Diablo 3 - PTR 2.4.0 | Set Dungeon | Armor of Akkhan by Desolacer

Diablo 3 - Patch 2.4.0 PTR Preview

We draw ever closer to the Public Test Realm for Patch 2.4.0, and it’s time to take a look at what the next patch for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls has to offer! We recommend you grab a drink, maybe a snack, and get comfy—there are loads of new items, features, and quality of life changes to cover, so let’s get to it!

Please note that this is only a preview. The below information does not reflect all changes available in Patch 2.4.0 and is subject to change. Some images represent works in progress, and may not be representative of the final product.

New Zone: Greyhollow Island

Explore a new stretch of Sanctuary by venturing to Greyhollow Island! This mysterious forested locale is steeped in intrigue, and rumors abound that those who visit are doomed to never return. Brave the wild beasts and supernatural creatures and unravel the mystery behind the tragedies that have occurred here. This new zone is exclusive to Adventure Mode, but be forewarned; the land itself is said to be hungry for blood.

Expanded Areas: The Eternal Woods and Royal Quarters

In addition to an entirely new zone, Adventure Mode will be growing even bigger. We’ve expanded on two existing areas in Sanctuary to give additional variety to bounties and pique the interest of the most stalwart explorers.

We know already what lies beyond the gates of the Ruins of Sescheron, but what’s the land like before it? Take a look over your shoulder and wander the Eternal Woods, an undead-infested boreal forest featuring new events and bounties.

Have you ever wondered what lies beyond the rubble in Leoric’s Manor? In Patch 2.4.0, you’ll no longer need to speculate as the blockade has been cleared and the Royal Quarters are open for exploration! Learn more about the Skeleton King’s living days and discover hidden secrets that are bound to lead to more adventure.



Revamped Set Items

One of our long-standing goals has been to bring more parity across class sets. Patch 2.4.0 is going to be a milestone in this regard, as we’re revamping, revisiting, or revising nearly every one of the 24 class sets in the game. Some will see total overhauls, like Thorns of the Invoker or the Shadow’s Mantle. Others will be getting their power or play style juiced up, like Inna’s Mantra or Firebird’s Finery.

We’ve also completely reworked two existing two-piece jewelry sets and will be adding a two-piece flail and shield set for the Crusader. These are bound to spur an untold number of never explored builds, especially for those of you who’d like to explore the boundaries beyond 6-piece class sets.

The amount of changes headed to each set varies, so keep a close eye out for our upcoming PTR patch notes for full details!



New Feature: Set Dungeons

With all these updated sets comes greater power, and, with our latest feature, greater challenge. We want to give players the opportunity to learn and master their sets inside and out. To do this, we’re introducing an entirely new set of challenges in the form of Set Dungeons. Once you complete and don the full six pieces of any given class set, you’ll receive a clue to track down an ancient dungeon designed just for you and your set.

These completely static dungeons are not randomized, and it’s up to you to decide how to best utilize your powers to complete these challenges. Mastering a set dungeon comes with cosmetic rewards unique to each set, but the truly dedicated can earn even more exclusive rewards by mastering all the sets from one class or even all 24 of them!



New Feature: Empowered Rifts

While not everyone is a virtual billionaire, we’ve heard from plenty of players that there just aren’tenough ways to spend your piles of filthy lucre. We agree, and our next feature aims at giving you a way to turn all that gold laying around into a greater chance of glory with Empowered Rifts.

When you enter a Greater Rift, you’ll have the option to choose to make your attempt an Empowered Rift. By spending some of your hard earned gold, you’ll increase the number of possible Legendary Gem upgrades at the end of a successful run by one, to a maximum of four. The amount of gold this will cost you varies based on the tier of Greater Rift you’re attempting, so spend wisely!



New Legendaries

It wouldn’t be a new content patch in Diablo without a slew of new items. In addition to the numerous Set revisions being made, we’re adding over forty new Legendary powers in Patch 2.4.0. We’re adding new powers to existing power-less Legendaries, introducing completely new items, and even updating some existing powers that previously lacked that familiar orange text. We couldn’t possibly cover them all here, but enjoy this tiny taste of what’s to come!



Revised Buff UI

When Kanai’s Cube was added in Patch 2.3.0, we knew we were opening up a level of power to all players that was completely unprecedented. With all these crazy new levels of power came an overburdened buff bar, and we immediately heard your requests to spiff up the user interface for better, clearer communication.

We’ve removed some of the more static buffs from the buff bar area, improving the skill bar to show duration and whether or not a given skill is active. This has cleared up a lot of space from the more precious temporary buff area for each class, and we’re excited to hear your feedback on this huge quality of life addition.



More Stash Space

It’s been a long time request for players to have more room to store their treasures, and we’re pleased to announce the technology has arrived! With all the new stuff we’ve added and the loads more that are headed your way, it’s time to give you more storage for all of it.


So much room for activities!

We’re adding an additional gold-purchasable stash tab for all players with the Reaper of Souls expansion. If you’re concerned that’s not enough, don’t worry—we’re also adding a way for players to earn additional Stash tabs, up to a maximum of 10, through our Season Journey feature.

Stash space works differently for our Console players, so we’ll also be offering comparable new space on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms. You’ll be able to purchase up to 350 item slots using gold.



Season Journey Revisions

Seasonal players have spent Season 4 getting to know the Season Journey, a feature that details your adventure through any given Season, tailored for different styles of gameplay at every level. We’ve got some revisions headed to the Season Journey that are bound to make Seasons as a whole an adventure you’ll always want to re-explore.

We heard a lot of your feedback when it came to Seasons, so first up is a change that includes our non-Seasonal players: starting with Season 5, we will no longer be including new Seasonal Legendaries. Instead, all Legendary items headed to Patch 2.4.0 will be made immediately available to players regardless of Season participation.

However, we still want there to be item-based rewards as part of the Season experience. We’ve introduced Haedrig’s Gift, a special bundle of Set items you’ll receive on completion of certain stages of the Season Journey. Should you complete the first four chapters of the Season Journey, you’ll be guaranteed a full set of one of your six piece class sets. Which set applies to the Season will rotate with each new Season, so you’ll have plenty of opportunity to collect them all.

We’ll also be continuing to include cosmetic rewards, like banners and portrait frames, so don’t worry—there are plenty more of those to come!



Season Rebirth

Sometimes, when you finish a Season, you just can’t wait to jump straight into the next one. We wanted to introduce a way for players to transition from Season to Season quickly and seamlessly, avoiding the tedium of the end-of-Season purge. The Season Rebirth option does just this, taking a non-Seasonal hero, reducing them to level 1, and stripping all their gear. Any gear removed from a hero in this way is automatically mailed to you in the non-Season, giving you thirty days to reclaim the items at a later time.

This change allows you to participate in a Season while keeping you’re hero’s name and hours played. This is a great option for when you’ve grown particularly fond of a hero and want to keep their legacy going or if you just want to jump straight into the newest Season. Bear in mind that your Paragon level, completed achievements, and other accomplishments all remain behind with your non-Seasonal heroes.



New to PC: Action Combat

Players who have challenged Diablo on console may be familiar with this upcoming feature to PC and Mac. While you may already be familiar with Massacre and Destruction bonuses, these kill-and-destroy streaks function quite differently in the Action Combat system.

Massacre bonuses begin once you’ve killed at least fifteen or more enemies, and as you kill more, you’ll see this new bar accompanied with a timer that indicates how long you have to engage another enemy before you trigger your bonus. Completing a Massacre bonus gives you a boost to experience gained—the more monsters you kill, the higher the bonus.

Destruction bonuses occur when you chain demolishing destructible environment objects in the world around you, including barrels, stalactites, flimsy wooden doors, and more. Chaining together this wreckage will grant you a temporary boost to speed that will last longer the higher your chain reaches.

Finally, you can receive the Trap Mastery buff by defeating enemies through the clever use of environmental traps. This handy buff lasts longer based on the number of enemies defeated and grants you double resource generation for its duration.

The Action Combat feature will be available to all Diablo III players, regardless of whether you have upgraded to the Reaper of Souls expansion.



And So Much More…

Patch 2.4.0 is a monstrous patch, packed to the brim with not only features we’ve seen requests for, but our own love letters to a game we have poured our hearts into and love dearly. We’re so eager to share all of this and more with you that we are aiming to launch the Patch 2.4.0 PTR in the weeks following BlizzCon so you can dive in and provide your feedback on all these new features.

We’ll have more information on how to participate on the PTR soon, nephalem, but in the meantime—we’ll see you in Sanctuary!

SOURCE

World of Warcraft - Patch 6.2.3 Preview

Patch 6.2.3 will be making its way onto the PTR soon, and we wanted to provide you with some insights on what it has in store.

We’ve made no secret of our desire to expand the role and importance of dungeons in World of Warcraft as we move full speed ahead toward Legion. We look forward to sharing more of our plans in that regard during BlizzCon 2015 next month. At the same time, we’ve heard from many players that they wanted more reasons to run dungeons in Warlords, so we’re pleased to announce this small patch, which is focused on reinforcing the reward systems around our existing dungeons as well as expanding the scope of the Timewalking feature that we introduced in patch 6.2.

Timewalk With Me: New Timewalking Dungeons

Get ready to go back in time to experience  six iconic dungeons from Cataclysm with this new Timewalking bonus event. You’ll be able to face the foes within Grim Batol, Stonecore, Lost City of Tol’vir, The Vortex Pinnacle, Throne of Tides, and End Time once more and reap the treasures within.

To round out our Timewalking journey, we’ll also be adding the Pit of Saron to the Wrath of the Lich King Timewalking bonus event and the Magister’s Terrace to the Burning Crusade Timewalking bonus event.

Lest we forget, there’s just one more bit of news that’s bound to draw you into the vortex to do a little Timewalking. Players will now have a chance to loot a rare Infinite Timereaver mount from any Timewalking boss.

Developer Insights
One of the most common requests we’ve heard ever since introducing Timewalking was for there to be some way to obtain an Infinite Dragonflight mount, since it’d fit perfectly with the theme of time manipulation, aside from being just plain cool-looking. We agree. Inspired by Murozond, the final boss of the End Time dungeon that is included in the Cataclysm Timewalking rotation, the Infinite Timereaver will be a rare drop from any dungeon boss during all of the Timewalking events.

Cross-Realm Mythic Raiding

With the patch we’ll also be introducing Cross-Realm Mythic Raiding. You’ll now be able to join with friends, fill that one last spot, or have an easier time recruiting to backfill missing raid slots, allowing you to take on some of the most difficult encounters in Warlords of Draenor.

Valor for the Valorous

With the patch we’ll be bringing back Valor as a currency. You’ll will be able earn Valor once more by taking part in Heroic and Mythic Dungeons, from various Bonus Events, and via the first run through Raid Finder each week. To upgrade, visit your friendly neighborhood ethereal to upgrade gear up to five item levels at a time, up to two times per piece of gear.

Developer Insights
Dungeon content shines when its difficulty is appropriate to players’ power level, so Mythic dungeons will be the most lucrative source of Valor for players who have items from Tanaan or Hellfire Citadel. For those who are still gearing up to tackle Mythic dungeons, or who prefer to use queued matchmaking, Raid Finder wings and the first Heroic dungeon each day will also provide Valor, as will most of Seer Kazal’s weekly event quests. Ethereal Voidbinders have made their way through time and space to Stormshield and Warspear, as well as returning to Orgrimmar and Stormwind, to allow players to use this Valor to upgrade their gear by up to 10 item levels. We decided to go with item upgrades rather than a Valor vendor because item upgrades offer power that complements items from other sources rather than competing with them. 

Gift of the Grove Warden

Soon, players who dare to face the fearsome might of Archimonde will receive an added bonus. For a limited time, defeating Archimonde on Heroic difficulty or higher will reward players with a mysterious fragment of dark power that begins a quest. When you bring this fragment to the druids of Moonglade, you’ll learn a little more about what’s in store for Azeroth, and the druids will give you a majestic Grove Warden mount in thanks for your efforts. This quest won’t be available forever—our current plan is to retire the quest in an update some time before Legion’s launch, so grab some friends and head to Hellfire Citadel while you can.

More Bigger Better: Item Rewards

We’re expanding the range of item quality for players within Mythic Dungeons and Tanaan Jungle. Players who take part in Mythic Dungeons will have a chance to gain items up to item level 725, and players who receive Baleful items will now have a chance to gain items up to item level 695. Players in Mythic Dungeons will also now have a chance to loot a new Heirloom Trinket that will scale to level 110.

 Developer Insights
Running a dungeon is a bit more exciting when there’s a chance you might get a direct item upgrade, versus simply earning a predictable amount of currency per run. Thus, we’re also expanding the power of Warforged items in Mythic dungeons—rather than a static +20 item level bonus when a Mythic dungeon item is Warforged, there will be a chance for even greater increases in power. The very luckiest players might even obtain item level 725 versions of the dungeon drops, with increasingly better odds of 720, 715, and so forth, fully spanning the range from 685 to 725 in five item-level increments. We’re also applying this system to Baleful items from Tanaan itself, which can now range in quality from item level 655 all the way to 695. Raiding, crafting, and PvP will remain the most reliable sources of the best gear available, but we’d like to create the chance for surprise when you’re adventuring out in the world or in dungeons.

Arena Season 3

We’re also preparing to end Warlords Arena Season 2 and transition to Warlords Arena Season 3. We’ll have more details to share on this transition between seasons and the distribution of rewards in the near future.

Developer Insights:
With Arena Season 3 we’ll be introducing new gear, including Warmongering Aspirant gear at PvP item level 715, Warmongering Combatant gear at 730, and Warmongering Gladiator gear at 740.
Make sure you keep an eye out for the complete patch, 6.2.3 notes and we’ll look forward to seeing you on the Public Test Realm.

SOURCE

Heroes of the Storm - New Battleground \ Infernal Shrines

he Eternal Conflict rages on in our newest Heroes of the Storm Battleground! Infernal Shrines is a three-lane Battleground on which teams compete to call forth a massive Punisher that hunts down the opposing team’s Heroes.
For more on Heroes:
Website - http://heroesofthestorm.com
Twitter - http://twitter.com/blizzheroes
Facebook - http://facebook.com/blizzheroes

Subscribe to our YouTube channel:
http://www.YouTube.com/user/BlizzHero...

Heroes of the Storm - Next Hero (The monk) was leaked in Korea

Karajim(the monk) trailer was leaked in Korea. But it was quickly removed

Probably it will be announce at gamescom

Edit: i don't know correct english spelling of the monk name. probably there could be 'Karazim' or 'Kharzeem', 'Kharajim'

SOURCE

Overwatch - Reaper Gameplay Preview

Reaper Gameplay Preview

Where Reaper appears, death quickly follows in this complete, unedited match from an early version of Overwatch, captured in 60fps on PC. Here, Reaper plays on the attacking team in the Temple of Anubis, a Point Capture map located on the enigmatic Giza Plateau.

Learn more about Reaper: http://blizz.ly/MeetReaper
Sign Up for Beta: http://bit.ly/JoinOverwatch
Like Us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/playoverwatch
Follow Us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/playoverwatch

Hearthstone - New Curse of Naxxramas Warlock Card "Voidcaller"

"So many possibilities…” Put the Warlock's Voidcaller on speed dial in Curse of Naxxramas this summer! pic.twitter.com/SGardWzFyx

Source:https://twitter.com/PlayHearthstone

Google Chromecast: Does It Deserve a Place In Your Living Room?

Last week, Google unveiled the Chromecast: a $35 HDMI stick that can stream content directly to your TV. It sold out nearly immediately due to the low price, but can it replace other streaming devices like the Roku or Apple TV?


How it works: The Chromecast has a dead simple setup process, all things considered. For instance, you don't have any remote control. You need a smartphone, tablet, or PC to use it. In any other situation, this would cause some set up problems for a device with no native input.

Fortunately, the Chromecast pairs directly with your control device for the initial setup. It sends you to a webpage where you'll either download an app or browser extension to conduct the initial pairing. Once you've entered your Wi-Fi password, though, it just sits on your network waiting for you to send something to the big screen.

How it's different: The Roku, Apple TV and similar devices provide a set up process nearly as simple as the Chromecast. It's easy enough to enter Wi-Fi information, although other boxes typically require you to sign in to your various accounts to stream content. The Chromecast doesn't ask for any account info because you're already logged in to the apps you're using on the remote device. In that sense, the Chromecast is a little nicer. However, logging in to accounts is also a problem you'll only deal with once on boxes like the Roku. In my own experience, setting up the Chromecast was simple. However, others (including our own Adam Dachis) have reported some difficulty getting it to work while using both a Mac and a Nexus 7. Your mileage may vary.

The Supported Apps Are Great, Especially YouTube

How it works: Once you have everything set up, any connected device in the house can send videos to the TV. Users don't have to log in, enter any code, or join a group. Once your Chromecast is on the Wi-Fi network, every device on that network is effectively a remote.

If you're using a supported app, it works great. Right now, the Chromecast only officially works with Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Music and Movies. These apps have a button in the Action Bar that will connect to the Chromecast and allow you to start streaming content. It doesn't actually transfer video from your device to the TV, though. If it's available via a server, the Chromecast will elect to get it straight from the source directly, which aids performance.

Most of the apps work just fine, but YouTube especially shines. Multiple users can connect to the Chromecast (though it will interrupt a video if you are watching as they join). Each person can play and pause the stream as well as add videos to the active playlist. This highlights a distinct potential advantage of Chromecast. Remotes aren't just remotes. They're interactive mini-apps within the main apps themselves. If developers can leverage this, the Chromecast could offer much more than the typical set-top box. Unfortunately, only YouTube takes advantage of this extended capability.

How it's different: Other boxes typically have some form of app support. However, utilizing smartphones and tablets offers a lot of flexibility. YouTube brings some distinct advantages with the group playlist functionality, but beyond that, most set top boxes will still be better for now, if for no other reason than because they have more services.

Hulu, HBO GO, ESPN, and a variety of other popular apps are completely unavailable, except by screensharing a browser tab.

Browser Streaming Is Not As Good

How it works: When Google can't quite build an ecosystem from scratch, the company has a habit of offering a complex workaround that technically covers the empty bases but isn't the best experience. This is what the browser streaming feature does. For starters, you can't use your phone to stream a browser tab. Mobile devices don't have the ability to stream anything to the Chromecast if an app doesn't have the functionality built-in.

The result is that laptops have an entirely different experience with the Chromecast. YouTube sharing via the site doesn't have the same group playlist functionality as using the apps. You can stream anything that Chrome can see, but it can get jittery if your Wi-Fi connection isn't that strong. If your connection slows or hiccups, the tab casting can't buffer, so your video will just skip over a portion. As long as your connection is solid, it's fine, but if not, the video can get unusable.

It's also not ideal for watching videos on the couch. Forgoing the remote control can kind of work when you're replacing it with a phone or tablet, but a laptop is big, clunky, and not designed to be a handheld controller for something else. If you're comfortable with that, then it's great, but it's overly cumbersome.

Also, one note on playing local files: you can do it. Sort of. By opening a local video in Chrome and casting that tab, you can stream files you've downloaded to your TV. However, this is less than ideal. This also means that you're essentially watching a video of a video. This can result in a loss of quality. For a YouTube clip, that's not the worst thing. For that 1080p Blu-Ray rip you made, it's borderline painful.

How it's different: The Chromecast's solution is a stopgap. Google has made the SDK available for developers to plug into the Chromecast directly, but until they do (assuming many will), tab casting fills the void. For streaming content that's not available via an app, you have to pull out a laptop. This means that the remote that you're going to need will be dictated by which service you use to watch a particular video. Local file playback is similarly up in the air. In most cases, it may just be simpler to plug your laptop directly into the TV. Except, that defeats the point of most set-top boxes: to make things easier. HTPCs have their purpose, but if you want something like the Chromecast to begin with, chances are this isn't going to be very satisfying for regular use.

The Chromecast Is Worth Exactly What it Costs

Ultimately, the Chromecast has a lot of potential. It's not quite Google's version of Airplay. Services that support native playback are actually using lightweight HTML5 apps and streaming content directly from servers. Flinging a video from your iPod to the Chromecast isn't quite in the cards yet.

However, getting Netflix and YouTube is worth $35, if you can't already play them on your TV some other way. Additionally, Google Play is actually a pretty great service. On average, movie rentals from Play Movies are slightly cheaper than Amazon, and Play Music is actually a pretty great subscription option. Until Google gets its apps on to other devices, the Chromecast is the best way to get their content on to your TV if you don't have an HTPC connected directly.

However, the Chromecast is unlikely to dethrone any particular streaming box in its current form. We can collectively check back in a year or so to see if developers pick up the platform, but for the moment it needs more proper app support to gain any real ground. That being said, Google has it priced perfectly.

Source: http://lifehacker.com

All the New Stuff in Windows 8.1

Microsoft showed off an in-depth look at Windows 8.1 today, and released a preview for everyone to try out. Here are all the new features you'll find in the next version of Windows.

We've seen most of these features in Microsoft's "first look" video (embedded above), but today they gave us a closer look at all the new features in 8.1. Most of the new features are specific to Windows' tiled "Modern" interface, but there are one or two updates for desktop users as well. Here's what you'll see.

Better Organization and Customization on the Start Screen

The Start screen has a few improvements. You get two new tile sizes: one small square one and one large one, so you can configure the Start screen a bit more like Windows Phone 8. You can also select multiple tiles and put them into a named group, and swipe up gesture for the "All Apps" view. The All Apps view has a few new organization methods, too—you can view them by category, most used, and date installed, not just alphabetical.

The new Start screen has more colors to choose from, and you can even put your desktop wallpaper behind the Start screen as well. You can also turn the lock screen into a photo slideshow, sourced from your PC or SkyDrive. While you're on the lock screen, you can launch the camera or answer Skype calls without logging in.

More Powerful Multitasking

One of Windows 8's coolest features is the side-by-side window snapping, and Microsoft has made a big improvement to this feature: now you can resize those snapped windows however you want. Before, you could only have Windows split 50/50, or into thirds. Now, you can actually drag the slider to make each app take up as much or as little space as you want.

Furthermore, you can have more than two apps or windows on-screen at once—in fact, you can have up to four, as long as your monitor is big enough (Engadget reports that the Surface Pro is still limited to two). You can also move them between monitors, if you have more than one.

Improvements to the Windows Store and Built-In Apps

Windows 8.1 also comes with some handy improvements to the Windows Store and its built-in apps. The whole store has been given a facelift, and it will now automatically update your apps unless you're on a metered connection. Internet Explorer 11 now has unlimited tabs, the camera has a panorama feature, and the new Mail app will have a "sweep" feature that deletes multiple emails of the same type (e.g. newsletters). All apps are supposed to be faster, and push notifications are easier for developers to implement, so hopefully more apps will support them.

Microsoft has also made a big update to search in 8.1 If you open the search charm, you'll see that all your search results are grouped into one place: no more switching between files, settings, apps, and the web. If you press enter, you'll be taken to a full-screen view of your search results. If Bing understands the person, place, or thing you've searched for, it'll load a full-screen app-like view called "Search Heroes," with intelligent results similar to Google's Knowledge Graph, that offers photos, videos, and relevant facts all in one unified interface.

Laslty, SkyDrive is even more integrated with Windows 8 now, automatically updating with new files in the background (like Dropbox) and staying in sync with all your other devices.

Boot to Desktop and the Return of the Start Button

The desktop didn't get as much love as we would have liked, but there are two features desktop enthusiasts have been asking for: boot to desktop and a Start button.

Boot to desktop does exactly what it sounds like: You can tell Windows 8 to boot straight to the desktop instead of going to the Start screen first.

The Start button won't show you the Start menu from Windows 7; it just brings up the Start screen. It's minor, but nice if you're used to clicking that button in the bottom left-hand corner. As for us, we'll just stick with true Start menu apps like Start8.

They've also added the ability to shut down from the Win+X menu. Just press Win+X or right-click on the Start button and choose Shut Down from the menu. This is much faster than Windows 8's previous method of shutting down, which required you to open the charms menu. Again, if you use a Start menu replacement tool this won't affect you much, but it's nice that they've added it.

All in all, it's a good update if you're using Windows 8 on a touch-enabled device, but desktop users probably won't find anything too exciting in this update—after all, if you wanted the Start menu back, you probably have it already. 

Source: http://lifehacker.com