This Week in Review - Popular Decks & Naxxramas News, Top 5 Plays of the Week #28
Skin Spotlight: Shan'do Illidan, Blizzard Gear Comic-Con Loot Contest
Warlords of Draenor Beta - Build 18537, Beta Patch Notes Update - July 11
Comic-Con Goodie Bag
Blizzard is giving away a goodie bag with the Comic-Con exclusive loot. Check the details on how to enter the giveaway!
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Click here to enter to win 1 of 25 Blizzard Comic-Con Goodie Bags! What's inside, you ask? The 2014 Blizzard Comic-Con Goodie Bag contains some of the exciting prizes we will be selling at San Diego Comic-Con this year:
- (1) Heroes of the Storm Team Tee
- (1) Heroes of the Storm Lanyard
- (1) Diablo Whimsyshire Treasure Goblin
- (1) Starcraft Cute But Deadly Cloaking Zeratul
- (1) Starcraft Funko Pop! Vinyl Primal Kerrigan
- (1) Warcraft Nether Faerie Dragon Plush
Entering our giveaway is quick and easy, just follow the instructions on the giveaway link above. You can earn entries into our giveaway by completing a variety of social actions through the Splurgy app, including:
- (1) Visiting the Blizzard Gear store
- (1) Liking Blizzard on Facebook
- (1) Liking Diablo on Facebook
- (1) Liking Hearthstone on Facebook
- (1) Liking World of Warcraft on Facebook
- (1) Liking Starcraft on Facebook
- (1) Liking Heroes of the Storm on Facebook
- (1) Following Heroes of the Storm on Twitter
- (1) Subscribing to Heroes of the Storm on YouTube
- (1) Liking Legendary on Facebook
- (1) Liking Legendary on Twitter
- (3) Sharing a Status Update on Facebook
- (3) Sharing an Update on Twitter
Diablo 3 China Release
It looks like Diablo 3 and its expansion, Reaper of Souls, will be officially released in China, with its own regional servers. A video preview was revealed at a Hearthstone tournament, posted by fansite d.163 (and uploaded to youtube by redditor saintmek). Check it out below!
Performance Drops in Coop
There is currently an issue in the game where players experience a significant drop in performance when playing in a party of 4. Omrakos acknowledged the issue and noted there is not much the player can do, and that it appears to be solved in Patch 2.1.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Poor 4-player performance in Diablo III is an issue currently being investigated, there's little you'll be able to do about it I'm afraid.
The latest status is that the current build of 2.1 that our QA Team uses internally isn't exhibiting the problem. This means we'll either have to wait until 2.1 is officially released or until they push the same or newer build out to the public PTR where it can be tested.
Monk Analysis and Feedback
MVP Druin has posted his analysis of the current state of Monks in the PTR after the Explosive Palm change. Check the preview down below, or visit the original thread for the whole in-depth look. Also make sure to leave your thoughts - do you agree with his points? What do you think should change for Monks?
Hello everyone!
Now that the EP nerf has set in, I think it's a good time to take a really serious look at where monks stand, why they stand there and where they might be going ... perhaps to a pub to grab a pint??
I will first outline the most pertinent issues facing monks today (2.0.6) and then detail how 2.1 has affected them.
tl;dr --
Problems
> Low dps and poor conversion of resources to damage
> Required melee = high toughness requirement + poor sustain option = forced 2x unity + multiple defensive skills + harmony + max CDR on all monk specs
> Spirit as a resource system is clunky, unrewarding and inherently dangerous leading to most monks actively trying to interact with it as little as possible
2.1's effects on the Problems
> Spirit gens get minor buffs that don't address major issues and result in no substantive change
> Spirit spenders get no real changes other than the major nerfs to TR and EP and end up right where they started
> Passives get some minor improvements but are left with the majority being unusable and an overall nerf due to loss of OWE and STI
> Raiment change is almost good enough to be competitive but not quite there while SWK / Inna's and Shenlong's are still miles behind
Conclusion
> Monks are still in a really bad spot which is being accurately reflected by the PTR leaderboards
> Substantial buffs are needed to a variety of things in order to get the monk class to a competitive and diverse state
It's not so bad when it's just 150-200~ ping. I guess it would be if the game required fps-like reflexes, but at least it's mostly playable.
The problem is when the data has to go through crappy backbones which are having issues, or when our shitty ISPs start blocking ports without our consent (as some have been doing for the past couple months) and we can't do anything about it.
It's things like package loss and unstable connections which make it almost unbearable to play sometimes. I've stopped playing hardcore mostly because of it =|
But yeah, would be awesome if they invested in some localized servers, specially with Heroes of the Storm coming (if they're smart they will, cause that game has TONS of money-making potential, and demands good ping/latency).
also i think it's great that they release China servers