Pendulum is one of my favourite artists of all time, and they are masters of their genre. With songs such as ‘Vault’, ‘Still Grey’, ‘Another Planet’, ‘Slam’, ‘Hold Your Colour’ and so forth, they have been rocking genres from drum and bass to breaks, electronic rock and more. With their new album, ‘Immersion’, they’re expanding into new genres, like dubstep and melodic death metal (believe it or not), and they’re doing it with perfection.

When Pendulum released their previous album, ‘In Silico‘, I couldn’t help myself but feel disappointed. Sure, they had some good songs (‘Propane Nightmares’, ‘Different’, ‘Granite’ for example), but overall it was completely lacking compared to their magnum opus ‘Hold Your Colour‘, which I also concider to be the best drum and bass album to be released in the history of music. They were experimenting way too much for my taste, and the whole album sounded like it had been “americanized” (if there are any americans is reading this, don’t take it personal).

One cannot deny, however, that what was started on ‘In Silico’ has been taken to newer hights on ‘Immersion’, and the experimenting and playing around with different styles has turned out good for them.

Anyway, onto the review of the actual album. I’ll review each song individually, and try to point out both the positive and the negative (if any). I know I’m most likely biased, but bear with me.

1. Genesis

Finally, a proper opening again. I found myself missing the prelude on ‘Hold Your Colour’ when ‘In Silico’ was released. It’s not as good as ‘Prelude’, but it’s absolutely a good opening to the album, with a bit of 8-bit sounds mixed in with the rest.

2. Salt In The Wounds

As started on ‘Hold Your Colour’, and continued on ‘In Silico’, ‘Salt In The Wounds’ is this album’s commercial floorshaker. Ever since ‘Slam’ was released, Pendulum have steadily been releasing new songs in the same vein. Neither ‘Blood Sugar’ nor ‘Showdown’ managed to reach the commercial success of ‘Slam’, but ‘Salt In The Wounds’ is as close as you get. It’s not as powerful, nor does it have the epic intro that ‘Slam’ has, but it’s still very good. If I were to point out anything, I’d say that this track is a bit on the long side, spanning over almost 7 minutes, and it gets a bit repetetive. Also, just because ‘Slam’ became really popular, there’s no need to use the same beat in several songs (most of the songs I mentioned above). The breakdown at about 3:40 brings it back up though.

3. Watercolour

The first single released from the album, and I’d call that a good choice. Absolutely one of the more mainstream songs on the album, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good. It’s a bit like ‘Hold Your Colour’ on the album of the same name, with a chill vocal intro and a massive takeoff. This will be played to death on radios this summer, and that’s not a bad thing.

4. Set Me On Fire

Pendulum’s first real take on dubstep, and they’re doing it with excellence. I have to admit, I’m not a big fan of dubstep, but from the few songs I’ve heard by other artists, this is still far superior. A very interesting track.

5. Crush

A solid mix of drum and bass and rock, ‘Crush’ is another great, if a bit mainstream track. Rob Swire has improved his vocal talent greatly, which can be noticed on this track (and on the rest of the album, in fact).  The melody is catchy, the beat is great; all in all, another song that’s surely going to be a radio favourite. It doesn’t stand as much out as other tracks on this album, so it might be overlooked by some, which is a shame.

6. Under The Waves

A bit like ‘Crush’, this is also a very radio friendly track. It’s a bit more laid back though, almost like a version of ‘Midnight Runner’ with vocals. Nothing very special about it, another song that might be overlooked compared to the heavier hitters on the album.

7. Immunize (featuring Liam Howlett from The Prodigy)

This is one of those heavy hitters I was mentioning. Pendulum and Liam Howlett have done a great job on this, mashing together the best from both Pendulum and The Prodigy, a perfect mix of drum and bass and electronic dance music. I’m quite sure this is going to rock some dancefloors during the months to come.

8. The Island Part 1 (Dawn)

This song, and it’s next part, shows how diverse Pendulum’s sound has become. This is something new for them, but I find myself loving this more and more with each listen. A very laid back electronic dance song, with catchy melodies and very good vocals. In my opinion, this is the track that shows how much Rob Swire’s voice has evolved, and what a good move it was for Pendulum to include more singing in some of their tracks. One of my favourites.

9. The Island Part 2 (Dusk)

I have no idea what the hell this is, but it’s awesome. Again, something Pendulum has never done before, but that’s not even noticable. This very much stands out compared to the rest of the album (with one exception, I’m getting to that). This is like the drugged up big brother to ‘The Island Part 1′, and musically the exact opposite aswell. It sounds like if you were to mix breaks/big beats with LSD. It’s a love/hate track though, and I suspect that a lot of hardcore drum and bass fans will turn away from this.

10. Comprachicos

Ending after 2 minutes and 48 seconds, this is the shortest track on the album, which is a shame. It’s a very aggressive drum and bass/jungle track, more in the veins of’ Masochist’ or ‘Axle Grinder’. In this case, the vocals feel unnecessary, and I think the track would’ve been a lot better without them. Also, it includes a  bit too much of the rock influence found on ‘In Silico’ in my opinion. From what I heard on the previews, I had greater expectations for this song, so I’m disappointed that it turned out the way it did. Still, it’s a good song, and should be checked out.

11. The Vulture

I was surprised to find that this was not the collaboration track they had with Liam, but in fact the work of their very own MC, Ben Mount. It sounds very influenced by older works of The Prodigy, mixed in with Pendulum’s take on breaks/big beats  (imagine ‘Fasten Your Seatbelt’ with Keith Flint). Yet another dancefloor hit.

12. Witchcraft

Also one of my favourite tracks, and is confirmed to be the second single off the album, ‘Witchcraft’ is much in the veins of ‘Watercolour’. It actually sounds like a less boring ‘Propane Nightmares’ (hope I didn’t step on any toes here, yikes.). Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed ‘Propane Nightmares’ as much as the next guy, or the melody anyway. However, I felt the song lacked power, which ‘Witchcraft’ absolutely has. This song is also a bit better, and will enjoy a solid amount of radio play. As with ‘Watercolour’ though, this song feels a bit short.

13. Self Versus Self (featuring In Flames)

This is the other song that stands out from the album, and that’s no surprise. Pairing up with In Flames, the Swedish pioneers of Melodic Death Metal might be one of the most risky moves Pendulum has ever done. I can assure you, however, that this is perfectly executed. As a huge fan of melodic death metal, I had high expectations for this song, and it turned out that it’s my favourite track from ‘Immersion’. One could never imagine that hearing Rob Swire’s melodic singing with the shouting from Anders Fridén to be a good match, but, pardon my french, it’s fucking great. Another love/hate track, that will probably be hated by both the metal scene and the drum and bass scene. My advice: don’t be close-minded; give this track a chance. Unless you absolutely despise In Flames, this song is going to be stuck in your head for weeks, I assure you. But, to be fair, if this track belongs in this album or an album by In Flames is debatable, as it breaks the flow of the album.

14. The Fountain (featuring Steven Wilson)

The third and final collaboration on this album, ‘The Fountain’ sounds like it could be the third single off of the album. This time, Pendulum is working with Steven Wilson, the vocalist and guitarist of Porcupine Tree. A very relaxing and refreshing song, and we get to enjoy a different vocal talent. A very enjoyable song, and another of my favourites.

15. Encoder

‘Immersion’ ends with a very relaxing tune. It’s almost like a more ambient version of ‘The Tempest’. There’s not really much to mention with this track; it’s just a good ending to a great album.

And there we have it. The entirety of ‘Immersion’ reviewed. The ride has been great. In fact, this is one of the best albums to be released in a while, and the best drum and bass/electronica album to be released since “Hold Your Colour”. If you enjoyed the previous releases of Pendulum, I’d advice you to buy “Immersion” right now.

9/10

Windows 7  is a lot less restrictive than Windows Vista. It doesn’t take a genuis to spot that. But even so, there’s a way to gain access of even more goodness in Windows 7, with the so called “God Mode” folder. What this folder does, is give you something more similar to a second Control Panel, with 270+ functions to play around with. Nothing for the average Windows user, but definetely something to look in to if you know what you’re doing.

So, how do you activate this “God Mode” you ask? It’s quite simple actually. Create a new folder anywhere on the hard drive, it doesn’t really mater. Name this drive “GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}.”. Now, watch the magic happen.

Alright, I know that it’s not the “GodMode” part of the name that does the trick. In reality, you could call it “Chocolate.stringname” and it would still give you access to the same folder. It’s the string after that does everything. But God Mode sounds a lot better, no?

This trick supposedly works in Windows Vista 32-bit aswell, although I can not promise anything, as I have not tried this myself.

EDIT: I just had a friend test this in Windows Vista, and it works just fine. So yes, it’s confirmed, this will help you Vista users aswell!

It seems Blizzard is finally rolling out those fixes for the server capacity we were told about during BlizzCon last week. For now they’ll mostly focus on the high populated realms, but I guess as the weeks pass they will roll the fix out on additional realms. Read the full statement from Blizzard below.

“Realm News

Weekly Maintenance, 26/08
This Wednesday there will be a scheduled maintenance. Please note that all European realms will be offline from 03:00 until 11:00, Paris time (CEST).

The below realms will have an extended maintenance to address instance capacity. These realms will be offline from 01:00 to 15:00 on Wednesday, and additionally from 03:00 to 07:00 on Thursday.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Aerie Peak
Boulderfist
Chamber of Aspects
Eonar
Frostmane
Grim Batol
Jaedenar
Kazzak
Kilrogg
Outland
Ravenholdt
Saurfang
Tarren Mill
Vek’nilash
Wildhammer”

21.08
23:26 – Update: More info added after watching the Cataclysm Panel.
02:26 – Update: Received more info from the Classes and Tradeskills Panel.

22.08
20:30 – Update: A few updates from the Open Q&A panel that was just held.

24.08
08:25 – Update: The last of the information from the Cataclysm panels has been released.

Plot:

Deathwing, having become insanely powerful and equally crazy, broke through the Elemental Plane, and caused the Cataclysm on Azeroth, leaving Azeroth being forever changed. Several zones have been added, in adition to the old content in Azeroth that has been revamped.

The World.

Mount Hyjal.
Mount Hyjal will be one of the new leveling zones in the 78-82 area. Darkwhisper Gorge in Winterspring will now be a part of the Hyjal zone, and quite possibly be the entrance.
Ragnaros and his cronies are now assaulting the World Tree, and Ragnaros is bigger, badder and seriously pissed off. You will be able to quest your way through the zone, to find out what is going on, and eventually face the evil in the end.

Twilight Highlands.
When Deathwing broke out of the Elemental Plane, and caused the cataclysm on Azeroth, he headed straight for Grim Batol. As he entered, he kind of just ran straight through the city, causing it to be split in half. You will quest through the scar Deathwing left, eventually reaching the core city, and unlocking the lore behind Deathwing and his Twilight Dragonflight which he has ben working on for a while (read Night of the Dragon by Richard A. Knaak and see what I mean).

Deepholm.
Deepholm isn’t exactly a part of Azeroth, but a part of the Elemental Plane. This is where Deathwing were resting to be able to break through and wreck Azeroth completely. You will actually be able to enter through the rift Deathwing created, and see Deepholm in it’s glory. It’ll be a subterranean zone, with lots of cavern systems and underground quest hubs. You will still be able to fly here of course. Also, Deepholm will serve as a hub for all the other zones, with protals to Hyjal, Twilight Highlands etc, and back. Also, it will be the final zone for quest to hit level 85.

Uldum.
The zone we’ve all been waiting for. Uldum has been protected by a Titan device which locked the entrance to Uldum and hid it from the rest of the world. As Deathwing ruined Azeroth, so too did he ruin one of the devices, causing Uldum to be availible to everyone. This zone will be very much like Egypt, with lush oasis areas and huge deserts, with temples and Titan buildings. A race of Titans, the Tol’Vir, will also have their home here. It will also house a dungeon with a raid and a normal dungeon. The raid has been revealed to be the Halls of Origination. Be on the lookout for Brann  Bronzebeard!

Sunken City of Vashj’ir.
As the Cataclysm was happening, so did the Maelstrom churn, and life in the long-lost city of Ashara sprung to life on the bottom of the ocean. Now known as Vashj’ir, it will actually serve as an underwater area, with quest hubs located in domes. You will of course be given underwater mounts with speeds akin to that of flying mounts, and Metzen promised it would not be troublesome to work underwater. The zone will be very colorful and lush, but it will also hold a portal to the Abyssal Maw. Expect to find Azshara herself here.

Gilneas.
Ah, the kingdom of Gilneas. The humans of Gilneas have been protected for all these years behind their stout Greymane Wall. Well, they are protected no longer. The Cataclysm broke down the doors, and let the worgen in. The inhabitants of Gilneas have all been turned into Worgen, but will actually side with the Alliance in the battle against Deathwing. The lore here wasn’t very specific, but be sure to read more about it tomorrow. It will be a level 1 – 15 zone, and will be heavily phased. This zone will also host a battleground, where players will fight for the control of certain city districts, but they were very vague on this.

The Lost Islands.
When Deathwing (yes, him again) wrought his wrath on Azeroth, Kezan was hit hard, and a band of goblins were forced to flee. They landed on the shores of the Lost Isles, and had to battle the inhabitants currently there. In the process, they made friends with Thrall and the Horde, and will be introduced as the new playable race to the Horde. The lore here seems brilliant, but expect to learn more about this later on. Just like Gilneas, it will be a 1 – 15 zone. Geographically, the Isles will be a bit off the coast of Azshara, north of Durotar, so the location is perfect.

Old Azeroth.
Old Azeroth has also been very revamped. Deathwing apparently rampaged through most of the land, leaving huge scars here and there, resulting in major changes. Desolace has had its shorelines ruined, letting water pour into Desolace giving birth to plant life. Looks very sweet. The Barrens have been split in two, with a Northern and Southern barrens. Norlax apparently succeeded in making the Wailing Caverns more lush, and the Southern Barrens is flowing with life. Auberdeen in Darkshore was ravaged, and the Alliance were forced to set up camp further north in Darkshore. The Horde camp on the Zoram Strand has been seriously fortified, and been given a harbour. Of course, there are several other changes, but writing them all would require several pages. Most important though, is that all of Azeroth is now flying mount accessable. Yep, that’s right, you can fly anywhere. Nothing were announced about you needing to buy a new flying skill, but expect Tome of Cataclysmic Flying for 2500 gold from some demonic vendor.

Phasing.
After the Wrathgate event and the Death Knight start zone, it seems Blizzard really took their liking to the phasing technology. And who can blame them? Content can now be added and removed with phasing as you progress through the story of the Cataclysm, and will make the game seem more dynamic. Also, the Goblin and Worgen starting zones will be heavily phased, and apparently a lot cooler than the Death Knight start area (which was awesome enough already). I am looking forward to this feature.

PvP and PvE.

PvP.
Blizzard talked briefly about the PvP part of the Cataclysm, naming at least three new battlegrounds to be ready for launch. One of them will be the aforementioned Gilneas battleground. Also, they’re introducing rated Battleground play, so you can grab a Premade group and go ravage in Battlegrounds, getting rating and arena points so you can be able to get PvP rewards like normal Arena goers. They will be introducing several new arena maps, although no number was given. A new zone like Wintergrasp will be introduced aswell; Tol Barad. It holds a prison, and the Alliance and the Horde will battle for the prison. Once you capture it, your side will be given a huge daily quest hub with, apparently, “very profitable rewards”. Also, you will be granted access to a raid wing with a/several boss(es).

Raids and dungeons.
Several new dungeons and raids will be introduced, although only a few have been named. The Firelands is one of them, which will let you face off a bigger and badder and meaner version of Ragnaros, in his lair in Sulfuron’s Keep. In Uldum, you’ll find the Lost city of Tol’Vir, and a new Titan dungeoin a’la Ulduar, the Halls of Origination. Twilight Highlands will contain a leveling dungeon, and a raid dungeon (quite possibly Deathwing’s Lair or at least his Twilight Flight). The Skywall, which is the elemental plain of Air, will hold a leveling dungeon and a raid dungeon. Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep (yes, it’s true) will have level 85 heroic modes availible. And last, but not least, the Blackrock Caverns is a new dugeon found in the Blackrock Spire, with completely new content, bossfights, artwork and so forth.

A new instance has been announced; Blackwing Descent. You will actually fly back to Nefarian’s old room to access a teleporter, and Nefarian himself will be back to defend it! This raid is inspired by Blackwing Lair, and has new art, new loot, and new creatures.

Onyxia.
As most of you already know, Onyxia will be introduced as a level 80 raid encounter in a future patch. She will drop new gear, bags and even a mount modeled after herself. What this means though, is that you won’t be able to kill a level 60 version of her anymore. So no more easy gold, or farming your old tier sets.

Cross-server LFG.
This feature is supposedly coming already in patch 3.3, but we’ll see. In any case, this feature will let you search for people across servers, and create a group. Supposedly it’ll help a lot for PUG groups. Also, there’ll be a reward system aswell. If you’re a leader for a PUG, say a 10-man raid, and you complete it, you’ll be rewarded.

Game features.

Level cap.
The level cap has been raised to 85, and you’ll as usual get one talent point per level. There will be no new talents however, at least not like in the other two expansion. Instead, you will have Masteries, and the Path of the Titans.

Masteries.
Your talent trees will be re-done quite a bit. Talents that give you stuff like 5% more crit chance, or 25% more bonus damage will be gone. Instead these talents will be passive bonuses for your trees. So let’s say you have a hunter that you’ll spec beast mastery. As you put talents in that tree, you will for example be granted passive crit and bonus damage. Or if you spec marksmanship, you will get passive armor penetration. And the more talent points you put in one tree, the higher the bonuses will be. This way, you can focus on talents you find fun or interesting, instead of mandatory because they give you more damage. Expect some diminishing returns though, so putting 76 talent points in one tree won’t be as worth it as you first thought.

Path of the Titans.
Part of the problem with endgame in World of Warcraft since TBC, is that when you hit max level, character progression slows down a great deal. You’re not improving your character a lot concidering the time put into it. This is something they’re addressing with the Path of the Titan.

As you play the game, you’ll unlock different paths you can choose, and as you progress you’ll unlock special glyph sockets for your characters. These glyphs are unlocked via the Archeology secondary profession by finding and trading in artifacts, and are in no way related to inscription. So far, there’s 6 named paths you can choose.

• Path of Aman’Thul, the High Father
• Path of Eonar, the Lifebinder
• Path of Norgannon, the Dreamweaver
• Path of Khaz’Goroth, the Shaper
• Path of Aggramar, the Avenger
• Path of Golganneth, the Thunderer

Each path will have 2 or 3 choices per rank, and if you want to try a new path, you can respec later on.
You’ll unlock glyphs by doing the things you’ve been doing for the last few years, like raiding, Pvp’ing, leveling your trade skill and so on, and as you go you’ll unlock these ancient glyphs that will improve your character a lot. There’ll most likely be a weekly cap on how much you can progress in a week.

The Path of the Titans will be availible to all players who reach 85, and players will eventually be able to unlock new ranks for their glyphs. Also, it’s a possibility that Blizzard will patch in completely new paths in the future.

Profession – Archeology.
The new profession will actually be a secondary profession, making it the first profession ever since the release of Retail to be a secondary profession. This profession will have you gather information about ruins and artifacts that have surfaced after Deathwing sundered Azeroth.  As you progress in Archeology, you will unlock random fun stuff like pets, titles, tabards and so forth. Looks like a welcome addition. Also, this profession will be closely tied in with the Path of the Titans, allowing you more flexibility when selecting your path.

Profession changes.
Certain professions will be given the possibility to have mutli-gains. For example, a blacksmith will be given the option to make 5 uncommon quality bracers, or one rare quality breastplate. The bracers will give 1 skill points each, and the breastplate 5 skill points. This will let players decide if they want to level and maybe even earn some money from items, or go the standard route.

Fishing and engineering will both receive some changes. Engineering will most likely continue to receive fun and helpful stuff like it does now, like Jeeves or Wormhole Generators. No specific details were given on fishing, other than that it’s going to get some big changes and that it’s going to be more fun and exciting.

Gathering professions will also get a little revamp, and be more fun to level. And you might even be able to customize the bonus you get, like if you’re a miner you won’t have to be stuck with your health bonus.

Guild Leveling.
One of the new cool features to be introduced in Cataclysm, is guild leveling. You will earn experience to the guild by raiding, leveling your profession, doing PvP, doing daily quests and so on. Your guild will have 20 levels to go on, and each level grants a talent point. As you level up, you can spend these in several talents that benefit your guild. Some of these include:

• Decreased repair costs.
• Slower durability loss.
• Remove reagent cost from spells.
• Allow a percentage of gold drops from raid bosses and mobs to be transfered to the guild bank.
• Mass Resurrection.
• Mass Teleport.

When your guild reaches level 20, the experience you get will be converted to guild currency, which can be spent on stuff like profession patterns, potions, guild banners and mounts with your guild’s insignia on it, reagents and respecs for your guild talent tree.

As you buy recipes for patterns, people in the guild with the appropriate profession can learn it and create items for the guild. This includes heirloom items. If the do decide to leave the guild however, any pattern learned will be unlearned, and heirloom items will be returned to the guild bank.

Guild Interface.
Another thing to be introduced is guild achievements. Guilds will now have their own achievements, and will have a new tab in your Achievement window. Some achievements currently in-game might be converted to guild achievements, but several new ones will be introduced. Some of these achievements might include creating a legendary item, having max level of all the different professions, reaching exalted with all factions and more.

There will also be added a Guild News Feed. This will show you stuff like what bosses have been downed, items that dropped, and other useful information. It will also have a filter, so you can filter out what content you want.

You can also now browse through the professions of your guild members, to see if they can create a spesific item.

Another added feature is the possibility to invite other guilds to your guild calendar event. For example, you have two guilds wanting to raid the same instance, but both need more people. Now, you can actually invite the other guild via your calendar, and the event will show in both guilds, making it easier to make collaborative efforts.

Reforging.
Reforging will be a new way for you to customize your gear. This ability will be given to blacksmiths, leatherworkers, jewelcrafters, tailors and engineers. Each profession will be able to reforge different items, although no list has been confirmed yet. It will be quite cheap, and the way it works is that you can reduce one stat on the item and replace it with another. It won’t let you increase a stat already present though, but it can for example reduce your hit rating and replace it for more intellect or crit rating. A fine addition if you’re hit capped and receive a fantastic new item with hit, for example.

Classes and races.

New races.
Worgen:
Worgen is the new alliance race, will start in Gilneas, and can be any class except Paladins or Shamans. Worgen will be given Darkflight, which increases your movement speed for 70% for 6 seconds. They are given a 1% increase in damage, 15% reduced damage from curses and diseases, and +15 to skinning, and you won’t even need a skinning knife!

In combat, you will automatically turn in to a worgen, but out of combat you may choose to wolf out, or stay human. And don’t worry, the worgen form is purely cosmetical.

Goblin:
The Goblins (or a renegade faction of goblins) is the new Horde race. It will start on the Lost Islands, and can be any class except Paladins or Druids. The Goblins will be given a rocket belt, which lets them either jump 20 yards ahead, or fire a barrage of rockets at their target. This shares cooldown. Also, they get the highest faction discount regardless of reputation, a 1% increase in attack and casting speed, +15 to alchemy skill and increased potion effect and a pack hobgoblin that seves as a bank, with a 30 minute cooldown.. Also, the Goblin mounts will be crappy engineering vehicles, sweet.

Racials.
All current racials will be updated to match the ones Goblins and Worgen are being treated in Cataclysm. Expect them to be in the veins of the Goblin and Worgen ones. This desicion is quite understandable, as the new racials are quite good.

Warlock.
Complete revamp of the shard system for warlocks. No more physical soul shards! That’s right, they’re gone. They will only be showed as a part of the UI. You will be given three shards, which will replenish when out of combat, and is used for one spell and one spell only: Soul Burn.
The Soul Burn spell will empower your next spell(s) cast, and can affect the spells in very different ways:

• Empowered Searing Pain : Next 3 Searing Pains will critical strike.
• Empowered Summon Demon : Instant Cast, much like Fel Domination.
• Empowered Soulfire : Instant Cast. PoM Pyro power!
• Empowered Fear : Instant Cast, like a single target Psychic horror.
• Empowered Death Coil : Longer Horror effect, more healing received.

The Soul Burn spell will have a 30 second cooldown, and be off the global cooldown. Most spells will have an empowered effect, not all.

Hunters.
Hunters will find themselves quite manaless in Cataclysm. The mana system will be completely gone, replaced by Focus. Focus will work much like energy, with a small twist: It regens 6 focus a second with normal attacks, but with Steady Shot it will regen 12 focus a second. So intellect and mana regen are now out the window. Aspect of the Viper will either be redesigned or removed. The cooldown on their abilities will be lowered, in some cases removed, and shots may cost anything from 10 to 30 focus, maybe even more. Ammo will also become an item, and not a consumable.

Pets.
This is actually already coming in 3.3, but I’ll still post it here.
In patch 3.3, pets will now scale with every stat you have, and also they’ll be affected by buffs from specific raid encounters. In addition, pets will no longer take damage from AoE spells done in PvE, but can still be damaged and die from AoE spells in PvP.
Eventually, it seems pets might get a “go to location” kind of ability, and also have a long cooldown spell which will allow you to teleport them to you. Apparently, this is because the pet AI will never bee good enough. I second that.

Items and itemization.

Stat changes.
Attack power? Gone. Mana per 5? Gone. Armor Penetration? You guessed right. Gone! Blizzard decided to revamp a lot of the stats, removing armor penetration, spell power, attack power, and mana per 5 seconds. Instead, strength will give 2 AP to plate users, agility will give 2 AP to mail and leather users, spirit will be directly related with mana regeneration, and intellect will increase your spell power. Defense rating is also gone, and tanks can become defense capped via talents. Since all these stats have been removed, all classes will get a lot of stamina, to be on pair with plate wearers. Haste has also been changed, so it now increases the rate you gain energy, focus, runic power and rage instead of increasing attack speed.

Armor penetration will actually be removed from gear, but not completely from the game, according to Blizzard. You will still be able to get armor penetration via talents, and most likely other places aswell, to be able to take down those tanks.

New legendary item!
This seems to be concerning Icecrown Citadel, and not the Cataclysm expansion, but here it is! The next legendary item to be released is….. (drumroll) …. Shadowmourne. Sorry you Frostmourne and Ashbringer hopers. Also, it seems the Corrupted Ashbringer will stay corrupted for now. You will not be able to get Frostmourne, because the sword would control you.  Just think of what it did with Arthas, that’s what it would do to you. Also, the next legendary to be introduced to World of Warcraft is a caster item.

This is it for now. More will be added as more panels will be held later.

Stay tuned for more information about The Cataclysm. You can also head over to MMO-Champion to find more in-depth coverage of the expansion.

Blizzcon 09 has now kicked off, and to start it all off, Chris Metzen just annouced the newest playable class for Diablo III: The Monk.

He appears to be a close combat fighter with certain protective abilities. He can reflect spells, shield himself completely from incoming damage. He has  an extremely fast melee attack speed, and can attack multiple enemies in just a  few seconds. His main weapon seems to be a two-handed staff, and he surely knows how to use it.

Expect to have more information be revealed as Blizzcon progresses.

Ever since Windows 7 was released, there’s been a steady flow of users coming to the ThinkPad forums, asking about how one can get the on-screen display to work again on Windows 7. Even I have been looking around for the answer, but so far, no working solution has surfaced. Today however, I managed to find the answer to our problems, and I’m surprised I didn’t do this earlier.

What you need for this to work, is the beta versions of the Hotkey driver, and the Lenovo System Interface Driver. The Hotkey features driver can be found here, and the Lenovo System Interface Driver can be found here.

After both those are downloaded, you should unpack them, and run the Setup files. After you’ve installed both programs, do a reboot. The on-screen volume and brightness displays should now work.

Note: Some users might need the Power Manager driver. I didn’t, but I suspect others do. In any case, that one can be found here.

Blizzard have been known for surprising us with content before, that’s nothing new. This though, is probably the most surprising update and also one of the ones I welcome the most.

As a part of World of Warcraft’s 5 year anniversary, Blizzard decided to bring back Onyxia for the next content patch, 3.2.2. And not only is she a bit revamped, she has new loot, a new drop mount, and the anniversary gives you a special companion pet just for logging in. Look below for the full statement by Zarhym.

“She has lurked in her lair and done battle with the many brave adventurers who travelled to that familiar location over the years. Now, in honor of the World of Warcraft 5-year anniversary, the dreaded brood mother Onyxia is being revamped to make a return to the forefront of Azeroth, as part of our big plans for the upcoming 3.2.2 content patch.

This permanent update to Onyxia will convert the dungeon into 10- and 25-player modes. We will be adding new items to Onyxia’s loot table that have the same model as some of the classic loot from this dungeon, like Tier 2 helms, with stats updated to match the current level of content. There will be a special new item too: a normal drake-sized 310% speed flying mount modeled after Onyxia herself called an Onyxia Broodling. We will also be updating the encounter mechanics to be more fitting for modern raiding, but we can guarantee players will get to experience the frightening horror of deep breaths once again.

Then for a limited time, after the 5-year anniversary event officially begins in November, anybody who logs in will receive an Onyxia Brood Whelpling pet.

We’re very excited to bring this classic encounter back to provide a fun new experience for both new and veteran players. Further details will be available in the near future, and we will be setting up the Public Test Realms soon to help test out this fight along with all the new content we have planned for the patch. Keep an eye on the forums for updates!”

This is some of the best news I’ve had in a while, and as an old school player (since day one actually), I’m quite thankful they brought back such a nostalgic encounter. I wonder what they’re adding to the fight. All I know is, we are going to need more dots.

DotA-based games seem to be the new thing everyone is throwing themselves at these days. I can’t blame them, DotA is widely popular, and also a fantastic modification. Last week, I wrote about Demigod, one of the new games based on the DotA concept. This week, I’m actually writing about a similar game, which is also based on the DotA concept. This game however, is actually as close to DotA as you can possibly come.

Heroes of Newerth (or HoN, for short) is more of a re-imagining of the DotA modification, and it seems S2 Games really put their hearts into making the most genuine DotA experience you’ve had in a while.

Before I go anymore into detail, I need to tell you that this game is still in a very early closed beta, so I can’t give you screen shots, videos, or give up big game secrets. With that being said, I’ll have to give S2 a round of applause for their work. After spending weeks playing DotA, i was quite excited about HoN, and was very curious as of how similar it was. And let me tell you, if you’re a big fan of DotA, you’re not going to be dissappointed.

First off, the game looks very good. Since S2 is not limited by the Warcraft 3 enginge (which is quite good in itself, don’t get me wrong), they’ve been able to give DotA a proper graphical makeover. And it’s been done properly aswell. You can still see that the game is very inspired by the models used in Warcraft 3, just better. The heroes look better, the landscape is smoother, and the spells and abilities are just awesome.

Speaking of heroes, this game is already packed with them. I think I managed to count at least 40 heroes already included, and since this game is still in beta, you can expect more heroes being added as the game draws closer to a final release.  Also, the heroes are very similar to the original heroes included in DotA. You’ll find heroes like the Omni-Knight, Faceless Void, Axe, Moon Priestess and more, only under new names. And of course, there are quite a few original ones, but I’ll stop there.

One of the maps I’ve been able to play is also the very same map included in DotA, only with a little make-over aswell. New names for creeps, redesigned bases, and a completely new way of shopping are just some of the things they’ve done with it.

Finding and playing games is also quite easy here. You entere the lobby, and can immediately customize your search to fit your playstyle. You have “Noobs only”, “Noobs allowed” and “Pros only”, in addition to more game mechanic specific stuff like “random heroes”, “easy mode” and so on. After that, refresh the game list, and you should be up and running in no-time.

I have a lot more to say about this game, but there’s unfortunately not much more I can say at the moment. But know this; if you can get a spot in the beta, make sure to get that spot. Play the game, see for yourself. This is a brilliant game, and I can’t wait for it to be released.

Stay tuned for a proper article on the game when it’s out.

The new World of Warcraft patch, “Call of the Crusade“, has now gone live and is availible for download.

A lot of awesome stuff is being added this patch, including (but not limited to) :

• New mount system, with mounts starting at level 20.
• New 10- and 25-person raiding dungeon, Call of the Crusader.
• A new 5-person dungeon, Trial of the Crusader, with only epic drops.
• Epic gems, which you can get from several places.
• Ravasaur trainers! Finally, after all these years.
• A completely new battleground, Isle of Conquest, which is a 40vs40 battleground.
• Tier 9 armor sets which now have Horde- and Alliance-unique looks.
• A new PvP season, with a new system for obtaining the best items.

As you can see, a lot of goodness is being added.
For a complete list of goodies, head over to MMO-Champion to get the patch notes and newest blue posts.

Ever since that Defence of the Ancients (or DotA for short) modification was released for Warcraft 3, it has had a steady stream of players coming to play the newest release of the map. Tournaments are being held, prizes are being handed out, and gamers are having a lot of fun. It has been the influence for many things, including a Basshunter song. Most importantly though, it was the inspiration for one of the most entertaining games I’ve played in a while.

Demigod is a so-called Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (or MOBA) video game, a term that I believe was coined by League of Legends developers Riot Games. At first, it looks like a very simple game, with not much to do besides a skirmish here and a online battle there. Don’t be fooled however, as this game has a lot to offer for those who want to play it online.

The game has several game modes, and your objective varies based on which of these modes that were selected during game creation. You have the classic Conquest, in which you are to destroy your opponent’s Citadel. There’s a Capture the Flag mode, where you run around capping flags and holding them for a set amount of time. Another mode lets you destroy your opponents forts, which serves as Citadel defense, and the last mode is a Team Deathmatch, where the first team to reach a set amount of kills wins.

(Click the image for a larger version)

When selecting a demigod, you are offered eight different demigods to choose from. They are divided in to two groups; the Assassins and the Generals. The Assassins are mostly focused on doing damage quickly, with no minion control whatsoever. Two of the Asassins are ranged, the other two are close combat oriented. The Generals are quite different however, and are more focused on minion control and survivability, and less raw damage output. So whatever your playstyle is, you will most likely find a demigod most suited for you.

At the very beginning of any given game mode, you will be given one skill point to put into a skill of your choice, and the option to buy a starter item with something called “Favour points”. At first, you won’t have much to spend, so your items will be very basic, but as you win or lose games, you will stack up  “Favour Points”, and will be allowed to buy stronger items. Once you buy an item, you won’t have to buy it again though, so you will have access to stronger items very fast.

(Click the image for a larger version)

As you kill minions and demigods during battle, you will be granted experience  points (XP for short) and gold. When you accumulate enough XP, you will gain a new level and a new skill point to spend in whatever skill you wish. Most talent builds will be effective, but the trick is to find one that suits you as a player, and building the right talent build can give you a good start boost.
The gold you earn can be spent on two different things; items for your demigod, or upgrades for your Citadel. If you’re looking to make your demigod a destructive force to be reckoned with, spend your gold on items and artifacts. These can have passive bonuses, use bonuses, and both. You can also spend your gold to upgrade the Citadels forces, which will make things easier in general for your whole team, or even things like increasing the XP you gain, or reducing the respawn time when you die.

(Click the image for a larger version)

I’ve been playing this game for a couple of weeks now, and rarely have I been so entertained by a game as I’ve been by Demigod. The gameplay is just extremely addicting, and I can’t stop trying to find new strategies to defeat my enemies, or finding the perfect talent build with any of my favourite demigods. Even just playing against bots is great, as the games can last long and the AI isn’t completely retarded. The game looks stunning as well, and the level and character design is fantastic. Add some great sound effects and good music, and you have yourself a great game.

It’s not without faults though. The game’s only got 8 maps so far, which is fine in the beginning, but after playing for a while you’ll probably end up with one favourite map you play over and over. Hopefully, a future patch will add more maps. You also only have 8 different heroes to choose from, which is just enough to keep the game interesting. Again, more might be added in a future expansion or content patch.

Also, it has slight stability problems when playing online sometimes. It’s not as bad as some game websites will have you believe, and certainly not enough to downrank the game completely, but just enough so that sometimes you will feel very annoyed with this. Luckily, this is being worked on constantly, and will probably be fixed sometime in the near future.

Overall, the game is great. It’s actually fantastic. I’d say it’s more than worth the 40$ they’ll charge you for the digital download on their website. If you’re looking to buy one great game this summer, and you like the blend of RPG and RTS, I wouldn’t be afraid to put some money into this game. It’s certainly worth it.