- It is time for Shattered Soul Stone, featuring the latest news from sanctuary and beyond. Each episode, a heroic party of Nephilim Band together to help keep you informed on everything in the Diablo universe. And now your Diablo Community podcast - Coming to you from somewhere in sanctuary. This is episode 4, 4 4 of Shattered Soul Stone, your Diablo Community podcast. This episode is called Year of the Dragon. It is February 3rd, 2024. And this is Jen.
I got a lot to talk about as usual, so we're just gonna go right into it. In case you missed it. Blizzard has announced Joanna Ferris as the new president of Blizzard Entertainment. This was posted on Blizzard Entertainment's, um, site, basically on JA January 29th, 2024. There's a letter that was posted out for everybody else to see, but the email was delivered to all of the Blizzard employees, um, right away. So here's a little bit from what she wrote in this letter.
Dear Blizzard, through my official first day with you, though, my official first day with you is February 5th. I want to let you know immediately that it is an honor to join you next week in this new capacity. I do so humbly and in awe of all that Blizzard has stood for and delivered to the world for over 30 years. Today also brings some mixed emotions.
The loss of talented teammates in recent days is hard to hold side by side with the immense excitement I feel about joining Blizzard and building on the momentum you've created for Blizzard's. Next chapter, I want to thank Matt for the introduction. I have no idea who Matt is. Uh, bring some further clarity to today's announcement and share some more about how I see our future together at Blizzard. I understand this is a lot to take in the news of my appointment.
May no doubt bring up a range of reactions, questions, and even concerns. Activision, blizzard and King are decidedly different companies with distinct games, cultures, and communities. It is important to note that call of Duty's way of waking up in the morning to deliver for players can often differ from the stunning games in Blizzards realm, each with different gameplay experiences, communities that surround them and requisite models of success.
I've discussed this with the blizzard of leadership team and I'm walking into this role with sensitivity to those dynamics and deep respect for Blizzard as we begin to explore taking our universes to even higher heights, I am committed to doing everything I can to help Blizzard thrive with care and consideration for you and our games, each unique and special in their own right.
I'm optimistic about our ability to serve your, our current and future player communities and to further amplify the shared passion for greatness, polish, and creative mastery that is a hallmark of Blizzards approach to game making. Next week I will be in Irvine and I am eager to connect with as many of you as possible. I will be scheduling informal and totally optional meet and greets where I want to hear more from people across the organization.
Those of you who cannot make it to those gatherings or aren't located in Irvine, please feel free to email me. We are also planning a town hall to be held in the near future. A few personal facts about me, my number one job in life is raising two amazing boys in addition to parenthood. A typical week for me includes finding time for daily yoga and prayer, and of course playing video games. Big Diablo fan over here. That is so good to hear, right?
Uh, they're not gonna ask de hobble four. That's great. Throughout the joy I find in games and working with those who make them only deepens, I remain inspired by blizzard's iconic legacy and the transformative role gaming has played in my life and the lives of others. I cannot wait to get going, to listen, to learn, to empower and to collaborate with all of you on our bold and bright future together. Together we may forge many legendary days ahead.
Signed Joanna Charlie Intel has, um, we might know who Charlie Intel is if you're on x slash Twitter, and he tends to write about things, uh, generally including Call of Duty, but also other games and Actis, things like that. So Charlie Intel wrote this on January 30th, Activision Blizzard and Microsoft continued the layoffs today, January 30th, laying off a majority of the eSports team. There's about 12 people left on the eSports team. Now.
Microsoft waited until the CDL staff came back from Boston major, this part, this past weekend before informing them. So imagine being part of the eSports team and then you go back to the office and they're like, yeah, you're fired. You know, that's, that just sucks. I don't know what the heck they're doing over there, but it ain't good. Insider gaming reported also on January 30th, 2024 more layoffs at Activision Blizzard Target eSports division.
This one's got a little bit more information than what Charlie Intel has because there's only so much you can stick in a tweet, right? So just days after Microsoft let go of 1,900 people, the company is holding more layoffs at Activision Blizzard. According to Charlie Intel, it appears as though a major of the eSports team at Activision Blizzard has been let go.
The layoffs happened just two days after the Call of Duty League wrapped up its Boston Breach Major one event, Scott Parkin, former senior manager of eSports operations at Activision Blizzard, took to Twitter to confirm the news while venting frustration, quote, they did it. They actually did it. He said, they let us work with that over our heads and laid us off on our first day off. The lack of common decency is a joke.
End quote, castor Matt Moreo also confirmed he had been let go as part of the layoffs quote. Unfortunately today, along with a lot of other amazing eSports folks, I have been let go from Blizzard. He said on Monday, Microsoft appointed former Activision executive Joanna Ferries as Blizzard's next president. She ex is expected to start her role, uh, with Blizzard on February 5th.
And there's, um, a thing here from someone named Mike Straw, and I'm not sure who that is exactly, but I'd have to go to X to find out. But Mike Straw wrote this and it was embedded into the insider gaming article. Activision has declined an official comment on the layoffs within the eSports team. However, sources tell me that the eSports department of the company isn't shutting down entirely.
Instead, the company I'm told says, Mike Straw is going to a new business model that required changes to be made. There's currently no estimate as to how many people were let go from the Activision Blizzard, uh, in the latest round of layoffs. It's also unclear if these layoffs are part of the announced 1,900 cuts. That said, it's rumored that there are only about a dozen people left on the eSports team within the company.
Sources tell insider gaming that the eSports division isn't going away rather than just a new business model to better align with new goals for the team. Activision Blizzard declined to comment on the layoffs because of course they did. Wow. Head has an article titled Blizzard Entertainment Survival Game Development canceled. This was from nine days ago, written by Arch Mitros. That game is gone. That game is gone. They've acted, it's gone.
It's just, you know, here's, here's what Arch Mitros wrote about this. Alongside the announcement of 1,900 layoffs and the departure of Blizzard President Mike Ybarra and Co-founder Alan Adham, Blizzard's unannounced survival game has been canceled, revealed shortly after news of the Microsoft acquisition in January of 2022.
Little information about the game was ever released to the public, aside from vague recruitment posts throughout the abandonment of the unfinished projects is not heard of as the cancellation of the ambitious MMO Titan famously led to the development and release of Overwatch in 2016 as reported by the Verge Microsoft Game Content and Studios President Booty.
Yep, that's his last name, says Microsoft will be shifting some of the people working on it to one of several promising new projects Blizzard has in the early stages of development. And there is an original post here that says, create a new universe with us.
And it's got this like portal opening into, um, you know, it looks like there's a city higher up and that these two people have come down here possibly on a bike and they're looking into this portal where there's like a blue sky and a castle floating and all this good stuff. And that's kind of where they are with that. So this is what was posted originally when this game was kind of sort of vaguely announced, but it's gone now. It's absolutely gone now.
So I'll read you just a little bit of this. Blizzard is embarking on our next quest. We are going on a journey to a whole new universe, home to a brand new survival game for PC and console. A place where he full of heroes. We have yet to meet stories yet to be told, and adventures yet to be lived. A vast realm of possibility waiting to be explored. Every story needs a teller and every world needs builders. What if that could be you?
For 30 years, blizzard has been creating universes for millions of players around the globe. This requires a diverse team of developers willing to lend their voices to listen and to be heard. That is our mission. Do you like survival games? Do you want to join a collaborative, collaborative team of experienced developers at the early stage of a new project in a new world and help write the next chapter and Blizzard story? This is your call to adventure. Will you answer it?
Some people did and they got laid off. So moving on from layoffs and things like that, there's an article from PC Gamer written by Rich Stanton, and it's titled The First Diablo and Warcraft games just appeared on battle.net and Rich Stanton said, kind of surprised they weren't on there already. And there's a picture from the original Diablo game or maybe the the sequel kind of thing. So I'll read you this.
Blizzard has announced that Warcraft Orcs and humans Diablo and Warcraft two are now available on battle net. Though it was news to me says the writer, that they weren't on there already. The games had been available on GOG for the last, or gog basically, uh, for the last three to four years. And it seems that when Blizzard committed to remastering certain of its older titles itself, it handed the more straightforward re-release to the CJ CD project owned store.
These are the original games, not the Rema. The games do, however, come in a feature pack state, including their original multiplayer modes and any expansions. The First Warcraft game in its slightly silly subtitle includes two dozen missions across two separate campaigns.
Help the humans defend their home against the uh, home world against the orchid invaders, or lead the hoard in their restless conquest Custom games to hone your skills, select from 21 bonus maps and play against a computer controlled opponent to learn how to lead your forces more effectively.
Two player versus mode go head-to-head with another human and prove who is the master strategist and highly comp, uh, com customizable multiplayer matches and command the battlefield out, flank your enemies and gain glory or suffer crushing defeat and be the forgotten forever. The original Diablo, which he says he hasn't played in decades, but remember as an absolute blast featured three classes multiplayer and 16 levels of old school randomly generated Dungeons to Hoover up loot in.
Maybe if Diablo four's live service shenanigans aren't your speed, this could be just the Tonic Warcraft. Two Tides of darkness is also a classic of its time, though understandably somewhat overshadowed by the all conquering Warcraft three. And its incredible afterlife. These were far from blizzards first games, but given what the company has become are arguably where it started.
For many of the company's fans, the early years of Blizzard really were lightning in a bottle, something like Orcs and humans may feel quite rudimentary now, but indeed, co-founder Frank Pierce said these games were just not that fun anymore in 2016. But I'm one of those maniacs who every so often goes back to play the original UFO enemy unknown. You should see my frame rate. Um, and it goes on from there just a little bit.
And I remember playing the first Diablo game and the expansion of it over and over again when I was, I think I just finished college and was out on my own, my own apartment for the first time and all that kind of stuff. And, um, I played it through the night and into the morning and I was always surprised when the sun was coming up because it didn't feel like I'd played that long. So I'm glad that people will get the opportunity to play the first Diablo in Warcraft games.
I don't think I ever played the first Warcraft game. I don't think I was aware of it at the time. Yeah, I mean you could play these again, but there is a catch to it now. Right now on battle net you can get, you can buy the Diablo game, the action RPG, which includes the hellfire expansion. That's what I was looking for a minute ago. Hell fire expansion and it's for like just 10 bucks. It's like $9 and 99 cents. You can buy it now. You can gift it to somebody, you can add it to a wishlist.
There's a little bit of just a tiny little bit of description in here. So it's got the, uh, Diablo face from one of these boxes and it says Terror Rises. Darkness stirs beneath the town of Tristrum. A mad king. His missing son and a mysterious archbishop are all pieces of the puzzle you need to hack through. You have journeyed to the source of this evil. A cathedral stands in Tristrum built over the ruins of an ancient monastery, eerie lights and ungodly sounds.
Echo through its abandoned halls, tread softly adventurer for you, tread on nightmares, and it's got, you know, different features of the game. Um, it was, I guess it started in 1997, which would put me about probably when I was just getting outta college. So it says experience the legendary action RPG that defined a genre. 1990 sevens Diablo set the stage for a new type of game that combined fast paced action, deep character customization, intense multiplayer combat, and dark gothic fantasy.
In one bone chilling package, you can, um, choose your destiny. Storm Diablos halls as either a warrior, a sorcerer, or a rogue, each with unique skills and abilities and unite to destroy Diablo. Join forces with up to three other players delve into the Hellbound depths beneath Tristrum and face the prime evil together. There are system requirements for this. Here's what you need. You need to have windows.
That's what you need. Uh, the operating system should be Windows seven, uh slash 8.1 slash 10. The video is a direct X nine graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher Driver Storage is one gigabyte available on hard disc space 'cause it wasn't that big of a game. Uh, processor is one gigahertz GH Z or faster on Memories two G Ram. Um, it's considered to be in the action genre. It only plays on Windows. So I'm kind of disappointed because I loved that game back in the day.
You know, I'd love to go back to it. I don't know if I'd still like it because it was like that was my game way back when, you know, and, and I can't play it because I'm on a Mac instead. So I don't know, maybe considering, and this is just a guess, but I'm hoping that if Microsoft, maybe they can stick it on the Xbox and I can play it again sometime, but I don't really believe that's gonna happen. I'm just being hopeful here.
Diablo Immortal has a howler hunt you can play Now through February 21. It is a limited time event. Diablo Mortal on, uh, Twitter wrote our new limited time event is looking a little suss. It has like two little eyeballs there. The blood thirsty Howler has infiltrated a group of adventurers. You must find it and kill it before it kills you. Play now until February 21st, only in Diablo Immortal and there's a little wolf icon next to that, so that's kind of neat.
There's a little 13 second video if you wanna check it out. Everything I talk about today will be in the show [email protected]. In addition, there's a whole thing here for Diablo Immortal and it says, seek abundance in tongue. She's renewal that was posted on January 29 by Blizzard Entertainment. We Wish You abundance. Its sanctuary adventurer with fireworks setting the sky ablaze in celebration and loved ones in our company.
We turn our attention to the new year before us may it unravel to reveal happiness, luck, and fond memories for us to look back on. We wish you a happy lunar New Year due to the upcoming holiday. We will not be releasing a content update in two weeks and we'll instead release our next content update about three weeks from now. This update is a real firecracker, so without delay, let's dig in.
As with previous content updates, there will be server maintenance starting on January 30th, which we've passed already. Um, so that's done. You don't need to worry about that right now. And um, after the maintenance has concluded, all items mentioned below will be live specific dates for any content going live afterward are provided below. So we have Tong, she's renewal Limited Time event. Toxi the God of the Zian Pantheon, I hope I said that right, invites you to his renewal.
A call to bask in the fading glow of a finished year and begin the cycle anew and welcome a new year with open arms and optimism. From January 31st to February 25 to 50 9:00 AM server time players can complete up to five tasks a day to earn festive rewards such as red bags and tsum. The five tasks to complete for rewards include Dungeons Elder riffs, killing elite monsters, bounties, and defeating Jin Gwen who becomes available to destroy on February 9th.
So you got a few days before you can kill him. Completing these tasks earns you the red bags and tc. There is no limit to the number of times you can complete these tasks for rewards. But there is a weekly limit for how many rewards you can earn to a limit of 30 red bags and 100 TCM each week. That allows tong she's renewal is active. Okay, so there's that, there's a picture here of what these bags look like and red bags are celebratory tong.
She's renewal rewards that can be gifted to a friend or to your clan. Not only will you receive rewards when you open red bags sent to you, but you'll also receive rewards for sending red bags. Spread the blessings of tong. She's renewal by sending and receiving as many red bags as you can get your hands on. Don't forget to claim a free red bag every day as you log in from the login rewards tab within the event, which will not contribute to your overall limit.
Completing daily event tasks can also le yield tsums. Each time you contribute a tsum, you'll receive a random reward. It could be gold, scrap dust, glowing shards or gem turning in numerous TCM will combine multiple amounts of the same reward. Example turn in 10 TCM, you may receive 50 gold each T cm turned in during the limited time event contributes 500 gold to tong xi's trove tong. She's trove will grant double the gold deposited if it's claimed after February 17.
Players can also receive rewards such as the bound legendary crests and spark cask for logging in on the following dates. Uh, some of them are over. Um, February three, I guess it's still February three where I am in California. Then February 6th, ninth, 10th, 14, 17, 21 and 24. There's also a thing called Jin goon. I hope I'm saying that right. Eater of mountains. So I'm gonna guess he's big, uh, from January 31 to February eight. Got a few days for that too.
Uh, local server time band together with fellow adventurers and hunt down the fable. Terror Jin goon eater of mountains. While the hunt for Jin Goon is a foot, you can complete a daily task that transports you outside the world of sanctuary to locate signs of Jing goon, which rewards you with gold scrap and dust.
Once Jing goon has been found on February 8th, you'll be able to claim three rare chests and begin creating raids to fight Jing Goon your first van vanquishing of Jing Goon grants one to lurk pearl and one random legendary item. There's also the Howler Hunt Limited time event, which I mentioned a little bit, but this has some more stuff. A full moon rises and the blades that were once at the throat of your enemies rest war next to your foes from January 31 to February 21.
3:00 AM server time in the Howler Hunt event, one of you shall betray the other this night, but strike falsely in your ranks. Thin the blood thirsty howler has infiltrated a group of adventurers. Find it and kill it before it kills you. Available at level 30 and above, you have been tasked with obtaining sacred energy from sacred boards and submitting it to the altar of purging. Located at the center of the map. During the match, one of your companions will become the howler.
The hollerer is tasked with sabotaging their former companion's progress, using additional threats to their advantage. To disrupt any progress made, haulers can summon undead, incursions and blighted sacred wards to cause chaos and sow the seeds of dissent from the shadows. Embodying the night Terror of the hollerer presents unbridled advantages, but those that can master their lunar urges will reign.
Supreme haulers can instantly slay their nearest ally, but this will reveal your true hollerer form for several seconds. Subsequent kills create longer cool down time. So feast on your companions wisely. . Once a slain adventurer corpse is located, a vote would be called to execute the adventurous suspected of the deed adventurers and the treacherous hollerer win through different means. If all haulers are executed successfully through a vote, the adventurers succeed in their grim tasks.
Similarly, if the haulers manage to execute all adventurers, the night is theirs and the Sacred energy bar reaches 100% con. If the Sacred Energy Bar reaches 100% completion, the adventurers win. If all sacred words are destroyed, the haulers win. Rewards are determined by how much you assist or deter your side's.
Victory, collecting and turning in sacred energy, participating in voting with your fellow adventurers, your fellow adventurers out slaying adventurers as the hauler and dealing with threats will contribute to your rewards. Fear the full moon and the stalwarts companion for the crimson reflected in the moon may be your own blood. There's also the returning events trial of the hordes is going on. All clans on deck is is doing it. There's the fractured plane again, the Hungry Moon.
I've never quite completed any of these, but maybe I'll give it a try again. Yeah, there's a conquer thing, a wild brawl, shady stock, all this stuff going on. Game spot wrote Diablo four is celebrating the year of the dragon with a new limited time event. New cosmetics, powerful buffs and increased XP games are in the cards for the lunar awakening. This is written by Cameron Kosh. January 30, Diablo four is celebrating the year of the dragon in style with a new event called Lunar Awakening.
One that will transform many of the games' existing activities to have even more lucrative rewards. As detailed in a blog post, which I'll get to the event, is for both the game's eternal and seasonal realms, and will run from February 6th to 20 during which players will be able to take powerful new lunar shrine effects for a spine. These shrine buffs are similar to ones already existing in the game and can be found anywhere.
One would normally find shrines, however, lunar shrines have an added punch of power. And additionally grant 50% bonus XP and 30% increased movement speed while active during the event. Nightmare Dungeon sigils can additionally have the special ancestors favor dungeon if x, which turns all shrines in the dungeon into lunar shrines and returns additional glyph XP upon dungeon completion.
Nightmare dungeon sidles with the ancestors favor effects will persist after the end of the event with blizzard stating plea players can quote, feel free to stockpile uh, a ways for some for days long after the moon has set on lunar awakening and all the while players are blasting through sanctuary.
With these new shrine effects, they'll be earning ancestors favor a new currency that can be cashed in for rewards during the event the ancestors favor reputation features 10 tiers of rewards with six different free cosmetic items to unlock. Additionally, lunar awakened themes themed items will be available for sale in Diablo. Four's in-Game Shop for the duration of the event. Diablo four recently kicked off its third season, season of the construct.
Some of you already know this and I've started playing it a little bit. I just haven't had a lot of time, uh, which introduces the trap filled vaults for players to conquer and a customizable robot companion. The response to the season has been less than enthusiastic with many players underwhelmed by the new seasonal mechanics prior to a recent patch that buffed and improved many aspects players had found to be lackluster.
As for what's next for Diablo four, the game will continue to receive New seasons every three months while the game's first expansion vessel of hatred is planned for a late 2024 release. And that one was written by Cameron Koch if you missed it. I'm gonna also include in the show notes the Diablo season of the Construct, which is live now. Um, there's an upgraded battle pass.
There's stuff you can learn. There's, they're talking about the lunar awakening limited time event in there as well, which I already talked about. Uh, there are lunar shrine boosts. They have like this dragon kind of thing on top of them so you won't miss them. Um, there's a lunar night market to go run around in. There's some limited time rewards and I think, I'm gonna guess that might have to do with like the, I wanna say season journey kind of thing. Maybe I'm not sure there's a bonus.
Cliff xp during lunar Awakening nightmare Sils will have a chance to roll the ancestors' favor apex, which will offer 10% bonus Glyph XP and extra lunar shrine bonds for that dungeon. There's a new Quest line, recover an all chemical apparatus. I haven't quite got there yet. Then you get your al uh, construct. Uh, you can go into the dungeons and hope you don't get trapped in there or harmed in there. I think that's, I don't know, there's a game called Muck Borg and I haven't played it yet.
I've always wanted to give it a try. I'm gonna be doing that sometime soon with some friends of mine. And I kind of feel like maybe this was inspired by, you know, this seasonal dungeons might be inspired by it with all the traps and things. So we'll just see how that goes. There's also a new boss battle malus keeper of the vaults. There's uh, you can participate, you can compete in the gauntlet coming soon. I'm not sure exactly what that means. Uh, prove your might in the gauntlet.
A new weekly challenge dungeon to improve your rank and fight for a top spot on the leaderboards. Only the top 1000 mightiest wanderers of each play style, including solo class party normal and hardcore will make their mark on the weekly leaderboards and only the top 10 can claim a permanent home in the hall of the ancients. Uh, there's some updated gameplay experience. Uh, hell's hell grows more aggressive. This is the persistent hell tide battle.
The hell spawn more often with hell tides rising every hour on the hour, giving you more opportunities to turn in sins for a chance at exceptional loot. There's new power, new endgame, boss skill tree, respect stuff going on. Um, free rewards, seasoned blessings and stuff like that that you can get some of it as trans mugs, this kind of thing. So, um, I really haven't jumped into that too much yet.
I'm just using like the free battle pass because that's what I wanted to do and um, I don't usually have the energy to like just burn through the game as fast as possible. So I'll just get what I can. I'm sure all of you are probably ahead of me, but that's okay. Over on the Blizzard forums, there's a PSA titled Hang on to unused Uber uniques written by Pez Radar. And he wrote this on February 1st.
Hi, all the design team has some upcoming plans for players who may have numerous Uber uniques that they may not use. The team wanted to get a PSA out to users to hang on to these. For now, we will have more information to share soon regarding this, but felt it was important to give an early heads up to the players, so that's nice of him. And here are the patch notes. This is from January 26th. When was this other one? It's February 1st.
Okay, well we've got some patch notes from January 26th and um, it looks like, I don't know if I've read this one to you before or not. There's a lot of stuff in here to go over, but there's patch notes from the, the, uh, let's see. Oh this is actually February 1st. They updated on February 1st, but that's not too f too bad. Okay, so, uh, game updates. The amount of health a monster with the vampiric apix can heal for has been reduced for world tier one.
It goes from 10% to 5% tier two 20 to 10%. Uh, world tier three, world tier three 35% goes to 15% and world tier four goes to 25%. Developers note in a future patch will make an additional improvement to the vampire vampiric apex Projectile effects from monsters like a SR'S throne spear will gain a visual effect when they are imbued with the vampiric apex. This will make it easier to identify which projectiles can heal the monster. These suppressor apex has been adjusted.
The suppressor field no longer is always on. It now has a six second duration and 50 to 75% uptime. The field can be canceled if the monster with the AFIX is stunned, frozen, knocked down or dazed. We've adjusted the layout and monster response for several dungeons. Smaller adjustments have also been made. Nightmare dungeon SIDS will now display the level that monsters will be for the sigils tear season of the construct. Here's the following updates to the Shaw's abilities.
Gyrate damage increased by 30%. Pummel damage increased by 30%. Bushwhack damage increased by 20%. Impale damage increased by 30%. Focus fire damage increased by 20%. Lightning bolt damage increased by 20%. Firefly damaged increased by 10% and tempest damage increased by 10%. Reconstruct healing increased from 22 to percent to 32% of maximum life. At level one. At level 10, the healing is increased from 40% to 50% of maximum life.
Frigid support damage increase from 50% to 60% of the supported skills. Damage, bleeding, support damage increases, increase from 50% to 60% of the supported skills. Damage. Electrocution support there, you're, there's a thing. Uh, damage increase from 50% to 60% of the supported skills. Damage, poison support damage increased from 50 to 60%. Dusk support, same numbers, burning support, same numbers as well. There's some bug fixes. I always read these 'cause sometimes they're hilarious.
Fixed and issue where these screen reader did not read out available points of the skill tree or paragon menus. Oh, that's a problem. Um, if you don't know what a screen reader is, it's for people who have, who are visually impaired or who are blind, um, entirely and who can't. They won't know. Like things pop up a lot in Diablo four. Like you go over to a little structure and it'll give you a popup with a description of what this thing is. And it doesn't read it out.
You know, if the screen reader's not reading out for people that need it, that's bad. And I'm really hoping that they got that fixed because how else would these people play the game? You know, , it's just like you need that put it back. So I guess they did fixed an issue where the screen reader didn't function properly when viewing possible effects' when ENC chanting, okay, that's another problem, uh, that apparently has been fixed.
Fixed. An issue where the screen reader didn't announce if an active governing stone would function with a highlighted tuning stone fixed an issue where a screen reader pronounced the rank incorrectly when ranking up the C shell fiction an issue where a screen reader didn't properly communicate the text related to smoldering ashes and fixed an issue where the screen reader didn't read out the titles of the tabs in the social menu. Okay, so here's some season of the construct.
Stuff outside of that, uh, fixed an issue where season journey chapters four and uh, five and five and six did not reflect the power item. The item power for the rewards received from completing the chapters fixed An issue where Han was missing from the gate hall after the seasonal quest line was completed, fixed an issue where Azu Han didn't attack enemies during the two quest, whatever that is fixed an issue where a duplicate han could be seen during the a body stolen a body made quest.
Look in my eyes, I've got double vision. That's what it says. Um, fixed an issue where a body stolen in the body made could have progression blocked if all enemies were killed before the objective updates to destroy the corrupted root. Stones fixed an issue where the fog wall encounter in the body stole in the body made quest could malfunction when playing in a party, fixed an issue where the player could get stuck between a wall and a chest.
During the Miracle Quest, oh no fixed an issue where items carried on the player's player character's back become invisible during the miracle. Quest fixed an issue where the world he knew Quest could not be completed if all chaw stones had already been upgraded to max level fiction issue. Where the world he knew Quest displayed that the player must craft a tuning stone when instead the objective is to craft a chaw cache.
The fixed an issue where progressing through the drums of the vault quest could cause instability. In local co-op play fixed multiple issues where quest quest progression for a separated wound would be blocked if the player teleported away and back fixed an issue where the dungeon could be left for completing the any equest fixed an issue where the al ability gyrates displayed an incorrect damaged value for the next rank of the ability.
Fixed an issue where chill stacks from the AL'S frigid support ability would not apply in certain circumstances as when the player dies and is revived, fixed.
An issue where the damage over time effects applied by asal did not benefit from class passive or legendary item effects such as burning damage, not benefiting from the sorcerer's warmth fixed various other UI issues related to thesal fixed an issue where assal caches could be opened before acquiring asal, which would result in getting nothing from the cash. Oh that's terrible. Fixed an issuer tuning and governing stone rarities didn't display properly when socketed fixed an issuer.
Slowing tuning stones had the wrong name in the tool tip when dropped on the ground. Fixed an issue where multiple tuning stone tooltips wouldn't update when paired with a duration stone. I guess they don't like each other. Fixed an issue where son of malice could be damaged by traps, which could lead to players first encountering him with low health. I could see where that would be a problem. Fixed an issue where turret traps could fire invisible projectiles.
Oh that's brutal. I'm glad they fixed that one. Uh, fixed an issue where lightning floor traps could still affect a player player. Characters with various immune effects active such as blood mis or deep freeze fixed an issue where rotating pillar traps could not fully go back underground if the player died and came back to where the trap was fixed. An issue where the visual effect for damage over time applied by trapped chest did not last the entire duration of the damage fixed.
An issue where the gate hall displayed an alchemist as an available service in the map maybe is not there after all. Um, fixed an issue where the ritual of undoing menu displayed placeholder text. That's it, that's a problem.
A fixed an issue where players couldn't use leave dungeon while inside the library in various circumstances, fixed an issue where the warning prompt about removing charges was missing when using leave dungeon to exit a vault and various miscellaneous fixes for the seasonal quest line. Gameplays got a little bit in here. It's also stuff about dungeons and strongholds and interface and stuff like that.
Um, and Olivia to read those, they'll all be on chatter soul stone.com when I'm done talking about all these things over at wow head from three days ago, arcane posted, earn cosmetics through ancestors favor, reputation Diablo four lunar awakening and it's got some pictures in here that are kind of neat. Lunar awakening themed Whisper b bounties are available throughout the event, making them an excellent place to earn ancestors favor, reputation while appeasing the tree of whispers.
There are 10 ancestors favor reputation levels in total to earn and six different lunar themed cosmetic rewards to unlock, celebrate with ying yu YUE and bask in the glow of lunar awakening when it arrives on February 6th. So there's a lunar awakening bow, an awakening staff and awakening two-handed ax and awakening backpack. Interesting um, awakening markings and an awakening horse that you can obtain in this. There's some pictures here in the wow head article if you wanna take a look at those.
And that's pretty much all that's in that particular one. On January 30, Diablo four posted Luminant prosperity awaits in lunar awakening from February 6th 10:00 AM to February, 2010 am PST players in both seasonal and eternal reals can bask in the relend and joy of the lunar awakening limited time event. A mysterious phenomenon is manifesting throughout the shrines of sanctuary enc chanting them with immense and prosperous power.
Celebrators believe this to be their ancestors, blessing them from beyond the grave. To celebrate this joyous occasion, there is a little video in here that connects to YouTube. Identify and activate lunar shrines throughout all areas and activities found within sanctuary. While active, you will earn 50% bonus XP multiplicative and have 30% increased movement speed. A plethora of buffs all while earning ancestors favor.
Reputation lunar awakening has dawned to fully enjoy the revelry of lunar awakening. Travel to Ed Bardo and head to the northern section of town. Once there you'll meet Ying Yu the leader of the lunar knight market. This market is your central hub for lunar awakening. Will you redeem your ancestors' favor? Reputation for extravagant lunar renewal themed rewards. Lunar shrines are spread throughout sanctuary. Fight your way through both dungeons and the overworld.
Activating lunar shrines and slaying monsters to earn copious amounts of ancestors' favor. Reputation lunar shrines can be identified by their appearance adorned with a dragon and celebration of lunar awakening. Lunar shrines also have a unique map icon, making them easy to identify from a distance. During lunar awakening nightmare dungeon sils and nightmare vault sils will have a chance to have an ancestors favored dungeon and aex, which guarantees only luter shrine spawn for that dungeon.
In addition to the extra shrines, you will also receive 10% bonus ly xp. Once the dungeon is complete, all nightmare dungeon sidles with the ancestors' favor. Apex will re retain it once the event has ended. So feel free to stockpile away for days long after the boon has set on Luter awakening lunar shrines and ancestors. Lunar shrines are coursing with a mysterious and immense power. Celebrations of the lunar awakening. Believe this power to be returning spirits of our ancestors adorned.
To mark the special occasion during the lunar awakening, some shrines have been replaced with lunar shrines with an updated appearance to match the festivities. Lunar shrines function similarly to typical shrines, but they have been augmented for an extra punch to celebrate this festive event. Lunar shrines provide an exciting bonus effect on top of their regular shrine power. The lunar effect shrines are listed below. Here they are. There's the artillery shrine.
Casts have a chance to sub a holy, a holy bomb. Well blast wave shrine. Each explosion summons a cluster bombardment channeling shrine increases attack speed and chance to reset cool downs. Conduit shrine, that's my favorite. Um, summon, frequent, powerful, shocking strikes. Greed, shrine, chance to summon a treasure goblin while the shrine is active.
25 kills summons a treasure goblet and 50 kills summons a second lethal shrine, chance to instantly execute a struck monster causing fear on surrounding monsters. Note to this includes elites, but excludes bosses and other players. Protection shrine. You reflect all incoming damage. Damage reflected scales with level and world tier on top of these powerfully amplified effects.
Miserly spirits spawn immediately when a lunar shrine is activated, allowing you to immediately capitalize on the shrine. Specific gameplay augmentation. That's a little hard to say. Additionally, a lunar awakening themed whisper bounties are available throughout the event, making them an excellent place to earn ancestors', favor, reputation, and appeasing the tree of whispers. There's also don lunar garments and shrine. There are 10 ancestor favor, reputation levels in total to earn.
And six different lunar themed cosmetic rewards to unlock lunar awakening. Themed garments will also be available in teal's shop. Materializing to adore your wanderer in threads befitting this joyous occasion. We've also got over on Maxwell from Dr. Sy. He has written lunar awakening limited time event was updated on February 1st, so that's pretty recent. So here's part of what he wrote, A new lunar awakening limited to time event is coming to Diablo four.
This event brings new dragon themed lunar shrines to the world of sanctuary and that augment existing shrines into new versions with powerful abilities. Key takeaways event goes from February 6th to February 20th. Look for lunar shrines in the open world dungeons, nightmare dungeons, et cetera, that augment the powers of existing shrines.
Miserly spirits will spawn when you activate a lunar shrine to immediately take advantage of the effect kill enemies with the lunar shrines buff to earn ancestors' favor to put towards lunar renewal cosmetic rewards. There are specific lunar awakening whispers during the event. There will also be a special, or sorry, specific ancestors favor affliction that you can roll on. Nightmare dungeon sigils which guarantees only lunar shrines that and grant 10% more glyph xp.
So from February six to 10:00 AM to February, 2010 am PTS players in uh, PST players, I guess, uh, in both seasonal and eternal realms can bask in the relend and joy of the lunar awakening limited time event. A mysterious phenomenon is manifesting throughout the shrines of sanctuary in chanting them with immense and prosperous power. So, uh, celebrators believe this to be their ancestors, a blessing them from beyond the grave to celebrate this joyous occasion.
There is a video in this as well and some of the rest is photos from the game, which you'd need to show people what you're talking about, right? So identify and activate lunar shrines throughout all areas and activities found within sanctuary. While active, you will earn 50% bonus XP multiplicative and have 30% increased movement speed, a plethora of buffs and all while earning ancestors' favor of reputation to fully enjoy the revelry of lunar awakening. Travel to Ed Baroo.
I think I kind of read some of this before, but he's put it in here because not everybody's gonna go to every website for these things. You know, there is an article on wow head written by arcane titled, who is Zoltan Kool, the History of the Fallen Har Rodrick Maj. And they've got him with like a very shiny background and like those glasses that people put over characters to, I think it means deal with it or something like that, . And, um, so here's just a little bit.
I think some of us that have been playing the Diablo games forever know who Zil and Cool is, but this goes deeper into that and I'll read you a little bit of it, but I highly, highly recommend that if you don't know much about Zil and cool to read this yourself, it'll be in the show notes. Um, but here's a little bit. So arcane wrote this just, who is Zoltan Kool and why does their very name invoke feelings of contempt and respect in some, what exactly did they do to deserve their fate?
Let's take a deep dive into Zoltan. Cool. One of the most complex characters in all of Diablo. Just as a blade scars the flesh. So too to the horrors of the world, damn the soul. It is up to every one of us to keep the darkness from encroaching on our hearts as well as our hearts more than a mage. So I'm gonna read you just a little 'cause this is long.
Okay. Hero, genius, idealist, visionary, megalomaniac murderer, exiled, heroic mge has been called many things by many people an incredibly conflicted figure. Zin Kool truly embodies everything that is the human condition. For better or worse, Zoltan Kool was one of the founding members of the Harra.
A hand-selected team of the most powerful maj warriors by none other than teal archangel of justice, to rid the sanctuary of the prime evils after the events of the dark exile banished them to the mortal world. Then it says the beginnings, the EAD ma clan. I hope we pronounce that right. Maybe it's Ead Kool hailed from the ead Maj clan, one of only three clans to maintain their influence following the Sin War. There's a book on that you can look up. It's really good. It's a three part series.
Uh, the EAD were masters of alchemy, alteration, transmutation, and enchantment from Youth Kool was dedicated to their study described by others as the, as intelligence, intelligent and pious. He would write many tomes on these schools. Jared Cain, one of the other founding members of the Harrah Room, said of Kool that in all things he glimpsed the elements of life ripe for growth. He was in his better days, driven by dreams of elevating his fellow man to wondrous new heights.
Kool, perhaps above all other rum, had the power and wisdom to bring his grand vision of a better world. One devoid of its inherent flaws, two fruition for his expertise in manipulating physical objects. Kool was tasked by Terl to safeguard the soul stones when the Harrah room was formed. And then we have Kanis Cube. If you've played Diablo three, you kind of know what that is and he'll tell you a little bit about it in game if you care to talk to him.
Yeah. So before setting out on their journey, the newly found harrah room concurred that they required a powerful tool that would assist them in their hunt for Diablo, mephisto, and bale for this purpose. Cool. Designed a device appearing no more than a simple cube, each face etched with a, with filigree at capable of incredible feats of transmutation. Magic things given proper application.
So dangerous was the process of creating the cube that even with the power of all the hirum combined, they were nearly destroyed before beginning their quest. Not much is known about the details of the cube's construction, say for precious fuse scraps of information gleaned from fragments of the dark exile scrolls. So here's a little bit of that. Uh, from the Dark Exile scrolls, uh, they don't match, they don't make a narrative together.
But there's just pieces of these that someone has collected. Probably some of the hirum, I would guess all agreed that the cube was necessary if the hunt for the three was to be successful, they thought they understood the dangers. For weeks, the fires burned, the Smiths hammered and the MAs changed. Uh, MAs changes. Um, I dunno if I read that right or not. Uh, those who spent too long in the forge, wandered wide-eyed and unlinking in the daylight, they did not sleep.
When the physical material of the cube was forged, the real work began. 10 rum took it deep into the cave to a place that should have never been disturbed of the cave. Ted Raib channeled powers, arcane and mystic. Ted felt their sanity slipping away and nine averted their eyes. As the cube became alive, it was done and the scars would remain forever. And so it was time for the final step. The one each of them had secretly hoped would not come to pass.
Still none could deny the transcendent transcendent power of the cube with its might the impossible seam to be within their grasp. But one of their number came to realize the growing danger, a simple errand to let him away from the others. And he experienced a moment of clarity that would change the fates of all. He called the nine together and declared that the cube must be put away, hidden even from them, perhaps from them. Most of all seven of the nine concurred.
And so the cube was taken undercover of darkness entrusted since the cube was too dangerous for the rum to wield. It would be secreted away to Mount Aria to placed in the hands of chief elder Kana for safe keeping against the wishes of cool and one other with the cubes surrounded by Kanai. The Harra turned their efforts towards creating a more stable, lesser version. The Harrick cube, despite its reduced potency, it would prove invaluable in countless rituals and experiments.
And then it starts talking about the soul stones. And there's some very old art here that came out of blizzard from I could have been even just Diablo. I don't know if sultan cool is part of that, but there's just this really cool, creepy art that I kind of dig. There's a little more. It talks about, um, Mephisto Lord of hatred would be the first found. And Feld with the great fortress of bone in the desert of Stan Mephisto and his undead garrison were besieged by the harra.
The group nearly perished, yet succeeded with the help of the Harram Kahan, a priest who cleverly turned the tide of the perilous battle with their righteous spell Holy Bolt. Mephisto would be driven from the fortifications, culminating in a battle with the prime in a nearby city center. Countless innocent lives were lost in the chaos of the battle, but Mephisto ultimately fell to the hari's unwavering spirit. Baal was the second to succumb to the harra.
After Baal fled from Let Glan in the deserts of ar ana rock, the harra fought the Lord of destruction out in the open waste to avoid more collateral damage. During their battle, the amber soul stone was damaged irreparably with no known course. It was speculated that either bale damaged it with a powerful spell, or Zan Kool handled the stone improperly during battle. After Baal was slaying the largest soul stone shard contained his spirit, although only temporarily.
Rao volunteered to sacrifice his body to contain the demon. Not unlike demonic possession. Most accounts ascribe the plan for the bodily prison to tell Rasha himself. Deckard Kain, however, suggested the plan result in cools. Nevertheless, after Raha accepted the grim task, teel appeared and thanked him for his sacrifice. The archangel then led the harra into the burial chambers of ancient kings within vast tunnels carved into the canyon.
There Tia was changed to a binding stone and the soul stone shard was driven through his heart. Bacterial, forcing bale's spirit into the MA's body with the binding complete, the remaining harra material sealed RA's tomb, leaving him to struggle against BA's destructive power forever. And it goes on from here. There's a section about cool's descent to madness in here and a bunch of other stuff. It just goes on and on. It's really good.
It's really interesting. I read it over completely before I started the show and I think it's worth reading. So I read you some. If you're interested, you can go check that out as well. Also from Maxwell, we have from Modi Jo, the Twisting Blades Rogue End Game Build Guide that was posted today, February 3rd. Welcome to the Twisting Blades Road, rogue End Game Guide. This is an extraordinary speed farming build that clears faster than almost anything else in the game.
However, such power comes at a price. Your defenses are mediocre and it has a high skill ceiling. If you're looking for a fun and agile rogue build, you've come to the right place. So here's a few things it uses. Twisting blades is a two step melay attack. At first, you attack a single enemy for a moderate amount of damage. Then the blades return to you from that enemy's position after a short delay.
These returning blades are the core of the build and what you need to play around to succeed on their path. They hit all enemies for high damage and combined with various mobility skills like evade dash and shadow step, you can annihilate entire packs at once during their flight. There are different variations of this build combining this core skill with varying IBUs into other effects. And there's some stuff below that adds more detail to that.
All in all twisting blades is a very versatile skill that can do everything well. Making this build a great all rounder choice. Well, it may be difficult to get the hang of it right away when you first play it. Don't despair with some practice. And our guide, you are able, you two are able to succeed with the twisting blades rogue in Diablo four. And then there's, um, difficulty and, and all these other things in here.
So if you're gonna play a rogue, which I did for the previous season, um, I did throw blades at things. I don't remember them coming back at me or anything so that I could kill more. But, um, they kind of did. I guess you just sort of, the, the rogue I had, I don't know if it was a glitch or or something, but if I had her fight a group of enemies and she killed them all, she would just keep throwing knives or, you know, shooting like the crossbow and stuff.
It was really fun. And I, you know, and now she's not a seasonal character anymore. I, I could probably go back and play that some more. And lastly, we have improvements to Shaw Stones coming in. Patch 1.3 0.1 posted four days ago for Diablo four. Of course this is on Wow Head written by popular. Popular. And um, it's got a lot of the stuff that I've already read to you for season of the construct with, um, the different types of things that are changing.
30%, 20%, 10%, that sort of thing that's in there. So you can take your pick about which of these you wanna read when you see it [email protected]. And that's where I'm going to end the show. You have been listening to episode 4, 4 4 of the Shattered Soul Stone. Your Diablo community podcast missed an episode. You could find the show blog and listen to the show archives at www.shatteredsoulstone.com.
Come join us in game our in-game, community and clan, both named Shattered Soul Stone are open to anyone who would like to join. You can also join us on Discord for the ultimate team and community based experience, find the Discord invitation link on our Twitter at shattered stone, as well as the Shattered Soul Stone website. Thank you for listening.