BlizzCon 2015 Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm Panels

Here are my recaps of the Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm panels I went to during BlizzCon. BlizzCon was like information overload, so I know that I'm forgetting a lot of stuff!! I bought a notebook on Friday night so I could start writing down what I'd heard that day, and so I could take it to panels with me on Saturday lol. The smart blogger would've come with a notebook though...oh well, maybe next year (if I get so lucky!).

Hearthstone Panel

-the new adventure is The League of Explorers (Egyptian type feel)
-discussed all forty-five (!) new cards
-will earn all four new heroes at the completion of each wing/the adventure
-Reno Jackson, Brann Bronzebeard, Elise Starseeker, and Sir Finley Mrrgleton are the new heroes
-Discover! (class specific or neutral depending on your deck. its on a lot of the new cards)
-first wing of the adventure opens on Thursday, November 12th, 2015

Heroes of the Storm Panel

Character Development
-Eighteen weeks to test a character.
-Two hundred Blizzard characters on a list of potential HotS heroes.
-Things considered while choosing a character to add: how many of that type currently exist in the game and the character's silhouette.

New Characters
*Cho'gall

• Two players controlling one hero. Cho is melee, Gall is ranged. Each part has his own talents, but they have attacks that work together. 
• Cho'gall can't be purchased. He will be given to every BlizzCon attendee and virtual ticket holder. Those players can then pair up with other players and so some battles together as part of a quest for the player to get Cho'gall. The original Cho'gall holder can earn gold once they give four people Cho'gall.

*Greymane

• Shapeshifter since he's a Worgen.
• Fight from afar and finish up close.

*Lunara

• Permanent speed increase.
• She doesn't walk, she prances.

Other News
-Gul'dan is coming.
-Pre-order Overwatch Origins and get Tracer as a Hero.


Are you guys excited for any of the new changes to Hearthstone or Heroes of the Storm?

Gift Guide- World of Warcraft and Hearthstone (plus a little loot)

Happy Thanksgiving eve to my American readers! And Happy Just-Another-Day to my non-American readers! Today's gift guide is all about WoW and Hearthstone. I haven't done a WoW Wednesday in forever, so its about time right? Keep reading until the end, because there's a little giveaway for those of you who are feeling the Thanksgiving vibes today :)

WoW Gift Guide by krystellemt 

Alliance T shirt / Robes / World of Warcraft Journals / J!NX Alliance Hoodie / J!NX : World of Warcraft Murloc Zip-Up Hoodie / J!NX World of Warcraft Horde Track Jacket / J!NX : World of Warcraft Pandaren Express Premium Tee / J!NX : World of Warcraft Horde Wrapping Paper / J!NX : World of Warcraft Alliance Wrapping Paper / WORLD OF WARCRAFT MONOPOLY COLLECTORS EDITION / FUNKO POP! VINYL MURLOC / CUTE BUT DEADLY SYLVANAS KEYCHAIN

These items were found at Think Geek, Jinx, and the Blizzard Store.

Hearthstone by krystellemt 

J!NX : Hearthstone Vintage Logo Premium Tee / New Golden Heroes edition Hearthstone coffee mug by castastone / HEARTHSTONE THROW PILLOW / HEARTHSTONE ICE CUBE TRAY / HEARTHSTONE LIGHT-UP KEYCHAIN

Sadly, there isn't much for the Heartstone fan just yet. Everything here came from the Blizzard store, except the tee shirt (Jinx) and the mug (etsy,com).

So here's the fun part for you, if you're in the giving mood. I am giving away an in-game pet of your choice to two lucky readers! Yay! This is an international giveaway that opens right now and stays that way until midnight California time on December 29, 2014! There is no tweeting, no account following, none of that. All you have to do is donate to Play Live or Extra Life. The donation has to be a minimum of $5. You can donate more than that, but it will not increase your chances of winning. You can donate to both charities, and that will increase your chances of winning. The winners will be chosen on or around December 29, 2014. Winners will be contacted by email and have 48 hours to respond to that email. If no response is received, a new winner will be chosen. Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Play LIVE Recap

Monday, September 1st was the end of St Jude's summer gaming event Play LIVE. The team that I was on, Team TradeChat, raised $31,654! That's amazing! Overall, St Jude received over $530,000 in donations during the event. I think that is incredible. And they did too....because they have decided to open up Play LIVE for year round participation, with another big event next summer :) 

I don't think prizes will be offered during free play like the summer event. But, if you raise $100, you will receive a Play LIVE tee shirt. Also, if you're a student in need of service hours, your gaming can count! For every $100 you fundraise, you earn ten service hours.

This event was a learning experience for me, as most things seem to be lately. Soon I think I will be dropping my team affiliation and starting my own team. I'm not sure if anyone will want to join me, but there were some things about this team that I didn't like, and I want to do things my way. For example, I thought that it would be beneficial for the team to promote one another. Some of the people (mainly our team captain) had huge social media audiences. I thought that promoting others on the team would help the folks with smaller reaches make their goals, and the team would still be earning a lot of money. I mass emailed the team, and only got one response. I did notice though, that after my email the team captain did start promoting some people, but it was only the people earning thousands. Not any of the smaller people, which was my intention. When I start my team, I will promote everyone the best I can; with tweets, blog posts...whatever I can do to help. 

I learned that my laptop cannot handle streaming anything really graphic intensive. Or anything, really. Hearthstone is about the best I can do at the moment, and even then it lags a lot. Over time I hope to be able to step up my streaming game. Soon I should be able to use the video and voice features ( I was told that I would have had better luck with fundraising if I had been showing my face while streaming, not sure why), and by this time next year I should hopefully have a desktop computer that can handle streaming anything.

I also need sponsors, or at least the ability to buy better giveaway prizes. I think that would help a lot too. I noticed a lot of the really successful streamers were giving away awesome prizes in exchange for donations, so thats something I need to work on as well. 

I do owe a huge thank you to everyone that donated during the event though :) Your donations really meant the world to me, and I know that they will be put to good use at St Jude. 

If you're interested in donating to St Jude, you can donate here (I'm still trying to hit that $100 mark!) and if you'd like to join my team, email me at jenarynkrystelle(at)gmail(dot)com or leave a comment below :)

St. Jude's Play Live (Updated!)

Hello everyone! I am happy to share this awesome fundraiser that I have signed up to participate in, and I hope you'll sign up for it too.

As you know, I watch Danielle's videos on YouTube quite frequently. She was one of my favorite contestants on season one of King of the Nerds, and it was just major bonus points that she's also a fellow World of Warcraft player. So I was super excited to see this video, explaining her involvement in the upcoming St Jude fundraiser Play Live.
With all the buzz surrounding John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, childhood cancer is having a moment. Which is good, because awareness is never a bad thing. But cancer isn't just having a moment with me, its been a constant in my life. I've had family members that have fought long, hard battles with cancer that they ultimately lost. In my late teens/early twenties, I had precancerous cells removed from some pretty important parts. And since then, I've had a bevy of tumors removed from various other parts. Luckily those have all been benign, but at some point I figure my luck will run out.

I have signed up under Danielle's team (Team TradeChat) to fund raise for this event. Any donations I earn will go towards Danielle's ultimate goal of raising $100,000 for the hospital. I have set my goal at $100, and I hope you'll be there to help me reach it. If I can get five people to join the team by June 12th (the day before the fundraiser officially begins), I will hold a giveaway here on the blog. I have some Attack on Titan, Titanfall, League of Legends things to give away....and that's just for starters. If I can reach that $100 goal I've set for my team by June 20th, I will add in some more awesome prizes. I guess its like Kickstarter...or achievement unlocking. Help me reach my goals, and I'll reward you with awesome goodies :)

This is the first time I'll be live streaming anything, so I'm really nervous about it. I will be playing World of Warcraft and Hearthstone for the streams. I'm not the best player at either game, but I figure I need to get past my gaming insecurities so I can help out this great cause.

I really hope you'll join me on this adventure: http://playlive.stjude.org/krystellemt is my donor page info. Play Live runs from June 13th 2014- September 1st, 2014.

Everyone seems to take on causes whether they mean to or not, and cancer has always been one for me. This St Jude's fundraiser is a great way to support geeky guys and girls in their gaming endeavors while supporting a great cause like St Jude's. And even if cancer isn't your personal crusade, think of all the Augustuses (Augusti?) and Hazels out there that could benefit from St Jude's research and facilities.

WoW Wednesday...Its Actually More About Hearthstone...

I think I need to make a new section just for Hearthstone, I have been playing it more than WoW lately. If you're interested in Blizzard's World of Warcraft themed card game, it is now out of beta and very live! You can download it for free at playhearthstone.com. Also, if you are a WoW player trying out Hearthstone, you might be interested in the mount that they're giving away if you get three wins in Play or Arena mode. The mount also gives you an achievement called Hearthstoned.

I took a picture of my mount as soon as I won it yesterday. It took forever to get it once I logged into WoW though. It was supposed to be there as soon as you logged in, but I guess their system was overloaded by everyone trying to get it. The mount is very impressive and I've heard rumors that there is a red version of this horse, although I have only seen people getting blue ones.

Now for some WoW news. The time has come to pre-purchase Warlords of Draenor. If you pre-order the standard ($49.99) or deluxe ($69.99) digital version of the expansion, you get a free level 90 boost. You will then also have the option of purchasing addition level 90 boosts for $60 a boost. There was a lot of trash talking in Trade last night about the level boosts, but I bet most of those guys pre-ordered as well! They were talking equal amounts of trash about the Hearthsteed too, but that's just Trade, full of hating trolls. Anyway, the digital deluxe also comes with some in-game goodies; like a Dread Raven Mount and Dread hatchling pet for WoW, Battle.net portraits for Starcraft II and a Warsong Pennant for Diablo III. The mount and pet sound most appealing to me. I haven't played Diablo in forever and I have never played Starcraft. Are any of you going to pre-purchase the game for the level 90 boosts or the in-game goodies?

WoW Wednesday

Here is a video from Trade Chat giving an overview of a lot of new things in WoW, Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone. Hopefully I will have something WoW related to say next week :)

PS The level 90 boosts for sale that she mentions are no longer appearing on live servers. It was first reported that someone saw the boost price on their account after the most recent maintenance. The claims have since been dispelled by Blizzard.

WoW Wednesday

Happy Wednesday everyone! Have you been busy getting all you Lunar Festival achievements? I know I haven't lol. I have been too busy trying to utilize the last few days left on my RaF. The Lunar Festival is very pretty though, and there isn't much to do other than honor the Elders. A pain if you can't teleport or fly, but otherwise fun (and a nice way to fill in your maps). Here's a little guide from Wowhead to help you out :) Its going on now through February 3rd, so don't miss out!

Source.

The models for the Female Humans in Warlords of Draenor have been released recently. Nothing too different about them I think, just a little more definition in the body area. You can view some of the other race remodels here. 

Also, if you were mourning the fact that you weren't chosen for Hearthstone's closed betas, mourn no more. Hearthstone is now in open beta! Yes! So come hang out at the table and show us what you've got (not that I'm so great lol. I usually lose my games....) Here's a fun review from The Daily Crate (Loot Crate's hub of knowledge) about Hearthstone.

How cute are the new WoW sweatshirts from Jinx!? I mean seriously. And since I have an Alliance sweatshirt, but don't really play Alli anymore, I think this is the perfect time to get me a Horde sweatshirt! The hood detail is so awesome,  I just love it.

WoW Wednesday- Terrorists in the World of Warcraft? And, Hearthstone.

Trade chat has been abuzz the past few days over an article that came out recently about the NSA using games like World of Warcraft and Second Life to track terrorist movements. I usually ignore trade chat, its full of conspiracy theories and racist/sexist remarks on the daily, but when I saw the link to the article in my Yahoo news feed, I thought I'd give it a closer look.

The article from Forbes.com entitled, New Snowden Leak Reveals The NSA Planted Agents Inside 'World of Warcraft', goes on to explain that in the Snowden documents, they found that the NSA and some UK agencies had tried to use the games as a way to monitor terrorist activities and the possible transfer of real life funds through the game. Second Life seems like the game to use for real life money transfers, as you buy in-game items with real life money (I saw a True Life once where that was how this one girl supported herself. She made clothes in-game in Second Life and sold them for real money), whereas, that's not so in WoW (unless you're a gold farmer, which the article briefly mentions). What I think is interesting, is that people are surprised by the placing of agents. After the attack on Benghazi, it was found out that the Ambassador there was an avid World of Warcraft player. And several celebrities have come out and said that they are, or were, active WoW players as well. So why wouldn't a terrorist play? You never really know who you're talking to on games like that, so its as much a reminder to be careful as it is a reminder that anybody really can play. Often times I think people forget that there isn't one type of gamer out there.


Enough of the heavy stuff though, I am super excited to share that I *finally* received a Hearthstone beta invitation the other day!

I had been checking my Battle.net account forever, and never saw that I got accepted. Then, about a week ago, I was going through the email that's associated with my account (that's basically a junk account now), and I found an email from Blizz. Ever skeptical though (it could've been some hacker attempt. I've had a few try through emails), I didn't click on anything in the email, but I went to my Battle.net account instead, and entered the game key from there. It successfully downloaded, and now I am addicted! I have never played tabletop card games like Magic, so I think that puts me at a slight disadvantage. I had a boyfriend once that was super into Magic, and he tried to teach me how to build decks and stuff like that, and my eyes would just glaze over- now I wish I had listened. Oh well, I was only sixteen and didn't give a crap. Have any of you tried Hearthstone yet?

WoW Wednesday- BlizzCon 2013

The time has come, fans of Blizzard games! BlizzCon 2013 is this weekend, November 8th and 9th at the Anaheim Convention Center. I wish I was attending, but sadly I wasn't lucky enough to get tickets. If you're like me, and still want to check out the action, virtual tickets are still available. They are $39.99 and come with fun in-game goodies (something for WoW, Starcraft II, Diablo III and Hearthstone). The best part of the ticket for me, is to see the closing ceremony. This year's performer is Blink 182. Blink 182! They were my ultimate crushes in high school and I did get to see them in concert once my sophomore year. The show was amazing, so I hope its equally as good for all you BlizzCon attendees.

Blink 182

If any of you are actually attending the event, I hope you have an awesome time and know that I am extremely jealous of you :) For the rest of us, lets have a virtual party!

Links for BlizzCon:

*Virtual Tickets

*Event Info

*Forums