All-

Two quick items to update you on:

• Pazaak

• Hearthstone Support

• Overwatch and Battlefront PvP Queue Update

On Pazaak

As you are all aware, our beloved Pazaak.org site has ceased to exist. I have made multiple attempts to contact the webmaster over the past month and have received no response. Because of this, I have removed Pazaak from the PvP queue and the list of supported games. If the site comes back online at any point, I will immediately add it back into the list of supported games.

Hearthstone Support

With the loss of Pazaak, a void in the free card game category opened up. I asked if anyone had any ideas, and the overwhelming response was that I needed to look into Blizzard’s Hearthstone game. I opted to run a test based off a poll in DB Gaming, and the results were pretty impressive. Twenty-one people participated in the test competition, turning in screenshots for over 180 individual matches. With that level of interest and support for the competition, I have added Hearthstone to our current library of supported games.

Effective immediately, Hearthstone is available on the Fist bot for 1v1 matches. Match values are equivalent to pre-nerf Pazaak.

Because rules are important, here is what you need to know starting out:

• Matches must be set up on Telegram using @DJBFistbot
• Hearthstone Matches will be played via your Battle.net profile - either through the PC App or Mobile App.
• Your Battle.net ID must be listed on your dossier.
• When choosing to play with “Classic” decks (the original pre-designed decks within Hearthstone for each Class) you will not make any deviations to the decks and play only the original design. If you do not have a Classic deck built, it may be automatically created in the deck creation option in your collection. ** Note: When you first start: You will not have access to all of the available cards for the classic decks - you will gain access to more as you level the characters by playing them.
• When choosing to play “Custom” decks, players are free to design and build their own decks and play against one another (Note: not recommended for new players). ** Note: “Wild” decks must be agreed upon by both parties in a custom match.
• No alterations to decks are permitted in between rounds. You may select a different deck/class, but no additional cards may be added or removed once the match has begun.

PvP Queue and other Housekeeping Notes

Couple of items to touch on here:

First, I have combined the PC and Console queues for Battlefront (2015) and Overwatch. The original concept for having two queues was that we had players who only played on PC or Console, but not both. This helped to prevent queueing against a member who was on a different platform. The downside is it created an option for gamers who own these games on both platforms to queue against the same person twice for the same game. That is a loophole that I have to close to ensure our gaming system is balanced across the board. It will never be OK to play 24 matches against the same opponent, and having two separate queues for the same game would potentially have allowed that.

So, when queuing for Overwatch or BF 2015, make sure the person you are queuing against is playing on the same platform as you. If they are not, simply report failure and re-queue for an opponent on your platform. This is absolutely not match dodging.

Second, lurking in the queue is still not allowed. If you are not actively gaming, or planning to actively game, leave the queue. If I see someone lurking (defined as over 24 hours straight of sitting in the queue and not actively gaming), I will remove you.

Third, overall comments for some of the conversations in DB Gaming.

• Keep it civil. People are entitled to their opinions.

• Keep it clean. PG-13 is one thing. Some of the filth i’ve seen lately is another.

• Keep it focused. Gaming chat is just for that. Fiction Chat is for Fiction. Art Chat is for Art.

• If you are a jerk, you will be called out. Not just by me, but probably by the rest of the chat as well.

• Cut down on the trolling. If your comments are just to incite an argument, keep them to yourself.

• Remember, DB Gaming is where people are trying to find people to game with. If your conversation about the world-ending microtransaction catastrophe is clogging the chat when people are trying to find matches, I will ask you to stop.

• Speaking of which: No matter how many times you kick them, dead horses aren’t coming back to life.

Thanks to all who took part in the Hearthstone test. Once again, member driven interest led to another platform added for support.

Keep on gaming!

-Drac