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Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Confirmed To Be a World Hopping Adventure


Posted on March 23, 2019 by Rae Michelle Richards

Last night Final Fantasy XIV: Online Producer & Director Naoki Yoshida took to the main stage in front of 15,000 in-person attendees and the world via livestream to reveal even more information about the MMO’s third expansion, Shadowbringers. Confirmed during the 90 minute presentation were the location for the expansion, the highly rumoured Dancer job, several major cities to be featured in Shadowbringers, not one but two playable races and finally the theme for the 8-person end game raids.

A World Flooded By Light: The First Shard

Future Warriors of Darkness will be headed to a region known as Novrandt but that players will better know as the First Shard, the reflection of Hydaelym where Heavenwards Warriors of Darkness came from. It is a world of perpetual daylight, where “the sun” never sets due to the overwhelming imbalance of the Light aspect Aether that has enveloped Novarandt.  During the MSQ we’ll have to restore the aetherial balance, welcome Darkness back to the First Shard and bring night upon the Shard for the first time in who knows how long.

Now that we know that The First is where our characters will land in 5.0, it also confirms that the previously revealed zones of Il Mheg, The Rak’tika Greatwood and Amh Araeng are not on the Source world where the Warrior of Light originates. Yesterday’s KeyNote address revealed an additional area called “Lakeland” which is where our adventures on The First Shard will begin. If you’re looking at the architecture featured within the city screenshots in this article and feel that they are familiar, don’t be alarmed, the designs take a lot of influence from previously revealed FFXIV concept videos and even the original 1.0 release!

Civilization within The First Shard is nothing like that of Hydaelyn. Facing the pressure of a looming Calamity of Light that could wipe out the entire Shard, the people of The First struggle to survive within two large city states that act as their last bastion.

Known city locations include:

The Crystarium – Home to the First Shard’s Crystal Tower, The Crystarium takes a lot of design cues from a 2005 tech demo called “Rapture” and 1.0 Limsa. Surprisingly, this area was also featured a piece of concept art released for the Red Mage job in 2017.

Eulmore – An alternate version Ul Dah, this brightly coloured purple & yellow city houses the affluent and politically powerful who are sheltered from the horrors of the Calamity of Light while the majority of the population live in shambles outside of the city.

New Job – Dancer

Previous leaks pointed to Dancer being the new job revealed for Shadowbringers and this turned out to be 100% correct. While many in the community expected Dancer to be a healer, similar to how they were in Final Fantasy XI, given XIV’s delicate healer balance and how gameplay mechanics for the role alternate between shielding / healing, it does make more sense for Dancer to be a DPS. Dancer will join Bard and Machinist in the category of Ranged DPS, it will utilize “throwing weapons” and like the previously revealed GunBreaker will start at level 60.

Raid Series: “Eden”

A new raid series was announced for the expected 8 person raids that are one of the key features of the “even numbered” patches (5.0, 5.2, 5.4). Previously we ‘ve got raids for The Binding Coil of Bahamut, Alexander and The Bend of Time: Omega and now we’ll be visiting “The Garden of Hope: Eden”. Right now we don’t have much to go on in terms of tangible story details or even the bosses that we will be encountering. It was revealed that guest creator Testsuya Nomura (Final Fantasy VII:R, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Kingdom Hearts) will be designing an original character for the Eden series of raids alongside the monster designs.

As for Gaia (Nomura’s character) – well she has a very intricate outfit (as to be expected of Nomura), that I instantly want as a glamour, and weilds a really big hammer.  As fellow FFXIV players know – there isn’t a “hammer job” within XIV currently, nor has one been announced. The closest we’ve ever come is the “Magitek Hammer” that villain turned comedy relief Nero Tol Scaeva uses in combat, so chances are we won’t be getting a hammer job any time soon.

New Race – Hrothgar

Viera aren’t the only new race that will come with the release of Final Fantasy XIV 5.0: Shadowbringers. Revealed during the Keynote, a new male exclusive race known as the “Hrothgar” will make their presence known across Hydaelyn and beyond. Featuring a large bulky stature, similar in size it appears to the Roegadyn, and with more beastly features than the existing Miqo – the Hrothgar bring a more feral and animal like appearance to the denizens of FFXIV’s world.

It should be noted that the Hrothgar will be gender locked to males only while the bunny-like Viera are locked to female only. Gender locking races is something that the 2010 version of Final Fantasy XIV did with Female Only Miqo and Male Only Roegadyn before Yoshida’s team reversed the decision with the release of A Realm Reborn.

Speaking about the races of Hydaelyn and The First, all of the races that we’ve come to know actually have different names on The First, since both societies have evolved since the split. For example the Hyur are known as the Humes while the Miqo are known as the Mystel. Oh, and the Lalafel are the First Shard’s Dwarves – who are also a Beast Tribe.

My Thoughts

As longtime player of Final Fantasy XIV who started in Patch 2.3 it is always exciting to see where we will be going with the major content updates that expansion launches bring. I am really excited and pleased with the choice of The First Shard as the location for Shadowbringers. All of the zones revealed thus far feature really vibrant colour pallets and oh my gosh – all of those early development and 1.x callbacks within the city designs. I never got to experience the pre-calamity version of Eorzea but FFXIV’s lore, Main Scenario Quests and world is something that has had a huge impact on not just myself but family and friends. My spouse and I always look forward to “patch day” when we have new trails, raids and main story content to make our way through and digest. As a Machinist Main I personally can’t wait wait for the job changes, 4.x MCH really solidified that it’s my favourite role – utilizing turrets, flamethrowers and jumping around feels awesome. I’m personally disappointed with the decision to gender lock the two new races, especially since this is something Yoshida’s team has been working to move away from all the way back in ARR. It won’t personally affect my enjoyment of Shadowbringers since Reka is a Miqo and I’d never use a fantasia on her, but other players being upset about the gender locking is understandable.

Before making our journey to The First Shard several patches are expected between now and the official July 2nd release. 4.56 will launch this coming Tuesday to wrap up the Main Scenario Quests until Shadowbringers launches. 4.57 will bring the “World Visit System” allowing Warriors of Light to visit any world on their datacenters, it will also bring a reshuffle of the North American and European servers – including my home of Balmung.

Further details about Shadowbringers, combat changes, the Dancer job and The First are expected to be revealed later this weekend throughout the Japanese Fanfest and at various Media Tours in North America, Europe and Japan sometime in mid-May 2019.

Reka Ai’a of Balmung


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Hands-On Preview: The Elder Scrolls Online – Summerset Isles Expansion


Posted on May 23, 2018 by Rae Michelle Richards

The total playable area of Tamriel grows larger with the early access release of the Summer Set Isle expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online. Bethesda provided me with a closed beta code which allowed me to venture onto the once closed island belonging to the High Elves. Join me for tales of adventuring and exploration through my first couple hours within this seemingly tranquil island paradise.

As my adventures in Summerset were taking place on a closed testing server I wasn’t able to bring my existing level 45 Nightblade over from the North American region. No access to all of my gold? I can’t use my awesome wolf mount? – these are the thoughts that raced through my mind when presented with the character creation screen but there was an unintended upside to all of this – it allowed me to see how the new player experience differs on the Summerset Isles when compared to the base game or the Morrowind Chapters. 

I quickly drew up a Templar Breton named Melissa Winterhold (haha yeah, I know – I’m REAAAL inventive taking a last name from a settlement in Skyrim. It’s not cannon but *shrug*) and I was on my way to the brand new tutorial area – trapped inside the mind of a horrifying creature! I found myself quickly and organically going from one key gameplay mechanic tutorial to the next. This hazy purple dreamscape does provide waypoint markers for new players but for the most part they are unnecessary. During the tutorial ESO guides you throw using basic spells (if you know any – or abilities in their place) and picking up several pieces of gear before slaying a couple of rooms of ethereal magic spiders. All of this culminates in a final showdown with a larger spider which acts as a sort of medium difficulty single add to test new players against. As I hear a distance voice calling out for me the screen fades to white. One strong criticism I have of the new player experience found in Summerset Isles isn’t found within its writing, mechanics or presentation but the choice of enemy. For someone with arachnophobia this tutorial would be completely unplayable and terrifying – they really could have chosen a better selection of enemies than a large number of arachnids. 

 

Once back in the ‘real world’ Oriandra from the Psijic Order (Summerset Isles brand new class) explained that she was already in the neighbourhood (relatively speaking) and once she felt a dark / powerful presence she had to investigate. Members of the Psijic order once served the rulers of Tamriel’s larger provinces before splitting off some time ago. It is also revealed that the order is several centuries – so old that they consider the well-established Mages Guild to be nothing short of a nascent upstart in comparison.  My interaction with Oriandra did not make Melissa a member of their order but it did leave one lasting impression – the Psijic Order deal in very powerful Magick and even they are not strong enough to deal with the dark power of this expansion’s big bad, K’Tora. 

Now that Melissa had most of her starting gear, a few skill points spent on both an offensive spell, a slow spell and a self heal it was time to embark on my first story quest in Summer Set – The Queens Decree. Queen Ayrenn, who some players might remember from her quest chain in Auridon, has decreed that the island of Summerset is now open to the public. It’s not just sell swords, adventurers and thrill seekers who can come partake in the majesty of the isle but also commoners like the many farmers, blacksmiths and others who populate the world of Tamriel. (Side Note: a lot of ‘high fantasy’ uses the trope of regents or nobles as an authority figure that task players with quests. In my opinion, it’s played out and tiresome. Seriously do the people of Tamriel really need to elevate royalty? There’s more commoners than royals #CommunistRevolutionInTamrielNow… seriously). Anyways, there’s a whole host of monstrous beasts that roam the isles and it’s not such a safe place. 

Next up on my quest… to heh, continue the Queen’s Decree quest was a quick meeting with Razum-Dar who some veteran players may remember from the Auridon Quest Chain among others. As an agent of the Queen’s intelligence service Raz always seems to find himself in the thick of things despite his assertions that he is a “simple Khajiit”. Raz informs me that he has seen a pearl that was able to call out to the monstrous wildlife and that rumors about its existence have made their way up the kingdom’s chain of command. Tasking me with gauging the mood of the nearby settlement of Shimmerene, Raz bids me farewell and goes about his other business. 

Ignoring the pleas of the rather determined cat, I decided to put my quest on hold and travel down the eastern shore of Summerset for the next hour or so. I wanted to get a feel for what new ravenous wildlife Zennimax Online had cooked up for players with this expansion. To my surprise and delight, it’s not more spiders or simple re-colors of existing mobs either. Scaled deer like mammals called Indrik’s charge head first into Melissa’s shield. Large crocodile-like reptiles called Welwua swim freely throughout the many eastern lakes and rivers of Summerset. Lastly the fire-breathing Salamanders with their glowing black and yellow bodies stood out to me because of the sheer challenge that they posed. Get two of them together and you’ve got yourself a barbecue… of pain. 

There is so much content to be found within The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset Isles that I couldn’t possibly convey in a single post. Expansions often bring injections of new content, refreshes of older content and a brand new storyline and from what I’ve played so far Summerset Isles ticks off all of these boxes with ease.

Now that Early Access has begun on the retail servers there are so many things to explore – Joining the Psijic Order and completing that quest-line, explore the 7 public Delves, trying to find all of the Abyssal Geysers (which replace the previous Dolmans in this expansion) and of course – learning the new crafting style. 

With so much to do, expect further blog-style diary entries in the near future. 

Bethesda Public Relations provided a preview / review copy of The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset Isles for editorial purposes. It is valued at $39.99 USD. 


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Reminder: Horizon Zero Dawn’s Expansion DLC – The Frozen Wilds – Is Out Today


Posted on November 7, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Just a friendly reminder to all of Aloy’s fans that might read our site that the expansion DLC, Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds is out today on the PlayStation Network. 

The Frozen Wilds offers players a completely new winter to explore, an expansion specific main questline, several side quests, new mechanical monsters and three new weapons. For experienced players who might have completed all of the content offered in the original game, The Frozen Wilds offers a chance to learn more about the Banuk tribe outside of the single tribe encampment found within the main game.  

I thoroughly enjoyed Horizon Zero Dawn when I played it through with my wife this past summer. Aloy is a relatable and fully fleshed out character and as we played I found myself wanting to learn as much as I could about the mysterious machines, our protagonist and the world she lives in. My wife enjoyed the game so much that when she played through the campaign, she told me about bits and pieces of it, and then joined me for a second 100% playthrough so I could see for myself what made Horizon Zero Dawn so special. I have high hopes for The Frozen Wilds when we get around to it. 

Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds is priced at $26.99 CDN, is available on the PlayStation Store and requires the base version of Horizon Zero Dawn to be played, it is not a stand alone expansion.  


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The Elder Scrolls Online: Clockwork City Expansion Now Has A Release Date & Price


Posted on October 11, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Adventurers should be prepared to enter the world of mechanical gears and golden wonders as Bethesda & Zenimax Online Studios have announced that the Clockwork City DLC for The Elder Scrolls Online will be available on PC & Mac on October 23rd.  Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players will receive the add-on two weeks later, on November 7th. 

Players looking to experience the brand new single player content that ESO: Clockwork City has to offer will have a few different options to access the content. Clockwork City can be purchased as a standalone add-on pack through the Crown Store for 2000 crowns (closest IAP 3000 crowns for $39.99 CDN) – this adds the new zone to a players game forever without subscription. Those looking for a more premium package can opt for the Clockwork City Collector’s Bundle which includes the base DLC as well as “Clockwork Skeevaton pet, the Kagouti Fabricant mount, and Five Crown Experience Scrolls” additional items (closest IAP in the Crown Store being 5500 crowns for $49.99 CDN). Clockwork City will also be included as part of an Elder Scrolls Online Plus subscription which retails for $14.99 per month, although subscribers lose access to any unpurchased DLC should they end their subscription. 

A prologue quest leading up to the beginning of Clockwork City – titled “of knives and long shadows” can now be accessed at your local Mage’s Guild.

Here is the official description on how to begin that quest:

“Prominent diviners, scholars, and planar archaeologists are being killed by their own shadows, and it’s up to you to investigate these deadly assaults. To get started, travel to any local Mages Guild headquarters in Tamriel and find the note on a nearby table titled “Order of the Eye Dispatch”. Read the note to receive the quest “Of Knives and Long Shadows” and begin your new adventure.” 

[Source]


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Destiny: Rise Of Iron | REVIEW


Posted on September 29, 2016 by Les Major

New Fallen Splicers

Considering it sounds like Bungie was hoping to have Destiny 2 out by now and Rise of Iron wasn’t originally in the cards, you’d be hard pressed to know it. In this expansion you venture into the plaguelands, a patrol area that overlaps some of the sections of classic Earth patrol with a new snowy theme. Along with the change in the weather comes signs of a vicious battle as well as strands of red vines called Siva, a nanite weapon that is growing out of control.

By this point with Rise of Iron being the fourth Destiny expansion, you pretty much know what you’re in for, but for gamers who haven’t taken the plunge there is quite a bit of content now. The first two expansions gave players quite a bit of running around to do through shorter stories in previous areas. Meanwhile The Taken King was quite a massive third expansion which added a large new play area, an alien ship to explore over Saturn.

Many of these expansions, including Rise of Iron, included strikes and raids. Strikes are missions you complete with a team of three which leads up to a boss battle and tends to have good rewards. Raids can include up to six players and include both puzzles and battles to keep everyone busy. So what really keeps people playing Destiny? We’ve all heard the complaints that it’s a grind and not much content is really added story wise in each expansion.

The snowy intro mission

The experience itself is great! My friend and I finally buckled down and accepted that we’d have to place an awkward personal ad of sorts to find ourselves a group to play with. The raids don’t matchmake for you, nor does some other in game content. So we went online and begged random strangers to come to our rescue so we could run some of the earlier raids we’d missed. In less than twenty four hours we had a group.

It’s really spending time with these guys and running content to get new gear that keeps us playing. We socialize, have a good time, and enjoy the solid gameplay. It’s not exactly the same but in a way Destiny even brings back memories of StarSiege Tribes. You have these amazing double jumps instead of a jetpack and lots of great fire fights. The whole experience is fun and that’s what keeps us coming back and trying to get new gear and goodies to drop from replaying raids or other multiplayer sections.

Really I’m hoping the sequel will grab the MMO style of Destiny and expand it deeply. What I’d really like to see is constant character improvement. Typically when you go back into older areas in Destiny, your character gets scaled down a bit. You’ll still be a beast, but you can’t expect to one shot any old foes. If Borderlands and Destiny had a baby that kept the rewards and leveling coming, it would be a completely addictive experience. More so than what Destiny already is.

Giants Husk shipyard area in the plaguelands

All that aside, the fact remains that what we do have is fun. If you’ve enjoyed Destiny in the past and have people to play with, you’re going to enjoy going through this latest batch of content. Story content does need to be detailed out more and I still dislike that collecting gear unlocks cards to read online. I want everything in my game itself. Give me a reason to visit the Speaker, the leader of the Guardians you play as. Let me filter through a list of his unlocked knowledge and read the text of those cards in game. Or better yet, when the card is about an exotic weapon, let me use my Ghost robot friend to scan the weapon and learn that data from them in my own inventory.

So what do you get in this pack? As mentioned above the plaguelands are an overlapping section outside the wall of the Cosmodrome on Earth. You can wander back into familiar areas and see what they’re like all battle scarred and Siva covered, but the new content holds up as well. From a destroyed shipyard with a massive tanker that seems split in two like the wall of a collapsed apartment building baring it’s rooms to the outside world, to more factory like complexes to wander through while having fire fights with upgraded Fallen warriors. The new enemy type are called Splicers which are basically cybernetically enhanced Fallen. They come with a new Shank as well, a flying robot enemy, which is electrically charged to explode when it gets too close. This comes as a disadvantage to them however since they can be destroyed to take out nearby regular Shanks as well.

More Splicer action

The main story mission is fun as well, even though it’s sadly only two hours long. There is still more content on top of that though. Like quests to find new guns which do include spoken dialogue and story bits along the way, so saying the story really ends after two hours isn’t entirely true. Plus there is the strike, the new raid, and patrolling that new plagueland area. There’s also a new social area in the cold mountains where you’ll find the temple of the Iron Lords.

In short, it’s more Destiny. Somehow Rise of Iron jumps that hurdle of feeling like the same old thing and creates a familiar nostalgia that becomes an enjoyable experience. Fighting familiar enemies isn’t a rehash anymore, it’s your part of the war against the darkness. Exploring old content with new visuals isn’t a slog through reused assets, it’s a fun experience with new collectibles to find. If you’re still playing Destiny, you’re getting more of what you enjoy already. You’ve got your friends online to enjoy it with, and you want to take an evening off and go find more gear with those people.

The new social area

Plus who knows what new events will be waiting for us! Will Sparrow League Racing make a return? What will the new Iron Banner be like when that relaunches? So is Rise of Iron worth the admission price? Well I’ve already spent more time on it than I probably should have, so I think that speaks to it’s value right there. It’s more of what you enjoy with new stuff to discover.


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Cities Skylines: Natural Disasters Expansion Gets New Screenshots


Posted on September 14, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Paradox interactive has released eight new screenshots for the upcoming Cities Skylines: Natural Disasters expansion that was originally announced a few months back. These new screenshots show us the devastation of a comet impact, an fireball from the distance, close-ups of several cities on fire and other catastrophic events.

Are you looking forward to this expansion? Cities: Skylines has seen two other expansions ‘After Dark’ and ‘Snowfall’, outside of brief “2017” release date details about Cities Skylines: Natural Disasters is pretty scant. Here is a lost of features courtesy of the publisher:

  • Deep, Impactful Gameplay: Keep your city going through the devastation of several possible doomsday scenarios, from towering infernos to the day the sky exploded
  • With Great Power Comes Great Response Abilities: Plan for, and respond to, disasters using early warning systems, countermeasures, and new disaster responses such as helicopters and evacuations – finally, a Paradox game where “Comet Sighted” actually means something
  • Radio Saved the Video Game: Citizens can go Radio Ga-Ga with a new broadcast network, helping to rapidly spread evacuation warnings and emergency alerts – or simply relax to new in-game music stations
  • An Objectively Good Feature: Scenario Mode allows players to design custom game objectives, including custom starting cities, win conditions, time limits, and more – and share scenarios to Steam Workshop

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World of Warcraft: Legion Pre-Launch Patch Impressions Part II


Posted on August 26, 2016 by Tamsin Heineman

So a couple weeks ago I published a story outlining all to be had at the time for the Legion Pre-Launch content. Since then I’ve found a few things I’ve missed, a few things I’ve learned, and what to do with it.

Previously I talked about the scenarios involved. Well, after doing some research I’ve found there are quite a few easter eggs in game items you can pick up before doing the fist quest. So if you have an alt that hasn’t done the scenario for broken shore yet, hold off until you find a hidden vendor sitting in Stormwind Harbor. All you have to do is have the quest for the broken shore, but don’t actually do it yet. Before boarding the boat for the quest outside the dock there is an NPC named Lenny “Fingers” McCoy(Horde side is Fo’Rum the Postmaker by the Draonsh’ar Blockade and Ravika by Bladefury’s docks). This NPC is a vendor that sells a few items including a Lucky Shirt which is the only in game way to obtain the “Fine Cloth Shirt” transmog appearance. (The Horde vendor has hard to get items from patch 5.3 that were since removed from the game, so if you play Horde be sure to grab them).

Taken from screenshots @wowhead.com

Taken from screenshots @wowhead.com

The final hidden item to be found is during the 6th stage of the Broken Shore quest line for the alliance(but can also be picked up during stage 7). There is a coffin looking thing where you can find a “Charred Locket” during the scenario. If you don’t grab it now, it’s gone forever on that toon. When you’re done take the locket to Eastvale Logging Camp in Elwynn forest. There will be an NPC named Alaina Heartsong that will want the locket(at 85,67). Leave and return to the house immediately and you can find the reward item upstairs named “Alaina’s Bonnet”. The Horde cannot loot this, but if you unlock it on alliance side you can transmog it as a Hordie.

Taken from screenshots @wowhead.com

Taken from screenshots @wowhead.com

Another cool item that you can obtain is dropped from the Doomsayers around your main cities that once outed with either a Demon Hunter’s Spectral Sight or an item called “Cursed Vision of Sargeras” that drops in Black Temple, turn into a “Dread Infiltrator”.

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Taken from screenshots @wowhead.com

There are usually LFG groups looking for it that are active right now, so get playing to find it. The item it drops is a neat “Toy” for your collection called a “Pocket Fel Spreader”, but it actually doesn’t do any damage. It applies a fel texture to the ground and objects in its radius and just plain looks really cool instead.

The other half of this is players that end up hearing “Dark Whispers” will eventually gain an action bar which can transform them into a dreadlord to cause all kinds of trouble for other surrounding players by turning them hostile ala mind control. If the players don’t want to do it at the time can just click off the buff. As a Dreadlord you have the abilities to CC a group with a “Hysteria” debuff, vanish to avoid combat, and disguise yourself as a normal player as you’re spreading chaos.

One last note on items which relates to the previous article, is on the Fel Bat Pup. Once bought with Nethershards and learned you can re-crate for later sale, so I suggest buying a few and saving them to sell later for a profit. Just learn the pet, open your log and right click and select “Put in Cage”. Note that you only need to do this if you’ve already right clicked and “learned” that pet and you want to get rid of the extras.

Screenshot taken by Kaylan Heineman, Broken Joysticks

Screenshot taken by Kaylan Heineman, Broken Joysticks

The final thing I want to revisit and discuss is invasions. With a little clever use of  the LFG interface, you can level a character from 1 to 100 in well under a day of constant playing. Once you are in Stage 1 of the invasion at Dun Morogh specifically in Kharanos(though it works elsewhere if people join), make or join an LFG group under custom with Dun in the title (either your own, or a hosted one) including killing the commander. Once it rolls over to stage 3, leave the group and join another by just typing “Dun” in the search bar (or if you’re reset back to stage 1, host your own with Dun in the title for others to find). These stages offer the maximum XP with minimal deaths, as the third stage bosses can be kind of brutal and can easily ruin your nice streak of XP gain. Just keep redoing stages 1 and 2 of the invasion until you are at the desired level. You can do this on toons of any level to boot so if you want to switch mains and level a toon quickly before the expansion this is the time to do it.

Screenshot taken by Kaylan Heineman, Broken Joysticks

Screenshot taken by Kaylan Heineman, Broken Joysticks

I won’t go into the last quests and scenarios until my third part as there’s been little content thus far (but good content nonetheless), which is coming up hopefully right before or right at the date of the launch of Legion. Don’t quote me on that.

I hope you can take what I shared and maximise your fun before the expansion officially launches on August 30th.


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Pillars of Eternity: The White March Part 2 Due Out In January 2016


Posted on November 16, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

The second part of the Pillars of Eternity: The White March expansion pack is set to release this January according to both Paradox Interactive and Obsidian Entertainment.  The White March Part 2 sends players back to the snowy lands of The Eastern Realm where they can complete new quests, reach a new level-cap and much more.

In a very brief press-release Obsidian gave this description of the expansion:

The White March – Part 2 adds new content to the Pillars of Eternity universe, including new quests, new abilities, and a new companion: Meneha, the Barbarian. The expansion also offers players a higher level cap, and the new “Story Time” mode, letting players experience the incredible narrative of Pillars of Eternity at a faster pace. Directed by Josh Sawyer, Game Director of Fallout: New Vegas andPillars of Eternity, The White March – Part 2 features an expertly crafted story from Eric Fenstermaker, lead writer of Pillars of Eternity and the co-writer of South Park: The Stick of Truth, and Carrie Patel, author of the Recoletta series and writer on the original Pillars of Eternity.

A Kickstarter Success Story

Pillars of Eternity began life as a Kickstarter project from Obsidian Entertainment back in September of 2012. Earning over 3.9 million dollars it quickly became one of the largest Kickstarter success stories. The final release of Pillars of Eternity was released this past March with the first expansion Pillars of Eternity: The White March following this past august.


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The Witcher III: Hearts of Stone Trailer Arrives


Posted on October 6, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Adventurers seeking more time with Geralt in The Witcher III are about to have their wish granted with the release of the game’s first expansion, Hearts of Stone, which launches on October 26th. This time around Geralt must recruit a crew of break-in artists, spend a night with some ghoulish creatures all in the name of his quest to defeat the seemingly immortal Olgierd Von Everec.

This trailer does a good job of explaining what is at stake in Hearts of Stone as well as explaining that perhaps Von Everec isn’t a cut-and-dry villain but perhaps more of a cursed man who has no chance of redemption?

Check out the trailer here.

The Witcher III: Hearts of Stone is Rated M so this this trailer is behind an age-gate.

 


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Destiny Expansion II “House of Wolves” Prologue Trailer Released


Posted on April 16, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

The wait for new content for Activision’s Destiny is almost over with the announcement of a May 19th release date on PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360 for the next expansion The House of Wolves. Alongside the release date news the publisher also released a two minute long prologue trailer to get us all hyped up to defend the galaxy once again.

The wait for new content for Activision’s Destiny is almost over with the announcement of a May 19th release date on PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360 for the next expansion The House of Wolves. Alongside the release date news the publisher also released a two minute long prologue trailer to get us all hyped up to defend the galaxy once again.

Data-miners have already begun combing the latest patches to Destiny to try and find out what content will be available to those who purchase House of Wolves. Expected content includes at least three new story missions, one new strike “The Shadow Thief” and three new crucible maps “The Time Keeper”, “Thieves Den” and “Widow’s Court”.

This trailer was released the same day (Monday) as news broke that House of Wolves will not feature a third high level raid. Bungie issued the following statement via their website:

House of Wolves will not have a Raid activity. We didn’t make this decision lightly. Our team has been humbled by the reception of Raids in Destiny and we are creating a new Raid for a release later this year. House of Wolves will have a new cooperative end game activity focused on variety, replayability, and skill – a new battle Arena called The Prison of Elders.

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Destiny Gamers Can Now Explore The Dark Below


Posted on December 11, 2014 by Les Major

Ranging between Earth’s Cosmodrome and The Hellmouth pit on the Moon, Destiny gamers can now purchase Bungie’s first expansion. Don’t be fooled into thinking there’s just a new raid here. Be sure to stop by the Tower after picking up the The Dark Below expansion and talk to newcomer Eris. She’ll have some bounties for you that will unlock new missions.

If you’ve played Destiny on Earth or the Moon recently, you’ve seen increased activity from The Hive foes. This DLC continues that storyline leading into the darkness deep within the moon where the latest raid takes place. What else is in store and what other goodies do you get? Read on for the press release from Activision!Read More


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World Of Warcraft – Warlord Of Draenor Expansion Announced


Posted on November 8, 2013 by Les Major

For the launch of Blizzcon 2013 today, it was revealed that World of Warcraft’s newest expansion would be Warlord of Draenor! I know what you’re thinking, you’ve already been to Outland. However this seems to be the Draenor of the past, focusing on the world rather than a revised Outland. How this time traveling story unravels is still something we’re waiting to hear full details on.

So what does the new expansion hold? Read on to see the animated announcement trailer and some of the details within.Read More


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Rise of The Hutt Cartel Expands The Old Republic


Posted on December 18, 2012 by Rae Michelle Richards

Bioware and Electronic Arts have got a lot of press for the recently released free to play version of the Old Republic. Players in a galaxy far far away can expand their experience for a mere $20, or $10 if they’re a paying monthly subscriber. That doesn’t sound like such a bad deal, whether The Rise of the Hutt Cartel can bring the level of content players expect from a full expansion is unknown Bioware has revealed some details surrounding the add-on.

Rise of the Hutt Cartel brings high level players five new levels to experience with the new level 55 cap. On top of this is new story missions and a planet, Makeb, designed for the game’s most advanced characters. Aside from the new fully voiced story content Bioware haven’t revealed what new features this expansion will bring. Stay tuned for more!

 


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Skyrim’s First DLC – Dawnguard – Arrives This Summer


Posted on May 1, 2012 by Rae Michelle Richards

One of 2011’s finest games, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, will receive its first dose of downloadable content with the release of Dawnguard this summer Bethesda has announced. In a similar fashion to Activision’s Call of Duty DLC the Xbox 360 version of Dawnguard will be a timed exclusive. This means that PC and PS3 players will have to presumably wait a few months before getting their hands on it.

We know little about Dawnguard‘s content at this time. Bethesda’s blog post regarding the expansion contains just a simple teaser image and the promise that more details will be revealed at this year’s E3.Read More


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