Weekly Recap #385 November 8th – Blizzcon 2019, LOTRO Expansion Launches, POE’s ExileCon and More!

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Cinematic Trailer & Feature Overview: 0:38

World of Warcraft had a new expansion called Shadowlands unveiled! This new expansion sees Sylvannas Windrunner tear open the barrier between this world and the next, allowing players to explore the Shadowlands, the resting place of every mortal soul after death. The expansion features a new hub city known as Oribos, the Undying City, and four Covenants players will be able to align themselves with to earn rewards like transmogs, mounts, and covenant abilities. There’s even an Infinite Dungeon called Torghast, Tower of the Damned that changes each time you play it. You can run it solo or in a group, and clearing enough enemies grants you abilities and items that will help your current or next run. The further you make it into Torghast, the greater your chances of receiving crafting materials for legendary weapons and armor that will help you restore balance to the Shadowlands. The level cap for the game has also been adjusted back down to 60, with the curve being tweaked to make it faster than ever for players to reach level cap and participate in new content, which is honestly the best way to make that kind of adjustment.

Hearthstone: Descent of Dragons Cinematic Trailer: 1:38

Hearthstone Battlegrounds Mode Announcement Trailer: 1:55

Hearthstone also showed off a new expansion, Descent of Dragons! This new set features 135 new cards for the game, the new Invoke keyword, and new mechanics like Side Quests and brand new Hero cards. The invoke keyword works closely with new hero Galakrond’s hero power, upgrading it when it triggers. On top of that, Hearthstone is also receiving an 8 player auto-battler mode called Battlegrounds. The mode will feature 23 playable heroes, and players will fight to be the last player standing after recruiting an army.

Overwatch 2 Announcement Cinematic & Gameplay Trailer: 2:07

Blizzard showed off Overwatch 2 at Blizzcon, highlighting co-operative missions and new looks for some of the characters. There will also be replayable Hero missions which will allow you to level up your favorite heroes and earn new customization options for them. Of course there’ll also be new hereos, maps and even a new game type called Push for players to experience. In Push, there’s a robot in a central location on a symmetrical map. Each team fights for control of the robot and whoever pushes it further into the enemy’s base at the end of the round wins. It’s cool and all that there’s an Overwatch 2 now but honestly does it need to be an entirely new game? Seems like they could have done this with a major expansion to the game, but maybe not. Cool announcement regardless.

Diablo IV Announcement Cinematic & Gameplay Trailer: 2:53

But arguably the biggest announcement coming out of Blizzcon was the announcement of Diablo 4! The game looks to be much bleaker than Diablo 3, and takes place after the events of 3. The gameplay trailer shows off a magic user, a druid and a barbarian type class battling tons of demons in a fantastic looking engine. And don’t worry, we’ll have more on the game as information becomes available. Keep an eye on MMOHuts.com.

Brawlhalla Patch 3.51 – A New Roster of WWE Superstars: 3:14

Brawlhalla’s newest patch is live, and with it comes a second WWE crossover event! This time the playable roster includes The Undertaker, Roman Reigns, Asuka, and Macho Man Randy Savage. They’ll also be staying in Mallhalla after the event has ended, so you’ll be able to scoop them up any time. This event also includes the WWE themed Brawldown mode, a daily gold login bonus of 250, and a cool WWE Superstar UI takeover. Other patch notes inclulde a bugfix where Tournament high scores were not displaying correctly, and Asuri’s bugged down sword signature move dealing more damage than intended on the first hit. For the full breakdown, check out the complete patch notes in the description below.

The Lord of the Rings Online: Minas Morgul Expansion Released: 4:02

Lord of the Rings Online launched its latest expansion this past week, entitled Minas Morgul. Minas Morgul offers a new storytelling experience, as players use their character skills and participate in visions of the Second Age, participating in historic events from the series first-hand as a hero of their favored class. The expansion includes two regions: The Morgul Veil and Mordor Beseiged; seven instances, a 12 person raid against Sehlob, over 250 quests, the now-playable Stout-axe Dwarf race, a level cap raise to 130, and plenty more. Pretty decent sized update as you can tell.

Warface: Red Sand Seasonal Map Reveal: 4:39

A new seasonal map has been revealed for Warface’s Free-for-All mode: Red Sand. Mars is the setting of this next great battle, with a low-gravity environment and Martian colonist settlements to explore. Only robots outfitted with Martian ARCUS equipment can go, so get ready for some SED on SED violence!

Black Desert on PS4 Adds Striker and Tamer: 4:58

Black Desert Online on PS4 added the Striker and Tamer classes in this week’s free update! Strikers are trained by an incredible martial-arts master, and are close-quarters masters. They will overwhelm any of their foes with punches and kicks. Conversely, the Tamer, from Haemo island has a loyal divine beast to help her in battle. The Tamer and Heilang fight together with mighty AOE strikes to their opponents, while still managing to be mobile. This update also adds the leader of the harpies, Karanda. The Queen of the Harpies can be found at Karanda Ridge and is not to be taken lightly. Rabam Skills also come upon hitting level 56. With it, you can combine two skills to create a more powerful ability. Finally, Black Desert on PlayStation 4 is featured within the PlayStation Double Discount event, with 25% off all three game bundles and PS+ members receiving 50% off until November 22.

Bless Unleashed Begins Limited Open Beta: 5:52

Bless Unleashed, the Xbox One exclusive MMORPG has begun its limited time open beta this week! This test will run from today until November 21st, 2019 and will offer an in-depth look at the game before it launches in 2020. This test is also to ensure server stability and gather more feedback on how the game has shaped up so far. The world of Lumios awaits, with challenges that net great rewards. The Bless Unleashed Open Beta team wants to show off just what players have in store. The level cap for this test has gone up to level 30, and those who participate and return in 2020 will receive an exclusive title, “Breaker of Games”. Those players will also receive a 7-Day Valor Perk bonus, that grants in-game currency as well as XP Boosts. This is your chance to see how far Bless Unleashed has come, and help shape it for the future. Don’t miss out on Bless Unleashed’s Open Beta!

Path of Exile: ExileCon Approaches With Major News: 6:41

ExileCon, Path of Exile‘s major convention, takes place on November 16 and 17 in Auckland, New Zealand, and Grinding Gear Games is planning two major announcements. First players will be introduced to the 3.9.0 Expansion, which will include not only a new League, but new features and items, along with a rebalancing for bows. 3.9.0 is expected to launch on December 7, 2019. GGG will also reveal the 4.0.0 Mega-Expansion, which will be on scale with the Fall of Oriath expansion from August 2017. This will be another major addition of content for Path of Exile, so it’s well worth finding out about! Full announcements, keynotes, and more can be watched for free on the Path of Exile Twitch channel and other partner sites. There’s no doubt you’re gonna want to check it all out.

Paladins – Raum, Rage of the Abyss Trailer / Damned Frontier Update: 7:33

The latest champion to enter the realm in Paladins, Raum, Rage of the Abyss, is now available as part of the Damned Frontier update! Raum’s main weapon is a gatling gun whose alt fire spins up the gun and consumes no ammo for 3 seconds. He can harvest souls from enemies and gain soul armor for doing so. He has a charge that can knock players up, and his ultimate allows him to send a shockwave out dealing 999 damage to all players hit and stunning them for 1.2 seconds. This update also introduces the WIld West battle pass, with skins for Tyra, Lex, Khan, and Strix. The user interface has received a few buffs as well, with the main champion page in your profile having a filter by role option. There are a ton of other changes and improvements in this update, and if you want to scope them all you should check out the game’s official website linked below.

What to Do This Weekend: 8:20

Dog Duty and Elder Scrolls Online are both free this weekend via Steam, with Elder Scrolls Online being worth a look. Over on the Epic storefront you can grab Nuclear Throne and Ruiner for free, these seem worth a look if you’re into top down action games. Alternatively, there’s a load of stuff you can grab if you’re a Twitch Prime member. First of all they’re offering Double Cross, Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition, Planet Alpha, Sword Legacy: Omen, and Turmoil for free. While you’re there you can also lock down a Harvest Moon weapon skin for Dauntless, 14 day memberships for Runescape and Old Runescape, a League of Legends Teamfight Tactics Twin Legends Egg containing two random Little Legends and a random skin shard, a pair of Infiltrator pants for PUBG Mobile, and 10 Battle Card tickets for King of Fighters. See that, no excuse not to have fun with promos like that out there, so your welcome.