Bungie's Destiny 2 is Free Until November 18

What’s better than free games? I can’t think of anything.

To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the release of Destiny 2, Bungie and Activision Blizzard are allowing the free download of the complete Destiny 2 game. Players who already own the game will receive an in-game gift reward that will be available in December.

PC users will need to download the Blizzard launcher if they do not already have it. You an redeem your anniversary gift in the on the Battle.Net gift page.

For more information visit www.DestinyTheGame.com.

Comcast Customers Will Begin Having Their Mobile Data Throttled

“We still don’t and won’t block, throttle or discriminate against lawful content. We’re still not creating fast lanes. We still don’t have plans to enter into so-called paid prioritization agreements.””

— Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson, June 2018, via PhillyMag

Less than one month after Comcast and other internet service providers proclaimed that they would not throttle customers' internet after net neutrality is dismantled, Comcast is.....wait for it....throttling customer's mobile internet usage. Again.

Comcast said, "the company will begin throttling all video streams to 480p resolution, which will become the default resolution for streaming video through cellular data." Customers streaming via WiFi, however, will not be affected. 

Comcast will roll out a package that will allow customers to pay for 720p resolution. Comcast's Xfinity Mobile customers using the Unlimited Data Plan can also look forward to being capped at 600kbps. Comcast, a huge proponent of dismantling net neutrality laws because he believed them to be "too restrictive" took less than one month to renege on his self-proclaimed "commitment to net neutrality."

So, how will Comcast rope customers into paying for 720p? They're going to allow current customers to continue to stream at 720p at no additional cost, then announce the price change and charge customers to continue to stream at the higher quality 720p.

Charter Communications also launched a mobile broadband service and will throttle videos to 480p while offering customers to a package for 720p. Ars Technica shows that both Comcast and Charter Communication have similar mobile broadband services and pricing. Both companies' unlimited plans are $45, capping data at 600kbps. For their limited plans, Comcast charges $12 for each gigabyte of usage while Charter charges $14 for each gigabyte.

CalMatters' Antoinette Siu reported that The State of California is looking to take on the FCC by reinstating a state net neutrality bill that was gutted in June but has since been renegotiated. Senator Scott Wiener of San Fransisco said, "We know that the federal government is not going to fix things in the foreseeable future.” Hopefully, more states will follow California's example and draft bills to instate net neutrality laws so that ISPs won't be able to take advantage of consumers.

Perhaps more people would have fought to preserve net neutrality if they knew just what net neutrality was and how losing it could affect their daily lives. At present, this will only affect mobile data users on Comcast's Xfinity and Charter Communications Mobile. But it's only a matter of time before a package for home services is impacted.

Are you surprised that ISPs are beginning to go back on their word? Let us know in the comments.
 

Finally! New Info About Blizzard's Classic WoW Development

"Wanna know how you can tell someone played during Vanilla? Don't worry, they'll tell you." Yes, we will tell you! 

“After careful consideration, we have decided on Patch 1.12: Drums of War as our foundation because it represents the most complete version of the classic experience.”

— Blizzard Developers

Blizzard developers have finally given us a little bit of info on what to expect with WoW: Classic. Classic will be centered on Drums of War, Patch 1.12.0 for a complete a "vanilla" experience. Drums of War was originally patched in August 2006 and was the last major patch before the release of The Burning Crusade expansion.

Drums of War was basically a PvP patch. It introduced Cross-Realm battlegrounds or Battlegroups. This was Blizzard's answer to players having to wait literal hours to get into a battleground because battlegrounds, once upon a time, were relegated to players from the same realm. Although the wait was shortened due to having new players to play with, this was a sad day for me because cross-realms effectively ruined inter-realm, PvP guild rivalries (wanna know how you can tell someone played during vanilla...I told you we'd tell you). Patch 1.12 also introduced World PvP, turning Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands into PvP zones where players would battle to control the land for their respective faction. For those of us who were born and raised on PvE realms, this was pretty exciting and gave us a bit of a taste of PvP-realm life.

Blizzard developers settled on Drums because it was the last patch before Vanilla became TBC. In my personal opinion, Blizzard should use June 2006's Patch 1.11.0: Shadow of the Necropolis as its base. Shadow of the Necropolis was the last time Classic felt like the classic WoW that so many Vanilla players reminisce about. Patch 1.11.0 introduced the last 40-man instance raid, Naxxaramas, the floating necropolis above Eastern Plagueland's Stratholme.

But the developers do have their hands full with this project. They're on a journey to "recreate an authentic classic experience with modern engineering" to deliver to players a beautiful classic experience. 

“Our initial runs exposed a few (expected) issues: the game sometimes crashed, didn’t recognize our modern video cards, and was incompatible with our current login system. That first pass also couldn’t support any of our modern security and anti-cheating capabilities.”

— Blizzard Developers

We're confident Blizzard devs will give us fans another glorious WoW experience. But for now, this is all we know. Do you think Patch 1.12.0 is the best starting point to deliver a Classic WoW experience? Will you be playing when it's finally released? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook.

RIP, Net Neutrality. But It's Not Over, Yet!

Net Neutrality Repeal Goes Into Effect Today

Cover illustration by Ammy Daroach.

While we're all excited about E3, the repeal of net neutrality goes into effect Monday June 11. Engadget's Mallory Locklear breaks down what happens next. While ISPs may not implement anything immediately, they now have the legal ability "leeway to block, throttle and prioritize websites and content." This would not be the first time ISPs have done this, which is why the Obama Administration reclassified internet service providers as Title II. 

Understanding Title II can be a bit tricky, which is why too many people are ignoring such an important policy.

What is Title II? 

Title II refers to services that carry goods to others. Think about the U.S. Postal Service, railroads and ferries. They carry mail and deliver on behalf of businesses and individuals. They transport (or carry) for the common people. It's where the term "common carrier"originated from. This also means that the service provider or carrier, must charge everyone the same price for the same service.

The internet, like mail carriers, has evolved into a service that carries common information and should be regulated as such. Just as mail services deliver packages on behalf of businesses and individuals, schools now deliver education online, people pay bills online, sign up for various services online, make reservations, and communicate with loved ones online. Reclassifying internet service providers to Title I services would mean that ISPs could prioritize which websites people can visit and for how much. 

Although net neutrality officially ends today, the battle is still pressing on. The House of Representatives is still preparing to vote to reinstate net neutrality. You can help by contacting your representatives--either tweet them or call them or both! Let them know where you stand.

Let us know in the comments where you stand and if you've talked to your representatives.