level and
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start trying to get through difficulty
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levels to get up to Torment three or
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four,
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>> the Paladin suddenly can't do anything.
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>> And it's really weird. And I think it's
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my fault for not actually having learned
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how to play it because two buttons was
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just killing everything. Uh,
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>> I do think a a lot of classes have that
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hump in Diablo I where you're leveling
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and you can get away with just I'm just
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going to play whatever I want and then
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once you get to those tournament levels,
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you have to start playing something a
9:03
little more optimized, which involves
9:05
having the right gear. It involves the
9:06
right combination of skills. It may not
9:08
be what you enjoy, but this is what's
9:10
most powerful and can compete at those
9:12
levels.
9:14
Yeah, I I don't disagree with you, but
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we at this point we might as well
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actually talk about Diablo I since we've
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we've kind of segueed into it
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>> and we can just complain about Diablo I.
9:24
I mean, we can do that, too.
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>> I do think we need to talk about the way
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they're changing uh builds and like
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skill trees, for example. I I don't
9:32
understand this. Like, I'll be honest,
9:34
>> they're going full hog on it. They're
9:36
making it big changes across the board,
9:39
>> but it's also they have not like
9:41
completely spelled everything out
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either.
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>> Yeah. So, I mean, ostensibly, we're
9:47
going to learn more, but they have
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talked about the builds and like it's
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going to be really active. The builds,
9:55
your skill tree is not going to include
9:57
passives anymore. That includes the key
10:00
passives at the end of the skill tree.
10:02
So stuff like this is going to be built
10:04
into skills or maybe moved into Paragon.
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And
10:08
uh the devs said something that I think
10:10
is really ambitious that they want you
10:12
to be able to
10:15
play the game without, you know, play an
10:18
endgame build without worrying about
10:19
collecting the right gear or like super
10:22
optimizing. And I think for a game for
10:24
an ARPG like Diablo, I think that's
10:26
really hard because the game is all
10:29
about that endless gear grind. So, how
10:32
do you make a game where you can play
10:35
and compete on kind of starting those
10:38
higher levels without grinding the gear?
10:40
Because the game's kind of about
10:42
grinding the gear. So,
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>> I this is a great goal. I have no idea
10:47
how you reach that goal. So, we'll see.
10:49
We'll see.
10:50
>> I don't I don't think the introduction
10:52
of the Herodrick Cube is going to fix
10:54
this systemically.
10:56
>> I do think it's cool that it's back. I
10:58
liked the Haraj Cube. Although I'll be
11:00
right up front with you guys. Um, make
11:03
it Can I ice cube, which was actually
11:05
really good.
11:06
>> Uh, instead of Horizon Cube was also
11:09
>> Can Ice Cube was also um, you know, it's
11:12
a cool it's a cool nod to a developer
11:15
who is no longer with us. So, that is
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kind of extra nice.
11:19
>> I'm okay with having his name get
11:20
mentioned again. He he did cool things.
11:23
U, but regardless, even just getting the
11:25
Haraj Cube is cool. Uh, it's also cool
11:27
because it it's since it's the cube, the
11:32
implication is we're going to be
11:33
learning more about the Harajim,
11:35
>> which implic implies that we might be
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seeing certain people or certain angels
11:41
again who are involved in the Harajim. I
11:43
I'm totally not there's nothing in this
11:46
document about this. I'm just saying it
11:48
is a possibility. They've got the new
11:50
war plans thing going on,
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>> uh, which is basically you have to Go
11:54
ahead, Liz.
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>> Yeah. You're like building your own
11:57
endgame. You're saying, "Okay, I really
11:59
like doing nightmare dungeons." And so,
12:00
it's going to structure rewards for you
12:03
based off nightmare dungeons. So, you
12:04
don't have to do nightmare dungeons and
12:06
the pits and lair bosses, and you know,
12:08
you don't have to
12:10
>> engage in content that Yeah. Well, or
12:12
engage in content you don't find fun
12:14
necessarily.
12:15
>> Well, here's why I think that's a great
12:17
idea. And I know that Liz Liz hasn't
12:21
played in a couple seasons, but she'll
12:22
still understand this. Yeah,
12:24
>> when I was getting up to like the point
12:26
where I' I'd hit max level, I was
12:28
getting paragon levels. Um, the thing
12:31
you find yourself doing is you're like,
12:33
I have to run the pit
12:35
>> because I have to get that to clear the
12:36
next torment level, but I have to run
12:39
infernal hordes because that's where I'm
12:41
going to get all my materials for
12:42
upgrading my gear. But I have to do hell
12:44
tides because that's how I'm going to
12:47
get the fastest, you know, accumulation
12:50
of angel thumbs uping. Uh, but I have to
12:53
run nightmare dungeons because that's
12:55
where some gear drops at the end. But I
12:57
also again have to run more of the pit
12:59
to get my gems up uh and to get my, you
13:02
know, my the one the the things inside
13:04
the torment panes that are glyphs that
13:07
have specific things that can be
13:08
leveled. I have to level my glyphs. So I
13:11
have to run the pit more, but I have to
13:13
do the lair bosses because the lair
13:15
bosses drop the most unique gear. But I
13:17
have to run caress. I mean, I cannot
13:20
physically run all of this stuff. I
13:23
didn't even mention legions cuz they
13:24
didn't mention legions, but you have to
13:27
run legions because that's where the
13:29
most gear drops for a large group. And
13:32
it's like,
13:33
>> this is crazy the amount of stuff I'm
13:36
trying to do. I And simultaneously,
13:39
you're also trying to run your your tree
13:41
of whispers content and you're trying to
13:43
hit world bosses and it's like, do you
13:45
honestly think I can do all this in like
13:47
a day? I don't even know if I can do all
13:49
this in a week. This is a lot of
13:52
content. So, I'm kind of I like that
13:54
they're calling it a playlist. Quite
13:57
frankly, I feel like it's almost here's
13:59
our mixtape of things you can do. Like,
14:02
why are you calling it a mixtape? We're
14:03
quirky. Uh but the idea that you can you
14:06
can have five activities that you want
14:08
to do.
14:09
>> Yeah.
14:10
>> And you just do those five up to five.
14:12
You don't have to do all five. You can,
14:14
you know, I I like the idea. I think
14:17
they should scale it down to four. I
14:20
think that the way this works is you
14:21
make it so people can just run four of
14:23
them and get what they need to get to
14:25
progress because even five is a lot and
14:30
if you have five available, people are
14:32
going to feel forced to take five.
14:34
>> Yeah. Well,
14:35
>> like it's just the way it is. But I do
14:37
like that idea. Um there's a lot of
14:40
other stuff to talk about, but I want to
14:42
like
14:42
>> Yeah. I I also think it's like we don't
14:46
we don't know all the details about a
14:47
lot of this. Diablo is having a live
14:49
stream on March 5th in which they're
14:52
going to talk more about the Warlock and
14:53
I hope to hear more about the endgame
14:55
systems cuz like we have the broad
14:57
strokes of a lot of this stuff, but we
14:59
don't have we don't have the
15:00
nitty-gritty. Um,
15:03
and I mean I'm very
15:05
>> since you brought it up, the the live
15:08
stream for the warlock will will
15:10
basically allow me to decide whether I
15:13
like the warlock or not in Diablo 4
15:16
because if it just feels like the
15:18
necromancer but better, I'm going to be
15:20
so mad that the necromancer got got
15:22
booted for this.
15:24
>> You know, that's not cool. Yeah,
15:25
>> but if it's different, if it feels
15:27
different enough and I don't feel like,
15:29
okay, this is ridiculous, then I'll I'll
15:33
probably like the warlock better.
15:35
Although, I'm going to be upfront. I
15:36
have a real hard time in a in a game
15:38
where you forcing me to group with
15:39
people all the time. The idea that my
15:41
paladin is going to work with that guy
15:42
feels kind of weird.
15:45
>> Aren't you a cultist to an unholy
15:47
monster? Shouldn't I be killing you
15:49
right now?
15:52
>> He's not a cultist to an unholy monster.
15:53
He's in charge of the unholy monster.
15:55
Totally different.
15:58
>> He's just, you know, he's using the
16:01
demon's power against them, which is a
16:03
brand new concept that we have never
16:05
heard about before. I mean, I assume
16:08
he's also got voice lines about how he's
16:13
>> um all we really know about the warlock
16:17
is it's a warlock. It involves summoning
16:19
demons, and in every piece of art we've
16:21
seen of it, it does not wear a shirt.
16:23
So, I assume that's just part of the
16:25
class. The power is in the abs, which
16:28
also kind of feels like a demon hunter.
16:29
I mean, that's kind of also a a wow
16:32
demon hunter. That's kind of their
16:33
thing.
16:34
>> Tattoos of blood. They No, no, man.
16:37
Still,
16:39
what do I have to do to make you think
16:41
I'm unique?
16:44
>> So, I am not a huge fan of the Warlock,
16:47
but we also don't know much about it.
16:49
One of the things that I do think is
16:50
interesting about the Warlock. Okay,
16:52
we're seeing this Diablo II, Diablo
16:54
Immortal, Diablo I. So, Diablo II,
16:58
chronologically, Diablo II is the oldest
17:00
of these games. I'm not just on the
17:03
timeline. Diablo II is further in the
17:06
>> oldest experience. Yeah,
17:07
>> it is the Yes. Um, so this is the first
17:11
time we've seen the Warlock. So the
17:14
warlock in Diablo II is going to be
17:16
different than the warlock in Diablo
17:17
Immortal, which is the next game on the
17:19
timeline. So you could see how does this
17:22
class develop because the description of
17:24
the warlock in Diablo 2 kind of I'm not
17:29
it does not make me excited about the
17:31
warlock because the description of the
17:32
warlock is that this is you know
17:36
warlocks are kind of wealthy but they're
17:40
bored because they're just wealthy and
17:42
everything. so easy and they're really
17:43
bored. So, they decided to start
17:44
summoning demons and learning forbidden
17:46
magic. And it's like, okay, that's fun.
17:52
And then they're learning this forbidden
17:54
magic so that they can rule the world in
17:57
their own image. And it's like, okay, I
17:59
mean, I get that anti-heroes are kind of
18:01
cool, but are they involved in this war
18:03
between heaven and hell at all? No, not
18:05
really. They're just here. They're just
18:07
learning ancient forbidden magic because
18:09
they're bored. And then they want to
18:11
rule. Then they went to rule sanctuary
18:14
and it's like this is this is not like a
18:16
thrilling backstory that you can relate
18:18
to.
18:22
>> I have more things to say about that but
18:24
I'm not going to
18:25
>> Oh
18:26
I I'm just going to say for
18:29
tried to
18:33
>> I don't know if he was talking there.
18:34
Sorry. I was just going to say, who
18:36
amongst us hasn't tried to take over the
18:38
world with the power of demons after
18:40
being bored one Sunday afternoon. You
18:42
know, the world's lost its luster. But
18:44
hey, that forbidden magic over there
18:47
looks pretty shiny.
18:49
>> See, if that worked, I probably would
18:50
have done it by now.
18:52
>> Considering the way the world is right
18:53
now, I think I'd be willing to go, "Hey,
18:56
um, Baffomet, uh, can you come over and
18:59
like just grant me unholy power? That'd
19:01
be great. Um, I I got some stuff I need
19:03
to do.
19:05
uh some Oh, no. Oh, no. Okay. Now,
19:07
you're working for rich people. I I
19:09
understand. I'll talk to you later. Uh
19:11
so, yeah, it feels a little bit like
19:13
social commentary kind of trying to
19:14
shoehorn that into Diablo II in a way
19:17
that doesn't really work for me, but I
19:19
don't know. I I'm hoping that later
19:22
iterations of the Warlock will be more
19:24
interesting to me.
19:25
>> Um
19:26
>> that's that's what I'm wondering about
19:27
because this is the beginning of the
19:29
timeline of the Warlock. Okay, there are
19:31
these rich guys who are bored and
19:32
learning forbidden magic, but by by
19:35
Diablo Immortal, that's
19:38
later on the timeline. So, what is a
19:40
warlock? What does a warlock look like
19:42
after they've been warlocking and
19:44
passing on their forbidden knowledge for
19:46
all of these years? And then you got
19:48
Diablo I, which is even further down the
19:50
timeline. What does a warlock look then?
19:52
Apparently, a warlock goes from being
19:54
fully dressed in fancy robes to not
19:57
wearing a shirt. That's that's the
19:58
progression. like they have like looks
20:01
like a horn hat that's like belt bolted
20:03
onto their heads, which I mean what's
20:06
interesting to me is that if you look at
20:07
it from the timeline that you're
20:09
describing, Diablo II is just before the
20:13
the bull kaka hits the fan, so to speak.
20:16
It's like things are kind of still okay.
20:18
Sure, there was a war in West March, but
20:20
other than that strange guy, uh
20:23
everything seems to be all right. And as
20:24
long as that strange guy isn't up to
20:26
anything too bad, we should be all
20:27
right. the end by the end of it world
20:30
stone dead everything's going demons
20:32
everywhere but then you go to you know
20:35
diabortal which is a little bit between
20:36
it's between D2 and D3 by the time you
20:39
get to immortal things have been bad for
20:42
a while now and it's like that that big
20:45
mountain is just keeps spewing demons
20:48
and there's demons everywhere and the
20:49
vampire people are back and this is all
20:52
really bad and so the warlock could be
20:55
less of a I'm a rich dillant just trying
20:57
to find out about demons
20:59
Uh, I have a I have a book full of
21:01
visitorized spells and I'm going to use
21:03
them to everything is horrible and I
21:05
must use the power of the demons because
21:07
nothing else seems to work. And then by
21:09
the time you get to Diablo 4, they've
21:11
literally had their gamma world moment.
21:13
Everybody died. And at this point, it's
21:16
like, yeah, it's forbidden magic. What
21:18
isn't forbidden? It's like you almost
21:20
want Elias to be the class guy cuz
21:24
that's pretty much what Elias was doing.
21:26
He called the demon to help him save as,
21:29
you know, save Azeroth. Oh my god. To
21:31
save Sanctuary. He literally called the
21:33
biggest demon he could find.
21:35
>> And then he immediately started trying
21:36
to trap the other demons in Pokeballs so
21:39
he could use them.
21:40
>> So I
21:42
here
21:43
>> maybe we're going to find out that Elias
21:45
was a warlock. I mean, we're talking
21:48
about him as a former Herodric mage, but
21:51
you know, maybe he turned to this this
21:54
Vizari magic that the warlocks use and
21:57
and you know, that's why he was the way
21:59
he was. Maybe that's where we're
22:00
building the clouds from.
22:02
>> And I think that you could do an
22:04
interesting thing with it. I just want
22:05
to see what they are doing. Um,
22:07
>> and we don't know. We don't know. since
22:10
it's a summoning based class. I'm hoping
22:12
it's not a summoning based class the way
22:14
that the necromancer is in D4.
22:17
>> Um because I again I I don't even play a
22:20
necromancer,
22:22
>> but I feel like everybody has their kit
22:24
and you don't want to see it get get
22:26
walked on,
22:28
>> but I do think you should allow them to
22:29
summon demons because I mean it's what
22:31
do you what do they do if they don't do
22:32
that?
22:33
>> That's their whole thing. Uh, one of the
22:35
things that I think is kind of
22:36
interesting in uh, Diablo 2 about the
22:41
Warlock is, you know, okay, they can
22:43
summon demons, but they can also
22:44
specialize in this Eldrich weapon, which
22:47
they can wield two-handed weapons in one
22:50
hand. So, they can wield a two-handed
22:53
weapon and an offhand.
22:55
And they do this because they like
22:57
levitate the two-handed weapon and smack
23:00
people with it. I mean, if you're gonna
23:03
do it, that's a good way to do it.
23:05
>> Yeah. I mean, so, but they can, it seems
23:08
like focus on kind of sort of a melee
23:11
focus where they're just using Elrich
23:13
magic to control weaponry. So, I mean, I
23:17
think you can you could build the class
23:18
where it's, you know, it has some
23:20
summons, but it's not entirely about
23:22
summoning or the summoning adds flavor.
23:25
We don't know. I mean, uh, in Diablo I
23:27
also have druids which have some
23:29
summons. Traditionally, they aren't
23:30
super powerful.
23:32
Sometimes it kind of depends on the day
23:34
as to how powerful they are. Um,
23:36
>> yeah,
23:38
>> but uh
23:39
>> now they're getting to summon bears,
23:40
too.
23:41
>> I believe I heard that from their
23:43
>> uh that is that is a thing about
23:45
summoning bears. Uh, that is a set bonus
23:48
that will be in Diablo I because Diablo
23:50
I is also getting sets in the Lord of
23:52
Hatred expansion, except they're working
23:55
differently than sets in Diablo II
23:57
because it's not a set like you take all
24:00
of you like you throw away all the cool
24:02
armor you've been collecting to equip
24:03
your set armor. It's a thing called uh
24:06
talismans, I believe. I think I have
24:07
that right, where you just sort of slap
24:10
things into your talisman and that gives
24:12
you set like bonuses. So,
24:16
you're getting the benefits of sets and
24:18
you're getting the benefits of your
24:19
existing armor. So, you don't have to
24:20
throw away one cool thing to use a
24:22
different cool thing, which I think
24:24
that's a better way to do it because it
24:26
was kind of frustrating. It's like all
24:27
of Diablo III, you're chasing the set.
24:30
>> Yeah, I ended up Diablo II and then you
24:33
>> so much because of that
24:35
>> because you're like I I I have the I
24:37
I've got like two pieces of this set and
24:39
three pieces of this set, but if I wear
24:41
the ring of world grander, I can get the
24:42
four piece for that set. Uh but I can't
24:45
take away one piece to get the two-piece
24:47
set. You got to have at least two
24:48
pieces, which was like frustrating. But
24:50
you I ended up like I would always end
24:53
up doing like the waist
24:55
up to four and the um the immortal king
24:59
set up to four because you could get
25:00
both with three and there was like
25:02
certain pieces waist had shoulders
25:04
immortal king didn't blah blah. The
25:06
important thing is you could basically
25:08
mix and match set bonuses, but you
25:10
almost never wore non-set gear unless it
25:12
was like rings or an amulet. And even
25:15
then, there were rings and amulets that
25:16
had set bonuses, and you might be using
25:19
those if they were good enough. Uh, so
25:23
there's
25:24
there's a bunch of stuff to it in terms
25:26
of how that works. And I we we'll have
25:28
to see. Uh, we we don't know
25:30
specifically how this stuff is going to
25:32
work. We know that their goals, but we
25:35
don't know how they're intending to make
25:36
them work. I'm hoping we'll get
25:37
something after the March 5th Warlock,
25:41
but for right now, that's the the most
25:43
recent thing on our our radar. But I do
25:45
think at this point, we already
25:47
mentioned it, Diablo II didn't get
25:48
anything.
25:49
>> It was like Diablo Christmas and Diablo
25:51
II got nothing. I'm very sad for you,
25:53
Diablo II, because you're still a great
25:54
game. Uh, but we should talk a little
25:56
bit about World of Warcraft and the
25:58
Lunar Festival, uh, which is already
26:01
live. Um, and it's going to be going
26:03
until March 2nd. You've got a couple of
26:05
weeks there. And there's there's one set
26:08
of transmog, I believe. I don't think
26:10
there's any decor, which I thought there
26:13
was gonna be decor.
26:14
>> There's no Well, so there was a bunch of
26:17
decor that had been data mined that was
26:20
Lunar Cbrance decor, and it was really
26:22
cool. It included a fish tank. I super
26:26
want a fish tank for my house, but
26:28
Blizzard has not given me a fish tank.
26:31
And this included a fish tank, but um
26:34
No. Nope. That's not a Lunar Festival
26:36
reward. It appears
26:39
currently it appears to be a Chinese
26:41
promotional exclusive. So, not for us.
26:45
Sad. I want a fish tank.
26:47
>> Give me a fish tank right now.
26:49
>> I don't want My god, fish tank should
26:51
exist.
26:53
>> At least someone from Blizzard must be
26:54
listening. Please, I want a fish tank.
26:57
Please
26:57
>> give Lizard fish tank. Come on, guys.
26:59
Um, but yeah, that so that's happening.
27:01
Uh, also coming up fairly soon, uh, The
27:04
End of Love is in the Air. It's on
27:06
February 23rd. Um, so you should still
27:09
have a a little time,
27:11
>> a little time, tiny bit of time. Um, it
27:14
did have a cool new butterfly mount and
27:16
a little transmog shoulder set that was
27:20
I I got those things and I left. That's
27:23
I'm done. I'm done for the year. Very
27:24
happy
27:25
>> because you're not going to get the
27:26
mount, so why why subject yourself to it
27:27
after a while?
27:28
>> Yeah, I'm not going to keep trying. I
27:30
got the butterfly. I'm happy.
27:32
>> I I did want to mention this cuz you
27:34
have it in here in the notes and it made
27:35
me think about something. The hatching
27:37
of the hippogri's micro holiday, which
27:38
is going to be the same day that Love is
27:41
in the 23rd.
27:43
>> 23rd. Yeah.
27:44
>> Midnight Pacific to midnight Pacific. Uh
27:47
I don't know what that means. Uh
27:50
>> well, it's it's starts at midnight on
27:52
the 23rd.
27:54
>> It starts at midnight on the 23rd and
27:56
then it ends at midnight on the 24th.
28:00
So, you've got exactly 24 hours. This is
28:03
exactly a 24-hour event.
28:05
>> Now, in terms of the the hatching at
28:07
Hippogri's holiday itself, micro holiday
28:09
I should say, it's cool. I did it once,
28:13
but I don't ever feel like I need to do
28:15
it again. And the point here that I
28:17
wanted to also possibly make is that
28:19
they are really fast. Like you just
28:21
mentioned, this one is 24 hours and then
28:23
it's done.
28:25
>> A lot of people might not log on that
28:27
day.
28:28
>> Yeah. And I they're just not going to
28:30
get to do it.
28:31
>> I have personally never done hatching of
28:33
the hippographs because,
28:36
you know, I just don't I don't think
28:37
about it. It's such a small little thing
28:38
and I don't think about it and eh then
28:42
it's gone, then it's over. You know, I
28:44
actually complain a lot about Diablo I
28:47
doing events that are really fast. Most
28:49
uh little holidays in Diablo I last a
28:51
week, but a weekl long holiday sounds
28:54
pretty generous compared to the micro
28:56
holidays in WoW. And of course, they're
28:59
like cute little things. They don't have
29:01
long-term rewards. So, it's like you
29:02
aren't compelled to do it, but then
29:05
there's no because there's no compelling
29:07
reward. You aren't compelled to do it.
29:09
And it just it feels a little okay, this
29:12
is nice. I'm I'm over here. I'm not
29:15
going all the way out to Feralas.
29:19
>> That's fair. I mean, quite frankly, I
29:21
love hippogris. I think they're cute,
29:23
especially the little ones. But it it
29:25
doesn't it it is not something you're
29:28
I'm going to spend a lot of time
29:29
worrying about. Oh my god, I'm going to
29:31
miss
29:31
>> It's not like you get a baby.
29:33
>> Yeah,
29:35
>> it's it's not like you get a baby
29:36
hippogri by doing
29:38
>> Yeah.
29:39
>> It's You don't get a baby hippogri by
29:41
doing it. You just get to hang out with
29:43
some baby hippogri if I'm remembering
29:44
correctly.
29:45
>> Yeah. There's nothing there's no reward.
29:47
>> Yeah.
29:47
>> Which is fine. I mean, I sometimes it's
29:50
nice to just have a thing you can go
29:51
look at, but
29:54
nevertheless, it is it is not worth me
29:57
worrying about it with so much else to
29:59
worry about in terms of game stuff.
30:01
>> There's a ton to do. There is so much to
30:04
do right now. So, here we are.
30:07
>> I want to ask now, what's this Zillow
30:09
for Warcraft?
30:11
>> I I have no idea what's going on with
30:13
this. I missed it.
30:14
>> That That's exactly what it sounds like.
30:17
It's uh Zillow for Warcraft is now live
30:21
at Zillow for Warcraft.com.
30:26
>> Yeah. Okay.
30:28
>> But it's Warcraft.
30:29
>> Yeah. They've got little rotating
30:31
versions of the homes.
30:33
>> Yeah. I mean, it's it's a little promo
30:36
thing where
30:39
they've got Warcraft homes, but they're
30:42
in Zillow with little realtor
30:43
descriptions. Except I think I think
30:46
The realtor descriptions are very
30:48
unrealistic because they don't include
30:50
enough typos or things in all caps
30:52
randomly. Uh so
30:55
>> yeah, you think Donheimer here would
30:58
actually use a lot of caps and he
30:59
doesn't. It's weird.
31:02
>> Yeah, it has it has realtors. It has
31:05
just a whole thing set up about these
31:08
houses, you know, what's its walkability
31:11
score? All of these things. And it's
31:13
like, okay, this is a strange crossover.
31:17
It's kind of cute. It plays into the
31:20
ultimate fantasy Warcraft is going here
31:22
for of the dream of actually owning your
31:24
own home. This kind of we're playing
31:26
with that idea
31:27
>> and being able to afford to decorate it.
31:29
Yeah.
31:30
>> Yeah. Both of these things.
31:32
>> If you link your Battle Net to Zillow,
31:34
you get a unique rug in game. I assume
31:37
in game you get one.
31:38
>> In game, you don't get a real rug. You
31:40
get an ingame rug with which to decorate
31:43
your home.
31:44
>> A real rug in this economy.
31:47
>> Yeah. I just think that this is going to
31:49
be apparently there's going to be a live
31:50
stream judging of people's houses.
31:54
>> So, this is this is
31:57
part of this uh Azeroth Interiors event
32:03
in which content creators will design
32:06
and build houses over the course of the
32:07
week. And then on February 21st 1st,
32:11
they're going to judge these houses. And
32:13
when I say they, I mean um Blizzard
32:15
devs, including Holly Longdale, are
32:17
going to judge these houses and decide
32:19
on the best one. And it's like,
32:23
okay, okay, sure. You know, we're going
32:26
to we're going to check out some houses.
32:27
I can do that. Um, but it's like the
32:30
first stage of this event is
32:33
every team of creators designing their
32:36
house is going to collect ideas on
32:37
Pinterest.
32:39
And I'm like,
32:42
Pinterest? Okay, we're doing Zillow for
32:44
Warcraft. Now we're doing Pinterest for
32:46
Warcraft. And I'm just I'm very confused
32:49
about the world I live in. Please don't
32:52
introduce a series of gnomes who've
32:54
created a computer that they're like
32:56
allowing to make their design choices
32:58
for them. Please, please.
33:00
>> Oh boy. Oh boy.
33:02
>> Not to have that. Anyway, really
33:04
quickly, there's going to be the this
33:06
one gets me is there's a lion and a wolf
33:08
plushy and a you cost so like $1 or is
33:12
it cost the actual paid currency the
33:14
hearth steel
33:15
>> which is ahead steel because people are
33:18
going to need
33:19
>> Hearthsteel Blizzard announced
33:21
Hearthsteel a while ago in that it is a
33:24
premium currency so a cash currency that
33:27
will only be used for housing items and
33:30
I along with a number of other people
33:34
were like, "Why do you need to make a
33:36
currency for that?"
33:38
>> Um,
33:39
>> because they got they got to get you
33:41
somehow.
33:42
>> I I know. Why are you even Why are you
33:45
making a currency for this if you aren't
33:47
going to betray and scam us? That was my
33:50
impression.
33:51
That's kind of still my impression, but
33:53
so far, uh, this is the first thing
33:56
they've released for it. It is two
33:57
plushies, a lion and a wolf. Each one
34:00
costs a dollar in hear steel. 100 steel
34:04
equals $1. And you can buy just a 100
34:06
steel. You don't have to buy like 150
34:08
harststeel. You can buy 100 steel for a
34:11
dollar. And then go and buy a lion or
34:15
wolf plushy. If you want another lion or
34:17
wolf plushy in your house, that's
34:18
another dollar. If you want a third one
34:20
in your house, that's another dollar. If
34:21
you want a hundred of them, that's a
34:23
$100.
34:26
So,
34:28
um
34:29
>> I'm kind of scared,
34:30
>> but you can you can also
34:33
they are pretty cute. That's the
34:35
problem. Uh you can also buy a bundle
34:38
that includes four lion plushies and
34:40
four wolf plushies for $5.
34:44
An absolute bargain if you need a pile
34:46
of plushies in your home.
34:48
>> I had so many dollars. Um
34:52
so I think these are very cute.
34:54
I think the price is pretty low. This is
34:56
>> a w is absolutely the cutest freaking
34:58
thing. It's got little tiny fangs coming
35:00
up. It's just tusks. I guess it is super
35:04
freaking They call it a wolf plushy, but
35:05
it's it's not a wolf. It's a
35:07
>> It's a like the riding wolves from uh
35:10
from Walmart. It's
35:12
>> But it is super freaking cute with it
35:14
little red eye and it's just Yeah. No.
35:17
And meanwhile, the lion is also very
35:18
cute. Uh but
35:22
>> so it's like my question
35:24
>> help me
35:24
>> what I'm wondering here is this is kind
35:27
of this is like a gateway
35:28
microtransaction.
35:30
The first one first one costs a dollar.
35:33
What's the next one going to cost? Are
35:35
they just getting us used to this idea
35:37
of micro of harsteel microtransactions?
35:40
>> Yeah. I I mean almost certainly it's
35:42
almost certainly very much that right
35:43
like it's they've they've done this
35:46
before with other things. They've done
35:47
this with other games. They've
35:50
I would not be terribly surprised if
35:53
this is like the testing waters phase,
35:56
>> but I also might just be jaded.
35:59
>> Well, I I am also extremely jaded. Um,
36:03
but yeah, I I think this is cool. I
36:05
think it's a pretty low price to pay.
36:07
Unless you want a hundred of them, then
36:09
it's not a pretty low price to pay.
36:12
But I also worry this is like, okay,
36:14
this is the first one. They're rolling
36:16
it out a low price.
36:18
What's the next one? I don't know. I
36:21
don't know. I don't I don't feel great
36:22
about the whole heart steel thing
36:24
because it's a game. We are paying $15 a
36:26
month to play and then also they want us
36:29
to pay special currency to get these
36:30
special items. They have said a lot of
36:33
things for this.
36:34
>> Sure. Yeah, absolutely. They're also
36:36
making sure you have to play the game to
36:38
gather all that wood, which is
36:39
engagement.
36:40
>> Uh so they're doing that to you, too.
36:42
And then they're making you spend money
36:43
on top of it. It's It's crazy. I I So
36:46
like if you buy these, you don't have to
36:47
you get them. You just get them. So
36:49
well, I'll give them credit for that.
36:53
We're about to talk about a thing that
36:54
is not like that. Um
36:58
but yeah, I just I don't like having a
37:00
premium currency in a game I'm already
37:02
paying a subscription fee for. I'm not
37:04
thrilled by it. But these are also very
37:05
cute, pretty reasonably priced. Do with
37:08
your money what you want.
37:11
>> And you could use them to make an
37:12
aquarium if you, you know, were
37:13
creative. Ooh, an aquarium full of
37:16
lions.
37:18
>> Help us. Help us. We're not sea lions.
37:20
We're just lions. Help.
37:24
>> An aquarium. But
37:25
>> I was skipping over to Hearthstone,
37:27
though, because Liz just mentioned it
37:29
and now we're going to actually talk
37:30
about it. It's a segue. Um, cute pets.
37:35
But what is the downside of the cute
37:37
pets this time, Liz?
37:39
>> It's the same downside as every pet in
37:41
Hearthstone, Matt. It's that it costs a
37:45
whole lot of money. It is this uh this
37:48
month. It is a
37:50
>> it's always the gotcha thing. That is
37:52
the only way to get a pet in Hearthstone
37:55
is to play a gotcha game, which is, you
37:58
know, there except this month there are
38:01
more rewards in the gotacha game. Um
38:05
so, you know, it's basically you spin
38:07
the wheel and it goes around the rewards
38:10
and it picks one. you get one of the
38:12
rewards. The first spin is free, but the
38:16
only reward you want is probably this
38:18
pet, and it's something like a 0.1%
38:22
chance that you're going to get it on
38:24
the first time. After that first free
38:26
spin, uh, the next spin cost, I believe,
38:29
$3.
38:31
And then the spin after that, they keeps
38:33
going up. the price keeps going up
38:35
exponentially
38:36
and the chance of getting that pet stays
38:40
extremely extremely low. So low. Like
38:44
even if you get to the second to last
38:46
spin, you would think it would be a 50%
38:48
chance. It's not. Once you get to the
38:50
second to last spin, it's still a 6%
38:52
chance that you will get the adorable
38:54
pet, which is the only thing you want.
38:56
Um,
38:57
>> which is not a very high chance. you
38:59
what it's not pictured here is me
39:00
getting my pitchfork and sharpening it
39:02
as Liz is describing all of this.
39:04
>> Uhhuh. Yes. So
39:07
to get everything including the pet,
39:10
which is the only thing you want, you
39:12
have to pay for enough spins to get
39:13
every other reward. And uh usually
39:17
usually paying for every spin to get
39:20
every reward, including the adorable
39:22
pet, would cost you $158.
39:26
Now, does does anyone here think that
39:29
sounds like a lot of money?
39:30
>> Insert Samuel L. Jackson busting through
39:32
the wall screaming, "The blank is too
39:34
blank high."
39:37
>> Okay, so this pet, which is a baby
39:41
hoger,
39:42
this pet actually does not cost, it's a
39:45
very adorable. It does not cost $158. It
39:48
costs $200 because there are more
39:52
rewards in the gotacha game. So, the pet
39:55
is still the rarest thing available. And
39:58
because there are more rewards, it takes
40:00
more spins to get that pet up to that,
40:02
you know, 6% chance when you actually
40:05
have any chance to get it. So, if you
40:07
have to buy every spin to get the pet,
40:09
you're probably going to have to buy
40:10
every spin to get the pet. $200 uh US.
40:16
So, you can see how earlier in the show
40:19
I was saying I was nostalgic for Diablo
40:22
Immortal and its microtransactions
40:24
because at least they're just like,
40:26
>> you know, if you want, give me money. If
40:28
you want this thing, give me some money
40:30
and you can have it. If you want more of
40:32
this thing, give me more money.
40:34
>> I legitimately miss like I I they did
40:37
it. They make me miss DLC. Like, I miss
40:40
the days of being able to just say,
40:43
"Okay, this is $5. I get what I'm paying
40:46
for for $5 or this DLC is $35, but
40:49
here's all the value that I get out of
40:51
it. I miss those days. Congratulations.
40:55
You have made me miss things that EA
40:57
used to do. How dare you? EA is so sad
41:01
right now. They're like,
41:04
>> where were they? I'm looking at you.
41:06
What happened? I'm looking at you,
41:07
Boware. I'm looking at you with with all
41:10
those DLCs that we used to have during
41:12
Mass Effect that I I like lamented at
41:14
the time. I miss those days like uh uh
41:19
I'm sorry.
41:19
>> Gun pack. Hey, download this gun. It's
41:22
just a gun.
41:23
>> That's it. Just one gun. But it costs
41:25
exactly $5 and then you have the gun.
41:28
>> But you get a skin for it. Now the skin
41:29
is a gun on a gun. Don't you like guns?
41:32
Like Yeah. It's
41:34
>> Yeah, but but as much as Yeah. that the
41:37
gotcha game
41:38
>> if it wasn't for that horse armor I
41:40
would actually have spent a year in
41:41
college anyway
41:44
>> I would have spent a year
41:47
>> I I was about to say does anyone feel
41:49
nostalgic for the horse arbor at this
41:51
point
41:51
>> oh yeah big time armor I knew what I was
41:53
getting or not getting in this case cuz
41:55
I didn't get it
41:56
>> h but god while we about this I do want
42:01
to at this point first ask Liz if she
42:03
can do sight news so then we can let
42:05
Corey do his his sort of thing.
42:09
>> You know, I could complain about this
42:10
for another hour, but uh Okay. Okay.
42:14
>> I was told no during the pre-show. Liz,
42:16
it's my turn to tell you no.
42:17
>> You never Why are you guys making me do
42:19
this?
42:21
>> I'm the one who goes on forever. You're
42:23
the ones who reign me in.
42:24
>> I had a good I had a good week. This is
42:26
what you get when I have a good week.
42:29
>> Oh no. Oh no. Well, I want to say thank
42:33
you to all of our supporters, both on
42:36
Patreon and everyone listening at home.
42:39
But I do want to give a little special
42:41
shout out to our supporters on Patreon
42:43
who really keep us going. Your support
42:45
means the world to all of us at Blizzard
42:48
Watch. I want to send a special shout
42:51
out to Stephen who pledged this past
42:53
week at $5. If you guys pledge at $5,
42:57
you get adsree access to the website at
43:00
blizzardwatch.com.
43:01
And SB Lloyd, who pledged at $3 if you
43:04
enjoy these podcasts, you uh $3 a month
43:07
will get you all of our podcasts early
43:10
and ads free. So, you can listen to all
43:12
of this without ads. If you like the
43:14
podcast, and I hope you like the podcast
43:16
if you are listening to the podcast, cuz
43:18
otherwise that's that's kind of sad. I'm
43:20
I'm sorry. Um, you can subscribe on
43:23
patreon.com
43:25
blizzardwatch. If you can give us any
43:28
support, every little bit helps and we
43:30
try to give you a a little in return.
43:32
Uh, so also if you if you can't support
43:35
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43:38
You can also follow us on social media
43:40
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43:43
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43:47
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44:09
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44:12
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44:15
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44:17
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44:22
Specify the show and the subject line
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44:34
as our way of saying thank you. And I
44:36
also want to say thank you everyone for
44:39
your support, especially the Patreon
44:42
members, but I'm also happy to all of
44:43
you guys listening at home. Thank you so
44:46
much for being here.
44:48
>> Thank you, Liz. Uh, okay. I Corey is
44:51
going to come and talk about something
44:52
that we all want to hear Corey talk
44:54
about. For one thing, it's quite
44:55
possibly the most patched
44:58
game ever to be technically speaking out
45:01
on the farm. Uh Corey, Heroes of the
45:04
Storm got yet another patch. What's
45:07
going on?
45:08
>> Well, so this is the patch that the last
45:10
time I was on talking about Heroes of
45:12
the Storm, it's just gone live. So, it
45:13
was on the PTR. They were testing it.
45:15
They're making sure the balance was
45:16
mostly on point and now it's gone live.
45:19
And they snuck in a nice little uh brand
45:22
new piece of content. The uh Guldan, our
45:25
favorite Warlock, sorry to all the
45:28
Diablo warlocks out there, uh has gotten
45:31
a new skin. He's the OG. You have to
45:36
>> He got a nice cartoony uh skin. He It's
45:39
a tune. Uh it looks straight out of Who
45:41
Framed Roger Rabbit. It kind of lines up
45:43
a bit with the cell-shaded a um
45:47
Thraw that they already put in. Uh it
45:50
doesn't look like it's in the same
45:51
universe though because the Thraw one
45:52
had like a MadMax kind of Mario Kart
45:54
racer vibe to it and this one doesn't
45:56
have that.
45:58
>> But it's just cool on video cartoon.
46:00
>> Yeah. and he's come from the tune of Sar
46:02
Sargeras and it's as always the Blizzard
46:06
stuff is on point with the jokes.
46:09
>> So,
46:10
>> but um
46:10
>> more content for the game that is dead,
46:13
>> which is funny because Liz was pointing
46:15
out that Heroes of the Storm got this,
46:17
but at the same time,
46:18
>> it has more blue posts and more updates
46:21
than Diablo II does in the last little
46:24
while. The last the the last Diablo II
46:27
post was December
46:30
and uh the last Heroes of the Storm post
46:32
was last week. Also, I do want to add
46:35
they've been they've been making forum
46:37
posts linking back to guides about
46:39
getting started with the game. They've
46:40
done that a couple of times recently
46:43
where they've linked back to old posts
46:46
to here's how to get started with Heroes
46:48
of the Storm, here are tips about for
46:49
new players. And it's like you're you're
46:52
making a lot of posts. Even I am on the
46:54
Heroes of the Stormopium train at this
46:56
point. They're just they're really
46:58
pushing this game. They're updating this
47:00
game a ton.
47:02
>> Yeah. It feels like if they don't do it,
47:04
it's like they've been teasing us all
47:06
year.
47:07
>> Like by the time Blizzcon comes along,
47:09
it's going to be like the and we've now
47:11
got Diablo Immortal and everyone's going
47:13
to be like, "We wanted a Diablo 4." I
47:14
feel like it's going to be like and we
47:16
now have this thing. It's like that's
47:17
not Heroes of the Storm. Where's the
47:19
Heroes of the Storm announcement? We We
47:21
don't have one. Ah, they have actual
47:24
torches and pitchforks. What happened? I
47:26
I really do feel like at this point I
47:28
just I want you to just I don't know.
47:31
Release it for Xbox. Do something cuz it
47:35
feels like
47:36
>> Master Chief
47:37
>> bring out you know Lilith and his Alat
47:40
and the new Warlock can get a Heroes of
47:42
the Storm character and like
47:45
>> make it happen at this point. Why not?
47:49
>> I think he is still wearing some
47:50
clothes. I
47:52
Uh but regardless, yeah, um it really I
47:56
think we've got so little time left, so
47:58
I want to talk about a game that's just
48:00
come, it's actually been out for a year,
48:01
but it just got a really interesting
48:03
content patch. Uh I talked about Avowed
48:06
uh almost like last year at this point,
48:08
sometime in October, and I wasn't very
48:10
nice to it. Um, but Avowed has gotten
48:13
its anniversary patch at the same time
48:15
it was releasing on PS5 and PS5 release
48:19
is just from the point of the new
48:21
content patch. But if you've been
48:23
playing it on PC or Xbox, then you get
48:26
the new patch that is that gives you the
48:28
same stuff. And I got to say, I've never
48:31
seen a game company telepathically look
48:33
into my head and see, oh, this is all
48:36
the stuff he wanted, so so Avowed would
48:38
be worth playing and give it to me.
48:41
Like first off, you can play more than
48:44
just humans or elves. They now have all
48:47
the other races from the Pillars of
48:49
Eternity games. You can play one of
48:50
them. Uh dwarves, you know what dwarfs
48:53
are, but also weird tiny like almost
48:56
goblin pixie crosses and the big blue
48:59
people. I don't remember their name off
49:01
the top of my head, even though I'm
49:02
playing one now. They put in a photo
49:04
mode.
49:06
I don't know why it didn't have a photo
49:07
mode a year ago, but now it has a photo
49:09
mode. My only downside for this photo
49:12
mode is it's the kind of thing where you
49:14
have to go to your, you know, settings
49:17
thing to click on it. You can't just hit
49:20
a button and do photo mode. But
49:22
nevertheless, you can do photo mode,
49:24
which is really cool. I got a lot of
49:25
nice shots of my character with the sun
49:27
behind them and their eyes glowing
49:29
because that's a thing you can do. Um,
49:32
>> loving that. Uh, they've added a huge
49:36
amount of granularity to difficulty.
49:38
They still have difficulty modes ranging
49:40
from like Lord of Death to you know
49:43
happy story time and uh they still have
49:46
that there's like a bunch of different
49:48
difficulty levels but then they also
49:49
have you can adjust the difficulty level
49:53
like you can basically make a custom one
49:55
where it's like I want to do much more
49:57
damage than normal or I want to do much
49:59
less damage than normal. you can and
50:01
it's got like four or five options
50:02
there. And they do that for like your
50:04
health, enemy health, enemy damage, all
50:08
sorts of stuff. You know, how accurate
50:10
spell casting is, how splash damage
50:13
works, uh how how many like does is
50:17
there a map bl is your map just clear or
50:20
does it have fog of war?
50:24
There's absolutely a ton of stuff to
50:27
really make difficulty something you can
50:29
make very custom. Uh you could decide I
50:32
want to be able to do tons of damage,
50:34
but I want everything around me to take
50:35
tons of damage. Uh you could do just
50:39
tons and tons of things. Uh and I just
50:42
think that that's really cool. Um and
50:45
it's only the beginning of what they've
50:46
added. They they've added so much stuff
50:48
that I don't even know how to talk about
50:50
it. Like they added seven new talents
50:52
for warriors.
50:54
and something like 14 new talents for
50:57
the like ranger types and nothing for
51:00
wizards because wizards already had more
51:02
spells than everybody else put together.
51:04
But then they also with the with the new
51:06
races, they also added more options for
51:08
the godlike because everybody is playing
51:10
a godlike in this game. Uh godlike used
51:13
to be a separate race, but now it's
51:15
basically I'm a elf but I'm also chosen
51:17
by the gods. Or I'm a big blues person,
51:20
but I've been chosen by the gods. And it
51:23
kind of it it's weird because they
51:24
didn't add a lot of content. They just
51:27
added options, hundreds of options.
51:30
Options for everything to like how you
51:33
design your character. Do you want to
51:34
just pick a a prereck and go? You can do
51:37
that. You don't have to spend any time
51:39
making the character or you can spend
51:41
three and a half hours making a
51:43
character just like I do because I grew
51:46
up playing Boware games and I can't stop
51:48
myself. I must explore the character
51:49
creator. that's there, too. And because
51:52
they've added the new races, there's
51:53
tons of new options there. And they put
51:55
a mirror in your camp. So, if you're not
51:57
happy with your elf that you made, cuz
51:59
you only had two options, you can turn
52:01
it into a lady dwarf. And I'm not saying
52:03
I did that, but uh there's certain
52:05
screenshots that are currently on my
52:07
Xbox that would imply that I did. And
52:10
I've been killing stuff as a a a lady
52:12
dwarf with a big mushroom on her face.
52:14
Uh there's just just it it it's weird to
52:18
see like it almost makes it feel like a
52:20
vowed launched early
52:24
>> because this feels what the game should
52:26
have been on release.
52:29
>> It it feels like we see a lot of patches
52:31
like this somewhere in a game's life
52:32
where you get you know you get the game
52:34
but then later you get new game plus and
52:37
kind of quality of life improvements
52:38
like along the lines of this. So
52:41
>> new game plus is actually added as well.
52:43
>> Yeah.
52:44
that too. I'm sorry.
52:46
>> I I feel like I feel like this is not an
52:49
unusual kind of thing to get in a game.
52:52
Kind of maybe a little later. I mean,
52:53
whether that should be a thing is a
52:57
different question,
53:00
but
53:01
I I this this feels pretty pretty
53:04
average to me. I mean, I I don't mean
53:07
average as in it's bad. I mean average
53:09
is just in it doesn't feel weird and
53:12
abnormal. Yeah, I understand. It's it's
53:14
it is the the common thing we see the
53:17
status quo for games is they will get an
53:20
update and that update will suddenly
53:22
make the game good. Uh I think we saw
53:24
that a lot like the most recent uh
53:26
Owlcat
53:28
Warhammer 40k role playing game. Um not
53:31
the one that's coming out, but the one
53:32
that was already out and my god I can't
53:34
believe I can't remember it because it's
53:36
a game I played 30 hours 300 hours on.
53:39
But
53:39
>> Rogue Trader, thank you. Rogue Trader
53:41
got like a DLC and then a patch after
53:43
that DLC that made it amazing. Whereas
53:46
previously it was good but janky, they
53:48
took all the jank out and they replaced
53:50
it with good things that you would want
53:51
to play and it was like, "Oh, oh, now
53:55
this is really good." And that's the
53:57
thing like I I think back to Cyberpunk,
53:59
which is a game I loved to death when it
54:02
released despite all the problems it
54:04
had. And it felt like it took them two
54:07
years to get Cyberpunk into position to
54:09
where it is now extremely good. And I I
54:14
I kind of don't want to reward that, but
54:17
at the same time, I don't want to punish
54:19
a game that I like when it gets better.
54:22
>> Yeah.
54:22
>> You know, and right now how it is my
54:24
favorite current game. Like I I'm
54:26
playing the heck out of it now. Like I
54:28
today the patch literally happened uh
54:31
recently and
54:32
>> I just I'm like ah I must play and in a
54:37
way it's fun for me because it's like
54:38
it's like I got a new game even though I
54:40
didn't. Uh it's actually a year old but
54:42
you know I was done with the Outer
54:43
Worlds 2. So good good job getting me
54:46
hooked again Obsidian. Please don't ever
54:48
make that Fallout New Vegas remaster.
54:50
Please God don't. I need to have
54:52
something going on in my life besides
54:54
your game.
54:56
But yeah,
54:57
>> I know it's been a it was a good year
54:59
for Obsidian.
55:00
>> Yeah, it it was
55:01
>> I don't know if it was grounded to
55:03
>> I don't know like I don't know if it was
55:06
a commercially successful year for
55:08
Obsidian, but they released so many
55:10
games last year and it's it's really
55:13
fun. It's been a fun year.
55:14
>> Yeah,
55:14
>> if you were a fan of Obsidian games,
55:16
>> I think Obsidian is in a good position
55:18
where that it's one of those times, you
55:20
know, that Microsoft bought them
55:22
entirely to pat out
55:26
their ex, you know, Xbox Game Pass
55:30
library and they don't care if the games
55:33
make immediate money. They care that the
55:35
games will allow people to get something
55:37
different on Game Pass. That's how it
55:39
feels looking at the way Obsidian is
55:41
being handled. Cory's trying to talk, so
55:42
I'm going to let him. It just it's great
55:46
to see games surviving with the High
55:50
Guard getting looking like it's being
55:51
cancelled and Riot cancelling two XKOs's
55:55
or shrinking its developers.
55:57
>> So we we see all these and Concord
55:59
obviously the other big profile thing.
56:01
So we see all this these games
56:05
>> looking like it's getting cancelled
56:07
seems generous.
56:10
>> Yeah. So, like we see all this all this
56:13
stuff happening within in the gaming
56:15
industry and so to see a game that came
56:16
out to medium critical success and
56:19
didn't need to h set the world on fire
56:22
like Fallout would have to if it came
56:24
out today
56:25
>> and
56:26
>> but they don't want to set the world on
56:27
fire. Cory
56:31
>> just getting the content a little bit.
56:34
>> Yeah.
56:37
>> So, it's I actually really agree with
56:39
you. Yeah. I think that's a great point
56:41
that it's nice to see games like I I
56:44
don't I keep thinking about what
56:46
happened to Arcane
56:48
uh you know the the the other Arcane
56:50
studio where it basically just got
56:53
destroyed because they made one game
56:54
people didn't like
56:56
>> and wasn't good was not good and I'm not
57:00
saying it was but I feel like it
57:02
shouldn't have destroyed a studio
57:05
>> like uh look at I mean look at Boware
57:08
who
57:09
Yeah.
57:10
>> released a Dragon Age game that was not
57:12
everyone's favorite Dragon Age game. And
57:14
so it's like, okay, we're canceling
57:17
Dragon Age now because we had one game
57:19
that was not as successful as we wanted.
57:22
And you look at Highgate, which had one
57:25
game, it's an indie studio, exactly one
57:29
game. It's been out for less than a
57:31
month, and they've already fired most of
57:34
the development staff, and they've shut
57:36
down their website. So, we're kind of
57:37
assuming the game is no more, but I
57:39
mean, we'll see. Maybe it's not. Maybe
57:41
it's still there. But, uh, it's
57:43
certainly not looking good for Highgate.
57:46
And it's I can't say that Highgate is an
57:49
>> I can't say Highgate is an amazing game,
57:51
but it's not a terrible game. It's not a
57:54
game that necessarily deserved to be
57:56
shut down in five minutes. But here we
57:59
are.
58:02
>> Yeah. The weird thing about I about
58:04
Highgate though is it also reminded me
58:06
of a game that came out a little while
58:09
back. Uh and I want to call it Legends
58:11
of Averum, but I don't know if that was
58:13
its name. Uh it's it's an EA game. It
58:16
was basically similar in that it was
58:19
uh it was a first person shooter type.
58:21
>> High guard, not Highgate.
58:23
>> Yeah. No, I don't mean Highguard. I do
58:25
mean High Guard. Sorry, that was my bad.
58:27
But the Legends of Averum
58:30
and again I don't know if that's its
58:32
actual name. It's Legends of something
58:34
but I don't have my game pass open to
58:36
look at it. I I downloaded and played it
58:39
and it's like this was a game that just
58:41
completely vanished last year and I
58:44
think that's because they put it up
58:45
against Balders's Gate 3. Like it came
58:48
out the same week as Balders's Gate 3.
58:50
And you don't release your magical
58:52
firsterson shooter Destiny clone.
58:54
>> Yeah. at the same time that you have
58:56
Boulders Gate 3 coming out. But it's
58:59
actually not bad. It's a good game. It's
59:02
fun to play. And
59:05
yeah, I just Yeah, it it feels really
59:09
bad that that games can't sur companies
59:11
can't survive putting out a bad game
59:13
anymore unless they're small game small
59:15
companies because then they can put out
59:17
a ton of games. I mean, spiders, if
59:20
spiders was held to that standard, we'd
59:22
never be getting the new Greedfall
59:24
>> because they would have died when the
59:26
old Greedfall did not rule the world.
59:28
>> It's like also
59:30
look at Dream Haven, which studio
59:32
founded by Mike Moheim, that uh, you
59:35
know, they put out Sunderfolk.
59:36
Sunderfolk was really interesting
59:38
looking game. It was not commercially
59:40
successful. It was not, you know, it
59:41
didn't go out there and become a big
59:43
success. They put out Wildgate, which
59:45
also came out there and looks good. They
59:48
have a whole like year,
59:51
one-year game plan. They've been putting
59:53
out frequent updates. They recently
59:55
released a new PVE mode where you can
59:58
just go and focus on exploring the world
1:00:01
and doing kind of archaeology side sort
1:00:03
of stuff, which I think is really cool.
1:00:07
And but already Dream Haven has
1:00:09
significantly downsized. uh Paul Deabida
1:00:12
who was one of the founders at Dream
1:00:13
Haven has moved to Hasbro which is a
1:00:17
whole different conversation but it's
1:00:21
like Dream Haven isn't looking good
1:00:22
either even though that was founded by
1:00:25
big names in gaming who really love
1:00:27
video games and were trying hard to make
1:00:28
something that they loved and it didn't
1:00:31
work out.
1:00:33
Yeah, I think
1:00:34
>> I mean they weren't they weren't
1:00:36
beholden
1:00:38
they weren't beholden to like big
1:00:40
corporate masters like EA which shut
1:00:42
down Dragon Age. They did not have I
1:00:45
mean obviously you're a game company you
1:00:47
have to bow to financial pressure but
1:00:50
you know they were just they were game
1:00:52
devs trying to make the game they wanted
1:00:53
to make and it didn't work out.
1:00:55
Yeah, it and it is kind of sad to see
1:00:58
that happen even especially I mean we
1:01:00
mentioned Concord very briefly and I
1:01:02
don't want to try and get into Concord
1:01:04
but to see somebody work so hard on
1:01:06
something and for it to disintegrate in
1:01:09
a week
1:01:11
>> uh is is kind of it's rough to watch but
1:01:14
at this point we should probably wrap
1:01:16
things up.
1:01:17
>> So Liz has already done our outro our
1:01:21
site news so thank you to Liz.
1:01:22
>> Well
1:01:23
>> is there anything else you want to say
1:01:24
right now? Now is the time.
1:01:27
>> Yeah. Thanks everybody for listening. I
1:01:29
appreciate you all. Uh
1:01:30
>> and I appreciate all of you all of you
1:01:33
here with me. Matt, Joe, and Corey.
1:01:36
Special guest Corey.
1:01:39
>> If it wasn't if we'd actually done the
1:01:41
show on Valentine's Day instead of
1:01:43
several days after it, I'd feel I'd try
1:01:45
to make some kind of Valentine's Day
1:01:46
reference. But since I'm not going to
1:01:48
because St. Valentine's Day was actually
1:01:50
really horrible if you ever look up what
1:01:52
really happened. Uh, this has been the
1:01:54
Blizzard Watch podcast. Thank you again
1:01:56
to everybody who came on the show with
1:01:58
us, especially Joe, Liz, and Corey for
1:02:00
making the show fun. Uh, thank you to
1:02:02
you, the audience, for making the show
1:02:04
possible. And thank you to me for
1:02:06
managing to hold my stuff together long
1:02:08
enough to say we'll be back next week.

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