Site Update Notes - March 8, 2024

New Features

Advertisements

• Mobile users that are logged-in will no longer see the video advertisement.
  • I realize this makes Premium accounts slightly less interesting to have, but the video ad on mobile is just such a poor experience. Everyone is now incentivized to login to no longer see it! The unit makes us a large portion of our monthly revenue though, and over half our traffic is mobile, so we need to be careful about this.

Navigation

• Our navigation has been overhauled to, hopefully, be less awful.
  • Navigation has been a massive problem on the site since our launch.
  • This overhaul changes it so game navigation only appears within the concept of a realm.
• Mobile and Tablet users should always be able to easily access News and Realms.
• The new tech that powers our nav also allows us to more quickly update it since it isn't hardcoded.
• Let us know if you have any issues or have thoughts on the experience. 

Realms

• Introducing Headers and Avatars!
  • Each realm can now have a custom header image and avatar - and the header images aren't hard coded!
  • We no longer have to wait for Flux to deploy the site to change the Hearthstone header image for a new set or event!
• Introducing the Join button
  • You can now "subscribe" to a realm by Joining it. 
  • This will matter more down the line, for now, get ready by joining realms you care about!
• Create Thread button should be easier to access.
  • We've moved the button so it can be accessed in a common location on all devices.
• Characters?
  • By being a member of our site, you're a character in the Out of Games universe.

Hearthstone

• The card pack opener now supports signature cards.
  • We've added in last year's expansions!
• The card pack opener can now have "fun" packs.
  • No longer are we limited to packs that exist in Hearthstone proper.
  • Our first pack, the 10 Years of Hearthstone pack, is now available to be opened.
  • Fun packs have higher than usual appearance rates.
    • Down the line we'll update the leaderboard to have a fun and a normal leaderboard. Fun packs are about to overtake it.

Bug Fixes

Navigation

• Removed the extra News and Realm links on the profile bar when they already exist in the nav.

Realms

• Create Thread button now appears on mobile.
  • Sorry about that oversight!

Notifications

• Fixed an issue where we had debug javascript on the notifications listing.
  • Nothing to see here!

Hearthstone

• Discuss this Card links will now correctly appear across the site. [March 3]
• Tavern Crawl now works with realm threads.

Known Issues

Homepage

• Clicking on the pagination on the homepage community section reloads the page and forces you to see news content.
  • This is a mobile issue, due to the way our "tabbed content" works. Currently working on a solution.

Hearthstone

• The Hearthstone realm navigation is not 1:1 with our previous navigation.
  • Currently working on still adding stuff to the navigation. Your patience is appreciated!

Coming Soon

• Custom Feeds featuring your realms!
  • Click the Join button on any realm on the site to prepare for this update.
• Voting on realm threads.
• Hearthstone Puzzles
  • We have a couple of things we need to fix before we bring this back - if you saw it you know what we mean :)
• Poll threads in realms.
  • A bit further down the pipeline but they're coming!