As World of Warcraft prepares for its next big expansion, Warlords of Draenor, the team over at Blizzard is giving new players a chance to jump into the world of Azeroth for free until September 26th with the Standard edition of the game, along with its expansions up to Cataclysm, unlocked.
Diablo III Patch 2.1 went live yesterday at about 6:00pm PDT and with it came a plethora of additional content, features, changes and most importantly–bags of new and shiny loot!
Yesterday, legendary heroes clashed on the fields of the Nexus as Blizzard's upcoming MOBA, Heroes of the Storm, began its Tech Alpha testing phase. In order to help players who are just getting into Heroes get accustomed to the early stages of the game, the team released a "Tech Alpha Walkthrough" video that shows off the tutorial, quests and other important key features that will help you become a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.
The time is finally approaching! Today Blizzard Entertainment announced that the Technical Alpha for its upcoming MOBA, Heroes Of The Storm, would soon be on its way and a select number of players would be invited to partake in the testing. Get ready to enter the Nexus!
Talk Azeroth Episode 25 is here! This week join the lovely Olivia D. Grace as she covers the latest Blizzard investor call, the announced World Of Warcraft patch 5.4.7 and goes over all of your PvE and PvP questions straight from Azeroth. For one lucky winner she also has the Alterac Brew Pup to give away towards the end of the show, so stay tuned!
Multiple anonymous sources announced to onGamers that a large portion of the Blizzard Entertainment employees operating out Blizzard's San Francisco office have been laid off, including many of the former IGN Pro League.
Meanwhile, a Blizzard representative told onGamers that what was happening was teams consolidation between the Irvine and San Fransisco offices.
"Actually, what’s happening is we’ve had separate teams doing similar functions in our San Francisco and Irvine offices. So we’ve identified opportunities to consolidate the teams where it made sense and we have about 10-15 people in San Francisco we’d like to relocate to Irvine. The rest of the employees will remain in our San Francisco office. As a result of these changes, regrettably, David Ting has decided to embark on a new opportunity. He will remain with Blizzard for a number of months to oversee the transition while consulting on various projects."
General Manager and Senior Vice President, eSports at IGN Entertainment David Ting, Head of Online Publishing for Blizzard, first announced as having been fired, took this opportunity to move on and published the following statement:
"Due to the relocation of major portions of the SF team to Irvine, I have decided it is time for me to pursue other opportunities within the Bay Area. I will be staying with Blizzard for a period of time to help with the transition as well as continue working on a few corporate initiatives. I have enjoyed my time at Blizzard as an employee and as an avid player of their games, and look forward to more exciting games to come."
Kevin Knocke, Manager of Online Broadcasting, later tweeted that he was still employed at Blizzard.
In addition to those let go from online publishing and broadcasting, sources note the entire video department in the office was also laid off. onGamers was able to confirm that the following employees had been kept:
UPDATE: It's official, the Hearthstone open beta has begun!
Multiple users on Reddit (including two of our writers) are reporting access to the Hearthstone beta without a much sought-after key or invite through Blizzard’s Battle.net desktop application.
The news comes on the heels of what was purported to be the final patch before the open beta for the wildly popular card game, which would open the floodgates for anyone wishing to play. The official site now acknowledges the open beta launch and many users are reporting access as of today through the desktop application.
Remember to check out our sister site, Hearthhead, for all your Hearthstone needs!
Ian Nowakowski
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