Classes And Notes – Episode 445

In this episode, I shared an article about someone who allegedly was mistreated by Blizzard; Diablo Immortal Howler Hunt is still live;

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Episode Transcript

(00:04):
- It is time for Shattered Soul Stone
featuring the latest newsfrom Sanctuary and beyond.
Each episode a heroic partyof Nephilim Band together
to help keep you informed on everything in
the Diablo universe.

(00:28):
And now your Diablo Community podcast
- Coming to you fromsomewhere in sanctuary.
This is episode 4 4 5of Shattered Soul Stone,
your Diablo Community podcast.
This episode is called Classes and Notes.
It is February 10th,2024. And this is Jen.

(00:49):
I'm gonna start with anarticle from PC Gamer
that seems kind of important.
It was published by RickLane about a day ago,
and it's got a really long title.
Former Overwatch two artistsalleges Shocking Mistreatment
by Blizzard Management quote, I spent most
of a year stressed out of my mind.
There's another quote down there.
Biz Blizzard had everyopportunity to do the right thing

(01:11):
and they continually failed at that.
Okay, so I'm gonna read yousome of this. It's kind of long.
I won't read all of it toyou, but if you wanna find out
more, everything I talkabout would be in the show
[e-mail].
Blizzard's reputation hastaken a pummeling over the last
few years In 2021, horrifying descriptions
of the company's toxic workplaceculture spilled out into

(01:33):
the internet after a lawsuit was filed
by California's Departmentof Fair Employment
regarding quote, unlawful harassment,
discrimination and retaliation.
End quote. Following the lawsuit,
blizzard made extensive promisesabout how they were going
to address these problems.
And an article publishedin January of 2022,
former President Mike Ybarra,

(01:54):
explained the company hadestablished clear internal
guidelines as to appropriate conduct
and had made multiple hires toimprove culture, leadership,
human resources andequality within the company.
Three years on from the initial fallout.
You might be wondering how all
that is going well ifrecent statements made
by former Overwatch twoartist Chris Sayers,

(02:15):
are anything to go by.
The answer is extremely badly.
On Thursday evening,Sayers took a social me,
took two social media todescribe a shocking run of events
that led to his departurefrom Blizzard Sayers
who was promoted to lead FVXartist on Overwatch two's
cosmetics team in July of 2023.
Said he spent quote mostof a year stressed out

(02:36):
of my mind end quote, due to an array
of alleged mistreatment by Blizzard,
enter Blizzard Managementthat included lying to him,
gaslighting him and givinghim a quote, fake promotion.
I don't know what a fakepromotion is, but here we go.
In a lengthy thread posted on Twitter,
sayers explains the troublebegan with that promotion.
In July of 2023, I wasinvited to a meeting

(02:59):
by Art Leadership and production
to let me know they wereinterested in promoting me
to lead VFX Artist of the cosmetics team.
He writes Sayers who'd onlybeen at Blizzard for six months,
accepted the role before doing so.
However, he insistedeveryone was on the same page
regarding the details, what itmeant, what I would be doing,
and also what thepromotion would come with.

(03:19):
Parentheses, pay increase, title change.
And there's a little uh,
tweet here in the articleI'll leave you to read.
Sayers states numerousmanagement leads were present
for these discussions, including lead VX
or VFX art directors,associate art directors,
production directors, and also hr.
He said that everyone was happy end quote

(03:39):
with the agreements made
and that sayers would startthe job effective immediately
with details to comeat the end of the week.
The first warning signs appear days
after sayers commencementfor the role quote Friday.
If that week comes, nothing he writes.
But the production directordoes announce my promotion
to lead to the whole team on the Thursday.
Sayers didn't worry about thistoo much at the time though

(04:00):
as he was so excited,
he was quickly brought back down to Earth.
However, when one of hisfirst jobs was to fire one
of my new reports, because hewon't return to the office,
sayers pointed out the individual, one
of his closest friends onthe team say was waiting
for a medical accommodation
because he is a carer forhis parents to this blizzard.
Management allegedly responded. Yeah.

(04:22):
And in a bracket it says laughing.
We're not going to do thatfor a junior. Blizzard.
Management then apparentlyrefused to hire an intern to help
with say's workload, which nowincluded the responsibilities
of his previous role, his new role,
and the role of theartist he had just fired.
After a month, Sayer said hehad still not heard about the
pay increase in title change.
He was supposed to be receiving Blizzard,

(04:42):
apparently told him he'dhave to wait until August
for details in writing.
At this point, he alsodiscovered that he was quote,
earning less than 50%of every other lead V
FX artist on Blizz at Blizzard.
So much so that as a lead,
my salary is lower thanevery person I was managing.
Blizzard Managementallegedly told him it's
because he is UK based
and that the salary is basedon market value, not my value.

(05:04):
Sayers took to the theissue to HR who responded,
why would we pay you more than we have to?
That doesn't make any sense.
And it just goes on fromhere for quite a while.
You know, if you missed it,
there is a howler huntgoing on in Diablo Immortal,
and it's going to lastuntil February 21st.
You get a bunch of adventurers together
and you have to figure out,like within your grouping,
someone becomes like thewerewolf and it kills players

(05:29):
and it's trying to, whoeverhas that role is, you know,
inflicted upon them I guess, or chosen.
Um, I don't know how that works exactly
'cause I haven't played it yet,
but I think what happensis if you are the howler,
the werewolf, you sneakilycreep up on your friends
of your group that are maybeisolated and murder them
and then people find the bodyor maybe you find the body

(05:52):
and go, oh no, someone killed this one.
And then people have tofigure out who you are
and which one is the person doing that.
And it's just kind of interesting.
Blizzard Watch has anarticle by Liz Pat titled,
which class should you playin Diablo four, season three.
And I really wish I read this
before I started playingseason three, let me tell you.
So here's some uh, stuff in this article.

(06:15):
Diablo four, season threeseason of the construct is here
and patch 1.3 0.0 introducesnew legendaries uniques
and aspects turning to supplementclass balance changes all
of the adjustments combinedwith the season chaw.
And its unique supplementing skills make
for another fascinatingthree month gameplay cycle.
But what do the changes in theseason of the construct mean

(06:37):
for your favorite class It
and will it change whatyou play in season three?
Let's review Diablo four's five classes
and discuss how theylook for season three.
Here's what you need to knowto pick your Diablo four patch,
uh, 1.3 0.0.
So the barbarian in
that patch barbarian is yourpure millet class welding an
arsenal to blast through baddies.

(06:57):
If you love tanky gameplay,the barbarian is the first
of your two options with multiple options
to leverage fortify which hasgotten stronger with the shift
to using maximum life.
To calculate the amountthe barbarian survivability
translates into push opportunities
for high in high tiernightmare dungeon tears without
burning through ancestral
for rebirths in patch 1.3 0.0barbarian class turning, uh,

(07:20):
drastically increasedthe base damage of charge
and reworked both the enhanced charge
and the power charge options.
Leaps based damage hasalso been increased by 30%.
These tweaks turn your barbarianinto a veritable freight
train of trash one shots.
And while the leveling is moderately slow,
you can track down theupdated resource aspect
of the Echoing Fury
to generate extra resourceswhile only needing one

(07:42):
shout on your skill bar.
So the main things you want
for your chaw if you'replaying a barbarian,
is governing the lightningbolt and reconstruct
and tuning mockery electrocutionswift efficiency, fortify
and arching the druid.
It's D four's hybrid classwith the chance to swap quickly
between multiple play styles.
Shifting into a tanky were bear
or a slashing werewolf, slingingtornadoes from a distance

(08:05):
and overall surroundingyourself with nature's strength
to dominate the D four druid is the
jack of all trade classes.
But remember that sayingends with master of none.
That said, Druid has somany options for survival.
Patch 1.3 0.0 was incrediblynice to werewolf builds.
First they doubled enhancedrabies bonus damage from 30%
to 60%.
Then factor in the newvirulent utility aspect,

(08:27):
which reduces the cool down
of rabies when it infects anenemy tripled the cool down
on reduction on elites.
The lacerate ultimate skillhas a reduced cool down
and prime lacerate uh, addshealing for 3% max life.
Double for crits seek out aspect
of the blurred beast to top it all off.
So shreds dash seeks outnearby poisoned enemies

(08:50):
and deals boys, uh, bonus, sorry, damage
to them you want governingfor pebble and reconstruct
and you want tuning formockery electrocution swift
efficiency, safeguard and devastation.
Necromancer is the second classwith barbarian to continue
through the franchisewielding the powers of life
and death as a minion.
Summoning castor bloodand bone shadows, corpses

(09:12):
and curses are the tools inthe Necro Answers toolkit.
You have one of the fasterleveling experiences to start,
but all that castingawesomeness comes with the cost.
You're just as immortal as your enemies.
And sometimes infinitelysquishier bone spear builds have
additional useful skillson the osseous spectrum.
Now Bone Spirit received adamage increase in patch 1.3 0.0

(09:32):
and dreadful bone spirit now returns 30%
of your MA's essence DreadfulBone prison reduces cool downs
for each enemy trappedinside the bone prison.
While friendly players andminions can finally pass
through its skeletal bars,add in the revised aspect
of swelling curse to boostthe critical strike chance
of your bone spirit andreturn even more essence when

(09:53):
enemies are hit with theskill for your sinal.
You need pebble and protect.
And for governing andtuning, you need mockery,
electrocution, swift efficiency,arcing and devastation.
And now we have the roguerogues are Diablo four's
undisputed monarch ofmobility, dashing into the fray
with poisoned tr blades, laying traps
and escaping to barragetheir foes from afar.

(10:16):
Shadows, cold and poisonsare the rogue's friends,
whether you're dashinginto the fray with blades
or laying down punishingbow fire from afar,
their twisting blades build continues
to dominate the killing fields.
Basically you can blastthrough foes at unreal speeds.
I did this last season witha rogue and it was super fun.
The name of the Rogue Patch, uh,
1.3 0.0 game is penetrating shot.

(10:37):
Enhanced penetrating shotincreases the critical strike
chance of the skill, more
so if it hits at least three enemies
and improved in penetratingpenetrating shot deals.
Increase damage per enemy hitcombined with the eagle horn
and add vulnerable
or sky hunter for theguaranteed larger crits
with the precision key.
Passive cold amin isalso a viable option now

(10:57):
and your sh your haw shouldhave pebble and reconstruct.
Uh, for governing and fortuning a mockery electrocution
swift efficiency safeguard
and devastation sorcerer embracethe pure elemental caster
fantasy with the sorcerer.
You are the quintessentialranged character specializing in
lightning fire and frostmagic leveling is practically

(11:18):
explosive with sorcerer's.
Fire skills and enchantmentbased elemental resistance make
way more sense, make way more sense
with the resistance systems.
Rework. That said, you'llbe the literal glass cannon
and benefit strongly from keeping a
defensive skill on your bar.
While blasting sorcerers hadthe fewest tweaks in patch 1.3
0.0 with small adjustmentsto ball lightning blizzard

(11:40):
and lightning spear,
the new Starfall Corrine'sunique changes the meteor skill,
giving it two charges
and trading cool down
for manacos while droppingthree additional meteors.
The meteor enhancement
and enhanced meteor alsodrop one additional meteor.
This single item boosts the meteor,
builds new in end game heights.
For governing you want pummel and protect

(12:00):
and for tuning you want mockery,
electrocution swift efficiency,arching and devastation.
So yeah. Um, I'm gonnaswitch back to a barbarian
because I've been tryingto play the source.
I've never played one in Diablo before.
I didn't know what I was doing
and I wasn't having a good time,
but I know how to barbarianso I'm probably gonna go back
to do that instead
and just kind of like let mylittle sorcerer who's not doing

(12:23):
very well with things, justkind of maybe ease into like the
uh, the non season content .
We also have patch notes forDiablo four from February nine,
and here's some of the patch notes.
So there's game updates.
Uber unique crafting Uberunique items are highly sought
after with season of blood,
we introduced targetfarming Uber unique items

(12:45):
with Uber durio to giveplayers another source
of acquiring this type of item.
However, we want
to give players increasedautonomy in obtaining their
desired Uber unique by addressingfeedback that expressed
how acquiring a duplicate
or undesired uber unique items lessens
that feeling of triumph.
A new system empowers playersto make use of duplicate

(13:06):
and undesired uber uniqueitems by salvaging them
for a new resource which can be used
to eventually craft an Uberunique of their choosing.
Additionally, the chancefor Uber unique items
to drop everywhere
but in Uber durio encountershas been increased.
So here's some little notes Out of that,
Uber unique items can now be salvaged
to provide a new resource.

(13:27):
Resplendent Sparksplayers can bring five res
resplendent sparks to theAlchemist and transmute
and Uber unique of their choice.
The refined resources tab atthe Alchemist has been renamed
Transmute and the option
to craft an Uber unique itemcan be found under that tab.
Note that the preview window for the
for crafting an Uber uniquewon't display the items

(13:49):
apexes the drop chance of Uberunique items acquired outside
of Uber dural encountershas been increased.
Miscellaneous, the Curse Shrineevent now gives the shrine
bonus at the start of the event
instead of when it is finished.
That makes more sense to meand there's some bug fixes.
These are sometimes hysterical, fixed.
An issue where the screen reader did

(14:09):
not read the claimed status.
For lunar awakening rewards fixed an issue
where the screen reader didnot read ancestral favor.
Tears correctly fixed an issue
where the screen reader misread ancestral
favor upgrade text.
Oops. Season of the constructfixed an issue with where vis
visier wasp constructs were not affected
by immobilizing effects fixedan issue where the tool tip

(14:32):
for in igneous cores was missinginformation, fixed an issue
where journal pages didn't drop.
During cool's heart questfixed an issue where the only,
where only the first personin the party would get credit
for looting obelisk whispers.
Oh that's bad. Uh, fixed an issue
where arcane tremors in Hawar
and sk Glen would have avolta, uh, voltaic braziers

(14:55):
that can't be interacted with.
Fixed an issue where attacksfrom Malus could still damage
players after he's defeated.
That's kind of, yeah, thatneeded a fix fixed an issue
where the season journeyobjective keeper of nothing
still references pearls
and wording to summon echo
of malus instead of igneous cores.
Lunar awakening fixed anissue where the final quest

(15:17):
for lunar awakening couldnot be started if the player
already had maximum ancestralfavor fixed an issue
where the shrine related to the cleanse
of the North Shore shrinewhisper could be missing,
fixed an issue where theancestral favor window
wouldn't automatically close.
When walking away from,
and I'm gonna pronouncethis wrong, it's like ying y
or something like that, fixed an issue

(15:38):
where treasure goblins couldfail to spawn while fighting.
Arvis fixed an issue
where enemies kicked a killedvia an execute effect could
not drop loot fixed.
An issue where the meltedit says here melted here,
maybe it meant melted heart
of Selig was not alwaysrolling the maximum value
for its movement speed AFI fixed an issue

(15:59):
where the Echoing fury aspectdidn't grant Bo bonus Fury If
tactical rallying cry waslearned, fixed an issue
where advanced rapid fire would
incorrectly override the bonus.
Critical strike damage fromother sources fixed an issue
where damage increase
and resource reduction cost from Ring
of the Starless skies wasnot calculating correctly,
fixed an issue where thefinal lieutenant failed

(16:21):
to spawn in the Onyx Watchtowerpreventing completion
without a reset user interface
and user experience fixed an issue
where adding a friend when playing
with a controller wouldimmediately reopen the
menu for adding friend.
Okay, that seems good.
Uh, maybe I don't knowwhat they're saying.
There fixed an issue
where setting a note on afriend would open the menu

(16:42):
for adding a friend afteradding the note fixed.
An issue where icon
for animus were missing fromthe mini map in the betrayers
row dungeon andmiscellaneous fixed an issue
where a socketed gem in a legendary
or unique item coulddisappear if the item was
dropped fixed.
An issue where some playersusing NVME solid state drives
were experiencing instabilityand various visual performance

(17:05):
and stability improvements.
Okay, now we have a lotof stuff from wow head.
So the first one is, um,it was from eight days ago.
Blizzard uh, did this Diablofour season two stats email
sent out by Blizzard.
Now I know I have onesomewhere in my email
and I couldn't find it,
so I'm just gonna readthrough what this is.
This one is written by,uh, SIC eight days ago.

(17:27):
So this is what it would sayif you got one, which I did
but I couldn't remember.
You know where I put it.
So anyway, so this is from Blizzard is
it's what you'll see in your email.
Go check it if you haven't.
Uh, Fang defeats and community highlights.
Thank you for calling the Vampire Invasion
Invasion Bracket wanderer.
It would have your name in there

(17:48):
though if it's in your email.
Uh, before we put a stake inseason of Blood. Ha ha .
Let's take a moment to look back at
what the community accomplishedtogether in Diablo four
second season, the crimson tide
of the Vampiric invasion wasno match for the wanderers
of sanctuary who drove astake into the opposition.
With over 497 million blood seeker slain,

(18:12):
their dark master's ascension sought
to bleed the mortal realm dry,
but the community transmutedimmortality into an eternal
rest by defeating lord's.
Zero 9.4 million times
no glorious gained withouta little pain though.
And the 21.3 milliondeaths to blood seekers
and 1.2 million deaths to LordZero will never be forgotten.

(18:33):
Speaking of gains, thecommunity came out on top
during season of blood bycontributing to the discovery
of 350 million unique items,
674 million seeker keys and41 billion potent blood.
We hope you're enjoyingthe mechanical machinations
of in season of the Construct.
And we will see you on February 6th
to celebrate the Lunar Awakening event,

(18:55):
which isn't only on February 6th.
I hope there's also alittle like screenshot here
and it puts your stats with,um, it shows you like season
of blood stats and things.
So this one says, savor your triumphs.
Making pacs and harnessingvampiric powers is a normal day
in the life of a vampire hunter,
but it was a bloody good time thanks to.

(19:16):
And this is from CYS email,uh, with 343 hours played
during season of Blood, youaccomplish the following,
potent blood earned 51,206 Monster Slain
428,800 to 29, blood Seeker slain 600
to 34 and Blood Lure donations 47.
So that's what that is. I amcertain when I finish recording

(19:39):
this and look it back in myemail, I will find it again,
but maybe I, maybe it's just gone.
I don't know. We have anotherone from wow head lunar
awakening models, data binddoodads, weapons and mounts.
And so these are likeall the weapon things.
It's kind of hard to explain.And there's trophies.
There's this really pretty sortof reddish horse, maybe kind
of an orange horse withall these lovely white

(20:00):
decals all over it and somegems coming out of its Maine.
It's really neat. There's, um, some things
that I assume like I don'tknow what these things are.
Uh, I don't know if that's abackpack thing or something.
You can get, there's doodads,which are the shrines
and some other things
and little carved figures,just a lot of stuff.
There's no real description here.

(20:22):
It just shows youpictures of them in this.
So if you wanna see that,
maybe that'll point you towards one in the
game 'cause it should be there.
Now, world Tier four, vault of the Loom
and Trading Re-Enable, that'sby SIC from seven days ago.
Um, it's a small little article here.
Um, a Hot Fix has rolledout this evening, uh,
from four days ago resolving the

(20:42):
connection issue in the world.
Tier four vault of the Loom,
we have re-enabled World Tier four.
Vault of the Loom Tradinghas also been re-enabled,
so if you wanted to trade,you can do it again.
And last of all,
we have future Diablo fourpatch will allow claiming
cosmetics on any character,which is really interesting.
So here's what Blizzard wrote on that.

(21:02):
And this one was writtenby Popular. Popular, okay.
So in there it says,just wanted to toss in
that the team has an updatefor those who are having
to create new charactersto redeem some cosmetics
for the lunar year New Year event.
For example, if you are a necromancer
and you have a wand cosmeticfrom the event, you aren't able
to redeem it on your necromancer due

(21:24):
to some restrictions in the game.
This then forced you tostore it in your stash
and make a new sourcerjust to redeem the reward.
This will be fixed so youcan redeem them on any class.
We ask that you juststore them in your stash
until this patch hits.
Thanks for the feedback
and apologies on the confusion with this.
So I think that's good to know.
And there's gonna be a DiabloValentine's Day sale, 67% off

(21:47):
of, uh, on Diablo's,uh, Valentine's Day sale
through February 19.
Let's see what we have inhere. There's a description.
No better way to say I loveyou than spending ti quality
time felling fiends andracking up kill streaks.
Together now untilFebruary 19, get discounts
of 67% off of some of battle net's.

(22:07):
Most beloved games and goodies.
Squad up and drop into Call of Duty.
Go on a demon sling spreein Diablo, spread love
and flower pedals across world
of Warcrafts as a Roth and Moore.
Visit the Valentine's Daysale page on the battlenet
dot, uh, battle.net.
Shop now or check out anoverview of the details.
I'm just gonna read the Diablo ones.
So, um, Diablo four standard Edition is up

(22:28):
to 40% off Digital Deluxeedition, 40% off Ultimate Edition,
up to 40% off.
They, I'll say up to in front of them.
Uh, Diablo collection up to 40% off, uh,
Diablo two resurrected up to 67% off.
Interesting, uh, Diablothree up to 50% off Diablo,
three reaper of soles up to50% off the battle chest, up

(22:49):
to 33% off the rise ofthe Necromancer, which I
strongly suggest youget if you don't have it
for Diablo three because it's really fun.
It's up to 30% off, 33% off,
and the eternal collectionis up to 25% off.
So if you have all of these things
and you have friends that don't have them,
you could maybe point themthere and play together.
And that's where I'm gonna end the show.

(23:10):
Um, it's kind of a quicker showthan typical, but it's okay.
It had a lot of info in it.
And hopefully you've enjoyedat least some of this .
So I'm gonna close out the show right now.
You've been listening to episode 4, 4 5
of the Shattered Soul Stone.
Your Diablo Communitypodcast missed an episode.
You could find the show blog
and listen to the show archives at

(23:30):
www.shatteredsoulstone.com.
Come join us in Game.
Our game community and clanare both named Shattered Soul
Stone and open to anyonewho would like to join.
You could also join us on Discord.
For the ultimate team andcommunity-based experience,
find the Discord invitationlink on our Twitter at Shattered
stone, as well as theShattered Soul Stone website.
Thank you for listening.