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The time to reclaim your home is almost here, Guardians—the PC launch of Destiny 2 is near! Destiny 2 goes live on PC globally starting October 24, and you can play exclusively through Blizzard Battle.net®. If you haven’t already, you can pre-purchase Destiny 2 right now through the Blizzard Shop. Check out this article to watch the PC launch trailer and find out what time the game goes live in your region.

This week at Bungie, we’re watching the final Faction Rallies for Season 2 unfold.

Future War Cult has mobilized their faction in full force, in an effort to earn their first win since Destiny 2 introduced this ritual to the Tower. Their fingers are crossed, but the followers of New Monarchy could still pull off their fourth victory in a row.

Remember, this will be the last chance for players to earn Season 2 emblems and armor ornaments from their favorite faction leaders. You have through Tuesday, March 27, to add these to your inventory.

Distinctive

Update 1.1.3 introduced Nightfall Scoring and Challenge Cards to change the player experience. Update 1.1.4 brings unique rewards to sweeten each Nightfall Strike. Let’s take a look back to a quote published in February, covering the overall goal for Nightfall activities:

Barrett: Nightfall should be a challenging test that only the bravest Guardians dare face. Fireteams of any size should be able to participate, from organized clan groups to skilled solo players. Players should be able to determine their own challenge level, by going slow and steady or fast and wild, with elective modifiers to test the most hardcore veterans. Your final score will separate the best from the rest, and with high risk comes high reward. Each terrible villain that players face should have a very rare and powerful unique item, themed to them, that tumbles to the ground as they collapse into a pile of bones. Conquering Nightfall should be a badge of honor, with the best players able to show off their achievements with new dynamic emblems and exclusive auras.

One question in particular has been trending throughout the community since the “Nightfall Unique Rewards” bullet was featured on the roadmap: How do I earn these rewards?

These rewards have a chance to drop when you complete a Nightfall activity at any difficulty. You can increase your chances using Challenge Card modifiers to set higher personal best scores. Earning these items may take many attempts to receive a drop, as they are meant to be rare rewards.

Last week, we gathered feedback on how the community would like to discover these rewards – either through a quick tease here on the blog, or from those among you who wish to be the first to show off their newly found loot. We’ll be watching legends unfold as these rewards are earned by players, and hope many among you enjoy discovering these items via gameplay without being spoiled.

Competitive Housekeeping

Crucible isn’t just getting updates to game modes to speed up gameplay. Starting in Destiny Update 1.1.4, the Competitive Playlists will also feature a quitter penalty. Per the dev team:

Because the Competitive playlist disables Join-In-Progress, leaving matches early (for any reason) can ruin people’s games. Starting in 1.1.4, we are adding a system that can issue temporary restrictions, 30 minutes in length, for habitual quitters.  

On our side, we’re also increasing security measures to improve the Crucible environment as a whole.

Our security team informed us that they also have some changes going into Update 1.1.4. Because security is a pretty hush-hush subject, we can’t go into the details of what is changing. If cheaters know how our detection works, they can use that info to avoid it.

Our work isn’t done, we also have plans for more updates to security in the upcoming 1.2.0 update as well.

One (dot) One (dot) Four

Patch notes have been collected, but we’re still applying some elbow grease to get everything in order. Here’s a quick sample of upcoming changes and fixes that you’ll see next Tuesday:

Stay tuned to Bungie.net on March 27 for a full list of patch notes associated with Update 1.1.4.

Air Traffic Controllers

Update 1.1.4 is on approach. Please return your seat backs to their full upright position. Cabin lights are about to go dark, but Destiny Player Support will keep you up to speed until we’ve landed.

Maintenance and Downtime: Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Destiny 2 services will be brought offline for maintenance. Update 1.1.4 will also become available upon maintenance completion. Please see below for the timeline of the maintenance window.

Lights, Camera… Carnage?

 

Sometimes, it takes weeks to get the perfect shot. Waiting for the stars to align can feel like an eternity, but some have found they come together a bit more often than expected. 

Winner: Leave None Standing

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Runner up: Getting Lost

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Runner up: Brought a knife to a Boss fight

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Speaking with the Sandbox team, Update 1.1.4 had a few potential names thrown around in development. One team member in particular campaigned for it to be called the “Supercharged” update. To keep communications clear and set expectations about how all of the changes would feel together, it was ultimately decided that 1.1.4 would forever be referred to as the “Go Fast” update. From my time in playtests, I can really feel the name. The most important piece of this puzzle is how you, the player, will feel once it’s in your hands.

We’re excited to see what new loadouts will be used in PvE – potentially to rack up even higher scores in the Nightfall. Speaking of which, here are the top three fireteams from last week’s Nightfall, “A Garden World”:

Have to admit, it’s always exiting to watch players crunch damage numbers when the sandbox evolves. Exotic weapons are up next in May, with some interesting changes for us to dive in to. More to come, once 1.1.4 has landed. See you next week.

Cheers,

-Dmg04

For The King is Now Available on Steam and is 20% off!*

For The King is a strategic RPG that blends tabletop and roguelike elements in a challenging adventure that spans the realms. Set off on a single player experience or play cooperatively both online and locally. Every play through offers new challenges, opportunities, and rewards.

*Offer ends April 26 at 10AM Pacific Time

Developers looking to launch their games in the Netherlands might want to avoid loot boxes after the region’s Gaming Authority found that some implementations violate the Betting and Gaming Act. 

The Netherlands Gaming Authority (NGA) had been investigating loot box usage in 10 unnamed titles after concerns were raised by players, parents, and those working in addiction care.

It found that four of those 10 games are currently breaking the law by offering random prizes that have real-world value without letting players influence the outcome.

As reported by Dutch website NOS (via Reddit), the publishers of those four mystery titles (rumored to be FIFA 18, Dota 2, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Rocket League) have been told to amend their loot box model within the next eight weeks. If they fail to do so, the gambling authority could hit them with a fine or even pull the offending titles from sale. 

The NGA claims offering “games of chance” to Dutch consumers is prohibited without a license, and believes loot boxes are very similar to gambling games like slot machines and roulette in terms of design and mechanics. 

It took no legal issue with the other six titles as they don’t offer loot box rewards with any real-world worth or market value, although the group still feels loot boxes in general pose an addiction risk — namely because they’re aimed towards younger people.

“As a result of opening loot boxes, socially vulnerable groups such as young people could eventually be encouraged to play other games of chance. The risk of gambling addiction in this group is many times higher than in adults,” reads the study. 

“To date, the Netherlands Gaming Authority has not observed any suitable control measures taken by the providers of games with loot boxes to exclude vulnerable groups and prevent gambling addiction.”

7.13b:
==

* Strength heroes base movement speed reduced by 5
* Strength heroes base armor reduced by 1 (except Doom, Io, Lycan, Phoenix, Timbersaw, Tiny)
* Intelligence heroes base strength increased by 2 (Except OD, Tinker and Bane)
* Strength gain for the following heroes increased by 0.3: Dark Seer, Death Prophet, Ember Spirit, Leshrac, Nature’s Prophet, Necrophos, Pugna, Queen of Pain, Ursa and Visage

Newly announced Twitch distribution deal drives an average audience per minute of 408,000 for the opening day broadcast

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– The Overwatch League roared to life last week at the Blizzard Arena Los Angeles, with four days of intense competition between all 12 teams of the world’s first major global city-based professional esports league.

Buoyed by a newly announced two-year deal with Twitch, the Overwatch League’s exclusive worldwide^[1] third-party digital broadcast partner, opening day drew an impressive average audience per minute of 408,000, and 280,000 for the week. More than 10 million viewers tuned in over the four-day period via Twitch, MLG, and Chinese streaming partners ZhanQi TV, NetEase CC, and Panda TV—not to mention the countless additional viewers at watch parties worldwide. On Twitch and MLG alone, the peak concurrent online audience of 437,000 hit during the highly anticipated day-one matchup between Dallas Fuel and Seoul Dynasty. In addition, tickets to Blizzard Arena Los Angeles were sold out for the entirety of opening week.

“We’re thrilled by the overwhelming response to the Overwatch League’s opening week of play,” said Pete Vlastelica, president and CEO of Major League Gaming (MLG). “But this is only the beginning. With more than 35 million Overwatch® players, the Overwatch League has the potential to become one of the most-watched leagues—of any kind—in the world.”

“Since we announced Overwatch League at BlizzCon 2016, we’ve been eagerly awaiting the day when the global competitive Overwatch community could come together under one banner,” said Nate Nanzer, Overwatch League commissioner. “Opening week was that coming-out party—for the fans, both in-person at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles and tuned in by the millions all over the world, and for the players, whose love for the game came through crystal clear.”

“We had high expectations for the inaugural broadcast of the Overwatch League on Twitch, given our platform’s passionate fanbase for Overwatch,” said Kevin Lin, COO of Twitch. “They really put on an amazing show and fans showed up en masse to support and celebrate Overwatch. Based on the response from the community, Overwatch League is off to a great start and we look forward to watching how the season progresses. This league demonstrates the power and potential of esports, and we’re thrilled to continue expanding our partnership with Blizzard.”

Viewers can tune in to catch all the action on Twitch, www.mlg.com, the MLG app (on iOS and Android), www.overwatchleague.com, and the Overwatch League app, which launched last week for iOS and Android. Blizzard gamers also can get easy access to the Overwatch League via a new Overwatch League tab in the Blizzard Battle.net desktop app.

The first season of the Overwatch League runs until June, with playoffs and finals scheduled for July. For the inaugural season, all regular-season games will take place at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles, a state-of-the-art live-event venue in Burbank, California, custom-renovated for Blizzard Entertainment esports events. Fans can purchase tickets to attend matches, which will be played each Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. A full schedule and information about ticket sales can be found at www.overwatchleague.com.

About the Overwatch League^™

The Overwatch League^™ is the first major global professional esports league with city-based teams across Asia, Europe, and North America. Overwatch® was created by globally acclaimed publisher Blizzard Entertainment (a division of Activision Blizzard—Nasdaq: ATVI), whose iconic franchises have helped lay the foundations and push the boundaries of professional esports over the last 15 years. The latest addition to Blizzard’s stable of twenty-one #1 games,^[2] Overwatch was built from the ground up for online competition, with memorable characters and fast-paced action designed for the most engaging gameplay and spectator experiences. To learn more about the Overwatch League, visit www.overwatchleague.com.

© 2018 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. OVERWATCH, OVERWATCH LEAGUE, BLIZZARD and BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT are trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. MAJOR LEAGUE GAMING is a trademark of Major League Gaming Corp.

[1] Not including China.
[2] Sales and/or downloads, based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about the dates, events and features of the Overwatch League, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Blizzard Entertainment’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Blizzard Entertainment nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Blizzard Entertainment or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117005551/en/

Overwatch League
Mark Van Lommel, 949-955-1380 x61147
MVanLommel@overwatchleague.com

Source: Overwatch League

News Provided by Acquire Media

Today is Valentines Day! We couldn’t think of any better way to show our love for you than to give you a snapshot
full of new things. <3

The full changelog can be found on Minecraft.net.

• Added Phantoms (MineCon voted mob!)
• Added Turtles
• Added new swimming ability (sprint underwater!)
• Added bubble columns
• Added ability to strip logs
• Added new trident weapon
• Squids now shoot ink to defend themselves
• Added new kelp and sea grass blocks
• Items in water now float to the top
• Added new prismarine stairs and slabs

PHANTOMS

You look tired. When’s the last time you got a decent night’s rest? Bad things happen to those who don’t sleep… they start to hallucinate, and see what’s really there.

• Spawns in the overworld and the end
• Attacks players who haven’t slept in a while
• Drops leather, but this may change

TURTLES

The turtle moves.

• Spawns on warm beaches, but this is temporary
• Will lay eggs in their home beach
• You can craft pieces of their old shell into one big shell
  
  • And wear it on your head!
  • Or craft it into a potion!
  • Turtles are known for their strength, not their speed
• Please be kind to turtles. They hold up the world.

KELP AND SEAGRASS

The green in the blue!

• Seagrass generates in all oceans, but this is temporary
• Kelp doesn’t generate in deep oceans, but this is temporary
• Kelp can be smelted to get dry kelp
  
  • A tasty snack for the ocean adventurer!
  • Or a convenient way to fuel more smelting
  • Or just store it away into a dried kelp block

BUBBLE COLUMNS

Blub blub blub blub.

• Doesn’t generate anywhere currently
• Occurs when a magma block is in water
• Watch out, you’ll get sucked under!
• A good way to breath without cheating game mechanics

STRIPPED LOGS

Go ahead, axe us a question.

• You can strip logs by using an axe on them (right-click)
• Stripped logs act like regular logs in furnaces, crafting, etc
• They look neat!

TRIDENTS

Some say that throwing your only weapon away is a bad idea. We disagree.

• Right click to throw the trident
• Left click to melee
• Currently unobtainable in survival, that will change
• Super overpowered, we’ll balance them later
• Has 4 available enchantments
  
  • Loyalty: Your trident will come back to you. Spoil-sport.
  • Impaling: Very useful against creatures of the sea.
  • Riptide: Gotta go fast.
  • Channeling: We’re not sure. It’s pretty spooky.
• UI icon is not yet implemented

FIXED BUGS

• MC-11208 – The big tree generator handles tree height variable incorrectly
• MC-124890 – Can’t insert charcoal into furnace
• MC-124897 – “Balloon oak” tree variant generates upside down, with often only stumps visible on the surface
• MC-124902 – Furnace recipes work in crafting interfaces and interfere with crafting recipes
• MC-124903 – Random crash in snow biomes: java.lang.NullPointerException: Exception ticking world
• MC-124913 – Horses, rabbit, parrot, llamas and sheep generate with default color / variant only
• MC-124916 – Chorus plant generation broken
• MC-124930 – The game crashes when pressing “show craftable” in the furnace recipe book.
• MC-124952 – Large oak trees fail to generate in all biomes with the new generator
• MC-125016 – Debug world does not generate
• MC-125047 – World generator not fully cleaned before making new world

To get snapshots, open your launcher and go to the “launch options” tab. Check the box saying “Enable snapshots” and save. To switch between the snapshot and normal version, you can find a new dropdown menu next to the “Play” button. Back up your world first or run the game on in a different folder (In the “launch options” page).

Please report any and all bugs you find in Minecraft to bugs.mojang.com.

Snapshots can corrupt your world, please backup and/or run them in a different folder from your main worlds. 1.13 will have a lot of experimental snapshots that may break everything and smell funny. This may be one of those snapshots. This is what happens when Mojang are changing all the things! 

Share your thoughts on how 1.13 is shaping up in the comments below!

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IRVINE, Calif.—August 23, 2017—Blizzard Entertainment today debuted Hearth and Home, a brand-new musical animated short that explores the story of Hearthstone®’s mystical Tavern—the setting for Blizzard’s smash-hit digital strategy card game. Hearth and Home is a whimsical introduction to the Tavern and its patrons and serves as the first in an upcoming series of animated shorts, as well as comics, that draw players into the game’s distinctively charming setting.  

The Tavern is a warm and welcoming place full of laughter, camaraderie, and good-natured competition, and home to a charming cast of characters assembled from every corner of Azeroth. This includes vibrant and (mostly) friendly folks such as Malto, the kindly old mage; and Sarge, the Tavern’s resident mouse. The personalities in this ethereal inn draw inspiration from the many types of Hearthstone players who enjoy Hearthstone in real life. Whether they’re seasoned pros or just getting into the game like the young protagonist Ava, there’s a place in the Tavern for everyone.

“With Hearth and Home, our new animated short, we aimed to capture the wonder and magic of Hearthstone—in the Tavern’s welcoming interior, in its colorful patrons, and of course in their catchy song,” said Lydia Bottegoni, senior vice president of Story & Franchise Development at Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re looking forward to sharing more tales from the Hearthstone Tavern featuring Ava and her friends in the months ahead.”

Pull up a chair and watch Hearth and Home, the new Hearthstone animated short, on YouTube.

Earlier this month, Blizzard Entertainment released Knights of the Frozen Throne, the latest expansion for Hearthstone, which is available now for Windows® and Mac® PCs; Windows, iOS, and Android™ tablets; and iOS and Android phones. In Knights of the Frozen Throne, players storm Icecrown Citadel, the Lich King’s frozen fortress, in pursuit of the icy monarch’s unholy power.

Please visit the Blizzard press center for assets and information.