It's super hard to predict Dota 2 new meta because you get changes on pretty much anything, maps, heroes, items and even base mechanics like atributes.

My best guess is the new item who grants immunity do damage when you are near death (Aeon Disk) may be op coupled with a controller support you can't burst down anymore.

I also think the new consumable Refresher Orb may create some near insta-win situations if the player plays his cards rights, specially if you add the normal Refresher Orb to the mix. Stuff like Sanity Eclipse x 3 or Eye of Storm x 3 or just an right-click carry with BKB x 3.

Look like a good patch, and the previous patches all been balanced and fun. Dota community is lucky to have Icefrog on the whell.

There is just so much in any big dota patch new heroes kind just get lost in the wave of changes.

Of course, a new hero is a new hero and come with hype and people will insta-pick it but even playing a classic, barely touched hero with new items under new mechanics on the slightly modified map is a fresh experience.

This said, I've already saw some very unfair (some will say cancerous) strategies popping so I expect a mini-patch cutting some of the bullshit very soon.

Going to travel tomorrow but I've draw an extra comic so the comic won't go un-updated.

Will see if I can squeeze another one before travelling.

I'll be back monday with the usual shenanigans.

Cya!

Went to visit the family on the countryside and was kind away from all the gaming stuff for some days.

I cheated this comic a little because THIS time I had internet all the time but any time I go for too long without being connected I feel like I woke up from a decade long coma.

It's just too much happening all the time, local news, world news, gaming news… I think if I spent 1 year without internet I would just be unable to catch up because I would have this missing year of information needed to piece everything togethere.

Anyway, back to the usual business and to watch all the Blizzcon stuff I lost and see which Hollywood star raped someone while I was away.

I played a lot of mobile gaming but honestly, even without anything better they barely made the cut.

A common trend I saw on mobile gaming, even on paid ones, was a focus on long, grindy games. I'm looking at you «Out There».

Controls were always an issue so I don't even bother playing anything which require fine motor skills. I have decades of mouse and joypad experience I'm not restarting from scratch on something I play once in a blue moon.

Of all the games I played, the only one I found worth my moonies was «The Room», sadly it was a puzzle game which isn't my pick of genre for something you want to play for hours.

Special mention to Puzzle Forge which was fun until I found you go back to start when you lose (thou you keep your upgrades. Thanks but… no, thanks.

p.s. I expect lots of people to like the middle girl more than the tall one but I'm sure you guys got the joke meaning.

Hand of Fate is one of those small unknown games I absolutely love.

On Hand of Fate case what I like is how well oiled the game is, the mix of combat, card game, narrative all link together to make for an charming experience and the game is just the right size to not overstay it's welcome thou if you want more of it the DLC had new classes for those willing try it again. It helps the game combat is hard but give you all the tools to conquer it so you have this nice feel of mastering it.

It's a pity isn't more popular and a generic jRPG like Xenoblade will probably sell far more. Mind you, there is nothing wrong in Xenoblade taking the well traveled road and I'm sure the fans of the genre may enjoy it but I like a new, fresh experience on my gaming time.

The solution obviously was for the dealer to be kawaii gipsy with questionable clothing.

Right now, Hearthstone is under fire because people think it's too expensive.

Well, collectible card games are expensive by nature… if I wanted free entertainment I'd stick to Dota or Team Fortress 2. It's posible to play Hearthstone for free but unless you like to lose and fight an uphill battle, a minimum of money is required every expansion to keep on par with the rest of the boys.

This said, I believe you don't need a lot to be competitive… the usual promotion of 50 cards for 50 USD should be enough to make a usable deck and if you wait the meta to settle you can use your dust to craft that one must have legendary with your spare dust.

Right now Hearthstone has 3 expansion per year with no cheaper Adventures (which gave you lots of cards for less money). It's in no way the most expensive hobby out there and for someone like me who play mostly the same games it's actually a wise investment instead of just inflating my backlog with games I won't play.

But honestly, this is hardly very fun. The truth is while you can play Hearhtstone for free or with little money, some decks demand lots of cards and sometimes you just want to try a new, different deck and you may need rare cards you don't have which means more money. I think spending 50 USD per expansion is the minimum, with 100 USD being a more honest number if you want to have a solid collections.

However, every 50 packs is the price of a new AAA game. I can totally see an old Free 2 Play player getting annoyed he can't keep up anymore.

A little more about collectible card games…

People say other CCG are cheaper, but this is expected… the leader of the market has the luxury to charge more while the underdog charge less to try to get more people to play it.

My main complain with Hearthstone isn't the price tag, but how little you get from it. The client is a mess with no basic features like replays or a decent reconnect function. Your avatar is stactic with few voice lines and the cards aren't animted unless you get golden ones. The only part I think it's above average is interacting with the board but it lose your novelty eventually.

Sometimes you even get some weirdly disappointing content like assembling the Death Knight win condition with the 4 horsemen and instead of a nice clip you get 4 snowballs being flung at the enemy and he dies like usual. Was 3 months not enough to give it a nice animation or they looked at it and thought «this is fine»?

Surely Blizzard could do better, specially for the price tag.