Weekly Recap #415 July 17th – Guild Wars 2 Icebrood Saga Continues, Black Manta in Fortnite & More!

JamesBl0nde recaps the MMO gaming news for the week of July 17, 2020! Transcript and timestamps follow.

MapleStory dropped the details on Part 2 of it’s summer updates, Mabinogi just kicked its pet system up a few notches, Hearthstone shows off its new dual class cards and Aquaman isn’t the only denizen of the deep available in Fortnite!

Whats up guys! JamesBl0nde here with the weekly recap for gaming news and announcements for the week of July 17th 2020. And we’ve got a bit of a light weight recap this week but regardless,
 
Guild Wars 2: The Icebrood Saga Jormag Rising Trailer: 0:19

With the summer beating down upon us, why not stay inside and tackle something nice and cold, like the all new Frost Citadel in Guild Wars 2: The Icebrood Saga.  With Jormag Rising, you can look forward to an expanded meta and map, as well as upgraded Waystation masteries, including the amazingly named Medizooka! A new emote, an ice cold infusion, and all new tribute weapons are waiting for you to claim. Looking for some new adventure outside of the chill? Try out the all new Favor of the Spirits! Jormag Rising releases on July 28, 2020.

KurtzPel Aegis Knight Trailer: 1:04

Meanwhile KurtzPel has seen an update with an all new unit, the Aegis Knight.  This physical breaker style uses sword and shield to protect itself from attacks, while counter-attacking to devastating degrees. Those who favor a more defensive style of play will find themselves right at home with this class, and it sure looks frustrating to fight against based on its skills!

EVE Online: Zenith Quadrant 3 Trailer: 1:26

In other news, the final arc of EVE Online’s Invasion storyline has launched with the release of Zenith. Big things are in store for the EVE universe, including a big update to the Abyssal Proving Grounds feature, and the addition of Proving Filaments to New Eden. This latter feature will take players from anywhere in space to an Abyssal Proving Ground to engage in exciting PvP battles. Even more things are in the works for this expansion, so if you’re a fan of the game, you owe it to yourself to stay tuned!

MapleStory Rise: Burning World Trailer: 1:55

For those classic MMO players, MapleStory has revealed details on part two of its summer updates.  Titled Rise: Surge of Power, players can look forward to continuing events set forth in the previous Rise: Promise of the Guardian update. In addition, the Burning World event will begin, and if you’re so inclined, you can create a brand new “Mega Burning” character — up to three, in fact! Every time one of these characters levels up, they actually gain three, all the way up to level 150. Add on to that a variety of perks to encourage faster leveling, and you’ll quickly scorch your way to the top!

Brawlhalla Coming to Mobile Announcement Trailer: 2:33

Love Brawlhalla but wish you could take it with you? Well, soon you can! Coming August 6, Brawlhalla will be available on mobile devices — both iOS and Android will be supported. Best of all, the game will remain completely free-to-play! The mobile versions will come with fully customizable touch screen controls, and will be cross-play compatible across all platforms, thus ensuring you’ll always be able to find a match, be it casual or competitive. Hopefully it will support game controllers so the experience itself will be the same across the platforms as well… can’t imagine why this wouldn’t be the case.

Mabinogi P.E.T. Update Trailer: 3:11

Over in Mabinogi, another update is live, focusing on its new and improved pet system.  Conveniently titled P.E.T., this update offers players a new challenge with training their beloved pets to increase their skills and power. You can sync one pet to another using a process called Fynn Sync. The pet who is Fynn Synced then gets bonuses to its max level, inventory space, and more. All new perks await crafty trainers, such as being able to increase damage and critical chance, or to increase attack speed, or even cause stuns and slows on attacking enemies. This update went live on July 16, so get out there and start training your pets!

Hearthstone: Scholomance Academy Cinematic Trailer: 3:51

In other news, Hearthstone has recently unveiled its newest expansion: Scholomance Academy. Featuring over 130 brand new cards, the expansion also gives a few new features to liven up any Hearthstone game.  First are the new dual class cards, which feature effects from two classes at once, like a rogue card that allows for mage abilities. Spellburst is a new minion mechanic that triggers any time you use a spell card.  This should lead to some very interesting combinations for sure. Finally, we have Studies, which allow you to search for a card in your deck based on the type of card indicated by the study (minion, spell, etc). These also help reduce the cost of said card type once you’ve drawn it. Scholomance Academy launches sometime in August, but pre-purchase is now available.

SMITE Mid-Season Highlights & Avatar Battle Pass: 4:40

If you’re a SMITE fan, you’ll be glad to know that SMITE’s mid-season update has arrived, and it brings with it a very unique collaboration: Avatar, the Last Airbender! The update itself changes some things in the jungle of Conquest mode to bring a bit more balance to the table.  Ratatoskr has also gotten a rework, and Ares looks much more imposing now. The battle pass that accompanies the update will give players access to Zuko, Korra, and Aang for Susano, Skadi, and Merlin, respectively, along with Elite track skins. Of course, other champions get some love in the skin department, with Kukulkan, Khumbhakarna, Raijin, and Izanami all getting new looks. The mid-season update is live now across all platforms.

Fortnite: Black Manta Has Arrived: 5:30

And speaking of skins, If you haven’t gotten the Aquaman challenges done in Fortnite, never fear, those are still ongoing. However, Aquaman isn’t the only denizen of the deep available, as the villainous Black Manta makes his own appearance in the Battle Royale! Unlock him in the shop, as well as replace your pickaxe with the mercenary’s signature Manta Blades and bring the terrors of the deep to your opponents.

As far as deals go, Epic games has got us covered this week with Torchlight II, another good one to pickup for free while it is… Not to mention Epic has some sweet deals on a ton of games right now during its ubisoft forward event. You can pick up some of the farcry games for less than 8 bucks, worth it.

But with that being said, that’s about it for all the major news and announcements for this week. Be sure to stay safe, and keep your families healthy! Like always you can find more information on the news topics, linked in the description below, feel free to discuss the news or even more news in the comments below and don’t forget to like, subscribe, wash your hands a bunch, hit that little bell icon to get notifications and of course share this video! But until next time guys that’s going to be it for me… I’m JamesBl0nde… see ya out there gamers!