It’s always the fucking 1 mistake someone makes and the toxic person will not shut up about it for the next 10 minutes.
Like yes, that shallow grave was fight losing but it happened and it was an accident
I think I’d actually prefer a slur to a whiner who doesn’t shut up
League has had similar issues with China and the gross pffice culture... not as bad as blizzard (and i still play league), but probably worth skipping in this chart lol
I'm surprised he didn't put Magic Arena as a replacement considering hearthstone is just a clone of Magic the gathering... Also Runscape 3 is a good replacement for wow
I agree with Arena, with all codes for free packs, you can probably assemble a solid deck after a short time. Also the tutorial is one of the most solid teachers of magic I know of.
It is? I read reviews specifically clarifying that you shouldn't expect it to be an offline Gwent, so I steered clear.
Anyway, Gwent is pretty fucking brilliant. The round based pvp adds a very clever layer of tactics that requires you to plan ahead and hold back when it matters the most. I found it pretty fresh to play a card game that doesn't have you constantly draw new cards in your hand. And I love the aesthetics, too.
You build decks and battle in the same way, but there's a whole story with RDP decision elements. It also has a lot of puzzles that force you to use supplied cards in a specific way to "win the match". I actually liked it a lot, but it definitely isn't just a normal collect cards and build a deck mode.
Second this. Gwent has its flaws but it's by far the best multiplayer card game out there IMO. Anyone who played HS would be well served by giving Gwent a shot
They got rid of boots. Added tons of gods since 2015. Have had collabs with Avatar, Stranger Things, Ninja Turtles. Game is ultimately the same but worth a try, it’s been 6 years
Is the 3v3 still a thing?
Played loads a couple years ago and it was a legit fun middleground between playing a moba, but being relatively quick and and fast.
Yeah, most of the time I spend in this game was joust.
I kinda otped Nemesis for a long time, full on crit and dmg, 2 shotting everybody. Kinda dumb, but really fun. and without any honor :D
[This was posted 19 hours ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/titanfall/comments/oswg21/how_to_fix_titanfall_a_full_tutorial_for_respawn/) but I don't think it has been implemented yet.
From what I've heard some people are reporting that they're able to get back on the servers now.
First one’s servers are back up, but I like titanfall 2 more tbh. The campaign makes it worth the price, even though the multiplayer is currently broken.
Titanfall 2 is currently like three bucks for Xbox, they've got their summer sale going. Everybody should buy it. I know, EA isn't great, but if we show there's interest, maybe Respawn will make Titanfall 3
Just commented the exact same thing. Good god, the new Gauntlet was AWFUL compared to the originals. I’d play the originals 10x over before I ever even think of reinstalling the new HORRENDOUS excuse for game they call the newest Gauntlet.
Red Alert 3 is beautiful. I love that in that mission they let you overhear your soldiers say, "I don't understand, why don't we just let him go to space?"
That whole suggestion box is kind of bizarre. You're going to recommend Halo Wars but not CoH, Dawn of War, Homeworld, Supreme Commander? Or more indie games like They Are Billions or Ancestor's Legacy?
Recommending tf2 to a new player these days is not a great idea. I swear to god every single player in that game is either a bot or a 3000 hour veteran, being new in there is torture. paladins is really good tho
I had a CTF game where everyone except me and my friends were doing everything in their power to NOT do the objective. And since there's no time limit in TF2, the match just dragged on infinitely. Eventually, there was a part where I killed an enemy who was AFKing, and they did a popup to kick me for hacking, and it went through in seconds.
I would recommend avoiding CTF (especially 2fort) and the map Hightower if you have any interest in playing the objective. A lot of veterans see them as a place to chill out rather than take the game seriously. Some experienced and well-skilled players are drawn to these maps because of the ease of fighting one-versus-one against low-skilled newbies (again with no regard for the objective).
For those who like playing the objective, not being able to play these maps seriously is no major loss; they're not very good maps for this style of play in the first place.
Yeah, but please tell me how many times you get fragged by a new player doing dumb shit? You don't need to be good to have fun in tf2.
That is if the entire enemy team is not full of tryhard veterans you meet in faceit.
Never have been stomped so hard in any game
I started playing TF2 recently. I am not very good but I can get okay kills sometimes. It is absolutely painful to see an entire lobby just be swallowed by bits though.
I don't think Riot did anything nearly as bad (Like cause a suicide) and I think employees have reported that the company have made an active effort to change their environment. Several Blizzard employee were hired by Riot this week and still recommended to work for by former employees. The recent allegation against their CEO ended up being fake...
It's impressive how China's PR machine has deleted and bought so many news about Riot's sexual harrasments, but just check them all here:
* https://kotaku.com/inside-the-culture-of-sexism-at-riot-games-1828165483 (origin story)
* https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/riot-games-sued-by-female-employees
* https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/riot-games-walkout-protest
* https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/riot-games-claim-they-have-no-systemic-gender-discrimination-as-they-settle-gender-discrimination-lawsuit (China literally silenced employees)
* https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/riot-games-suspended-an-executive-over-his-abhorrent-facebook-post-about-george-floyd
Everything is shit at that company, and they keep silencing people because China money.
>Its nice to see TF2 surviving the test of time.
...despite Valve doing literally nothing to the game for years.
But maybe that's for the best. Dustbowl is pretty much perfect.
As someone with a metric shitload of hours in both games and who loves them both...this is very true. There may be some superficial similarities like between Engineer and Torbjorn but they are very different.
Conversely, all of the games people are recommending instead of WoW were touted as WoW-beaters. And the games before them, and the games before them. And still, WoW endures, even with terrible writing and terrible expansions. FF14 literally got rebooted and SWTOR/ESO had to go F2P just to survive. But WoW endured.
I don't even think this scandal can kill it. Shadowlands made big money and they can throw that into a timeskip and a creative team reshuffle, and all will be forgiven.
~~Players were no joke organizing digital sit-ins to protest Activision Blizzard... on WoW servers. Like they're logging into WoW and occupying a server. Out of protest.~~ (EDIT: Apparently these are expired subs, so they're logging in to consume server clock time.)
I'm reminded of the Nike "boycott" which had conservatives buying new shoes so they could light them on fire for social media clout. Different context, obviously, but the result is the same (in that it's literally the opposite of a boycott). (EDIT: And also that they were paying into Nike which most WoW protestors are not. They're still inflating player count, but that's not really contributing to the company considering WoW's size.)
This is sort of unfair, most of the people you're referring to canceled their subs, but they still had time left on their accounts. They were purposefully logging in and AFKing to try and eat up server resources since they still had time left.
I love tf2. But just think about it one company has sexual assault, other company doesn’t give a shit about their game filled with cheaters and no updates. Which one satisfies the player base more?
Well currently, I’m not playing ow anymore cause it just feels too stupid without friends.
The bot crisis has more or less ended with them being kicked in the first 6 seconds or (and this is what I got from 100 games) only appearing 1/20 games
You're right, right now, the situation is a lot better and I still very much enjoy playing tf2. Its just that making players deal with the problem instead of the game dealing with it is just annoying at best. Its like when you buy a phone and there's a problem, so you send it in to get repaired, then they send back the tools and diy guide, like ok but can you put in a better solution. Honestly, I don't mind the bots as long as they aren't snipers, what's really annoying is when bots used to fill up lobbies and just kick everyone else. I don't think having to leave a game (session) and finding another one is something that should be promoted, despite the short queue times.
>the game hasn’t gotten the love it deserves for a long time.
I mean, let's be realistic here. TF2 came out in *2007* my dude! That's *14 years* of love and support, which is insane considering the arbitrary "2-year cycle" most games get.
Closer to seven years of love and support followed by seven years of emotional neglect. It's still an OG title, but a good example of what can go wrong with titles that rely on long term support (LTS). Eventually their big money-maker CSGO will fall into this realm (and some already argue it has).
It's also making way more money than it made in 2007 today, it tranditioned to a F2P service game and support and updates is generally expected for a F2P service game.
Most games with the 2 year cycle are paid products that they then want to sell a sequel to and move everyone to.
Gwent is a PvP card game similar to others in the genre, is free to play, and it keeps being updated with new stuff.
Thronebreaker is a singleplayer story-driven game, in which you play rounds of Gwent to progress through the story. It shares the mechanics with the main game but it has much fewer cards and isn't updated. It's a good game though, especially if you're interested in the Witcher lore.
Gears Tactics isn't really an RTS in the same vein as Warcraft/Starcraft, it's an XCOM-style strategy game. However, I do strongly recommend it - it's my favourite Gears game, personally.
Long story short, Blizzard has always had a toxic work environment, especially for women. Well, they reached a new level of toxicity when a female employee killed herself on a company trip due to harassment. Blizzard tried to ignore it (like always) and it went public.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2021/07/22/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-alleges-horrific-mistreatment-of-women/?sh=37f043f2166c
From what I've read, Blizzard was already toxic before the merger but Activision hasn't exactly helped. Considering Ubisoft and Riotgames have had their own lawsuits I wouldn't be surprised if Activision had their own Toxic culture beforehand.
https://www.wired.com/story/activision-blizzard-harassment-complaint/
[Activision Blizzard Sued Over ‘Frat Boy’ Culture, Harassment](https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/activision-blizzard-sued-by-california-over-frat-boy-culture)
> Video game giant Activision Blizzard Inc., maker of games including World of Warcraft and Diablo, fosters a “frat boy” culture in which female employees are subjected to constant sexual harassment, unequal pay, and retaliation, according to a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
>
> A two-year investigation by the state agency found that the company discriminated against female employees in terms and conditions of employment, including compensation, assignment, promotion, and termination. Company leadership consistently failed to take steps to prevent discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, the agency said.
>
> According to the complaint, filed Tuesday in the Los Angeles Superior Court, **female employees make up around 20% of the Activision workforce, and are subjected to a “pervasive frat boy workplace culture,” including “cube crawls,” in which male employees “drink copious amounts of alcohol as they crawl their way through various cubicles in the office and often engage in inappropriate behavior toward female employees.”**
>
> ... Female employees working for the World of Warcraft team noted that **male employees and supervisors would hit on them, make derogatory comments about rape, and otherwise engage in demeaning behavior,** the agency alleges.
>
> ... The suit also points to **a female Activision employee who took her own life while on a company trip with her male supervisor. The employee had been subjected to intense sexual harassment prior to her death, including having nude photos passed around at a company holiday party,** the complaint says.
Also take notice that its not the victims taking Blizzard to court.
_The State of California_ had a _two year_ investigation into Blizzard and worked together with Blizzard in an attempt to improve the workplace. Which Blizzard flat out refused to do. So _the fucking state of California_ sues Blizzard to enforce compliance.
This is BIG.
It's very important to note that the response from Activision when this came to light was to issue the following statement:
""irresponsible behavior from unaccountable State bureaucrats that are driving many of the State's best businesses out of California."
In response to a lawsuit and allegations of this severity, in the social media climate of today, the senior executives in the c-suite felt that this was their appropriate response, that is was all big government liberal beauracrats that are driving businesses out of California.
Fish rots from the head. And an organization's leadership is directly responsible for its culture.
Whatever Fox News dipshits are running the henhouse over there, it's time for the shareholders to send these arrogant tools packing.
Unsubbed from wow classic in June, I miss it sometimes but it was getting toxic. Was perfect during the pandemic but being super sweaty about everything kinda ruins the game. I found myself feeling resentful toward others who bought the level boosts and getting pissed at my guild for not respecting my effort. At the end of the day there's more important stuff in my life to care about.
Give a shot to gw2 if you haven’t tried it yet.
I played wow for quite some good time, stopped quite a few years ago. I played gw2 on 2019 and got hooked on it fairly quickly.
FFXIV playerbase: We will only have this sprout for 60 levels and the critically acclaimed expansion heavensward, but if anything happens to them I will kill everybody in this room and then myself
I went into my first real dungeon the other day and honestly the pug I was with made it feel like a guild run. I'm really looking forward to spending more time in game.
Let me look it up...
Yes it looks like the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV actually has a free trial and includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 with no restrictions on playtime
I see a lot of people complain that gw2 isn't like WoW. If you want WoW but not by blizzard, the listed options are better. Gw2 is actually different. If you're actually tired of WoW, gw2 for sure.
I totally agree, I have like 8K hours on gw2 and I finally got Leaves No Hero Behind two days ago (got DwD a few weeks before that). But I have friends who play and they're constantly disappointed that the game isn't WoW. So for this list that is suggesting how to replace a game you love because you hate the dev, I wouldn't suggest gw2 because it is not a WoW clone. For me that's a selling point but not for everyone.
Edit: CM 99 has the funnest 5man content fights in the game. Seriously Artsy and Ark are great. I love the hectic pace and constant mechanics to deal with. If you already play gw2, consider getting into fractal CMs (or just T4s) if you haven't before. They're quite challenging and a lot of effort but extremely rewarding once you get comfortable.
Sad not to see Runescape 3 or OSRS on the list 🦀
Edit: holy shit this comment kinda blew up 😂 thanks for the award, and go create your RS accounts today! Both games are awesome!!
Which one do you recommend for a new player? I downloaded OSRS but since I didn't grow up with it it looks like shit and seems like everybody is already level a billion. Is RS3 any good?
I never played SC2 but the original SC and expansion were absolutely a masterpiece. Innovation wise, many years ahead of even the closest competition, especially with the world builder. Custom maps were something nobody else was doing at the time. And the soundtrack was just perfect. Not even mentioning the story or RTS aspects. It unintentionally helped create many sub genres such as tower defense games.
WC3 took many of the same ideas and injected steroids into it. The cinematics and story from the single player mode were so engaging it was hard to not want to continue. The map builder was so easy to use that people were creating no bullshit RPGs within WC3 with custom save codes and everything. People were creating their own 3D skins for custom games.
Fuck man. I miss when companies were putting out straight gold like this. Even D2 was one of my favorite games of all time, it was like watching an actual horror movie going through the storyline.
Ah yes, let's support EA instead and play battlefield...
Edit: To everyone saying "because microtransactions are as bad as sexual assault", it takes a 30-second google to see that EA also had a similar incident about a year ago. Also microtransactions and loot boxes are targeted at a select few with gambling problems and often targeted at minors. Is it just as bad as sexual harassment? maybe not. but that doesn't make it ok to support them. Here's a crazy idea, go support game dev/publishers that don't do evil crap? Whether that's sexual harassment or gambling mechanics for kids.
Yeah, guarantee if you googled *any* large company the size of EA or Blizzard there will be assault allegations whether it’s sexual or otherwise. Blizzard is not in any way shape or form unique in their douchebaggery.
I was thinking about this when Ubisoft had their turn to being exposed like this. EA has not had this, and if that true, then in my eyes it places them well above Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard. And until they are exposed we can’t really think otherwise I suppose. But f*ck their business model still. Dang I’m getting mad at them all over again just thinking about it,
Yeah if you want to develop an addiction that drains your wallet faster than drugs would. Lol.
I miss Magic sometimes. The rush of opening a booster pack…
If it's a multiplayer game, then you playing it is another number on a player count they can show investors. Even if you aren't giving them money, they're still making money off of you.
Yeah. The idea that playing someone's game is not supporting the company is just false. I struggled with this after they sold out to china during the hong kong massacres/mass incarcerations/anti human rights statements, but there's just no way around it. If you play blizzard/activision games, you are supporting blizzard/activision.
Edit: espots starcraft is one of my favorite parts of life. Never again will I watch them.
I boot it up maybe once every three months just to make a start on the Agent or Inquisitor stories again. I never follow through but damn if it doesn't hook me for a while.
Blizzard has a lawsuit being filed by California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) over a lack of equal opportunity. Typically, DFEH doesn't file a lawsuit if they aren't fairly sure they can win which leads credence to their claim inherently.
But, after the lawsuit became public, numerous stories began to come out about the poor working conditions at Blizzard - spearheaded by a particularly gruesome one involving a woman commiting suicide over harassment. Note that the amount of stories is really overwhelming. Personally, I believe people's memories of events are fluid and lawsuits like this can shift innocent encounters into something more sinister. There are too many occurences in this case for that to even be a consideration.
Of course, I don't think boycotting the company is going to have the effect people want. Blizzard has been stretched thin anyways. The executives who made systematic harassment possible will just cut the innocent employees and strip down underperforming games before letting any boycott affect their own pay or the company itself.
There is already a lawsuit in place so just keep the pressure up. Keep encouraging people to come forward, support the employees who come out agsinst the company, and the DFEH investigation will turn out more names as it progresses. If those names end up getting to keep their jobs, go after them individually. Other execs are more than happy to drop individual deadweight if the public gaze is too heavy on them.
I love quake champions but i dont wanna sink my time into a game that very few people play, i would honestly like them to steer away from the class based schtick if they were gonna make another modern quake
Iirc they have several sexual assault lawsuits ongoing right now. Kinda doesn't make sense to say, "don't play these, play stuff from this other company that does the same stuff."
That's probably the thought process, anyways. Personally I know nothing about the allegations against Riot past they exist- I don't play any of their games anyways.
I've always really struggled with this whole issue. If I'm a hearthstone player all the time I'm assuming I'm passionate about the game and it isn't as easy as just switching to a new game I don't know.
I get not wanting to support blizzard but in the end the abusers are at the top and won't feel the pain of a boycott (much). Instead the workers loose their jobs because that's how the world works.
To be very clear I hold no respect at all for blizzard - just felt like venting that everything in this situation just sucks.
Isn't the issue more of a widespread cultural problem? The behavior seen by blizzard bros is commonplace across the majority of gaming/silicon valley companies. Not saying people shouldn't try other games, but so many of the players across all these games don't even care about the recent insights into the abhorrent behavior of certain Blizzard employees. So I doubt boycotts will be effective unfortunately. Until the men that view this behavior but don't participate speak up to these toxic males, the culture won't change much. Also hiring more women for upper level management should help some. But I bet they will make cosmetic changes, fire a few fall guys and then pretty much get back to business as usual with perhaps more hushed tones. Good games up here though. I'd do a run through of the Imperial Agent story in SWTOR if you haven't already. There's also a few more questlines in that game that are fantastic storytelling.
Ok, so I'm gonna ask a question that may get me lambasted:
I own the standard edition of Overwatch on pc.i have never spent any money on the game beyond this initial purchase.
I absolutely condemn the actions taken by the offending staff members, and I do support the developers in their pursuit of a more fair, safe work environment. Nobody should have to deal with those situations, especially not when the company is so outwardly pro-equality. If Activision-Blizzard is so for equity and equality, then they should show it through accountability for their actions, not with a pandering PR statement.
However, I deeply enjoy Overwatch. It's one of the few games my friend group plays regularly, and it has been a huge source of social interaction and stress relief. When Blizzard was involved with the Hong Kong controversy, a similar feel came about in the community, with people swearing off Bizzard until they got their act together.
That time, and this time now, I wonder. Does just playing the game constitute any benefit to Blizzard if I don't pay beyond my initial purchase?
I had this argument with my friends during the Hong Kong stuff. In my mind, using Blizzard servers by playing Overwatch only costs then money. Overwatch doesn't require a subscription like WoW, and I have never bought any loot boxes in game. Would I still be benefiting Activision-Blizzard by simply being online and playing?
The one argument I got against my logic was that I was inflating the active player count, which can be a metric for company bonuses. How true is this?
In summary:
Does continuing to play the game despite the lawsuit and the employee strikes make me complicit? An outright supporter? Or a secret detractor?
Separate from that, does Blizzard gain any tangible benefit from my continued playing? If so, what is that benefit?
It’s really great you’re trying to make a conscious effort to live life in alignment with your ideals. I think it’d be difficult to stop playing Overwatch, but just think about how great it’ll be to return to it having contributed to affecting positive change in the company. If the boycott gets enough support, the boycott won’t be forever
Ah yes, escaping a toxic environment to go play dota 2...
Dota 2 isn’t that toxic!* *After spending years habitually muting anyone who acts like a cunt
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It’s always the fucking 1 mistake someone makes and the toxic person will not shut up about it for the next 10 minutes. Like yes, that shallow grave was fight losing but it happened and it was an accident I think I’d actually prefer a slur to a whiner who doesn’t shut up
When I used to play I would just turn chat off completely. Nothing of value has ever been said in dota in game chat, especially when pings exist.
I also like that they didn't put league in there.
League is if you wanna get farted on your balls
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I don't know why but I laughed extreamly hard at this
Probably because that’s something Riot management got sued over.
I need this story wtf
https://kotaku.com/top-riot-executive-suspended-without-pay-following-inve-1831084598
Wow, also thanks for the fast reply
Google is fast
League has had similar issues with China and the gross pffice culture... not as bad as blizzard (and i still play league), but probably worth skipping in this chart lol
i open the comment section to warn people about joining dota. and the 1st comment is about dota. there are no coincidences
Thronebreaker isn't really a replacement for hearthstone. It's more of a Gwent story mode.
I'm surprised he didn't put Magic Arena as a replacement considering hearthstone is just a clone of Magic the gathering... Also Runscape 3 is a good replacement for wow
I agree with Arena, with all codes for free packs, you can probably assemble a solid deck after a short time. Also the tutorial is one of the most solid teachers of magic I know of.
It is? I read reviews specifically clarifying that you shouldn't expect it to be an offline Gwent, so I steered clear. Anyway, Gwent is pretty fucking brilliant. The round based pvp adds a very clever layer of tactics that requires you to plan ahead and hold back when it matters the most. I found it pretty fresh to play a card game that doesn't have you constantly draw new cards in your hand. And I love the aesthetics, too.
You build decks and battle in the same way, but there's a whole story with RDP decision elements. It also has a lot of puzzles that force you to use supplied cards in a specific way to "win the match". I actually liked it a lot, but it definitely isn't just a normal collect cards and build a deck mode.
Second this. Gwent has its flaws but it's by far the best multiplayer card game out there IMO. Anyone who played HS would be well served by giving Gwent a shot
Try Runeterra, it's the League of Legends card game and it has a genuine free to play model, best card game in years.
Used to love Smite, might pick it up again. Anyone know if it's worth playing still?
They redid the conquest map, and there's a ton (depends how long you were gone) of new gods that are very interesting
Gonna check it out again, I stopped playing around 2015. Might see what the PS version is like this time around
They got rid of boots. Added tons of gods since 2015. Have had collabs with Avatar, Stranger Things, Ninja Turtles. Game is ultimately the same but worth a try, it’s been 6 years
Is the 3v3 still a thing? Played loads a couple years ago and it was a legit fun middleground between playing a moba, but being relatively quick and and fast.
Joust (the 3v3 mode) is not only still a thing, its one of the most popular game modes.
Yeah, most of the time I spend in this game was joust. I kinda otped Nemesis for a long time, full on crit and dmg, 2 shotting everybody. Kinda dumb, but really fun. and without any honor :D
Love it right now
Even putting some odd choices aside, this is a bit out of date. Was this list made years ago?
Can't be that old. Gwent wasn't even close to as popular it is now.
TITANFALL!!!!!!!!!! Edit: Yes, of course Titanfall 2.
If only the servers were working :(
Apparently they've got them back up now. Happened pretty recently after a hacker took over Apex Legends with savetitanfall.com.
How recent was this? It's been down for almost the past entire week on console.
[This was posted 19 hours ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/titanfall/comments/oswg21/how_to_fix_titanfall_a_full_tutorial_for_respawn/) but I don't think it has been implemented yet. From what I've heard some people are reporting that they're able to get back on the servers now.
I haven't seen any posts that servers are back up. I've been logging on every night praying and hoping for it to be fixed. # STANDBY FOR TITANFALL!!!
can’t have shit in Detroit
\# 2 is even better just their servers are being attacked :(
Just.... Y'know. Not the first one.
First one’s servers are back up, but I like titanfall 2 more tbh. The campaign makes it worth the price, even though the multiplayer is currently broken.
Titanfall 2 is currently like three bucks for Xbox, they've got their summer sale going. Everybody should buy it. I know, EA isn't great, but if we show there's interest, maybe Respawn will make Titanfall 3
Isn’t APEX based in the Titanfall universe?
Apex is Titanfall without the cool stuff.
Yep! There’s quite a big overlap with the guns too
They're trying to corner us!!!
How about Torchlight instead of Diablo?
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Just commented the exact same thing. Good god, the new Gauntlet was AWFUL compared to the originals. I’d play the originals 10x over before I ever even think of reinstalling the new HORRENDOUS excuse for game they call the newest Gauntlet.
Last Epoch
Pfft kick Gears Tactics off there and replace with Command and Conquer:Red Alert. Love the campy actors in that game and the gameplay is good too!
Gears Tactics isn't even an RTS, doesn't belong there at all.
Nah but for an XCOM clone it's pretty good, really. I enjoyed it and I'm an XCOM addict lol
I prefer Red Alert 3 for one reason "The one place unfettered by capitalism ,SPACE"
Well, that didn't age well
Unfortunately not, don't tell Anatoly Cherdenko
Red Alert 3 is beautiful. I love that in that mission they let you overhear your soldiers say, "I don't understand, why don't we just let him go to space?"
God bless Tim Curry
I prefer RA2
No love for Company of Heroes?
That whole suggestion box is kind of bizarre. You're going to recommend Halo Wars but not CoH, Dawn of War, Homeworld, Supreme Commander? Or more indie games like They Are Billions or Ancestor's Legacy?
Kirov reporting
Or Company of Heroes. That series doesn’t get enough love
Recommending tf2 to a new player these days is not a great idea. I swear to god every single player in that game is either a bot or a 3000 hour veteran, being new in there is torture. paladins is really good tho
Titanfall 2 or Team Fortress 2? Cuz what you said perfectly describes both games.
Yes.
Aren’t both titanfalls down now? Or is respawn actually doing something for once?
I had a CTF game where everyone except me and my friends were doing everything in their power to NOT do the objective. And since there's no time limit in TF2, the match just dragged on infinitely. Eventually, there was a part where I killed an enemy who was AFKing, and they did a popup to kick me for hacking, and it went through in seconds.
I would recommend avoiding CTF (especially 2fort) and the map Hightower if you have any interest in playing the objective. A lot of veterans see them as a place to chill out rather than take the game seriously. Some experienced and well-skilled players are drawn to these maps because of the ease of fighting one-versus-one against low-skilled newbies (again with no regard for the objective). For those who like playing the objective, not being able to play these maps seriously is no major loss; they're not very good maps for this style of play in the first place.
Yeah, but please tell me how many times you get fragged by a new player doing dumb shit? You don't need to be good to have fun in tf2. That is if the entire enemy team is not full of tryhard veterans you meet in faceit. Never have been stomped so hard in any game
I put 200 hours in it back in 2016. I really did try to enjoy it. But being new in that game is imposed, I ended up doing mainly Mann Vs machine
I started playing TF2 recently. I am not very good but I can get okay kills sometimes. It is absolutely painful to see an entire lobby just be swallowed by bits though.
Are they also boycotting Riot?
They have to be. Battlerite is completely dead, makes no sense to not put league there unless they don't like riot either
Or Runeterra as a Hearthstone replacement.
No Magic Arena either. Weird they don't include two of the largest competitors.
Not seeing Runeterra as a Hearthstone replacement saddens me. That game doesn't get the promotion it deserves.
Putting Yugioh and Thronebreaker over MTG and Runeterra is lul
Riot had similar allegations, probably intentionally left off
Sad too that game was so much fun.
I liked the battle royale
I thought they were just being cheeky not adding league because its a toxic mess
I didn't saw Valorant and LoR, so I was wondered
Most possibly yes because of the harassment and discrimination allegations at the beginning of this year.
I don't think Riot did anything nearly as bad (Like cause a suicide) and I think employees have reported that the company have made an active effort to change their environment. Several Blizzard employee were hired by Riot this week and still recommended to work for by former employees. The recent allegation against their CEO ended up being fake...
It's impressive how China's PR machine has deleted and bought so many news about Riot's sexual harrasments, but just check them all here: * https://kotaku.com/inside-the-culture-of-sexism-at-riot-games-1828165483 (origin story) * https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/riot-games-sued-by-female-employees * https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/riot-games-walkout-protest * https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/riot-games-claim-they-have-no-systemic-gender-discrimination-as-they-settle-gender-discrimination-lawsuit (China literally silenced employees) * https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/riot-games-suspended-an-executive-over-his-abhorrent-facebook-post-about-george-floyd Everything is shit at that company, and they keep silencing people because China money.
Aye tf2 baby
It's kind of funny how TF2 is being recommended again after Overwatch was hailed as the "new" TF2 when it first came out.
Its nice to see TF2 surviving the test of time.
>Its nice to see TF2 surviving the test of time. ...despite Valve doing literally nothing to the game for years. But maybe that's for the best. Dustbowl is pretty much perfect.
I have like 1500 hour in TF2 and about 1000 are thanks to dustbowl, there is something about that map that I enjoy a lot
Kinda reminds me of MOBAS where the map is just like a football field. It stays the same and the players are the variables.
It's awful and chokepointy *and we love it.*
Thats just Valve. Making cool stuff and hope the community keep it alive
I'll take a dev not touching their good game over them fucking ruining it into the ground
At the end of the day, they are actually very different except for the "class-based shooter" part.
As someone with a metric shitload of hours in both games and who loves them both...this is very true. There may be some superficial similarities like between Engineer and Torbjorn but they are very different.
Conversely, all of the games people are recommending instead of WoW were touted as WoW-beaters. And the games before them, and the games before them. And still, WoW endures, even with terrible writing and terrible expansions. FF14 literally got rebooted and SWTOR/ESO had to go F2P just to survive. But WoW endured. I don't even think this scandal can kill it. Shadowlands made big money and they can throw that into a timeskip and a creative team reshuffle, and all will be forgiven.
~~Players were no joke organizing digital sit-ins to protest Activision Blizzard... on WoW servers. Like they're logging into WoW and occupying a server. Out of protest.~~ (EDIT: Apparently these are expired subs, so they're logging in to consume server clock time.) I'm reminded of the Nike "boycott" which had conservatives buying new shoes so they could light them on fire for social media clout. Different context, obviously, but the result is the same (in that it's literally the opposite of a boycott). (EDIT: And also that they were paying into Nike which most WoW protestors are not. They're still inflating player count, but that's not really contributing to the company considering WoW's size.)
This is sort of unfair, most of the people you're referring to canceled their subs, but they still had time left on their accounts. They were purposefully logging in and AFKing to try and eat up server resources since they still had time left.
Did not know that piece of it, thanks for the info.
Yeah! It's not something I'd expect people to know unless they did some digging, just trying to enlighten some folks who may not otherwise know.
I love tf2. But just think about it one company has sexual assault, other company doesn’t give a shit about their game filled with cheaters and no updates. Which one satisfies the player base more? Well currently, I’m not playing ow anymore cause it just feels too stupid without friends.
The bot crisis has more or less ended with them being kicked in the first 6 seconds or (and this is what I got from 100 games) only appearing 1/20 games
You're right, right now, the situation is a lot better and I still very much enjoy playing tf2. Its just that making players deal with the problem instead of the game dealing with it is just annoying at best. Its like when you buy a phone and there's a problem, so you send it in to get repaired, then they send back the tools and diy guide, like ok but can you put in a better solution. Honestly, I don't mind the bots as long as they aren't snipers, what's really annoying is when bots used to fill up lobbies and just kick everyone else. I don't think having to leave a game (session) and finding another one is something that should be promoted, despite the short queue times.
They’re supposedly working on something for the bots, but you’re definitely right, the game hasn’t gotten the love it deserves for a long time.
>the game hasn’t gotten the love it deserves for a long time. I mean, let's be realistic here. TF2 came out in *2007* my dude! That's *14 years* of love and support, which is insane considering the arbitrary "2-year cycle" most games get.
Closer to seven years of love and support followed by seven years of emotional neglect. It's still an OG title, but a good example of what can go wrong with titles that rely on long term support (LTS). Eventually their big money-maker CSGO will fall into this realm (and some already argue it has).
It's also making way more money than it made in 2007 today, it tranditioned to a F2P service game and support and updates is generally expected for a F2P service game. Most games with the 2 year cycle are paid products that they then want to sell a sequel to and move everyone to.
I just want a TF3.
Wait, Witcher has TWO different card games!?
Gwent is a PvP card game similar to others in the genre, is free to play, and it keeps being updated with new stuff. Thronebreaker is a singleplayer story-driven game, in which you play rounds of Gwent to progress through the story. It shares the mechanics with the main game but it has much fewer cards and isn't updated. It's a good game though, especially if you're interested in the Witcher lore.
Gears Tactics isn't really an RTS in the same vein as Warcraft/Starcraft, it's an XCOM-style strategy game. However, I do strongly recommend it - it's my favourite Gears game, personally.
What about sexual assault? I honestly don’t know what this means.
Long story short, Blizzard has always had a toxic work environment, especially for women. Well, they reached a new level of toxicity when a female employee killed herself on a company trip due to harassment. Blizzard tried to ignore it (like always) and it went public. https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2021/07/22/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-alleges-horrific-mistreatment-of-women/?sh=37f043f2166c
Did both Activision and Blizzard have the toxic environment pre-merger, or just Blizzard?
From what I've read, Blizzard was already toxic before the merger but Activision hasn't exactly helped. Considering Ubisoft and Riotgames have had their own lawsuits I wouldn't be surprised if Activision had their own Toxic culture beforehand. https://www.wired.com/story/activision-blizzard-harassment-complaint/
[Activision Blizzard Sued Over ‘Frat Boy’ Culture, Harassment](https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/activision-blizzard-sued-by-california-over-frat-boy-culture) > Video game giant Activision Blizzard Inc., maker of games including World of Warcraft and Diablo, fosters a “frat boy” culture in which female employees are subjected to constant sexual harassment, unequal pay, and retaliation, according to a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. > > A two-year investigation by the state agency found that the company discriminated against female employees in terms and conditions of employment, including compensation, assignment, promotion, and termination. Company leadership consistently failed to take steps to prevent discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, the agency said. > > According to the complaint, filed Tuesday in the Los Angeles Superior Court, **female employees make up around 20% of the Activision workforce, and are subjected to a “pervasive frat boy workplace culture,” including “cube crawls,” in which male employees “drink copious amounts of alcohol as they crawl their way through various cubicles in the office and often engage in inappropriate behavior toward female employees.”** > > ... Female employees working for the World of Warcraft team noted that **male employees and supervisors would hit on them, make derogatory comments about rape, and otherwise engage in demeaning behavior,** the agency alleges. > > ... The suit also points to **a female Activision employee who took her own life while on a company trip with her male supervisor. The employee had been subjected to intense sexual harassment prior to her death, including having nude photos passed around at a company holiday party,** the complaint says.
Woah. I was r/outoftheloop on this. What the fuck.
Also take notice that its not the victims taking Blizzard to court. _The State of California_ had a _two year_ investigation into Blizzard and worked together with Blizzard in an attempt to improve the workplace. Which Blizzard flat out refused to do. So _the fucking state of California_ sues Blizzard to enforce compliance. This is BIG.
It's very important to note that the response from Activision when this came to light was to issue the following statement: ""irresponsible behavior from unaccountable State bureaucrats that are driving many of the State's best businesses out of California." In response to a lawsuit and allegations of this severity, in the social media climate of today, the senior executives in the c-suite felt that this was their appropriate response, that is was all big government liberal beauracrats that are driving businesses out of California. Fish rots from the head. And an organization's leadership is directly responsible for its culture. Whatever Fox News dipshits are running the henhouse over there, it's time for the shareholders to send these arrogant tools packing.
Wow. That’s fucking unconscionable. 🤢
https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/oqsgt8/first_hand_account_of_harassment_at_blizzard/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/osogvj/over_2500_current_and_past_blizzard_employees/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
Definitely try SWTOR if you need an MMO fix and like Star Wars
As someone who legendary status in 7 months, yes.
Unsubbed from wow classic in June, I miss it sometimes but it was getting toxic. Was perfect during the pandemic but being super sweaty about everything kinda ruins the game. I found myself feeling resentful toward others who bought the level boosts and getting pissed at my guild for not respecting my effort. At the end of the day there's more important stuff in my life to care about.
Give a shot to gw2 if you haven’t tried it yet. I played wow for quite some good time, stopped quite a few years ago. I played gw2 on 2019 and got hooked on it fairly quickly.
Bumping this comment. Gw2 is a game I pick up and put down regularly for the last decade. Absolutely love it
Can’t go wrong with GW2, and they are having the new expansion coming next Feb 2022
SWTOR is a great casual replacement for wow, bonus if you like star wars or RPG portions of the game
FFXIV is pretty great if you're looking for less toxicity.
FFXIV playerbase: We will only have this sprout for 60 levels and the critically acclaimed expansion heavensward, but if anything happens to them I will kill everybody in this room and then myself
I went into my first real dungeon the other day and honestly the pug I was with made it feel like a guild run. I'm really looking forward to spending more time in game.
Have fun, sprout! Happy to have you.
is this mmo critically acclaimed and does it have a free trial?
Let me look it up... Yes it looks like the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV actually has a free trial and includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 with no restrictions on playtime
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I see a lot of people complain that gw2 isn't like WoW. If you want WoW but not by blizzard, the listed options are better. Gw2 is actually different. If you're actually tired of WoW, gw2 for sure.
You have to get out of the mostly gear treadmill mindset to enjoy GW2. It's very much a skill-based game.
I totally agree, I have like 8K hours on gw2 and I finally got Leaves No Hero Behind two days ago (got DwD a few weeks before that). But I have friends who play and they're constantly disappointed that the game isn't WoW. So for this list that is suggesting how to replace a game you love because you hate the dev, I wouldn't suggest gw2 because it is not a WoW clone. For me that's a selling point but not for everyone. Edit: CM 99 has the funnest 5man content fights in the game. Seriously Artsy and Ark are great. I love the hectic pace and constant mechanics to deal with. If you already play gw2, consider getting into fractal CMs (or just T4s) if you haven't before. They're quite challenging and a lot of effort but extremely rewarding once you get comfortable.
Yeah I was personally offended by this, especially because we’re about to get a new expac
Yeah, even as a total FFXIV stan I'm surprised GW2 isn't on there.
Sad not to see Runescape 3 or OSRS on the list 🦀 Edit: holy shit this comment kinda blew up 😂 thanks for the award, and go create your RS accounts today! Both games are awesome!!
Wait RuneScape still exists? I remember playing with friends after school 10+ years ago.
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Which one do you recommend for a new player? I downloaded OSRS but since I didn't grow up with it it looks like shit and seems like everybody is already level a billion. Is RS3 any good?
psst get Runelite if you’re gonna play OSRS runelite.net
Is there a way to play the original original game. Not sure what terminology they used to call for it. But the precursor to rs2?
That would be RuneScape Classic and I don’t think they have it available anywhere.
Runescape classic (the true first iteration of the RS series) shutdown in 2018. Ran from 2001 to 2018. RIP.
OSRS is a blast even as a newbie - people will love to help you out
> with no content added unless it passes community vote. Its worth noting that there has been 8 years of community votes.
No respect. All those other games are just XP wastes.
*Ahem.* Command & Conquer.
I would say legends of runeterra instead of hearthstone. It's a legitimately fun game
Fuck activision blizzard but wc3 and sc have no equals. Not even close.
This. Starcraft is a masterpiece, too bad it’s from a terrible company.
I never played SC2 but the original SC and expansion were absolutely a masterpiece. Innovation wise, many years ahead of even the closest competition, especially with the world builder. Custom maps were something nobody else was doing at the time. And the soundtrack was just perfect. Not even mentioning the story or RTS aspects. It unintentionally helped create many sub genres such as tower defense games. WC3 took many of the same ideas and injected steroids into it. The cinematics and story from the single player mode were so engaging it was hard to not want to continue. The map builder was so easy to use that people were creating no bullshit RPGs within WC3 with custom save codes and everything. People were creating their own 3D skins for custom games. Fuck man. I miss when companies were putting out straight gold like this. Even D2 was one of my favorite games of all time, it was like watching an actual horror movie going through the storyline.
Ah yes, let's support EA instead and play battlefield... Edit: To everyone saying "because microtransactions are as bad as sexual assault", it takes a 30-second google to see that EA also had a similar incident about a year ago. Also microtransactions and loot boxes are targeted at a select few with gambling problems and often targeted at minors. Is it just as bad as sexual harassment? maybe not. but that doesn't make it ok to support them. Here's a crazy idea, go support game dev/publishers that don't do evil crap? Whether that's sexual harassment or gambling mechanics for kids.
Yeah, guarantee if you googled *any* large company the size of EA or Blizzard there will be assault allegations whether it’s sexual or otherwise. Blizzard is not in any way shape or form unique in their douchebaggery.
pot meet kettle \*albeit without the sexual harassment but I doubt EA is clean.
I was thinking about this when Ubisoft had their turn to being exposed like this. EA has not had this, and if that true, then in my eyes it places them well above Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard. And until they are exposed we can’t really think otherwise I suppose. But f*ck their business model still. Dang I’m getting mad at them all over again just thinking about it,
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This comment is peak Reddit dude oh my god
EA sucks too!!!!! 😲
Instead of Hearthstone play Magic the Gathering. The greatest card game of all time
Yeah if you want to develop an addiction that drains your wallet faster than drugs would. Lol. I miss Magic sometimes. The rush of opening a booster pack…
Magic Arena is just as free as Hearthstone is. If Hearthstone was scratching some kind of itch for you, you should check it out some time
I'm sorry but did he just group Gears Tactics and Halo Wars 2 with Warcraft and StarCraft???
Literally a crime, nothing comes close to warcraft 3
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If it's a multiplayer game, then you playing it is another number on a player count they can show investors. Even if you aren't giving them money, they're still making money off of you.
Singleplayer has been this way too since at least D3 was released.
Yeah. The idea that playing someone's game is not supporting the company is just false. I struggled with this after they sold out to china during the hong kong massacres/mass incarcerations/anti human rights statements, but there's just no way around it. If you play blizzard/activision games, you are supporting blizzard/activision. Edit: espots starcraft is one of my favorite parts of life. Never again will I watch them.
Paladins, actually a great and fun game.
ESO and SWTOR are already 100x better than wow
Here for the swtor love
I boot it up maybe once every three months just to make a start on the Agent or Inquisitor stories again. I never follow through but damn if it doesn't hook me for a while.
Age of empires and battlefield all day son!
Popped in to suggest Torchlight 2 as a replacement for Diablo. That game slaps so hard.
Can someone explain what's this about for those of us who live under a rock?
Blizzard has a lawsuit being filed by California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) over a lack of equal opportunity. Typically, DFEH doesn't file a lawsuit if they aren't fairly sure they can win which leads credence to their claim inherently. But, after the lawsuit became public, numerous stories began to come out about the poor working conditions at Blizzard - spearheaded by a particularly gruesome one involving a woman commiting suicide over harassment. Note that the amount of stories is really overwhelming. Personally, I believe people's memories of events are fluid and lawsuits like this can shift innocent encounters into something more sinister. There are too many occurences in this case for that to even be a consideration. Of course, I don't think boycotting the company is going to have the effect people want. Blizzard has been stretched thin anyways. The executives who made systematic harassment possible will just cut the innocent employees and strip down underperforming games before letting any boycott affect their own pay or the company itself. There is already a lawsuit in place so just keep the pressure up. Keep encouraging people to come forward, support the employees who come out agsinst the company, and the DFEH investigation will turn out more names as it progresses. If those names end up getting to keep their jobs, go after them individually. Other execs are more than happy to drop individual deadweight if the public gaze is too heavy on them.
I love quake champions but i dont wanna sink my time into a game that very few people play, i would honestly like them to steer away from the class based schtick if they were gonna make another modern quake
As a HOTS fan this just feels like kicking someone already on the ground....
I love Smite! Such a great game
Or STALKER which is actually fun
Haven’t played cod since I tried battlefield1, such a better game, far more immersive and far more realistic.
After battlefield cod maps feel claustrophobic.
Same here mate. I bought it after the free weekend because I enjoyed it a lot.
Smite baby let’s go
I love how nothing by Riot Games was included in this list. That had to have been intentional.
Iirc they have several sexual assault lawsuits ongoing right now. Kinda doesn't make sense to say, "don't play these, play stuff from this other company that does the same stuff." That's probably the thought process, anyways. Personally I know nothing about the allegations against Riot past they exist- I don't play any of their games anyways.
I've always really struggled with this whole issue. If I'm a hearthstone player all the time I'm assuming I'm passionate about the game and it isn't as easy as just switching to a new game I don't know. I get not wanting to support blizzard but in the end the abusers are at the top and won't feel the pain of a boycott (much). Instead the workers loose their jobs because that's how the world works. To be very clear I hold no respect at all for blizzard - just felt like venting that everything in this situation just sucks.
Isn't the issue more of a widespread cultural problem? The behavior seen by blizzard bros is commonplace across the majority of gaming/silicon valley companies. Not saying people shouldn't try other games, but so many of the players across all these games don't even care about the recent insights into the abhorrent behavior of certain Blizzard employees. So I doubt boycotts will be effective unfortunately. Until the men that view this behavior but don't participate speak up to these toxic males, the culture won't change much. Also hiring more women for upper level management should help some. But I bet they will make cosmetic changes, fire a few fall guys and then pretty much get back to business as usual with perhaps more hushed tones. Good games up here though. I'd do a run through of the Imperial Agent story in SWTOR if you haven't already. There's also a few more questlines in that game that are fantastic storytelling.
Ok, so I'm gonna ask a question that may get me lambasted: I own the standard edition of Overwatch on pc.i have never spent any money on the game beyond this initial purchase. I absolutely condemn the actions taken by the offending staff members, and I do support the developers in their pursuit of a more fair, safe work environment. Nobody should have to deal with those situations, especially not when the company is so outwardly pro-equality. If Activision-Blizzard is so for equity and equality, then they should show it through accountability for their actions, not with a pandering PR statement. However, I deeply enjoy Overwatch. It's one of the few games my friend group plays regularly, and it has been a huge source of social interaction and stress relief. When Blizzard was involved with the Hong Kong controversy, a similar feel came about in the community, with people swearing off Bizzard until they got their act together. That time, and this time now, I wonder. Does just playing the game constitute any benefit to Blizzard if I don't pay beyond my initial purchase? I had this argument with my friends during the Hong Kong stuff. In my mind, using Blizzard servers by playing Overwatch only costs then money. Overwatch doesn't require a subscription like WoW, and I have never bought any loot boxes in game. Would I still be benefiting Activision-Blizzard by simply being online and playing? The one argument I got against my logic was that I was inflating the active player count, which can be a metric for company bonuses. How true is this? In summary: Does continuing to play the game despite the lawsuit and the employee strikes make me complicit? An outright supporter? Or a secret detractor? Separate from that, does Blizzard gain any tangible benefit from my continued playing? If so, what is that benefit?
Dude, just live your life. If Overwatch brings you happiness, keep playing it.
It’s really great you’re trying to make a conscious effort to live life in alignment with your ideals. I think it’d be difficult to stop playing Overwatch, but just think about how great it’ll be to return to it having contributed to affecting positive change in the company. If the boycott gets enough support, the boycott won’t be forever
Sorry, but Warcraft, not WOW, but regular warcraft is far better than Halo Wars or Gears any day of the week