Weekly Fix #3

Hey everyone,

Welcome to your weekly fix for Monday, March 9, 2015!

Announced at PAX East : The next adventure for Hearthstone!

Wow. Well, I guess we all saw this coming one way or another. Hearthstone is a very popular game and there is no denying that Blizzard is doing very well with it. From the legions of fans to the E-Sports events streamed to the world - Hearthstone is making it big. And, it's no surprise that we are about to see some more content coming very soon. Here's what to expect in Blackrock Mountain:

New Cards: Blackrock Mountain contains 5 wings populated by a slew of fiendishly clever bosses, each with their own hero power and unique new cards. When you defeat a boss for the first time, you will earn two copies of a brand-new card for your collection!

Class Challenges: On top of the regular bosses, Blackrock Mountain also includes nine all-new class challenges. Class challenges pit you against a specific boss using a custom, pre-set deck designed to test your skill with the class in question. Succeed, and two copies of a new class card are yours.

New Game Board: SO SHINY!

Dragons: As one would expect, Blackrock Mountain is home to a variety of dragons. Prepare to see a lot more of these scaly, fire-breathing, adventurer-crunching creatures as you brave the mountain!

Orcs, Dwarves, and Elementals, Oh My: Aside from dragons, there are plenty of other minions fighting on either side of the conflict: Dark Iron dwarves, fiery elementals, and the Blackrock orcs (who already had that name before it was cool).

Heroic Mode: If you like a challenge, you can try taking on the Heroic Mode version of any mission that you’ve cleared. This extra-difficult game mode is designed for players who don’t mind taking on ridiculously unfair and overpowered opponents. Bring your best deck and plenty of patience. You’ll need it!

The first wing released will be Blackrock Depths, with four more unannounced wings to be released thereafter.

To get ready for Blackrock Mountain, make sure to also play in ranked mode and reach a rank of at least 20 to secure your copy of the Raging Ragnaros cardback!

Coming Tomorrow!

Call in sick. Play hooky. Update that credit card on your PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live account, because it's time for GTA V Online Heists!!

It's the moment myself, as well as millions of other gamers have been waiting for since the launch of Grand Theft Auto V last October. The only thing more disappointing than not having the heists from day one as we were expecting was all the frustration caused by the rough launch of GTA V Online. Disconnects, terrible lag and many other issues plagues the online portion of the game throughout the first several weeks of launch. Thankfully Rockstar got on it relatively quickly and managed to solve the most important issues within a reasonable amount of time. 

Thankfully, they understand it takes time and polish to make a game good. And this is why the PC version, as well as the heists mode for online, has been pushed back as far as it has. They wanted to make sure the game was complete, and I'd rather wait for a finished product than a patch.

Here's some of what you can expect from heists:

• A string of exciting heists each with their own strategy, roles, and preparation missions totaling about 20 hours of additional play time.

• Follow the leader: Each heist will be led by a player who is expected to cough up all the start-up costs of the heist. In addition, that player needs to be at least level 12 and own a high end apartment with a planning board to coordinate the heist. Leader gets the largest of the crew cuts, and decides how much each other crew member gets. 

• Role Play: Each player will have a specific role to play in the heist. Either to do something on their own, or form a smaller team with another player within the crew to accomplish a necessary part of the heist. Communication will be paramount, so make sure to have a headset!

• Bonus Gear: You need the right gear for the job. Heists will open up a new slew of custom vehicles and weapons as well as outfits and other tools of the trade that you will need to be successful. 

• Bonus Cash: There will be several challenges that will net you a big cash bonus if you can complete them. Including finishing a heist for the first time, completing all heists in order, doing all heists with the same group of people, and finally a huge $10,000,000 prize for doing all of the above. 

I personally cannot wait to dip my feet in the water again, hit the ground running and doing some heists when they launch tomorrow. It's been rumored that heists have already been unlocked for some players, although that has not yet been confirmed. 

What is for sure is that the heists are not like anything else you've experienced in GTA V to date. So this should be a new, fun, exciting and rewarding experience - one that I am very much looking forward to trying. 

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain may see release this year.

According to a video with Italian subtitles which features Hideo Kojima, the man behind the Metal Gear Solid franchise, the game may be coming out this year. 

A user on a GeoGaf ran into a video online that featured an interview with Kojima, who was supposedly talking about the Phantom Pain, including details such as the release date. The video seems to be floating around the interwebs and is leading people to believe that we may see the release of the game later this year. Although the subtitles were in Italian, it was apparent that the release of the game will take place on September 1, 2015.

This is neither confirmed nor denied at this point. However, one thing that we can be clear about is that the game will not only be making an appearance on PC, but also on last generation (Xbox 360 & PS3) as well as next generation (PS4 and Xbox One) consoles. 

If you want to get a taste of what's to come, you can always check out the game's prologue which has already been released. But to be honest, it's about 15 minutes of gameplay for about $30, which is totally not worth it. 

Still, if you're a fan of the series, you can either fork up the cash, trade in some games, or just watch some YouTube videos for free, to get your fix until later this year. 

Thanks so much for reading and make sure to come back next Monday (and of course, throughout the week) to get your fix!

Bad Apple, Part 2

Hey everyone,

Not long ago I had a bit of a problem with Hearthstone on my iPad. Well, after some time waiting and trying to email Apple, I finally got a response. 

Before telling me it was my fault, the rep told me that I should expect a full refund on my purchase price in 7-10 days. But before he got to the refund part, he made sure to tell me that I should make sure to have settings in place to prevent accidental purchases and also to be aware of a message that comes up during purchases that verifies that I actually want to buy that particular item. 

He went on to say that I had purchased the wrong pack, and this is why there was a discrepancy in the price. I think not good sir. I sent these two screenshots to him to prove him wrong, and ask him to forward it to the right people in the company so that gamers on Apple products don't get ripped off playing Hearthstone. 

Here's what it looks like on PC:

Notice that we have Goblins VS Gnomes selected and a quantity of 40 packs. The price is clearly $49.99.

Now we move to the iPad. Still Goblins VS Gnomes. Still 40 packs. Now, $8 more expensive. 

Is it true? Are Apple users forced to pay a premium just because it's "Apple"? Absolutely. Now don't get me wrong. I am happy to have been issued a refund. But first of all, I will believe it when I see it in my bank account; and secondly, it is not untrue to say that Apple is simply overpriced. It has been considered premium for too long and now that's even starting to be apparent in their apps. 

This needs to change. I don't think Apple makes bad products or apps. Sure, there have been design and marketing choices that didn't exactly agree with me. But if they simply stop trying to milk people for all of their money, Apple would probably turn into a pretty damn good company. 

There is a reason Android has (roughly) 82% market share. There's a few things I find annoying about it as well, but nothing is perfect. Android however is more open, accessible, non-proprietary, and grows with the trends of the world's technology market. How long did we have to wait to get a display of 5" or more on an iPhone? Android had been doing it for several generations of smartphones longer - and that's just one example. 

But hey, I'm not here to debate which is better. Just to educate you, so that you can make a more informed choice. 

Hope this helps! Thanks for reading :)

Rift Nightmare Tide & Friday Night Magic - Boros Bros

Check out the Flash Fix - Content Update video here!!

Hey everyone,

Back by popular demand - more Rift coverage!

Thanks to all of you who have expressed interest in seeing more Rift content on the channel. It's definitely been some of the more popular content on my channel, and I want to let you know it will definitely be making a comeback. I'm working hard to gather as much information as possible before starting to make more videos in the Let's Play series (due out sometime next week) so that I can make the best videos possible. I'm currently chatting with Trion Worlds to see if we can work together to bring you as much Rift content as possible.

As you may or may not be aware, Rift's second expansion, Nightmare Tide (released in Fall of 2014) is in full swing and I hope to be bringing you as much content as possible as there are a lot of new changes.

If there's something you'd particularly like to see, please leave a comment in the channel's discussion area or under this post, and I'll do my best to make it happen.

If you haven't yet seen the trailer for Nightmare Tide, check it out below :) Head over here to create your account and start playing; and head here to check out more Rift Let's Play videos!

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Friday Night Magic is back!

This week's feature is an aggressive Boros deck (red and white cards) with some early creatures, a little bit of pump up, and some removal to keep the beats coming.

This week's video will be live on the channel and on the Friday Night Magic playlist @6pm EST Friday March 6.

If you haven't already, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss any of the new and exciting content that's yet to come.

If you have any ideas for future Friday Night Magic episodes, please leave your thoughts in the comments below this or any other Magic related post. As much as I try to get back to everyone who comments, I may not be able to respond to each comment. Rest assured however, I read every single comment and take your suggestions into consideration.

Thanks so much for reading & watching!


Scaryspikes