Free Weekend - Overwatch and Fallout 4 [Notification]

Just a quick notification for those that didn't know, that this weekend is a Free Weekend for two great games: Overwatch by Blizzard Entertainment and Fallout 4 by Bethesda Softworks.
To commemorate this amazing alignment of the planets that these two behemoths occupy, I created this 'Mash-Up' Image Header as a Reminder, which I will release as a Full-Sized Wallpaper, for fans of these two franchises, once it is complete... Soon™

A big fan of both companies' products, I was so excited about it - but I haven't had a chance to play yet! So, I'm trying to help out all of you fellow gamers and notify you that these games are Free and Playable all weekend - including being sold at lowered prices - but it's almost over! Get out there and jump in - and have fun! GOGOGO

See You In The Game!

In One Sentence™ - Heroes Of The Storm - Hero Overviews [Very Short Reviews Of Each, Currently Text-Only]

[In light of the recent 'Heroes Of The Storm 2.0' release - even though this was a 'work in progress' since I started playing 'Heroes' again a bit ago and it is not fully compiled yet - I wanted to get this hopefully-slightly-helpful information up right away for everyone... So here it is - being added to as I complete it but without any Screenshots yet - I am collecting some together and plan to place them in-line within ...Soon™]

Update: Last Added - Arthas on 2017.05.04

In One Sentence™

A Heroes Of The Storm

Hero Thingy Overview  

By: The Game Tips And More Blog

Presented in Alphabetical Order, in a Document-sorta-but-not-really format

[Initially, was invited to the Heroes Of The Storm Beta; but was not able to play much at the time and so I didn't write about it much back then. I did work on a few articles, such as this one, adding to it the bit that I did play. Only recently (before I knew about "Heroes Of The Storm 2.0") I got back into this fun game, tallying up my own opinions and favourites, of each and every hero in the game. Seeing "Version 2.0" come along, I felt that, even though I have not fully compiled every singly hero yet, I wanted to share what I did have done, so that everyone - and especially newcomers to the game - could get a quick idea of each Hero and how they played in the game, helping them make a choice as to which one to try. I will be returning to this post and adding more Heroes as I play them... I hope you enjoy these little snippets of info for each one - and See You In The Game!]

Rating Key (if applicable to Hero, when used):

* = Heroes I ‘Liked’ (fit my personal playstyle(s), or is unique in some way)

** = Heroes that are A Personal Favourite (I myself would play often or ‘mainly’ would use (may not match your individual preferences dear reader, this is just a Personal Rating of mine))

Auriel = Finding myself playing more offensively than defensively with this Hero, I enjoyed her AOE and healing capabilities.

Alarak = With skills focusing on mainly attacking Heroes, in the right hands this high-damage-potential Assassin could be quite deadly.


Artanis * = Another Hero with skills focused on killing other Heroes, Artanis comes with high damage output potential - and although I was left feeling oddly ‘limited’ playing him, Artanis was fun to play overall.


Arthas = A mobile tank - big, tough, but a little slow [in my opinion] - with some light healing (and the possibility to heal yourself) and some nice offensive moves as well, Arthas can become quite competent in The Nexus.


Azmodan ** = This large and lumbering behemoth is capable of dealing out huge damage as a "Ranged Specialist" - just be careful as you have fun creating your own armies on the way to dish it out on the enemies’ base, as you are also a ‘heavy target’, so to speak. A Personal Favourite.

It's Not Just You™ - Battle.Net Issues with Logging In Today [Notification]

Just a quick post to let others know that if you are having logging in to Battle.Net today (August 1st) that lots of people have been having problems as of this morning. Blizzard has addressed this with a quick note via their twitter, seen at:

https://twitter.com/BlizzardCS/status/760100687111938048

Retry or Go Back To Bed? Hmmm....

For those playing Blizzard/Battle.Net games this weekend, hopefully it will be up soon - just letting you know, It's Not Just You™ !

It's Not Just You™ - Battle.Net Issues with Logging In and Updates The Past Few Days [Notification]

Just a quick post to let others know that I am having issues logging in to Battle.Net - well, I don't mean 'just me', sorry, I mean "me too" - as in, lots of people have been having problems the last few days, as seen in places like:

http://downdetector.com/status/battle-net/map/

and

https://twitter.com/BlizzardCS


The Battle.Net Launcher [agent.exe] just kept 'trying' to log in... forever.

Logging in... forever

Eventually it told me that I could only play Offline (error 3801 in my case). It also gave a link to the Battle.Net website for the error (a link is put in the Launcher after it can't connect) which directs you here:

https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/BLZBNTBGS80000011

This seems to be a 'generic' error of "we might be under maintenance but we don't really know"

Once I finally got logged in to the Launcher, it got stuck doing "updates"... Finally, after quite a while, it now seems to be able to function fully - I can open Hearthstone or World of Warcraft, for example - and play those now.

Just letting you know that if you are experiencing problems with Battle.Net, the Blizzard Launcher or their games over the weekend - It's Not Just You™... and once it gets working for you - See You In The Game!

Quick Tip: 'Fake' Blizzard E-mail Going Around (That Is Actually 'Real')... [Notification]

Although many of you may be able to recognize a "fake" or "scam" e-mail that is not from a company that it 'pretends to be', senders of these types of spam letters ('fishing' for your account information or credit card information, called "Phishing") are getting better and better at it - and it is getting harder and harder to recognize these fake e-mails for many people. However, I wished to speedily created this Quick Tip, to inform others that there is another 'fake e-mail' going around very recently - but this one may actually from Blizzard Entertainment...

Above, is an example of the 'fake e-mail' [with MOAR FLAREZ], that purports to be "from Blizzard Entertainment" - one that I just received myself - and although just seeing this e-mail may immediately scare off most recipients [which is not a 'bad thing' in regards to unknown email], this one may in fact be an actual, informative, notification from Blizzard.

Many are already asking on the Official World Of Warcraft Forums if this e-mail is 'real or not', and according to a Blizzard Representative, there may indeed be some 'house cleaning' going on, for aging accounts - to be more specific, ones that do not have either any full-version (non-Trial) retail games on them, or ones that have not been utilized for a very long period of time. One such related post, by such a representative, is below:

So, there may in fact be some very old, or very unused accounts being notified recently that their accounts may be purged soon. However, since these types of e-mails are mostly [as in 96.333% and up] NOT from Blizzard and are merely "phishing" attempts at getting your account and/or credit card information, some Tips are in order [in my opinion].

Two easy tips that I can give immediately are:

• Do NOT click on any links, images, buttons or anything else interactive within the e-mail
• Instead, close/delete the email and go directly to Blizzard.com or Battle.net, by typing in the address yourself, directly into your web browser and access/update your Account from there

By simply using the above two tips, the chances of you going to any 'fake sites' or being 'scammed' is immediately reduced to a much, much lower possibility.

Of course, other measures can be taken; such as deleting the e-mail, not opening it initially (after only seeing the Subject in your Inbox) and obtaining an account Authenticator from Blizzard for your account.

Regardless of the steps you wish you take, I wanted to quickly put this up here, as this is a very recent email distribution [and one that I received myself regarding an old Trial account I had forgotten about], in order to help others... 

Be careful out there, always investigate, if in doubt - and See You In The Game!

It's A Busy Day For Battle.net! (Can't Login To Battlenet Authentication Application Launcher ...Thingy) [Workaround]

Estimated Queue Time: Almost 10 Hours. Hey, I could go to sleep! It's not such a bad thing after all

Just a quick post to let you know, if you are experiencing this right now, that you are not alone. Not by a long shot. Some even have a theory. Even though I am sure this issue will spark another set of debates in forums about 'Always Online Games Versus Offline Games', try not to fret "too much", as Blizzard knows about it and is hard at work on the Blizzard Servers as we speak.

Proof*:

[I can't stop laughing at the jacket ahaha it turned out great]

Hopefully they will fix it Soon™...


Meanwhile, this is a good time to empty out your bathroom bottles at your desk, take the dog for a walk or feed it, take a shower, do some laundry, and many more things that may have been neglected lately due to heavy gaming. In a way, whatever is the cause of this, it is doing us a 'helpful distraction' public service! Sort of. Don't worry, you'll be back Online and Gaming again in no time.

A couple of things you can try for now as Workarounds are: don't use the Battle.Net Launcher/App to Login to your game's account, use the .EXE file that launches the game directly. Then, when it opens up, simply log in there in the game's Main Menu. This seems to work fine.
You can also try going Offline in the Battle.Net Launcher and still be able to hit Play for the game you want to launch, then log in at the game's Main Menu [which is essentially the same as the first Workaround, but saves you the trouble of taking the time to go and locate and execute the game's startup file] - this second way of doing the above was found at the Battle.Net forums, shared by Telkari, here.
If neither of these work for you right now, I just got in to the Battle.Net Launcher, far under the estimated time of queue. Hopefully this will happen to you, too.


See You In The Games!


[UPDATE»»» I was playing D3 using my above method (the first one) to log in... but I tried switching to Hearthstone just now - and it did not work for it...]


*Image Disclaimer: The picture used above was created for parody/satire and is only presented for [very] slight comedic effect. No copyright infringement or defamatory inclination in any form was intended and cannot be inferred. I personally support Blizzard Entertainment Inc. financially as a customer and have done so for many years through my past game purchases/licenses and have been a loyal subscriber for many years intermittently for their always exceptional products and support. This image was merely an attempt at humor and no ill will was meant to Blizzard Entertainment, it's employees, affiliates or partners, in any degrees of association. The picture is not to be utilized as a substitute for medical attention.

Reminder: Diablo II - 2014 Ladder Reset is May 27th

That's right, this is just a quick reminder that tomorrow is the Diablo 2 Ladder Reset for 2014!

So get ready - stock up on energy drink and tell your friends you won't see them much for the next while - and get on that Ladder! Have fun playing, my wonderful readers - and enjoy being on the Top Of The Heap

(at least until the botters get going)

See You In The Games!