Overwatch Game Director Jeff Kaplan has weighed in on a lengthy thread about “smurfing”, the name for when an experienced ranked player buys a second account and plays in low-tier competitive matches. According to Kaplan, smurfing isn’t a big issue with the team, though when a highly skilled player “carries”, or boosts, another player to artificially increase their rating is something the OW team frowns upon.
Diablo 3 – Rumor: Necromancer Testing Leads to Removal from PTR Today
According to Diabloii.Net, the Necromancer will be removed from the Diablo 3 PTR later today. While no specific reason has been given for the class’s removal, it could be in reaction to mixed reception by the current crop of testers.
Lord of the Rings Online – Tomorrow’s Update Paves the Way for Anniversary Celebration
Tomorrow, Lord of the Rings Online servers will be brought down for deployment of the 20.1 update. The patch will bring the Anniversary Scavenger Hunt online in preparation for its start on Thursday, April 20th. Players will need to head to the Party Tree in the Shire to speak with Waldo Rumble to get things started.
– Absolver Beta Registrations Open
The Absolver web site has been updated with a new beta registration page. There is no word on when the beta might begin, but it’s a good sign nonetheless.
– Hardware Review: ZOTAC 10 Year Anniversary Sonix PCIe SSD
This week, we were lucky enough to get our hands on Zotac’s latest solid state drive, the 10 Year Anniversary Sonix 480GB SSD. This edition celebrates 10 years of operation for Zotac and joins their Anniversary Edition GTX 1080 video cards offering refreshed aesthetics, features, and increased performance.
As an NVMe add-in card utilizing the PCI-Express pipeline, we know the drive is faster than your average SATA SSD. Let’s see how it holds up in the real world.
Rift – Trion Partners with Razer in New Rewards Program
Trion Worlds and Razer have announced a partnership to give players incentive to play Rift, Trove, Atlas Reactor, ArcheAge, Devilian or Defiance in order to earn zSilver. This special currency can be earned by launching the games from Razer Cortex which can then be used to purchase Razer products and various discounts.
Heroes of the Storm – Overwatch’s Genji and the Hanamura Map Coming Soon
The fourth Overwatch character is coming to Heroes of the Storm as well as one of its original maps. Genji will be a “difficult” character to play and will utilize his signature shuriken, reflect and dash abilities straight out of Overwatch. In addition, his ultimate will see him use his katana to slice and dice the enemy.
Grim Dawn – Tier 3 Constellations Shine in the Arkovian Skies
The Grim Dawn developers have posted a new article to give players the first look at the Tier 3 constellations that will be heading into the game with the forthcoming expansion. The new star clusters will be centered on the Arkovian gods, each with its own specialty.
Neverwinter – Latest Featured Quest For End-Game Players Detailed
The Neverwinter blog has been updated with a look at the newest Featured Quest called Shroud of Souls. Players will head to the River District to pick up the quest to search for information about wraiths creeping around the area. The quest will take players from there to the Underdark and into a “necrotic plane inhabited by undead”.
Path of Exile – Latest Dev Q&A and a Teaser of Things to Come
This week in Path of Exile, things were humming along on the way to The Fall of Oriath expansion with a nice preview of some of the locations that players will find. In addition, the team published the fourth part of its community Q&A, as well as an in-house interview with Rachael, a member of the Customer Support team. It’s another great week to be an Exile!