Posted by from MMO Champion
The War Within Alpha Development Notes - May 21, 2024
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
We have the following changes and updates in today’s new build of The War Within Alpha:
Classes
The number of talent loadouts that can be saved on a per character basis to has been increased to 40 (was 10).
We are removing increased melee range talents across the game, such as Astral Influence and Acrobatic Strikes. Default melee range has increased since these talents were originally created, so they now allow specs to attack from well outside where it appears they should be able to. They make the melee experience inconsistent across classes in a way we’re not happy with, so we’re removing them.
Rogue
Deathstalker (Assassination/Subtlety) Hero Talents are now available for testing.
The harbingers of death, Deathstalkers strike from the shadows to bring a swift end to their targets.
Death Knight
New Talent: Unyielding Will – Anti-Magic Shell’s cooldown is increased by 20 seconds and it now also removes all harmful magic effects when activated. Now a capstone talent available after Rune Mastery and Subduing Grasp.
The class tree has had further adjustments in talent locations and pathing updates.
Osmosis healing received while Anti-Magic Shell is active is increased by 15%. Now a 1-point talent (was 2).
Runic Protection armor increased to 6% (was 3%). Now a 1-point talent (was 2).
Blood Draw cooldown reduced to 2 minutes (was 3 minutes).
Blood Draw is no longer a capstone and is now available in Death’s Echo old location.
< This article continues on their website >
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the no-surprises department: Major oil companies have in recent years made splashy climate pledges to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and take on the climate crisis, but a new report suggests those plans do not stand up to scrutiny. From a report: The research and advocacy group Oil Change International examined climate plans from the eight largest US- and European-based international oil and gas producers -- BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies -- and found none were compatible with limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels -- a threshold scientists have long warned could have dire consequences if breached.
"There is no evidence that big oil and gas companies are acting seriously to be part of the energy transition," David Tong, global industry campaign manager at Oil Change International, who co-authored the analysis, said in a statement. The report's authors used 10 criteria and ranked each aspect of each companyâ(TM)s plan on a spectrum from "fully aligned" to "grossly insufficient" and found all eight companies ranked "grossly insufficient" or "insufficient" on nearly all criteria. The US firms Chevron, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil each ranked "grossly insufficient" on all 10 criteria. "American fossil-fuel corporations are the worst of the worst," Allie Rosenbluth, US program manager at Oil Change International, said in a statement.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the pushing-the-limits department: Microsoft is planning to either add subtitles or even dub video produced by major video sites, using AI to translate the audio into foreign languages within Microsoft Edge in real time. From a report: At its Microsoft Build developer conference, Microsoft named several sites that would benefit from the new real-time translation capabilities within Edge, including Reuters, CNBC News, Bloomberg, and Coursera, plus Microsoft's own LinkedIn. Interestingly, Microsoft also named Google's YouTube as a beneficiary of the translation capabilities. Microsoft plans to translate the video from Spanish to English and from English to German, Hindi, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. There are plans to add additional languages and video platforms in the future, Microsoft said.
Posted by from MMO Champion
WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria Addons and Tools
Today we're having a look at a few useful addons and tools for
WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria.
Addon: Narcissus
Narcissus has been updated with a new Gem Manager, which can be opened by clicking on the hourglass widget on the character UI. This feature lets players easily change their meta, cogwheel, tinker, and prismatic gems through simple clicks on the gems.
Note: If the hourglass widget doesn't show up, then enable Paper Doll Widget in Settings > Extensions.
Narcissus Addon: ZamestoTV: Remix - Mists of Pandaria
ZamestoTV has created a plugin for
HandyNotes that adds the locations of
Pandaria Rares and Treasures to the map.
HandyNotes |
Pandaria Rares and Treasures 
Addon: Easy Scrap
Easy Scrap can be used to queue gear for scrapping in WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria, even though the addon hasn't been updated in a while. However, be careful to avoid clicking on "Queue All," as this option will queue all your unequipped Prismatic Gems.
Easy Scrap < This article continues on their website >
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Microsoft is partnering with tutoring organization Khan Academy to provide a generative AI assistant to all teachers in the U.S. for free. From a report: Khanmigo for Teachers, which helps teachers prepare lessons for class, is free to all educators in the U.S. as of Tuesday. The program can help create lessons, analyze student performance, plan assignments, and provide teachers with opportunities to enhance their own learning.
"Unlike most things in technology and education in the past where this is a 'nice-to-have,' this is a 'must-have' for a lot of teachers," Sal Khan, founder and CEO of Khan Academy, said in a CNBC "Squawk Box" interview last Friday ahead of the deal. Khan Academy has roughly 170 million registered users in over 50 languages around the world, and while its videos are best known, its interactive exercise platform was one which Microsoft-funded artificial intelligence company OpenAI's top executives, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, zeroed in on early when they were looking for a partner to pilot GPT with that offered socially positive use cases.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the tussle-continues department: An anonymous reader shares a report: Scams are all over the internet, and AI is making matters worse (no, Taylor Swift didn't giveaway Le Creuset pans, and Tom Hanks didn't promote a dental plan). Now, companies such as Match Group, Meta and Coinbase are launching Tech Against Scams, a new coalition focused on collaboration to prevent online fraud and financial schemes. They will "collaborate on ways to take action against the tools used by scammers, educate and protect consumers and disrupt rapidly evolving financial scams."
Meta, Coinbase and Match Group -- which owns Hinge and Tinder -- first joined forces on this issue last summer but are now teaming up with additional digital, social media and crypto companies, along with the Global Anti-Scam Organization. A major focus of this coalition is pig butchering scams, a type of fraud in which a scammer tricks someone into giving them more and more money through trusting digital relationships, both romantic and platonic in nature.
The first season of X-Men ‘97, the animated series on Disney+, is over. The show was a stunning continuation of the classic ‘90s cartoon that managed to blend nostalgic appeal with sharp storytelling that masterfully applied the mutant metaphor to modern-day issues. There is already a season two on the way, but if you… 
The Switch remake of Nintendo’s classic 2004 role-playing game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is out this week, and according to the reviews, it’s a banger. But that’s not too surprising, given that the GameCube original was always the best Paper Mario game. What is surprising is finding out the remake undoes one… 
Last year saw the release of some really big and highly-rated video games. However, new data shows that PC gaming was the biggest winner in 2023, while console revenue mostly flatlined and mobile game profits dropped. 
Every Kingdom Hearts fan knows Hikaru Utada’s classic song, “Simple and Clean.” The gorgeous, melodramatic ballad bookended the original RPG in 2001, and has since made appearances in several games in the series in the form of motifs and remixes. Today, a trailer for the Kingdom Hearts Steam release premiered a newly… 
Fans have been clamoring for Nintendo to bring back Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for years. Arguably the most beloved entry in the gonzo RPG series, it sounds like the Switch remaster has delivered on all of the magic of the original while sanding off a few of the rougher edges for modern audiences. 
Fresh off the release of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, Microsoft has reportedly greenlit the next project from developer Ninja Theory. The studio, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2018 for $117 million, has earned a reputation for creating high-quality narrative action games. That’s something it has recently delivered… 
With only a month left before Elden Ring’s highly anticipated Shadow of the Erdtree DLC drops, developer FromSoftware has gifted us with a brand-new trailer. As this will be the “first and last” DLC for the award-winning action RPG that will undoubtedly add even more lore to an already-confusing pile, there’s… 
After three mercilessly long years, the Kingdom Hearts series is coming to the PC launcher people actually like to use. Through three bundles, most (but not all) of Square Enix’s Disney and Final Fantasy crossover will be available on Steam in June. 
