Departures | Warcraft III: Reforged
Three days later, near the Lordaeron coast…
Is Blizzard Entertainment planning to bring Games to Android and iOS?
Very unlikely, but possible. In a very strange move, Activision Blizzard requested NVIDIA to remove all Blizzard games from the NVIDIA GeForce NOW cloud platform which allows games to be played on older computers, mobile devices (Like phones and tablets), and other devices.
Not long ago there was a new EULA rule that disallowed players from playing games in cloud gaming services like LiquidSky. But now they are extending to not allow Blizzard games in the NVIDIA GeForce NOW platform, too. Surprising, considering that Blizzard and NVIDIA have been partners for many years.
World of Warcraft: Shadows Rising Pre-Orders
Very early in the morning today, the World of Warcraft: Shadows Rising novel by Madeleine Roux appeared with a book description and the pre-order page.
The novel features Sylvanas, Nathanos, Zekhan, Alleria, Turalyon, and several leaders of the Alliance and the Horde.
Sylvanas has given Nathanos and Sira Moonwarden a terrible assassination order. One that will reverberate among Warcraft lore scholars: “how?”
Pre-order is available as Hardcover and Digital (Kindle) — which can be read in the PC app or with Firefox/Chrome/Edge
Wild Bangarang and Blizzard Entertainement Part Ways
Wild Bangarang announced their Blizzard licensing agreement will come to an end on February 29th 2020. But not the way you might think. From the blog post’s wording it seems they can no longer sell leggings at their store.
Warcraft III: Reforged Patch 1.32.1 – Patch Notes
Blizzard Entertainment deployed today a new patch for Warcraft III: Reforged. Version 1.32.1.14604 fixes the “defeat” screen bug, as well as several changes and bugs that affected the Campaign Mode, Custom Games, Gameplay and Interface.
Activision Blizzard Q4 2019 Results Transcript
Activision Blizzard reported its Fourth Quarter 2019 Financial Results today February 6, 2020. I’ll post a partial transcript later tonight hand-picking the Blizzard Entertainment portion and the Q&A. Stay tuned @blizzplanetcom
The biggest news highlighted in this report is that Diablo Immortal Beta Testing will start in the middle of 2020. That would be somewhere around June — unless there are any delays. July-August at the latest IMHO. But June is technically the middle of the year.
SPECULATION
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is slated for the second half of 2020 — which means Alpha Testing should be here possibly around the March-May range.
Correction: Battle for Azeroth Alpha started on February 7, 2018 (Not March 16). Searched after Lotus6194 pointed out he remembered it was February. I joined Alpha in March 16.
So speculation here… March-May might be a good candidate for Shadowlands Alpha.
The Closed Beta for Battle for Azeroth started on April 24, 2018. Battle for Azeroth went Live on August 13. That means that from the day Beta Testing started, the game went Live 3 Months and 20 days later.
There is no official release date for Shadowlands yet. If Shadowlands went Live around August 13, 2020 — you could extrapolate more or less when Shadowlands Alpha and Beta starts taking BFA’s as model.
Blizzard Entertainment hasn’t invited influencers to Boston. It would be great to use the PAX East spotlight (Feb 27 – March 1) to annnounce the Shadowlands Alpha Testing start date.
World of Warcraft Illustrated by Christie Golden
Another book by New York Times Best Selling Author Christie Golden has appeared in online bookstore databases… World of Warcraft Illustrated.
The book description refers to two stories. Both of them based during the Second War, when Thrall was young. I’m a bit curious about the first one as it plain makes no sense.
There was no Burning Legion invasion in “Lord of the Clans.” As a matter of fact, the Burning Legion per se was introduced in the Warcraft III video game.
Later, World of Warcraft: Rise of the Horde revealed how the Burning Legion came to make first contact with the Horde. If there is a new story we don’t know about that happened behind-the-scenes in “Lord of the Clans,” then that would be intriguing, and worth oversight.
WORLD OF WARCRAFT ILLUSTRATED
Learn the history of the Alliance and the Horde, and follow Thrall on a journey to save Azeroth!
Whether your loyalties lie with the Alliance or the Horde, you’ll love these two World of Warcraft stories by Christie Golden. Learn how the world of Azeroth is invaded by the Burning Legion in Lord of the Clans, and then follow the young Warchief Thrall through a bit of history about how the Horde came to be in Rise of the Horde. This beautifully bound book is a must-have for any World of Warcraft fan and will be a treasured addition to any gaming library.
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Canterbury Classics
Release Date: September 8, 2020
ISBN-10: 1645173488
ISBN-13: 978-1645173489
Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 10.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
Warcraft III: Reforged Post-Launch Developer Update
At this point, it is old news that the Metacritic User Score is less than 1% based on 22854 ratings. To be exact: 0.5% which places Warcraft III: Reforged as the least rated game at Metacritic.
Warcraft III: Reforged Goes Live
Blizzard Entertainment has deployed Warcraft III: Reforged to Live servers. The installer is 29GB file size. You can find the system requirements here.
Warcraft III: Remastered Requirements
Blizzard Entertainment released today the Warcraft III: Remastered Spec Requirements to run the game. Once the server maintenance is over, the game will go Live. Beta ended earlier in the morning.
WINDOWS
| Minimum Requirements | Recommended Specifications | |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows® 7 / Windows® 8 / Windows® 10 64-bit (latest version) | Windows® 10 64-bit (latest version) |
| Processor | Intel® Core® i3-530 or AMD™ Athlon™ Phenom™ II X4 910 or better | Intel® Core™ i5-6400 or AMD Ryzen™ 7 1700X or better |
| Video | NVIDIA® GeForce® GTS 450 or AMD Radeon™ HD 5750 or better | NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960 or AMD Radeon™ R9 280X or better |
| Memory | 4 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM |
| Storage | 30 GB HD space | |
| Internet | Broadband Internet connection | |
| Input | Keyboard and mouse | |
| Resolution | 800 x 600 minimum display resolution |
MAC
| Minimum Requirements | Recommended Specifications | |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | macOS® 10.13 (latest version) | macOS® 10.15 (latest version) |
| Processor | Intel® Core™ i5 or better | Intel® Core™ i7 or better |
| Video | NVIDIA® GeForce® 750M or AMD™ Radeon™ R9 M290X | AMD Radeon™ R9 M395X |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM | |
| Storage | 30 GB HD space | |
| Internet | Broadband Internet connection | |
| Input | Keyboard and mouse | |
| Resolution | 800 x 600 minimum display resolution |