Tomas Hernandez is owner of Blizzplanet.com since 2003. I post news about World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard Careers, and the Warcraft film.
Blizzplanet is a leading fansite covering news about upcoming Blizzard Entertainment licensed products. I also post previews and reviews. I have interviewed book writers and Blizzard game developers.
I was previously an employee of the OGaming Network (2003), and IncGamers (2008-2010). I was a guest newsposter for GosuGamers (World of Warcraft) a few years ago and for Diablofans.com (formerly Diablo3.com)
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I reported the first sign that a unannounced project by Scholastic was coming after my visit to the NYCC 2019 Scholastic: Women of AK panel where I asked senior editor Chloe Fabione if there were plans for upcoming products licensed by Blizzard Entertainment.
A few months ago, the front cover of the Overwatch: The Hero of Numbani was revealed during a BlizzCon 2019 panel.
The countdown is approaching its end. Overwatch: The Hero of Numbani by Nicky Drayden is coming on June 2. If you pre-ordered the digital version, it will be sent to your Kindle device or Kindle app that day.
Today, Blizzard Entertainment shared a lengthy book excerpt (below).
Soon the Competitive Open Queue will be removed from the Arcade mode, and a shortened version of the Competitive Open Queue will return some time in mid-June or late-June.
Jeff Kaplan revealed that on early July, when Season 23 starts, they will merge the normal Competitive Open Queue and the Hero Role Queue into the same Competitive Play card. You will be able to queue to any of the two options. Start at 00:01:47.
Jeff: “Very shortly, Competitive Open Queue will come down for a little while. We are going to work very quickly, as quickly as we can, to bring back another shortened Arcade version of Competitive Open Queue that will go live sometime in June.
We are thinking probably mid-June, but don’t hold me exactly to that date. But we’ll have a very short Competitive Season for Open Queue that will probably land in mid-June.
Then, in early July, when Season 23 the normal Competitive Season starts, Competitive Open Queue will now become an official mode that will be supported alongside the Role Queue Competitive queue — if that makes sense.
So what it would look like to you as a player is you go to the Play Menu off of the main menu of Overwatch, you will select the Competitive card. Then underneath the Competitive card will be two options. One will be for the Role Queue which is the official competitive mode that the game will be tuned and balanced around. So that means we’re tuning and balancing around 2/2/2/ compositions.
But alongside of that will also be Competitive Open Queue. It will no longer be an Arcade mode. It will sit side-by-side with Competitive Role Queue. So, expect that with the beginning of Season 23, which should be in early July.”
The fourth anniversary of Overwatch is rapidly approaching. Overwatch launched on May 24, 2016. It is difficult for me to grasp how Blizzard Entertainment has not fixed the most obvious problem in Overwatch — at least for Competitive Play.
The elephant in the room.
OVERWATCH ISN’T HEROES OF THE STORM
A bit blunt on the nose, but Overwatch is not Heroes of the Storm. Blizzard was able to allow the same hero on both teams because the Nexus pulls heroes from alternate universes, and alternate timelines and time periods (past vs present or vs future).
The latest 580MB PTR build (67580) for Patch 1.47 includes all the Echo skins, victory poses, sprays, voicelines, and all the goodies. That means Echo is close to coming to Live servers very soon.
Blizzard Entertainment release a new patch to the Overwatch PTR servers to address several Echo bug fixes, and minor ones for D.va and Tracer. This patch was over 800MB.
Jeff Kaplan introduced Echo in this latest Developer Update and announced that Echo is now on the PTR. He described her abilities and the Ultimate ability.
Echo is definitely going to change how we have been playing Overwatch these past years. She has Flight and glide, she can do boosted damage to players and even Barriers that are 50% health, she can stick bombs, and her Ultimate — like her namesake — duplicates an enemy player’s abilities and Ultimate abilities — and by doing so, her own Ultimate charge grows — meaning that Echo can cast her Ultimate very often.
Just imagine 3 tanks in your team when Echo copies the enemy’s tank. Or duplicating the enemy’s Mercy to have two resurrections in your team. From what Jeff described… it is going to be pandemonium. The transcript has been added below.
A new tweet by the Overwatch account has posted what looks like a new hero teaser, akin to the ones we have seen before for Sigma, Orisa, and other heroes.
This log by Mina Liao gives a very strong vibe that the new hero might be Echo. Better yet… the tab indicates: March 20th. Today is March 16…
> Accessing…
> Fragment Recovered: Personal Log of Dr. Mina Liao
> File status: Complete
The Overwatch lead writer Michael Chu announced via Twitter that he is departing Blizzard Entertainment: “moving on to new adventures!”
He leaves behind a legacy of in-game dialogues and story, cinematics, short stories, comics, and no doubt most of the core stories we will encounter in Overwatch 2, and a few fun BlizzCon panels and Q&As to binge in YouTube.
Razer is selling the Blizzard-licensed Razer Nari Ultimate Overwatch Lucio Edition for PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch and mobile via its 3.5mm and USB connectors. Usually at $229.99, you can get it now for $169.99. That’s $60 or 26% off.
Razer Hypersense Haptic Feedback for Unparalleled Immersion: Provides industry-leading audio realism for intense, in-game immersion and positional accuracy coupled with THX Spatial 7.1 surround sound.
Lightweight & Auto-Adjusting Headband for Extended Gaming Sessions: The Nari Ultimate adapts to the shape of the user’s head for convenient comfort.
Retractable Mic with Audio Adjustment: Tune game/chat balance for the perfect mix of game audio and team communication; also includes a volume adjustment wheel and mic mute button directly on the headset.
Soft Cloth Cushions with Cooling Gel: Reduces heat build-up while providing comfort and sound isolation for hours of comfort.
Compatibility: Wireless connection with PC and PS4. Wired compatibility via 3.5mm cable with PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices
Ultimate Personalization & Gaming Immersion with Razer Chroma: Includes 16.8 million color combinations.
In a strange move, recently Blizzard Entertainment moved the Overwatch League broadcast streaming from Twitch to YouTube.
eSports Observer uncovered through sources familiar with negotiations and contracts that YouTube paid $160 millions to Activision Blizzard for a 3-year media rights deal to stream Overwatch League through YouTube.
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