Posted by from MMO Champion
The War Within Alpha - Earthen Allied Race: Racials and Models
The War Within adds a new allied race - The Earthen! We've got an early look at their racials and the models!
Azerite Surge - Draw upon your inner strength. Release to invoke the power of Azerite, dealing 0 Fire damage. Empowering has the following effects:
Deals [ 113.4% of Spell Power ] Fire damage.
Heals allies for [ 100% of Attack Power ].
Deals [ 113.4% of Spell Power ] additional Fire damage to the highest health enemy.
Hyper Productive - Increases Finesse by 0%. Finesse increases the chance of gathering additional materials.
Ingest Minerals - You are always Well Fed, but cannot consume food. Activate Ingest Minerals to consume a gem and change the benefit granted to you by Well Fed.
Amber: Stamina
Emerald: Haste
Onyx: Mastery
Ruby: Critical Strike
Sapphire: Versatility
Titan-Wrought Frame - Base armor from equipped items is increased by 0%.
Wide-Eyed Wonder - When you gain experience for exploring a location, gain 0% additional exploration experience.
< This article continues on their website >
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the sinking-ship department: Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., which has been called the "mother of all meme stocks" after it made its stock market debut in late March, announced that its Truth Social platform is moving to launch a live TV streaming platform. Following the news, shares of DJT closed more than 14% lower Tuesday. They ended trading Monday down by more than 18%. CNBC reports: The stock's price has dropped by a whopping 67.7% since Trump Media began trading as a public company on March 26, erasing more than $5 billion in market capitalization. Trump Media's majority shareholder is former President Donald Trump, who holds nearly 60% of its stock.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump Media in a press release said it "has finished the research and development phase of its new live TV streaming platform and will begin scaling up its own content delivery network." The company said it will roll out streaming content in three phases, the first of which will introduce Truth Social's content delivery network for streaming live TV to the app for Android, iOS and web. Phase two will release stand-alone Truth Social streaming apps for phones, tablets and other devices, while phase three will release such apps for home television, Trump Media said. "The streaming content is expected to focus on live TV including news networks, religious channels, family-friendly content including films and documentaries; and other content that has been cancelled, is at risk of cancellation, or is being suppressed on other platforms and services," Trump Media said in its release.
< This article continues on their website >
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the unnatural-sights department: An anonymous reader shares a report: A storm hit the United Arab Emirates and Oman this week bringing record rainfall that flooded highways, inundated houses, grid-locked traffic and trapped people in their homes. [...] In the UAE, a record 254 millimetres (10 inches) of rainfall was recorded in Al Ain, a city bordering Oman. It was the largest ever in a 24-hour period since records started in 1949. Rainfall is rare in the UAE and elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula, that is typically known for its dry desert climate. Summer air temperatures can soar above 50 degrees Celsius. But the UAE and Oman also lack drainage systems to cope with heavy rains and submerged roads are not uncommon during rainfall.
Following Tuesday's events, questions were raised whether cloud seeding, a process that the UAE frequently conducts, could have caused the heavy rains. Cloud seeding is a process in which chemicals are implanted into clouds to increase rainfall in an environment where water scarcity is a concern. The UAE, located in one of the hottest and driest regions on earth, has been leading the effort to seed clouds and increase precipitation. But the UAE's meteorology agency told Reuters there were no such operations before the storm. The huge rainfall was instead likely due to a normal weather system that was exacerbated by climate change, experts say. A low pressure system in the upper atmosphere, coupled with low pressure at the surface had acted like a pressure 'squeeze' on the air, according to Esraa Alnaqbi, a senior forecaster at the UAE government's National Centre of Meteorology. That squeeze, intensified by the contrast between warmer temperatures at ground level and colder temperatures higher up, created the conditions for the powerful thunderstorm, she said.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the shape-of-things-to-come department: Average incomes will fall by almost a fifth within the next 26 years as a result of the climate crisis, according to a study that predicts the costs of damage will be six times higher than the price of limiting global heating to 2C. From a report: Rising temperatures, heavier rainfall and more frequent and intense extreme weather are projected to cause $38tn of destruction each year by mid-century, according to the research, which is the most comprehensive analysis of its type ever undertaken, and whose findings are published in the journal Nature. The hefty toll -- which is far higher than previous estimates -- is already locked into the world economy over the coming decades as a result of the enormous emissions that have been pumped into the atmosphere through the burning of gas, oil, coal and trees.
This will inflict crippling losses on almost every country, with a disproportionately severe impact on those least responsible for climate disruption, further worsening inequality. The paper says the permanent average loss of income worldwide will be 19% by 2049. In the United States and Europe the reduction will be about 11%, while in Africa and south Asia it will be 22%, with some individual countries much higher than this. "It's devastating," said Leonie Wenz, a scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and one of the authors of the study. "I am used to my work not having a nice societal outcome, but I was surprised by how big the damages were. The inequality dimension was really shocking."
Posted by from MMO Champion
WoWCast - The War Within Alpha
A new WoWCast is here, giving us more information about The War Within and Alpha/Beta testing.
Story
This is a conflict that threatens the entire world
Xal'atath is a key villain of the worldsoul saga. Based on the priest artifact weapon that she was trapped in for so long. Her design takes a lot of inspiration from the weapon and the story behind it.
Alleria and Anduin are key heroes of the story, will find hope and redemption
The War Within has a few layers to it. We are going below the surface of Azeroth, but we also will see lots of inner turmoil and conflict.
The team didn't want the entire underground space to feel oppressive. Hallowfall feels like you could almost be outdoors.
Magni,
Moira,
Dagran and more characters will be appearing. Dwarves will be taking center stage.
The Rookery is the place that storm gryphons were raised and trained over the centuries. It was overrun by corrupted Earthen.
The Rookery is a part of the main campaign in the zone, so you can do it solo with follower dungeon NPCs on your side.
The follower dungeon tech will let the story flow through dungeons even for solo players.
The Nerubians are one of the great races of Azeroth, rivals to High Elves and Nightborne. We'll see some of their history in the War Within.
Gameplay
There will be an arachnophobia filter that turns spiders into crabs for players that have a fear of spiders.
New Tier Sets will be added and you can get them from a wide variety of activities.
Brann will be the Delve companion for the first season.
Players should feel like they adventured, stumbled across a place, and walked through a seamless misty door to their own experience.
Brann can be a healer or damage dealer.
< This article continues on their website >
Posted by from MMO Champion
The War Within Alpha - Early Delves Preview
Delves are new solo world progression content introduced in The War Within. There are a few of them available on the Alpha, but they are in a very early state.
You enter a Delve by finding its fog wall. When you click it, a menu will pop up showing the contents of the Delve and rewards.
You can select the difficulty tier before entering.
Upon clicking enter, there is no loading screen. The wall simply disappears and allows you to enter.
To progress in the Delve, you must pay attention to the current task that the menu is asking you to complete.
Rare mobs and treasure chests can provide useful buffs such as damage boosts or immunity to damage for limited amounts of time.
Brann Bronzebeard accompanies you and levels up. You can choose to have him heal or DPS.
There is a meeting stone inside the Delve in case you need to make changes.
The current Delves end with a final boss that you defeat to open the treasure room.
< This article continues on their website >
Posted by from MMO Champion
World of Warcraft: The War Within Alpha - Press Kit
The Press Kit has been updated with some new screenshots and information about the collector's edition!
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Some see visions of resplendent light, while others are taunted with ominous warnings from the shadows. One thing is clear: something is coming, as a sinister threat rises from within Azeroth itself. World of Warcraft®: The War Within™ is the first installment of the new Worldsoul Saga™, an ambitious creative endeavor for the Warcraft universe. Deep beneath the surface, an ancient nerubian civilization is rising to power, aided by Xal'atath, the Harbinger of the Void first introduced in the Legion™ expansion. Players will need to enlist the aid of the Earthen, a new allied race available to both Horde and Alliance players, as they journey to the new level cap of 80 and make their way deeper and discover an entirely new world that has existed for centuries and whose denizens are preparing for conflicts that loom on the horizon.
One physical collector’s edition, two big moments - A beautiful, limited collector’s edition will be available for pre-order starting April 17, celebrating The War Within and WoW’s 20th anniversary! The CE will include a gorgeous art book, collectible pin, the Epic edition of the game and all its digital bonuses, and a special 20th anniversary Gryphon Rider statue. Information on pricing and where to purchase can be found on the War Within website:
https://thewarwithin.blizzard.com/en-us/ Forge new bonds with the denizens of the deep - As players progress through the main campaign, they’ll meet the Earthen that have made the Isle of Dorn and the zones beneath it their home. The Earthen will be a new allied race available to both Alliance and Horde players.
< This article continues on their website >