Posted by from MMO Champion
WoW Remix Tuning and Adjustments - May 20
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
We’re making a number of changes to address issues players have been reporting with scaling and improve the overall Remix experience by improving the viability of all content for earning additional experience, bronze, and gear. The following updates have already been made to all realms via hotfix:
Enemy power scaling, particularly in group content, has been adjusted to be less aggressive. This is particularly applicable in the player level 40 - 70 range, before players have been able to power up their cloak, upgrade their gems, and increase their item level.
Gear drop rates have been improved from world rares, rare elites, and quests. This will help players who have had their item levels fall behind as leveling speed increases, especially at higher levels when cloak bonus experience is powered up.
This will also increase player Bronze and appearance acquisition by increasing the number of items to place into the Unraveling Sands for additional Bronze. The first time bonus for queueing each LFR wing will grant a Thread of Experience in addition to the existing Lesser Bronze Cache.
This should improve LFR as a viable choice for leveling main characters and alts, without players feeling like they need to grind the same LFR wing repeatedly. We have added bonus experience to each boss in normal dungeons and scenarios so they are a viable alternative to questing. Bonus experience has also been adding to the last boss of Heroic Scenarios. Heroic dungeon bosses will continue to drop bonus experience.
We’ve increased the number of prismatic gems dropped from bosses in normal and heroic scenarios and dungeons.
< This article continues on their website >
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the moving-forward department: Microsoft today unveiled Recall, a new AI-powered feature for Windows 11 PCs, at its Build 2024 conference. Recall aims to improve local searches by making them as efficient as web searches, allowing users to quickly retrieve anything they've seen on their PC. Using voice commands and contextual clues, Recall can find specific emails, documents, chat threads, and even PowerPoint slides.
The feature uses semantic associations to make connections, as demonstrated by Microsoft Product Manager Caroline Hernandez, who searched for a blue dress and refined the query with specific details. Microsoft said that Recall's processing is done locally, ensuring data privacy and security. The feature utilizes over 40 local multi-modal small language models to recognize text, images, and video.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: An anonymous reader shares a report: Hims & Hers Health, one of the online pharmacies that got its start prescribing dick pills, is now offering knockoff versions of GLP-1 weight loss drugs. Hims & Hers says it will offer drugs that mimic Ozempic and Wegovy, the active ingredient of which is semaglutide. The copycat versions are made by compounding pharmacies. The formulations aren't the same as the FDA-approved versions of the drug and haven't been directly evaluated by the FDA, either. But they're cheaper than the real thing: $199 a month, compared to the branded version, which can cost more than $1,000 a month without insurance.
Compounding pharmacies can make knockoff versions of branded drugs when they are in shortage, as the GLP-1 drugs -- prescribed for diabetes and weight loss -- currently are. The FDA has already received reports of adverse events for compounded versions of semaglutide. Hims & Hers says it "conducted extensive research for over a year" into finding a supplier, but does not name the one it chose to partner with. "Over the last year, we have grown in our conviction -- based on our medical experts' evaluation and the strength of our infrastructure -- that if done properly, compounded GLP-1s are safe and effective," the company said in its statement.
Posted by from MMO Champion
Warcraft Short Story: "The Calling"
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Since leaving the realms of Death, Anduin Wrynn has only sought to keep his hands busy. Plagued by night terrors and grisly flashbacks, the young king finally finds the isolation he seeks in Stormsong Valley, milling flour for a local village. But while Anduin may be able to hide his identity, he cannot escape who he is or the stuff he is made from.
Wind caressed the newcomer’s bearded face as he permitted his eyes, so hungry for green openness and soft lands, to feast.
Stormsong Valley was the ancient home of the tidesages, mages whose mastery of water and wind had protected ships and sailors for generations. Yet the beauty of this little hamlet near the sparkling sea was not that of majestic monuments to powerful magic. Here, it was obvious one was in the breadbox of Kul Tiras, where a salt-spray wind whispered over barley and wheat and the only magic was that of water and windmills, creaking from morn till night, transmuting elements to energy in service of the feeding and care of ordinary folk.
The pleasant sound of the mills sang a promise of new beginnings.
And the crash of the waves below, near the cave where his belongings lay bundled and buried, spoke of an ending.
Anduin Wrynn’s recent wandering had not taken him to peaceful places. He understood that he was trying to scour himself, to purge his mind and soul, to burn away his sins in places where the landscape reflected his own suffering.
My friends . . . the ones I almost killed. They believe my hands are clean. But they don’t feel clean.
Years after that confession, they still didn’t.
Read and download this short story by Christie Golden.
< This article continues on their website >
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the more-you-know department: Microplastics have been found in human testicles, with researchers saying the discovery might be linked to declining sperm counts in men. From a report: The scientists tested 23 human testes, as well as 47 testes from pet dogs. They found microplastic pollution in every sample. The human testicles had been preserved and so their sperm count could not be measured. However, the sperm count in the dogs' testes could be assessed and was lower in samples with higher contamination with PVC. The study demonstrates a correlation but further research is needed to prove microplastics cause sperm counts to fall.
Sperm counts in men have been falling for decades, with chemical pollution such as pesticides implicated by many studies. Microplastics have also recently been discovered in human blood, placentas and breast milk, indicating widespread contamination of people's bodies. The impact on health is as yet unknown but microplastics have been shown to cause damage to human cells in the laboratory. Vast amounts of plastic waste are dumped in the environment and microplastics have polluted the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans. People are known to consume the tiny particles via food and water as well as breathing them in. The particles could lodge in tissue and cause inflammation, as air pollution particles do, or chemicals in the plastics could cause harm. In March, doctors warned of potentially life-threatening effects after finding a substantially raised risk of stroke, heart attack and earlier death in people whose blood vessels were contaminated with microscopic plastics.
Posted by Willa Rowe from Kotaku
On May 20, 2014 developer
Supergiant Games (the team behind 2020’s hit roguelike
Hades and its
recently-released-in-early-access sequel) released its second game,
Transistor. The sci-fi action RPG was widely considered a wonderful sophomore outing for the developer, receiving a 9/10 from the likes of
Game Informer and
… < This article continues on their website >
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is historically significant for many reasons: it was the first Star Wars movie in nearly 16 years, the last Star Wars movie shot on film, and a polarizing, pulpy entry in the storied space fantasy franchise. It debuted on May 19, 1999, 25 years ago almost to the day, and earned… 
In a surprise twist, GameStop recently announced internally that some of its stores would begin buying and selling graded collectibles like Pokémon cards. There were immediately a bunch of questions like “how?” and “why?” One YouTuber recently tested exactly how the process works. 
Each season of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and free-to-play battle royale Warzone includes crossovers with other pop-culture franchises. The games have seen King Kong, Dune, and more in past seasons. None of them have been that enticing to me, but then again I’m not the audience since I don’t play CoD. Hold on,… 
On May 15, the official X (formerly Twitter) account for Drag Her!, an indie fighting game set to feature famous drag performers, shared a sad update: After three years of development, and around $75,000 in funding via Kickstarter, the game was shutting down and the dev team was disbanding. The reason? “A simple lack… 
Once again, fans and modders are doing the work that Nintendo won’t. This time it’s a new tool, out now, that lets anyone quickly and easily make custom Super Mario 64 levels and share them with friends online. 
As the handheld gaming market continues to blow-up, high-end PC gamers aren’t the only ones swimming in options. Retro enthusiasts also have a bigger selection of sleek emulation machines to choose from, including a handful of new devices with impressive specs and beautiful designs. 
The first season of the widely acclaimed X-Men ‘97 animated series wrapped up last week. The 10-episode run was praised for its writing, understanding of the original ‘90s animated series, and its ability to balance that authenticity with a modern spin. However, the second season in development at Disney+ will be… 
MultiVersus, WB’s Smash Bros. clone which launches next week, has just added two more popular faces to its odd roster: Agent Smith from The Matrix films and Friday The 13th’s hockey-mask-wearing killer Jason Voorhees. Watch out, Fortnite, there’s a new IP fever dream simulator on the block. 
