Pre-Order

We know that people who pre-order Diablo 2: Resurrected will get early access to the open beta for the game.

We've seen a lot of hype over Before the Storm, the upcoming novel from Christie Golden that leads into the events of Battle for Azeroth. Now we have an official excerpt from the book, and it's an interesting bit of meta-narrative because it's a letter from Anduin Wrynn to Sylvanas Widnrunner. I'm not sure if a spoiler warning counts here -- it's an official excerpt released as a promotion for the novel -- but just in case, if you're staying away from any hints about this novel then read no further.

Allied Races are one of the most anticipated features of Battle for Azeroth.

I was going to talk about BlizzCon but then this happened.

Welcome Dakotaraptor, a contender for largest Dromaeosaurid ever. Not only is it nearly the same size as Utahraptor (it’s built on a more gracile body plan, so it almost certainly weighed less) but this late Cretaceous raptor is a game changer for a variety of reasons. It’s much akin to its relatives Velociraptor or Deinonychus but scaled up to bigger than even Jurassic Park dared dream, and it had long feathers on its forelimbs in a structure that even the most anti-feathered dinosaur grump would have to admit is a wing.

Wings. This nearly twenty foot (six meters) long raptor had wings. No, it couldn’t fly with them any more than an ostrich can, but it had clear, unmistakably feathered forelimbs. At this point, if you put featherless raptors in your dinosaur movie, you look like an idiot. It would be like having hairless lions and tigers in your movie because they look cooler. Just stop it, Hollywood.