Shaak Ti vs Darth Maul Would Be Epic

Issue 123: Can you believe that the summer months are nearly over and kids will be going back to school soon (which means Trade Chat will simmer down during the daylight hours)?? Where does the time go?? Before you know it Blizzcon will be here and we will all be thinking about candy and turkey. Speaking of Blizzcon, does anyone have any predictions as to what big announcements we will have this year? I am going to throw my guess in; I think the day of open ceremonies will be when they open up the beta testing for Overwatch. I also think there may be a WoW expansion announcement and it wouldn’t surprise me if we saw Blizzard trademark something in the next couple of months which will have us all freaked out just before Blizzcon (which will drive ticket sales).

There are some very interesting stories to show you today (depending on what you have a taste for). Personally the first story you will read about is one of my favorites and one I cannot believe I didn’t read about until SIX days after it was posted! #Fail. On the subject of Star Wars (*hint-hint*), the other piece of surprising news is related to a Star Wars title (and it’s not SWTOR). In fact most of this issues headlines talk about content updates coming to a lot of your favorite games, not to mention the allusive Heathstone announcement Blizzard has been teasing about for a few weeks. KCGO.

Togruta Playable Race In SWTOR!

Posted 7.16.15 – I don’t know why I am finding out about this so late, but apparently in the upcoming SWTOR 3.3 patch a new playable race will be available; the Togruta. Ahsoka_TanoSo for all of those Star Wars newbs out there, the Togruta race is Ahsoka Tano‘s race (whom you may recognize from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and, most recently, Star Wars Rebels). She was also Anakin’s padawan prior to Episode 3 (I don’t know why she wasn’t in the movie – another George Lucas miss). Togruta has got to be one of my favorite races in the Star Wars Universe and the fact that it will be playable makes me really want to get back into that game! I am beyond excited!
Massively Overpowered post

HotS: Check Out King Leoric

Posted 7.21.15 – I still haven’t tried playing Heroes of the Storm but this video of King Leoric in action is pretty cool. I’ll be honest, I’m not familiar with King Leoric or his lore but I think he will be a pretty popular hero to play. As the article states, his movies have a very Diablo III-esque animation and the fact that he can switch between ghost and physical form while in combat seems pretty cool. You should check out the video in the link.
Blizzard Watch post

KOTOR II Gets Huge Patch

Posted 7.21.15 – I bet you read that headline twice thinking “surely it didn’t say KOTOR II”. Yes. Yes it does say that. Knights of the Old Republic II, the game from 2005, whose launch was pretty mired with bugs and glitches, has received an official patch to fix all the issues that ambitious gamers have been trying to patch themselves over the past 10 years. In fact, not only can you download everything to your Windows PC but the game should now run on Linux, MacOS and SteamOS. Of course you now realize that means this patch is available via Steam. I foresee a Steam download in my near future.
ars technica post

GW2: Elementalist’s New Elite Spec

Posted 7.22.15 – If you were (or are) playing an Elementalist in Guild Wars 2, be ready for your new elite spec coming soon. The Tempest will feature all-new shouts that, depending on which element (earth, wind, water, fire) will grant special skills. I’m assuming, if you play GW2, all that makes sense. I tried to speak the nomenclature even though I have never played Guild Wars 2. There are, probably, more esoteric details in the link provided.
Massively Overpowered post

The Big Hearthstone Announcement

Posted 7.22.15 – If you were guessing that the big announcement was a Hearthstone expansion, then you would have been correct. I feel like somewhere I said that I was predicting an adventure pack because Blizzard often saves expansion announcements for bigger media platforms (i.e. Blizzcon). Clearly that was not the case this time, however, it was accurate to assume that the new expansion is based on the Argent Tournament. There will be approximately 132 new cards added to the game and the expansion will cost about $50. Oh, and the name of said expansion … The Grand Tournament, which is slated to be released in August.

Diablo III Patch 2.3 Preview

Posted 7.23.15 – In the last issue I apparently also forgot to mention the next patch coming for Diablo III. Patch 2.3, named Ruins of Sescheron, is coming to Diablo III though I’m not sure when. The important thing though is that there will be a new zone to be mobbed or fight mobs. If you are the latter there will be lots of shinies for you to equip. Massively Overpowered has a video that previews the new content.
Massively Overpowered post

Lara “Cosby’ed” By Microsoft?

Posted 7.23.15 – Is it too soon for Bill Cosby jokes? No? Didn’t think so. If you played the reboot of Tomb Raiderlara-rise-of-tr then you know why I’m talking about this game among MMO headlines. The quality of that game was extraordinary and I’m a little excited to hear that Rise of the Tomb Raider will be out soon … but only for X-Box. It will be exclusive to X-Box One and X-Box 360 until early 2016 when it will be available via Steam. If you own a PS4 … you will have to wait a year. Heck, I’m surprised they are going to release it for the 360.
polygon article (w/video)
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.