count-dookuIssue 118: The man we all thought was really immortal, Christopher Lee, passed away on June 7th (his wife wanted to delay the public announcement so his family could be made aware privately). Everyone mostly remembers him for his role in Lord of the Rings and, of course, Star Wars. He also played a pretty frightening Dracula (opposite fellow Star Wars legend, Peter Cushing). He lived a very full and epic life and passed away at 93. RIP my good man.

We are a week away from E3 and I wonder what will happen that will make it exciting since everyone keeps making major announcements before the opening ceremonies. First we heard about Fallout 4 and rumors of a new XBox controller which Microsoft just confirmed along with a 1TB hard drive (to be revealed at E3). My 80’s nerd-child squealed with joy when I heard about the Mega Man Legacy Collection coming soon.

Even Blizzard is unearthing several announcements (as you will read below). In fact, this post seems pretty Blizzard-heavy again but they seem to be the only ones producing MMO news. In fact I think I touched on all of their current titles, but there is other news, including the annual Steam money-sink. KCGO

Diablo III HotS Map

Posted 6.6.15 – Blizzard revealed two new maps coming to Heroes of the Storm based on Diablo III’s High Heavens and Burning Hell from Act 3 of the game. There will also be a new hero added, The Butcher. There are a couple of screen shots (at least that’s what I’m assuming they are) of the new maps and they do look pretty awesome and a lot of fun. Again, I still haven’t really logged in to Heroes of the Storm, mainly because I’m so far behind trying to keep up with the patch content in WoW. (There is a rumor that eventually Overwatch content will be added to HotS.)
Blizzard Watch post

Hearthstone: New Game Mode? [UPDATE]

Posted 6.8.15 – There is a lot of noise on the Internet recently because Blizzard teased that there is a new “game mode” coming to its digital card game, Hearthstone. I haven’t played it since I earned the in-game WoW mount so I don’t really know what the current modes are but it looks like one theory is a tournament mode will be added. Of course Blizzard is being pretty tight lipped about it with only tweeting gifs and loaded statements (typical). UPDATE: The new mode, it turns out, is a PvP mode which they are calling “Tavern Brawl”
Blizzard Watch post | Gamespot

ICYMI: Witcher 3 – Unprecedented Success

Posted 6.9.15 – Have you heard of this little title called The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt? I know its not an MMO, but its an EPIC success! I have a co-worker that was touting this game since E3 last year so I have been keeping a peripheral watch on this game over the past few months. I have never played either of the previous games so I’m a total noob when it comes to this franchise but just reading some of the reviews and articles (like the one below), I’m inclined to check this game out for myself. Have you played it yet? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
polygon article

WoW: Flying Coming to Draenor

Posted 6.10.15 – The fact that Blizzard had said that players will never be able to fly in Draenor has been a controversial topic among the community for a while. Blizzard tried to justify their reasons but it looks like the players were just too relentless, however Blizzard isn’t going to just hand over the proverbial reins. Flying in Draenor isn’t going to be a lump sum transaction again, instead you have to complete quite a few tasks before unlocking it, but once you do, it will be account wide. (It will NOT be in Patch 6.2)
Blizzard Watch post

New Star Wars: Battlefront Image

Posted 6.11.15 – Perhaps one of the most anticipated games coming out later this year is the newest iteration of Star Wars: Battlefront. I still have the original 2-disc Battlefront game which I haven’t played in years. After taking a look at these images, my gaming nerd and Star Wars nerd just had a mutual orgasm. This game looks like its going to be awesome and I can officially admit that I am excited for its release. It looks like the release date is November 17th (about a month before the movie).
GameSpot post | Pre-Order Deluxe Edition

WoW: We’re On A Boat!

Posted 6.11.15 – I know, another thing about Warlords of Draenor, but I couldn’t resist the “I’m on a boat” reference. Apparently in the next patch, a new combat mechanic will be added to the game. Your garrison will be upgraded again, and this time you will have a harbor where your quests have to be completed while on a boat (with your flippy-floppies). The following link provides some details about completing these quests with your “boats and hoes” (couldn’t resist the Step Brothers homage too).
Massively Overpowered post

Hide Your Wallets!

Posted 6.11.15 – I hope your car isn’t in need of serious repair or you had any big house projects lined up because the Steam ‘Monster’ Summer Sale has begun! This is the time of year when all the geeks rejoice and wallets cry. As usual there are some crazy deals, the usual flash deals (which are only available for about 12 hours) and if that doesn’t get you to their site, Valve has “gamified” the shopping experience. The sale ends June 21st. Check out this article because there is an important caveat in the last paragraph.
ars technica post

The MMO Times is a post I put together periodically of different MMO news articles that I think are interesting, fun and/or exciting. If you are interested in receiving these posts in an e-mail please click here to subscribe.